Portugal Farm Life 59 - Farm WATER storage and SURVIVING summer DROUGHT
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- čas přidán 8. 10. 2020
- VLOG Episode. We are at the end of a long and hot summer and have had a few rainy day to help replenish our wells. We did a water change on our main water storage tank that houses our goldfish and our dogs enjoyed playing in the resulting river.
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Good morning farmer ,you are working hard .
Bom dia, obrigado 😁 👍
I use waterpest to keep the water clean. Works very well, Needs trimming every year. I use to have 3 goldfisch but after 2 year more than 200. They breed like crazy. No more fisch like that for me.I harvest water from my hangar roof into a natural pool (150000l) Had to drain the pool to get rid of the goldfisch. Now i have one fisch (baars) that eats mosquitolarves and other larves.
Great info, thanks 😊❤️👍
Hi, you should invest in a solar pump, use can use it for 12 hours every day without need to pay energy, it´s very efficient...
Love that water tank. My grannie had one in the farm as well. Reason why Portugal still exists is that we all help eachother, and we stand firm against evilness. With help from our friends (Brits) we have survived against all odds. Your doggies are the best; love them. Tks for another wonderful and informative video. Have a great weekend Ken.
Thanks Maria. I hope you have an amazing weekend too 😊❤️👍
What a wonderful world it would be if more people had this outlook. Portugal is a special place. I can't wait to visit.
@@lyleelkins5526Thank you. Now, we do have our bad apples, and we are a poor country within the EU, but most of our people, especially those in the country and small towns are extremely helpful, nice and we do help one another, one way or another. Because we are reticent at first don't be shy to ask, and btw you will be most welcome when you visit. Stay well. Cheers!
Maybe use the watertight camera and flashlight on a string to explore the welds.. :-)
Have a look at some sideways swales that take the water across your field, that would put water into the olive trees rather than just flowing down hill
That nitrate rich water would be good for the veggie patch!
I have a suggestion to use DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM for your farm, it's usually used in dry or semi dry countries, it will also save you money on electricity as you are not using solar pump! I am thinking myself to buy a farm in Portugal later on in my life, at least I can drive to Morocco my country of origin, living currently in Ireland. Wishing you all the best with your new adventure.
U will be most welcome here.
We wanted to buy a drip system but they had none in stock at the time and we just needed to get something up and running before the hot summer. Maybe next year spring I will try that 😁👍
I'm jealous of your diospiros tree. Love them. Probably the only fruit you have to wait until they're over ripe before you can eat them. Worth the wait though.
Looking forward to it :)
Look at regenerative farming / permaculture to make your land and your soil healthier. Healthy soils will store water for you as well instead of drying out. There’s also a really interesting talk by Allan Savory about restoring desert in zimbabwe or the 30min documentary by ABC Australia about Charles Massy. If you let your chickens into the compost, it will aid the decomposition as well AND fertilise if even more.
And don’t plough the soil. Get some sheep or goats in to feed on the grass and fertilise the ground in turn. When you plough, you’re aiding topsoil loss in such arid regions. We live in Pedrogao Grande and have our farm there, but I’m very sure you’ll have permaculture practitioners in the Castrol Branco Region you can visit and learn From.
Dodgy Hat, Dodgy boots hahaha
Most definitely 😅👍
water water everywhere but not a drop to drink.
great video guys
Cheers 🍻
@@OKportugal looking forward to the well restoration video mate .
dig a pond and plastic liner, and you can save 100,000 - 5 million gallons of water for use in dry season.
I think our large dam and two Wells are more than enough for this farm but I'd like a duck pond in future 🦆
Just a suggestion: you could go to that shop you guys love so much & look to buy a sprinkler. You get ones that are about hip hight & would spray around 10 - 15m with that water pressure! The sprinkler would be movable, so you could move it around the lawn area and even use it in the garden too.
Loving what you’re doing with the place! Can’t wait to “spend winter with you” on CZcams😬😬. Exciting times!!
Thanks dude. The summer is so hot and dry that the grass did not even grow back on the wet edges of our vegetable patch that were getting watered for 30 minutes, twice everyday. We did try a sprinkler on our "lawn" in the beginning of summer but it became apparent very quickly, that unless we had it on all day long, the grass would not grow ;)
Nic video sr
Loving your videos, it's great to hear the temperature where you are as it's been a top temp of 11 degrees in the UK today. 😣 we love watching the dogs and 'dog dog' has stolen a place in our hearts!❤😁
Aah thanks Alex 😊❤️👍
Beautiful. xx
Its very easy to dry persimmons and they become incredibly sweet. Just cut a T-shaped twig, trim off the green leaf-like part, wash and peel them, and then hang them to dry for about 3 weeks. Big in Japan!
