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| NEWSLETTER April 2011 | |
| This edition: Y Glôb Byw (learn a little Welsh with us) - Spring Down on the Farm - Morocco 2011 - Trailwalker on the South Downs - Special Offer on our new Sulayr Gateway of the Alpujarra route - and What’s Coming Up Next? |
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Y Glôb Byw - The Willow Globe, is a scaled down, living version of the Globe in London, a third of its size in diameter. The willow has been carefully woven to create a stunning out-door space for theatre events, offering syllabus Shakespeare for schools, community productions and professional tours. It’s a magical woodland venue, open from April through to September, for an eclectic mix of music, Shakespeare, and other arts happenings in Mid Wales. Starkly sculptural in spring, it becomes almost completely absorbed by its lush, green surroundings in summer months. Our roving reporter Ffion Prif-Cofestr visited Y Glôb Byw last summer to enjoy a performance of Twelfth Night in the bosky environs of Penlanole near the tiny Radnor hamlet Llanwrthwl (told you you’d learn a little welsh). There she captured a few images of the action including Lol Golding of Head for the Hills in the part of Sir Toby Belch. |
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More about Y Glôb Byw and upcoming events |
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DOWN ON THE FARM |
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| Butterfly orchid |
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Orchidacious! This is the month for orchids here in the Alpujarra and our secano (unirrigated land) is the perfect place for spotting them. Every year there’s a different spread of varied orchids depending on the rainfall and temperatures of the months before - sometimes just a few and sometimes like this year a feast of different colours and sizes. Our neighbours over the valley probably wonder what on earth we’re up to if they spot us wandering about the hillside bending down to check what’s going on at ankle level. We often find something new, with a pale pink newcomer this year – yet to be positively identified. Here are a couple of our favourites – above the gorgeously flamboyant butterfly orchid (Anacamptis papilionacea) and below the mirror orchid (Ophrys speculum). |
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| Mirror orchid |
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Olivacious! All of the olives in the valley have now been gathered and the newly pressed olive oil cashed in or stored in the almacenes of the various cortijos. The sound of the massed strimmers of Padre Eterno as the tide of new green sweeps in (”mustard plants big as olive trees this year!” says Mr P as he stumps in for his mid-morning cuppa) replaces the thrashing sound of neighbours beating their trees with long canes or drawing the new-fangled italian olive comb down the branches. Human beings have been making olive oil and eating olives since… well we don’t know really, but archaeological evidence seems to indicate that it all started at least 7000 years ago. The modern olive tree is believed to have evolved from the wild olive from Northern tropical Africa and was introduced to the Mediterranean via Egypt. Fossilized pollen has been found in Macedonia, Greece and elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin countries and fossilized leaves dated c 37,000 B.P. were discovered on the volcanic island of Santorini (Thira) – they also showed traces of the olive fly which still plagues us here in Andalucia. Olive trees can survive for many centuries, although thank goodness, they start yielding fruit at the tender age of 5 or so depending on the variety – and there are many many of those! Below is one of the oldest olive trees on the planet – there’s quite a few of those too. This one was found on the island of Crete and is between 2000 and 3000 years old. |
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| Found in Vouves, Crete - one of the oldest olive trees in the world | |
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Green or black olives? Just to clear up this frequently asked question - the black ones are riper green ones. We can only guess how we discovered that the supremely bitter fruit of the Olea europaea could be rendered into an edible and nutritious food, however after processing olives for many years I have an idea that ancient peoples may well have discovering the olive palatable after the fruit fell and stayed for some time in running water - a stream for example. This would soak away the bitter juices, just as I and my Spanish neighbours do today by submersing our olives in buckets of water… remembering to change every day or so… for a month… yes, it is a bit laborious… and if you forget them yeuch! (In Spanish ¡Que asco! or, if you’d like to continue the welsh lesson - Ach a fi!) |
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Having had a few nasty moments with forgotten buckets of olives I’ve moved on to salting mine – which is far easier – plus I do prefer the finished product. It’s a similar process reminiscent of salting aubergines to remove the bitter flavour – but longer winded. Should you find yourselves with a few kilos of olives to cure (!) here’s a Turkish method: - Cover the bottom of a wooden box with burlap. - Weigh out 1 pound of salt for each 2 pounds of olives. - Mix the salt and olives well in the box to prevent mold from developing. - Pour a layer of salt over the olives to a depth of 1 inch. - After 1 week, pour olives and salt into another box, then back into the first box to mix them. - Repeat this mixing process once every 3 days until the olives are cured and edible. This usually takes about 30 to 35 days. - Sift out most of the salt through a screen. Dip the olives momentarily in boiling water. Drain. Let them dry overnight. - Add 1 pound of salt to each 10 pounds of olives. Mix and put the olives in a cool place. - Use within 1 month, or store in a refrigerator or home freezer until used. Just before using, coat the olives with olive oil. Do not use oil if you plan to use the olives for cooking. - To coat with oil, put them in a large pan or box and sprinkle a little olive oil over them. Work the olives with your hands to coat them with oil. This type of olive is useful for flavouring stews, tamale pie, spaghetti, and as a relish. |
