“Would you mind if we renewed our wedding vows in the garden at Casalba?”
Would we mind? Mind…?
We’d be honoured!
Rings were made from olive branches. The music stand was turned into a lectern. The hammocks were removed from under the acacias. The sun was shining (after a distant rumble of thunder failed to materialise into anything sinister) [...]
Archive for the ‘The Garden’ Category
“I do” (again)
Posted in The Garden, tagged Casalba on August | 8 Comments »
Basic Instinct
Posted in The Garden, tagged Hoopoe, House Martins, Spring at Casalba, Upupa, Upupa Epops on April | 19 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago it felt as though spring had finally arrived after what seems to have been the longest, most bitter winter I’ve spent in Italy.
All the signs were there: the almond tree came out in blossom; there were promising buds on the cherry; new shoots were sprouting on the elms; even the persimmon, which [...]
Wild Asparagus
Posted in Recipes, The Garden, tagged wild asparagus, wild asparagus season Le Marche on March | 8 Comments »
There is a steep slope at the front of our garden and, to be honest, it isn’t very pretty. You need to be a mountain goat to mow it and it always looks unkempt. I’ve tried planting ground cover, but nothing seems to do very well there. This has everything to do with the fact that the soil is very [...]
Guests 2
Posted in The Garden on March | 11 Comments »
“Have you got a panda?”
“Er…, no.” I replied.
(Between you and me, I thought he was referring to B. who has black patches over both eyes.)
Then I woke up…
This was an excellent question from a 4 year old guest, because there is a bamboo pit at the bottom of our garden.
Not just your ornamental type of bamboo. It grows over 30 [...]
Olive Conservate
Posted in Recipes, The Garden, tagged curing olives, curing olives in brine, curing olives in salt, olive conservate, preserving olives on January | 11 Comments »
Not all our olives are destined for the press. Some are set aside to preserve. Until now, I’ve used the brine method as explained by Patience Gray in “Honey From A Weed”:
Wash the olives and soak them in glazed jars for 40 days.
Change the water every two days. This removes any bitterness.
Drain and place in jars with alternate layers of coarse sea salt. (About two handfuls [...]
Frantoio
Posted in The Garden, tagged Frantoio, Olive press on December | 14 Comments »
We took our olives to the Oleificio Rosini - as we always do. They are a family run business in San Paolo di Jesi, which is about 9 kms from us.
I couldn’t resist asking this lovely gentleman if I could take his photo whilst he loaded his Ape with the fruits of his labour. I love Ape. You [...]
Il Raccolto
Posted in The Garden, tagged Casalba, olive harvest, olive picking on November | 10 Comments »
We finally picked our olives.
I love this job.
It’s very therapeutic.
Not something you can rush.
Now they are ready to take to the press: frantoio.
We should have enough to make about 30 litres of extra virgin olive oil. That’s 1st cold press extra, extra virgin!
These are destined to be conserved:
More on both processes to follow soon…
Mela Cotogna (Quince)
Posted in Recipes, The Garden, tagged Casalba, Fruit cheese, Mela Cotogna, Membrillo recipe, Quince, Quince blossom, Quince Cheese, Quince cheese recipe on November | 21 Comments »
Our quince came into full bloom in mid April. Beautiful large white blossoms with a generous flush of pink. It’s a lovely tree. Even its name sounds quaint, old fashioned and rather magical and mystical.
You can do a number of things with the fruit (except eat them raw, of course), but I have always been intrigued by Quince Cheese. I’d tried [...]
Nuts!
Posted in The Garden, tagged almond blossom, hazel nuts on October | 8 Comments »
I love all nuts, but if I had to choose just one, it would be the hazel. It is the favourite food of dormice too and essential for the survival of several species of moth and a rare fungus.
The tree is beautiful at all times of the year: during the winter s/he goes into hibernation [...]
Double Rainbow
Posted in Recipes, The Garden, tagged arancini on October | 10 Comments »
It was warm and sunny yesterday, but the afternoon rain gave us this view from the balcony:
There was no rain today and it was warm enough to eat lunch on the balcony in T-Shirts and flip flops. I made Arancini using the leftovers from last night’s saffron risotto. I filled them with mozzarella, but do check out Finding La Dolce Vita for more ideas and a full [...]
