‘Achievements’

Tuesday 10th May was the first day of some frantic activity.

The site for the house

The 3 point linkage did not fit our tractor.

The new farm entrance looking from the road

Overflowing irrigation ditch added to the 'interest'

Site levelling in progress

Stuck in the flooded new entrance

Everyone busy working before dusk falls

Measuring up for the initial stakes to go in.

April has been a busy month and one which has seen dramatic changes as we enter autumn.

We have had a couple of days of high winds followed buy some early morning frosts and a steady drop in day time temperatures.  The trees are stunning as autumn paints their leaves in infinite shades of green and brown and yellow. Our vines were caught by one of these frosts and at first we were terrified we had lost them all. Apparently not, provided daytime temperatures continue to fall, and provided we do not water them (and it does not rain either), they will start to go dormant for the winter.
A big sigh of relief all round.

Our first section of perimeter fence (last month’s post) now has all 7 wires fitted and tensioned and the wooden spacers wired in place. It looks impressive when viewed from outside the farm and well worth the effort. Only another 300 yards to go!

All 7 wires are now in place

Our quinces ripened and we harvested some to make our own quince cheese (Dulce de Membrillo) and quince jelly (Jalea de Membrillo).

Harvesting quinces

The best fruit was selected

Selected quinces for the cheese and jelly

and once again our kitchen became a jam factory

Quinces in the pan

And now we have quite a selection of home made jams to last us the year.

Our home made jams

At the time of writing a fruit buyer has purchased the rest of our crop but we are still waiting for him to turn up with a lorry and gang of pickers.

Hare hunting with dogs (usually greyhounds) is a very popular pastime here. Many a time we have seen and heard them hunting close by the farm. The other day, when we drove into our entrance, we saw a group of men and dogs at the far end of one field. We drove over to where they were and chatted with them and explained, politely, that we did not want any hunting or shooting on our farm. No problem, they accepted our request and left.

A hare hunter leaves the farm with his dogs

And his friend leaves too

Now that autumn has arrived the whole farm is covered in a carpet of fallen leaves.

27 acres of leaves to sweep up!

Next time you moan about having to sweep up the leaves in your garden, spare a thought for us with around 5 kilometers ( about 3 miles) of various sized irrigation diches to keep clear of fallen leaves!

Ditches become nature's collages at this time of year

But with scenes like this it is a pleasure to rake them up.

Although we are only about 115 miles from the highest peaks of the Andes the atmospheric conditions can considerably change how much of them are actually visible to us. From our viewpoint there seem to be 3 or 4 groups of peaks behind each other. This picture was taken from near the farm on a rare day when the tallest, snow covered peaks were visible. Later, on the drive home it was getting cloudier and the tallest peaks became visible, showing themselves above the cloud layer. Impressive.

A rare glimpse of the snow covered peaks

Sorry, but it is artistic photo time again. This was taken as we left having just completed a night time irrigation of the vineyard.

The moon rises above the farm entrance

For most of the last month we have been fighting off the weeds and ants that seem to attack the vineyard on a daily basis. But this has not been without a few laughs and ‘events’.

A line of soldier ants on their way to the vineyard

One of our farm boundaries runs between our internal irrigation ditch and the public irrigation supply canal for about 410 yards. The fence here was almost non existent, and when sections did appear out of the undergrowth, they consisted of a single strand of rusty barbed wire.

We had taken the decision some months ago to replace this fence with a traditional Argentine boundary wire fence – 7 very taught wires held apart every meter or so with wooden stretchers (varillas).  This is a  fence that keeps out animals as well as making it very difficult for humans too to cross. A contractor quoted us a stupid amount of money to for the work, so we decided to have a go ourselves. The posts were put in earlier in the year (see earlier post).

A homemade reel to hold the wire was constructed and a 1000 meter roll of 17/15 oval section wire was loaded onto it ready for the first  wire pull through a 110 meter section.

Home made wire reel holding a kilometer of wire

The first wire was difficult to pull through the posts as it had the weight of over 60 wooden spreaders (varillas) on it, but subsequent wires became easier and easier.

Wire pulling in progress through the forest section

By the time we had 5 out of the 7 wires in place it was beginning to look like a serious boundary fence at last. This is a view from the public side of the irrigation canal.

View from the public side of the fence

Just to the right of the post in the picture are a group of wooden spreaders waiting to be slid along the wires into place.

Until all 400 meters of wire is in place we have used temporary straining posts to take the force of the tension on the wires. Here some local watches the work going on.

Some chap kindly leans on the post to stop it falling over.

But, shortly after this picture was taken, I stepped down into our internal irrigation ditch only to see a huge snake laying on the damp earth. It was the largest snake I had seen outside a zoo, and at first I thought it was a rattlesnake. Graciela identified it as a Yarará ( Bothrops alternatus), known locally as a “Vibora de la Cruz”.  The snake was just under 6 feet (2 meters) long and about the diameter of my arm.

We presume it used to live quite happily in the rough land where the old fence ran, but our work had driven it out into our forest. So from now on it is knee length boots for fencing operations!

A Víbora de la Cruz - the most agressive poisonous snake in Argentina

At the time of writing we have completed all 7 wires on the first 110 meter run of fence – and at a cost of one eighth of the quote we were given.

Near to where we were erecting the wire fence there is a huge white fig tree. Last year its fruit never ripened. This year, due to it being watered every week, it is covered in green figs that are slowly turning slightly yellow and soft.
The figs do not all ripen at the same time and each day or so we collect a few handfuls to dry or eat.

White figs awaiting a little more time to ripen

On one side of the tree is a wasp’s nest the size of a football. They do not bother us when we walk past, nor do they get annoyed if we pick figs close to their nest. Well… not until the other day.

The wasp's nest in the fig tree

I was up a ladder using a long stick to get some ripe figs above the wasp’s nest and accidently knocked it. In a few seconds my head was covered in a black and yellow buzzing beret and I raced down the ladder and dissapeared across the farm heading for an irrigation ditch! As I ran I pulled off my T shirt to wipe the wasps off of my head.

Graciela said it looked like a cartoon with a long black cloud following my progress across the field. Fortunately for me these wasps are not aggressive and after a short while they left me and returned to their undamaged nest.

I was lucky as I was ‘only’ stung on my lips, in my mouth, on the back of my neck and on one arm. The stings have cleared up and now I treat the nest with respect.

The dog wonders what all the fuss is about.

When it is too hot, around noon time, I often take a siesta in a hammock. Graciela, meanwhile, opens up the portable office in the shade of the woodland.

The portable office in action

What a nice life!