Oh, what a lovely green day...

Recently I was lucky enough to have, what turned out to be, a green day.

Green number 1:

I was messing about in the garden and decided to trim the pepper plants,of which I have several.  Well, what a first crop.  None of your Tesco, Sainsbury, or any other Supermarket chain in England who insist on ALL fruit and vegetables being the same size, shape, and wrapped in plastic and very often on a plastic type base.

When we first moved to Cyprus we were intrigued with the fruit and veg departments, whether they were in the supermarket or smaller kiosks.

I got the impression some of the Cypriots we spoke to found our attitude amusing.

Since moving here in 2012 we have become more and more aware of the question of plastic waste and Cyprus is at the forefront of use of bags in the supermarkets.  They did at one time introduce the  ‘bags for life’, but that didn’t last very long.  But all was not lost, the shops. Then got hessian bags, which was a big improvement together with the introduction of charging for carrier bags.

I used to take my hessian bags which came form England, and stopping the lovely cashier from still using the plastic bags was, at times, quite hard work.

But things are now one step further, I am in the process of buying some bags from Lakeland which are Carrinet Veggio Reusable fruit and veg bags. Should be fun using those.

Green number 2:

We used to have an amazing lemon grove at the back of our house separating the garden by a wall.  Apart from being really pretty it was also jolly handy just to go and grab some lemons.  (We had permission from the land owner.). It’s a bit like a near by avocado field.  We have known the owner since we moved here and he is happy for us not only to walk out dog on his land by also to help ourselves to and avocados.  So generous.

But,  the lemon trees have nearly all been cut down now.  This is a bad, sad thing on two counts.  One is we are no longer shaded from nearest neighbours, which we have always enjoyed as it has given us a sense of isolation.  The second is we can no longer just pick one or two fresh, fresh lemons.

Someone told me it is because the government made a new law that all windfall fruit now has to be picked up, and the land owners can not afford to pay pickers to pickup the fruit.

Mmmmm, not sure I was being told the truth on that one.

Any way, bought some lemons which are still green at the moment, but looking good in the fruit bowl.

Green number 3:

The watermelons are ready.  This is part of the farming cycle I enjoy the most, because they grow to such an obscene size that you have to laugh.  When I first saw them growing in the fields around us I was curious, to say the least.  But I didn’t to wait long to see what they were.  It was like someone had gone into the field overnight and pumped them up with a bicycle pump!

Well, with all this green thing going on I though I ought to take a photograph, all set off by the blue coasters which we bought at Latsi Sunday Market.

We had never been to the  market before and was surprised on how pleasant the afternoon was.  Looking forward to the next one.