The weather was starting to warm up now and we were finally coming around to the idea that Spring was on it's way! The beginning of the month was spent doing various jobs in the garden.
Firstly - chicken wiring-ing the orchard. We planned on getting chickens again this year and wanted them as low maintenance and as free range as possible. We already had a wire fence/stone walls around 3 sides of the orchard so we covered them with chicken wire to make them more secure. Along the bottom we created a new fence. Now there are kind of two 'halves' - the bottom half for us with the toilet block, picnic bench etc. and the top half for the chickens.
Secondly - digging. Digging trenches for water pipes. Very deep digging through rock (poor Pete) for proper water pipes from the barn to the toilet block. And shallow digging for our irrigation system (we're finally doing it!)
Thirdly - other gardening business and getting seedlings started!
Mid/late March Pete's bestie friend Ben came to stay for a week. Pete went to meet him in Sofia and they had a night out followed by a session at a shooting range. Ben has visited us several times now and some things on his wish list for this year were shooting and butchering an animal to eat (more to come on that later.) Both these requests were totally reasonable in this crazy country we now call home! Here's a few pics from Ben's visit:
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| Bulgarian lunch - rakia, pickled veg, walnuts and cheese |
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| The beginnings of a very tasty 'head cheese' made by Pete |
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| Yum! |
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Ben helped us to make our
first chicken coop
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Oh, earlier in the month we had Lucy spayed
and we made her wear this 'Radiohead' t-shirt to stop
her licking the wound. She hated it and it was like
having a stroppy teenager bumming around the house!
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Gorgeous blossom all month! The photos really don't do it
justice - it smells amazing too!
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So, one of the days Ben was here we organized to buy a whole goat from a friend of a friend in the next village. We've wanted to do this for a while and Ben wanted to experience the process too, so we got up early one morning to collect our goat. We saw it alive and then the farmer slit it's throat in front of us. We took the goat home and spent the whole day carefully butchering, cleaning, cooking, eating and preserving it. We ate/stored pretty much the entire animal (intestines for sausages, stomach for tripe etc.) and anything spare went to the pets. We even started processing the hide so we can keep the skin. Nothing wasted!
We ate fresh liver with eggs for breakfast and in the evening Pete made an AMAZING goat curry with all the bony bits of meat. In the evening some Bulgarian neighbours came over for a few beers too. It was a great day/evening. Thank you Mr Goat!
The pics aren't too bad, but maybe skip past if you're squeamish!
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| Curious (and hungry) pets |
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| Fresh breakfast |
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| Cleaning the insides |
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| Cleaning the hide |
Forest walk on Ben's last day:
Coop number one in place in the orchard:
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| Side doors to collect eggs |
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| Large open-able front for cleaning |
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| Ladder for the chicks |
The coop looks good, how many chickens will you get. Our chickens are very free range having a fenced in field to themselves. However we came home last week to find a jackal with one of our chickens in its mouth !
ReplyDeleteI managed to chase it off and it dropped the chicken whuch was a bit ruffled but otherwise fine. We are now trying to find a cheap electric fence.
Thanks! Oh no, a jackal that close in the day time is quite unusual! We had 8 hens but 2 got taken in the night :-( These coops are supposed to be jackal proof because of the ladder but something obviously figured it out - a pole cat we think! We now have a door on the coop which we close at night or, when it's not raining, we tie the dog up there to keep watch! We have another coop and plan on getting more chickens too, for eating. An electric fence is a good idea! Good luck, let us know how it goes!
DeleteYes we lock our ladies up at night. Only trouble is now is a snake has taken up residence in the wall we have to pass to lock them away. It's like running the gauntlet ha ha.
ReplyDeleteDear Minty, I always love reading your blog! I hope that you also read mine (bulgariawithnoodles.blogspot.com in case you had forgotten). Well, I am still teaching at St.George's School in Sofia, but for the last few weeks I have had to teach online. In the summer, I think that I will retire (again).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, please, please, PLEASE write your blog more often. I had quite a few messages from people, asking me if something awful had happened to you!