Happy new year

Happy new year from #182!

A beautiful start to the new year.

December seemed to pass in a blur of cork crafting activities, rain, and preparing for visitors. The weather continued to be dismal, but finally bucked its ideas up just in time for Christmas.

As mentioned, the overriding theme of December was cork crafting. Following on from the visit from our friends Kathryn and Steve in mid November, we set ourselves the task of building up some stock of cork crafts with the goal of having a stall at a Christmas market in San Quirico at the start of December. So, each evening we religiously sat down for a couple of hours of cork crafting: garlands, reindeer, mice and dogs, building ourselves a small army of cork animals.

We also made 6 more pallet Christmas trees after they had proved popular with our friends in the shop (and when I say "we" I do actually mean that Stuart let me loose with the jigsaw and the sander).

And so it was that on the afternoon of 8th December we put on thermal layer after thermal layer, packed up the car and headed up to San Quirico. Stuart bravely and skillfully took the car all the way up the tiny narrow cobbled streets to the piazza to unload our stock - at one point the car almost got stuck halfway up a particularly steep stretch in a particularly narrow archway with a difficult angled turn and slippery cobbles beneath and with the smell of burning rubber filling the car we thought we might have to roll backwards down the hill again, but with some skillful maneuvering on Stuart's part we made it past the crunch point and up to the piazza - a drive not to be repeated any time soon!

The market was somewhat underwhelming, with only 6 stalls including ours, and as we arrived rain started to fall - not the most auspicious start for our Christmas market career. Nevertheless, we laid everything out (having had a practice run at home the day before) and sat to await customers.

The flow of customers was almost as underwhelming as the size of the market itself and when our friends David, Sarah, Paul and Kathy turned up they almost doubled the number of punters.

In the end, we sold 3 cork mice, 3 cork reindeer and 4 cork dogs. After the €10 we had paid for the stall, we made about €15. Not quite the runaway success we had hoped for!

Somewhat disheartened, it was at least a relief to be able to call an end to daily cork crafting activities (as enjoyable a pastime as it can be, it had become slightly more of a chore) and to pack away all the materials from the dining room table - making our home look a little less like Santa's workshop.

We had a second half-hearted stab at doing a Christmas stall later in the month, this time at the circolo in Pietrabuona. It turned out that the "Christmas market" was just us, but we managed to sell a wooden mushroom, two cork dogs and a cork reindeer - just about making more than we had spent on buying drinks to help pass the afternoon.

Facing the hoards of customers.

A bit of Christmas cheer.

Although somewhat disappointed by the lack of interest in our crafts, we are not wholly defeated and have packed everything away to be stored until (possibly) making another attempt at cracking the Christmas market next year.

Besides which, we found an alternative use for the pallet Christmas trees - maybe we were just marketing them in the wrong way:

A Christmas tree? Or a perfectly sized tablet pc/ipad holder. 

Since the weather wasn't up to a great deal during the most part of the month, we didn't manage to get out and get much done - although one of the few jobs we did tick off was to create extensions for the drainage channels on the drive to take the rainwater further away from the drive.

Early December morning.

The extreme wet weather we have had during November and the first part of December has caused several landslides in various locations around the valley - they vary in degrees of severity, but land slippage is a serious issue and one that can be both dangerous and costly.

More rain.

Having installed concrete drainage channels in our drive back in 2014, and added more channels this year, we have made a big improvement to the run-off of rain water from the drive. Before the channels were added the driveway acted as something of a riverbed, channelling the water downhill towards the house, soaking the wood pile and even reaching the door of the apartment during particularly heavy rain. With all the channels added and working, the water is now channelled away off the drive, meaning that a lot less of the drive gets washed away down the hill! However, there is still damage to be done - having large amounts of water draining straight off the drive onto the hillside is almost inviting erosion and slippage, and should the earth slip away from the edge of the drive itself, we would be in trouble.

