AFTER the scrub was ploughed from our land, as per last issue, wife Ruth put her master plan into effect.
This is the reclamation, fencing and conversion of the former barren wilderness into useable grazing for her mini herd of munchin’-moochers – the horses.
The seeds had already been sown for the operation and I’m not talking about grass seed here, I’m talking about seeds in our lass’s fertile imagination.
She had registered us with the Workaway organisation. This is an international operation that offers wage-free workers for projects such as ours, provided they are housed and fed.
We had to register with the site and submit our details and then we could check out the extensive list of volunteers and weigh up their suitability against our needs.
The workers are of all ages and situations, from students on a gap year through to the older end who still have that get up and go ... but see the value in a low cost outing!
We also had to fit around their existing schedules and commitments as we could only accommodate when the apartment, normally let out, was available.
We finally narrowed it down to a couple in their forties who were already based in Spain with family but fancied a bit of Portugal!
They joined us mid-October and will be with us for four weeks.
The couple are Tony and Samantha. He’s a Brummie, former Army Transport Corps and photo copier service engineer.
Sam, from the Welsh valleys, has worked in just about every type of shop going, culminating in being a special needs nursing assistant before they met, sold up in the UK and set out on their own private adventure, Alcaria Alta being the latest bit.
They are both extremely conscientious, full of fun and not the least bit bothered about what they have to do. This has ranged from horse maintenance (surprise, surprise) to stone and stevas (brush) clearing after the ploughing, and finally maxing out on hole digging for miles of new post and rail fencing.
This is supplemented by horse deterrent electric wiring, all perfectly safe, you understand, if not a little ‘shocking’!
I bought and transported the poles from our nearest and cheapest Drugaria (hardware/farming supplies outlet) in Almodovar while Tony and Sam got on with the digging. They took to it like moles they did. It made me sweat just watching them. They also struck gold making friends with our dog Bom, who they now spoil rotten.
For our purposes it is working really well plus we get on together and go out for a drink, visits and even the Ourique quiz night at Maxines, which they inexplicably won!
They will leave in mid-November as we have a let coming, but as the new poles have all been set in I’ve suggested to our lass that I be allowed to select the next Workaway folks for 2010, maybe some experienced .er..pole dancers might fit the bill, what with all the new poles to test drive! All I got was a loud snort and a crazy laugh by return! Women eh, you try your best and get nothing but scorn.
Email us at Alcaria.alta@gmail.com
