it's already April....

I am so sad to have been away from you these past few months, my laptop broke & my ancient iphone could not open the sub app… Marleys Mum gave me her old Samsung when they visited at the end of February so now I am able to write on here, which is great & I am very happy to be back connected to you all. It does feel weird to type on my phone despite the fact that I have been texting on phones since I was 14, but hopefully I will get used to it, or perhaps I will start dictating my subs & you get to hear my awkward voice telling you stories instead of my finger tips….

Winter is such a deep time of hibernation for us here on the farm, especially this Winter which has been exceptionally cold & wet since the new year, its already the beginning of April & it is still raining & cold here. I have been cosying up on the sofa with knitting projects, crochet & books & Willow & cats, in front of the log burner & really leaning in to the idea that this time of year was about rest. I released my latest crochet pattern to the world last month, which in hindsight was not a good pattern at all for this time of year but I was so inspired by the promise of Spring & it has daisy chain edging, I just couldn't wait to get it out into the world.

It is a mesh vest which is completely adaptable in terms of size & length, so it can be made by anybody. I will leave a link to my ravelry account at the bottom of this page for you, if you could share it / show some love on it i would appreciate it with all my heart.

I am trying to think of all the things I need to catch you up on since my last post ….

First of all our dear Noodle pig is no longer around…. She broke out of her pen & has not been spotted since, which breaks my heart a little but I also knew she was unhappy being in there after she had such a free Summer roaming around the neighbourhood with the wild pigs. No need for speculation on what happened, some things are better left unknown I think. All I know is that I adore pigs & one day I definitely will get some more. So this post is a dedication to my beautiful Noods who brought me so much joy & made me fall in love with life on the farm so much harder than I would have done without her.

The toilet build is complete with vintage tiles, two cute windows, a door & a composting toilet system. We have running hot water on the outside of the building which is my new washing up station,this feels absolutely amazing & I actually now take pleasure in washing dishes while listening to the sparrows who are nesting, the cuckoo who drives me mad & feeling the sunshine on my back while I do so.

Take a peek of it here on my YouTube.

https://youtube.com/shorts/dBTvEh_eUbk?si=DBXidNaVdRwMAwCi

This toilet was a labour of love. As with everything we do we plan it to take around 1 month, it actually takes about 3 & there are still some finishing touches to add but I can say that using an inside toilet during these cold wet moments has been such a blessing. Never take that roof over your head for granted people !!

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I am becoming a German citizen! This is super exciting because since BREXIT ( I HATE IT ) travelling & living in the EU could become complicated… Thanks to all the dumb English folk who made that stupid decision based on fear…. i had confirmatkon from the German embassy this week so i am super relieved about that, despite us having Portuguese residence which means we are allowed to be in Portugal.

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Another sadness came this Winter with the death of the beehive, not exactly sure what happened but it seems to be a global problem this year & my beekeeper friends have assured me it was unlikely due to a fault of my own & that in due time we will catch another swarm. I am going to get some lemongrass so I can attract them in again & hopefully they will have more chance of survival this time around.

We have been hit my some massive storms this year as well, suffering a fair amount of damage on the farm, the shade structure we built outside the barn lifted from the ground due to being 6 years old already & so we had to remove the roof on that. My passionfruit plants look much happier now they have sun from all angles so I guess i will take the positive from that one. The roof on the tiny house needs repairing also due to the winds so that's a other job to add to our never ending list.

It's my birthday month this month, I am entering into my 34th cycle around the sun & we do indeed have some VERY exciting news to share with you but I will save that for the next stack… sorry to leave you hanging!

I hope you are all well, leave me a comment or a note or a message, I have missed you!

Enjoy some photos of Spring before I sign off

Catch you soon

Jaymie

xxxx