Anticipation as the figs come into ripeness, the first fruits are always eaten while still a touch hard and green, but each day they become more deliciously ripe. Melpo climbs out over the mountains, harvesting what she can from the trees growing in and around Tak's olive groves. Some years she is fortunate to have a fig bounty, other years there are few. This photograph is from one magnificent fig year, we all ate our fill and there were enough spread out on cots on the roof to last all summer long and well into the winter. Here is how Melpo dries figs:
Melpo's Dried Figs
Lay cardboard on the cots that are in full sunlight on the rooftop.
The figs are arranged stem side up, left to dry in the August sun for 10 days or so.
Once dry, they are boiled with water, basil, oregano and bay until soft once more.
Then the figs are brought up to the roof once again and spread out on the cots. They are left in the sun for another 10 days or so, until very dry.
They are then packed into boxes, liberally sprinkled with bay leaves, with waxed paper between each layer of figs. Yum!
Skopelos and Virgin
-by Skorda
when first you see it
across the water,
rising round and new above the mountain.
Open your mouth and swallow
while youth holds its roundness near,
and you are running fearless in the dark.
Hold it inside, it is still warm
and you will need its light,
there, inside you.
Down the road of time, somewhere
after you’ve aged, traveled,
Explored, discovered.
And the dust around your doorway
has been pounded hard and smooth under your feet.
When you find yourself growing weary and bored,
when your eyes see only ruins,
and your heart is empty.
You may believe, in your exhaustion,
that this is truth, at last.
That the mystery has unraveled,
leaving no wilderness to explore or tame.
All secrets have been shared,
the frontier has dissolved.
Know then, with these thoughts,
you have been swallowed.
The warm belly of the beast
comforts with confining darkness
and lulls with rhythmic sounds
Murmuring to you,
Curl up and sleep,
just go to sleep.
Shake your head,
stretch your legs,
do not sleep now.
Remember what you know.
You swallowed the moon,
you hold it inside you.
Not as a magpie hoarding shiny things,
or wearing the moon for beauty
or bartering the moon for wealth.
You swallowed the moon for this moment.
When you will walk to the water’s edge,
open your mouth, release the moon
and let its light build you a pathway
across the wine dark sea.
©Skorda 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Figs
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ERASE FETISH
You let the jinn out of the bottle.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard work, to write every day.
Many blogs die for the lack of commitement.
Let this one thrive.
Love.