Terraced vines, low walls

"We start with the asparagus in April with six men, and then six women arrive for the strawberries in May and the apricots in June. We are fifteen for the pears in August, then twenty-five for the apples and grapes until the end of October. We keep the six men on until Christmas to prune the trees, then in winter they all go to Portugal, which is why there are only three of us � myself, my father and my brother � to prune these few vines."

Pascal Gilloz, farmer, Riddes, Valais canton, Switzerland

in " Planting patterns ", p. 95