Primrose
Zafran [wild crocus]
Spring has arrived in Slovenia. In the shade the air hints of a damp cold refrigerator, but the sun is so toasty that we shed layers searching for bare skin to sizzle in the sunrays. Each day more trees are blooming and soon the wild cherry tree out side our balcony will be exploding in white. The magnolia trees are giant pink ruffles next to the florescent feathery mimosa blossoms with crocuses underneath. Pansies and daffodils tilt their faces to the sunshine and shimmer in glowing light in the breeze.
Panovec is a wooded area close to the center of Nova Gorica. It has paths and dirt roads throughout the woods for hiking. In the lowlands wild crocuses speckle the grass between the toes of the trees where the fairies have left pink, purple, and white flowers. The snowdrops nod their bonnets, primroses clutch the earth on the southern slopes and white flowers that look like an anemones peak out of the carpet of leaves. The kos with it’s ink black body and orange beak sings arias from the tops of the trees while the little birds that look like a blend of chickadee and goldfinch add a pop tune closer to the ground.
The farmers have come alive too. The clear plastic protecting the salad crops is coming off, piles of manure delivered from the dairy farms in the high lands mark the ends of the gardens and the tractors are digging deep into the earth trading warm soil for the cool damp dirt. Small old tractors serve as modern horses pulling the hand led plow guided by a person walking behind.
It is also time to trim the vines. All over the steep hillsides people are working on the terraced land cutting the old growth so there will be grapes to harvest this year. The techniques of trimming are different with each grower; one vine from the trunk with 10-12 eyes curled and tied down or 2 vines with 10-12 eyes but not tied down, or the 3-3-3 system we were using in Joško’s vineyard; 3 short vines with only 3 eyes each, plus 3 nubs with only one eye as growth for the next year. Last year I was only willing to serve as the puller of the old vines for fear that I would trim something wrong. This year I boldly learned to see the growth of the vine, discern the old and unhealthy vines to be cut away revealing the strongest and healthiest left to nurture the 2007 grape crop. The hillsides are still with concentration with the occasional sound of a chain saw cutting posts for new plantings, and the slow dripping of the tears from the vines of the new cuttings.
The vineyards twist around the hillsides and everyone knows which section belongs to whom. Some of the current property boundaries were established by Archduchess Maria Theresia [1717-1780] of Austria, Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia in the 1750’s. She brought unity to the Hapsburg monarchy and reform for the serfs living on the land in the empire. The serfs under feudalism leased specific land from a landowner, and the family passed from generation to generation the requirement to work this land in exchange for protection and care in time of famine. The understanding during this time of Enlightened Absolutism was that the strength of the monarchy was no longer determined by the size of the army and the amount of land, but by the health, well-being and productivity of the people. Maria Theresia imposed strict restrictions as to the treatment of the peasants by the landlords, and established that the work dues paid by the serfs become rent to inspire greater efficiency in the workers. The serfs had their own land of open fields for production, wood lots for fuel and building materials, and uplands for grazing the animals. These feudal lands have been inherited for generations and the style of farming small strips of land continues to this day.
