The yellow ribbon

The town where I live is made of old farms and rural houses that slowly give way to modern concrete cubes, with large windows.

While the color of the stone architraves gets progressively lost and the roofs yield slopes and dormers in favor of more modern solutions, the agricultural vocation remains very evident in the space between the houses, in public gardens and green areas around the main roads.

With great tenacity, the plants of the vegetable gardens and ancient orchards still remain clearly visible, a corner stone here, a group of trees there.

For some time, the municipality has launched an awareness campaign, which focuses attention on the history of the country and on food waste. For this reason, when you meet a tree with a yellow ribbon, you are free to collect its fruit.

Walnuts, quinces, cherries one step away from the bus stop, next to the elementary school or on the path leading to the countryside. Ancient varieties can be recognized in spaces that still retain traces of the original plant. Neat rows, open spaces and fruit that ripens according to a now almost lost criterion of seasonality.

This is apple season.