The drainage channel extensions, therefore are intended to carry the water further away from the edge of the drive and dump it at what is hopefully a safer distance away from the edge. A simple construction, we took some lengths of large plastic tubing, cut them in half horizontally, then attached them to the ends of the concrete drainage channels.

We didn't have to wait long to find out if they were working as we were treated(?) to the mother of all downpours just two days later. We were pleased and rather satisfied to find that all channels were working perfectly.

Before we knew it we were hurtling towards Christmas, and preparing for the arrival of Stuart's mum, Sheila, for her biannual Christmas stay, on 19th December. As well as Sheila, we were expecting more guests for Christmas itself. Our great friends David & Sarah had promised us their company this Christmas after having spent the last one with their families in the UK, and as a last-minute addition to the party, we were contacted a few weeks before Christmas by our New Zealand friends Nick and Tess to ask if we would be up for hosting them for 2 nights as they would be driving through the area en route from Rome to London and passing us just about around Christmas day.

We met Nick and Tess five years ago when they came to stay with us as HelpX-ers - a situation in which we provided them with accommodation and three meals a day in return for them working and helping us out with various tasks around the property. Back then, we were newcomers here ourselves - it was our first winter here, we were struggling to work out how to use the wood burner, the windows were all single glazed (and cracked), we has little to no firewood (a large part of their work with us was collecting and cutting firewood from what was already lying around in our woods) and when they arrived, we were a two-cat-and-no-dog family. In fact, Nick and Tess were here with us the very day that we brought our Reggie home - they helped us to name him and they gamely stood out in the garden in the dark and pouring rain, patiently waiting for Reggie to perform his toilet needs so we could all shower him with praise. It was Nick and Tess who put a large part of the work into building the fencing around the garden, as well as other tasks like re-pointing the garden wall underneath a large tarpaulin to shelter from the rain. All done with great enthusiasm and cheer and all work rounded off with a fun-filled evening of eating, drinking and chatting. Happy memories!

So, as you can imagine, much has changed since we last saw our Kiwi friends, and we were excited to be seeing them again. They had told us that their travel plans involved collecting a campervan from Rome and delivering it to London. What they hadn't told us was that we would be able to spot them coming from a mile off. The polite way to describe the campervan would be to say that it was adorned with rather colourful artwork - using the word "colourful" both literally and in the same way as one might describe the archetypal fisherman's wife as using colourful language. The theme of the van appeared to be recreational drugs - one side depicting a woman with white-coloured substance dribbling out of her nose and the caption "[cocaine] on the brain" (the caption now partially obscured but clearly that was what it had originally read), the back featuring the caption (once again now partially obscured) "I don't do [coke] I just like the way it smells", and the other side "cheap thrills" featuring a crazy-haired chap holding out a handful of pills. Hmm, talk about inconspicuous...! I hasten to point out that this wasn't Nick and Tess's choice of paintjob- they were driving the van back to London for the company that owns a fleet of similarly colourful rental vans across Europe.

We had arranged to meet Nick and Tess in Montecarlo on Christmas Eve as they had planned to arrive around lunchtime and had very kindly offered to take us out for lunch. As we pulled up at the edge of the town we immediately spotted the van - they certainly weren't hard to find!

We enjoyed a great lunch together before heading back home for the grand reunion between Nick, Tess and Reggie. We had pre-warned them that he likely wouldn't remember them and would probably bark at them a lot. He duly did that, but we engineered a Reggie walk together through the woods, which helped him warm to his old friends, and by the evening while still a little nervous of them, he had certainly stopped barking at them - a good result! He remained very angry about the van though. It clearly offended his sensibilities.

We spent the evening finalising preparations for Christmas lunch (prepping veg) and catching up with our friends.

 Christmas day started bright, crisp and clear, and after Stuart and I had taken Reggie out on a Christmas morning walk, we convened back at the house with Nick, Tess and Sheila for a breakfast of scrambled egg and smoked salmon washed down with prosecco.