Love that soft dimming light too. Having lived in Pt as a child then adult teaching English. You have a very good balance there. Maybe I too might return some day.
I can highly recommend it 😁👍
I'm not a farmer, rather a city boy. But man, your channel really makes me want to follow suit. Someday it'd be great to be your neighbor. Thanks for the vids!
Hey glad you like them. I was a city boy and I'm no where near a farmer yet. Got a lot to learn 😁👍
What a beautiful place and neigbours, love to watch!!
That puppy is the most cute thing I ever seen, and once again I have to say how blessed you are with you neighbours, but it's a very normal thing in Portugal, Good Luck with the olives picking! (I do miss Portuguese tangerines as well @Victor Goncalves)
Obrigado 😁 👍
Love the hat!!! 😍
its pretty cool. There is a stall in a shopping centre in Castelo Branco selling handmade leather hats and shoes. Glad I bought it :)
Space, sun, freedom....awesome! Hope to get there one day.
I'm sure you can. There is always a way around every problem 😁👍
Great! Another one this week!! I will watch during my after lunch rest today :-)
Cheers. I hope you like it 😁👍
@@OKportugal I forgot to mention on the other video... I felt bad for that little dog in town... on the road... maybe it went to tell you to save him from a negligent owner...
Another great video....in the hight of summer we were going through about 7 thousand letters of water a day for our plants and crops as well as the lavender..... luckily we have a borehole ...our tank holds about 7 thousand letters ....we are going to get our 3 wells cleaned out for next year ....our dam has dropped quite a bit however it is about a third full .....cheers
Wow that's a lot of water. Lucky you guys have a good borehole 👍
A fazendo dos gringos , thank you , good luck .
Woohoo..first..lol..I am so doing this life..only 4 years to.go
Yoiu are nearly there! Portugal will still be here in 4 years I'm sure 😊
to avoid fish getting flushed-out with water, put a small mesh-net at the hose opening inside the tank, they will survive.
The name "Dióspiro" comes from the Greek: διόσπυρος (dióspyros), that means food of Zeus.
Yes you were styling for meter reading!😀Mimo is a talker....love all the pet's. (Bee's included) My mom said my great grandpa had bee's and he said it was important to talk to them.
I'm still getting used to the bees... today they were the angriest I've seen them. I think because the hive is getting big.
OKportugal I watched your video with the Bee teacher's yesterday...really good video. I think I'd be really uncomfortable as a beekeeper.
@@hunnybunny4u259 I think your grandfather is right. You have to be relaxed enough to talk with them and be calm. They pick up on your anxiety and stress. Today was a good lesson for me to learn how to be calm in the face of an angry swarm of bees 😊
Belo chapéu.
Obrigado 😁
🤣 i already Said what to do with the flies.
Nice video, you guys going to have great footage in "apanha da azeitona". Most of the people dont ever seen how its done.
Yes I hope so, I will be very busy working the machines to shake the trees but we will see. Its difficult sometimes for me to film some parts and film which is why you usually see Gina working and me just filming :)
@@OKportugal you're a clever guy Ken!! hehehe poor Gina
Its mr Dundee wheres ur corks gone lol love ur vids dude
Thanks man 😁👍
I was browsing at some properties over there and noticed one said the solar energy (electricity) could give a return of approx 120 euros in summer and 40 euros in winter selling back to the grid, is this a regional thing or can anyone do it if they have the correct set-up ?
In UK originally the tariffs were a lot better early on than they are now if someone were to sell back to the national grid.
Also wondered if you have heard of any costs for a bore hole, say a well failed and the person had to get a bore hole sunk do you know of any rough costing for something like that.
That episode opened my eyes on how important the water is over there, also want to comment on the quality and the sound it's always spot on, you could easily do short film / documentaries when you get a better understanding with the different fruits and vegetables - maybe what might attack them / ways to prevent disease / do certain plants complement one-another or avoid having others in close proximity, we had a cherry tree in UK and the only summer when it looked like they were about ripe I woke up early to birds rustling and eating them, they left us only one whole to eat - maybe a net would have saved them so unsure if you get that problem over there.
It's really nice seeing the neighbors (the guy with the neck brace looks a real character with a movie star smile) also good having others share their journeys with you that moved over there.
