We’ve had a couple of extra helpers visiting for a few days last week. Anna and Olof are on a round-the-world trip, visiting various projects and learning about self-sufficiency, and practising permaculture. Danni and Richard are still here, but Anna and Olof’s interests (permaculture and rocket stoves) seemed too good to pass up! It was…
Read moreCategory: Learning skills
We will have to learn loads of new skills if we are going to succeed in our new life in Bulgaria. We hope to able to share how we get on with this, and hope you will enjoy our pratfalls and disasters!
Many hands
We’ve had quite a good response for our request for volunteers on Helpex. Our first volunteers, Richard and Danni, have arrived from England and are settling in very well. They arrived on 5th March, having spent a few days in Sofia. After a couple of days settling in, we have worked them hard ever since!…
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Making Sauerkraut
One of the things I’ve fancied having a go at making is sauerkraut. All that lacto-fermentation stuff sounds really interesting, so now, when the market in Popovo is laden with humongous cabbages, seems like a good time to try it out. I found a decent sounding recipe, and bought a cabbage. Because it was my…
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Pig to plate, not for the faint hearted
Some people may find the pictures at the bottom distressing. They show a pig being killed and butchered. One day we hope to rear our own pig. If we are going to do this we feel it’s important that we are able to complete the chain, from farm to plate, by taking part in the…
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Making sausages
I’d just starting to plaster the ceiling when Galia one of our neighbours came round with an offer I couldn’t refuse. Did I want to learn how to make sausages? So I downed tools and grabbed the phrase book, this was going to be a challenge. I usually rely on Joe to do the talking…
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Surplus apples
One of the problems we’ve found has been dealing with the huge amount of fruit that ripens all at the same time. We’ve got so many apples, it’s been hard knowing what to do with them all. We’ve got loads peeled and frozen, ready for pies and crumbles in the winter, some that are in…
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Cornelian Cherries
Found this weird fruit growing in our garden. We asked our Bulgarian neighbour, Maria, and she said they are called Drenkie, Дренки. They are supposed to be good for upset stomachs and she recommended making a compote out of them. We looked them up and they are Cornelian Cherrries.They taste strange, quite astringent, but quite…
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My first sourdough bread
Making sourdough bread has always been one of those love-to-try-it-but-it-looks-really-complicated kinda things, but this week I’ve decided to give it a go, see how I got on. First, I need to make a starter culture. Then I will bulk this up to make a ‘mother’, from which a loaf of bread can be made. I’m…
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