Differing Styles.

Above is my friend José's new-ish Chestnut plantation. He regularly mows, waters, and prunes; in other words he pampers his trees rather like he does his cows. His plantation is always tidy, and is a real pleasure to walk through.

This plantation, however, is left to it's own devices, and, if lucky, it's mowed once a year (this year by José, but I'm not yet sure why). The lower branches almost touch the ground making it very inconvenient to mow with a tractor. Most years the owner doesn't even bother to collect the nuts.

The field in which they grow is directly behind my back in the top photo. The contrast between the two plantations, as you walk between them, is 'in yer face'.

Anyway, it's all about the final harvest, and although José is always justly rewarded for his attention to detail, his neighbour's trees usually do reasonably well too.  But I do like José's attitude towards his work; he always does everything 'correctly'. 

Last year the first Chestnuts began falling on the 6th of September. This year's Equinox is already behind us, and there are still very few on the ground. I predict that tonnages will be down considerably this year, so look out for ready-peeled Chestnuts in vacuum sealed tins; don't buy them tinned in water, they're horrible. 

We ate our first few fresh ones a couple of days ago with a roasted Chicken... as usual they were delicious. (The Chestnuts were first given an X shaped cut on the pointed end, boiled for ten minutes, had their outer skins removed, and were roasted, complete with inner skins, under the Chicken for the last half hour)