Sarah Joubert

Some really good, sound advice based on experience in this thread. My two cents worth:
The "gap" for me is the difference between staying below the  tax threshold and having to pay the taxman if I go over the threshold. I'm fortunate to work part of the year (3  and a half months) where I earn enough to stay just under the threshold. One year I was offered 6 weeks more work and thought, "at that rate of pay I'll have so much more to do things that need doing". However, I lost 30% in taxes as I live in one country and work in another and my country of residence taxed me at a higher rate on a lower threshold. On top of that I had travel expenses, we had 2 household expence budgets as my husband does not accompany me. So yes, I earned more, but we didn't reap any major benefits.There were more downsides actually, I didn't see my husband for nigh on half the year, didn't spend time with my dogs eather. When I was at home, it was a race to get things done and I couldn't focus on growing more of what we eat and developing income streams.

Every year we have the same discussion about him going off to work as he feels he should be the one bringing in the money. And every year I have to explain the additional costs in storage, significant travel expences (we would need to take the dogs with us), possible damage due to break ins, natural events etc. He struggles to see that his contribution in staying behind saves us money. Even though he isn't paid, his work on the property has value - more than he could earn and it cuts my workload down as I'm the one who would have to organise everything!

On a contraversial note, I think having a good credit history (especially in europe) is a good thing. I think it's misunderstood by many. Just because you have a CC that you can spend £2000 on, doesn't mean you should spend it on things you can't afford. I use my credit card to build a good credit history. I pay all my monthly expenses with it BUT I pay it in full whern it's due. The trap of CCs is the whacking interest (currently about 23%) compounded monthly, that has to be paid if you don't pay off in full. Showing that I can manage credit allowed us to get an unsecured loan ( at 4.5%) interest so that we could buy our own piece of land without the mandatory bank evaluation. If we had tried to get a mortgage on our piece of rural land with no "livable" house, no bank would have considered us. We would have had to spend considerably more, and therefore earn considerably more in order to be approved. And it would have taken considerably longer than 5 frugal years to pay it off it off. I'm no number cruncher, but 5 years loan @ 4.5%, no insurance  is better than 20+ years mortgage at 4% variable with compulsory insurance.
Good credit means we have removed a mortgage and the mandatory insurance from our monthly outgoings. Also, if we have an emergency that requires a sizeable amount we don't have, I can use the credit card and I have 30 days to apply for another unsecured loan- which I will get because of my good credit score.

We should beat the banks at their own game, use their "easy credit " offerings to secure manageable credit at more lucrative rates without indenturing ourselves and being forced to pay mandatory insurance- often provided by the banks themselves.

paul wheaton wrote:  Some people leave the soap nuts in with the clothes during the wash and rinse cycles - i don't wanna do that.  

Slightly off topic, but an solution to the "botanical" soap snag. Also, a great way to save power, water and washing agents.
You could always swapout your automaric for a twin tub next time you replace your machine- machine itself is much cheaper to buy, consumes way less power and can use much less water than an automatic and you can use soap nuts just for the wash. The "cost" is more time. I have returned to having a "wash day". I use an eco friendly liquid soap (definitely  want to try ivy soap as soap nuts are expensive) and I wash 3 loads of clothes in the same water - towels/ linen/smalls, then T shirts/shorts/ winter thermals and finish off with jeans/overalls.The water is recyled back to the machine directly from the spinner. I actually get 4 washes out of 1 tub of water and soap as I throw in my dog blankets after doing my laundry. I have the option of emptying the machine into a mulch pit via the drain or bucket it and water my almond trees. This saves me using clean drinking water to deep water my trees in the summer.
Once I've washed all the clothes, I repeat the 1,2,3 (4) order using clean water for rinsing. If I do a double rinse (depends on the color of the first rinse) I use the rinse water for my next round of washing water.
Each wash cycle is 15 min. I rinse the clothes in a large large bucket and the water is returned to the bucket after each spin cycle (1min).  Occasionally I soak the 3rd load for a while in the tub before starting the cycle to help soften dirt build up.
I now have 2 twin tubs so I can do 4 people's entire weekly washing in under 2 hours. Yes, load size is smaller, but wash cycle is shorter and all the washing is hung out within 2 hours.

Jane Mulberry wrote: Sarah, your rocks look like mine at my Bulgarian house. The soil behind the house is full of them, there are lots of old drystone fences built of them, and since the ancient stone barn collapsed in a winter storm, I have a huge supply of similar stones. I hope to use mine to make low terraces on contour and slow the water flow in the sloping back yard.

I'm sure they will work well as terraces. All the terraces here are shored up with these rocks so the edges of the terraces are slighly higher than the terrace itself, but years of ploughing have changed the slope of the terraces as I am sure they were originally designed to slope backwards into the terrace behind. Now the water sheets over the terrace and finds places to drop down onto the one below until hitting the road and disappearing down the hill!  They also used them for walls, infilling the middle with all the smaller stones. We don't have many in our terrace soil so we don't need to find many uses for stones - we actually have a shortage for creative features. These were taken from a collapsed low wall that serves no purpose-besides a home for creepy crawlies, and we've left enough for them!

