A new (ish) hive

As reported in the last post the bees are doing really well. With this in mind we had a couple of options. One to get another tier for the hive we have, another to get in touch with companies selling new hives. We had been offered and accepted a couple of hives from someone we knew, but a neighbour of her's wanted them and we must look after our neighbours, then a friend who keeps bees offered us the loan of a tier, nothing from the five companies we contacted. A chance meeting with some ex-pats and an overheard conversation and a hive was produced in the village. Why we didn't think to ask the bar owner in the first place I don't know. So the new (ish) hive was collected and with a few modifications the bees and their brood and honey were transferred. It holds a few more frames and as soon as they are filled we will be extracting some honey.

Our original lilac hive.....

....and the bigger blue hive, with a section added in the middle as the lower portion was not deep enough for the brood frames

The old hive in the wood shed.....

....a couple of bees got lost

Which brings me to the honey extractor. Dave tried making a contraption but was getting a bit frustrated with it. We were contacted by a chap in the next village who had one for sale and off Dave went for a look. I have to admit it is an interesting bit of kit and if we decide not to use it it will make a good talking point. It is a huge contraption, capable of taking eight frames (we only wanted a two frame one) with a handle to crank and a tap. It has seen better days and is galvanised so if we use it we will not be able to sell any honey as EU regulations say it needs to be stainless steel, and so it should be. We will make do with filtering it for ourselves and it has had a good scrub and is ready to go.

The honey drain

Before having a good scrub

And the free hive, not a looker but is full of frames which just need new wax and it will do for spare parts

I had decided to cut down on the chutney making as there are only three months of car boots left and we don't eat huge amounts of the stuff ourselves so didn't want to be left with it...coupled with the threat of being ousted by the professionals. It is after all just a hobby. But we have these tomatoes coming out of our ears....the onions need using as some are going soft.....I have been given a load of apples....and even more beans.....and had the gooseberries to use. So much for that, there are new jars of apple and tomato, spiced tomato (plus some for us as I over boiled a batch) apple and onion, sweet and sour pickled beans, apple sauce and gooseberry jam. I want to do some more cucumber pickle and black plum jam, but would need to go shopping again for sugar and vinegar and bottles.

The black/purple plum tree is heavy with fruit with one branch falling

A very good year for the cornel (cornus) but the fruits, though a 'superfood' are incredibly astringent

But we are catching them in a net so our neighbour can have them for making rakia

Not sure what I am going to do with the bucket of yellow beans I was given today.....or the tomatoes in the bucket and bowls....or the ones waiting to be picked. I have skinned and frozen a load and bottled some more. I had trayed up a load to dry in the sun, but the sun went in and the tomatoes went mouldy. Oh well. I managed to give a big box of veg away but it has not made a dent.

Dave has finished an outstanding commission today, a friend's five dogs. A lovely painting and real likenesses. Some good coming from the dull weather we have had the last couple of days so with the tiger delivered last week he is up to date. The next one is for next year.

The five dogs...

And the tigress and cub

In the garden we plan on harvesting the borlotti beans this week but will have to wait for them to dry after the rain. The sweetcorn is still not ready but I am keeping an eye on it, don't want it to go too far so that I have to givethem to the chooks. And all the brassicas have whitefly so it will be out with the soapy water spray this week. And the tomatoes, cues and courgettes just keep coming........

Milka

 

 

 

Maya

There has been a bit of very sad news from a friend this week. She has had her two horses stolen from their field and is totally devastated. The thieves were careful to remove their recognisable fly masks before moving them, and it has to be someone who knows the area well as the house is not on the main drag. The facebook community have pulled together to try to find out who has taken them but although one is a palamino, a fairly unusual colour here, there has been no sightings and no dealer has heard anything. I really hope there is a good outcome. Pictures of the girls above.

I would like to take the opprtunity to thank all those of you who keep reading and especially those who comment, it is really appreciated. And the new chap, The Man In The White Hat, who is reading from start to finish and commenting as he goes. When you get here, thenk you very much for the positive feedback.

Not much to report

There's not a lot to report from here really. Most of what is gong on has been written about before so I am reluctant to go over old ground. I never get tired of, for example, seeing a load of different birds at the river, but I have to admit that one heron looks very like another! But we still love to see them.

The countryside is still looking very green after all the rain we have had, apart from the barley, rape and wheat fields most of which have been harvested now. The first of the sunflowers have now lost their yellow and their faces are turning brown but the plants are still green and strong. Other varieties are still yellow. The wild flowers are lovely still, the blue daisies and yellow verbascum, purple salvia and mauve mallow, pale pink hollyhock and wild carrot. Just a few of the mass. The trees along the side of road and field are dripping fruit and any wind results in not only a fall of fruit but of branches too.

He just couldn't resist!

A new bird for us, we think it's a night heron

We were given four carrier bags of apples from a fallen branch, two went to Venka's pigs.

