Saturday, November 28, 2009

Positano gardens.

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The winter season is rolling into town, though  it’s not  the rain that announces it but rather the buzz of work beginning on houses, and hotels in the area. With the elections coming up in a couple of months, it may be that a blind eye is turned to ‘construction without authorization’  this year and many seem to be taking advantage of it.
Most of the people who worked in the tourist industry during summer go back to their regular jobs involving manual labour. It’s nigh impossible getting any of these skilled workers to do reparations during summer, so I imagine there must be a backlog of work now.P1000138
In the abandoned terraced gardens in Fornillo, lemon and orange trees are being pruned of dead growth and the creepers tangled in the fruit  trees  are ripped off and used to feed large bonfires.  The owner and a helper work for days, cutting and carrying piles of  sticks and cut growth on their shoulders.  They wind down along the maze of ancient tracks from garden to garden, piling the  bonfire stack high.
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The remnants of the Morning Glory which has blanketed the olive trees all summer, crackles in the flames.  The smoke billows up to the house.  These steep gardens which were once so productive with vegetables and fruit have not been tended for years as manual labour is more costly, and the owner/gardeners are  disappearing with the generations.  Wild fennel and weeds now cover the embankments.  The new owners are too busy with their summer jobs to keep an eye on the place and even the lemons are often left unpicked.

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It’ll soon be time to cover the fruit trees with their heavy netting to protect them from the wild winds that pick up in winter. The meshing lets the sun in, whilst tempering the force of gales.
In  April, when the nets are lifted, the trees' leaves will be flattened like hat hair, that is, until the wind ruffles body into them.  And then they’ll blossom once again.
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14 comments:

Eleonora Baldwin said...

Ciao! I'm back and it feels good to be back to blogging again.
I rushed over and I'm glad I did, because your images fed my hunger for beauty and quenched my thirst for my places of the heart.

I'm planning a trip down south before the holidays, perhaps our chance to meet finally.

Big hugs,
Lola xx

Cathi said...

Love your photos..! Thank you so much for your kind comments on my blog - you are so kind! Have a beautiful day/evening! xxoo

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos, certainly cheered me up on a cold and wet day..very dull here :-(

Maybe I should go and help pick the lemons :-)

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

What a pretty and interesting post.

Ciao Chow Linda said...

What a difference between the damp, cold weather here. Even with winter approaching where you are, it still seems practically balmy. lovely photos.

Monika said...

THose lemons look divine! We live in the country outback in Australia and our fruit and vegetables are always hit and miss. Very jealous!

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

these beautiful photo cheered me up. grazie

Editor said...

The photos are extraordinary and the weather certainly the opposite of what we are experiencing here in Ontario at the moment.

joe@italyville said...

beautiful... I can feel the sea air hitting my face!

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Rosaria Williams said...

What beautiful pictures! The air must be so perfumed by all those citrus trees.

Jason said...

I like your travel blog here. I have one as well which I hope to be a good resource for those looking to go on vacation. I'd like to exchange links with you and help spread some traffic around.

Please let me know if this is possible.

Jason
ThatVACATIONfeeling.com

Gil said...

What an educational post, with beautiful pictures to boot! Thanks!

Chef Chuck said...

My mouth waters to see some of the best lemons in the world, off that beautiful coast!! Thanks for sharing the info!