Spring is in full force and my favourite moment, when the poppies come out, has arrived. The End of Winter starts with yellow flowers; various types of yellow flowers- this year wild broccoli are in mega bloom just everywhere, but other kinds too with a strong prevalence of yellow for some reason, and some pretty little purple varieties as well. Poppies take their time, arrive after the others have settled in, like the beauty who arrives at the party late and makes the grand entrance. We all wait for the arrival of the poppies, and Spring is not complete until the fields are speckled here and there with that one of a kind red. The red, yellow, purple within fields of bright moist green is breathtaking.
There are fewer now, with the ever heavier handed use of pesticides, wild flowers in general and the sensitive poppy in particular are absent from cultivated fields and where these fields drain. When I first moved here young green wheat everywhere was speckled with poppies and other flowers, but you now see them only on roadsides and fallow fields. Organic farming is rare in Umbria and the farmers that do practice it complain that they get no support from the county and regional government, which is not the case in all italian regions.
The weatherman says that the cold spell is over and that Spring, which has been a tease, is really really here for reals this time. We will see. The rain was much needed.