Jesi and its Palio, Last row to hoe is hoed

14 MAGGIO
I took a little jaunt up to the town of Jesi in the more northern Marche on Sunday and watched a bit of their medieval re-enaction similar to the Quintana of Ascoli. Overall, even though this is one of the 2 capitols of verdicchio wine, I am not sure it is worth a visit as there are many towns with more interest here.
The artichokes have reached their peak and we are taking them in batches of 100 to Raffaele's mother to process "sottolio" or in olive oil and then they will last for a year or more.
I just finished the last row of hoeing today, although it would be quite possible to begin again and never stop, but now is the time to pinch away all the branches but 2 on our little grapevines and then in July settle on just 1 as the leader for the future. We will start with the most precocious vines, the petit verdot and pecorino and move on to the syrah and other bordeaux varieties, finishing up with the late bloomer-montepulciano.
The pool is uncovered, but needs topping up before use and the flowers are all putting on their best May show, even if the evil bugs are still chomping up all my rose blossoms.
We made a donation to the Abruzzo relief fund via the italian Red Cross of 10% of our April receipts and this month's special is 15% off all nights after the 1st. That will end on the 24th and for the end of May festival, we are having our 1st concert here with a jazz combo. A new experiment to become more well known.