Odd jobs

The two shots above show the sort of growth that olive trees will put on during a year. The left shows a profusion of basal growth the other other shot show growth lower down on the trunk. Both these sorts of growth need to be removed so as to concentrate the trees energies on growth where you want it and more importantly on the fruit.

This growth is best removed with a hand held axe as shown. I tend to pick off 10 or so trees one day and then do the same the next as the weather is still quite hot. 

Foraging

It's blackberry time here - Rachel picked these today. There are quite a lot this year and so you see people picking there way along hedges, bits of abandoned land and not abandoned land.

There is a right to roam in Italy and so if your land is not fenced then it is open to everyone. So the Casa Margherita grove had asparagus pickers in spring time as well as others who pick various types of weeds proclaiming them to be great as a salad. With the hunting season starting in September will have hunters and their dogs wandering through the grove as well as truffle hunters later still in the year.

One of our neighbours was not so relaxed about people picking his chestnut trees last year and so ringed them with the tape they use at crime scenes. Not sure it was terrible effective.

Drummers drumming

There I was happily bottling up passata sauce when the faint sound of drumming started up. These are the drummers practising for the Palio which is one of the highlights of the October Trevana in Trevi.

The Palio pits three teams from the three Terzieri of Trevi (Castello, Matigge and Piano) who have to haul a large wooden wheeled cart up the main road into Trevi and into the central Piazza. They are timed and the fastest team wins.

The squads for the cart pulling are already in training - two hours nightly I understand -  and now the drummers who provide a driving beat to encourage their runners have started practising.

The Perfect Storm

Valentino Rossi and Ducati - can't wait.

"By the light of the magical moon"

A lot of Italian's garden according to the cycle of the moon. This means they will plant seeds/bulbs/plants dependent on where the moon is in it's cycle - whether it is waxing (growing) as the case currently in the northern hemisphere or if it is waning (shrinking) as it will be from the 25th August onwards. So with the moon waxing at the moment they should be planting lettuce, leeks, chicory and cabbage.

A local olive oil producer has a fifth moon oil which is picked on the 5th moon after the olives have flowered.

The moon does hold a strong influence over such things as the tides and I was speaking to a head nurse of a old people's care home recently and she said the behaviour of the residents was markedly different when there was a full moon. She said why shouldn't it given that we are mostly water.

Here at Casa Margherita we do not follow the lunar cycle for our planting regime preferring the haphazard approach that guides the rest of our lives. Or is it?

This site is very good for finding out what phase the moon is in www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/time/moon/#4

Olive tree topiary

This is an olive tree that is in the front garden of a house on the way to Trevi. The owner has pruned carefully over a number of years to achieve this shape.

Olives are ideal for topiary but I rather think this is an exception in Italy where most are pruned for fruit and not form.

However the idea of a hillside covered with topiaried (?) olives is quite appealing. Maybe next year....

Bridget and family

This is Bridget and her litter of 4 wonderful kittens. They live next door to Rachel's studio at the top of the hill. The photo of the kittens looks a bit odd as they currently live in a plastic bucket.

We are hoping to be able to have a couple of the kittens when they are ready to leave Bridget but will need to check with Guiseppe who looks after them.