The Citrus Grove

In 2015, my husband Ale and I bought a little piece of land with a dream of creating a new kind of life for ourselves; a life seeking beauty and creating joy, living in harmony with the seasons. The land was untamed, overgrown with wild olive trees and indigenous shrubs, maccia mediterrania, and in a perfect location – a little south facing hillside with views of the Med. We dreamed of having a citrus grove and for some years now have been nurturing and curating this wild land of ours. We don’t want to tame her completely. The indigenous plants are beautiful, especially when they are in flower, and the base for so many healthy seasonal remedies and foods, and also for the little bee families that we’ve adopted to produce the most exquisite wildflower honey. We are, I guess you could say, sculpting some parts to make a few vegetable patches and flowery terraces for meditation and gatherings of family and friends. It’s taking its time. When we started, the soil was poor, battered by the rain and wind, trampled by years of use by local cattle farmers and shepherds, and wild boar but a gem to be polished. Fencing, terracing, planting and replanting, and irrigating has been a big and ongoing focus. Ale is working his way round, trimming the wild olives to give them more space to grow and has started producing oils, wild olive oil and lentische oil, and, last winter, also started some mushroom farming. Baby steps and slow progress but moving forward. We currently live a short drive away but, one day, we’ll build a home here and, for the moment, we have a little caravan at the land, tucked behind a pond amongst the wild olives, as a base. When we get disheartened, we hike up to the top and sit with the view, breathe the clean air, feel the sun on our face and let the peace and beauty of the place reenergise us. It’s a wonderful adventure! 

Paolo Fresu ~ Blue in Green