Make Love Whilst the Sun Shines

It ain't looting if you leave a note..


A lesson from Hurricane Katrina, you need supplies, take em but leave a message....

I have taken August off. Don't ring, don't sererande, don't hire Lady Gaga to run past me naked***, I am retired for this month. Or I was.
Carobs, Figs, Almonds for starters. My water man and his never ending advice, only lightly dulled by Sagres injection - pick em, dry roast em, stuff em, good job the bugger doesn't know about jam or actually eating the things fresh.... Seems the neighbours are interested in the Carobs and nothing else, every morning I can pick a bucket of figs in five minutes.

And we have been finishing things!!


The Theatre of Dreams gains its sky roof, which we will cover with climbers. As well as a chill out zone, it will be used as an outdoor cinema to show some of the eco films I er accidentally bought on tinternet whilst sponsored by Sagres last week....



Roasting figs in the solar oven - six sunny days, no cost!!



Drying figs on an old pallet and chicken wire. At 700 calories per 100 grammes dried, this is essential winter power food. Neighbours don't even pick theirs....

Fixing the Food Chain

After a snake dropped out of the rafters above my office desk,(small black one 40cms long - any guesses anyone??) I did some research. Because of my chicken food storage (all over the floor because of the cat), snakes will move in to prey on the rats. since this is a touch disconcerting, I found the answer is the Nile Crocodile - 200 quid later from Ebay Egypt and I think he has cured the problem. The dogs are a little wary and we haven't seen the cat for a while but the problem snakes seemed to have disappeared. Owl is a little scared as we are still sleeping in the tipi, and since the dog can sneak under the sides she seems to think Tooting - come - on (the croc, natch!) might pay us a visit as well, seems just can't please some people............


A real baby at heart, Tooting - come -on is fond of all ends of the food chain




Two Mangoes - at least I managed to plant a good big fruit variety


Pumpkins, another great winter storage food

Crops picked, figs drying, tomato sauce made, it is time for a break. We are off next week to Spain for a couple of weeks - to Cadiz, then Sierra da Grazalema to see Clive of Wildside Holidays (www.wildsideholidays.com - great eco places to stay at) and Simon of Los Gazquez eco retreat - fantastic place 1000 metres above sea level(www.losgazquez.com), then down to the South Coast to see my pal Tee Shirt near Motril and along to see Dave and Laura and their earthship construction (www.earthship.es) and hopefully to see Eduardo at Spain's leading solar shop near Ronda (www.generador-electrico.com)
If you need me, text me or Owl on 917814261, or speak to the croc..... he won't fit in the camper.



***Ok, you can really, but she is lousy at gardening - look what she did to my palm tree!!

Up the Orient without a paddle, manager or hero

Sad day for the Toon.

.

The death of Sir Bobby Robson, Geordie Gentleman puts life into a sharper perspective. He turned out only four days before his death to watch the re run of 1990 England v Germany. You can guess in a few days, he will be a popular memory for us Newcastle fans.

In contrast, that little plastic spastic monkey Wacko Jacko continues to appall us with todays News of The Screws picture of his death bed, his heirs, more unknown kids, and whatever some low life papparrazi can discover for next weeks sunday papers.

It gets worse for Newcastle, Shearer finally signs for the BBC.... ending his chase to get Newcastle sold and become full time manager. Whilst he scored the winning goal on the re run of the 1990 England - Germany match, Newcastle lost 6 - 1 to an unknown bunch of cheats called Leighton Orient..

Enough of football, this is an eco blog, read by thousands to champion the cause of compost loos.

My latest volunteers have just left, having picked my Carob beans and stained all the woodwork. Nephew Purple Ronnie has arived and when the bright pink lobster colour he won at the beach subsides, will be able to help us finish the Theatre of Dreams. He has a sore purple head this morning as a result of back to back parties and olympic sagres consumption....

A Gloriette!! We are propagating the native Algarve white rose to climb over the whole roof. The raised beds that surround our version will be narrowed and heightened so we can top them up with a less friable soil in an attempt to use less water.

We have just watched "Garbage Warrior", a narrative on Michael Renolds (The founder of Earthships) and his struggle to legalise them. This has inspired me to keep all my empty bottles and build my hamman out of them - a semi sauna come massage room.

Watching the film with us was Jonothan from Rainbow who has decided to sell his share of the community and move on to a small farm with Jenny. He stayed for a few days and has fitted a hydrogen inverter on my old Mercedes (watch this space for economy figures!!) and also showed us how to make a proper sourdough bread - using freshly milled flour mixed with water and doubled for three days to make bread with only the wild yeast that the flour contains - worked well, better put building a bread oven on my list as well.. got to keep Purple Ronnie busy!!