Ecofarmer

re-settled in Hungary from Rochdale, Lancs, England, and into a little village, doing a bit of greenish farming hoping for a quiet life... but stuff just happens...

Thursday, August 27, 2009

mushroom work






... yes, more food, I suppose, this is an ecofarm and farms -are- about food... Alan and Pali chopped corn storks with the ancient and wonderfully efficient szecskavago. The chopped up material is mixed in hot water, kept hot in its own heat (dunsztolas) and tomorrow, when cooled, will be mixed with laska mushroom spores and stuffed into plastic bags specially pierced, and then we wait for our mushrooms to grow. As we acquired some more superior chopping equipment, the cider making experiment also continues next week.
Managed to see the "dance-house" again in front of the theatre in Pecs, Greek this time, very entertaining, and such a nice communal feeling, which is well needed these day. There is a picture from last time, same place, 2 weeks ago, made with mobile, we are looking a bit tired...
We discovered a brand new bar off Kiraly utca in Pecs, a la Szimpla, very cosy indeed, though the food and music not yet operational, but we had a nice relaxing couple of drinking sessions there. It is a backyard between fairly ruinous bits of walls.
oh, and the raspberries were worth waiting for. 2 plants, but large beauties, a handful a day.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

high time





Had a nice trickle of guests and a couple of wwoofers, all nice as per usual. Even my sister made it for a tiny bit, bringing down glass jars for jams and other stuff in the making. I have to bottle things, the freezers are full to the brim, I have to sit on them to close them, even the upright one... anyway, experimental sorrel, lecso and aubergine jars have been done. We have our first successful okra, we had some stir-fried with paprika and aubergine yesterday, rather nice.
Done yellow plum and proper plums, about a dozen jars each. I'll do more tomato next... though space in larder is also running out, especially after the big shopping I had this week, Dodi took me.
We had our second japanese hostel guest, Eiko, who made friends with the geese - quite a feat, miserable beasts as they tend to be - 3 males I'm afraid, no wonder they are constantly fighting. But they are quite a feature now, make more noise than the dogs if anyone approaches.
When my sister was here, we had a rather lovely meal at Murphy's sitting outside. It was first time we managed to see the summer wednesday dance-house in front of the picturesque theatre in Pecs, it was "balkan" music and dance, with at least a hundred people joining in, a very jolly affair.
It is Sunday afternoon, Alan had a lift to his usual pub-outing, thus the peace and quiet to blog at last. I am again waiting for 5 one-nighter guests - from the UK so I had to stay here anyways...
Oh, the bad news: village tourism will be taxed from zero HUF next year, which wouldn't be too bad if we wouldn't have to hassle with filling forms and engaging accountants... well, we'll see how it goes. Alan, of course, has wonderful plans with new showers, composting toilets to keep him busy over the winter. Did I mention our brand new outside bench? Picture next time...
Even though it is very hot during the day (30C+), the evenings and the mornings are very pleasant, I took to sitting outside for an hour or so after my breakfast, before other people appear to have theirs. You can see my favourite view from my comfy chair.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

processing




the tomatoes and cucumbers and marrows and aubergines recovered and we have tons, not to mention the sweet corns; can one overdose on sweet corns? We had a few visitors, Marta, Vic and Maggie and some of their friends, old friend from the past, Misi and his nice daughter and her partner.
It was hot and humid, just having a bit of relief today - only 29C - but still very stuffy.
So the large pot of beetroot cooked is not adding anything refreshing to the atmosphere. Another experimental dish worked out; I added sliced marrows, courgettes and aubergines into the lecso - turned out rather nice if I may say so. The first eating grapes were picked, too. And some raspberries are getting ready... ok, I stop talking about food... Finished "Blindness" yes, interesting, poetic, philosophical, but somehow was relieved when ended, but now I have to get "Seeing"... Alan got his new kaszáló (strimmer) machine, but nothing else non-food stuff I can think of to report... expecting lots of guests in the next few days - our swedes are a tad late tonight... a family on their way from Lake Balaton, planned to arrive at 21:30, but not here yet an hour later - never mind, gives time to blog...
forgot to mention the cider: it is strong and frothy, it is a bit worrying if it'll blow up the plastic bottles... but we managed to drink our share already. Sorry, that was sort of foodish again.