When I went on holiday last year, I took several books with me. I didn’t get to read them all; I started with The Angel Tree, my first ‘gardening travelogue’. I didn’t enjoy it.
What I should have read was the other gardening travelogue in my suitcase – Sacred Sierra by Jason Webster, which is a much better read. Jason is an ex-pat American, who has spent many years living in Europe and has settled in Valencia (Spain), where he has found a home with a Spanish flamenco dancer called Salud.
Sacred Sierra follows them through their first year in a little farm (a ‘mas’ in the local language) they have bought up on the mountain. Life on a mas has always been hard, with harsh weather and wild animals, and most have gradually been abandoned as people left for an easier life in the towns and cities. But Jason and Salud are hoping to live the good life, away from the heat and the bustle of the cities below.
Their mas has neglected olive and almond trees, which a friendly neighbour helps them to bring back into cultivation. Each small harvest is savoured and provides the motivation to carry on with the clearing and weeding, despite the fact that any new plantings are likely to fall prey to the wild boars that roam the area.
During their first year on the mountain they face numerous challenges, including a forest fire and a storm that takes the newly repaired roof off the home they are renovating. But they remain undeterred and really make an effort to meet the local people and immerse themselves in the culture – much of which is unfamiliar even to Salud.
At the end of the book there is a special Coda which is devoted to information about the main trees that Jason mentions throughout the book – the trees that are adapted to the local climate, have been cultivated there for centuries and which are one of the things that give the area it’s sense of place. While I don’t live in a Mediterranean climate and couldn’t hope to grow these trees myself, I find it fascinating to learn about the plants that are grown and relied upon in other parts of the world, and this aspect of the book was one that I found particularly interesting.
I also have a long standing fascination with Spain (I learned Spanish at school and have visited many times, although I have never been to Valencia) and so I particularly enjoyed another addition to the book. In between the chapters of Jason and Salud’s life are translations of Spanish stories – myths and folk lore, many related to the plants that Jason mentions in his text. And that adds another layer of understanding about how these plants are seen and used in Spanish culture.
All-in-all I reckon this is a great book for a gardener who gets the opportunity to put their feet up over the summer. It didn’t make me long to rush out and plant anything (although I would have had that urge if I didn’t already have a rosemary!), but it was a great read, interesting and enthralling and one which I will be happy to read again. If you liked Driving Over Lemons, then you’ll love this – it has more plants ;)