Donna:

The month started out great with RAIN! All of nature rejoiced as the flora turned green again and hydration was brought back to all living things! We used the opportunity to go into planting  mode. After Jorge finished the fence around the side and front of the land we planted a new set of grapevines, green and red table grapes which should be delicious! Black Cabbage was planted and subsequently had to be treated as the local plague was eating the leaves. We replanted a few trees that did not get well planted the first time around and two lovely Chestnut trees near the pond.  A new connection was made for the pipe that will carry the water out of the pond when the flooding occurs and channel it to the front of the  land where the trees are located for watering purposes, Jorge did a lot of grass cutting, pruning  and preparation of the areas under the olive trees for the soon coming harvesting. We also visited the local Agricultural Fair which displayed the prizewinning livestock and largely focused on new agricultural technologies more  applicable to large-scale farming in our area.

  Home repairs never end. We had to change the lock to the main door and also spent many hours adapting the diesel heater in the caravan. It sure came in handy during our trip to Coimbra and Penacova. We camped by the Rio Mondego and afterwards in Figueira da Foz and the evenings and early mornings were made much cosier with the heater running in the caravan!:)  We travelled to these areas to film all the beauty of God’s creation from rivers to ocean to mountain ranges and lagoas. It was gorgeous as most of the places had also experienced large amounts of rainfall in the previous weeks and the sun had just come out to display all the growth set in action during perfect weather conditions! Watch the clips online to see some of the highlights.

  In other news, Zac turned 9 this month!  He is very busy at school and very active on the football pitch over the weekends! Donna also got a little, not a lot, older and enjoyed a lovely weekend swimming and  traveling! Life is amazing and it is a big blessing to enjoy it in great health and thankfulness! 

  Olive Harvest

We started our olive harvesting! It was time, as weather conditions are changing continually and the olives either are not ripening or are gaining a type of rot. The trees which last year bore little fruit were abounding with olives and in one day and a half we harvested 300 kgs! We got some help from an electric shaker machine which shakes the branches and releases a great majority of the olives. Then we go in and pull down the leftovers by hand. This greatly reduces the time of harvesting a tree, and also is easier on our arms and wrists. We joined a communal effort to take our olives to the press and in doing so we were able to get oil pressed from our very own olives. Since half the olives were green, this oil is different from last year’s oil. We have come to learn that when harvested green, the olives have their highest nutritional value, and thus, organic, cold pressed,extra virgin oil is the highest quality of oil! It surely is a divine blessing to have this harvest! 

On a side note, Jason came down with the chickenpox! We still can’t figure out why he didn’t get it as a kid, but he survived the ordeal and is now immune. One less thing for him to worry about. 🙂

Love and prayers.