This is it the end of year one.

Part two even more happened so we need a part two.

I have had to put you through even more sorry but so much happened I have had to do a part two.

After moving in and mooching around in the cellar found a 5 litre wine bottle with a spirit in it. Being careful I filtered it three times to make sure it was free from any foreign objects, it tasted OK and the smell was OK so why waste it. I do know from speaking to neighbours that it is many years old but who cares you only die once. I had been watching River Cottage and Pam the Jam was making Cherry Brandy and after watching I decided to use the Aguardiente this is Portugals answer to Pocheen that's made in Ireland.

To make Cherry Aguardiente you have to prick Cherries with a tooth pick and then put them in a bottle or jar and that's it. Pam says to leave it for at least three months so come September it will be ready to try. I also made Cherry Vodka the same way, Cherry Cognac using Remy Martin Mmmm and last Peach Aguardiente. All will be left till September. In June I picked Cherries from my own tree and made Cherry wine a whole gallon of Cherry wine It's now ready for bottling and leaving to age for a few months.

A major project I had to do was to get my car made legal here in Portugal the process is called Matriculation. Friends used a local who speaks very good English but watching then I could see that I could do the whole process myself. There are a number of thing that you need to do to get started so I set about doing this on my own. The first was to get a copy of my Certificate of Conformity from my cars maker and that done of I go first to the Portuguese MOT station to get an MOT. Done now go to the Consulate in Porto. Done now call at the Customs to collect forms that need to be filled in. Done now home to transfer all the information from the Certificate of Conformity to the Customs forms. Done now the end is in sight. The thing that's makes the process easy is in the preparation so now it's a trip with all the forms and documents to the Customs, then a visit to another place 40km away then back to the MOT for a number for a form and then back to Customs and from a 7am start all was done by 2.14 in the afternoon. This was a major worry as on the Forums you read horror stories about people getting into all kinds of trouble, but mine is all done. 

For three months prior to the end of my first year i helped a friend setup a mushroom project. This in-tailed  felling trees cleaning the logs and drilling them prior to knocking in up to 20 dowels in each log. The ends of the logs had to be sealed with hot wax and also the places where the dowels had been put also had to be hot waxed. He is growing types of mushroom for medicinal purposes as they command the best prices. 

I have started my own small project with mushrooms and the type i am growing is called Oyster mushroom. What you do is rip up lots of clean cardboard and sterilize it with boiling water. Collect waste coffee from the cafes and sterilize it. Layer it in a suitable container and mix in the mushroom spores. then another layer of coffee on top then a layer of sterilized saw dust or wood shavings and then a layer of compost. Easy or it sound easy. My mushrooms are coming on very well and it shouldn't be long now till i have fresh mushrooms. As i will be growing more than i can eat i will sell the surplus.In Gois you can't buy fresh mushrooms so maybe from the Brits i will earn a few Euro's.

Well that's pretty much a years gone so i hope you enjoy this my first year recap.