Year end, and three years going on four in Tuscany. Autumn is coming to an end but you’d not think that we’re approaching winter. The grass and wild plants are still growing as though its’s spring. Autumn usually becomes greener following the heat of summer but this year growth is phenomenal. Fields have grass knee high, no different to spring, and the countryside has stayed green and verdant. In the past couple of weeks there have been butterflies across the lawn and even the odd anemone and lavender flowering. Great in one respect, but we do need cold weather if only to kill off bugs and pests and stop everything growing.
The olive grove
Not a good year for us, nor our neighbours. The level of fruit has been low but more significantly the levels of Mosca (olive fly) have been the highest in 12 years. Spraying may have helped if done early enough but that would be against our principles to be chemical free across both properties. Fortunately will still have about 20l of olive for ourselves and 20l for our neighbours. It’s only eight to nine months until harvest time anyway. This next season should be better as the thoughts are that the trees do have a two year cycle with rest years between productive years.
With the local lads helping us the next section of trees have been pollarded. That leaves one area to be done next year. With the work done this year and the prior years we have an inordinate amount of wood. Various woodpiles on the field boundaries and a growing stack in the car park. But slowly we’re getting through the tidy up phase, even resorted to burning the wood too small to use as firewood and too large to mulch with the wood chipper. The wood shed is now being packed as opposed to wood being tossed into it. We also have a rather large pile in the carpark that needs splitting. We have enough wood for quite a few years..
Two out of four new woodpiles from this autumn
Have done some more research as to what to do with wood and tree trimmings. Some good options on the RHS website one of which is the concept of dead hedgerows. The branches, twigs and stuff are laid between uprights to hold it all in place. We started a trial section next to one of the insect highways and this seems a far better option. Although leaving twigs and branches in rows should be effective in providing habitat for wildlife they are not dense enough and look awfully twiggy. We’ll leave some this year and see how they develop but will revert to building dead hedgerows. Some of the piled rows have larger material than we wanted so another reason to rebuild. Although the lads are great with chainsaws and brush cutters, tidying up is not their forte!
Evolving dead hedge vs insect highway
So hopefully a better harvest this as the trees we pollarded in year one should produce fruit this year. Be interesting to see how much we can get from processed trees.
views across the valley and up the hill
Trees
In addition to the olive grove there are a lot of trees along the drive way and up from the carpark. Most of these are pines and cypresses that are both fairly large and not ideal for planting on the terraces and incline. This season we’ve lost two trees to wind. We saw a large cypress along the access road (driveway) swaying in the wind. When we looked again it had been ripped out of the ground and had fallen parallel to the driveway. Not an insignificant tree being 15m long as opposed to high as it had fallen! Have retained three large logs to hopefully mill at some stage. Just need access to a chainsaw with a longer bar.
Fallen tree plus retained logs.
Another cypress fell into the car park a few weeks later. These plus a couple of suspect trees have also been removed as being resinous we don’t want or need it, plus we have all the olive wood.
The surprise one morning
The trees down the drive way are also a growing concern especially those nearest the house. These are slowly leaning more and more and depending of how they topple would most likely rip up part of the driveway. We’d had one eye watering quote to remove all 77 trees and replace these with 17 classic Tuscan cypress trees. Still waiting for another quote from someone more local. Whereas before we wanted permission from Capannori council, an arborist has now stated that these are a danger and need to be removed. And just to prove a point a number of trees along the drive are at more of an angle than before. Quite scary. We’ll see what transpires in the new year. Whatever, I need a bigger chainsaw
The more concerning trees along the drive
The Lavender
Given the success to date we’ve acquired another 200 hundred plants from the Assisi nursery. Half extend the main planting and the other for a new section just down from the kitchen. Whereas the other planting are not visible from the house this will be centre stage and a different variety (Hidcote Blue) The total plants thus far are about 420 over four distinct areas. But still loads of room for expansion.
Extending existing and building new areas
Although taking cuttings initially worked well with a high percentage rooting well, growing these on proved to be more difficult so many were lost. Proper cold frames would help. Using smaller poly tunnels is a problem with the level of wind ripping the plastic. Still have the old window frames when we upgraded the windows but that’s still a project to initiate. Finding a local timber yard is needed!
Would also be good to grow rosemary hedges,. Need to source these though at a reasonable price .That might be difficult. The other option is to establish a real live hedgerow with the focus on plants that provide edible fruits, sloes, hawthorn, crab apple and briar roses. Sourcing could be interesting as this is only viable as bare rooted plants.
