A Tired Man Sunday Evening

Firstly, another big apology for my lack of comments and visits to fellow bloggers, it really is quite difficult fitting it in at the moment. Another busy weekend as you may find out.

Friday arrived and it was off to the farmhouse in Skalitsa again on my own. Galia was working as an administrator in Yambol on Sunday for the European Elections and would be working on Sunday so she stayed behind. The elections by the way warrant a story on their own from the feedback I get here, but I not in the mood for political writing right now, there’s too much around right now.

On my own I can never sit down and relax, Galia isn’t there to tell me to. The weather was over 30 degrees all weekend and most of my time was spent outside digging, weeding, pruning, watering and pottering around. Every 20 minutes I had to take a break, clean the sweat off my glasses drink and splash cold well water over my body to cool down, again no one there to tell me to stop working. To me this was the main reason I came to Bulgaria to be out there in the field growing food that is completely organic and chemical free and that was exactly what I was doing.

This idyllic life without the reliance from a supermarket looking from the outside may look easy, but it isn’t. Working on the land is hard work especially trying to cram one week’s work into a weekend. I thought is would be easier growing crops that only needed watering once a week, but that is not the case. My neighbour has to pop in and do some watering midweek, even with a wad full of rain that come over here a few days ago. I do fell guilty though as my neighbour has too much on his plate on his own farm to get on with.

A few melon seedlings had died form last week and the rest seemed to have got through the worst. When the crops are more mature they can go longer without water it should be downhill from now on even though the real hot weather is still to come.

This Saturday was a special day where tend to the graves Nationally it is the day for the dead. I was asked to help my neighbour dig a grave for his mother and father on Saturday – of course I offered my help and we built a grave from scratch that Saturday morning. It was really hard work with the heavy stone bed that took four people to lift. My neighbour had been saving up for eight years to do this since his mother died in 2001. We stood over the grave after we have laboured hard and the cement still drying out as we admired the new home of his mother and father who lay there now finally resting in peaceful surround. Again another blog needed on this occasion with the ceromony ihvolved centering around food and rakia.

By the time Sunday afternoon arrived the farm was in tiptop condition. A patch of garlic had been harvested and the second round of crops was now in place ready for planting next week. I’m not too sure what to put in again it has to be something that doesn’t need watering every couple of days. I’ll fish for ideas from other Bulgarians before making my mind up.

Time on my own isn’t good for my health, like I said, no one to tell me to stop working and all the time locally every Bulgarian in the village was inside in the cool relaxing, not because it was Sunday but because it was too hot to be outside, but then they are here all week not playing catch up. Therefore it was a very tired Martin who drove back to the city counting the snakes, dogs, birds, polecats and even a badger that had been victims of cars on the road to Yambol. The wild life here is fantastic, Strange as fate would have it, I don’t suppose I’d get to see them unless they’d been hit by a car.

I hadn’t mentioned the swifts that had nested on the farmhouse veranda ceiling, no more than two metres from where I sit outside, another posting needed on this with their four hatchlings chirping ways for food.

I won’t mention the spring water, cherries, strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, broiler chicken, goat meat, grapes sweet corn, watermelons, bonfire and haymaking again that were involved this weekend. There is too much to tell and too little time to write at the moment.

Galia didn’t finish working until 8:30 in the evening with the election, she started at 5:00 in the morning she was more tired than me! 15 ½ hours work, without a break for around $20. The rest of the evening we sipped cold beer on the steps watching Baba peeling the 100 or so garlic through to dusk outside. Then the inevitable words “Haidi leglo lubimka,” (Let’s go to bed darling) No contest, that’s exactly what we did after massaging each other’s feet.

Great weekend, even without Galia there with me, again always different and always on a learning curve. And today (Monday) is was full steam ahead again working on the factory farm starting at 6:30 this morning. I will be nagged to sleep for an hour or so after lunch by Baba.