The turkey went into the oven straight after our breakfast, and we started the process of heating ovens and finalising dishes for lunch. We were joined at midday by David and Sarah, raising the level of Christmas cheer even a notch higher.

By some stroke of accident we were ready to sit down to lunch at about 1.20pm. That certainly wasn't what we had anticipated (last year if memory serves me I think we ate around 4pm!), and if we were completely honest about it, it probably wasn't optimal timing after having had a late and large(r than normal) breakfast! Nevertheless we ploughed on.

Following a starter of mushroom and chestnut pate (made with our own chestnuts that had been marinating in brandy for around 3 years), the table groaned with a main course of turkey for the meat eaters and nut roast for the vegetarians along with side dishes of red cabbage with apple, apricot and pistachio stuffing, pan fried brussels sprouts with chestnuts, broccoli and cauliflower cheese, roast carrots and, of course, roast potatoes along with a tasty vegetable gravy made by Sarah.

Ready to feast!

Barely able to move after all of that, we decided an afternoon Reggie walk was in order, so we left Sheila (who was feeling under the weather and hadn't slept well the previous night) to go and have a rest and the other six of us headed out through the woods with Reggie.

By the time we waddled back to the house we felt as if we had made enough space for some pudding and we tucked into a delicious spiced cake made by Sarah, accompanied by "rum-cotta"(TM) - ricotta whipped with a little sugar and rum - sheer genious and so delicious I could have eaten a bowlful on its own (I didn't).

We transitioned from that into a marathon afternoon and evening of board games, stopping only for a second wave of eating around 10pm when all the leftovers were returned to the table, together with bread and butter for those who were hankering after turkey sandwiches. That was enough to sustain us through more rounds of board games until finally we threw the towel in and called it a day around 1.30am.

Boxing day started a little later than previous days and after a slow start and a breakfast of coffee and a few rounds of toast, Nick and Tess bade us farewell and set off to continue their journey northwards, aiming to reach Lucerne later that day. We also waved goodbye to David & Sarah, who headed up the hill to enjoy the sunny day at home.

With Sheila still feeling under the weather, Stuart and I headed up the terraces to try and take advantage of the sunny weather and get some outdoor work done. We felled two more acacia trees on the upper terraces, logged and tidied them, before spotting Paul & Kathy's car coming up the road from below (we were expecting them) and racing down the terraces to get to the house in time to let them through the gate. They brought Kathy's Mum with them, who is also here for the Christmas period, and Sheila joined us all for a catch up over a drink with cakes that they had kindly brought with them.

The next few days passed in a bit of a slow motion blur as germs rotated around between Sheila and Stuart - a really horrible flu-like lurgy - making everything somewhat subdued and curtailing activities. However, it did give Stuart the opportunity to try a recipe from his new (Christmas present) book on herbal medicines: garlic cough syrup.

Garlic syrup - kill or cure?

We spent New Year's Eve at home with a spread of home made dips alongside cured hams, cheeses and various other "pick n mix" foods while watching TV. We have certainly maxed out on TV in recent days - watching numerous films as well as UK-based TV shows. Stuart and I will need to get back into our Italian TV in the new year, our Italian ear will certainly need some re-tuning after being surrounded by so much English!

Happy new year!

Despite having been feeling under the weather, Stuart was determined to try and salvage some productivity during the festive period. The 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year is quite sacred to us - it's the only time in the whole year when I feel I can legitimately and completely sign off from office work with impunity, and as such it is a unique opportunity for us to get outdoors and work together over a sustained period, moving things forward at a rate that is impossible for most of the rest of the year. With the weather also having been perfect - clear blue skies and sunshine - it was disappointing to be struck with ill health. But Stuart bravely steeled himself and pushed himself to cough and splutter his way up the terraces, and we have to date managed to fell and process 8 trees on the upper terraces. Not quite the amount of work we might have hoped to have got done, but with both guests and germs in the picture not a bad amount all things considered.

We also had an attempt at a slightly less physically demanding task: creating some pimps. Yes, pimps.

