This year has gone by so fast and I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing!
Almost mid December now and we have snow, looking out of the window the sunshine looks warm, but it's bitterly cold with a awful wind so the woodburner is on and my socks are dry Alan!
I still can't get over the fact that 1 week we can have 20 degrees C and then the next it's -7 degC. All gardening has finished for the year and the last of the volunteers will be heading on his way at the weekend probably. We've had such a fantastic bunch of people here this year, over 40 in all, and the work they have done is amazing. We've laughed, celebrated birthdays, ridden ponies, shoveled muck, pulled weeds and had some great times.
Today is 12.12.12 and the last of those kind of numbers we'll see. Oh and who can forget the mention that the world will end on 21.12.12 according to the Mayan calendar? Well to me they are just days, and no different from any other day here in rural Bulgaria. there are still animals to feed, water and clean out and I still have to make the evening meal. Plus keep the fire going and make an attempt at keeping the house clean.
Keeping the house clean in winter is pretty hard with all the dogs and cats going in and out, snow and mud on boots and the dust that just never seems to stop. But I can ignore all that for a while and do some writing work or watch a movie. And we do have our fast internet now so that makes blog posting easier (but doesn't mean I spend less time in front of the computer!).
Here's hoping that where ever you are, you are warm, happy and content with your life.
Ciao for now :)
Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Latest Photo's
I wanted to share with you some photographs of our latest volunteers and the work they've done. Five out of six are leaving this weekend to continue their travels and we're so lucky to have had them stay with us.
So this Blog post is dedicated to all of the volunteers we've had over the last year, who have helped, created, laughed and enriched our lives. Thanks guys and girls!
So this Blog post is dedicated to all of the volunteers we've had over the last year, who have helped, created, laughed and enriched our lives. Thanks guys and girls!
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| The ladies off to work. From left to right : Joanna, Allison, Cheryl, Camille & Dee. |
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| Nick having a go at Archery. |
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| Dee & Antoine at the archery range. |
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Changing Times
May has been a strange month so far. We've had higher than average temperatures and lower rainfall, until this week when all of the rain seems to have fallen over 2 days with more forecast. So today was an indoors, quiet and pretty dull day.
Maybe it's because hubby filled the above ground pool? a freak weather pattern? or possibly just global warming/cooling? Who knows for sure? But please just let me have a little sunshine during the day and rain after 8pm :)
Our volunteers are getting along well and working very hard. They have a few projects on the go and some are staying longer than planned as they'd like to see things through and complete tasks they have a part in. I really must say that they're a lovely bunch of folk, from a variety of places and with many skills and ideas between them. Plus they will eat almost anything so I'm getting to try out a few new recipes, which seem to be appreciated.
The vegetable garden is starting to produce again and is almost fully planted. New raised beds have been built and there are a few experiments on the go using old straw, compost and whatever I could find around the place. I'm glad to say that the last 3 years trying to improve areas of soil seem to be paying off nicely.
We have some lovely new artwork done by some of the volunteers, more planned for another rainy day and hopefully they will remind us of the fun we had when they were here. The sewing machine has been getting regular use, new cushion covers made, garments altered or repaired with some fabric leftover for more projects.
Our orchard area is now clear of the many young, wild fruit trees that were dominating the area, new fencing has been erected and a stone wall rebuilt. Hopefully soon the weather will break and it can be finished. Then the horses can enjoy grazing without being tethered.
I'm off to bed soon and hope you are all enjoying life, but before I go I wanted to answer Michael's comment from my previous post.
There are a fair amount of British expats in the VT region, and differing reasons for moving to this area. Some may find solace in the fact that there are others close by that they have things in common with, others because property is cheap here. Personally we moved here because we loved the scenery (and did look at other areas of BG before VT). Plus we could find what we were looking for - which was a structurally sound house (in need of renovation) with more than the average amount of land. Truthfully the British residents in the area are pretty well spread apart and do not live in each other's pockets. We are 1 of 4 expat families living in this village (10 people in total including 3 children) and a very small proportion of the village inhabitants (at the last census 806). We all live in different parts of the village and have Bulgarian friends and neighbours.
Keep posting the comments folks :)
Maybe it's because hubby filled the above ground pool? a freak weather pattern? or possibly just global warming/cooling? Who knows for sure? But please just let me have a little sunshine during the day and rain after 8pm :)
Our volunteers are getting along well and working very hard. They have a few projects on the go and some are staying longer than planned as they'd like to see things through and complete tasks they have a part in. I really must say that they're a lovely bunch of folk, from a variety of places and with many skills and ideas between them. Plus they will eat almost anything so I'm getting to try out a few new recipes, which seem to be appreciated.
