Porkin heaven

There is really only one way to cook meat and fish and that is over charcoal or wood. They impart a flavour that cannot be equaled. Pork is very popular in Umbria and so we celebrated having a few friends to stay by going to the best pork butcher locally in Bovara and buying up these beauties.

Dolce in Piazza

Last night was the final event of the summer music festival in Trevi - dolce in piazza. This is in the central piazza cakes are served for free and there is music and a tombola. Historically the cakes were brought by every tomasso, dick and harry but the EU has put a stop to this. This year all the local restaurants donated a cake.

It was a good fun night preceded by a lovely pizza at La Casareccia and finished off with cake and wine.

Coming on nicely

Looking lovely. Just over two months now before we start picking in which time they will probably double in size and turn start turning a very deep deep plumy blue/black.

Can't wait.

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.