When I cook I like to use fresh herbs. In my frontyard there are several. Often, during cooking classes, I take students and guests out to collect the herbs we need. To tell the truth, I don’t just let them collect what we need; we collect a sprig of different herbs, I let them smell them, guess or, better, “feel” which foods to pair them with.
lemon balm, pippermint, marjoram
I ask: what is this? And this other one? Have you ever seen this grass?
wild fennel
When I set up the tree for Christmas this year, some needles fell. Marta, who immediately took the broom to sweep them away, said: it looks like rosemary.
So the girl who mistook the fir tree for rosemary wasn’t entirely wrong!
It occurred to me that just last summer, while we were gathering herbs, I asked a student: and what is this? Pointing to the fir tree.
The girl replied: rosemary.
“Look better,” I told her. “Look up, look down. What is it?”
“Rosemary!! “ – she reiterated.
the courtyard seems to be a favorable environment for any plant: here is an avocado and oregano in the background
Two years ago we were looking for a small tree to set up in our cooking school. We decided late and the search was not easy: a large part had been sold.
Until, while shopping in a DIY store, I saw an abandoned and sad tree near the exit.
I asked the clerk: – is that tree for sale?
Marta looked at me surprised: – Do you really want to buy that tree?
It sat there, dull, a little bare, with few branches.
-Yes –
As if he had called me. I could see that he was ugly, but I had to have it.
We took it to school and I decorated it with love. Yes, I decorated it with love. I put the memories of my life on it: the first thin glass decoration that I bought by myself, leaving the house alone, in Giglio, when my mother told me: go buy a bauble. I didn’t buy a bauble, but a pine cone, fuchsia and silver and I paid 60 lire for it. I still have it and I attached it to a branch. Nearby there is a little chocolate house – also in thin glass – bought on the last trip to America in 2022, a sign of my recent life. And then the strips of lace, very long, crocheted many years ago, to decorate a very tall tree, full of handmade white decorations, for the restaurant. In short: a tree with memories, hopes and thanks for this life full of gifts.
After the holidays, the tree was still alive, so I didn’t feel like throwing it away. I left it outside, in the small courtyard that really seems to be an ideal environment for any plant to grow. In front of the entrance there is a huge persimmon tree, a large medlar, a mimosa, a palm tree. The fir tree grew next to an avocado: all the seasons in one square meter.
In spring 2023 it was full of shoots and for the first time – and I am certainly not a green thumb – I felt great happiness. The tree was invigorated. The following Christmas, 2023, it was back inside with decorations and lights. In spring 2024 it continued to thicken and grow in height, competing with its friend the avocado. I had to change the pot.
Two days ago, I dragged the “Rosemary Tree” inside and set it up for Christmas.
This is the result.
I have the most beautiful “rosemary” tree in the world! With this image, I wish everyone many gifts and
a Rosemary-Scented Christmas to everyone!