Waiting For The Storks

We're still waiting for the first glimpse of the storks returning so that can finally remove our  rather tired looking Martenitza's. This signifies the start of spring, although the official date for spring to start is today 21st March First Day of Spring in Bulgaria. Unfortunately the weather has cooled off considerably and been a bit overcast and showery for the last few days, so back into the drawers the shorts have gone and the woollen socks are firmly back on for now!

So far in the garden there's been a good show from the flowering bulbs, who are getting bigger every day, not that I can remember what they all are. Some though have perished and got frost bitten after the warm spell we had in January. I'm not sure they'll do anything at all now and there's a possibility that they will never flower again. I'll just leave them be and wait to see. But we do have radishes growing in the garden and the fruit trees look ready to sprout into life again. 

The grass has made a huge leap and is starting to look green and lush in places, which of course doesn't last long when one of the horses or donkey gets at it, but in all the animals are really enjoying the longer, milder days and making the most of it. We've made a few changes in the chicken house and they've been spending more time free ranging in the garden. Gone is our "Spare" cockerel, new roosts and a nesting box are in place and everything seems calm in the hen house. In fact so calm that the hens have started laying again which is great news. Maybe we'll even get a broody hen this year and hatch some chicks.

Change is in The Air

Since the rather wet car boot sale on Sunday there have been some changes here, quite dramatic but necessary at this point in time. Hubby's dad (and my father in law) has had swelling on the brain following a stroke and had to undergo emergency surgery and is currently in Intensive Care. This has brought forward my sister in law's plans to return to the UK, which is completely understandable in the circumstances, but also means that from the weekend I not only lose her company, shopping partnership, wit and fabulous cooking but also that hubby will have to go with her as co-driver and to see their dad.

I'll really miss her and little madam, her daughter, and will also miss hubby for the time he's away but know I can cope and will be fine here with the children and animals. It's rather hectic this week trying to sort out various things, clear sister in law's house and close it down and also deal with everything else going on.

Yantra the new dog is a total escape artist and opens the front door when she feels like it - twice in the last week I've woken up to find her gone and the front door wide open! She comes back but I find it unnerving that she just disappears and worry each time she goes, especially as she's not spayed yet. Next step will be the vets although we have no idea how old she really is, just that she's young and has her adult teeth. Sister in law's 2 dogs will be coming to stay with us until she can get them back to the UK and her 2 cats will also be staying with us, so once again we're full to the rafters with animals!

The piglets and Charlotte their mum refuse to be separated, each time we try there's pandemonium so we've left them all together in the large barn until they're ready to wean themselves. We still have one older pig from the first litter left but she is earmarked for our freezer at some point over the next 3 months. Our friend and neighbour, Yordani, arrived with 11 chicks a few days ago and left them on our dining room table in a banana box! 11 has become 9 today as the 2 weakest died unfortunately but the remaining 9 are snug in a bigger, better box but still on the dining room table where the temperature is quite steady and warm enough for them. I'd imagine they'll be bantam or bantam X's but as our laying hens are getting on and egg production is dropping they will stick around to supply us with fresh eggs next year.

Well I best get off now and have a shower as I need to be up early for a meeting at the school around 7.30am! Hope things are ok with you and I'll be back in a few days to catch up again.

Poor Old Dog :(

Vasko is having a bit of a tough time lately, poor thing. We now think he was hit by a log falling off the pile a few nights ago, making him sore all down one side and not too good on his legs. He's improving every day and is managing to get around, eating well and even got a little excited at tea time yesterday so must be feeling better. Since he arrived here his life must be very different, but hopefully in a good way. He's a quiet dog that likes to lie in the shade all day and sleep, not very boisterous and slowly learning that he can trust us. His skin is clearing up well, fleas and ticks are gone and he has new hair growth on the leg that was covered in tar when he arrived.

But since he's been a lying about more lately due to obviously being sore on his side he's been plagued by flies. They swarm all over his face and beard and have been laying eggs beside his mouth! Over 2 days I must have washed hundreds of them away and I assume they can't be good for the dog. So I'm trying to find a natural fly repellent to help Vasko.

Flies and mosquito's are abundant here this year due to the amount of rain we've had and Vasko isn't the only one being affected. Hubby is constantly bitten on the ankles by what we call "Stable flies" and I've got some rather huge and sore mosquito bites in places that are luckily never seen in public! We're on tick watch with the horses and donkey as we have a different village shepherd(ess) at the moment and she insists on allowing the goats and sheep to graze the field outside our house for large parts of the day while she has a snooze in the bushes!

Mafia, the cockerel and his harem are of course enjoying any bugs that stray into their pen, the girls are looking a little tatty at the moment so Mafia must be enjoying his time with them! Not one of them has been broody this year, which is fine by us as we keep them as layers only now. The silly turkey hen however, is sitting on rancid eggs and won't let me take them away grrrr. Admittedly with the losses we've had due to foxes or beech martens this year we won't be breeding any more turkeys for the table. When you work out the cost to feed them and time taken to care for them properly it's actually more economical to buy them from the supermarket, although I doubt they'll taste as good.

The piglets are getting more confident and energetic by the day and all wanted to come and investigate who I was at lunchtime when I went to give Charlotte some apples as a treat. Mum is much more chilled out this time and has no problem with either hubby or I being around or handling the babies........but she still doesn't like our friend Jordani and I doubt that will ever change now. I'll try and get some new photos of them all tomorrow.

Jam Season

Although my vegetable garden isn't doing fantastically the fruit is starting to ripen on our many trees. A couple of weeks ago I harvested some lovely sour cherries and mulberries which I turned into jam. The sour cherries were also added to various alcoholic spirits and we now have a nice sour cherry vodka and a sour cherry liqueur which is mellowing nicely and should be much better at Christmas time.

Over the last 2 days I've harvested plums and once again made plum jam which is one of our favourites, also made some plum liqueur and finally got round to setting the green walnut liqueur away too. Hopefully they'll all work out well. Hubby is quite impressed with the tiny taste of sour cherry liqueur so I may just have to go pick some more before they start falling from the tree.

Once again the weather here has been strange, sunny this morning, wet and overcast for part of the afternoon then a big thunder storm this evening. As I'm typing this it's just started to rain again too. This is not normal June/July weather for Bulgaria and it's making a huge difference to the crops. Next week is supposed to be warmer and drier and I really hope it is, although it means I'll have to start watering the garden again!

I'm quite sad that there are no more lettuce or radish to be harvested now. Despite the cooler weather they've all bolted and what we hadn't managed to eat was fed to the chickens, nothing gets wasted here! The extra rain has made the grass have another spurt of growth and my weeds are doing wonderfully too, so today I was out with the scythe again for a while, then collected what I'd cut for the pigs to munch on. Charlotte is looking quite pregnant now, although we can't feel any babies moving about yet. We've had to cut her feed down slightly as she was getting a little bit overweight, and the piglets are getting extra feed now as they're so big. I'd love to weigh them all and I'm sure there's a formula out there somewhere on the interweb but I'll look for it another day.