It turns out that a short bundle of twigs tied together - for the purpose of acting as a firelighter - is called a pimp. We thought it was a faggot, but it turns out that a faggot is a longer bundle. With an abundance of twigs available (following the felling of 4 ash trees), we decided it was worth attempting to make some pimps (to be used next winter for lighting fires, hopefully meaning we can avoid using commercially produced firelighters) rather than simply burning the whole lot in a bonfire. Rate of productivity was a little low on the first attempt, but we think we could increase that fairly easily and it proved to be a very satisfying task.

Pimp-making in action.

Stack em up - six pimps.

And so as we creep into January, we hope that germs will soon be defeated and we'll soon be back to full strength - although of course it's also back to work and normal everyday chores in a couple of days' time.

We are promised more cold and clear weather for at least the next ten days, a blessed relief after the soaking we got through November and the sort of weather that makes this truly our favourite season here.

Happy new year to all!

Not so Newing.

After a few days of 'normality' it was time to get the place ready for more visitors: we were expecting a third visit from Kathryn and Steve who, during previous visits, have helped (in 2017) with the olive harvest and (last year) helped us start the fencing around the terraces - they were hoping their visit this year would once again coincide with olive harvesting.

Sadly, mother nature had other plans: there was no olive harvest for us at all this year, due to an olive fly problem. Indeed, very few people locally have had a harvest and only the few that had used insecticides have had any fruit to pick and press this year. When I bumped into the owner of the olive mill last week he said that the little oil that was pressed this year was of poor quality and didn't have the low acidity required for it to be of extra virgin quality.

I've recently read a short report on the internet about an olive farm in France having success in controlling the olive fly, to some degree, by planting flea bane around their olive grove - the idea being that it is particularly attractive to predatory insects. I can see a project for the future! This year we had again used home-made fly traps consisting of plastic bottles with small holes drilled into the side filled with a cocktail of wine, vinegar and sugar, but clearly they have been of little help and since they catch not only olive fly, I think we'll be retiring them and let nature decide when we get olives.

I digress As well as the lack of olives to pick the weather forecast was dire for the duration of Kathryn and Steve's visit. On previous occasions we've been afforded such lovely weather that we've had tea breaks outside and even eaten lunch outdoors. As they left last time I remember saying that sooner or later the weather won't be so great on their visit... it is, after all, mid November.

What to do with friends on a rainy Tuscan day (or days)? Lunch was the first port of call and we took them out to the restaurant Toti, which always makes a 'bella figura' with anyone we take here, not only for the food served but also for the rustic romantic charm of the former wine cellar.

By the time we had arrived for lunch we had already decided to try and be productive despite the weather and to have a go at making something festive from our rather large collection of wine corks as a means of passing time. As such we left Cantina Toti and headed out on a shopping spree for crafting materials, as a gift cannot be made with a cork alone.

Kathryn gets to know the locals in Obi.

The house soon resembled Santa's workshop, minus the elves... (and it still looks no different now, we have to fight for space to eat these days amongst the corks, glue, spools of wire, coloured pompoms, sticky googly eyes and sparkly pipe cleaners) and the four of us swung into production of Christmas wreaths, reindeer and baubles.

In the end the weather was a little kinder to us than had been forecast and we managed to spend almost the entirety of one day and an afternoon the next working up on the terraces above the house.

Now fully fenced in, there are (or were before Kathryn and Steve arrived) 14-16 trees growing on the terraces that had planted themselves there some decades ago when the terraces were long lost to nature. Now that we've reclaimed these terraces, and want to replant into the empty spaces, there is the need to remove the large trees that cast shade on the olives.

Over the two part-days we had outside we managed to drop, chop and move onto the donkey track 6 fairly large acacia trees, happily without causing any collateral damage from the felling part of the process.

