Casalinho

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Reasons to be Cheerful: Caterpillar on Lupin

      I’m afraid I’ve no idea what sort of caterpillar this is, but what an amazing colour!    

  • Wild Food Walk

    On each of our summer Permaculture Design Courses, we try to mix classroom based sessions with practical. One of the practical sessions Josh and I work together one is often a Wild Food walk, identifying the plants which nature has blessed us with for food and medicine. If you’re a follower of our blog you’ll more »

  • In the Kitchen: Bottling Elderflower Cordial

      One thing we’re not short of at Casalinho at this time of year are elderflowers. We love to dry them for making tea throughout the year, but I also make lots and lots of elderflower cordial whilst they’re in season. Recipes abound, but this is my tried and tested one – Elderflower Cordial recipe. more »

  • Rendering Lard

    I finally got around to jarring up the lard which we’d carefully rendered from our pig fat today. When processing the meat, any scraps of white fat were set aside. Heated very very gently with a scrap of water to set them off and prevent burning, these were melted down to make lard. Today I more »

  • Reasons to be Cheerful: Just because …

    Just because they’re beautiful ….    

  • Busy Day in the Garden

      Anyone who’s spent time with us will know how much time we spend fighting to keep our rotovators working. Here’s a rare shot of one in action! Creating a new kitchen garden bed near the house.     Connor is planting pumpkin seedlings along the edge of this raised bed. Cardoon for cheesemaking and more »

  • Aphids, Ladybirds and Lamiaceae

      Many many aphids in the garden this year, it seems more than average. Waiting has been hard, but we’re now started to notice an influx of ladybirds. Nature has her own checks and balances, sometimes you just have to trust and be patient. The ladybird here is pictured on wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia). It’s growing more »

  • Milk Thistle

    Related to the daisy and ragweed family, the milk thistle is native to our area and a really attractive volunteer which pops up whenever we’re not looking. When I do get to pulling it up (tough gloves required!) the pigs love it.

  • PDC designs – Summer 2016

    With our 2017 Permaculture Design Courses coming up soon, time to share the fabulous designs created by last year’s participants. Josh Gomez will be joining us again 18th – 29th August. See our course listing here for more details and join us this summer.  

  • Fabulous Time of Year to be a Goat

      After some rain, it’s a fabulous time of year to be a goat. The hills are totally yellow with broom (Cytisus scoparius) and carqueja (Baccharis trimera).

Got any book recommendations?

Get In Touch