Kakhetia (1): The wild pomegranate forests of Sighnaghi/Tsnori

Small trip today with Mariné and Vano in the Sighnaghi area (Georgia). There are old pomegranate bushes in pretty much every garden in the old town. Several people mention the cultivar "Gandjauri" and some confirm the link with the city of Ganja in Azerbaijan. It might be part of the same group of cultivars as the one we came across in Armenia a few years ago.

The morning is misty. As we go down the valley, just before entering Tsnori, we discover a recently planted olive grove and, more interestingly, a whole forest of wild pomegranates covering the slope of the mountain. They used to be mixed with other tree species such as oak trees and probably hackberry trees. There are hardly any high trees left now. The autumn colours are simply stunning, with the yellow of pomegranate bushes and the touches of red/purple of the Cornus bushes.

We take the car again and a little bit further, between Tibaani and Dzveli Anaga, we enter a vineyard. We start chatting with the owner. His father has planted a few fruit trees around the house. Two pomegranate cultivars, one of which being "Gandjauri" again. There is also a nice jujube tree, not so frequent in the area, with cherry flavoured fruits. Delicious. We are being directed to his friend Guivi, who grows pomegranate bushes in Dzveli Anaga. So, here we go...

Kakhetia (2): Pomegranate orchard in Dzveli Anaga

Back to the road. A few hundred meters further, we meet Guivi Basilashvili. He brings us to an orchard of 30 hectares, north of the main road in the valley. It has been planted a few years ago with hundreds of pomegranate bushes. There are apparently 8 or 9 varieties, several of which being referred to as “Gandjauri”. The other ones are unnamed. Many of them have hard seeds and several ones have a typical raspberry flavour.

There is also a white one that is pretty but a little bit tasteless. Neither sweet nor acid. Also, there are no dark pomegranates in this orchard. We have a long chat with Guivi about pomegranate transformation, including seed oil. The valley is just magnificent and our host extremely friendly.

Chênes baobabs à la fleur de sel

Certains des chênes verts du Montado des Cebolas ont des allures de véritables baobabs. Leurs formes et leur âge nous invitent à leur donner des noms. J'avais craint que nous en perdions à cause de la sècheresse de 2017. Mais ils ont tenu bon. Ci-dessus, voici le "derviche" en été 2017. Et ci-dessous, le "trou virevoltant" en été 2018, magnifié par Delphine à l'aquarelle à la fleur de sel de Guérande.

La ruche bleue et les cétoines noires

L'an passé, les fleurs de cognassier avaient été victimes d'une pullulation de cétoines grises, avec pour résultat une faible récolte de fruits. Cette année, les cétoines grises nous ont épargné. Mais leurs cousines, les cétoines noires (Protaetia/Netocia morio), ont élu domicile à l'entrée de notre ruche bleue. Tant que la grille est bien fixée, la cétoine noire semble incapable d'entrer dans la ruche et de se gaver du miel dont elle raffole. Les abeilles revenant de leurs explorations avec les pattes pleines de pollen semblent les considérer plutôt comme des obstacles à contourner. Pas aussi préoccupant donc que le petit coléoptère sud-africain des ruches (Aethina tumida).

Poetry, paintings, ceramics... on the walls

The summer is also the right time for enriching the walls landscape with some extra beauty. I dream of a village full of poems and of Vhils-type street art à la Alandroal. This year, we added our little stones: a poem of Eugenio de Andrade, a cat painted in Japanese style and a sandstone azulejo crafted by Anne-Marie Dehon, expressing our farming philosophy.

Nightlife in Campinho's sky, streets and farms

L'été sec et sans nuages crée les conditions idéales pour l'observation des étoiles et de divers phénomènes astronomiques. Nous avons même droit à notre petit observatoire local à Cumeada. Cet été 2018, nous avons eu l'occasion d'admirer dans les meilleures conditions une éclipse totale de lune le 27 juillet, suivie d'une pluie d'étoiles filantes le 12 août. 

Et puis, le soir, sur le chemin de la ferme, on en profite aussi pour faire un brin de causette avec nos voisines les plus proches, situées à plus de 3 km de chez nous, à la sortie du village. C'est une des choses magiques des villages perdus de l'Alentejo lorsque chacun sort sa petite chaise devant sa porte à la nuit tombante pour profiter de la fraicheur extérieure et poursuivre la conversation de la veille avec ses voisins proches. Evidemment, cela n'existe qu'en raison d'une série de choses, dont des rues avec peu de traffic et une télévision pas trop présente.

Au Monte, la vie nocturne se poursuit à la lampe frontale, avec parfois des rencontres inattendues qui focalisent l'attention de nos adolescentes.

Afternoon swim in Amieira, with cairns

There is a sense in which the new Alqueva lake has left Monte das Cebolas unchanged. For someone who does not know about the lake, the views haven't changed much at the farm itself. The dry montado seems identical to what it was 50 years ago. When we sit in front of the farm in the evening, we see on the horizon the lights of Povoa de Sao Miguel, without necessarily imagining a freshwater sea in between. And yet, at the same time, this huge body of water and its numerous islands is actually very present in our minds. And it is only a few hundred meters away from the farm.

One of the ways in which it changes our life is through making it possible on the very hot summer afternoon to refresh ourselves. One of our preferred spot is the Amieira village jetty. There will soon be a beach there. In the meantime, we enjoy the peace of that place with its olive grove that seems to be flowing into the lake.

Sometimes, people feel the need to add an artistic touch, as did two German baba cools who left us some nice little cairns