At this time of year in this part of Italy, there’s a tradition of making tagliatelle with the fresh nettles which have just started growing.

This is a great time of year for brassica buds. I’m not sure if buds is the correct term. Sprouts maybe? Shoots? For most people this means broccoli, but you can eat the buds from all brassicas. At least, I do.

I’ve been finding the coming of spring very slow. Winter was so long, and a few weeks ago it seemed that spring had arrived at last. The fields in the valley were all suddenly green, and quite a few trees in the woods, but then the weather turned cold again (as it usually does..).

I thought it would be nice to use this blog to track the coming of spring, my favourite time of year. So here are the first daffodils. They look a bit odd. Perhaps they are a wild variety.