The move to Tuscany : Fenced in!

Looking back over the last couple of weeks our activities have pretty much all been about the fencing. It's a project that Stuart confesses he didn't even expect we would get around to completing before the end of the year, yet it's amazing what a bit of progress and productivity can do to spur you on into surging ahead and throwing your energies at a project... and I'm pleased to report that, bar a couple of tweaks (we plan to add a line of wire to the top of the fence down one side of the terraces, to make it less easily jump-able, and, at some point, to make some more robust gates), the fencing is now complete and the upper terraces are fully enclosed. I think we're both a little shocked at having completed it!

The completion of the project has also been helped by having some great weather - most importantly it has been dry, but it has also (for the most part) been bright and sunny and mild (at times even a little too warm), all of which aid with the enthusiasm for getting outside and working.

Aside from the fencing we've dedicated some time to cutting some of the trees on the terraces (and subsequently chipping the smaller branches and logging and splitting the larger pieces of wood to add to the wood pile), and to preparing the orto for planting with vegetables.

While last year we didn't have the time or energy to grow vegetables from seed (largely thanks to Stuart being heavily involved in a building project for the first few months of the year), this year we are determined to get back to it, and have planned to plant a wide variety of vegetables - cavolo nero, basil, lettuce, radishes, beetroot, tomatoes, aubergine, courgette, cucumber, artichoke, beans, squash, fennel and cima di rapa.

Stuart spent a morning last week planting the seeds that need to be planted this month, and they are currently being nurtured in the temporary greenhouse at the front of the house that was put up to protect our pot plants from winter frost and which, as a bonus, acts very well as a greenhouse. Not only is this a lot more convenient than the polytunnel (which is a couple of terraces below the house) but using the polytunnel would have required us to buy a new plastic covering, thanks to sunlight and hail/rain having damaged the current one beyond repair.

We have already been rewarded for our efforts with little shoots of radish and calendula having started to appear - the magic has begun!

A taste of things to come.

And now the waiting game begins.

It was only a matter of days before the radishes (ravanelli) began to sprout!

Other tasks we have turned our hands to are of the indoor variety - Stuart has dedicated a few days to what started off as a bit of touching up in the apartment and has turned into a rather larger job but which should see the apartment a whole lot smarter by the time he has finished.

As the weather turns ever more spring-like, the splashes of colour on the hills and in the woods are becoming ever brighter and cheerier, and as much as this winter has been very beautiful and serene, we are now looking forward with enthusiasm to the longer, warmer days of proper spring.