We have seen some different animals while out and about, hares displaced by the combined harvesters, stoat and weasel, terrapins in the pools and river. The martens are leaving their calling cards by the gate at night, making me nervous for my chickens.

The first terrapin Dave has seen out here...unfortunately dead. I have seen them but the disappear so fast!

In the garden the weeds continue to grow, a constant battle. next year we are going to compact the veg garden and give more space to chickens and other fowl. We will be cutting down on tomatoes, beans, courgettes and butternut squash. And although the summer sprouting broccoli is doing OK the flavour is not as nice as the winter variety so will give that a miss next year. I would like to expand the strawberry patch but we seem to have lost a few plants over summer, not sure why. We have seen evidence of mole crickets on tubers so maybe that is a clue.

The raspberries are suddenly producing a lot more fruit and we seem to have two varieties. We did get two bunches of cuttings from the market and the chap did do a lot of explaining about them....but in Bulgarian! This second lot are paler and the fruit not as tight as the earlier ones. Suits us as it extends the season. We have had our first charentais melon this week and very nice it was too. It was slightly under ripe but sweet, fragarant and juicy all the same. The aubergines are cropping too, but the Colorado beetle have moved to them and to be honest we are not fond enough of them to worry too much. Yesterday Venka gave us four beauties which will do us for a while, along with a bag of yellow beans (we have pulled our's out, we don't like them much....maybe she thought they had failed!) The okra, another veg we can take or leave, are also cropping and I will try pickling some. Aparently they are transformed into something wonderful. We'll see.

Our little aubergine

and Venka's large aubs

Tasty little melon

We have had masses of tomatoes. The plum toms which seemed to be hit by blight and were showing signs of rotting have rallies and I picked a whole bucket of large, sound tomatoes yesterday and only one damaged fruit. I have given a lot of tomatoes away, but they tend to get replaced by the neighbors, the other day a carrierbag full pf gigantic fruit from our neighbours behind. Time to send them some more cherry tomatoes which make them giggle!

Bucket of plum toms.

One from the neighbour weighing in at 550g

1 lb 3 oz in old money

Just don't know what to do with all the cherry tomatoes but they will take up less room sun dried. That idea got rid of the sun, very dull today!

I nipped out to take some photos of flowers as a storm was brewing (again) and there had been lots of reports of hail in the area, I thought we could at least have some photos if all the flowers were flattened. As it happened it came to nothing...

Dave bought the agapanthus in memory of Mum, there was always a competition between the two of them to see who's could flower first and who had the most flower spikes. This one has a way to go.

Last week's car boot sale was the busiest yet. We sold masses of chutney and did a bit of bartering too. One lady had a box of veg (and a bag of our yellow beans for her pigs) in exchange for some natural remedies, and another chap gave me gooseberries in exchange for a couple of small jars of home made peanut butter. Dave took his paintings along and there was a lot of interest in them. There was a television crew there too, from the Bulgarian equivelent of the BBC we were told which is great publicity for the sale which is so busy now that they are out growing the field they use. Sellers range from businesses to the lady on the corner who has a few bits and pieces in a carrier bag, a really good mix of British and Bulgarians.

Tried something different to go with the lemon curd this week, mint jelly and chilli jelly. Unfortunately only sold one jar of mint jelly to a chap with a very sweet tooth

On a sad note we have lost my dear little Darcy hen, she of the twisted feet, and so named as she used to dance everywhere at full speed to keep her balance. She was one of the first shumens we bred and a real sweetie who put up with cuddles, unusual in the shumens. I miss her cheerful presence. She was never the strongest bird but happy in her own little world.

The chicks are driving their mum crazy. They are always through the fence as they are so small, and spend their time either in the compost heap, dodging the geese or in the thicket between our house and the neighbour. I will be very surprised if they reach old age! But they enjoy life. The older cockerel chicks are starting to find their voices and we will soon have to be moved on. The gang of four are a real bunch of tearaways who are constantly having mock battles and get through the fence somehow to get to my chard on the other side which they leave lacy. They are all different and will be going to their new homes (hopefully) as small cockerels rather than Shumens as the colours are not good for pure breds. We will not be breeding them any more, they are expensive to rear and too small for most people to want. Such a shame, we love them.

The adults anxiously watching the chicks disappear...

This young lad has a lot of red feathers coming through and a pale ear, not right for his breed

Very long legs this one

The gang of four

The bees are going from strength to strength and the hive is now full of honey so we will need to take some out, very exciting. Dave has bought a larger hive from a chap in the village and someone has given him another which needs repairing, so the colony will be moved into a larger, better insulated home soon. A honey extractor should be arriving any day so we had better start using more honey instead of sugar. trouble is we don't use a lot of sugar! I feel a barter coming on....and a search for honey recipes for the car boot sales.

The nights have been incredibly bright just lately, the moon giving off enough light to read by...but with the curtains open all night it causes a bit if light confusion in my brain and I am not sleeping well at all.