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Alternatively the simpler La Dominga, Andalucian method: - pick olives, look them over discarding any blemished fruit - Rinse with running water and dry. - Layer with plenty of salt in an unglazed terracotta crock (such as a large plant pot), remembering that if there is a hole in the bottom you need to cover with some net or similar to prevent olives from escaping and making a bid for freedom. Leave in a dry place where the accumulated bitter juices can drain away from the base as the olives cure. - After 2-3 weeks dig into the pot and remove some olives, wash off salt and taste. If they’re still asqueroso leave for another week and try again until you have edible fruit. - Sieve, wash off salt, dry and pack in jars with olive oil, adding small chunks of lemon, slivers of sun-dried tomato, or bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, or spices such as cinnamon stick, whole cumin, coriander seeds, etc. |
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MOROCCO 2011 |
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| Showery morning in Sidi Kaouki |
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This year’s Morocco trek in Essaouira opened with a spell of rain – although thankfully not as severe as our 2011 trip. It left the High Atlas with an attractive line of crisp white peaks as we sped back to Marrakech on the last day of the tour and our local friends are asking us if we can come back later in the year when they’re hanging out for rain-water! |
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| If you’d like to trace our journey in pictures go here | |
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| Here comes the camel train | |
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TRAILWALKER 2011 |
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Regular readers will remember the article in the July 2009 Newsletter about Bootlacer Janette Lee, who with fellow members of the Songlines choir walked and sang her way around the London Ring one weekend in August 2009 to raise money for a trip to Bosnia for a joint project with with Pontanima a Sarajevo based inter-faith choir. This year our intrepid Janette along with three work colleagues has registered for Trailwalker, a 100km walking challenge in July this year. She tells us - “Walking in teams of 4, participants have 30 hours to complete the challenge across the South Downs. We start near Petersfield on Saturday morning, walking through the day and night to finish in time for breakfast (with a bit of luck) on Sunday morning in Brighton, each step raising money for Oxfam and the Ghurka Trust. As a team we have pledged to raise a minimum of £1,500. If you would like to help Gary, Koen, Sophie and me reach or even exceed our target please visit our fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Off-The-Beaten-Trekkers” |
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If you are interested in finding more information about the challenge, please visit the Trailwalker website: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/Trailwalker |
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WALK THE SULAYR 2011 28 May – 4 June 2011 (BL 166) |
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Bring a Friend Special offer - €75 discount for two people sharing twin/double room |
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Moderate walking – with some strenuous ascents and descents – daily max. 17km/10.5miles |
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A week-long tour following the Sulayr long-distance path (GR 240) eastwards from above the Padul valley to Spain’s highest village Trevelez, including opportunities to reach Pico Alegas at 2700m with its impressive views of the cirque of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada, with over-night accommodation in the spa town of Lanjaron, the white villages of Capileira and Trevelez and at a converted farmhouse high within the National Park. |
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More on walking the Sulayr, Gateway to the Alpujarra section here |
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What’s coming up next? |
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Bootlace on Facebook |
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| Winter Walkers 2011 | |
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We now have a Facebook page – the photo above is from the Winter Walking 2011 gallery - and we hope that you'll be able to use the page as a message centre and forum, place to post photos and so on... go on have a look and let us know what you think!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bootlace-Walking-Holidays/163616700354670 |
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AND FINALLY… |
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Miss April |
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Calima Primarolo - Profession: La Dominga Pest Control Officer Favourite colour : camouflage Status: single Likes: ginger tom from next door Favourite pastime: surprising Paul and Fiona by materialising unexpectedly from the background greenery Favourite food - baby bird (crunchy!) |
