Happy Equinox! After a very warm July and August, it was a welcome change to have cooler days (and nights) in September. Of course, all of this is relative – where we are on the north side of Terceira the hottest days in August were only about 81 degrees (in September the average has been around 73 degrees). Doesn’t sound like much, but with the addition of cloud cover it has made all the difference.

It was a bit sad to see our local swimming area close for the season. The last few times Raymond and I went to swim there were far fewer visitors and the sea was noticeably cooler. Alas, summer has past…

New Garden Bed

We expanded last year’s small fava bean patch into a much larger garden. Because the property slopes from the neighbors hillside to the stream, wished to create a more level area. Following permaculture best practices, we repurposed some recently sawed tree limbs and backfilled with smaller sticks, leaves, and kitchen compost to create a level area with increased soil fertility. It’s already attracting lots of worms. We can’t wait to plant a winter crop of favas again!

Back Wall Project

Before and After:

The stone wall has reached the end of the property and it is now a matter of building it up higher (in time). We had an interesting surprise while completing this section: a big rock we had been using as a seat near the chestnut trees was, once we flipped it over, a water trough chiseled in stone. So we placed it in the wall as a birdbath and lined the sides with rocks (I call it “the grotto”).

Nature’s Bounty

We were delighted to harvest our butternut squash and made a DELICIOUS soup with one of them (can’t wait to have eight more!)

It’s the time of year again for araçal fruit. We finally got a bird net for the trees and, between the trimming last fall and the netting, they are huge this year and have ripening perfectly (the red ones are from another tree). They are a little tart but sweet, and when extra ripe taste a bit like a pineapple/banana (the red ones taste like strawberry/cherry).

Raymond and I also harvested our watermelons – a total of six and an even mix of ‘good’ and ‘lackluster’ – plus black-eyed peas (daily) and the occasional bunch of bananas (pictured: new flower opening).

Boulder Breaking

After removing the old terrace behind the house, we discovered that a humongous boulder lay at its base. For months we navigated around it knowing that it had to be removed eventually in order to level the ground. So Raymond ordered some ‘wedge and feathers’ (from Amazon of all places…) and started drilling into the boulder. It was amazing to tap them into the drill holes and hear the pitch change higher and higher…and then the anticipation as the rock begins to crack. It has been slow-going but the boulder is about 2/3 gone at this point. We are looking forward to pouring a slab of concrete over this area for the purposes of a tool shed / future bathroom expansion.

A friendly little gatinha at the cat colony.