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Archive for the ‘Disasters’ Category

Pine wilt nematode

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Pine wilt nematode in Maritime pine

This is the view from the top of the track down to the larger building on the quinta. In many ways it encapsulates the nature of the “Green Heart of Portugal” – forested mountain ranges cut deep by meandering river valleys, peppered with tiny white villages perched on mountain ridges, surrounded by land terraced and richly cultivated with olives, vines, fruit trees, vegetables … Idyllic.

But it encapsulates something else about the Green Heart of Portugal too – an ecological disaster-in-the-making presently taking hold in Portugal’s forests. The tree on the left is dying.

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Posted in Disasters, Ecology, Growing things, Locality, Wildlife | 7 Comments »

Blighted potatoes

Friday, June 17th, 2011

It’s been strange and untypical weather this Spring. A March as warm as June followed a very dry winter. In May, we had more thunderstorms than I think I’ve encountered in the rest of my lifetime, and periodic rain has continued into June. Wonderful weather for bringing the garden on. Wonderful weather for bringing on the various fungal diseases that thrive in warm, damp, humid conditions …

Potato canopy in potato bin

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Posted in Climate and weather, Disasters, Growing things | 2 Comments »

Never count your chickens before they are hatched …

Friday, February 11th, 2011

… or your alternators before they’re run in.

I spoke too soon.

Presto Wind M-24 permanent magnet alternator installed on water wheel

We purchased this alternator from Presto Wind in the USA on the basis of its advertised power curves and a couple of videos showing no evidence of cogging, which was the problem with the first generator we tried. As soon as it was installed, it was running well over its claimed threshold for generating usable power, so it was just a matter of waiting for the bearings and rotors to run in and then the batteries would be getting some much-needed juice 24/7. Or so we thought …

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Posted in Basic facilities, Disasters, Energy generation, Renewable energy | 18 Comments »

Watering

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Summer is here and it’s watering time. Even with the few vegetables we have growing this year, watering them is already taking up a good couple of hours every evening. Part of that is to do with the fact that we are mostly watering them with a watering can. I’ve re-opened a couple of irrigation channels to help things along and got them working reasonably well, but it’s still not hugely efficient. I figured we could do better. But what to do?

Today I bought a reel of hosepipe. I knew I had a large funnel somewhere, and a ball of twine. With 15 minutes’ work with the ball of twine, an hour clearing vegetation from the top of the waterfall, a ladder, and a bungy strap, we now have a working irrigation system for the main vegetable bed on the yurt terrace. A bit Heath Robinson, but considerably more efficient than the watering can.

The watering system: source in waterfall

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Posted in Disasters, Growing things | 1 Comment »

Thumb’s up

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

As friends on Facebook have already found out, I managed to mistake my left thumb for a piece of pine while chopping firewood a couple of weeks ago. Quite a silly mistake really (and not one I should have made after about 20 years of wood-chopping experience) but these things happen when the brain is idling out of gear. Still don’t know yet how I managed to do it, but somehow I managed to split it longitudinally in two. Right through the nail, the bone, and out the other side.

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Posted in Disasters, Miscellaneous | 2 Comments »