Week 50

Autumn has arrived, the leaves are turning golden, days are generally warm but evenings are very chilly and smoke is now drifting from almost every chimney in the village as everyone lights their fires and return indoors.

Monday is a typical autumnal day so is perfect for starting to clear the old crop plants from our land. We harvest all the remaining tomatoes, the majority of which are green, the peppers and the chillies. Just beetroot, squashes and leeks remain. Tomorrow Pammi will have the last preserving day but today is spent pulling up the old plants, weeding, storing all the stakes and pulling up the paths. I pull up the old tiles we used as footpaths whilst Pammi cleans the mud from them. There are so many of them and takes a good few hours, next year we will definitely lay less paths. The evening is far too chilly to eat outside so we retire indoors, eat our meal then watch a DVD. Incredibly A&E made it back to London today after hitch-hiking across Europe in only 4 days, there are some very kind people out there.

This is the preserving pile

These we gave away to friends. Yes, that is a washing basket full!!

Last of the peppers and chillies

Tuesday starts off lovely and warm with bright sunshine so we can have breakfast in the courtyard once again. Coffee and toast consumed we can start work. Whilst Pammi makes the last sauces for preserving I carry on cleaning the mud from the tiles used as footpaths. It is so nice today we can even eat our lunch outside in the courtyard. The afternoon is spent preserving the tomatoes as sauces in jars whilst I prepared the chillies and peppers for freezing. But heavy rain rolls in just as we light the BBQ to sterilize the jars. Thankfully the fire was big enough not to go out and we managed to get all the preserving done. There were so many green tomatoes that we gave a large amount away as we just did not have enough jars or space to store any more chutneys or sauces. It was quite satisfying to think we had now preserved all our crops for the year and it will be interesting to see just how long it all keeps us fed for. Pammi makes us a lovely leek and potato gratin for our meal and just as we finish K&C pop in for a drink and to fetch some of the green tomatoes as Caroline wants to make some chutney. After a catch up on how their renovations are going they go home and we shut the evening chill out before a night of films again.

The last jars of the year being filled

Jars of relishes, chutneys and sauces

This is about half the crop of squashes so far

Wednesday is overcast and chilly. There are lots of little jobs to do today. First job of the day is a quick trip to Opaka for some grocery shopping. That done, we go home and whilst Pammi does a bit of cleaning I harvest what few walnuts there are lying about in the top land. We have had a few strong winds lately that have dropped the nuts from the branches but there are far more empty shells laying around than full ones. The nuts are definitely far smaller than last year but the birds and squirrels are taking the best for themselves. We have enough for our use and one full sack that we can sell later in the year but for now they are all drying out in the palace. Next job is to bath the dogs which normally Marple hates but today they both stay perfectly still whilst I wash them, maybe it is the warm water on this chilly day that makes them both behave so well. The car is the next to be cleaned before the final job of the day is giving myself a haircut which Pammi then has to inspect and trim up any bits of hair I have missed. Afterwards Pammi meditates then goes indoors to do some knitting in the warm. After our evening meal it is more knitting for Pammi whilst we watch another film.

Thursday morning we are up early as I am taking K&C to Targovishte to register their English van on Bulgarian plates. This is going to be fun! So whilst Pammi has a day cooking empanadas and quiches, K and I head off. Last time I was at the KAT office I spent six hours just getting new plates, this is a bit more complicated so have steeled myself for an all day session. Amazingly though when we get there, there is no queue and we walk straight to the window. Paperwork handed over all is looking good. Then we are directed to the bank teller to pay. The banker is not happy with the paperwork and, as it turns out not all the documents are available, they will not transfer the van to Bulgarian plates. Knew it was going too well. We will have to come back again when K has the necessary documents. Still, not a wasted trip as we both then go off to do some shopping before heading home. That evening Pammi and I go to the local bar for drinks with D who has a holiday home here and a couple of other English residents from the village, A & L. Before long we have the locals drinking with us and an evening of Bulgarian song and dance soon follows. It was a great but very late night.

At the local bar

Friday is another lovely sunny day but we have a bit of a lay-in after our late night. We both spend the day gardening, Pammi weeding and me strimming the lawn. Late afternoon Vesco, Dora, Danni and Baba B all come round for coffee. As Baba B is a wine making expert we ask her and V to take a look at our wine as we really have no idea what we are doing. They use a hydrometer to measure the amount of alcohol in the vats and after a sample of each vat decide that we need to add some sugar. Also the microbes need killing so V will bring some solution tomorrow that we must add to each vat. It is getting chilly again so they do not stay too long but it was lovely to see them all and so kind that they helped us with the wine. We too soon head indoors for the night. These colder, darker nights seem to really shorten our working days now but best we get used to it, winter is coming soon. Rice with spicy chickpeas for our meal gives us a nice warm glow and we batten down the hatches for another night of films.

Lawns neat and tidy again

Saturday V is coming round to sort our wine vats out for us. I dissolve 2 kilos of sugar into each vat whilst we wait for him to arrive, meanwhile Pammi is doing the deep clean of the house. V brings with him a wine paddle for stirring the vats twice daily and gives it to us as a gift, so so kind. He also adds an acid solution to the vats which smells incredibly toxic but apparently is harmless and just kills all the microbes in the wine. He stays for a coffee but is off to work today so soon has to leave. I am told that we have to have a hydrometer for testing our wine so whilst Pammi is still cleaning I nip off to buy one. Easier said than done. I bump into a number of friends in the village and on the way to the shops, then have trouble finding anywhere that sells them. What should have been an hour trip turns into more than twice that and by now most of the afternoon is gone. Once home though we decide to have our evening meal in the courtyard whilst it is still slightly warm and sunny. We have quorn steaks (that Samantha brought over with her), chips (cooked in the clay oven) and the last lettuce salad of the year. It has been a week of things being done for the final time, including Pammi having her final glass of white wine, a sure sign summer is over. After our meal we took a stroll around the village and saw Efan and Eva but nobody else as they are all indoors now. Temperatures drop really quickly in the evening now and in fact it is so cold tonight we light our wood-burner, but two logs later the house is so hot we have to take a couple of layers of clothing off. Maybe we are not totally Bulgarian yet and must wait a while before it is cold enough for the petchka (fire) to be lit.

Using our new wine paddle to stir the wine

Last glass of white wine for this summer

Tonight we had a full moon

Sunday morning is bright and sunny. After breakfast of fried egg sandwiches we get on with more weeding. However our time gardening is soon cut short when there is a big rain shower which sets the tone for the rest of the day, bright sun followed by heavy rain. So we call it a day and write the blog and update some webpages whilst Pammi does more knitting.

Weeding before the rain stops us

Leeks, squashes and beetroot

So that is another week over, how quickly they go, a couple more weeks and we have been here a year. Unbelievable.

 Take care and stay warm all.