As a fitting end to Kathryn and Steve's stay we went for dinner, very kindly paid for by them. Steve had such good memories of eating at the restaurant in Macchino last year he had asked to go there again, Kathryn on the other hand thought it a wasted opportunity not to try somewhere new, so instead of Macchino we went to Mangiafuoco just outside Pescia, a spot we've frequented a couple of times already this year with both my mum and Yvonne and Mike, Helen's dad. We had a great evening and I think the choice of restaurant was a hit with our friends. 

Since Chief Crafter Kathryn left we have managed to keep up crafting momentum and are planning on trying to sell a few bits over the coming weeks - at our local circolo Emanuele has plans to organise another tasting evening (at which last year there was Danilo and Michela selling Italian fair trade products, a new business in Pescia which is made of a group of 20-somethings that have started farming and making wine in the Pescia area and Stefano with his cheese and chestnut flower, oh, and us, selling olive oil). Since we have been asked to attend again, but have no olive oil to offer, we're planning on trying to sell some of what we've made as inexpensive gifts. There is also a Christmas themed market in San Quirico next week, which we've made inquiries about and, weather permitting, we will try going there too.

The week following Steve and Kathryn's visit was dire as far as the weather was concerned, and except for the Wednesday, which was forecast to be sunny, the rest was a wet and windy washout.

On Wednesday we decided to give the chickens a clean out ready for winter - old sawdust out, new sawdust (from the workshop - the spoils of my work turning attempts so far) in, and replenish their indoor dust bath with ash from the log burners. I also decided to give some attention to their nest boxes in the hope that they might start laying indoors again - since spring they've been laying in the tight space between the house and earth beneath it, which is not ideal for collection reasons, especially as the ground is about to get much wetter and dirtier over winter.

In the spring I had tried to adapt their nest area so that the eggs would roll away as they are laid, as one of them had taken to smashing eggs and eating the shells. The second version of this involved a board placed in the nest area tilted towards the rear, which seemed fairly successful for the short time they used it before they all decided to lay outside.

Upon dismantling the nesting box and taking out this board I saw rat droppings beneath it! It took a while to work out how the rodent had been getting in. It seems it had been climbing onto the food bin at the back of their house and from there scaling the wall where they had gnawed through enough wood to make a space between the chicken wire and timber in the under roof venting to get in, climb down the inside and nest under where the chickens had been laying. The cause of them moving outside to lay? Quite possibly.

So after a bit of repair to the vent wire I decided a completely new nesting arrangement was needed to eliminate the small space for Mr Rat to nest in should it come back and gain entry again.

After a bit of Pinterest research, I combined a few of the ideas I'd seen and devised something using a set of plastic bins. These would also be much easier to clean should the egg breaker get back to her old tricks (the wooden egg collection area was getting quite disgusting from the caked on broken eggs).

As I type, a week or so later, Helen has just come in from collecting eggs and today all hens have laid in various of the nesting bins. Success! For the moment at least.

We also managed to find time to finish the final section of the deer proofing of the new fencing. In theory the only beastie now capable of getting into the olive grove/orchard is Mr Fox, who in theory won't do much damage.

This week, having been gifted a rare couple of dry days (I saw an Italian meme going around recently that likened November to the set of the movie Blade Runner as it hasn't stopped raining all month), we moved all of the wood we had cut with Kathryn and Steve from the top of the donkey track down to the quarry and stacked it there, where it will stay under cover until spring. As soon as we've stopped burning for the season (normally late April), we will start cutting, splitting and stacking it by the house for the following winter, giving it all summer to finish seasoning. 

We also put away our now rather sizeable collection of geraniums into the little 'orangery' for the winter as there is our first frost may be due this week, made a small Christmas tree from an old pallet which we sold to Amanda for use in the shop, and raked the entire 230 metres of driveway for the third time this year (it's only the first time I've helped on the raking front, the first two times Helen has raked it single-handedly) as the leaves were turning sludgy.

As December starts we hope the weather will miraculously turn and give us a dry and sunny month in which we can get outdoors and make progress - although if the first two days of the month are anything to go by, it seems we should temper our hopes and expectations.