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| NEWSLETTER August 2010 | |
| This edition: Carpenter Bees, something for a summer picnic, latest offers for Autumn walking, Down on the Farm and much more! | |
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Carpenter or Mijas Bees - |
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 Carpenter bee |
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At up to a massive two and a half centimetres this is a scary, if beautiful looking insect – but don’t worry, the males have no sting at all and the females only sting as a last resort, for instance in defence when trapped in clothing; as Fiona found out to her cost when she happened on one caught in a shawl one summer evening. These huge bees can be found in abundance from spring through the summer in the Sierra Nevada – they particularly love the wistaria which sprawls over our cortijo. |
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The latin name is Xylocopa Violacea and indeed the abeja carpintero possesses a handsome, purple-blue lustre on its black wings and carapace. The carpenter bee exists in about 500 species world-wide, making its home in dead wood where the female lays up to 15 eggs – some of the biggest insect eggs relative to her size - and leaves pollen for the hatchling grubs. The bees are generally solitary although some species have simple social nests, shared by mothers and daughters who have been observed sharing the work of maintaining the nest with one female guarding the entrance while the other forages – and often several may nest close together. The stingless male will chase other males in competition as well as females that attract them. While this mating behaviour goes on they can be like noisy, yet delicate wind-up toys crashing into walls, windows and amusing human onlookers! |
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SIESTAS and STROLLS |
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Picnic excursions in beautiful mountainous locations with short walks - visits to the historic city of Granada, the picturesque white villages of the Alpujarra and to local herbal expert and author Julio Donat - a walk through the coastal nature reserve of the Cerro Gordo with its lovely beaches, near Almuñecar - Siestas, Strolls and lots more! |
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In September 2008 we launched this new event; specially designed for folk who enjoy easy walks and relaxing in the great outdoors, these weeks have also proved popular with more sturdy walkers who want to introduce family and friends to the Alpujarra and to Bootlace cuisine and company. With this in mind we decided to introduce a special Bring a Friend offer for this holiday – with a €100 discount for bookings of two folk sharing twin- or double-bedded room. |
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Siestas and Strolls (BL159) runs from the 18 – 25 September - if you want to take advantage of the special offer and for more information email Fiona using the contact form at the bottom of the page! |
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Baba Ghanoush A great addition to your summer picnic menu! |
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Baba Ganoush, Baba Ghannouj, or Baba Ghannoug is an Arab dish of mashed aubergine mixed with various seasonings. A popular preparation method is to bake or broil eggplant over an open flame before peeling, so that the pulp is soft and has a smoky taste. Usually an earthy beige color, it’s eaten as a dip with pitta bread, and is sometimes added to other dishes. It’s popular in the Levant and Eygypt. I traded a Spanish tortilla recipe for this one, with its fabulous smoky flavour, at a summer party with someone who is half Iranian, who told me “this is how they make it in my grandmother’s house” so I guess it’s authentic! As for the spelling – who knows? |
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You’ll need - 3-4 medium sized aubergines |
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First burn your aubergines! - a cake cooling rack is good to help position aubergines directly over gas flame - you can do two or three at a time - turn the vegetables so that they singe fairly evenly and the flesh inside starts to cook in its own superheated steam - treat all the aubergines this way – steady with a fork and use a knife to strip off the blackened skin - the inside should be pretty well cooked – if it’s not evenly softened, don’t worry, the blending will take care of that - blend together all the ingredients, chill, and decorate with wedges of lemon and/or chopped fresh parsley or coriander leaves. |
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Let It Bee - La Dominga Hive news: The Langstroth hive has been prepared with wax sheets in the brood chamber and in one super, which sits on top divided from the brood chamber by a queen excluder grill. Below you can see both sections and a prepared frame with its insert of delicious-smelling beeswax sheets which provide a starter for the honey combs. |
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No tenants have turned up yet so we’re consulting with the locals to see if the old rhyme that a swarm in July is not worth a fly only applies to more northern latitude bee-keeping. |
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Water works – last winter was one of the wettest on record in Southern Spain – the rain, it DID NOT stay on the plain – and I was informed by my herbalist neighbour Julio that over 900cm per square metre fell on the mountain village of Capileira in the week following Christmas. That’s nearly one tonne of water for every square metre of land! (See more from our old pals at the Olive Press here – http://www.theolivepress.es/2009/12/24/floods-shut-hundreds-of-roads/) |
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As you can imagine the environmental damage caused by this was impressive. Not least to suffer were the ancient acequia systems which are the life blood of the Alpujarra, carrying fresh mountain water to crops and orchards, gardens and parks throughout the area. Despite the fact that now in the heat of the Andalucian summer there is more snow on the Sierras and more water than ever before in living memory tumbling down the rivers, ironically we’ve been hanging out for our irrrigation water until only a few weeks ago. |
