Back to the Land: Farming in a changing world

Here in Locoe Land the rain has arrived. Welcomed.

Most of the vineyards around this area have been harvested and the rain has arrived at the right time to feed the dry soil and help the (few) olives to mature further. I have started to prune the suckers at the bottom of the trees in preparation for the harvest of the olives which should take place sometime in late November or December. This is a job that is done at least once every year. In the past the area under the tree would be cleared completely, but today's way is simpler as we use big nets to surround the base of the tree as wide as the branches expand outwards.

Before and after. Suckers growing at the base of the olive tree.

Lesley transporting the cuttings to a pile. They will be burned at the end of October when forestry rangers will give us the permission to start a fire. Restrictions on fires here are important as Sardinia suffers hundreds of fires every year in summer.

Here we are also starting to plant new vegetables with the hope that a moderate climate can help them to develop. Some crops were not successful earlier on as the heat was too great even if you were watering them every two days. Since we left last end of May there has not been any rain and temperatures were always on a daily basis above 35 with peaks of 45. Very difficult for any farmer to control these extremes.

New vegetables in this morning

But still, some vegetables were successful and we still have tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, basil, peppers and a few other things. As far as fruit is concerned, there is an abundance of apples and pears, figs and the perennial prickly pears..

Tonino had a delivery of farm manure so we have been weeding and then mulching the vineyards and fruit trees in preparation for their winter rest. Hopefully there will be plenty of rain to replenish the vitality of the plants - they've had a thirsty time of it since April!

The drying machine (for want of the correct jargon), has proved useful. We have now dried the remaining tomatoes and bottled them in oil. Tasty!

And here are the figs ready to be put into the 'essiccatore'

We are already in the middle of October and the temperature has dropped by 15 to 20 degrees. Ground is wet in the morning and some mushrooms are already starting to appear. Last weekend we went to see my " ranger " brother and extended family. We planned to go for a a couple of walks in the hills around the village of Esporlatu (inhabitants 370 circa) where they live. The place is beautiful and surrounded by wooded hills. Esporlatu itself is around 600 meters above sea level. Unfortunately, like many other small villages in Sardinia and elsewhere in the continent, young people are migrating either to cities or abroad. Many of the villages will be deserted by 2050. Only last month 8000 people left Sardinia. A haemorrhage that political decisions have a great responsibility for.

The walks were great and in wet conditions but we visited a couple of ancient forests, one of which is now unmanaged on an experimental trial. On the way we found several mushrooms which provided us with dinner for the evening.

Field mushroom

In the Anela forest (managed by the forestry workers)

Inside of one of the oldest and biggest quercus of Europe. The tree is in the Illorai area.

We also paid a quick visit to one of the many Nuraghi to be found all over the island. This one is known Nuraghe Murones. They are thought to be three and a half thousand years old.....

In the meanwhile here in Locoe we have started to plant broad beans, peas and potatoes. Also the collection of goji berries has started as the fruit is now ready for harvest. Pears are falling from trees and I am collecting them to be stored for the winter.

A couple of week earlier we made a new chicken house or a villa as we called it. 6 square metres of space for two chickens! Not the A4 space as in battery farm accommodation.. Outside the house the two fortunate creatures have 120 square metres of orchard to play in!

Goji fruit

Winter pears

The new spacious chicken house

This year my brother has decided to try to plant potatoes much earlier than normal. We had a couple of hundred potatoes from the previous harvest starting to sprout, so we decided to plant them now. It seems that finding potato seeds is becoming harder and harder. An order has been placed but there is no guarantee that we can get them. Only option left, which is a good practice, is to keep the seeds ourselves. We will see how things go with this lot.

220 potato seeds planted between 15th and 17th of this month.

Soon we will be leaving Sardinia. Lesley is already at the Marazzino house and I will join her this week end. Some work there has to be done in the last week before going back to Scotland. Some new doors, windows and shutters and fencing the garden to try to contain the wild boar which visit the garden often uprooting water and electrical cables!