bluegaria

The paying of a deposit has meant the end to house hunting and the round of window shopping, looking at appliances etc has now started. But now that my sister and BIL are finding their feet a bit they can be allowed out on their own and have hired a car so that they can get out and about while we are busy. They have now gone off to Sofia for a few days, leaving Bracken with us to learn the ropes with regards living in the countryside, such as getting up early (but it's still DARK!) and going for a walk before the birds are up, going to bed early too. Trying hard not to chase the cats, not dribbling while he watches the chooks going about their business, coming in from a mooch in the garden licking his chops after finding something tasty out there (but of course he is far too well bred to hunt out cat poo!!)

He's desperate to play with Charlie, but he is such a little cat and Bracken is a very large labrador

But Charlie is as friendly as ever and is quite happy to sit with him....

....or Bella

Their first trip once they had the car was the market. They wanted boots and chillis, just a few to spice up G's life, he likes a little on most things. We sent them off with warnings about what they might end up with, even now we sometimes get it wrong and have more than we bargained for. The boots were fine, onions a bit more tricky as the ready prepared bags still had to be weighed (we forgot to tell H that) before being paid for. But there was definitely a breakdown in communication when it came to the chillis and the handful they wanted turned into a carrier bag full. Not a great expense (about 80p) but a lot to find a home for. I took some of them and H strung some up to dry. Great fun.

A carrier bag more than we needed

Dave wasn't going to go out but did and came back with flowers, a plant and new cruet set for one broken that morning. Spoilt I am.

Flowers from my husband

We have had a couple of ground frosts this week so the dahlias have been dug up, but there are still flowers in the garden and a few lazy bees in attendance. The onions and garlic are growing a bit too vigorously for my liking in the mild (sometimes hot) weather, I hope they cope with being frozen for long periods during winter. The moved celery is looking perky and I am hoping for another week or so of growth before I need to freeze it, time seems so short at the moment. It should be fine with light frost. We had our first cabbage the other day, you forget how nice plain green cabbage can be when there is so much to eat that you leave them to grow on. I would like to make some sauerkraut again later but again, depends on time. The chooks are enjoying having the freedom of the lower bed for the winter, busily putting things in order but the ducks have yet to find the hole in the gate.

Chrysanths in the garden

Hydrangea flowers in November

A dozy bee trying unsuccessfully to get inside a rose bud

This chrysanth was bought for me in early spring

Saw this on a visit to a friend's house, absolutely stunning

This week I have managed to get the mincemeat and Christmas cakes made. I have enough marzipan for some but am hoping that the supermarkets will have some nice ground almonds to make more. Usually the ones we get are ground with their skins on, not too pretty in marzipan! Plenty of time for that.

About twelve pounds of mincemeat...now depleted

Cake on the go, a slightly adapted version of James Martin's boiled cake

But we had to try the mincemeat even though it is far too early, and made an apple, mincemeat crumble pie....just research of course. And made some mince pies for visitors.

It might be early but these are delicious....and I went and gave most of them away!

Was lovely, our visitors thought so too

The final thing I am trying is making apple cider vinegar from the apple peelings and cores. It's bubbling away and soon we will see how it is.

ACV on the bubble

Another hectic week. A frantic few days looking at many houses has resulted in a possible match, but more of that another time. Suffice to say it is not in our village....and if it comes off, it's a very exciting house. Meanwhile Venka and Yordan asked us all round for their version of fish and chips after they had all been to the market and a hilarious time was had by all.

Venka, Yordan, Dave and Helen off to market

Supper with the neighbours, starting with pickles and rakia, then cold baked carp and chips and rakia (you get the picture) chunks of ham, then the still warm chocolate brownies I made which always go down a storm,

Yordan showing off his Liverpool scarf and hat brought back from the UK

We have been continuing to enjoy sunny days, warm enough for those from the UK to want to sit outside for meals, and cold nights, close to freezing. But the fire is practically cooking us! Autumn is definitely here, with the colours of the trees deepening and the garden plants which are not happy in cold keeling over. We will enjoy the days for as long as we can with our visitors not able to get enough of our lovely Bulgarian sun.

Home produced frittata, salad, bread and pickles in the sun

We have cleared the main garden apart from the few over wintering veggies. The onions and garlic are growing strongly, cabbages hearting up well, sprouts ....well...maybe we will get some. One of the two kale plants has been decimated by cabbage white caterpillars but hopefully there is time for it to come back before it gets too cold, and the broccoli is looking strong. What we get from these plants will depend on how low, and how long, the temperatures go down. We have moved the chard which did not bolt, and the English celery (it was in the way) and the leeks are up and either processed or standing in water. The latter Bulgarian giants have suffered in the plot, they came up with little root and many had bites out of them. The English ones in the shade fared a bit better, but were not huge. The peppers and beans have gone to the goats. We have dug up the sweet potatoes and were pleasantly surprised at the yields, some were huge. But unfortunately the crickets have had a field day and left them with many healed pock marks, though the potatoes themselves are OK inside. We will definitely give them another go, and as for critters....I am hoping that nature will sort the problem out without interference from us or chemicals, but that might take a couple of years.

All enjoying the garden clearout

These were some leeks Venka gave us, which I added to

And some celeriac

Leek chunks, slices and dice for the freezer

Digging up the sweet potatoes

Huge but pock marked

Huuuuge walnut from next door

And next to our decent sized ones. Our's are definitely superior quality

The celery is out with the carrots, beets, cabbage and chard

Yeuch! But we haven't had too many

So the ground has now been ploughed and the chickens and ducks will be going out there to hoover up any insects and grubs, then dig in the compost and fertilise for us. It will be left to the weather to do it's stuff before Dave attacks it with the rotovator in spring.

Angel ploughing with Dave and Venka in attendance

Raising the electric cable for the tractor

Bracken, Helen and Tilly look on

OI! That's not for you!

Millie came into season this week, just to add to the mayhem. Dave went off to see a local Billy owner, who's boy is unfortunately under the weather, so off to another who was a bit small and was hopping about, very keen but rather ineffective. Eventually Dave left Millie with the goat herder who also had a Billy, but a large one, and she spent a happy couple of days in their company. The second day we let Tilly go too as she had been a nightmare on her own at home and we were worried she would injure herself. The peace at home was lovely, so quiet, and we thought that maybe it would be good for us and the goats for them to go out regularly. The charges were a bit more than we thought they would be but we paid a month in advance to see how it would go. Unfortunately the Goat herder decided he would see what he could get out of us and tried to charge again, so it was a short but hopefully fruitful couple of days in company for Millie and the goat herder has cut off his nose to spite his face and will not be getting a regular income from us. She was certainly mated, but by which buck remains to be seen. If we need to try again we will hopefully find our local man's buck in better health.

The other animals are generally getting on OK. Charlie is so full on friendly that Bracken has no idea what to make of him. But he still chases the cat if he turns his back. Spud is keeping out of the way but if Bracken gets too close he gets sworn at. Poor Bracken, he has no idea how to take the two such different cats! Our two dogs have accepted the huge black lab as part of the furniture.

Saying hello to Millie

Checking out a new walk

I had a birthday this week and we went into VT to have lunch, show my sister and brother in law where the DIY and electrical shops are. Helen has spent thousands in her head....but I have been here long enough to be rather shocked at her extravagance....after all the appliances in the house will only be about ten years old.....

However, not to be out done and being a bit of a birthday girl hypocrite, we bought ourselves a new TV as the one we brought out with us keeps switching itself off. The idea of not being able to watch telly on cold winter nights doesn't bear thinking of. We got the next size up, still smaller than most at 40 inches but it makes viewing with tired eyes much easier.