Helpx experiences gardening in Calañas

Stayed with another lovely family on a farm near the town. Calañas is located amongst the very familiar landscape of red soil and eucalyptus trees, in the unfamiliar (for us) south of Spain. While there, I learned a lot about gardening in a drier, hotter climate than Somerset or the Granite Belt. Some aspects of tending to the garden were a bit familiar, but in other ways, vastly different. The climate can support snakes and frogs…

Spent a lot of time in the garden, planting orange trees, weeding garlic, creating new garden beds and tending to the salad greens in the poly tunnel. We stayed long enough to see the salad seeds sprout! Planted a lot of salad greens like mustard, turnip and feldsalat (lamb’s lettuce). Also planted tomatoes, capsicum, garlic, radishes, leeks, avocados and a few types of beans. On the rainy day, we stayed in to pickle capsicums and make marmalade.

So excited to be able to work in the garden and see effort amount to result. And it was a beautiful place to spend some time helping a bunch of wonderful folks. There is a breed of dog over here that has six toes on each back foot and the softest coat, called a masteen, or Spanish mastiff. Very sweet, relaxed personality!

Had a magical time overall. Lots of vulture spotting, sunny days, and relaxed nights in Calañas!