FarmLife: March, when the going gets tough …
With March spring arrives. This is a challenging all-round month. In addition to the reopening of our restaurant (where you eat the food produced in our company) (BOOK YOUR TABLE NOW), there are many jobs waiting for us. Starting from the pastures that in this period begin to cover with aromatic plants that enrich the milk of our animals. It’s time to check them and keep them clean. Births of lambs are ever more numerous. Then there is the vineyard and the vegetable garden. In short, there is so much to do, but it is the dawn of infinite satisfaction.
Pasture
Everyone knows that the best cheese is made with spring milk, but how many know why? Spring is the period of lambs’ births. Naturally they are fed with the milk of their mothers, which in the first three weeks of the lambs’ life is particularly rich. But the thing that makes this milk more tasty, sweet and aromatic is only one, spring. In the fields the first buds begin to sprout, the pastures become richer and the sheep have a diet that changes the quality of their milk for the better. In this period at Podere il Casale, we check and keep our pastures clean so that our animals can only eat the best plants. The secret to getting an excellent cheese lies in the attention to detail, also and especially in this phase.
Work in the vineyard
Work continues in our vineyard! After the dry pruning, care and cleaning work begins to allow our plants to find the best environment to grow, develop and give us the fruits in the right quantity and quantity. This month we also started planting the Sangiovese cuttings. The renewal of the vineyard began last year. About 90% of new vine cuttings we planted last year are born. What have we done with the remaining 10%? In this period we planted again this 10% of Sangiovese cuttings. We are sure that Mother Nature will give us a hand and that great wines will be born from these!
Birth of kids and lambs
As we have already explained to you in the previous FarmLife article from late January to late spring our stables are a place where life is born. Our attention is entirely focused on the little ones, their food and their care. If you want to discover all the activities related to the birth of lambs and kids click here (LINK)
Vegetable garden
After the winter rest, the preparation, maintenance, construction of the greenhouses and the first sowing is the time to reap the benefits of this period. Winter fruits like cabbages of all kinds, beets, turnips and beets are still being born. The first leafy vegetables like spinach and tender salads are also popping up. This period for those who cultivate the garden has not been properly magnanimous. In fact the little rain and the great wind have made the earth drier and therefore the climatic conditions have not helped us to create an ideal environment for the growth of our vegetables. The results, despite the difficulties for the moment, are more than satisfactory. If Mother Nature will give us a hand, we are sure that we will have a rich, green and lush vegetable garden.