The vegetable garden is starting to produce again and is almost fully planted. New raised beds have been built and there are a few experiments on the go using old straw, compost and whatever I could find around the place. I'm glad to say that the last 3 years trying to improve areas of soil seem to be paying off nicely.
We have some lovely new artwork done by some of the volunteers, more planned for another rainy day and hopefully they will remind us of the fun we had when they were here. The sewing machine has been getting regular use, new cushion covers made, garments altered or repaired with some fabric leftover for more projects.
Our orchard area is now clear of the many young, wild fruit trees that were dominating the area, new fencing has been erected and a stone wall rebuilt. Hopefully soon the weather will break and it can be finished. Then the horses can enjoy grazing without being tethered.
I'm off to bed soon and hope you are all enjoying life, but before I go I wanted to answer Michael's comment from my previous post.
There are a fair amount of British expats in the VT region, and differing reasons for moving to this area. Some may find solace in the fact that there are others close by that they have things in common with, others because property is cheap here. Personally we moved here because we loved the scenery (and did look at other areas of BG before VT). Plus we could find what we were looking for - which was a structurally sound house (in need of renovation) with more than the average amount of land. Truthfully the British residents in the area are pretty well spread apart and do not live in each other's pockets. We are 1 of 4 expat families living in this village (10 people in total including 3 children) and a very small proportion of the village inhabitants (at the last census 806). We all live in different parts of the village and have Bulgarian friends and neighbours.
Keep posting the comments folks :)
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Volunteer Season is Here
What a lovely month this is turning out to be - in fact, the last 4 weeks have been fabulous. The garden is coming along nicely, animals all happy and shedding their winter coats and we have volunteers staying with us again.
All's good in my little world. We're enjoying life again and winter is definitely behind us. There have been some lovely nights in and out with friends, my birthday, beautiful sunshine, temperatures rising and everything is green and healthy looking.
Hubby surprised me and bought a new camera for my birthday, plus tiled the kitchen walls. Once I get a new memory card I'll be out and about taking snapshots of my daily life for you all to see.
Keep posting the comments folks, I really do enjoy reading them and wanted to say thank you to anyone who reads this blog for sticking with it.
Back soon with an update on what's growing well and any other news from my corner of rural Bulgaria.
All's good in my little world. We're enjoying life again and winter is definitely behind us. There have been some lovely nights in and out with friends, my birthday, beautiful sunshine, temperatures rising and everything is green and healthy looking.
Hubby surprised me and bought a new camera for my birthday, plus tiled the kitchen walls. Once I get a new memory card I'll be out and about taking snapshots of my daily life for you all to see.
Keep posting the comments folks, I really do enjoy reading them and wanted to say thank you to anyone who reads this blog for sticking with it.
Back soon with an update on what's growing well and any other news from my corner of rural Bulgaria.
Monday, 14 November 2011
And back to 2 again
We've had another busy week or so. First we had my sister in law and brother in law for a flying visit of 4 days, then another 2 volunteers arrived for a short stay too. Alex & Jodie popped over for a meal one night (with Yoshi the dog), and so for the last week there has been between 4 and 8 people here and never a dull moment.
Now life has returned to normal and I'm here most days on my own while hubby is off working. I'm back to cooking for 2 and we even have 1 less dog also. It was lovely seeing family again, meeting new people and getting together for a good laugh, a few drinks and the obligatory game of poker. But the silence here is now deafening!
Our latest volunteers were a lovely couple from Taranaki, New Zealand who have been exploring europe for some time and will have some fantastic memories. They helped with all kinds of things from fence building to dishwashing and collecting 1000 kilo's of loose maize from the village corporation. Great job guys :) And I'm glad you both managed to get a pair of Baba socks too.
Weather wise it's much colder now, but at least the flies and mosquitoes have gone. The fire has been lit most evening and some daytimes too, it's frosty on a morning and quite dull. We think there will be snow pretty soon although so far it's not forecasted on the local weather.
Yesterday was my daughters 16th birthday and I really missed being with her, even though we did speak on the phone. Where did all of those years go to? She seemed happy, is getting on well at school and has plenty of friends, the same as my son. I'm really proud of them both.
Now life has returned to normal and I'm here most days on my own while hubby is off working. I'm back to cooking for 2 and we even have 1 less dog also. It was lovely seeing family again, meeting new people and getting together for a good laugh, a few drinks and the obligatory game of poker. But the silence here is now deafening!
