What's that I hear you say, a new burst of life, no, no you have that wrong, autumn is when everything dies back. Well not here it doesn't not at first.
As Autumn rolls in with its cooler days and even cooler nights the land sees a new flourish of life. From the moment the first autumnal rains fall bursts of colour spring forth bringing with it a last flurry of activity from the honey bees before the cold winds and rain of November descends. Thing is, even in November you can often find us working in teeshirts as it is often still quite warm in comparison to countries further north.
I have to admit I love the Autumn, I used to love it when I lived in the UK. I loved the vibrant reds, glorious yellows and fiery orange colours that hailed the start of winter for us all. But my love was not confined to the visual. Autumn has its own smell, as well as sound. The crackle of the leaves as you walk on them was like a symphony to me alas we don't get that here. But we do get the bursts of colour from the flowers as well as their scent whilst the leaves of the olive trees seem to turn a darker shade of green. And beneath ones feet the crunchy carob pods when crushed sound almost as nice, well until that is you realise you have got to pick up the pieces, lol!
To be honest work on the farm never truly stops, however this year we treat ourselves to a little summer break and boy has it done us good. Rejuvenated we are now raring to go regards the work that needs doing and to help kick start it all we had another volunteer come to help us.
Jana from the Czech Republic.
She proved a whizz at fencing.
Helping us put out quite a bit of it so Mimo and Kiko had another paddock on which to graze.
She also helped us pick some of the Carobs, a task she said she found very relaxing not to mention enjoyable. Look at that smile, it says it all.
She also turned her hand to throwing render onto the outside wall of the Donkey's shelter.
Over the course of a couple of days we worked at covering every square centimetre (inch) of the walls so that no rain could damage the bags beneath.
Didn't she do well!
After that she turned her hand to helping us do the gardening. The hot summer this year really took its toll on our poor flower garden, (it was the hottest for many many years it turns out). Sadly some of the plants just didn't make it so we decided one day to tidy the planters in the hope of saving the few flowers that were still hanging on.
But it wasn't all work and no play. Whilst staying with us Jana got to meet some of the locals, who she had to say were really strange to say the least.
But as always all too soon we had to say farewell. But as Jana said, it was certainly an action packed 10 days, all of which she enjoyed. Which is what we love to hear. Thank you Jana for all your help.
No comments:
Post a Comment