Springtime Realignment

The land is the cause of and solution to problems

In spite of abundant spring here in the Ligurian Alps and my active, clever bees — whose feelings towards me range from indifferent to suspicious¹ — I’ve been feeling dark and cranky. I have some good reasons and I don’t suppose those reasons will disappear with the arrival of the transient cows, or the perseids, or Un Asino per Amico, or other markers of summer that I’m looking forward to. I’d better think of something to work on.

I’ll plant my garden!

Because the good vegetable nursery’s stand at the Mondovì market is stacked three deep with agressive retirees on Saturday mornings, I decided drive to the nursery 40 minutes away on a Tuesday afternoon. That way, I could browse their 22 different types of tomatoes in peace and not have an audience when I forgot the word for cucumber.

Fat chance!

The nursery, which sells gorgeous veg starts well beyond the usual market/nursery staples, was like Costco on weekend, if you had to tell Costco workers what plants you wanted and they went and pulled them off massive shelves for you. I took a number and waited for 10 people ahead of me.

Family-run Ferraro Vivai in Fossano. Carpetblog stamp of approval. There were four or so green houses this size

They were so nice! Naturally, because I bought the last cilantro and two jalapeños, friendly questions were asked. Advice was given and mostly understood. For my effort I got a big box of starts for very little money and a rare feeling of accomplishment.

Because I like to reap, I got straight to the sowing. I trellised. I laid down slug/snail deterrent². That night, a massive hail storm passed through. Anything with big leaves got shredded. The next morning when I went to have a look I felt like Laura on Little House on the Prairie when the hailstorm destroyed Pa’s crops.

The kiwis deserve what they get, but the poor peppers and eggplants suffered

That was a setback. The sowing was not the unmitigated win we’d all hoped for³.

At the market today I decided I would eat my way out of the dark cloud. I came home with fresh ricotta from the good ricotta guy, thin asparagus, fat green peas, strawberries and skinny young fennels.

This was fall ricotta which was good. Spring ricotta is on a different level

I mixed ricotta with the olive oil that’s For The Good Guests and put it on top of the peas, fennel and asparagus over pasta. Market strawberries mixed with a mouthful of wild ones from my own land stacked on ricotta topped with hazelnuts and good oil made dessert. And a nice dry white.

Problem solved. For now. But there’s ricotta and strawberries for breakfast.

1. I’m waiting for the brood that remembers the trauma I inflicted on them to die off and be replaced by a new generation that’s more open minded about me. Circle of life.

2. We deter them here, we don’t kill them. Because I have a hard time accepting this approach, I carry salt around. Old habits etc

3. Everyone seems to be bouncing back. It’s very early still. No real setback.