One of our earliest decisions was to plant a fruit orchard. Not just for fresh fruit to eat, but also to lay down and store for the winter as jams and chutneys. 
So one day in January 2009 we drove to Rafael’s nursery and threw ourselves at the mercy of his local knowledge. He walked up and down the rows of his young trees, pulling out one at a time and either adding it to our pile of dismissing it as not yet ready to plant out. We trusted Rafael to choose the right trees for our valley. He sells only varieties which grow at our altitude. We drove home with 30 young fruit trees in the back of the 4×4, a combination of:-
Apple [below] 
Pear
Cherry
Persimmon [below] 
Apricot
Quince [below] 
Peach
Nectarine
Plum [below] 
Like all fruit trees, it will be many years yet before they produce their best crop. But already we can harvest apricots, pears [tiny, a variety much smaller than we are used to in the UK] and apples. The peaches and nectarines are coming along too. Our one disappointment is the cherries, but maybe 2014 will be their year.
5 to remember
la decisión – the decision
la clemncia – mercy
cuatro por cuatro – 4×4 wheel drive vehicle
una nectarina – a nectarine
ya – already
Notes on a Spanish Valley 
Good idea! Most of us enjoy fresh harvest but in winter jams and chutneys are also well appreciated!
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We kid ourselves they count as one of our ‘5 a day’. SD
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🙂
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lovely! 🙂
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Thx, hoping for more fruit this year. SD
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Beautiful pictures, Thanks for shares these blends.
Cheers, Aquileana 😉
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Thx. 🙂 SD
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Being the granddaughter of New Zealand orchardist’s I am mightily impressed by your plantings. I hope that this year does turn out to be ‘fruitful’ for you.
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I love that word ‘orchardist’, have you come across the American novel called ‘The Orchardist’ by Amanda Coplin? SD
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Quince tree! Sounds like you have a beautiful orchard.
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It will be beautiful one day, still quite young now. But planting trees is really for the next generation, isn’t it? We are only custodians for the next people to live in the valley. SD
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