Permaculturing in Portugal

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.

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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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