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Normally, the Cachariche, which threads its way from above Pampaneira some kilometres down the Poqueira valley and round the ridge to us here in Padre Eterno starts flowing in April – nice for the beans and early plantings of peas and what-not. Regular readers might remember an earlier article (in our May 2009 edition) on the yearly community effort of digging out small landslides, accumulated debris and weeds to clear the irrigation channel. Our work this year was compounded by the incredible rainfall - and worse the sifon – a pipe which carries the water over the river has been destroyed and can't be replaced until the level of the river descends. Meanwhile, a tadged-together bridge of poplar trunks is serving purpose but can't carry as much as the sifon normally does – only a dribble reached us folk near the end of the branching line of the acequia – and then it disappeared into the soil before getting to the numerous neighbours at the end of the line. O woe! |
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An emergency meeting was called – Chris Stewart would be proud of us: in true Alpujarra-style we all squatted under a shady fig tree by the side of Pepe’s bean fields, which sadly sported only dry earth and empty drip irrigation pipes. After much good humour, friendly ribbing and very careful negociating, an agreement was struck: to establish tornas (turns!) taking all the water available down one cayero(literally “faller”, but meaning a steeply descending channel running at 90 degrees to the contour) in turn – one night on, one night off. This means that each night someone has to go up to turn the other cayero off, packing muddy sods and stones into the mouth of the channel and also walk along into the Poqueira valley to make sure our neighbours above us and closer to the source of the acequia are also switched off. |
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The picture below is not as you might think, the window of an old mule shed but a door opening into the housing of a partidor and cayero… inside in the damp and gloom is the partidor, a castellated barrier that splits the water into sections which can be managed by simply blocking and unblocking with mud, stones, your old t-shirt – whatever comes to hand in the moment. Tonight in a few minutes, I’ll be blocking off Pepe’s cayero (he’s president of the acequia) leaving a small trickle (he IS president of the acequia) and then walking up the run through brambles and scrambling over rocks… hope to catch up with you later! |
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Seasonal La Dominga residents - Swallows cutting the evening air above La Dominga is one of the beautiful sights of our daily life from April through to the early autumn. To encourage them away from swooping into our living room and setting up home on our beams, Paul has hammered in long nails on lintels and beams outside. Unfortunately the weight of the eggs and the parents taking off from the rim of the nest started to break the whole structure away from the beam. Luckily it was supported by the nails for long enough to apply a hasty sling of parcel tape. Effective if not architecturally pleasing: the nest has survived long enough to raise two broods of young swallows. |
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Closely associated with human beings from ancient times there are many superstitions and stories about this vocal and cheerful sounding stunt flier. Sailors opted for swallow tattoos as a symbol of safe return after 5000 nautical miles at sea and another swallow was added after 10,000. The swallows nest was considered to bring luck to a household while damage to the nest might lead to agricultural disasters such as cows giving bloody milk or hens going off lay. This might be why one of the oldest nests has been on record as occupied for over 48 years! Presumably because of its wandering nature it’s used in heraldry to represent youngest sons. Strangely it was once believed to have no feet and was depicted like this in old illustrations. |
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Being such an excellent flyer the swallow drinks and bathes on the wing – skimming low over rivers and pools. Skillful flight is involved in courtship as the male “house-hunts” checking out likely nesting sites which he then displays to the female with an elegant display of hovering and circling the favoured spot. Males with longer tails are more healthy and more successful in mating, and they pair for life - although the females can indulge in extra-pair polygamy. Males will often use false prey alarm calls to put off rivals and are particularly aggressive and territorial in defending the nest. The eggs take 2-3 weeks to incubate and another 18-23 days go by before the young fly. They’ll stay around the nest and get fed by their parents for another week and after that will occasionally stay on to help feed the second brood. |
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A STORM IN THE MOUNTAINS |
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Here’s a contribution by Dave Reeves – aka Dr Troy - a performer poet and freereed player, who spent a memorable week walking with us in the Sierra de Cañar some years ago. |
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A storm in the mountains heralds the return of Christ renewed to the church of Santa Ana, in the village of Cañar, on the Eve of All Hallows 2003. |
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Lightening forks into the meal of the sierra: hams quiver over drip-trays in the bar; tiles dive from rooftops, and the fountain’s lazy willow dreads spout upwards a-twist, dervish unseen since the moors sighed off. Sat in the arched booth of his entry, top half of the door open - The storm stops…………… instant and complete. Sudden bells on the necks of sheep herding through the village There is a freshness…………… to the air. |
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Dave Reeves can be heard on the internet radio station Radio Wildfire between |
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If you'd like to know more about Dave take a look at his website - http://www.textician.co.uk/ |
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 After the rain over hills below Cañar village |
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Autumn Walking from CASA RIF, Cañar |
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This October we’ll be walking from Casa Rif, perched on the edge of Cañar village with the GR7 on our doorstep and the less travelled mountain walks above, including a visit to Oselling Tibetan Buddhist Retreat Centre with its powerful prayer wheel. Our Bring A Friend offer extends to this week – so if you want to introduce someone to Bootlace you can save €100 from the price of your double booking (sharing twin- or double-bedded room). |
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 Statue at Oselling Tibetan Retreat Centre |
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Our week from Casa Rif in Cañar (BL160) runs from the 2 - 9 October - if you want to take advantage of the special offer and for more information email Fiona using the contact form at the bottom of the page! |