Our latest volunteers were a lovely couple from Taranaki, New Zealand who have been exploring europe for some time and will have some fantastic memories. They helped with all kinds of things from fence building to dishwashing and collecting 1000 kilo's of loose maize from the village corporation. Great job guys :) And I'm glad you both managed to get a pair of Baba socks too.
Weather wise it's much colder now, but at least the flies and mosquitoes have gone. The fire has been lit most evening and some daytimes too, it's frosty on a morning and quite dull. We think there will be snow pretty soon although so far it's not forecasted on the local weather.
Yesterday was my daughters 16th birthday and I really missed being with her, even though we did speak on the phone. Where did all of those years go to? She seemed happy, is getting on well at school and has plenty of friends, the same as my son. I'm really proud of them both.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Lots to do and make
I've had a busy week again but don't seem to be achieving much when I look around the place. Yet the house is pretty clean, the stables are mucked out daily and I've been cooking and baking too, plus managing to fit in shopping, bill paying etc.
Paying bills and shopping usually means a trip into Gorna Oryahovitsa for me, apart from the electric and water bills that can be paid at the post office in the village. Yes we have shops here (approximately 9 of them) but they all sell the same things and cater for basic tastes. Which is fine for essentials like bread and lentils, but for anything other we do need to travel about a half hour in the car and hit the supermarkets in town. It's something of a mini day trip and I actually enjoy getting out and about for a while.
So today I've been to Kaufland and Lidl supermarkets and stocked up on a few items, plus the weekly village market this morning so a busy day. Home to offload the shopping and store everything away, then outside in the sunshine to shovel muck and get the stables all ready for the horses to come in for the night, and once all the animals were settled and fed I made a lovely brocolli and sweetcorn soup for tea.
We've had the fire lit every night for over a week now as it's much cooler when the sun sets. Daytime temperatures are still quite nice and we've had a flush of grass on the field and paddocks. I have a few late planted peas showing themselves and the lettuces and garlic are all in and ready to overwinter. We won't be having any of the vegetable patch plowed this year but will be starting to spread manure in the next week or so to try and further improve the soil.
My sister in law and brother in law are on their way to Bulgaria in a van and should hopefully arrive by Monday, so we'll be having a nice reunion for a couple of days before they have to leave. Then we'll be one dog less as Fudge is going with them to start his new life in the UK. He'll be missed, especially by his constant companion Butch, but will at least be back with his owners. I've also got new Wwoof volunteers arriving on Monday, a couple from New Zealand who are eager to do a bit of work around the place and learn more about Bulgaria.
I'll blog again soon and let you know how we're all getting along :)
Paying bills and shopping usually means a trip into Gorna Oryahovitsa for me, apart from the electric and water bills that can be paid at the post office in the village. Yes we have shops here (approximately 9 of them) but they all sell the same things and cater for basic tastes. Which is fine for essentials like bread and lentils, but for anything other we do need to travel about a half hour in the car and hit the supermarkets in town. It's something of a mini day trip and I actually enjoy getting out and about for a while.
So today I've been to Kaufland and Lidl supermarkets and stocked up on a few items, plus the weekly village market this morning so a busy day. Home to offload the shopping and store everything away, then outside in the sunshine to shovel muck and get the stables all ready for the horses to come in for the night, and once all the animals were settled and fed I made a lovely brocolli and sweetcorn soup for tea.
We've had the fire lit every night for over a week now as it's much cooler when the sun sets. Daytime temperatures are still quite nice and we've had a flush of grass on the field and paddocks. I have a few late planted peas showing themselves and the lettuces and garlic are all in and ready to overwinter. We won't be having any of the vegetable patch plowed this year but will be starting to spread manure in the next week or so to try and further improve the soil.
My sister in law and brother in law are on their way to Bulgaria in a van and should hopefully arrive by Monday, so we'll be having a nice reunion for a couple of days before they have to leave. Then we'll be one dog less as Fudge is going with them to start his new life in the UK. He'll be missed, especially by his constant companion Butch, but will at least be back with his owners. I've also got new Wwoof volunteers arriving on Monday, a couple from New Zealand who are eager to do a bit of work around the place and learn more about Bulgaria.
I'll blog again soon and let you know how we're all getting along :)
Thursday, 20 October 2011
A Funny Old Week
After the rain and dull skies last week I'd half hoped the weather would be nice, and so it has been today and yesterday. But we woke up to snow on Tuesday morning and boy was that a shock! Yes, it had been colder than average but that's when the realisation that winter is coming actually hit.
