Clearing brush....

April 3rd, 2009

I woke, as I often do here, suddenly at 10:30 am, the effects of sleep deprivation still lingering. I had a beautiful shower outside and made myself a cup of tea and piece of toast. Christian had come and begun the work to clear brush around the old beehive well so I joined him in doing that. A new law had been passed recently that outlined the amount of clear and pruned space that needed to surround each house and property and so that meant a significant amount of brush clearing and burning had to be done.

This is not normal brush. A few of you who have been here know that this brush fights back. It grabs hold of you with razor like claws scratching and cutting, sticking you with needle like pins that can easily become mildly infected. This, as they say, is not your mother’s brush. It is dense, comprised of perhaps 10 different vines, plants and trees, most of which have some kind of thorn on them. Most of the stalks are thin, less than a quarter inch and there may be 200 to the square yard making it difficult to both cut with the pruner or even reach in with the chain saw. Christian has a machine that looks like an outboard motor that he wears in a harness and he basically sticks it in the brush and obliterates it into fine fibers. I worked with pruners and a chainsaw and for six long hours we battled that brush.

When the sky started to turn dark at around six we said perhaps just this small section but at that moment there was a flash of lightning and seconds later a roll of ominous thunder. We looked at each other and said simultaneously, “I think we’re done here for the day!”

That night I made a dinner of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella di bufala with a little baguette and some balsamic vinaigrette. A glass of wine and a book took me through the rest of the evening and I went to bed at 11:30. I did walk around in the gathering dusk to take some photos…the light just seemed pleasant and the air fresh after the storm. It was another good day.