Hi there! I am Joseph.
I have been an immigrant, or expat, living in central Portugal along with my beautiful Portuguese girlfriend Mariana for six years now.

Together Mariana, my father Clinton and myself, would like to show you a bit of the daily goings on around our Portuguese farm / homestead / smallholding and all of the work we are doing whilst renovating, starting building projects, working with our livestock, DIY and trying to grow our little families own food!

In this episode we welcome you to join us in mid Autumn time as I give you a virtual tour of my morning routine with my livestock around our cherry farm near Fundão, in a central Portuguese rural mountain village.

This episode is somewhat different from normal, I am sure you will notice it is rushed a little bit and you will also notice how it is not like my normal content, I apologise for this at the beginning of this weeks little video as I explain how hectic the week has been for both Mariana and myself as last Saturday I rushed Mariana to hospital and we both stayed there patiently waiting to meet our little daughter Chloe while waiting for her to enter this wonderful world.

I walk up past the main cherry orchard, stating how chilly it has gotten this morning, with mist rolling in through the valley, dew drops clinging like mini icicles to every blade of grass and my breath starting to steam up as I slowly make my way up to the sheep barn.

Once up at the barn we can hear the lambs and the sheep eagerly awaiting the doors opening so they can run out to their pasture. I give Godfrey a head scratch and push my way past them all inside the barn, where I top up their manger and grab the pot of pigeon food I have stored inside.

I walk around to the pigeon loft and top up their feeders and make sure the water level is full. Godfrey follows me as he wants to clear up any fallen pigeon grain, a perfect morning treat for him, smart ram!

After the sheep and pigeons are all cared for I make my way down past the cherry orchard again, down to the poultry pasture. I explain about how Mariana and Chloe are both doing along the way. Once down at the chicken shed I open up the geese first, then the other poultry and explain why I separate them for the first hour of every morning, keeping them fed separately and allowing everyone to get their fair share of grain, veggies and fruit.

As I make my way up to the farm house and store room I see my father coming down with a wheelbarrow full of pears from our trees. He stops, greets the viewers and I and gives us 'three things to celebrate'. he told me some wonderful news that Mariana and Chloe were coming home today from hospital, which sent a smile from one side of my face to the other, a perfect birthday gift for me indeed, my two little girls coming home!

We then accompany dad down to the chicken pen where dad and I spread out all the pears and grain for the chickens, geese, ducks and rabbits. They love this morning treat and after they have all eaten their fair share we open up the pen and let them all out to free range for the day.

My good friends are working on the roadside as part of their parish council worker duties, I take them a glass of medronho e mel, which was gifted to us by Carlos, a good friend and subscriber this week. Together we all raised a glass to Chloe's health.

At the end of the day, after I collected Mariana and Chloe from hospital I lit a fire in our lounge, wrapped Mariana up in a blanket on the sofa and sat with my girls all evening, just marvelling in natures wonder and beauty, I cannot believe we made something so precious. Thank you all for all of your well wishes, I highly appreciate them, as does Mariana. Thank you all for watching and apologies once again on this short, different, episode this week. Have an amazing week everyone, see you all again next Saturday!
See our journey to self sufficiency / permaculture / organic farming as expats living in Portugal, trying to produce as much of our own food planting vegetables, growing fruit trees as well as looking after all our animals, such as our chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, quail, rabbits and sheep - Shortly pigs too!

Hobby farming in Fundão
- Growing vegetables, raising meat and foraging on our cherry farm in Portugal’s Beira baixa.

Follow us on Instagram @farmerforfun

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