And finally, a Youtube video has been ciculating of that irritating happy song with scenes of our nearest city, Veliko Tarnovo.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJAs0yiZcg8

Getting back to work

I can't begin to explain how good it was to see Dave's sister and her OH. They were only here for a few days but we packed as much as we could into the time. They have seen enough to know that they want to come back for a longer, and maybe more leisurely, stay. Although they wanted a taste of the coast as well as rural Bulgaria, the coast has now come second. They took a taxi so that they could really enjoy the journey across country, and the driver, recommended by a friend here in VT, was informative, friendly and English speaking, nothing was too much trouble for him and his partner. Our neighbours, Venka and Jordan were thrilled to meet them, Venka giving her usual bear hugs and kisses as if she had known them for years. Unfortunately they didn't have time to visit all the neighbours, though we did have a short stop at the bar where our English neighbours had gathered.

We had a trip to the waterfalls at Hotnitsa on Sunday. It was an eye opener for me, we usually go mid week and first thing in the morning and don't usually see anyone. This time there were people camping and a refreshment van parked right by the water. There were streams of people arriving to spend the day. The other three went for a walk on the eco trail while I sat and watched someone shooting a gun while others moved around him taking no notice. It was probably a pellet gun or similar but even so, I was glad when they packed up and left.

View from the top

A smaller fall above the main one

Refreshments anyone?

A nice Bulgarian lady took a photo

Family

Dave picked me some flowers, they were properly dried by the time we got home

We then went on to Veliko Tarnovo and had lunch at our favourite restaurant and a short wander round the cobbled streets before heading for the river where the lads had a swim. The water was shallow but very fast, but they seemed to enjoy themselves, though us girls were not happy with the stink of cows and the hundreds of flies trying to hitch a ride in the car!

We sat in the stunning courtyard for lunch

But I ate my meal before remembering to photograph it

The placemats explain the history of the restaurant and museum

Tsaravets....they might get there next time

Two in the river

Make that three

Smaller, but cleaner. And lovely in this hot weather

Determined to sit outside, a mosquito net over the table

Next day they went off again to do some more sight seeing , a monastery and back into VT where they kindly bought me some pressies. I didn't go this time, my old legs were complaining and I had hundreds (it seemed) of cucumbers to pickle, especially as they were such a big hit with the rellies. It was very hot. The lads came home stinking after having a mud fight in the river!

So pretty, a bowl, lidded pot and lidded jug, lucky me.

While having breakfast the next morning we were summoned over to the neighbours for pizza, but luckily no rakia as the taxi was picking up at ten. Venka had her best top on in their honour and it was great that they had time to experience the warmth of these lovely people, who then sat in the lane waiting for them to leave....after giving them a large bag of tomatoes to take with them! And more hugs and kisses. Sad to see them go, but they will be back.

Pizza and Venka's special frothy coffee

Hugs all round

So it is back to normal now, making stuff for the car boot at the weekend. We delivered a tiger painting commission yesterday, it's always nice when they go, I worry that they will get damaged.

I have done some more tomato bottling though my outside gas ring has collapsed so I had to boil the jars indoors...and the weather is scorching! I am hopeful that there will be plenty though a lot have rotted on the plants due to disease brought on by the weather. I will be spraying like my neighbours next year now that I have found out what they use and that it is organic. Their tomatoes both sides are well over six feet with good trusses all the way. If I can grow them like that I will only need half a dozen!

Cherry toms, plum toms and pears in vanilla syrup

Elsewhere in the garden The leeks and cabbage are in and trying to cope with soaring temperatures. We have had the first of the summer purple sprouting broccoli, not as nice as the winter varieties but a change from beans and courgettes. We also accidentally had our first ever corn cob. Unfortunately I pulled on a weedy plant thinking to throw it to the geese and there was an immature little cob on it. I can't believe how fast they grow, and it looks as if we will have enough for us and a few for the chickens. The cucumbers are going mad, as it seems other's are too, our neighbours behind have given us 12 in a week. I have picked as many from our few plants. And the courgettes keep going!

The apricots are about done now. I made some puree from the windfalls and used some in a fool and some in yoghurt, very nice. Also made some curd which is good, more mellow than the lemon. The rest is in the freezer. With the next lot of windfalls Dave has started another batch of wine. Now the black plums are ripening so will have to think what to do with them.

The bees are going from strength to strength and Dave is on the lookout for a second hand hive and a honey spinner. There is lots of honey being made but we don't know yet if we will be able to harvest any this year. He has made some more frames ready in case he needs them. He has been stung twice now, both times when he was trying to tidy the weeds around the hive and they objected.

Man at work

Very nice

Happy beekeeper

One frame showing honey, nectar and brood cells

The geese are really showing character now, the big white one is presumably a boy and the one that came with him has curly feathers like her father, must be a she, it's pretty. I must stay away from them, I'll be giving them names next....the grey one is Matilda......

And for those of you who like bugs, we have seen a couple of whoppers lately.

Big juicy cricket

Red admiral

Rhinocerous beetle, a whopper

A locust cadged a lift in the car