September 2025
September is the month of natural abundance in this mountain area of Lugo. Our growing season begins later, and is a few weeks shorter, than that of the geographical bowl called El Bierzo to the south-east, or the gently undulating Vale of Sarria to the west.
Even so, our seeds and plug-plants have a way of catching up once they're in the ground, so that the size and quantity of what they produce is often comparable to the harvests from places lower down. This always strikes me as miraculous, as does the quality and variety of what experienced growers like my neighbours can raise . One produces glorious globe artichokes in a sheltered corner, another has installed a walk-in tunnel made of heavy plastic on a steel frame (a glass greenhouse would't last long up here) so that her family can have fresh lettuce all year round.
None the less, there are things that simply will not grow at this altitude, though for the past several years, the local shops have begun offering items that were once unknown, such as avocados and aubergines, from El Bierzo and other parts of Spain.
Whether I buy these 'exotica', or whether I pick my own, I'm always entranced by the beauty of their colours and shapes. Arranging them on platters or in bowls, I am moved to look at them with attention. In doing so, I find myself gently taken over by wonder, then by gratitude - two of life's priceless and weightless gifts. Kitchen reveries aside, how astonishing it is that a dish of figs, a tray of tomatoes or an array of grapes can distill our attention into a force that stirs the soul!
