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.

City Farm In Yambol Now On

We are lucky we live in the City of Yambol and have a village retreat, but anyone who has a home here knows that growing crops is a full time job from April onwards in Bulgaria. It is a sense of frustration that I can't be on the farm everyday tended to the crops, this was one of the biggest reasons for me coming to Bulgaria. Galia knows this and some wheels of motion were workng to get around this problem behind my back.

It was an excited Galia in her sick bed today who finds it very hard to keep secrets and couldn't wait to tell me this one. The good life got better in the space of 10 seconds of the news being told. I tease you no longer as the news is we now we have the option of farming and growing crops in Yambol and not just on the village farm. Let me explain.

Although off sick from work at the moment Galia works as a floor manager in a boiler manufacturing company which happens to be owned by her elder brother. The factory is situated in an industrial part of the Yambol and has grounds alongside the big new factory of which part is set aside for farming. This is managed by some of the workers who get food as a reward for maintaining the farm.

Let me just put more detail of the situation as it stood up unitl today. All our farming is done in the Skalitsa village farmhouse some 35 kilometres away from Yambol and all through last year to now it had just been weekend farming. This was very difficult, near impossible to keep up with the extreme heat in the summer. Watering needs to be done at least every two days and in really hot weather every day, this wasn't possible last year. We managed to get some crops out of it, but it was a poor year with the system of weekends only. The retreat to relax after a hard week of work was seeing us work 100 mile an hour to catch up with the work that should be done each day, we ended up more tired on Monday morning than if we hasdnt' had the weekend retreat. Added to this the cost of fuel to and from the farmhouse just didn't make it an economic venture.

This year I had intended to stay there four days a week, but that would be on my own, Galia would have to pay taxi fares to work and back and still there would be a 70 kilometre round trip that had to be made once a week. Besides that there was the fact I wouldn't see much of Galia.

So with this news, the answer to growing crops without expensive overheads and logistic problems seemed to be answered. What we would like is to start our livestock up again? I am at the factory every morning and evening dropping off and picking up Galia from work, so a little extra time there tending before my work starts would be totally practical. On paper it would work very well.

So, you can now see why I am excited, but at the same time apprehensive about leaving the farmhouse and letting it go to seed if this was taken up. I can see us being in Yambol full time if this does take place, not what I want, but work here in Yambol forces the issue. We just can't financially afford the fuel each week and not get crops to supplement our low income. Everyone is happy for us to be in Yambol and can't understand why I have such a great love for village life that has nothing to offer other than isolation. Every Bulgarian around me says it's not practical - They are dead right, it isn't practical seeing as there is now the opportunity to farm in the City. I count myself extremely lucky to be with such a kind and caring community and my yearning for village life I feel is a very small sacrifice to pay for this.

There is another bonus, perhaps now we have the chance to relax at weekends during the warmer weather rather than rushing around trying to play catch-up on the farm. This would also end the weekly disappointment and frustration that happened last year where we regularly found our neglected crops failing because they have been left for 5 days without water.

Right now there are just onion, garlic and the vines that are growing there, these don't need regular watering so they will be okay and the rest of the more senstive crop now are planned for the City farm. How lucky are we?

The bottom line is we can't afford to be sentimental here and reminded me of what someone mentioned to me the other day about living in Bulgaria, "Life in Bulgaria is not about living it's about surviving." This is very true and this is what we have to do to achieve that right now.

Weather in Bulgaria

Since coming to Bulgaria in 2005 the weather here has been a series of extremes - why is this happening?

The winter of 2005/2006 saw temperatures dip to minus 24 C something not seen for 40 years in Bulgaria breaking records along the way. Snow fall was here as expected but Bulgaria didn't stop working, just a few more bits of clothing put on with the wood-burners still not having to work to their limit as they are so effective in radiating heat.

Although water was frozen for much of the time, not just outside but inside, there was never a danger of being without water as the clean Bulgaria snow could be melted and used in place of piped and high level well water. In fact in Skalitsa no well water froze up as it lays 23 metres below ground level, even at minus 24 C the system pumped out bullets of ice that have formed in the higher level standing water in the pipes.

The following summer was normal by Bulgarian standards and although there was extended periods without rain the growing season was fantastic and everything thrived in the sub-med conditions waving around 30-35 C for most of the year. In fact from April to November the only real change in temperatures were in the evening when the sun went down ranging from chilly to cold.

The there was last winter, the mildest anyone can remember in Bulgaria, perhaps a couple of days of snow but just a sprinkle this time. Below freezing temperatures throughout this season was quite rare and even then, at best it only dropped to around minus 8 degrees. Of course the winter resorts being high up will alway get the perfect conditions for snow but on the Thracian plain just above seas level something just didn't feel right about the whole weather system.

You just know that a mild winter leads to all sorts of problems in the following summer, not least an invasion of pests and bugs that should have been killed off by the cold. And so it was, but that's another blog subject but you might be interested to read: Indoor Cricket in Bulgaria

So this year and summer where again record breaking temperatures reaching 48 C were not only reached but sustained over a few days in June. Without any real rainfall before this has now caused a total crop failure but not purely from the lack of rain but from the crops not being able to survive the intense heat from what the Bulgarians called African weather.

We are now just over midway through summer right now and temperatures continue to raise concern and today at the end of August 38 C was recorded.

Bulgaria like many other countries worldwide is experiencing extremes of weather but life in Bulgaria will adapt to whatever is thrown at it, it is that kind of country. They will deal with the crop failures and inevitable rise in prices of food from it. They will deal in in other ways with the lack of preserved food for the winter being the most resourceful people I have ever known.

Weather in Bulgaria happens and when in extremes there is no other place I know that I would rather be with the people who know how to deal with crisis situations. The Bulgarians have a history of dealing with these situations after all.

One last point - A friend of mine who was on duty in Iraq with the Bulgarian Army had to endure 67 C during the day and below freezing conditions during the night - I may add that is normal for Iraq! Now thats something to put into perspective.

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