Walnuts

Gathered a crop from one of my walnut trees

Rain

There was a rainy week, looks like my wall is about to collapse

Guava

My Guava Tree is giving me two to three kilos per day at the moment.
I made some jam, then more jam, yesterday I made seven kilograms of it. That's enough. Fruits continue falling down - but I am not bothered: I have just joined local farmers and their "mañana" philosophy.

More Chickens!

Bio Toilet

I wanted to present my Bio Toilet in the best possible way, but, here you have it:
There was Calima today - hot temperature, 35°C, with dust from Africa and strong wind - which brought down the structure, but, luckily, the functionality is not affected :)

Solar Electricity

At last my solar system is installed.
For those technically inclined, specs:
2 panels 230 Watts each @24 volts.
Average daily delivery 1500 W h (60 Amp h)
Battery bank 520Amphx24v=12.48kWh
Inverter 1,6 kW (cannot use any tools that need more power than that).
Shopping time! Need fridge/freezer, tools, appliances.
It is all so exciting!

Fire

Last week it was burning just above Los Llanos (forgotten to take pictures), this time the eastern side of the island is in flames. Picture was taken from my place.

Courgette

I have noticed that my plant stopped producing courgettes. Looking through bushy plant I found this monster (45cm, 2.3kg)
Pity, I would've preferred many juicy crunchy little ones.

Chicken

I love my chicken! They have their 200 square meters territory, little shed and different personalities:

right one - friendly, 7 days 7 eggs egg laying machine, respects the fence to my territory.

middle one - over friendly (asks to be picked up or jumps on you), 7 days 5 eggs, no respect for the fence whatsoever, no amount of education (stick) or clipped wing reduced her determination to get to the greener side. Since I don't know how she gets there - I suspect Zero Transportation, or something equally (un)imaginable.

left one - untouchable, "all men are evil" kind of girl. Respects the fence, having laid a few eggs went straight into brooding, spent 3 weeks just sitting there, after that two weeks more no eggs. Today the first egg appeared.

Luckily, they all use the same place for laying eggs. Recently they discovered the joy of neighboring lands, that is where they are spending all days now. As a result - they are no longer interested in my vegetable garden.

Death

When someone dies - these are announcements, left in public places on window sills, steps and alike. 82 and 87 years - these two guys did quite well.

Climate

In general, North-East of the island is wet and cloudy, green vegetation pleases an eye.
I am on the opposite side, sunny and dry. Only banana plantations are trying (and failing) to please your eye with green colour.
Having said that - there are a lot of small areas with their own microclimates.
On top of this comes difference in temperature with changing altitude, 1 degree per 100 meters.
All in all, the weather in my place is nice :)
Seriously, very roughly: 20C in shade during a day (winter and summer), at night 16C in summer and 10C in winter. If you're not in shade - it can be hot.
First pic: permanent picture, clouds are coming over mountain range from the North and dissolving in hotter South.
Second pic: Calima - hot dust from Sahara.

Water

Archaic, different arrangements in different parts of the island, not always easy to understand. A lot of murders happened in the past because of it. No wonder, it's the source of livelihood of the island.
I own a share (€3,5K) in a sort of cooperative, which owns a big pipe bringing water from the mountains. One share entitles you to 1,3 litres per minute, you cannot stop it coming: use it, save it or waste it. Luckily I have a water tank (10x5x1,5)m.

Vegetable garden

Here is going to be my vegetable garden

 Bush, grass and big stones removed

 Hard work: used plastic box as a sieve to separate stones, to prepare one square meter - one and a half loads of stones were taken away

 Two weeks later

 Pipes for drip irrigation are being laid

 Two months later

Farm

My farm as I bought it

And now

La Palma - Home Sweet Home!

On 17th of January I bought this place (and moved in on 18th):

Zoom in - and you will see it:

20 Avocado trees, 6 Papayas, 4 Walnuts, 2 Guavas, 1 Peach, 1 Mango, 1 Orange, 3 chicks.