Winter into spring

After a wet weekend indoors it was good to see the sun trying to get through the clouds this morning and to have a chance to do some gardening. It was still very cold, but in all the vineyards around the village there were people pruning their vines ready for the spring growth. Each vine has to be pruned by hand, with the viticulteur/euse carefully selecting which shoots will be best to bear this year's crop. That means that anyone with a reasonable number of vines spends most dry days from November to March on this vital work.

The vines in this photo are quite old, probably about fifty years old, and they have not yet been pruned, but they will be soon. In the background there's an olive grove and a mimosa tree in flower - one of the first signs of spring here.