April Newsletter

Hello!

Are you glad Easter is behind you? Ours has been wet although yesterday morning it cleared up and the sun is now shining and promises to remain with us for at least another week. Fortunately, the two days of heavy rain have really irrigated the land. It was in dire need of it. We have everything in bud or blossom here on the Olive Farm and it really is a joyous sight. The cherry trees are white and glorious. The soft fruits are open, too. We have grapefruits and grapefruit blossom both at the same time on the same small tree. I have counted eight grapefruits of various sizes. The avocado tree I planted from stone has grown tall and is becoming rather magisterial. It gave us a whole winter’s worth of avocados during its first fruiting season and now it is in bud again. Michel has trained the wisteria plant round the edging of our flat roof  and as I walk in and out of my new writing room, its heavenly scent greets me.

As usual, we have left all the terraces to grow a little unruly so that the wildflowers can blossom and then fall to seed before we cut them back. This allows all the pollinators to take their pick and gorge themselves and then when the seeds have fallen, ensuring us of plenty of wildflowers next year, we will strim the entire estate, keeping us relatively safe against any unfortunate summer fires.

We are cleaning up the barbecues, awaiting our black ewe to lamb, still caring for our old dog who ‘doggedly’ fights on, holding on to life tenaciously.

I LOVE this time of year, writing with the French doors wide open, listening the birds, watching a million small creatures fluttering from one plant to another, lunches outside…

If you reading this in Germany, The Girl in Room Fourteen has just been published there. Here is the link for it: http://www.amazon.de/

I have joined Twitter, so if you are also a follower, here is my address Carol4Olivefarm  Please do look for me and follow.

The publishing date for The Lost Domain, my new novel, has still not been settled. I am bursting to give you the news but I must hold off for a little while yet. Watch this space!

One of the few Olive Trees pruned in February

This afternoon I will be planting up a boot-load of small lavender plants. These are destined for a new bee-friendly terrace I am currently creating. Vines and lavenders. It will be an attractive addition to the land. The olive trees are in bud but slower than everything else to blossom this year. We have done very little pruning this year so that should offer us a bumper crop of fruits for our olive oil.

By the way, I know the thought of chocolate might be the last food you want to consider now that Easter is over, but a recommendation here: I ate no Easter eggs but did enjoy one chunk of a bar of dark Spanish chocolate made with olive oil. It was very delicious.

Well, that’s it for now. Enjoy these spring days.  They are such a gift.

More soon!

All good wishes,

Carol