Every year it's a battle to try and stay ahead of the weather. And each year we seem to get a little better at it thankfully. The central heating system is up and working correctly, the barn is full of straw and hay for the animals and we have plenty of firewood chopped but not all split yet. That doesn't worry me though as it's good exercise and can be done even on cold days.
In other news, I've been a bit poorly, but think it was just a bug and I'm almost back to full strength now. Plus one of our dogs bit me during a fight so I've had a sore leg too. Nothing serious and she certainly didn't mean to bite me.
Hubby has some red wine fermenting from grapes he was given by a lady he recently did some work for. We're not huge wine drinkers but I think it will be nice to have something different for a change.
And we have another workaway volunteer arriving at the weekend too. So more help for me and someone to ride the horses for a while. When our last volunteer left I joked that she should write a blog post about all of the new foods she tried while travelling - but I bet yorkshire pudding and scotch eggs wasn't to be expected in Bulgaria.
Fudge, the dog above, will be leaving us in a few weeks to start a new life in the UK. He's my sister in law's dog and has been staying with us for about a year until she got settled and his passport and paperwork were in order. A strange but funny dog (in the nicest way), who was used to being pampered and living in the house until he came here. Since he's been here he's adapted very well and loves to live outside with one of our other dogs, Butch. It'll be all new to him in the UK but at least he'll be back with his owners and little miss will be delighted to have him back.
Fingers crossed the weather holds out a bit longer. I've been trying my hardest to get the horses and Maggie's (the donkey) feet into shape and this morning managed the donkey's 2 front feet on my own - I was amazed at how well she behaved! Tomorrow morning is village market day (and also the mayoral elections) so I'll see if Maya will be good for at least 2 feet trimmed then. Slowly does it, but I am making progress and they look better than when the village so called blacksmith comes :) I'll post some photo's when I'm finished.
Every year it's a battle to try and stay ahead of the weather. And each year we seem to get a little better at it thankfully. The central heating system is up and working correctly, the barn is full of straw and hay for the animals and we have plenty of firewood chopped but not all split yet. That doesn't worry me though as it's good exercise and can be done even on cold days.
In other news, I've been a bit poorly, but think it was just a bug and I'm almost back to full strength now. Plus one of our dogs bit me during a fight so I've had a sore leg too. Nothing serious and she certainly didn't mean to bite me.
Hubby has some red wine fermenting from grapes he was given by a lady he recently did some work for. We're not huge wine drinkers but I think it will be nice to have something different for a change.
And we have another workaway volunteer arriving at the weekend too. So more help for me and someone to ride the horses for a while. When our last volunteer left I joked that she should write a blog post about all of the new foods she tried while travelling - but I bet yorkshire pudding and scotch eggs wasn't to be expected in Bulgaria.
Fudge, the dog above, will be leaving us in a few weeks to start a new life in the UK. He's my sister in law's dog and has been staying with us for about a year until she got settled and his passport and paperwork were in order. A strange but funny dog (in the nicest way), who was used to being pampered and living in the house until he came here. Since he's been here he's adapted very well and loves to live outside with one of our other dogs, Butch. It'll be all new to him in the UK but at least he'll be back with his owners and little miss will be delighted to have him back.
Fingers crossed the weather holds out a bit longer. I've been trying my hardest to get the horses and Maggie's (the donkey) feet into shape and this morning managed the donkey's 2 front feet on my own - I was amazed at how well she behaved! Tomorrow morning is village market day (and also the mayoral elections) so I'll see if Maya will be good for at least 2 feet trimmed then. Slowly does it, but I am making progress and they look better than when the village so called blacksmith comes :) I'll post some photo's when I'm finished.
Monday, 10 October 2011
A Change of Pace
I babble on about the weather in most of my blogs posts and this one is no different! We have had rain, and a fair old amount of the stuff - just what the garden needs after at least 8 weeks without it. Hopefully as temperatures aren't that cold we may even get some grass starting to come through as the field has been looking pretty bare and parched.
We have filled the central heating system back up and had the fire burning, luckily all of our winter wood supply is indoors and nicely seasoned so should burn really well. There is still a fair amount of logs to split but that can be done over time, a little a day and soon it will be all ready for the winter.
At the moment we have 2 workaway volunteers with us and they are really nice. We've enjoyed having both lots of volunteers stay and help and I think we'd be hosts again, but probably not this year as there is less to do now. Next spring we'll probably start accepting volunteers again to help in the garden and with a few projects that we haven't got round to doing this year.
