18/08/2026
Waiting for the rains. With the 'Nora' running low we have switched to the bottom well where the fish have lived in their closed circuit biome for the last 60 years.
Using a thermic pump that runs off gasolina will give us another few thousand litres of water for the plantations but eats into my summer ice-cream fund..Slim but sad.
During the day the swallows are still here, snapping up the insects over the meadow and in the evening they are replaced by darling little pipistrelle bats. These fearless flying creatures will come very close if you sit still. The frogs are surviving deep down in the wells and there remains some important humidity under the piles of cut vegetation where the fire salamanders live through these scorching days.
I've stopped collecting figs for this year so the ones I can't eat are lying under the trees for the birds and insects. They make a sticky mess that trails through the workshop on the soles of my shoes. It's too hot to make jam. This morning I spent a good while watching Saramago's ants carry cumbersome seeds down into their extensive underground castles, planting for next spring. We have collected Calendula, Tagetes, woad, sweet William and many others. Some can be sown now and others will be stored until Spring.
