Skalitsa Springing Into Action

It seems quite unbelievable that now from worrying about not being able to grow crops this season to now having two plots and other that I can take up if I wish. There is now a never-ending supply of food making resources at my disposal.

The Skalitsa farmhouse is a weekend project well under way, the Yambol town plot is also in progress, but the third offering was from my brother who has a home in a village 15 kilometres from Yambol. I have pruned all his vines this week, but had to decline managing the rest of his extensive grounds as this is too much for me as well as the time and cost of travel is not practical.

So this weekend arrived and the forecast was warm and sunny and the forecast was right for a change! Galia and I arrived to a display of colour that just made us gasp. the tulips where now in full bloom and a carpet of red on the fringe of the garlic bed under the vine trellises. What a difference 5 days has made as the greenery had now come into play on the field and the onions and garlic now clearly visible on the plot that was planted not so long ago.

Within ten minutes I was in my blue village outfit and working away on the land preparing for the sweet corn, melons and carrots. In my element was an understatement as Galia looked on at this crazy Englishman sweating away with his labours breaking up the soil in preparation for the honey melons that were laid a few hours later. These were sown and plastic bottled put over the top weighed down with a brick creating mini greenhouses and will probably remain for a few weeks until they greet the hotter weather towards the end of the month. This is the Bulgarian way and now mine.

Then two beds of sweet corn were prepared, both had to be square to aid cross pollination and set regimented with enough space between for the weeding that will be needed throughout the season. Again, this was quite hard work and that was the buzz for me and the mystery for Galia who again thought I was possessed with my eagerness.

Galia helped with the sowing after the groundwork had been completed, three corn seeds per hole as an insurance; the strongest on germination will just remain. Again, all these crops don't need daily watering and should survive 4-5 days without any supplementary water.

Carrots were sown at the back of the strawberry patch and watermelons at the front of the house where a bit of space was found. The soil isn't too good there so I don't expect a bumper crop, but there's nowhere else now with all the farming areas filled.

In the summerhouse the tomato and cucumber seeds had germinated with this warm weather and they would be taken back to the Yambol plot with their thirst for water. All is under control and it feels great.


The vines are now weeping as we sit in the sun under the trellises being dripped on, we just move to avoid them never every getting annoyed, this is spring, this is nature starting another cycle gathering up momentum, this is a wonderful feeling watching it happen before us.

Galia loves flowers as she gathers bunches to take back to Yambol for Baba. What a treat and all for free! That’s the beauty of it all, no reliance on anyone but ourselves and nature.

The Worms That Turned To Bulgaria

When I first decided to move to Bulgaria it was never my intention to just have a home there as a holiday home. What is the point of having a farmhouse with land for crops and animals just for a couple of weeks a year - Totally impractical, many others people do though and it has brought about major headaches and inherent problems which I plan to talk about in another post.

In my case all that knew me in the UK thought this was a crazy idea and that I should carry on teaching, then retire like any other normal person. The thought of delaying this for another ten years was not something I felt that I could have managed. I knew within myself that reaching pension age and remaining sane and in good health was bigger risk than taking my chances moving now.

With this view there was only one or two close friends who knew that knew I had to do this. Everyone else, including most of my family thought differently the my closest allies. The idea of buying a home in the Bulgarian countryside was mad, even a ridiculously low prices and to actually move the permanently was even crazier.

The decision was made and I was effectively 'blacklisted' and labelled a 'madman' by many. Funnily enough though, all the strongest critics where those who knew nothing about Bulgaria let alone have been there.

'What the hell are you going there for? What happens if you're ill? How will you survive without money? You can't speak Bulgarian! You're be back in a few months, wait and see! These were some of the comments made to me before I left. Yet one of my brothers is an expatriate in Cyprus and that was considered a wise move. It wasn't the fact that I was moving abroad that was wrong to many, but moving to Bulgaria was wrong and that was judged purely on ignorance!

The worms that turned is the only way I can described what happened once I was here. Most people who have had the courtesy to come to Bulgaria to see me have now seen what I saw and dreamed of. Some of my most fierce family critics have now bought homes here both in neighbouring villages and in my home village of Skalitsa. Two of my brothers have bought houses in the same street, one is now a direct neighbour of mine and they both want to live the home growing village life next to me.

It is so strange that now I have family from the UK that want to live right next to me, this is how much they were impressed with the lifestyle and the people here. They have also seen a changer in me, less stressed not only from a good woman by my side but the slower lifestyle. Before I moved to Bulgaria, some of my family were hardly on speaking terms with me, now we may be living as a bigger family unit here in the near future. How strange it has come to this and Galia is part of that reason.

Apart from some of my family who are so narrow minded that they think that unless you have money you are no good, they all love Galia to bits. They often tell me how lucky I am to have her and how unlucky I was with money oriented and material based women in the UK in the past. My previous partner I realise now, didn't really care for me, but just the money I earn to maintain an unsustainable flamboyant lifestyle.

Well the die is cast and my thoughts turn to whether I want my family living next to me here. I didn't leave the UK to get away from family that's for sure, so I'm quite at ease with that. It's not as if Galia and I are going to be living with them after all. We will just have to see how it goes.

Photograph from http://12121.hostinguk.com/

Skalitsa Village Farm - Planning Crops

Back to the Skalitsa farmhouse and jobs on the farm were waiting. There had to be potatoes sown (yes more). Not knowing what the weather was like we knew that generally it is always different from the Yambol weather even though just 35 kilometres away and we never usually know until we get there.

Arriving is always exciting here in the village, it had been six days since I was last here and the onions and garlic were making a move skywards already, the tuliups had began to open their head and the bird life was deafening around us. A stork had already taken up residence in a local telegraph pole and the whole scene was about to burst into life. Galia now having seena stork placed here Martenitsi on a lilac tree with the others we had put there from the past years.

Looking at the ground, there must have been a lot more snow yesturday than in Yambol, it was too heavy to work with even though the very warm sun had been drying it out for a couple of days. Therer wasn't much I could do as far as planting and digging was concerned to my attention fell on the black covering that had lay on an extended part of the land for a year.

The plan was for each year to cover a section of land each year with the black nylon material to stop the grow of lucerne and couch grass, then each spring uncover it and another section will be ready for putting crops effectively the area for growing will be bigger each year.

As I uncovered the strip on turned it over for another strip to become ready next year, the area left was perfect now for digging over and planting, but far to wet, it would have to wait another day or so to dry out. Now this method is my own English method and looked upon as very strange from neighbours who query what I do. All they would do to prepare fallow land is plough it up with either a tractor or a horse and plough prior to winter, and another session prior to April, the frost would have also done the business and it's ready for planting in spring. I suppose I should succum to this method which was used in my first year here, but it's about getting this system organised and only being here a couple of days a week makes that quite tricky. Besides which, my neighbours would have certainly taken over telling me that the whole area should be farmed - Not what I want, but as usual they always know what is best for me.

By the end of the weekend and a little drier all the working areas were prepared for the sweetworn, two melon varieties and pumpkins. All these could go without water for up to a week and less stress on my part. Also the strawberry patch was weeded, there was a 70% success rate of the newly planted seedlings from the autumn, not too bad. the runners that form later in the spring will fill in the gaps so no worries there. Again, they can survive a while without water in the summer as they have established quite deep root bases now and they will be under the shade of the vines leaves overhead that will form a canopy by the end of spring.

It is all about organising and choosing the right crops for the right growing environment. Hopefully the thought that has gone for the Skalitsa farm will make me sleep better in Yambol knowing that the crops have a good chance of survival this year with minimum maintenance.