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Monday 27th Feb

 

So this month we are all about getting the campsite ready for the summer season. There is a long list of jobs and we've been working away this week, starting to tick some of them off. We started with the far right hand side of the orchard - we didn't get around to clearing this area at all last year and so it was very overgrown. There was also a pretty, moss covered stone wall hidden in there somewhere which we wanted to uncover.

A few before shots...

Look at the size of this clematis!

 

Monday was a gorgeous sunny day so it was a pleasure to be working in the garden. Pete was with the pick axe digging up the hundreds of tiny stumps from tree saplings and horrible little thorn bushes. He set fire to the dead grass on the ground, which also burnt a lot of the fallen leaves and cleared the area without having to use the strimmer. I made a fire and began work on uncovering the wall. There is another row of walnut trees along the wall which have been completely smothered by clematis. It was quite a job untangling the trees from the vines, but it was satisfying to set them free!

 

Tools at the ready

Fire in the sunshine

Burnt ground

Slowly uncovering the wall

Packing up for the day

 

We stopped slightly early to go to Chirpan as our mattock had broken and we needed a new handle. Whilst we were out we didn't want to waste the glorious sunshine, so we stopped in a café for a beer and some chips.

 

Tuesday 28th

 

We started early today and did a full day working in the same way as yesterday. Roots were dug up, grass was burnt and more of the wall was unveiled. There were a few sections where the wall had fallen down so I took some time to re-build these areas. I only did a quick job as we are not fussed about this wall looking perfect, but they turned out quite well and has given me confidence that I will be able to re-build some of the other collapsed walls in the future.  

Just a quick bit of dry stone walling

Revealing the wall

Burning the ground

Looking clear

 

As we worked we also kept filling sacks with the small pieces of stone and at the end of the day we drove up to dump them on the track to the campsite. We actually did this every day this week and the track is coming along nicely. Once we'd dumped the stone we then drove along to our neighbours and filled 20 large sacks with compost from the worm farm (he has told us we can help ourselves when we need it.) We then drove it home and wheel-barrowed it all in to the garden on and on to the raised beds. I then raked it all out whilst Pete started to make dinner. This month is also time to start planting our veg - both inside into containers and outside straight into the beds. Exciting stuff - we just need more time to do everything!

Making the rubble track

Compost on the veg beds

 

Phew, a long but very productive day! This good weather can't last forever so we need to crack on whist we have the opportunity!



Wednesday 1st March - Baba Marta Day

 

Pete's back was hurting this morning so we thought he better have a day off the digging and he had a day being a house-husband. He cleaned the kitchen, made me coffees and lunch and also used most of our Jerusalem artichoke harvest to make a huge batch of soup for the freezer. We have saved the rest of the J Arts to plant.

Jerusalem artichoke soup in the freezer

 

Whilst he was doing that I was back in the garden carrying on with the clearance. I got another big section of the stone wall uncovered and I made a small entrance way where part of the wall had collapsed - down the line this will be the main entrance to the toilet block from our large field. The walnut trees have all been freed from the strangling vines so hopefully we will get an even bigger harvest this year. There are still a lot of thorn bushes to clear from behind the wall, which will open up the orchard and give a great view down to the Rhodope mountains - but that job can wait until another day!

Before

After - with a neat entrance way

In the evening Hristo asked us over to help him fix his boiler and then asked if we wanted to stay for dinner. We stayed and had beer and chips (his wife was away!) and a fun evening chatting with him.
 

Thursday 2nd

Pete was back in action today and got straight on with the mammoth task of digging out a flat area to pitch tents on. He dug out an area like this last year but with any luck we might have more than one camper at a time, so we thought we'd better dig another one, just in case! I attempted to help with the digging but I was completely useless so I went down the hill to carry on with clearing instead.

The circular pitch Pete dug last year

Starting to dig the new pitch

Dig dig dig

Pete got off to an amazing start on the pitch and I cleared yet more clematis and discovered another mulberry tree behind the toilet block. I had to stop clearing there as the fence that secures our neighbours garden is broken and we will have to take it down. We didn't want to do that without having a replacement at hand, so that will have to wait until we have the materials.

Good work - the deepest corner is done

More clearing and burning

Before

After

Fire at sunset

Evening time in the orchard

Another long day working in the sunshine. :-)

Friday 3rd

Market day! We did the usual shop this morning, with nothing eventful happening. The only thing to mention is that we are in vegetable limbo at the moment as all the winter veg has finished and the summer veg is yet to begin! The only thing that is really plentiful is fruit and spinach. Oh and also our salami man is making salamis again, so that is good!

Back home we unpacked, had lunch and then decided to make a picnic bench - we plan to make several to have dotted around the campsite. We had planned it already (watched a YouTube video) and had bought all the wood we needed. We followed the instructions on the video and within 3 hours we had a lovely, sturdy picnic bench. The hardest part was carrying it up the steps into the orchard! It is a pub style table and only cost about £25 in materials, so we are very pleased.

Working in the hot sun

All bolted together

Just the seats to attach now

Once we'd got it in place at the top of the orchard we poured some white wine spritzers and enjoyed the last of the sunshine.

A bench with a view

Walkies

Gorgeous sunset

Saturday 4th

Our neighbour Baba V was back today after spending the winter in Chirpan. A huge, dead cherry tree had fallen over under the weight of the snow and she asked if we could come and chop it up with our chainsaw. So we got the chainsaw out of hibernation and were pleased to find it started with no worries. We spent the morning at Baba V's chopping up the tree and then helped her re-make her vine trellis, which had also fallen down in the snow. She tried to pay us for our work but we would only accept and coffee and later on she bought over a bag with some jars of vegetables and some seeds for us to plant. Ah, it is good to have her back in the village!

Pete was back to digging the tent pitch today and amazingly he managed to finish it - the extra soil just needs raking out now. There is not a lot to write about this job, but it was bloody hard work and Pete has done a great job!

All done! :-)

I was on the left hand side of the orchard today clearing the other stone wall. This wall was not covered anything like as much as the other side so didn't take long to do. With my new found enthusiasm for dry stone walling I thought I would have a go at re-building the huge gap where the wall had collapsed. This was quite a difficult job to begin, but once I'd got going it went quite well. We both worked until after 5 o'clock - another long day! :-)

Before shots of the other wall...

All cleared by the end of the day

And the beginnings of a new wall

Sunday 5th

We had a day off today as we had friends coming over in the afternoon. I spent the morning tidying and hoovering the house whilst Pete cooked a big shepherds pie for later. At around 3 o'clock our friends came over and we sat in the warm sunshine catching up with them over spritzers and meze. As the sun was setting we all went out for a walk to the lavender fields before coming home for dinner and a few beers. It was a really lovely and relaxing end to a busy week. :-)

I'll leave the update there for now and I'll post about this week on Sunday.

Oh one last thing. I forgot to mention last week that we sadly lost one of our neighbours and friends a couple of weeks ago. Blue Lady (we called her) was a lovely Baba and actually the first person we met in our village, who, even in her mid eighties, helped us to unload our van and carry in our very heavy tent! She was always so friendly and giving and actually the snowdrops that she gave us last year are flowering again now. Last summer she asked us if we would visit her grave when she died, which we of course said we would and we have kept our promise every time we take Lucy out for a walk. RIP Blue Lady.

Thanks for reading everyone, leka nosht! xx