![Diospiro / persimmon, Belmonte, Luz de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal](https://www.bright-work.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/diospiros_comb-1024x436.jpg)
I really love this fruit. They are easy and delicious to eat and resist attacks by pests. I first saw it in England when my father who liked to try new fruit, showed it to me. It was hard and unripe then. I was absorbed in my own things and completely disinterested. I regret that now. I could have used the internet to find out more and helped him learn about it.
I have several trees and have planted half a dozen more I have grown from seed. If it goes well they should bear fruit in about 4 years, of the Roxo Briliante variety. I think the Fufu variety is a hardier variety. This year all the Fufu persimmon trees fruited even thought it was hot and dry. True, the fruit are smaller and thicker skinned. I have only 1 Roxo Brilliante and it did not produce anything.
Picked all my remaining persimmon last week. They are the only fresh fruit of my own I have until spring. They suffer from a quite a bird of damage by birds, who just peck them to sort of reserve them.
![Propped up Cypress tree / cipreste com suporte, Belmonte, Luz de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal](https://www.bright-work.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG_20231122_102157.cypress.propped.up_-rotated.jpg)
Another thing that remininded me about my father was propping up a blown down cyprus tree. He saved a guava tree this way back in Kenya. He used to take upon himself to look able the communal trees and distribute the fruit to the neighbours. He was a socialist at heart. I should have caught on much earlier by the Paul Robson ‘Canoe Song’ that he used to sing. 🙂 .
I am making a small cutting board from a decent sized olive trunk.
![Making a samll cutting board / Fazendo uma tábua de cortar, Belmonte, Luz de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal](https://www.bright-work.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MAKING_CUTTING_BOARD_comb-1024x676.jpg)
![Making a samll cutting board / Fazendo uma tábua de cortar, Belmonte, Luz de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal](https://www.bright-work.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MAKING_CUTTING_BOARD_FINAL-rotated.jpg)
![mango tree protected from frost, Belmonte, Luz de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal](https://www.bright-work.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG_20231122_102245.mango2_-rotated.jpg)
I have put a bit of polythene sheeting around the mango tree to help protect it from frosts. It as yet has to drop below 6ºC.
I have a decent amount of tangerines growing and the nespira (louquats) have had a heavy blossom which promises a good amount of fruit.
![tangerines /tangerina , Belmonte, Luz de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal](https://www.bright-work.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG_20231120_130700.resized.tangerines-rotated.jpg)
![louquat tree and wind turbine / turbina eólica e nespira em flor, Belmonte, Luz de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal](https://www.bright-work.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/nespiras_and_le300-1024x699.jpg)
The LE 300 wind turbine helps keep the lights on during winter. I really need a small solar P.V array that tracks on the azimuth. During winter my fixed array on the roof becomes ineffective after about three o’clock in winter.
![](https://www.bright-work.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/pine_n_lime.jpg)
Pine and lime for a good time.
I heat pine needles and some biys of lime in a pot for aroma therapy . It gives of a lovely fragrance as the steam disperses the essential oils. The down side is you have to use energy to heat the pot. Cypress cuttings and lime work well too.
![Ria Formosa, Belmonte, Luz de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal](https://www.bright-work.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bonji_ria.jpg)
That’s about all for now. Managed to take Bonji a couple of times to the Ria Formosa this month on the electric bicycle thing.