The Veg Gardens
Not much growing in autumn but we have managed to grow some lettuce, cauliflower and broccoli. More or less what’s available from the agraria’s. Good cropping too, probably helped by the warmer weather. The main veg patch is now partly covered in a clover mix, mainly for nitrogen fixing but should look stunning come spring, just in time to be cut back. This is a specific mixture for bees. We might get some get some hives as this is supported by the commune to increase the bee population. We shall see come spring. We’ve also planted some fruit trees on the bank above the veg patch – cherry, apricot, pear and apple. Should grow well. Slowly an area of the land not seen as useful by prior folk is starting to look loved and cared for..
Although no dig is the way to go that does depend of the level of compost that can be sourced. The concept is interesting. No digging of the soil to preserve structure and the soil microbes you end up piling compost that you then do ‘dig’. Many not conventional but we’ll practice minimal digging and heavy mulching to control the weeds.
Upper veg patch gone wild with Nasturtiums
Our produce
Although we haven’t had big crops of vegetables, what we have harvested has been great – from the garden straight into the pot!.
The house
Two more rooms painted with just one left but there is remedial work needed in the apartment too.
Made a start on the floors starting with the kitchen. Involves removing the loose grouting between the tiles and re-mortaring these. Then the deep clean – using product that’s designed to loosen years of oil and polish allowing you to then scrub them clean. Another labour of love done tile by tile, but very rewarding as the original terracotta surfaces emerge. Following this it is treated with a linseed oil based product. This will then be coated with compound that seals it all. The floor seemed to have gone through number evolutions with tiles of differ sizes and textures.
Progress from original to freshly oiled.
Visitors and Travel
Madrid and Valencia
Late summer and we spent a super few days in Madrid and Valencia with close friends from NZ. Madrid is often overlooked for the more boisterous Barcelona but it has a grace and charm that really does deserve time in the city. The city was founded after deep springs were discovered so Madrid rarely has a water problem. There are vast green spaces throughout the city, from formal gardens and parks to tree lined avenues – it is lovely. Highlights included a tuk tuk tour, a delightful local tapas restaurant, celebrating our friends 40th wedding anniversay, and the opulence of the Royal Palace.
Valencia was also a lovely surprise – still some remnants of past Americas Cup racing in the early 2000’s and a large sandy beach, almost reminiscent of Copacobana in Rio. We were staying out at the beach, glorious sea views, with paella the local speciality. In the city centre, a very different architecture, almost Moorish in parts with the elegant silk trading building, an enormous fresh food mercato, and churches. And the Oceanagrafic with its distinctive modern architecture was worth an afternoon visit. The highlight for me was the beluga whales. I know there is a debate re keeping these in captivity, but on balance, I do think that when their natural habitat is under threat then it does create public awareness of the plight of the species and what/how conservation efforts need to be focussed.
The Royal Palace and Madrid at night time
Valencia beach and paella !
Aosta
A return visit to Aosta, this time with friends from the UK. The last hour of the drive is stunning, with the valley suddenly rising from the Po Valley to the north west of Turin. How Augustus ever made it through the seemingly impassable terrain over 2000 years ago is awe inspiring. Aosta was a strategic Roman town guarding the north west passage with the towering peaks of Monte Bianco, the Matterhorn etc just up the valley. Our short break included time in the Gran Paradiso National Park (the first National Park designated by Italy), where we also loved the small mountain villages. A particular highlight was a trip from Courmayeur to 3400m up Monte Bianco on the spectacular Skyway gondola. It was a clear sunny day and the views at the top left us all speechless. A very special place.
Views across Aosta & Mont Blanc
Christmas Markets
A tradition we’ve established is a visit to Christmas markets. Over the years we’ve been to Strasbourg, Koln, Bruges, Ghent, Colmar and Eigusheim. So this year we headed East, and in just under 5 hours we were in Trieste. Italy;s north eastern city was again a surprise. Elegant buildings and very clean. The city has a strong connection with NZ, as troops were in the forward guard to liberate the city at the end of WWII, then protect it from Yugoslavia’s advances. After that it was onto Zagreb, and finally Ljubljana. Slovenia was delightful and on the bucket list to return and explore further.
Trieste, Ljubliana & Zagreb
The Postojna Cave
Our Wonderful Workaways
We continue to meet wonderful people through Workaway, and have also been grateful for past Workaways whom we now welcome back as friends. We absolutely couldn’t live here without you help and we remain very appreciative of everyones help and work around the property.
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