𝐀𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐢 𝐀𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐬

Akhateli Acres: an experimental farm preserving endemic grapevines & fruits of the South Caucasus. We’ve been building a demonstration orchard/vineyard from scratch, and plan to educate on local farming traditions/foodways. We accept donations; now offering exciting agricultural tours! Link below:

“Export revenue is what pays for fuel, seed and fertiliser. If port outlets are choked and freight costs wipe out operating margins, small and midsized Ukrainian farmers simply will not have the cash to plant.”

Rainflower. 🌱

Unexpected late October peppers. Seeds were a gift from some kind folks in Lehvaz, Armenia - a village which suffers neither hailstorms, nor slugs. 🌱

🌱 And this completes the 2026 cotton harvest:

Harvest time picture show. 🌱🍁🍇

🌱 Pampered potted specimens en route to their winter positions. You can see why people keep Poncirus trifoliata as a pet - not only as a menacing hedge or excellent rootstock. [see attached thread for pedigree]

I just never trusted this hammer for serious jobs. Not sure why.

First year bearing. We were sold these two pomegranate trees as the same varietal. Compare pics 1/2 vs 3/4. 🙃🌱

🌱 Now a peculiar sight ::: autumn sunlight.

I feel like it’s been 1995 for over 30 years.

Some languages conflate these two, but unlike Paliurus, this showy roadside honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos, ხეეკალა) is defying its reputation as a ruderal menace by standing alone. 🌱

Catch of the day: the first-ever ✨homegrown passionfruit✨ + a striated chilli pepper, some wooly blue/yellow tomatoes, a huge Aswad eggplant, and a Cucurbita that was SUPPOSED to be spaghetti squash. 🌱 All frivolous experiments come to fruition.

Opposite end of the spectrum, micromini tomato plants are impossible to fully harvest - thus, self-seed everywhere. Which might be fine, except they’re always the first victim of blight - magnetizing fungi to innocent nearby tomatoes. A fun novelty in a pot maybe, but never again in the field. 🌱

🌱 Small harvest of yellow, distorted «reisetomaten», an oversized heirloom Carbon tomato, and friends to compare them to.

Water stewardship is so wanting - even amidst summer drought, these charming wetland specimens thrive near village pipe leaks. Surrounded by desiccated farmland. 🌱

Ah, I tried to warn you. 🌱🕸️🐝

The Cornus mas ("cornelian cherry") fruits on our back garden tree are definitely ready for picking. Questions: can I be bothered, and what would I do with them if so? 🤔 Any thoughts or suggestions..?

Probably a good time to note that supporting local growers is only going to become more important as we go forward into...whatever the fuck is going to happen now.

Have a happy weekend! 🌱 🍇 #viticulture

In the dirt floor of an unfinished basement, inspired by some grasses growing in this near-dark, I thought I’d try garlic, onions, potatoes. 🌱 Many seemed to survive through the season, but after a sudden collapse last week the total harvest is pictured here.

🌱🕸️🌻 It's a trap.