On my 17th day off work and so far not had one full day without a shower, April and May so far been really cold even had the heating on today so send us some sun and we will send you some rain ;)
Keep up the excellent work I am sure like myself you have sold Portugal to so many people already.
Hi Stevie, I'm not sure what the prices are like selling back to the grid. We have solar water heating but not solar electric. Our electric bills are so cheap that it seems crazy to spend 10k now on a solar system when it would take about 15 years in reality to pay itself off.
Sorry I don't know the borehole prices at all.
I'm very keen to do a nature based documentary film on the Serra da Estrela and the Gardunha mountains in the near future. I need quite a bit of camera kit to pull it off though and some tele photo lenses
I hope the summery weather starts to kick in for you soon :)
No watercress in the drain down in bottom padlock
Are the goldfish part of an aquaponics set up???? If not then it's a huge missed opportunity, doesn't have to be expensive by any means, lots of videos on Google xx
They are mainly there to eat mosquitoes but we also use the dirty filter water to fertilise different veggies. It comes out dark brown and full of goodness. I used to keep a lot of large fish ranks and fish and I am interested in aquaponics but until our Wells are cleaned and tested I'm not sure if our water is suitable to try it here. There might be harmful bacteria or chemicals in it.
Are those designer Decathlon booties I spy?? I used to have a pair for wet weather scooter riding 👍 work the #farmfashion boi👢👢
Haha yes. I've been eyeing them out since last winter and always regretting I did not have a pair.
Lazy and relaxing life.....what a dream life. :-)
Most of it is like this but we have some busy and stressful days too... When it's a bad day, or I'm super busy, then I'm less likely to pick up the camera. Not because I don't want to show the bad stuff but because it's sometimes just easier to get the job done and not have to worry about getting it on film.
Ohhi love "diospiros" and "tangerinas" , 2 of my favourite fruits , i miss tangerinas a lot as we cant get them here in the Uk . Yesterday i start watching all your episodes from the beginning . How is the fish in the dam ?
They are hard to see in the dam as it's quite a lot of water but I have seen a fish every few weeks. They have had babies in the water tank and we have a lot in there now so I can onky imagine there will be a lot in the dam
@@OKportugal I remember my grandad catching fish from the small river that crosses on the border of our land and put them in the wells and the dam . In one of the wells (in the "horta") i think is still fish there , but the one nearest to the house , we had to take them out so we could clean it and put a lid on it , to use as water source for the house . The ones in the dam are long gone , but in recent years i put some Tortoises (plenty of them in the rivers and creeks in Alentejo) , but i haven't gone back there for the last 4 years . I miss my piece of heaven.
@@victorgoncalves2442 that place sounds amazing. Does your family not own it anymore?
@@OKportugal Yes we still own it , but because im living in Manchester it has been 4 years since the last time ive been there . We live (i lived ) in Town 30min from Lisbon , and the farm is about 2h30m from there . But my dad travels every other month and stay at least a week there , just to relax and taking care of the trees ,etc . If you look in the map its in a place called " Rio Torto" right in the border of Alentejo and Algarve . belongs to Ourique county . The nearby farms were bought by German and Dutch .They are nice neighbours .
@@victorgoncalves2442 glad you still own it and can go back. I have heard of the place but have not visited. I think. Maybe you mentioned it in an earlier comment and I looked it up on the map.
Always relaxing watching you taking us alongside the daily grind🤣 it is a lovely time of the year. Harvesting always so much fun doing it with the community and neighbors. What do you do with the olives? Going into a co-op?
Our neighbour farmer has injured his neck so I will help him with his olives by operating the tree shaker (I don't know what it's called) and in return he will help us on our land with his equipment. It will go to a cooperative but I want to see if we can get one that will give us our own oil back instead of a mixture of everyone's. Some of the bigger olives we will try to sell to restaurants as eating olives 😊
@@OKportugal With the number of trees you have it may be worth investing in your own olive press. That way you can control the quality of your oils. A decent press should last you a lifetime and you'll never but olive oil again.
@@bertiew6771 if our trees make a lot of oil it might be worth it but we will see
You shoud put some tipe of mesh in thr exit of the water inside os the tank, the water still exit but not the gold fish
The pressure is very strong, it will mash the fish right through the mesh in tiny pieces ;)
@@OKportugal i dont was thinking like that,sorry. By the way love your videos, i discover your chanel like 3 days ago and became addict, i am renovating a farm house my self and i want the paint like yours white with a stripe yellow its a beauty
@@andrecosta7396 Cheers thanks, we need to repaint our soon, the climate here is pretty harsh on house paint!
