Most people we know living in Abruzzo grow their own fruit and vegetables. The growing season is long and that means they can have fresh produce practically whenever they want it. Even though it often seems that if you drop a seed into Abruzzo soil it will flourish; it is still hard work.
Those that live in the towns and villages often have a plot of land nearby as gardens in the centro storico are hard to come by.
Yesterday morning at about 07:30 we walked out of the town following directions that brought us to a small plot of land that friends of ours use to grow their vegetables. When we got there we were a bit later than intended and most of the work had already been done.
It was a fantastic morning. The sun was still low in the sky casting long shadows and fortunately the temperature hadn’t become too hot for a bit of manual labour.
I grew up in a city and I’ve only in the last few years have started to try and grow fruit and vegetables. I’ve had a little success with tomatoes and potatoes but without the sun (our garden is in a lot of shade) you can’t get very far.
Things are different in Abruzzo. I bet even I could grow big juicy, bursting with flavour tomatoes without trying to hard. There are so many tomatoes and so many different varieties that I bet if you dig deep enough you’ll find a tomato stratum forming the base foundation of Abruzzo.
In a relatively small plot of land our friends were growing beans, courgettes, carrots, onions, aubergines, peppers, chillies and of course tomatoes.
They let me wander around taking photographs (you can avoid a lot of work if you hold a camera) as they gathered up their tools and bounty. After I’d stuck my head through every row of vegetables I could find I helped carry crates of tomatoes back to their car.
We were warned to wear long trousers and long sleave shirts and the reason quickly be came clear. I’ve been fighting a losing battle against mosquitoes and if ever there was a place they were going to get the upper hand it was la campagna.
I’ve tried a few methods of discouraging them from biting me. None are 100% effective and many are completely useless. Yesterday morning I used my trump card. I spayed every exposed piece of flesh with DEET 50 and walked confidently into their den. The DEET spray seemed to work quite well initially, but Italian mosquitoes seem to like Irish blood and after a while they found the spots that I hadn’t covered well enough. Once these pests find an opening they’re happy to bite the same spot over and over again. I lost the battle. But it was worth it, it was a fantastic way to start the day.
I was surprised how mucky the ground was considering there wasn’t much rain. I had to use a knife to scrape off enough soil to grow a healthy bunch of carrots when we were leaving.
Later we all got together again and enjoyed a wonderful lunch of various vegetable dishes, all sourced from that small plot of land. Homemade ice cream and limoncello followed – it was the best limoncello I’ve ever tasted. “Don’t buy it from a shop” I was warned. “It’s too sweet and the lemons aren’t fresh”. Well this limoncello was fantastic.
Food doesn’t come any fresher than this!
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