September-october Vitex agnus castus part 1

Well, these days were Vitex days and here come some pictures, taken by Ina Hviding.. First, a single splendid Vitex flower.. even though flowering time is long gone, there are single plants which celebrate a new spring, a new beginning with new flowers alongside the mature seeds.... even though the seeds of these will not mature.. Here we can see both ripe seeds and the new
flowers as well, this is a rare sight..

We are cutting the racemes with the ripe seeds, and collect them into cotton bags.. you can see a bag here. Each person can collect about 2 bags full a day. At the end of the day we will bring them to their drying place and spread them.. Over the weeks, we just add the racemes and by the time, collection is finished, we will thresh the seeds of the stalks, fill them in bags and carry them to the distillery..

But first, some more pictures of collection.. you can click on any picture to enlarge it...

So here we are, always near the sea, going from plant to plant and collecting their fruits.. day after day..having a swim inbetween to cool off...

Some pictures of the habitats of this plant...magical beaches

The evenings, not less spectacular... a fire on the beach, the view of the magnificent sunsets...

Thus is our life in September and October...for the most part.. However, we also spend a few days in between for the day-collections of Myrtus communis, of Salvia pomifera, and for distillations of Laurus..

More about that in the next posts...