Clare basically became the caretaker of these gardens, years ago, as they belong to (late) friends of hers or because others aren't and there's an abundance of edible plants and greens and so on and so forth. There are also plenty of lemon trees, mandarin trees, grapefruits and different types of oranges to enjoy. Fruit that would go to waste if Clare ( and I ) weren't eating it.
Our current favorite, aside from all the lovely oranges that we turn into juice almost every morning, are the wild asparagi ( asparagus ). Since a week or so, we have been able to find them almost daily and they are amazingly yummy in pasta dishes or eaten with baked potatoes ( or tatties, as Clare tends to call them ).
When we do go into the garden, which happens almost every single day. and when the weather is nice enough, Clare's cats tend to follow us.
They are basically outdoor cats that only eat indoors and sleep there ( I guess, I don't spend time in the cat room, at night ). Most of the day - and possibly - night they spend in the outdoors, as they do like fresh air as any natural being would.
Here's Clare's ginger 'Benjamino' enjoying chilling in a tree and observing the world
Clare tending to a caper bush, that grows out of a wall...
We are enjoying pickled capers regularly with, as you might have guessed, pasta or tatties ( potatoes ).
Funny enough, I hardly ever ate capers in my life before I met Clare.
Things change and so do diets.
Rosemary and asparagi...
Clare, (the) Rosemary (bush) and Benjamino
Betty behind a wall. I tried to take a picture of her tail sticking out but was a second too late...
A hand saw
Just kidding, the orange thing is a 'mano di buddha' ( Buddha's hand)
Another photo of the always photogenic Benjamino
and one more...
I used to call myself a dog person, as I grew up with the nicest dog ever, now I am surrounded by cats. Not just the 3 that Clare decided to take care of but also a bunch of wild(er) cats that live around here and spend plenty of time chilling, spraying and pooping in the garden. Stepping in cat shit isn't uncommon on a gardening day. The stuff is almost as bad as dog poo but I do like to think that il gatti fertilize the garden and they aren't potty trained, so I don't get too upset over it.
Here's two pics of whom we call 'Sneezy Billy's sister' as her brother used to sneeze a lot ( and I tend to call animals I don't know the name of 'Billy' ).
And a last one of B...
And here's Clare holding a bunch of giant bietoli ( spinach-like edible greens )...
Don't forget to eat your daily greens!
We are going to see if we can find some wild rucola around here, later today. Clare discovered the first little bits of this peppery green, yesterday.
Sending good vibes from Italia!
