After months of living in an almost monochromatic winter world, the tapestry of colors that nature has woven around us is almost overwhelming. Living, as we do, in the virtually unspoiled landscape of Lunigiana it is always such a joy and privilege to witness la rinascita della natura dopo il suo lungo riposo (the rebirth of nature after her long rest).
This year, due to other commitments, we’ve decided to scale down our orto (vegetable patch), and limit ourselves to cultivating a few easy things such as pomodori (tomatoes), melanzane (aubergines/eggplants), zucchine (courgettes), e così via (and so on). Of our three terrazze (terraces) only one will be cultivated, the other two will be more or less left to do their own thing. One big advantage of this so far has been that we do all the hard work of digging amidst a wonderland of wildflowers, quanti bei fiori! (so many beautiful flowers!).
Ecco una foto di un angolino del nostro terreno (here’s a photo of a little corner of our land). In questa foto si possono vedere (in this photo you can see):
| In primo piano sulla roccia c’è il risetto, cioè una varietà di sedum | In the foreground on the rock there is ‘risetto’, which is a variety of sedum. |
| sopra la roccia quei fiori arancioni brillanti sono le calendule | above the rock, those bright orange flowers are calendula, which are a type of marigold |
| i piccoli fiori azzurri accanto al risetto sono la borragine, le cui foglie sono buonissime da mangiare una volta cotte | the little blue flowers next to the sedum are borage, the leaves of which are really good to eat when cooked |
| i grandi fiori viola con le foglie a forma di lancia si chiamano iris, che da noi crescono spontanei | the big purple flowers with the spear like leaves are irises, which grow wild where we live |
| quel mare di giallo che si vede sullo sfondo sono i denti di leone e i ranuncoli, detti anche botton d’oro, che in questo periodo fioriscono dovunque | that sea of yellow flowers which you see in the background are dandelions (literally: lions teeth) and buttercups, also known as ‘golden buttons’, which are flowering everywhere at the moment |
| le piante che si arrampicano sulla fila di pali sono le viti, che stanno appena buttando le prime foglie | the plants climbing up the line of poles are grapevines, which are just putting out their first leaves |
| il tutto è circondato da una marea di erba ed alberi tipo frassini, noccioli, prugni, fichi, ciliegi, ecc. | all of these are surrounded by a mass (literally: a tide) of grass and trees, such as ash, hazel, plum, fig, cherry etc. |
