“Even if you live your life engaged in full, frenetic, rumbustious activity, you cannot avoid coming into contact with others or stumbling over obstacles, however small, or feeling time pass. – from: The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
With the appropriate accompaniment of hand gestures to support his request in English, interspersed with a couple of mangled Portuguese words for good measure, Michael asked The Shepherd if he knew someone who could cut the grass between our olive trees. The grass grew a lot since our last visit, and at the beginning of June it was already dry and far too long to be edible for the sheep. It also made walking around on that part of the property difficult and looked unkempt. He responded with a definitive nod, and told us he will bring his friend around later in the afternoon.
Just before six The Shepherd and his friend, let’s call him O Senhor, arrived, and after a short conversation it was agreed that O Senhor will come the next day to cut the grass.
We expected him to arrive quite early in the morning, as Saturday was a hot day of around 35 C, and we reasoned that the weather would be pretty much the same on Sunday. As the sun drifted higher and higher in the sky we started to doubt ourselves and how well we actually followed the conversation, but O Senhor kept his promise and arrived around midday. He just managed to get his tractor through the gap between the house and the barn, and it was then that we realized he had a plow hooked to it and not a grass cutter. We burst out laughing, as we managed to go from feeling rather smug about our conversation skills to feeling like complete idiots in less than a second.
For almost four hours O Senhor toiled under a hot sun, and although it was not quite what we wanted, we were happy with the end result. This is the way the Portuguese care for their olive groves, and the way this piece of land has been cultivated long before we bought it. Another year or two won’t make a difference to our long term vision of improving the quality of the soil.
What is important is that we engaged with our neighbour, put money back into the local economy, and with the rainy season around the corner, The Shepherd’s sheep should once again, in Spring, have some juicy grass to nibble on. Plus, playing charades, while we are slowly learning more Portuguese words is far more fun than making use of Google Translate.
June 2019 Visit
This was the last blog post from our June visit, as we are flying out tonight for another two week visit to the land. At the top of our priority list is to try installing the ceiling, but there are other projects like paving and gutters lurking in it too, and Frank the Digger will come to clear some rubble as well. Let’s see what we get done, and what unexpected jobs await us!
Written by: Jolandi
So Funny!! I have to say those Olive Trees are beautiful. Although I do not know anything about Olive trees, those look old if you look at the thickness of their trunks.
They are quite old, Corlia, and truth be told, we don’t know much about them either, but I’m sure we will learn a lot over the next couple of years.
Have a safe trip, Jolandi, and a good time on your land.
Best,
Tanja
Thanks for your good wishes, Tanja. We had two weeks of hard labour and are exhausted, but there is progress. Our bodies are glad to be back in the city . . . for now.
You have an admirably relaxed and sanguine attitude toward the happenings on your Portuguese property – surely the best way to approach such a project. The grass looks so pretty with the sheep on it; hope it grows back just like that!
I also hope it will grow back like that, but this spring there will unfortunately be no sheep grazing there, Lex. But that is a story for an upcoming blog post. As for our relaxed attitude – well, we try our best to keep a sense of humour . . . 😉
Hello Jolandi,
Thank you for sharing another moment of your incredible journey with us. I am glad there was mutual benefit for all parties involved, along with the appreciation for genuine human interaction. Wishing you and Michael a safe trip.
Warmly,
Takami
Thank you, Takami. We have just returned to Abu Dhabi, exhausted, but with new stories to tell.
I *think* farmers in California do something similar with their orchards, whether they’re olives or nuts or fruit. Some plant mustard under the trees as a cover crop, and to discourage fungi from growing in the soil and infecting the trees; then they plow the mustard under in the summer. (I can’t imagine sheep would eat mustard, however! Goats maybe, but mustard greens are naturally spicy.) At any rate, I’d enjoy seeing the sheep grazing under the trees. I’d think it’d be a very peaceful way to pass the time.
We are quite interested in the “no till farming” approach, Hanganku, as we would like to build up a richer soil instead of depleting it, which I think is what happens when one plows too often. We still have a lot to learn on how it works and how it would translate to our land’s specific needs and soil. For now, we are simply going with the flow of what our incomplete knowledge of the language and culture gift us. We were really looking forward to having The Shepherd’s sheep graze on new growth amidst our olive trees, but that will sadly not happen again. But that’s a story for an upcoming blog post. – Jolandi
And that’s life in Portugal. Relaxed, and just going with the flow.
Definitely the best approach for living a good life.