The good earth

One of the great things about living in Southern Italy is that no matter how grey and horrible the weather is, you know that there is always a bright sunny day not far around the corner. A day where, when you can find a sheltered spot, the sun will warm your bones even in January.

The sun has been shining for a few days now and so today the land was dry enough to be rotovated for the first time this year. Timing when to get the rotovator out down here is a real art. If the land is too wet the machine just gets clogged up and you stagger around under the weight of mud on your boots. Leave it too late and the grass will grow too long and you have to chop it down with a brush cutter first, which is more than double the work load.

This time I got it just right and my faithful diesel rotovator cut its way through the grassy clumps like a paddle steamer, leaving the earth looking like moist, freshly ground coffee, under the bright blue winter sky. Looking over our patch of land as the sun began to set I felt a glow of satisfaction, tempered by sadness that our little dog Milly was no longer here to mooch around under the olives as I worked.