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European surprises (#6 in single-image teaser series: coffee as insect repellant…in a Sicilian goat dairy)

 

 

This post’s subtitle reads like it had been written by Spike Milligan for The Goon Show.

Its every word, however, is literally true.

Most humans – even those who do not like to drink coffee – enjoy coffee aromas.

Most insects detest them.

As an insect repellent, coffee is most effectively deployed, as illustrated – as an “incense”, most especially when the igniting flame is applied to unused coffee grounds.

The featured image is copyright Doug Spencer; it was taken at 12.13 pm on 21 September 2023, in an almost unbelievably “rustic” goat dairy, atop a sparsely vegetated hilltop in northern Sicily.

All entirely absent from this dairy: any whiff of “tourist attraction”, anything electrical, solid walls, glass, stainless steel, refrigeration, toilet facilities, running water, and any factory-produced chemicals/solvents/disinfectants/cleaning products.

I can almost guarantee that you will scarcely believe your eyes when you see the photos in future, multi-image posts which will show you a dairy of a kind that very few 21st century “Western” humans have experienced…and that an even smaller number ever will experience.

“Blessed are the cheesemakers”, saith Monty Python.

The relevant, coffee-burning cheesemaker/goat-herder does exist; his real self and real “operation” are as “unlikely” as anything the Pythons ever imagined.

I am very sure his dairy would not be permitted to exist in Australia, and that its “ramshackle” appearance would horrify many Australians.

I am equally sure that nobody who eats his cheeses is remotely likely to suffer any harm.

His are some of the finest of many goat cheeses I have ever eaten, over more than half a century.

You will never find them on a supermarket shelf, even in Sicily.

I can also assure you that the relevant goats are uncommonly healthy-looking, very confident individuals…as will be evident in future posts’ photos.

 

Published in Americas and Eurasia and Africa nature and travel photographs

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  1. Joe Petralia Joe Petralia

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