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Sunday 28 November 2010

More Rain Damage...

After the olive harvest we needed a days rest on which we only went out on a walk for some wild food foraging.  The one day turned to two as the rains returned.  So yesterday was the first time in a while that we got back to our own patch of land in Arcola as opposed to the olive grove in Popetto.  And we discovered further damage caused by the rain:


Half my cold frame had slid away.  There used to be a yard in front of it where we could walk along and from where we could access the cold frame.


Inside the tyre there used to be a Florida cranberry, which was already unhappy about being planted in such an unhospitable climate.  This has given it the final nail.


It had slid along with half the bed that we had just dug over to plant brassica on top of the straggling remains of my tomatillos.  Susan is just rescuing what she can, while Eddie looks on being a puzzled about the new shape his familiar landscape has taken on.

I provisionally repaired the cold frame, but this is what the mud looked like that I was standing below it:


The soil is absolutely saturated!  Today there's a bitter wind blowing and more rain...

11 comments:

LindyLouMac said...

These are the worst autumnal rains we have experienced since moving here and it is still raining although I guess you may have snow now. Sorry about your damaged crops.

jann said...

Oh, what a mess! So sorry to hear about all these troubles in paradise. But may I say--somewhat inappropriately--that I absolutely love that photo of your boots in the mud!!

Jan said...

Oh Heiko what a shame, and it's impossible to rebuild terraces once they've collapsed. I hope you don't have any more mud slides.

Mr. H. said...

As they say, when it rains it pours. So sorry that it has been such a disruptor in your lives of late. Hopefully it will end soon and allow you to get about your business.

Rain, Rain go away (for a couple weeks anyhow)

Come again some summer day (when you are actually needed)

My good friend Heiko has work to do (lots of work)

Olives to pick and gardens to tend (and cold frames to fix)

Rain, rain go away Heiko has no need of you (leastwise not until spring and summer arrives)

Anonymous said...

Ah, what a mess. And what a lot of work, and what a disappointment. We are following the atrocious weather from some distance away, but know it has been particularly bad this autumn. Mi dispiace.

Heiko said...

Thanks for the sympathy everyone. I didn't know you were a bit of a rapper, Mr. H.! This definitely appears to have been the worst year for rain that anypne can remember. The sun has just popped out and we'll try to get out to do some work before the rains return...

Anonymous said...

Good grief Heiko - looks like you're at Glastonbury.

Since the four year's we've lived here, I have no idea what a typical winter is. Year one it was really cold, complete with proper snow; year two, it pretty much rained from September though till April; last year was considerably warmer with just the right amount of rain, so who knows what his year will bring.

Wishing you warmth and sunshine from the Mezzogiorno.

Angela said...

Me too, I am sending you my very best wishing for the rain to go away and the terraces to return, somehow, and sun and happiness returning!
I also liked the boots-in-the-mud-picture!

Heiko said...

Contadina, Glastonbury, that's just what it's like! We tend to have wet winters with little frost, but this year tops it and the snow in the mountains around us is looking lower than usual at this time of year.

Angela, thanks for the best wishes. I have now put this muddy boots picture as my profile picture on Facebook if anyone's visiting there.

Today we did get some work in repairing some of the damage. It's notr all bad. One terrace is a little lower than it was, but a bit wider too. Just needs a little earth re-distribution to fill in the fault that has opened up beneath the kiwis, leaving their roots a bit exposed.

GetSoiled said...

Oh Heiko! Seeing this makes me want to cry...how heart-breaking!

At times like this I really really wish I was closer to lend you guys a hand. My hubby says that I am strong like a donkey...not sure if that is a compliment...oh, wait or was that stubborn as a donkey?...I forget, but either way, and in spite of my joking around, seeing your pics breaks my heart to pieces. I hope you guys get a break from the rain and the cold real soon and life can return to the nicer normal you used to know.

Heiko said...

Thanks GetSoiled, I'm starting to get over it. I'm just hoping the rain is going to seize for a while. Some of this mud is in no condition to be shovelled back up again.