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© Kerrie Barker 2007
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As February ends and
March begins we are starting to see the first hints of
Spring. Our
fruit trees are in bud and on the lower slopes of our orchard primroses can
be found, whilst in our woods green shoots are sprouting and each day we
look to see if any flowers have appeared. Time for our next newsletter.
Everyone tells us how
lucky we have been to have missed the snow this year and had such a mild
winter. We, on the other hand, would have been quite pleased to have
experienced some snow. The boys were desperately waiting to go tobogganing
and, I’m sure, hoping to get snowed-in so as to avoid school. We spent a
fortune on snow chains as we were reliably informed that you must have snow
chains in your car if you drive on certain roads. All around Piedmont these
roads are marked with signs showing snowflakes and chains, and as we live at
1,500 feet, there are plenty of signs on our roads. Also, we were hoping for
a photo of our home in the snow to use for next year’s Christmas card. As
they say, there is no pleasing some people.
The panoramic views
from our front terrace of the snow-capped Alps were so breathtaking that in
January we decided to go in search of the snow. We set off early one morning
and finally found the snow on the slopes of the Maritime Alps in a small
town called Fabrosa Soprana, where after a splendid lunch we watched
children having lessons on the junior slopes.
En route we stopped at
the town of Mondovi to stretch our legs and visit the tourist
information office. We were glad that we did as we discovered that Mondovi hosts an
International Hot Air Balloon Festival to correspond with Epiphany (a public
holiday in Italy), which was the coming weekend. This was something we felt
we could not miss and so once again a few days later we made our way towards
the snow-covered Maritime Alps to be greeted with a stunning array of hot
air balloons of all shapes, sizes, colours and nationalities, including the
‘Financial Times’ balloon, drifting towards us across the sky.
Unfortunately the day, although being very pleasant, was also very hazy
which is not good photographic weather. Despite that we had a really
enjoyable day which you can read about on our
web page.
January also marked
the beginning of our project to replant our orchard. After spending many
hours bramble-clearing and removing the dead trees we had the ground
ploughed, and then waited for the snow to break up the soil.
As temperatures
climbed into the 70’s the boys decided it was time to inflate the paddling
pool which we inherited with the house. So using a foot pump we all took
turns at inflating the walls until finally we were able to fill it with
water. At this point the boys decided that although it was hot enough to
remove their shirts, paddling in freezing cold water did not appeal so
instead they sailed their wooden yachts.
January eased into
February and we had several meetings with our geometra, a sort of
combined architect and planning consultant, about the plans for the house.
We discovered that because we live in a nature reserve no new building is
allowed which meant altering our plans slightly but now we seem to have
solved most of our issues and we are waiting for the plans to be submitted
to the planning committee of our comune.
As the ‘threat’ of
snow had passed it became time to till the soil for planting, so our
neighbour Carlo, who had already ploughed the orchard for us, arrived with
yet another machine which broke the soil down into fine particles. Once this
was achieved a quick trip to buy the required trees produced five peach,
five nectarine, one apple and three pear trees. We spent the following
morning planting them, or at least Carlo did whilst we watched, but we now
know how to plant fruit trees in Italy. Now we wait for the rain which
should settle them in nicely. However the lovely blue skies we are
experiencing don’t have even a hint of rain about them, maybe the Italians
know something we don’t !
We can now proudly
look down from our terrace into the orchard and see our new trees amongst
the mature cherries, plums, apples and apricots that we have inherited. We
are still enjoying the chutney I made from last years’ plums, together with
the peaches in brandy made from Carlo’s peaches. Bob is surfing the internet
for new and interesting recipes and has even invested in a cherry pitter.
Cherry sweet and sour sauce has been mentioned!
Each morning I take
the boys to catch the school bus and then I collect my bread and milk from
the village shop which is run by Patrizia, with occasional help from her
husband Massimo. I enjoy my visits as there is usually something to talk
about, maybe the weather, or food or a festa. Each day I have my own little
Italian lesson, although my Italian is limited I learn a little more each
day – as they say in our little corner of Italy “piano, piano”
(“slowly, slowly”).
This describes Italian
life for us at the moment – piano, piano, - one day at a time.
Summer 2007 newsletter
E mail:
kerrie@anitalianadventure.co.uk
0039 0141 851 154
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