“We’ll plant some trees, make some friends and learn to speak Spanish in the sun” said Dan over coffee one drizzly Edinburgh afternoon. ”!!!!!!!!!” I spluttered rapturously, envisioning a deeply tanned version of myself drinking sangria, eating tapas and chattering away in Spanish. So one starry starry night we arrived in the tiny Andalucian village of Gador where we were met by a one armed man with twinkling eyes and cascades of curls flowing down his back.
The following morning we woke at 6am, broke up rock-hard shelves of manure with pick axes, shovelled the manure into large sacks, wheeled the heavy sacks down a large hill and emptied them into a large pile!
Six hours of 35 degree heat later we were covered in manure and sweat, strained, sprained, dehydrated and horrified to discover that bathing was out of the question as the water supply was currently out of action. We were not even tanned because a thick layer of manure on your skin acts as a highly effective sunscreen (who knew?). We washed ourselves off in an icy stream then stumbled upon our naked hosts wandering the orchard covered in skin purifying mud.
How could we possibly survive six more days of this? We were doomed! Dooooooomed!
Thankfully it got better. Over the next six days we caught fish, frogs and snakes(!) with nets, dug holes, distributed manure, removed fungi and even planted a tree or two. We picked up a smattering of Spanish, a few local recipes, the names of the best Andalucian guitarists and celebrated la fiesta de San Juan at a beach rave on a dance floor made of giant fossil.
It was el chulo. But thank God I’m a city girl.
After a teary departure from Soph's guitar (thanks Ryan-air) we arrived at the magical Malaga. A few days of the good life and we were ready to hit the farm.
Oranges oranges everywhere! Thanks to some clever irrigation started by the Romans and improved by the Moors.
Our new home base... and our friendly hosts in the main casa,
Some of the cuter residents: the duck followed that chicken everywhere, hilarious. Wolfy followed Donna everywhere too but I think he had different motives...
Amenities... liquids, solids & shower.
The epic manure pile from our first day, and the first of many irrigation channels...
The work eventually got a little easier... possibly even fun
The following morning we woke at 6am, broke up rock-hard shelves of manure with pick axes, shovelled the manure into large sacks, wheeled the heavy sacks down a large hill and emptied them into a large pile!
Six hours of 35 degree heat later we were covered in manure and sweat, strained, sprained, dehydrated and horrified to discover that bathing was out of the question as the water supply was currently out of action. We were not even tanned because a thick layer of manure on your skin acts as a highly effective sunscreen (who knew?). We washed ourselves off in an icy stream then stumbled upon our naked hosts wandering the orchard covered in skin purifying mud.
How could we possibly survive six more days of this? We were doomed! Dooooooomed!
Thankfully it got better. Over the next six days we caught fish, frogs and snakes(!) with nets, dug holes, distributed manure, removed fungi and even planted a tree or two. We picked up a smattering of Spanish, a few local recipes, the names of the best Andalucian guitarists and celebrated la fiesta de San Juan at a beach rave on a dance floor made of giant fossil.
It was el chulo. But thank God I’m a city girl.
After a teary departure from Soph's guitar (thanks Ryan-air) we arrived at the magical Malaga. A few days of the good life and we were ready to hit the farm.
Oranges oranges everywhere! Thanks to some clever irrigation started by the Romans and improved by the Moors.
Our new home base... and our friendly hosts in the main casa,
Some of the cuter residents: the duck followed that chicken everywhere, hilarious. Wolfy followed Donna everywhere too but I think he had different motives...
Amenities... liquids, solids & shower.
The epic manure pile from our first day, and the first of many irrigation channels...
The work eventually got a little easier... possibly even fun
