Just behind the village you can see in this panorama are many small terraced plots of land on a south facing mountain which are reserved exclusively for the agricultural needs of the people. There was a time not all that long ago when all they were all busy with activity because most of the people in this village relied on them. Today all but one of these plots remain disused because the people who grew food on them in the past are all dead and the remaining folk in the village prefer to rely on shops & markets, with little interest in growing their own. Such is the way of the world today.
By chance we happen to know the man who owns that one plot! And today was the day for a visit :)
Walking up to it we saw all the empty ones and my mind is just blown by the sheer waste of potential here! This land gets sun ALL day long and if only it wasn't a 30min drive from our own village I would buy a plot.
He has grapes, hazelnuts, plums & apples growing naturally. And an amazing south facing wall which I personally would look to utilise with some vertical gardening. His water supply is from a canal which could easily be diverted to the top of the wall.
His vegetable season was mostly over at this time of year but the tomatoes were still looking & tasting great!
His strawberries were still going strong too. Interesting that up here his biggest issue is with the birds, so the net is needed to keep them out. We don't have that problem at all for some reason?
I noticed he was growing saffron, one of the most expensive spices on Earth, known as red gold due to the colour of the desirable threads which pop out of the flowers.
Has has also built himself a little BBQ area, because why wouldn't you?
This whole shaded area was created by bending down the hazelnut trees growing above his land.
Visible better from this angle. A nice trick I will remember.
He is permitted by law to build agricultural purpose structures on his land but intends (like anyone with any sense) to improve and extend his structure bit by bit until ultimately he will be able to use it as more of a second home than a tool shed.
I gave him a bottle of my home made cider and a bag of walnuts as a gift and he was keen to drink the cider immediately so we put it in the pool to chill for a while. I suppose we must have moved the bottle around too much in these moments because upon opening it spurted into the air and in one moment almost the entire contents of the bottle came raining down on our children. Could also have been the altitude I suppose? It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen and we couldn't stop laughing for so long. Thankfully the children also found it a little bit funny!
A little bit of cider rain never hurt anyone ;)
In exchange for my gift (which ended up to be one very small glass!) he gave me a peach tree & a palm tree, for which I am most grateful.
After lunch on his land we drove down to a park in the village.
Fun for Luna.
And fun for Esteban.
The colder weather has me wearing shoes a lot these days but Esteban seems totally unbothered by the dropping temperature. Running around a lot probably helps.
Never quite sure what to call these things, but they are super cool!
Especially when one has such lovely views from the top.
Think that's it for now.
But before I go, I do urge every one of you to not be like the people of this village! Even if you are only able to take baby steps toward food independence, take those steps! If you wish to remain unjabbed you must be able to feed yourselves. Only a question of time now before the whole world does what this state in Germany has done.
Don't be naive about the way in which you will be coerced to behave as they desire.
Love & Light everyone π±