Chestnut picking

Chestnuts and mushrooms and pomegranates are three good reasons to love fall. Especially chestnuts.

A few weeks ago we decided to set off  for a long weekend to a traditional village 350 kilometers northern of Athens,  a small place of 500 inhabitants, where my husband, let’s call him Mr. BeardMan, used to spend all summer holidays of his life, where his mum was born and where a family house still stands, old (and when I say old, I mean very old, built in 1786, goodness me), beautiful and fully operational- well… if you exclude the lack of central heating, which is a ssslight problem for a house on a mountain village.

But the weather has treated us well and the days were warm and the girls stayed at home no more than a couple of minutes each day; after a quick breakfast, they ran out to meet their friends, kids and teenagers who live in the village. I am so grateful that our kids have the chance to connect in real life with non-city people, kids of agricultural and livestock families, and see firsthand what it means to take care of goats and sheep, what it means to spend sleepless nights in the chestnut fields waiting for the water to reach every single tree, what it means to have a dad who is taking care of the land and the animals and his whole family income depends on the weather…

Some friend of hours invited us to join them during their chestnut picking days and who could resist such an adventure!

The fields were high on the mountain, in the middle of nowhere. The view, the atmosphere, the company, even the work itself was utterly satisfying.

The girls were enthusiastic spending time with friends in the open air

During a break, dads and kids went for a walk. We stayed behind, drinking hot coffee and chatting 🙂

But, as time went by, we joined them as well and had the chance to admire this magnificent view- to the left, behind the clouds, one could see the Northern Aegean Sea, oh what a marvel!

It was right there, in the mountain, that I thought I should reconsider my feelings about autumn. It’s indeed a season with something magical in it.