I am sitting in the courtyard and two turtle doves are–well–courting–in morse code.
It is perfectly still with a suggestion of a spring breeze–quite sharp.
Ne’er cast a clout ’til May be out…
DOT DOT DOT (OVERHEAD)––Dot dot dot (is the answer a little futher off).
Now the dots are fading–a meeting perhaps, behind the church!
I’ve been waiting for the “cuckoo morse”–longer and softer as a call.
At last–yesterday afternoon–there it was–a brief, but unmistakeable COO-coooo.
A sign that things are moving on.
There are others.
Our neighbor–farmer Pierre, passed earlier on his tractor.
He’s been busy.
Some of his fields are showing garlic, looking proud–about six weeks to harvest.
Others are pale green with wheat and barley–shifting in the breeze.
Into this patchwork of greens and looking out of place are empty fields of brown–finely tilled–waiting to show….
My guess is sunflowers.
Last week the markets were struggling to offer anything new–but today, it changed.
Small artichokes tightly packed and bunched in fours, peas and broad beans have joined the upstanding green and white asparagus.
It is a relief to see some action.
Dill, tarragon and chives joining the parsley this week and large spring onions.
I have been busy too; making Vignarole–a vegetarian spring speciality in Roman trattorias.
The same artichokes, peas, broad beans and spring onions with a shredded lettuce.
The preparation is labour intensive–but the cooking is the simplest imaginable.
The eating as I remember is sublime.
We’ll see if it gets the DING from Meredith ce soir.
Robin Ellis 
We are looking forward to cookbook #4! Vegetarian, which will be ideal!
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I can hear them cooing from here……..
Oh such an beautiful picture. Just come back from Bruges via the prosperous fields on the train and I am so envious of your lifestyle. Wonderful. Edinburgh is a fine city where I live but I cannot wait to visit the continent again. Very smart move sir. Love your writings, recipes and photos. Thank you.
Thank you, Joanne.
I really love your courtyard
What heaven there! Are you sure you don’t want me to come and be your “au pair du chats”??? Best wishes. Spring is gorgeous here too…my garden is bursting with greens, cat mint in full flower, bees…
Stevie de Longmont
How I long for a courtyard with a gate, but the May is in bud in our lane in Durham
***DING***
Phew!
From field to table, such glorious green. And turtle doves! I feel enriched.
Beautiful post as usual Robin. Thank you. Glad to see that it is warming up in your part of the world. Here, in Sth Queensland , Australia , we are enjoying it cooling down after a long summer ! What a beautiful world we share.
We have mourning doves here, and I saw a bit of a fight yesterday. Two males were warning each other off, as the female looked on. ( I always wonder why they just don’t ask her who she prefers….) Normally, doves have the mildest of personalities. Happy spring to you and Meredith!
Beautiful stuff.
Here in Santa Fe, NM, we call them mourning doves. Love their coo-ing. A pair built a nest in a nice protected place on the west porch, cared for their young until they took off, then started a new family in the same nest . . . UNTIL a snake came a-crawling last week and raided that home. Hope there were no eggs in it. I had the nest removed so that couple or another wouldn’t try to start a family there.
Nancy
Hope you are right about the empty nest.
Robin, thank you for such a lovely, uplifting post. Spring is coming but it can’t come soon enough for me here in Vermont, USA. We had a wicked hard and long winter. Thanks again. I love seeing the changes in your surroundings.
Looking forward to the Vignarole recipe. Artichokes are an alien vegetable to me. I have no idea what to do with them or how to prepare them. Your Vignarole recipe will be an incentive to tackle my fear of artichokes. Perhaps I will assign the artichoke prep to sou chef Neil.
You have prompted me, Mary.
I’ll get round to it soon.
Still learning from you Robin! As a half-Roman I had never heard about “Vignarola”. I might say you are more Roman than me!!! 😉
I would never say that, Paola!!
I am new to your blog and love the shot of your courtyard but, being from Western Oregon, don’t recognize the plants in m the largest beds. Anyone out b there know?