The Treasures of the Land

Look at this little beauty! I am hoping that finally this year nature will give me a watermelon. Last year didn't work out due to the intense dryness of the summer but this year there is a chance. It's hot this year as well but there is rain on a weekly basis at least. Nature can be kind or just as cruel. Today I picked seven tomatoes and was so happy to finally see red tomatoes on our plants but when I looked at the bottom I saw that four of them were diseased and inedible. What causes this, I don't know but it affected some of our harvest last year as well. 

Sometimes this happens. You put a lot of work into growing something and if slugs don't eat them, something else possibly will or else it simply won't pollinate like one of our pumpkins last year. It produced many flowers, crawled about five metres, looked nice but ultimately produced nothing to eat. 

There's still a long way to go for this little one but it looks promising and it's not the only watermelon we have ...

When In Slovakia

It's been a while since I've posted anything here about anything at all but today feels like the right time to do it.

So, when it comes to the production of wine, the outcome has been pretty decent. I'm not suggesting for one second that this wine is pure or would be considered by wine connoisseurs to be anything worthy or fame or recognition, but for us it's a really pleasing result to what was a hell of a lot of hard work.

The white wine is generally not transparent. Only one demijohn contains clear liquid and the other two are cloudy for some reason. Perhaps it's because we didn't 'rack' them. This was a new word for me but basically it means siphoning from one container to another while trying to avoid getting tipsy in the process. Sucking from the pipe is necessary to get the liquid moving and sometimes it takes a few attempts and a few mouthfuls of wine as well.

One of the wines that we took was a bit smelly. It had a smelly egg smell but tasted fine. Supposedly it happens when there isn't enough aeration or it can be from having too much sulphur in the wine.

The red came out pretty well and is the most satisfactory one as it involved more work and there's something very majestic about seeing this juice of the gods flowing from bottle to glass.

The general feedback we've had has been pretty good which has also been very pleasing as we are certainly not objective at all.

The experience has been a very good one and while the grape vines are still asleep, I'm looking forward to the time when they burst into life and so will begin
another season of battling with the natural elements in order to give them the chance to produce this special fruit.

The Good and the Bad

The Bad

Slugs are eating their way through lots of the things we have planted. They have eaten our pumpkins, courgettes and nearly all of our cucumbers. Desperate attempts to save one last pumpkin sadly failed despite going round at night and rounding up as many slugs as we could. Below is just one portion of snails just before they got boiled.

The Good

Flowers are blooming and it's strawberry season. I don't have a picture yet but there are so many strawberries that we are finding it hard to think of ways to eat them and preserve the ones we can't possibly eat. We are in the process of making jam and have been enjoying smoothies the last few days but there are so many there that we may have to just restrict our diet to strawberries for the next while. Radish has been picked, the salads are growing well and we have finally planted the tomatoes that we had been growing at home. The vineyard is proving to be a challenge. We have pruned the shoots and branches without grapes and are carefully monitoring them for diseases as this seems to be a big problem here. Fingers crossed.

Satisfying

The next update of life on the land, where life is never boring.

It's so satisfying to see some green coming up from the depths of the ground. All they needed was a little water and they have responded in turn.

The problem is with some areas of the land where the grass is too high. As I love old-school things, I decided to buy a scythe to cut the grass around the vines. After cycling all around the nearest town of Pezinok during which time I got a puncture, I was unsuccessful.
The next day, Saturday, I found one but the hardest part was mounting the scythe, at least I thought so anyway. After a lot of head scratching and some pointless hammering, we succeeded in fitting the blade onto the rest of the body.

The problem then became how to sharpen the blade. With a stone I spent ages going back and forth but it didn't seem to make a difference. A neighbour suggested hammering the blade to thin it out. we tried this but no joy. Now it seems that we will have to forget about being old-school and just buy a petrol garden trimmer. It's a shame but a lot of effort has yielded very little result and the grass is still high and growing. Next mission, find a garden trimmer.