@@OKportugal someday if you decide to travel to the north i would love to show you around my farm house.
Another enjoyable installment of season one on the farm... yes! Is there a best time of year for cleaning/shocking the well? It seems surprising you haven't gone there in one sense, but it also seems right that you would spend a whole year to see what you've got first (on a wide range of things). How many chickens do you have these days? We used to keep 8-12, occasionally 15-20 - one of the few things we miss having moved to an apartment a couple of years back. Are they strictly for eggs, or do you also harvest some?
We have been told its best to wait till just before the rainy season or your well might not recover and refill itself and we would be without water. We currently have 25 chickens running around. Soon its time to harvest some of the young cockerels before they mature too much and start fighting, just fattening them up :)
Hey hey, nice video... I love diospiro.. I have a neighbor who has a tree and says he hates them, so he offers them to us and other neighbors... I was hoping you would have some footage of the guy cleaning your well.. what precautions did he take? Or how did they do it? And how much did they charge... I have 2 wells... One is 3 meters deep, which I've cleaned before, no problem.. but I have another one 6+ meters deep, and I'm a little scared to clean it... Great video.. 😉👍
We will take footage when it gets cleaned but it has not been done yet. You are right to be scared as dangerous gasses like Carbon Dioxide and Methane can sink down into wells and can kill.
top o' the mornin to ya govna 😁👍
Just reminded that you might need changing your drivers license as well since UK will leave UE soon, proper rubish isnt it?
Cheers mate
Already sorted 😁👍
What do you use the water in the tank for ?
I think it used to be used to irrigate and also for laundry. I have since turned it into a dipping pool to keep cool in the Summer
Hello Ken. I wonder if you offer some space for camping/a tentcampvan at the moment? We are 4 people travelling to Castelo branco in 10 days and looking for a camping spot. Would be nice if you can recommend us some sites or even on your land. We are happy to pay you of course :-).
Hi Lynn, we arent doing this anymore but there is another site close to the Marateca dam that you can find on the search for sites or park4night apps. Hope you have a great trip 😁👍
@@OKportugal that is super info! Thank you :-). Have a nice day!
As always, another very nice video that works almost like therapy! Ken, i want to aske a question; where does the water that permanently flows into the tank come from? It is possible that you have already provided this information, but as a Portuguese, I cannot always understand your very quick way of speaking ... At the beginning of the video, to understand which date (month and week) I have to repeat once or twice! (my fault) Thanks for another video ... see you next time!
Hi Rui, I'm sorry that I speak too fast. I have put a pond filter on the water tank with a circulation pump. This helps to filter the water and clean it for the fish 😁
@@OKportugal Oh...Ok. Well done!
I heard that the yellow color attracts insects ... when someone wants to make traps for them, they should be painted yellow ... your house has some stripes painted yellow, I can't say that there is a direct relationship between these two facts, but, it can be , maybe... Idk
what do you do with all that fruit?
We try to eat as much as humanely possible 😅🤣👍
Just curious: if the water in your well is at the groundwater level, does it matter if you extract 5 cubic meters?
It will fill itself back up again. How long that takes depends on the season, but it did not take long to refill after I pumped out 3000 litres
@@OKportugal Castelo Branco have a lot of water and lot of small and big rivers. That's why i dont understand why the farms are very cheap there. Maybe because is to cold in the winter and to hot in the summer compared to places close to the Atlantic ocean.
@@arturjcrebelo3275 yes I think you are right. On paper the temperatures can get cold and hot but in reality the extreme temperatures are only for a few weeks and the cold part of the winter is short. There is a lot of rain though before summer starts but I think that's a good thing 😁👍
Meanwhile in England its raining :(
Oh no, I remember that well. We will get lots of rainy days too but the winter is short lived.
We had a week of rain here in Norway but today is a beautiful sunny day. Looking forward to 4-5 months of winter. :-(
@@PaulBengtsson wow that's a long winter! Have lots of cosy fires and chill time 😊❄️❤️
@@PaulBengtsson In places close to Atlantic ocean (in Portugal) the winter only last 3 months. And even in winter there are days with 16ºC and sun. Lisbon is know for have 300 days of sunshine.
Would the water tank not prove useful as a plunge tank in the heat of summer?
