Fresh and fruity

The olive tree is a beautiful tree that we all know, but like the other trees in this category, the olive also has its own "functions. The olive is the fruit of the olive tree and there are about twenty varieties. What we like about having an olive grove is that we can 'pickle' the olives ourselves with the herbs we choose and then of course eat them, just as if we bought them in the supermarket.

If you turn in a harvest of 450 kilos then you have the option to have your own oil pressed. Your own olives exchange for freshly pressed olive oil.... What more could you want?

Fresh from the shell or perhaps toasted with a little salt? In winter the almond tree is beautifully white with blossoms, in spring all green and in summer? In summer it just looks dead... I would like to say that it is a joke but unfortunately it is true. How in spring and summer most trees are green and in bloom the almond tree does the opposite.

The loquat, known here as the Nêspera. Although it does not look like it, the loquat is related to roses. Since this tree does well in dry and sunny climates, there are plenty to be found. April is the season for the loquat, and I can say that every year we have an abundance of these fruits!

If you say Medronho to a Portuguese person they probably think you mean liqueur, and that's because that's the most well-known thing the fruit is used for. Medronho liqueur is very strong but the Portuguese say good for digestion....

Fruit trees orchard

In addition to the olive tree grove, we also have a small fruit tree orchard consisting of lemons, oranges and tangerines. That we came to live here, these trees had received little water and unfortunately we lost a few of them. But fortunately a lot of them recovered when we started watering.

Vegetable garden

The vegetable garden is something we are busy with all year round. Because we started this on time we have also run into a lot of things... The sun in the summer for example. In the summer a lot of the plants burn and sometimes the vegetables burn too so we made some changes and so far so good. From wooden climbing houses we went to estufas (greenhouses). This ensures that the light is filtered and thus the plants (hopefully) do not burn. The vegetable garden is planted seasonally even though basic things naturally grow all year round such as: peppers and herbs (Rosemary, thyme, chives etc.). Everyone may use the vegetables and fruits that can be harvested. Please harvest only what you will use.

Other fruit trees

We have an olive, fruit and almond grove, but we also have several other fruit trees and shrubs (the shrubs/climbers are their own category).

Like the loquat, the peach belongs to the rose family, and at the same time the peach is also related to the almond (the almond does not belong to the rose family). In 2023 we were able to harvest for the second time, and initially I had written this text before the second harvest and therefore I had to rewrite this😅

That we bought this tree I said "it's been a long time since I've had a nice mango," and the first harvest certainly did not disappoint!

The Pitanga also called the Suriname cherry, is a fruit with a flavor that is difficult to describe. The best way to explain it is a sweet and sour taste with a bitterness and a bite.

Papaya is officially not a tree but a giant herb ... yeah who would have thought.

Like the papaya, the orange is officially a berry, now, of course, the blood orange is a special one.

Unlike the orange, the blood orange is not available year-round, in fact, the harvest season is December and there are no varieties that ripen at other periods. It is really a winter fruit, the color also has to do with this. To turn red, blood oranges need cold nights and warm days. Originally they come from Sicily, Italy, specifically at the foot of the Etna volcano.

Also known as a smooth peach. I myself have always thought that a nectarine looked like a naked peach but as it turns out, they are also from the same family so that explains a lot. In appearance, nectarine trees are the same as the peach tree and are practically indistinguishable from each other.

It is a tropical fruit native to China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. They are known as the "queen of fruits.

Delicious, those cherries don't you think? I love them. The sweet ones, of course. There are two types of cherries, sweet (for eating) and sour (for baking).

Apple juice, apple pulp and apple cider, all have high acidity.

There are a lot of varieties of figs, but we have two. Which two? Red/black and green figs, the variety is unknown to us.

The passion fruit has beautiful flowers and has a passion for ... growing. If you give this climber enough water and let it do its thing it will take over the whole garden if you give it a little time.

Grapes are like passion fruit, they grow like weeds when you let them have their way. For this reason, we have already removed a few, but believe me, they will come back in no time.

• Table and wine grapes are different; wine grapes are sweeter.
• Grapes have been around for 65 million years.
• People have been growing grapes for 8,000 years

And last but not least

• There are 8,000 different varieties of grapes

Goji berries are native to Asia and have a sweet and slightly sour taste.

The beloved blackberries are often a challenge to pick, but here it comes...we have a thornless blackberry.