Farm Update - Dealing With Pests

Digging in the soil can reveal some strange beings that you can't imagine living there. One such thing is a beetle grub. Not only does this pest eat at the roots of vegetables but it is also a pretty rancid looking thing in its larvae stage and not something I would like to see a lot of. It is known as the Cockchafer or May Bug (Melolontha melolontha) and has a four-year life cycle. It has only one month as an adult beetle. 

At the weekend, we found two of them, a couple apparently, one which was in the process of egesting whatever it had eaten. As you can see they are quite big and fat, juicy targets for birds and they explode when pressure is put on them by the sole of someone's shoe. This is exactly what happened to one of the ones we found but the other one got away. 

This was just part of the fun I had this weekend, the other involved weeding large areas of land to save the poor strawberries that were being strangled by these unwelcome invaders. If all goes well, our efforts will be rewarded soon and we can enjoy the tastier fruits of nature.

From Gardening to Farming

As a certified horticulturist I thought I knew something about how to make things grow but it turns out that beyond the basic requirements of watering, providing sun and keeping plants in reasonable conditions, I don't know so much.

It's been a long time since I studied Horticulture and there is very little I remember, however I didn't think that my skills were so lacking.

I have gathered some knowledge in recent times from helping out at a my friends' land and have learned to distinguish weeds from strawberries for one thing. Working on my girlfriend's grandparents' land has also helped but when you don't have the help of experienced people it's not so easy. My girlfriend, Yulia, has a lot of experience but there are questions that need answering when it comes to planning and preparation of certain crops.

Before all of that, we had to figure out how to obtain a piece of land to grow things on. With our limited funds we thought we would just ask as many people as we could and also search online with the unrealistic hope that someone had a piece of land that they would be willing to let us use for free or at least for a very low price. This was a very idealistic plan but it actually worked.



About 25 km from Bratislava we now have the place we envisaged for some time but never really thought was possible. It is a proper farm with a neighbour with hens. There is even a vineyard on it and we've been told that on a good year, the owner produced as much as 300 litres of wine.

There is a big patch of land and also a little cottage and basement. Absolutely perfect.


It does need some work and we've just started to realise how much of a commitment it is to plant and maintain such a large area. We've also had rat problems in the basement. These horrible creatures have made a mess of potatoes that were stored there and it seems that there are quite a few of them lurking in the depths of our cellar. Poison has been put there and we've found two dead bodies to date but suspect there will be more. The soil is also a bit stony in parts. We've been given lots of advice on how to take care of the grapes but most of them involve spraying them with chemicals which we are reluctant to use.

So far we've planted carrots, beans, onions, potatoes, radish and weeded a large area of strawberries. We've also lit a huge fire of old vine branches which probably put us first on our neighbours' hit lit with all the smoke that blew in their direction.

There's a lot to do but it's been enjoyable so far despite the aches I'm feeling in my back right now.

This Time Of The Year

I'm a big fan of spring and what has amazed me this year (I hope I don't jinx this) is how quickly temperatures have risen and how rapidly the days have become longer. By longer I mean brighter. It's a really quick change and daylight savings hasn't even kicked in yet.

What do I love about this time of the year? For me there is a sense of renewed optimism, and yes I am very influenced by the weather and by the light. The evenings have possibilities which winter hides away. There is the chance to bike after work, go for a walk and see what's around - basically the evenings have more life in them. I don't feel like I have to get home as quickly as possible and wrap myself up in blankets, secure in the knowledge that I'm protected from the harsh winter.

Life begins again, buds appear on trees and everything doesn't seem quite so grey anymore. The trees may have always been there but without leaves, they have been camouflaged, matching the grey buildings around.

Festivals begin. People want to be outdoors more often in the city instead of escaping to the mountains to ski or remaining indoors at every opportunity.

I can wear less clothing and feel more freedom. I can stretch my arms and not be bound my all the layers of items I am wearing to trap out the cold. My skin can breathe at last.