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 Clean machine? |
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Be greener? TRAIN TO SPAIN: €25 discount |
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We pledge to give you a €25 discount on your Bootlace week if you travel to Spain on the train! Send proof of purchase to Fiona for your discount. For more information on travel from London to Granada go to - Seat61 |
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Our sister company Cortijo Romero has also been running a similar offer - for personal accounts of guests traveling by train to Granada province go here |
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AUTUMN IN THE HEIGHTS |
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Walking in the High Mountains - including a new route to Trevelez |
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At Fernando’s Hideaway (1700m) with a night at the Refugio Poqueira (at 2500m) below the highest peak of the Sierra Nevada, Mulhacen (3483m) and in the highest village in Spain, Trevelez |
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An opportunity to enjoy seasonal sweet chestnuts and field mushrooms with autumn bird life and wild ibex to spot - during this new week of high level walking we spend the first few days at Fernando’s Cortijo in the Sierra de Cañar. At over a mile high this is an ideal base for acclimatising to the altitude, and getting the legs in high mountain gear for exploring the tranquil ridges above Cañar and Soportujar and later in the week gaining the Refugio Poqueira and trying out our new route to Trevelez via the dramatic Siete Lagunas. Includes a night at the Refugio and another in Spain’s highest village, Trevelez. We’re offering our special Bring a Friend Autumn offer for this week - a €100 discount for bookings of two folk sharing twin- or double-bedded room. |
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Autumn in the Heights (BL161) runs from the 16 – 23 October - if you want to take advantage of the special offer and for more information, email Fiona using the contact form at the bottom of the page! |
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 Siete Lagunas Valley at 3000m in the Sierra Nevada |
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Art in the Landscape |
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The floating stones above were made by ceramic sculptress Lotte Glob. Her often jewel-like stoneware pieces echo the textures of plants, rocks, pools and skies of her chosen home - “My creative process involves a close relationship with the landscape and wilderness of the Scottish Highlands, a part of which is long hikes into the mountains, bringing back materials such as rocks and sediments to incorporate into my work”. Her Books of the Land are made from materials gathered on long walks fused in the kiln under high heat - transformed in to sculptured books – she wants them “to be viewed as (an) artefact from the future or fossilised tomes from a distant past… intangible and ephemeral”. Hidden inside the vitrified pages are “rocks, sediment, pebbles, glass and bones, light on lochans, sound of distant water - smells from moors and heath - fading light at dusk. Dawn - sun rising behind mountain peaks - an eagle in the sky - deer running - clusters of small pink flowers sheltering between grey rocks. Naked hills with scattered rocks and boulders - clouds racing across mountaintops - space for idle thoughts - a feast of solitude”. |
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As an artist/art therapist and walker for the simple joy of it as well as by profession I’ve been fascinated for some time by the work of land artists. I love taking time to really look and be absorbed in the landscape as well as taking photographs of the ever-changing light on mountains and beaches, or searching for that one perfect pebble in the shingle, gazing at the great abstract sweeps of rock and earth on the exposed land of the southern mountains. To create art away from the interior of a gallery or studio, to have it discovered by walkers or shared by locals as part of their home skyline seems incredibly exciting to me. The work I’ve come across seems to celebrate nature and landscape in a way which illustrates the emotional attachment many folk feel to the varied landscapes of the planet. |
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I was introduced by a walking companion – appropriately we were descending the ancient camino from the Peñon del Angel into the impressive Poqueira valley - to the concept of the sense of place which is our unique human response to the environment. By creating art in the landscape we can record and share our own sense of place, from the powerful and awe-inspired response to snowy peaks, to the gentle soothing of streams and calm seas, to the energy inspired by tides and waterfalls. There’s something profoundly satisfying and authentic about landscape art that captures the observer – here’s a beautiful piece by Andy Goldsworthy - |
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| Excerpt from Rivers and Tides | |
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His work also deals with darker aspects: he has this to say - “I find some of my new works disturbing, just as I find nature as a whole disturbing. The landscape is often perceived as pastoral, pretty, beautiful – something to be enjoyed as a backdrop to your weekend before going back to the nitty-gritty of urban life. But anybody who works the land knows it’s not like that. Nature can be harsh – difficult and brutal, as well as beautiful. You couldn’t walk five minutes from here without coming across something that is dead or decaying.” |
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The artist Richard Long is also close to the Bootlace heart –much of his work is created through walking, describing the physical space and subjective experience, using the act of walking to elicit material, writing Textworks, “framing” the route and footprints or tracks themselves, arranging materials found on the path, or scribing into the ground. A man after my own heart, he does love his rocks - |
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Here’s one of his Textworks - |
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The last word on art in the landscape goes to Andy Goldsworthy - “To just go up into the woods again and make a piece of work roots me again and if I don’t go up into the woods - I feel rootless, I don’t know myself”. |
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AND FINALLY: |
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