Frosty days in January – Still winter in rural Galicia
We have some really frosty nights and incredible sunny days.
Temperatures just bounce form -7C to 15C and more in a couple of hours.
One lies in bed and contemplates if its necessary to get up, as all one can see are frosted pastures and then the morning fog may roll in covering everything. 
Here in Mer this fog stays for maybe one or two hours, than the sun breaks through.
Immediate action is required. Head out to the poly tunnels and open doors and uncover plants.
As you see salad is growing well, albeit a bit slow, so preventing it from being prematurely cooked by the sun is an important task.
With spring looming around the corner and the typical requirement of fixing things that have or have not survived the winter, I found this great chart which I adjusted a bit to Galicia.
I’m pretty sure that given time I will come across more than the known 200 uses of WD40. I’m not sure yet if can be used to grease the bureaucracy here, but this not only will be another story, but probably will be worth a try.
I found a loaded Silicone gun and self tapering screws to be the next best two things to have around.
We will have to see if the future olive grove has survived.
Some have lost some leaves, the problem being that olives tend to store their strength in the leaves.
They also hate frost and wet conditions, both of which are presently plentiful here.
But it’s not just doom and gloom. The Japanese quince is happily flowering and seems to provide for the odd bee that wakes up at noon.
The sun is also powerful enough to run the irrigation pumps.
Although we had plenty of rain the water is never in the place where you need it. I left one pump completely installed and there is no degradation of performance and it simply keeps the two storage tanks full.
More on our trials and solutions on solar / photovoltaic irrigation
More soon as I have to prepare paperwork to feed the bureaucrats.
This is a little gem I found on the Net.
Oficina del gobierno de robo de impuestos
Sí, me encanta trabajar en el interior como esta. Es mejor que tomar su dinero en un callejón viejo y oscuro. Lo mejor de todo lo que me pagan para hacerlo.
Expat
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February 23rd, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Dear Barbara,
We had the pleasure of talking to you last year about plants.You said that you hoped to get rhubarb for this feb./march.If you have, please let me know and, will you have a stall at Monforte this year?