Winter, Schwinter

Like most people, I have always found January a rather depressing month. The days are short, the skies are dark, it's cold, it's wet, it's miserable, and spring seems a million miles away. To add into all of this misery, we're all supposed to be doing Dry January, Veganuary, joining gyms, giving up caffeine,and generally Changing Our Lives For The Better.This time last year was a little different, in that I was deeply immersed in a quagmire of Italian bureaucracy (you can read about that here). Having recently (finally) obtained residency, I was doing the weekly three hour round trip to Rieti, in my attempt to become a registered farmer, and to then buy the farm.We made several visits to the farm during January 2018, and each time we felt calm and relaxed, knowing that all our future plants were fast asleep, dormant for the winter months. Of course, winters are short here, and this January I am a real farmer, not a future farmer.So, this January, we are farming. The vineyard needs its "leaf fall" clear out and prune to be completed by the end of the month. And we're nearly there! Every sunny day (which is practically every day), we put on layers and layers of clothes, and yomp down the hill to the vineyard, armed with machetes, pruning shears and (in Scott's case) a drone. Yup. A drone. Moving on ... We should also take our strimmer, but it's broken, hence the machetes.Because the vineyard has been abandoned for a couple of years, it was a bit of a jungle until we managed to mow between the vines.Now that we can see our way, we begin by "strimming", ie getting on our hands and knees and cutting down the weeds (above) that the mower couldn't reach:It feels how it looks: hard, rewarding graft under the gentle January sun. We entertain ourselves by listening to the birds, and just this last week, the lambs in our neighbour's fields. Bliss.Then we prune. This is my favourite bit, partly because I am no longer on my hands and knees, but also because I am no longer risking accidental amputation of a much loved limb with a rather sharp machete:At the end of a morning, we yomp back up the hill for lunch, and this Wednesday, after lunch I hopped on the little train to Rome. Within two hours of finishing in the vineyard, I was in the centre of Rome teaching. Amazing.So this January, we are not doing any of the "Change Your Life For The Better" things that January is usually all about, because this January we really have Changed Our Lives For The Better. And we still have all our limbs. Result.