Olio Nuovo is coming

We are getting very close to this years harvest. Trevi our local town has an event on the 1/2/3 November to celebrate the new season olive oil. If you are in the area then Casa Margherita will be offering tastings of its olio nuovo at Festivol and would be very happy to see you.

New websites

Start of a new week and there are a couple of new websites to have a look at. The Casa Margherita website has been refreshed  and simplified. Have a look at www.casa-margherita.com.          

The second site is completely new site for the Italian market only.  Have a gander at www.oliopaterno.it                   

Today Sunday 4th August

Yep it was hot. Late thirties but felt even hotter. You can feel the heat coming off the land in this photo. In the evening the heat will drop and the building release the latent heat they have absorbed all day. High summer.

Remember

Sometimes when your head gets to be rather too deep in the bucket it is easy to lose sight of, amoungst many things, the beauty of your surroundings and their ability to refresh your senses - the old saying travel broadens the mind. At least it refreshes it.

We have benefited from family and friends visiting earlier in the year and so have travelled back to many places across Italy and have enjoyes travelling around anew.

Above shows the clock tower of the Comune offices that dominate Il Campo in Siena in an early morning mist.

Eat your heart out

Our orto really is a different beast this year. All the these vegetables were grown there. The main change was the addition of 3 tonnes of organic compost which seems to be working a treat. It is great being able to go and pick this variety of veg a couple of steps from the kitchen. Go on dig that lawn up.

Winter fuel

For the first time since we moved here we have needed to buy some wood for winter fuel as we have exhausted the supplies of olive wood. So yesterday 3 tonnes arrived and I made a start this morning putting the logs into a wood pile. There is something primal about stacking wood for winter and very satisfying. Only about 2.85 tonnes to go.

In ritardo

A good crop of garlic which I dug up today which will go and dry out in the boiler room for a few days. Normally this would have been harvested a few weeks earlier, generally around the date of the summer solstice.

Lets hope we are not picking the olives in December as that could be a bit unpleasant.

Governing Italy

We are currently being governed by an coalition enforced by President Napolitano in the absence of any clear majority or any alliance following the last elections. We have lots of promises of measures to relaunch the economy but very little action.

Having attended a concert at the major arts festival in Spoleto the other night, which whilst being well attended, the restaurants were in the main deserted. This in July and in a major Umbrian town.  I have no solution to this but as someone rightly said recently attitude counts for a lot and we just need to be more positive. As for our Government we wait.

But maybe I am looking in the wrong place. As five-time prime minister Giovanni Giolitti (1842-1928) supposedly said when asked by a journalist whether governing Italy was difficult: “It is not difficult, but it is useless.” So maybe it is up to us.

Lav en der

Madly trying to get all the grass cut in the grove this week as next the temperatures get into the late 30°c
which is game over time.

Now enjoying a glass of chilled white and watching the insects attack the lavender hedge. To abuse a Genesis song, summer's here dum di dum di dum dum.

Eating ahead

I was planting some leeks this morning and admiring the fine tilled earth and the lines of young leeks when I thought of how nice they will be with a bit of roast pork crackling an all. Yum can't wait. I can almost taste it. They say as you get older time passes quicker but does dreaming of food yet to be eaten make time pass quicker?

Anyway, I cannot believe that it is almost July and that there is only 4 months until we start picking the olives. That is scary.....but there will be roast pork and leeks.

Olive pollen and other notes

Olives produce a considerable amount of pollen as you can see here collecting on one of our solar panels.

When olives flower and  are pollinated the flowers drop to the ground leaving the tiny olive fruit behind. Those flowers that are not pollinated are left behind on the tree and burnt by the heat of the sun.

Ci siamo

At last the rains have subsided and we have bountiful sunshine which in turn means the olives are flowering. The flower buds have turned from a mid green colour to a yellowy green and are now opening.

The trees produce a significant amount of the flower and so the pollen coats everything in a fine yellow dust.

Now we wait to see how much fruit sets and then a longer wait until the harvest which is normally in late October early November.

Business idea No 4597

Hey, how about hand made soap. Everyone needs soap and everyone loves something that is hand crafted and not mass produced.

So how about soap made from donkey's milk as I saw recently on a market stall. I think not quite frankly. Not sure why just no, no, no.

Probably will be voted product of the year..........um no.

Summer has finally arrived

Summer has finally arrived here in Umbria. Hurrah.

Barmy not balmy

Ah the lovely early summer skies in Umbria. Not. It is wetter that a Scottish pop band. Basta I say. Roll on the real summer and pronto. Everything is desperate for some warmth.

Oh what lovely onions you have.

The orto is looking very good this year with a great crop of onions, garlic, radish, broad beans, rocket, strawberries currently being enjoyed and so much more yet to come. Picking your own vegetables is much more rewarding than shopping in a supermarket

Tenderhooks

Every olive tree this year seems to absolutely laden with flower boding well for the harvest. However the weather continues to be very wet and very cool (17°c) for the time of the year. The temperature should be comfortably in the middle 20's °c and with very little rain. Hopefully the weather will turn..............

Mothers Day 12 May 2013

Looking for ideas for Mothers Day then why not adopt an olive tree from the Casa Margherita grove. Perfect for the Momma. To find out more go to www.casa-margherita.com

A good day out - really!

AgriUmbria is a favourite show here at Casa Margherita. All that is new in agriculture and horticulture and much much more. Old tractors like above. Resistance is futile.

Every year we go and as always Rachel wants to return with a couple of floppy eared rabbits and a Jerusalem donkey. We resist as always but this year I did finally buy a lemon tree which I had been craving after for some years. So maybe next year the donkey.

Rant and roll

Online car insurance. Couple of clicks and job done. What's this? To pay with a credit card with Direct Line Italy I need to print a form off, fill it in including all my credit card details and fax it back to them. Do not compute - fax and online. I then need to wait a couple of days before cover is in place.

Unbelievable. But hardly surprising in a country that cannot form a government and is unable to elect a President.

Dreary dreary me this place is maddening sometimes.