If you happen to be one of the few previledged people who reads this, you should know that alhough nothing reported here is a secret, this information is restricted to our family. The purpose to keepng this up is a remembrace, a record, for reference only and, sometimes. perhaps, encouragement.

If you do not wish a picture to be placed in here, you may expressly say so, although in this age of instagram and facebook it is hard to understand why someone would be restrictive to an already restrict, personal and innocuous (not harmful or offensive) means, we can only respect others’ opinions if we know what they are. Tks.

This months a lot has happened in our family and we do not know what we are authorized to reveal. Let us say that there are a lot of good things happening wherefore we are glad.

From my part, after spending near one month in Macau and China (where i was wonderfully welcomed by family and friends) I came back to Portugal and went right up to the ‘farm’. The ‘farm’ is this piece of land with many olive trees and vines, we have been previleged to obtain for reasons not yet totally known. One thing I know though is that it is inspiring, relaxing and productive. I get charged and inspired when I am there. Certainly, contrary to what some might think, that is not our endtime refuge. Such refuge we only have in the Lord: ‘God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble…’ as the Psalm goes.

So, after 15 days up there there are tales to tell and I let mom tell about it here (the pictures follow):

Donna:

After repeated warnings that the olive harvest was nearing its final weeks, we jetted off to our homestead for the pickings! First of all we gathered our materials; small hand rakes, gloves,  large buckets and plastic bags, a large tarpaulin and some ladders. We were delighted to arrive in the fall season with the leaves changing colors all around us and the sunshine maintaining the temperatures still high in the teens.! It was time consuming and yet a beautiful experience of reaping the fruit of the trees by hand instead of using mechanical means. For one week we spent at least 5/6 hours plucking fat, ripe, Gardunha olives from their lovely trees! If anyone would have told me that we could pick nearly 500kgs of olives from a set of 24 trees I wouldn’t have believed. But, thanks be to God that is actually what happened! In most areas the harvest this year has been very weak and in fact many of our trees did not produce much at all. As we learned, the olives have to be fresh for processing as they are given a quality control rating. After 4 days we took our first  batch of olives to the mill and were allotted 25 liters of fresh olive oil! This mill has the policy of a subsequent delivery of oil which we will receive in a month’s time. Anxious to see some pure olive oil, our second harvest was taken to a different mill and we were allotted 17 liters of olive oil on the spot! This was a good ratio of olives to oil as they were very full, ripe and fresh! It was hard work but very rewarding, not just for the profit in oil but in the entire experience.  We also kept some olives for curing in jars which will take a few months to present as cultured table olives! It is our first time to do this so we hope they come out tasty!

  Amazingly, after our week long harvest the weather totally changed to cold, foggy and rainy. We began work on covering the interior walls of our little cabin with wood panels to help isolate the walls from the cold outside and also look beautiful inside! Also, he set up a diesel heater which keeps us warm in the evenings before bed and early mornings when temperatures dive to below 8 degrees  Celsius! He also set up running water in the kitchen sink, a mechanical pump for the shower, installed electric sockets for charging devices and we reorganized the kitchen area! So, no time was wasted as the rain poured down outside and the work in the fields finished before the winter. We were able to plant three rose bushes, and are hoping they thrive in the cold! 

  One Sunday we ventured to the ancient hilltop village of Alcaide to visit the annual Miscaros Festival. Miscaros is a wild mushroom that lends its name to the festival  At this time of the year the area is great for foraging  an amazing  variety of mushrooms  but you do have to know what you are looking for, as some are edible and some are definitely not!  It was very interesting and there were so many Portuguese cultural elements included. Besides  the mushroom workshops there was the traditional folk music and one man bands  and artists wandering through the streets. Traditional food varieties  abounded including fresh made ‘rabanadas’, similar to a deep fried donut, and one can even join the long  queue for a free bowl of mushroom risotto! All in all, it was a very festive atmosphere thanks to the villagers and organizers of Alcaide!

  The following Sunday we made our way to Monsanto, one of the historic villages of Portugal and which is distinguished  as being the “most Portuguese village of Portugal”. This village consisting of a castle { which unfortunately was destroyed  in the 19th century because of an explosion in the ammunition depot of the caste} and churches and houses and abundant crosses is all built on a granite mountain which has traces form the Romans and the Visigoths and the Arabs. Monsanto’s history is extensive and  worth  looking into!.

Images:

MACAU:

Portugal:

Otter images