I'm quite looking forward to winter, snuggled up with a book, fire roaring away and not worrying about whether or not my clothing matches as no-one will see it anyway. There will still be the animals to take care of and the usual cleaning and cooking but there should be more time to chill out and relax too.
My garden is looking a bit bare since the pumpkin harvest and now most of the other plants have been pulled out too. I do have garlic, peas, lettuce and radish planted so we may get a late crop of a few things. If not at least the garlic should grow well and be established before winter arrives, then have a head start in the spring. This year's garlic bulbs were wonderful and pretty big, the best to date. I have saved a couple of chilli plants and potted them up to come inside for the colder months, this week all of the small potted trees, flowering plants in pots and a few other bits and pieces will have to be brought in to the house until spring. Every year the number of pots in the house grows and I struggle to find places for everything!
Well I'm off to find something to do, woke up this morning with backache and have had a headache lingering on since around 10am - I doubt looking at this pc screen is helping!
Ciao for now :)
We have filled the central heating system back up and had the fire burning, luckily all of our winter wood supply is indoors and nicely seasoned so should burn really well. There is still a fair amount of logs to split but that can be done over time, a little a day and soon it will be all ready for the winter.
At the moment we have 2 workaway volunteers with us and they are really nice. We've enjoyed having both lots of volunteers stay and help and I think we'd be hosts again, but probably not this year as there is less to do now. Next spring we'll probably start accepting volunteers again to help in the garden and with a few projects that we haven't got round to doing this year.
I'm quite looking forward to winter, snuggled up with a book, fire roaring away and not worrying about whether or not my clothing matches as no-one will see it anyway. There will still be the animals to take care of and the usual cleaning and cooking but there should be more time to chill out and relax too.
My garden is looking a bit bare since the pumpkin harvest and now most of the other plants have been pulled out too. I do have garlic, peas, lettuce and radish planted so we may get a late crop of a few things. If not at least the garlic should grow well and be established before winter arrives, then have a head start in the spring. This year's garlic bulbs were wonderful and pretty big, the best to date. I have saved a couple of chilli plants and potted them up to come inside for the colder months, this week all of the small potted trees, flowering plants in pots and a few other bits and pieces will have to be brought in to the house until spring. Every year the number of pots in the house grows and I struggle to find places for everything!
Well I'm off to find something to do, woke up this morning with backache and have had a headache lingering on since around 10am - I doubt looking at this pc screen is helping!
Ciao for now :)
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Autumn has Arrived
The leaves are falling from the trees, we've had cooler weather and even a few spots of rain! Autumn is definitely here. The horses and donkey are starting to get their winter coats and the nights are drawing in now.
But it is now October and the cooler weather means I can get outside more comfortably and work in the garden. I've sown a few seeds as an experiment and need to pull the tomato plants out next week to make space for garlic. All of the pumpkins have been harvested so we know what we'll be eating this winter! Lots of pumpkin recipes needed so please feel free to send me some :)
We have new volunteers arriving this next week, Workaways this time. So hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things and make progress again. It'll be fun to have new faces around and some help too. Plus I get 2 new guinea pigs for my cooking skills, or lack of depending on how you see things!
I'm off to hang some washing outside to dry while the sun is shining. Already I'm sorting the autumn/winter wardrobe out and starting to pack away the shorts, but not all of them yet.
But it is now October and the cooler weather means I can get outside more comfortably and work in the garden. I've sown a few seeds as an experiment and need to pull the tomato plants out next week to make space for garlic. All of the pumpkins have been harvested so we know what we'll be eating this winter! Lots of pumpkin recipes needed so please feel free to send me some :)
We have new volunteers arriving this next week, Workaways this time. So hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things and make progress again. It'll be fun to have new faces around and some help too. Plus I get 2 new guinea pigs for my cooking skills, or lack of depending on how you see things!
I'm off to hang some washing outside to dry while the sun is shining. Already I'm sorting the autumn/winter wardrobe out and starting to pack away the shorts, but not all of them yet.
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Wwoof
A selection of photo's taken by our lovely Wwoofer's Michele & Agnes in their time here :)
You'll both be missed when you go!
You'll both be missed when you go!
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| Michele moving straw bales for the eco summer house |
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| Archery time |
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| Maggie posing! |
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| Waiting for the rakia to distill, in style |
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| the end of rakia making |
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| Ivan our local beekeeping guru & friend |
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| Agnes finally caught on camera, with Michele building raised beds for spring use |
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| Michele riding Maya |
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| Artwork on the barn partition and one of our lovely girls lol |
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