Back to the Land: November 2020

Oliena mountain in the early morning.

October 2020

Back in September we decided to book our trip back to Sardinia and having obtained vouchers from Easyjet following a previously abandoned journey in May, we planned to book a short visit for October. Soon after we booked the flights, the governor of Sardinia decided that anyone arriving to the island should undergo a Coronavirus test before arrival, and should show negative to the virus.

It was impossible to have a test done here by the normal authorities; and it was also not feasible for us to do a private test at a cost of £150+ within 72 hours of departure as well as get the result. So, we decided to cancel the trip. The day after we cancelled, however, the High Court in Italy overturned the governor’s decision, but it seemed there was still a test to be done upon arrival in Italy.

Not knowing what to do we decided that I would re-book the trip just for myself and just see what transpired. Organising all the documentation that was required for travel was a bit tiresome, but in the end I managed to land in Sardinia arriving on Saturday 10th. On the following Monday I had to travel to the village where my brother lives and get a fast test done just to make sure I was fine. Test was negative and everyone was relieved. In the afternoon I was taken to Locoe where I was going to stay until my return to Scotland.

the last time we harvest the grapes.

The weather was good with a temperature still above 24 degrees. The harvest of the grapes was already finished and the grapes had been crushed and pressed producing 650 litres of must which is still fermenting in the barrels. As planned, the old vines had been removed from the ground soon after the harvest was completed. Or to be precise, the top part of the plant was cut off with a chain saw. The remains of the plants will be uprooted with heavy machinery possibly at the end of November after the harvesting of the olives.

no more vines.

So the first part of the process of planting the new vines had already started before my arrival. My job there consisted of looking after the many vegetables still growing such as tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines and cabbages. There was little need for watering so, having more time at my disposal, I started to clear the suckers that grow at the base of the olive trees. This was in preparation of the harvest in November.

some vegetables still growing well.

It took me 5 days and everything that was cut was burned straight away after we had obtained permission from the forestry rangers. In theory, we could not burn anything till the end of October but as the temperature cooled down and after a couple of rainy days it was ok and safe to burn the cuttings in a controlled manner. The water in the river returned after a very hot and dry summer.

One day was dedicated to start cutting bamboo from the river in order to make support sticks for the new vines. This decision was taken after my brother priced the metal supports and the prices given for it was over 1800 euros. So we decided to make the supports ourselves and save that money for a better use. Bamboo is now growing well and is very abundant. Olives this year seem to be of good quality and harvest should be better than the previous year. I will not be there for it though. As for the new vines, the soil will be analysed to see if there is any deficiency in nutients needed for the new vines. If this is the case then the new plants will not be planted until spring 2022, but if results are good then it will next spring.

old vines to be use as fire fuel.

Before I left the land we planted some oak trees (25) on the river side. This area of the land was flooded years back. We decided to leave this part of the land uncultivated but we will try to establish some woodland which will be beneficial to wildlife and improve the biodiversity in the area. More trees

will be planted in the future.