Yes we are hoping to do this project before next summer 😁
@@OKportugal Oooh! a project. That's exciting...roll on summer. Thanks for answering my question, loving the video's, content and production.
@@casaMariaPT yes we can't wait. I love the summer heat 🔥
Hi Ken, I was thinking about your 10000liter tank; Why not use it for aquaculture? I did some research, and I think the ideal species for your case would be the big bass. In that nearby dam, with a small net to catch small fish it would easily collect several of them ... Any of those small fish that you managed to collect in the lower areas of the dam would serve this purpose. The water must be kept at a minimum of 20º and a maximum of 30º and this is very easy and economical to obtain. Just as easy is adding oxygen to the water. Food is also no problem. And when they reproduce, just place an iron square (very easy to do) with a small mesh net for the young ones to move to the other side. And then you could start to catch fish to grill. Here is a link to start your search. freshwater-aquaculture.extension.org/largemouth-bass/
I've kept large tropical aquariums since I was very young with very large tropical fish and eel species from South America and Asia so the thought has crossed my mind. For me the important thing this first year is to figure out how much fresh water I have access to through the year without running our Wells dry and whether the water quality is good enough for fish or human consumption. Soon when the Wells are cleaned we will know 😁👍
@Jose Manuel I'm definitely getting another huge fishtank at some point but I'm also not sure I'd want to go I to fish farming. I enjoy it as a hobby though 😊
@Jose Manuel thanks, yes I agree 😁
Would it be costly to have a sprinkler system to create and maintain a lawn?
We tried using sprinklers last year but gave up when the temperatures were creeping up to 40c and the water would just evaporate as quickly as it lay. We have a lovely natural lawn now which starts to die off in summer and comes back again in winter
@@OKportugal Thank you for the tip
@@OKportugal Also, just curious. Do they have car boot sales in Portugal? Will you do a video on one if they do please.
@@frankietaj9960 I'm sure they have something similar. Portugal has only just started to ease lockdowns so I'm not sure what's legal and what's not, in terms of markets and fairs, but I'm sure if there is something like that in future, we will visit it and film :)
@@OKportugal Yes, laws around Covid have messed up carboot calendar here in UK also. Do keep an eye out for them in Portugal. They can be fun and save you some pennies too. Enjoying your adventures very much. Keep them coming.
Happy weekend all. Found this about the fruit tree you talked about.
pediaa.com/difference-between-sharon-fruit-and-persimmon/
Great. I can't remember if ours have seeds. Will have to check.
@@OKportugal You must take one and cut it in half and compare with the pix. I lived in a house when I was in college with a big Persimmon Tree out in a park area and remember eating the fuit...it was so good but did not look like the fruit on your tree.
I have a solution for the flies, traps with bottles and the wather from cook bacalhau, it works very well, you want help?
We have tried all of those before. The problem is that we have about a huge pile of sheep manure right next to the house which is full of flies hatching.
@@OKportugal Let the chickens have a go at it. They'll eat all the fly eggs.
@@bertiew6771 the chickens are free-range so they have a go everywhere.
But you have to put the traps far away from your house, not near, the secret is to put the traps around the house in circle but far away, you now how to make the traps? It really works belive me ;)
@@fgg45g believe me we have tried all of the suggestions that people have commented for months now. Plastic bottle traps with a variety of baits, Clear plastic bags with water, shop bought fly traps and electric fly killerswith uv lights inside. They do kill some flies but the amount is too much. We are living right next to where there is a lot of sheep, sheep milk and sheep manure. There are just too many flies for the traps to handle. It's not all year round fortunately. And some months are a lot better than others
Nectarine, Tangerine and you actually meant NAARTJIE
I thought that was just a South African name for them 😁
@@OKportugal yes it is.....but deep down i knew you just wanted to say Naartjie....:)
@@heliopaulo6264 haha yes!
no no plowing .. just mow it... that ruins the soil structure..
Fazenda , not fazendo
First I like the ways you start your videos and love your sweet life. But the purpose of gold fish completely escapes me. Sorry if I missed that. When you plopped the ten in you said they would help keep tank clean and I shook my head. Nope. So they are pets?
Love pets, learning all about your life.
The goldfish eat the mosquito larvae in the dam and the water tank. Without them we'd have loads of mosquitos
Yes! Go gold fish! Thanks for answering! Love watching the seasons unfold. I’m catching up and am still on season 2.
@@stknmggs1788 great. Glad you're enjoying it 😊👍
Goldfish are very dirty fish
😁👍