TOUR OF OUR LOCAL MARKET TOWN FUNDAO-WHAT DO WE DO WITH ALL THIS VEGETABLE PRODUCE? SELF SUFFICIENCY

Hi there! I am Joseph.
I have been an immigrant, or expat, living in central Portugal along with my beautiful girlfriend Mariana for six years now.

Together Mariana and I, along with my father Clinton, would like to show you a bit of the daily goings on around our Portuguese farm / homestead / smallholding and all of the work we are doing whilst renovating, starting building projects, working with our livestock, DIY and trying to grow our little families own food!

In this episode we welcome you to join us in mid summer time as we visit and give you a virtual tour of the beautiful historic market town of Fundão.

Me and Mariana begin by introducing ourselves on a beautiful cobbled street, walking up to the market square.

Firstly we make our way up the steps to the market stalls, all covered in shade from the canvases above. We see the livestock section, the plants, flowers and trees for sale as well as all the tool and clothing parts.

We bumped into some friends, it was so lovely to meet them there and we spent a while chatting to them, and their Dalmatian Spera. It was a very nice trip to the local town, but rather hot, so Mariana and I found a cafe selling ice cold drinks and lollies so we could cool down in our pit stop for a while.

After that, Mariana and I went back to the farm but not really in the mood for work due to the summer heat. So I took a stroll down to the vegetable patch, with the two dogs, Mitzy and Lilly.

Down in the veggie garden I picked myself a big, overflowing basket full of ripe, red tomatoes, Maça, or apple variety tomatoes, a Portuguese variety I believe. I chat for a while about the lovely red gifts of the garden before heading back with my basket full.

On my way back I bumped into my father, with a big bucket full of damson plums and crab apples, windfall fruits which the poultry and sheep just love. So we gave a few handfuls to all the animals on the farm, a sweet treat that they all enjoyed very much during these hot, dry days.

After the livestock had all been fed we took to the kitchen with the tomatoes in hand. A glut so plentiful means for tomato pasta sauces! A beautiful chunky sauce which will go into the freezer for the winter months. I am picking about 2 / 5kg of these tomatoes every day now, so preserving them is a must!

Our neighbour called round with some duroc meat, from their pigs, durco is a fantastic big red haired breed, when pastured they take on this almighty flavour, not comparable to supermarket meats. Grilled on the BBQ they tasted delightful, it was so nice to spend an evening with the family round the swimming pool with the barbeque on the go, a perfect end to a perfect summers day.

At the end of the day we all dipped our feet in the saltwater of the swimming pool, a refreshing dip that cooled us down instantly! A much needed refreshment from the heat of the day. Accompanied by a glass of red wine and my favourite people, my family. How wonderful indeed.

The next morning I spent some time down by the little Muscovy ducklings. Showing you all how much they have all grown now, with their little feathers coming through, paddling in their stream. Then I recap the week somewhat, talk about the free gifts I plan to send every single Patreon member on the first of September and thank you all for joining us on our journey to self sufficiency.

See our journey to self sufficiency / permaculture / organic farming as expats living in Portugal, trying to produce as much of our own food planting vegetables, growing fruit trees as well as looking after all our animals, such as our chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, quail, rabbits and sheep - Shortly pigs too!

Hobby farming in Fundão
Growing vegetables, raising meat and foraging on our cherry farm in Portugal’s Beira baixa.

Follow us on Instagram @farmerforfun

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