However the last night they spent in the caravan they thought the heaven was falling on their heads. We heard the thunderstorm on our side of the valley, but didn't get hit by it's full force. However as soon as we drove into Arcola we realised that it must have been much worse around our land. On the way up the hill we saw trees stripped of their foliage. Still not quite realising the full extend we arrived on the land. These were the size of the hailstones several hours after the storm with the sun already high up in the sky!
They must have come down the size of golf balls originally during the night! The damage was pretty extensive. Some of our plants looked like they've been through a shredder.
This was the volunteer pumpkin plant:
Another squash with craters:
Swiss chard shredded to pieces:
...and the Greek corn:
and courgettes:
Many unripe tomatoes have been blown off the plant, but at least most of the plants themselves seem to have survived. Many apples and peaches were scattered prematurely. Another little step back, the vagaries of nature... :(. At least the caravan survived the onslaught, our guests were safe and all the terraces are where they were before.
In other news we took a trip into the mountains today to a village called Vinca on the a tip that we might find raspberries up there. I love raspeberries, but can't grow them on our land. They only thrive in our climate above a certain altitude, so I was very excited.
The surroundings up there were stunning:
and Eddie played with his new friend Yotam:
but alas no raspberries. Either we went up the wrong path or someone else got there before us. We found one and Yotam ate it.
We might try another path next week and I'll let you know if we find anything that time.
Finally everybody, it's time to sow your cats for next season:
