Estancia Los Potreros

We woke up this morning to a landscape dusted with snow, to cap off one of the more extraordinary weeks up here on the estancia.

The week started with unseasonably warm temperatures, up to about 30C, so we were all pottering around in our T-shirts, whilst our fruit trees sprung into blossom, despite us being barely out of winter. Unfortunately with the hot weather came one of the big threats that happens in our winter months when we have no rain - bushfires.

After the driest winter in the province for 30 years, everything is tinder dry, and at the beginning of the week some fairly serious bushfires took hold, burning over 100,000 acres of the beautiful sierras. This time we were lucky, as the fire swept through north of the farm, but out intrepid gauchos still worked through the night to help our neighbours protect their land and their livelihoods. After passing us by, the fires burnt relentlessly on, the top story on all the news channels in Argentina, heading towards the tourist valley of La Punilla.

A drop in wind, and our unexpected snow, finally put them out, and we all let out a collective sigh of relief! Roll on the first rains of spring . . .meanwhile, Norman has been enjoying the snow!

The first spring rains arrived yesterday with a bang! After several days of unseasonably hot weather a spectacular lightning show was followed by a hailstorm and a serious downpour, all accompanied by loud claps of thunder. The grass started to spring up almost immediately, and within a few hours things were starting to look green after the usual long, dry winter.

The turbulent night was also followed by a strange sight first thing in the morning . . .a partial eclipse of the sun . . .

After what has been an unusually cold winter, we have been delighted to see this week the first signs of spring. The first blossom has appeared and all of the trees are now in bud.

We have bought and planted another 30 fruit and nut trees, and Teleri and Lou are also busy setting about the vegetable gardens, although there is no sign of our first spring rains as yet. Other than that, we are waiting expectantly for the first foal to be born, we think in the next week or so, and there is also one very pregnant fluffy cat wandering around . . .!

And so here is the first entry into the Los Potreros ´blog´! Irregular news of the farm whenever we get round to it for all of you who wonder what we are up to .  

Kevin and Lou returned from their honeymoon to the first real snow on the farm since 2001. Buenos Aires beat us by having their first snow in 89 years! Some very patient guests came with us on the coldest ride ever, with all the horses (and ourselves) covered in frost . . .