4 October: sunflowers and weeds

True to prediction the weather breaks. At breakfast the mountains are flat grey and the clouds low. But rain doesn’t arrive until just before lunch. By then we have cleaned and stored the sunflower heads cut by Anja yesterday; and are mid-way in our weeding project. Each bucket of weeds is greeted with hysterical joy by the pigs – before they realise that it is the same fayre.

Dorm sharing is not exactly plain sailing and I am very short to sleep, as Maria’s photo shows!

Elevenses is its usual lavish self:

After lunch we chew the cud with Polona. Opinions are aired regarding animal rearing and veganism; the decline of the dairy industry in Slovenia; the protection of predators such as wolf and bear (on our doorstep, apparently); immigration (of Albanians); the result of the government’s land grab after the Second World War: families splitting up and individuals moving to the cities; families moving away from the area; hence difficulty in maintaining community management and involvement, and also difficulty in allocating land to the original owners when Slovenia became independent (fragmented parcels of land when individuals select the means to buy their siblings out).

My half-hearted resolution to drink less coffee goes by the wayside when a delicious plum crumble-cum-cake appears with an espresso. We are inducted in the ways of the industrial dishwasher – a step towards being more helpful in kitchen clear-ups.

I have another quiet afternoon.