The biggest thing is the way the whole atmosphere in a city changes. People more visibly smile and seem to have more time for each other. We can see them drinking coffee, beer or whatever on the streets. We can join them or simple sit alone, read a book or people watch.

So this time of the year is a good one for me. I only hope I'm not writing this too soon.

Some Sunday Musings

The Pages

The pages are blank waiting to be destroyed, their innocence taken away. Right now, that’s only a thought, a distant idea that might or might not happen. It doesn’t really matter if it does or not. There’s no shame either way.

         This morning I woke up and had a number of powerful images in my mind from strange dreams during the night. I was living in an enormous house except that it was too big. The dimensions were so unrealistic that attempting to put it into words is a waste of time. That’s why I won’t write about it here. It will remain in my mind until it’s lost like all those other fleeting thoughts that get pushed out and replaced by the most current and engaging ideas.

         So why am I sitting in front of these blank pages? The answer to that is a mystery to me and I’d be grateful if you could enlighten me. Do I think I can produce something extraordinary which is better than anything ever written before? Do I? Of course I do but it’s not happening today and this is why I’ve chosen to write in this way than in that way.

         When I was a child I had a typewriter. Remember them? An error could not be corrected as easy as nowadays. It scarred the page. Typing was not as smooth as it is on this keyboard. Each letter punched the page and left a bruise on its white skin. It was very satisfying to see my work on a page rather than on a screen. It was something I could touch and smell. I didn’t like typing too much. It took a lot of energy to punch in these letters on the white page. Ink was more precious than it is now and the ribbon had a horrible tendency to become knotted in itself. There were some days when I spent more time trying to regulate this machine than actually getting it to perform my will.

         There is also handwriting of course. I keep my black journal at home. It’s not a moleskine unfortunately but a cheap imitation. Sometimes I think if I had a moleskine I’d write a lot more. Wishful thinking? Perhaps but it’s easier to make excuses than to take responsibility for the lack of output I produce on the lined pages in my notebook which is not a moleskine.

         Keeping a diary was always a good habit but reading back what I’d written was not an enjoyable experience. It was better to simply write what was on my mind and forget about it. It felt good to release these words onto the page and never look at them again. Occasionally I tore up the pages and threw them out into the bin. These were not words I wanted to share and besides who would even want to read them? They were confessions, outbursts of anger or frustration, records of the day and musings. They were not interesting. It was a form of therapy with a psychiatrist who was very good at listening but not so effective at giving advice. That didn’t matter though. What was important was that the words got out and didn’t remain inside where they did no good at all.

         Now where was I? Oh yes, the pages are in front of me again. I have thought about a whole range of prompts such as taking an object in the room and writing about it but I’ve done that too many times. Have you tried the one where you close your eyes, open a book on a random page, point at a word on the page and use that as your inspiration? It’s not bad but I’m not in the mood for that. There’s also the one where you think of a memory and recall it in your own words. Not a bad one that. It’s usually easier to write about what you know than you don’t. Another one I like is the one where you take a picture and use that as a prompt. It is a good one if you have a good imagination but today there’s not much going on in my mind. It’s having an off day and there’s not much I can do about that except stare at the page or just continue what I’m doing now. At least I’m writing something. I don’t have to share it or even save it. I can do what I want with it and no one need know about it. Now, that’s a very liberating thought, isn’t it?

The Language of Music

In Poland, it seems that the majority of songs played on the radio are in the English language, but by law radio stations have to broadcast at least thirty-three per cent of songs in the Polish language. What I often find strange is the high number of Poles who choose to sing in English rather than in their mother tongue. Does the amount of airtime given to English-based music cause this? Does it really matter what language the songs are sung in? Is music universal and can linguistic barriers be crossed because of the catchiness of the melody? Do the majority of people even focus on the lyrics? A lot of different questions regularly come to mind when thinking about the debate between language and music and to get some other perspectives on this, I have asked the opinions of musicians, Jan Řepka (the Czech Republic), Peter 'Petiar' Lachký (Slovakia) and Jakub Bugała (Poland).

