Making peace with our olive trees... We've had our land for 3 months now, and have been gifted heavily with walnuts, figs, pomegranates, nettles, burdock, wild chard, mint, wild onions, firewood, natural water, fresh air.... and now we begin the epic work of rejuvinating our olive groves.
When we bought the land, we were told that there were 'una quarantina' of trees - around 40 of them. And they were hard to count! We kept finding another one and another one, tucked in the deep undergrowth, or squished below trees... When I took it upon myself to methodically tot up the numbers, we were rather pleasantly amazed to discover that in fact there are at least 80 🤗
Like many plots in this region of Italy, they've been abandoned over the past 20 or so years, as elders have passed on, and the next generation has become elder, with no-one in the family willing to come back to the land and work it properly.
Folks like us are filling this niche.
But we are working the land differently.
Slowly.
Without machines.
In tune with our learning; quiet, humble mastery under Natural Law.
Today was the first time I've climbed into the limbs and listened, cut, plucked, removed (the vast majority!) inedible fruits, and begun the long relationship that we are committed to here.
Many long cool days ahead, which we cannot wait to enjoy on our land, sacred tweaking and doing our very best to bring back the natural harmony, abundance, beauty and divinity of this piece of our earthly heaven.
🪷🙏🌳
Clare.
