Woohoo...our own peaches!

 
Oh yeah! Getting ready for producing our own peaches this year. We have started planting a small orchard (well, orchard is a bit of an exaggeration - more like a couple of rows of fruit trees, but orchard sounds good doesn't it?).
 


 
 
A month ago, adorned in my pink cords and pink jumper - who said gardening couldn't be glamourous?...ahem!! - on a rather cold and misty, March morning I planted out six peach trees (baby gold 6 and baby gold 9 varieties for you fruit tree geeks out there!) some will be eaters and some will be for bottling, freezing and jamming...yum, yum...can't wait. 





In exactly one month, these babies have flowered with beautiful pink blossom and I had to share the photos with you!

Arrampicata! Sulmona Climbing Club.

In summer 2012, after several years of wondering whether there was any climbing in Sulmona and drawing a blank from most of my enquiries, quite by chance we discovered the Sulmona climbing club. What's more, we were even more impressed when we discovered it also had a funky bar on the side!!

Since September Jake has been going to climbing lessons twice a week and loves it, and mum (me)has been on the odd occasion too. What started as a way for Jake to integrate with other kids his own age in a less formal setting than school has now become a bit of a passion! Here are some photos of him 'doing his thang!' 

As of last week, the climbing club as we know it closed. It is re-opening in a different part of Sulmona in 8 weeks time. I want to wish Luca the very best of luck for the move and we look forward to trying out the new walls soon!! 

More Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

Oooo...nearly a month since my last blog. So much is going on and I don't seem to be finding time to write. I am going to try and blog more regularly throughout spring and summer so keep with it! 

Today, however, is an important update on the wine (let's face it, for most of us it is a mutual appreciation!!) 

In mid March, with Pasquale, the font of all knowledge, we went  to see "Hugo". I'm sure you are all bursting to know who Hugo is, so I won't keep you in suspense! Hugo runs a small hardware shop / building suppliers / garden centre under a mile from our house. It is not advertised, it's not on a main road, it's not even clear as to what it's purpose is when you get there, but he sells almost everything you might need for outdoors (and indoors I suppose, as he is also our bottled gas supplier!!). It is like an Aladdin's cave! It's a prime example of how businesses run on word of mouth and local knowledge round here, not passing trade and/or marketing.  Great for those of us who have been here for generations and know where to go, not so great for those of us who only moved here last year! I have yet to decide if Abruzzo is a marketer's dream or total flippin' nightmare!

I digress. From "Hugo" we ordered 6 peach trees and 45 new vines. 40 Montepulciano and 5 various eating variety vines. Once we got the nod from Hugo to say they had arrived, under instruction from Pasquale we buried them in the garden overnight (we are still not sure if this was to keep them alive or to stop them from being nicked from any wandering garden plant thief that might fancy a new vineyard on the cheap!) 

The following day we spent the morning planting our new vines in amongst the existing ones in places where we have taken casualties over the past 6 years. It was very technical, not recommended for beginners...we needed a bucket, a trowel and a pick!!

Team Reid saw Dougie digging the holes a foot wide for the centimetre wide stick, 30cm long new vines. The followup team - me, Jake and Josh (mainly me!) - had to plant, fill and water. I have to say we fulfilled our role pretty well!! Now we have 40 new montepulciano vines waiting to burst into action as the warmer weather approaches!

Winter wonderland...

Our first winter here is nearly over and there is a definite feel of spring in the air. Each day we have sun we can see the snow line on the mountains all around us receding. 

But we still have a few more weeks to squeeze in the winter sports that were one of our reasons for choosing our move here to Abruzzo. This season Dougie and I invested in new skis and boots, after a 3 hour fitting session at the sports shop in Sulmona!! Now, we are making sure that we make the most of them!

The Alto Sangro ski resort is 21 miles, just 30 mins drive, main road all the way, and has more than 100km of pistes to choose from. We have been 4 times and are still trying out new runs each time we go.  Personally, I think it rivals any Alpine ski resort I've been to (and I have been lucky enough to visit a fair few!).

The boys have also had their first skiing lesson. Jake loved it and an unexpected 2 days off for the Italian general election meant they had another practice a couple of weeks ago. 

Monday, however, it is school for the boys and the slopes for us...what the heck, the gardening, washing, cleaning, etc. can all wait, but this time next month the snow may not be here. 'Carpe diem' and all that!!

To make the most of the mountains this winter, as well as skiing, we have been sledging, Dougie has taken up snowshoeing, with an overnight exped mid feb to go and sleep in a snow hole in the Maiella (I, however, was quite happy in my nice warm bed, despite the earthquake tremors that night!!)

When we get bogged down with the hassles of life and everything becomes a bit of a strain, I just have to pinch myself, look at the breathtaking scenery that surrounds us and think about how lucky we are to live in this amazing place that has so much to offer. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Work, work, work!

Well, a while back I promised photos of where I work and this is it: XYZ language school in Sulmona. 

 
It is fairly small with 3 classrooms and an office (mine is the middle window), plus we go into some of the local schools on contract teaching all ages from 6 to 18. 




The owners, Anna (Canadian) and Antonio (Italian) are extremely well respected and do a fantastic job running the school ...so much so, they are currently keeping me too busy!!  

It's a fortunate thing to be able to say given the current economic climate here in Abruzzo.  The stress of the PGCE is starting to pay off!

Getting going in the Garden!

So, now well into 2013, we are starting to plan our veg patch and garden improvements for the coming year. The boys are very excited that we are going to designate them an area for their own veg patch and Jake has already made a list of the veg he will be growing!! 

As for us grown ups, in January we moved and renewed our compost heap - 'thrilling' you might think - and yet, we were actually quite excited about it...that's what living in the Abruzzo countryside does for you!!

Plus, after watching a handful of youtube videos, we clearly became experts at pruning fruit trees! Or maybe not...time will tell!

So, what next? Well... I have decided I am going to experiment with an area of no dig veg patch, we are going to modify the hen run for those times when 'the girls' can't be out roaming free for one reason or another, I have started on the design for the new herb garden - which will also house the Pizza Oven, we have made a rough list of the veg we want to grow throughout the year in the veg patch, we want to make a private garden for the rental apartment, plant some more fruit trees, renew the wood shed roof and...well seriously, do we need anything else?

A treasured friend once told me that I need to shorten my list of things to be achieved, that way I am more likely to succeed and feel that sense of achievement...Becks, I am still working on it!

The environmental bit!

Regular readers of this blog may remember that back in October I posted about going Eco in Abruzzo. Part of our plan when moving to a house in the Italian countryside was to become both more self sufficient and more eco-friendly.

So far, our major achievement has been the fitting of the solar hot water (which is an absolute triumph!) and it has provided us with huge amounts of sun powered hot water since it was installed! We have our five chickens laying their organic free range eggs, we had a successful organic veg patch last year and are still eating the fruits of our labour from the jars of fruit and jam plus the veggies in the garden.

Mmm - Borlotti!

Pumpkins & squash

We are making our own compost, our central heating is run on 100% ecological wood pellets and we have fitted the 89% efficient wood burner in the lounge for that bit of extra comfort(again wood burners are much more environmentally friendly than most standard forms of energy, being one of the few carbon neutral fuels-ok, environmental science lesson over!). Up until the end of November we took the boys to school and picked them up on the bikes almost every day. I am still cycling to work on average 3 times a week. All of these things help to reduce our carbon footprint.


We will continue to look at ways of improving our green credentials, although Dougie has drawn the line at a compost toilet! Any suggestions welcome!