Fruit of the Month: Loquats

the underrated loquat, eriobotrya japonica

It is hard to find loquats at the greengrocer in the English-speaking world, but in Italy in early spring you will see these small, oval, thin-skinned, apricot-coloured fruits even in supermarkets. They are native to China, were naturalized in Japan and have been cultivated in the West for quite some time.
Here they are called nespole, the tree a nespolo.

Weeding Shakespeare

The Bard in the Yard 

Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds

2 Henry IV 4.4.

Mulch marvellous mulch

 Celebrate the Chip!

home-made wood chip mulch

After much discussion, research and attempts to find a solution, including the inevitable delays, 
Le Ripe now finds itself 
Rich in Mulch.

Subterranean Siena

A walk beneath Siena to explore its medieval waterworks

In a hilltop town which lacks a natural spring, where does the water in that fountain come from?

Walking around Siena one happens on a variety of medieval wells. Yet Siena is not naturally rich in water: it is a hilltop settlement and situated far from the great rivers of Tuscany. Until World War I the city relied on a water supply system constructed in the Middle Ages: 25 kilometres of channels and side-channels, an underground aqueduct winding under the entire city. They are called the bottini, a name perhaps related to the barrel shape of the passages, botte being barrel.

 

Garmugia: soup from Lucca

A reviving early spring soup

fava beans, artichokes, peas and asparagus, amongst others

The origins are unclear but this soup is certainly found only in the environs of Lucca and it is clearly a dish to be cooked and eaten in early spring when the fava beans and peas are at their most tender. The origin of the name garmugia (rhymes with Perugia) may be germiglio or sprout since the vegetables are all the first of the season.

Spring!

When daisies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
“Cuckoo; Cuckoo, cuckoo...” 

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks,
When turtles tread,and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
“Cuckoo; Cuckoo, cuckoo...”

William Shakespeare, 

Song from Love's Labour's Lost (1594-5)

in advance celebration of the 450th anniversary of his birth 

(circa 23rd April 1564)

Forcing Spring

It's coming. We all know that. Yet the more impatient amongst us cannot resist hurrying it along with a burst of imported, bright-faced primulas.

Still, hidden in the woods and alongside streams, native primroses - and violets - have appeared, reassuring us that we are not

deluding ourselves.

  

Garden Maintenance and an Early Spring

It's all happening at once

The endless rain last month gave way to mild temperatures and hints of spring. It is mid February and feels like March, even April some days. End of winter jobs like pruning suddenly seem urgent.

This untidy abundance 

 is suddenly and severely clipped back

  in hopes of future renewed luxuriance. 

The appearance of the first blossom, early bulbs and even asparagus spears has everyone scurrying around like White Rabbits.

Wool and Culture

Another glimpse into Florence's past: the Arte della Lana and the custodians of Dante's legacy 

The Arte della Lana building, formerly tower of the Compiobbesi (13th century) with the Orsanmichele church behind, to which it is linked by a bridge. It stands between via Calimala, via Orsanmichele and via dell'Arte della Lana

From 1308 the Arte della Lana building was the 'headquarters' of one of the richest and most powerful of the seven major guilds of medieval Florence, the Wool Guild. At its height the Arte delle Lana employed one third of the working population of Florence. Its coat of arms is an Agnus Dei, lamb of God, an emblem to be found in various representations within and without the building.

The Cold and the Wet

 The weather this winter

There are Heat Waves and there are Cold Spells but what do we call grey days of unremitting rain, and cold, blasting wind - Sodden Wuthers?

 

At least they afford time for writing.

 

The Art of Fresco part two: practising fresco

 the art of painting fast

In a small street in the Oltrarno (the area on the other side of the river Arno from Piazza della Signoria, Florence's Left Bank, so to speak), in the artisans' territory of Borgo San Frediano you will find an interesting workshop called Accademia d'Arte San Giovanni where many of the arts which made Florence famous are taught and practised to this day. 

Blackbird Days

I giorni della merla 

The days of the blackbird

the female blackbird is in fact brown

In Italy, 'blackbird days' are three days at the end of January and the beginning of February, reputed the coldest in the year. The popular belief is that if they are indeed very cold, spring will be early and warm; if they are mild, spring will be late and colder...This is a bit of country lore I have heard locally in Chianti too.

Various folktales are associated with the so-called days of the blackbird hen - merla being feminine, this is a female of the species. The simplest and most pleasing could be narrated just so:

In the beginning, all blackbirds were as white as snow and prided themselves on their plumage. One day in the cold heart of winter, a mother blackbird and her chicks sheltered in a chimney for three frozen nights. When they emerged on the first of February, they had turned as black as soot. From that day forward, all blackbirds were black.

(This works better in Italian where blackbirds are called merli, which has nothing to do with the Italian word for black..) 

a white blackbird: perhaps this one did not hide in the chimney