The weather has been unusually mild for the time of year. In fact we’ve had the hottest October on record and along with the high temperatures came no rain. That has all changed and all though it is still mild for the time of year we now have some rain. We have taken advantage of the nice weather and got…
Author: Joe
Craft beers in Bulgaria
Coming to Bulgaria can be a bit of a disappointment if you enjoy drinking real ales in the UK. The commonly available lagers are thin, insipid and mostly give me a headache. You can imagine my delight then when I discovered that Bulgaria has a thriving craft beer movement, mostly comprising microbreweries. I discovered this when a film crew came…
Smoke and strong alcohol
Autumn has officially begun, and with it has come a sudden drop in temperatures, and a distinctly different feel to the morning air. I love this time of year. The cooler nights bring blessed relief from the baking heat of summer, and we can actually get some work done, instead of hiding from the heat during the day. After the…
What to make with a whole pig – year 2
This post is a follow up from our first butchery attempts. We learned loads in that first year, and we’ve tried to learn from our mistakes, got better with our recipes and tried a few new things. The first thing we’ve done differently this year has been the timing. Last year it was still really warm in November when we…
A mini break in Trojan
Almost two years and one month to the day since Julie and I started work on this house, we have finally decided that we need a holiday 😮 A last minute trawl around booking.com, and confirmation from a friend that she can come and house-sit, and we’re off to visit Chiflik, a small village in the hills above Trojan. So…
Gonna eat a lot of peaches
This post is for Michael, you know who you are! Well, we’ve moved to the country, and this year we’re sure going to eat a lot of peaches! We spent a very pleasant day yesterday with our friend, Ivan, preserving his year’s peach harvest, making 42 large jars of peaches in a thin syrup, ready for winter. It started off…
Improving the soil with manures
The transformation of waste is perhaps the oldest pre-occupation of man. man being the chosen alloy, he must be reconnected—via shit, at all cost Patti Smith, “25th Floor” from the album “Easter”, 1978 And so it is here on our smallholding. A huge amount of our time seems to be being spent collecting, storing, turning and finally distributing manure and…
A very different May/June
After a lovely start to this year, May and June have had awful weather. Mostly dry, but with huge thunderstorms. It’s been so wet that most of our soft fruit crops have been lost to moulds, and those that have survived are pretty tasteless. So this year we have barely any greengages, strawberries, or cherries. On the plus side,mulberries have…