Introduction
| As you see on both sides of the road and in all this part of the Puig de Sant Joan, the drought meadows are the main crop. The forest we see before Alta Garrotxa here has disappeared to leave the meadows, which is logical when cattle farming has been such an important economic resource. There are still splashes of the old forest with ash trees and wild cherry trees (a few meters in front of us). |
| These meadows (of grasses and / or legumes) are cut to collect the grass that becomes, after drying and fermenting in the plastic wrap (forming balls), hay: the food that will be given to cattle when winter arrives and have to get off the snowy mountains. |
| Going down from the natural mountain pastures, before setting them up, they will spend a few weeks in these meadows you see, making a last review of the shoots of grass that are still green. |
| An important and recognized crop in the area are the "trumfes" (potato plants). |
| All of this grassy environment, meadows and sandy areas, is ideal for a mountain hen: the grey partridge (foto). She is a "cousin" to the red partridge living in the low mountain. This one lives above 1000 meters in the mountains of the north of the country. A little smaller and more discreet than the red partridge whose diet is similar: grain, flowers, seeds, insects ... |
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