Today is the day! Finally, after a year of negotiating, documentations, designs and approvals we have started work on our land. Existing on our little piece of paradise was a disorderly but 'ancien' bunch of olive trees (oliviers) and 2 'parasol pins' (pines).
As the trees have struggled to stay alive over years, with no bore water or clipping, they must be as excited as we are to sort them into proper lines, 6 metres apart from each other , and to install the watering system (arrosage).
This will be a third lease on life for these trees - they had a good start in the earlier part of the last century only to 'die' (literally chopped off at the roots - ground level) after a severe winter, apparently the coldest yet ( - 27C) in 1956.
Determined, the trees grew new shoots around the old sawn off stump - hence they look a bit strange with 3 or 4 smaller trunks in stead of one. There are many olive groves in our area that were affected that year and discussion about our trees never fails to include much gesturing, puffing and eye-rolling about 1956.
As the trees have struggled to stay alive over years, with no bore water or clipping, they must be as excited as we are to sort them into proper lines, 6 metres apart from each other , and to install the watering system (arrosage).
This will be a third lease on life for these trees - they had a good start in the earlier part of the last century only to 'die' (literally chopped off at the roots - ground level) after a severe winter, apparently the coldest yet ( - 27C) in 1956.
Determined, the trees grew new shoots around the old sawn off stump - hence they look a bit strange with 3 or 4 smaller trunks in stead of one. There are many olive groves in our area that were affected that year and discussion about our trees never fails to include much gesturing, puffing and eye-rolling about 1956.
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