March in Jimena
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What's on locally?
Orange Trees
The Beach
This month has taken us into early summer. The weather has been fantastic, the temperature getting as high as 28 degrees
and, towards the end of the month, warm enough to go without lighting the fire in the evenings.
The air is heavy with the scent of the gorse bushes (aulaga) and the hillsides are filled with their
rich yellow colour. The orange trees are now in full bloom and the fruits
are for sale along the roadsides.
It was hot enough on the 1st of the month for us to go to one of the Mediterranean beaches for the
afternoon. Although the children played in the water a lot I wouldn't say that it was quite warm enough to
swim just yet! However it was great to have the whole beach to ourselves and we all enjoyed searching the rock pools,
collecting shells etc.
The latter part of February and the early part of March is the time for the local village carnivals and
we had ours on the first weekend of the month. Everybody dresses up in fancy dress costumes and there
are lots of shows going on in the Caseta Municipal (marquee) for all age groups. The discos in the
village are open most of the night and people of all ages can be found enjoying the festivities. There
were a few fair ground rides for the smaller children and a bar for the adults. Some photographs can be seen on
the official Jimena website
http://www.jimenadelafrontera.net
What's happening on the
Farm?
Sawfly Orchid
Sombre Bee Orchid
Because we have had some good rain this year the pastures at the farm have grown well and all around there is
lush greenery and a blaze of colour from the myriad wild flowers. For example we have spotted 5 species of orchid growing in
the back meadow. If anyone notes any errors we have made in identification we would be most pleased to hear from you.
Yellow Bee Orchid
Bumble Bee Orchid?
Mirror Orchid
Painting the Pool
We have been preparing the swimming pool for the new season. What usually happens is that we drain the pool, start
painting and then get a deluge which leaves several centimetres of water in the bottom and everything too wet
to paint. However, the weather has been so good this month that we have been able to repaint the pool, without any
of the usual complications, ready for opening on April 1st. We were, in fact, swimming in it by end of March.
The chickens are now beginning to lay well but we are having a bit of trouble keeping up with the selling so
all guests are required to eat as many eggs as possible to help out!
Baby Goat & Mum
Baby Jewelled Lacerta lizard
We have had a new arrival at the farm. A baby goat, who has been named Toby, was born in the front meadow
on the 30th and 10 minutes later mum was back eating the grass!!
We have seen a number of baby Jewelled Lacerta lizards. These beautiful green lizards can grow to a length of 2.5 feet
but are very shy so seldom seen as adults.