            
What struck me is that, unlike in Poland where Jakub estimates only about ‘ten per cent or less use only Polish’, both Jan and Peter claim, that in their opinions, a very small percentage of people sing in the English language in their respective countries. Jan claims that only about one-fifth of Czech musicians do so while Peter says that only about five per cent of his musician friends perform in the English language. Obviously the Czech, Slovak and Polish languages have their differences despite being part of the same language group. Rhyming seems to be more of a challenge in Polish and perhaps the Czech and Slovakian languages are easier to manipulate and mould to the songwriter’s needs.

            
How important is it to perform in your own native language and what type of audience do musicians aim for? Jan says ‘Primarily, I think it is important to master the language you want to use, especially when it is supposed to be used in an artistic way.‘ Perhaps being judged by people in your own language makes some musicians shy away from singing in their first language. Jan suggests that the songwriter may try to ‘mask the weaknesses of the lyrics by using another (usually) English.’ Peter, on the other hand, likes to play with words which obviously requires a great understanding of the ‘hidden nooks of the language.’ To do so requires skill in any language and especially in one that is not your native one. For Jakub using a ‘non-native language creates a mask that makes you somehow less vulnerable’, which echoes Jan’s thoughts.

            
When choosing to write and perform in another language, there is the opportunity of having a wider audience to reach out to. Jakub chooses to write in English as ‘English is a language of international communication.’ He makes the point that a lot of artists use the Internet as a means of sharing their music and thinks that the majority of Internet users are ‘English native speakers or people who commonly use English as their second language.’ ‘I’m more into translating my songs into Polish or maybe German as I’m more likely to play in those countries than English-Speaking ones,’ says Jan. In Peter’s case the difficulty of translating into English proved to be the stumbling point and has led to him continuing to sing in the Slovakian language. He describes a time when he did try to translate his lyrics into English but states that while doing so, he ‘couldn’t find a proper word, expression or we couldn’t fit it into the rhythm of the song.’ Of course, it’s not always so easy to transfer ideas from one language to another and there is frequently the fear of what is lost in the process.

           
Rather unsurprisingly, all agree that the lyrics of the songs are key to the integrity of their work, although Jakub believes that lyrics and music can be separated ‘by treating lyrics as a pure rhythmical and sonic form.’ Out of the three, only Jakub writes most of his songs in the English language, however, Peter says that when comparing the English language to Slovakian, the former ‘has much shorter words than in Slovakian and is easier to rhyme.’ Finding more ways of expressing yourself is certainly a valid reason for using another language other than your own and it can be another argument on the board for those who do so.

            
Do people pay attention to lyrics? Peter believes that they do and says that the type of people he performs to, ‘know that the music is based on lyrics.’ Jan says, ‘Of course you pay more attention when someone sings in your native language.’ This suggests that singing in a foreign language in front of people from your own country can potentially alienate them. Jakub plays predominantly in front of Polish audiences and he is not so sure if people listen carefully to his lyrics. He says, ‘I have received only a few comments about my lyrics.’ He has only recently released his first album (The Spin, November 2013), so perhaps this will generate feedback on the lyrical side of his songs.

            
Summing up, it seems that the musical genre, the audience the musician is aiming his/her music at and the ability of the artist to use language are the key points here and these will ultimately determine the language used and probably the quality of it. Perhaps using your native language makes you more exposed in front of your home audience but the possibility of making a connection with them is arguably easier. The choice of language is a subjective one based on the individual’s language abilities but it is obvious that all three musicians and musicians in general would like to be understood and appreciated by their audiences whatever language they perform in.

Jakub Bugała - http://inqbator.bandcamp.com/

Peter ‘Petiar’ Lachký - http://petiar.sk/v-krajine

Jan Řepka - http://www.janrepka.cz/