Stephan Schwab wrote:
No. Absolutely nobody. The whole region - as most of Spain - looks dry and brown during summer. That's "normal" as the locals say. They say it's because of the lack of water.

I can vouch for that! I'm in northern Spain and summers here are hot and dry too. Any vegetation that does grow between the olive and almond trees is ploughed under repeatedly so the "soil" is just dry, fine dirt. The fincas that are uncultivated  tend to be on rocky gound but still produce some vegetation most of the year. Yes, dry through July and Aug but there is always something flowering all year round. In the spring and autum the grasses break dormancy and it's green and lush in the valleys.
We have one farmer who does not plough, he has fields on various terrain and it's interesting to see the difference in vegetation based on the soil profile. The hill terraces that have been ploughed by past farmers are still sparsely vegetated with no undergrowth - more bushy type growth, rosemary, wild thyme, sea thistle. His valley fields are more grassy with the occasional bush-especially along the margins. He's only been there about 7 years, he hasn't drilled any seed, just cuts the dry vegetation once a year. I haven't seen any major change in the vegetation, places that were bare 5 years ago are still the same today.

I'm not sure our soil will regenerate in our lifetime if it is not given some assistance. We've been here 5 years , the terraces were left fallow for at least 5 years prior to that as the previous owner died and no one ploughed his terraces. I dont see any change even though we try to build soil on  a small scale through various gardening practices. I know growing vegetables doesn't put much in the soil - I try to leave the roots in at the end of the season to reduce soil disturbance but all my "soil" is imported as is my water so I cant irrigate non-food vegetation.

How has your pasture regeneration programme influenced your landscape Stephen? I only have a hectare and no livestock, but I am planning on seeding the terraces between the olives and rotate chickens on them. I'm on a hillside with no water and same rainfall as you so I'm keen to know what you planted.

I've added some more rocks to my original pile of rubble. But this time as a garden feature. I found a piece of very large drain pipe and cut it to make an arch. Then stacked stones on top to make it look like a hump back bridge. I've still got to put a row of ducks going over it and there will be a bath pond in front so it will look like a river flowing under it.

Ooops! After seeing Williams post I just realised that he was referring to early sowing as opposed to winter veg! Thanks for not rubbing my nose in it!
That's a really good idea. I overwinter my mango seedlings in water bottle greenhouses so that's another use for my stash of 8L bottles.

Nina Surya wrote:overalls do not - I repeat; do not - work well for women. Or maybe it's just me.

I agree, I love the idea of (c)overalls/dungarees. I have a summer set which have no sleeves, just a simple loop-tie sytem over each sholder in a lightweight material and a winter set that is long sleeve and heavy denim. They do not sit well, the waist/ crotch area are not aligned with the top area and sag when I'm in an upright position so I end up tying the loop tie so tight the bib almost chokes me. And then I bend down........ The winter one is just the same, sags around my nether regions when I'm uprightso I'm constanly hitching at the waistband and treading on the backs of the legs. And that one has the added disadvantage of getting out of when nature calls!
I persist in wearing them because, especially the summer set, they are so easy to sling on over a shirt or vest and leggings. And then my day starts and I'm too busy to change into something more comforatble.

Here's some current photos of the brassicas. All heirloom varieties. I was late planting out, they were sown in Aug but only planted out 20 Nov  2025. They held up marvelously well in the snails considering how long they were kept in a confined space. They transplanted well. I may have issues with head setting at the expense of lush greenery because of soil inbalances - newly created growing area using what I can get, probably too high in nitrogen.

I've just come from the "Let's talk about soil minerals" where sea water and salt features heavily. I have posted a question about seaweed there so I would be glad to see a thread devoted to seaweed, it's forms, benefits, uses and cautions.

I live 40 min from the beaches of Northern Spain. In the summer, the local municipalities will use tractor mounted rakes to comb the shore so that the tourists can have nice beaches(me included, I'm there at least once a week in summer). The debris is piled up at dump sites. There are vast beds of sea grasses just off shore and the stuff dumped contains a fair percentage of these grasses. Obviously they get dehydrated in the spanish sun. I have long been debating whether this would make a suitable ammendment to lighten my clay soil by adding sand and if it would add minerals left in the dehydrated grasses. But I am unsure if this is a safe practice. Yes, there will be some rope, fishing nets, plastic to remove but is the basic mass safe? Is it worth loading up a trailer next time I am there? Should be adding it to compost, using it as mulch or trying to incorporate it in my dirt (by far the most difficult as its clay pan and my garden location is inaccessable to a tractor)?