Newsletter December 2023
Coming up soon….
And Christmas is just around the corner! Here at Maravilhas we have been working hard with the team to prepare everything for winter and to ensure that all houses and sanitary buildings are fresh and clean for the “snowbirds” that we welcome every year.
Works at Maravilhas
We have worked hard in the recent weeks, pruning work has taken place. This needs to be seriously addressed once every few years. This is necessary to continue to properly maintain the land. The olives have also been picked again this year. Very intensive labor. We are blessed to had help from our neighbor again. The olives have been taken away, and we expect the olive oil in a few months. The team has also focused on painting, the houses and sanitary buildings are freshly white again, and the fencing outside has been freshened up with a green color.
Also the team focused on painting works. The houses and sanitary buildings are fresh white again, and the fencing outside has been refreshed with a green colour. The annual cleaning of the watertank has also been done again. See the picture, as fun included while working:)
What is this?
In Portugal and in Maravilhas we have many fruit trees in abundance. We have just had a period with lots of grapes, kiwi’s, figs and persimmons. Now the oranges are blooming again, they are slowly changing from green to orange and it smells wonderful! And that for winter is an additional healthy benefit! welcome vitamin C :)
But guess what is this for fruit? We have lot’s of them now on the land, and it has the size of a cherry. And super sweet, that is packed with antioxidants and vitamin C.
Besides, did you know that an alcoholic drink is also made from this in Portugal?
Aguardente de medronhos or simply medronho is a distilled drink from Portugal, made from the fruits of the strawberry tree. These trees grow wild on the poor soils of the Algarve and the Alentejo.
Team
The last weeks we have had the great help from John again. We’ re are always very happy to have him here on the land and do the maintenance jobs. Also he is a wonderful cooker and whenever he get’s the chance he is cooking delicious for our team! Also Ananda has been helping out, especially all the left over woods from the pruning has been burned. Thank you so much John and Ananda!
Also we are happy to have Arupa on board again in the team. Welcome:)
Ilanit has made a difficult decision; after 1 year working at Maravilhas with great pleasure, she has decided to follow her dream, and is invited for a new challenge. Also in Portugal, so she will definitely visit us from time to time. She for sure will miss Maravilhas, and so will her colleagues. We wish her all the best in her new path!
Iubi
Our beloved Iubi has passed away, he was very loved by everyone. He came to socialise with many of our guests, and we will miss him so dearly.
With the permanent residents we gave him a beautiful farewell. He has a special place on one of the hills here, with the other animals that once lived at Maravilhas. Iubi has a warm place in our hearts, fly high dear Iubi<3
Rebuses
Do you remember the rebuses from the old days? For those who love puzzles, these are always fun puzzles to solve.
Probably everyone knows the rebuses, but for those who think: What is a rebus again? We will explain it here. A rebus is a puzzle with pictures. This picture often needs a letter added or removed, or another letter replaces it. From left to right you then read a sentence. You might be thinking aren’t rebuses for children? No way! So feel like fancy wracking your brains a bit?
Go for it & have fun:)
So this is it again with our updates. We hope you enjoyed and updated again with the daily life here in Maravilhas.
For now, we wish you, your family and friends happy holidays and a new loving and healthy year.
We hope to see you again in 2024.
Team maravilhas
Newsletter Monte Maravilhas June 2024