Agritourism and a Starling

After the farm outside Rome, I headed up to Orvieto for the day and then on to an agritourism run by a german-italian family. Orvieto is a very beautiful medieval fortress town, that of course, as many towns here, started as an etruscan town. The duomo is beautifully detailed and i also went up to an old bell tower for a great view.
The Agritourism was near Torre Alfina, an old medieval castle, and stiuated on a hill next to a forest preserve. The weather here was much cooler and windier because of the higher elevation. I also got to take trips to Lago di Bolsena (great for swimming) and the city of Bolsena and other towns nearby. We went to Bolsena for the Festa di corpus dominus where they had a religious procession and designs made with flowers all along the streets.
The family (Fabrizio and Monika) had two younger kids Leon and Flavia. Flavia who was nine was very eager for a playmate and toured me around picking cherries biking to the village to get gelato and picking flowers in the neighboring fields. The family also had a pet starling, piruleto, who we would let out after dinner to fly around and sit on our heads and shoulders.
The agritourism was more tourism than agriculture, and had 6 apartments for vacationers (mostly germans) plus the family's room, and my gypsy caravan where I stayed. Yes, a gypsy caravan. It was all wood in side with a bed in the back, and table with benches, closet, cabinets, and a wood burning stove. I spent many a pleasant evening listening to bad italian pop radio, looking out over the evening near the warm stove. My work consisted of working in the small garden, weeding, pruning, cooking, cleaning, building a fence, mucking the chicken and bunny shed, and other odd jobs restoring furniture and cleaning bottles for reuse.

As I had spent about a month in Italy by now, I was able to deduce a few things about italian culture, and the experiences that make me think, 'I am in Italy'

-espresso and moka
-biscotti.. mmmmm!!!
-zipping around in vintage cars through the countryside. And everyone drives fast :)
-finding castles and caves, stone wall and old foutains on a daily basis
-poppies and eating cherries
-Men not at work is a typical sight. They are always chatting, on the phone, smoking or taking coffee, i wonder how anything gets done!
-wearing jeans and long sleeves in the heat of midday.
-Slabs of proscuitto which stays out and gets sliced away bit by bit. Also, slabs of cheese.
-cats, feral and pet cats are everywhere. I saw a 2 dead cats so far
-gardens! everyone seems to have a vegetable garden tucked away on some piece of land. true urban farming
-sweet whole milk
-salads. Italians of this area love salads
-pulley systems, things hanging, shelves hooks and wires. Italians love to hang things up. Maybe thats how pinocchio started.
-breakfast is almost negligible, lunches are more weighty and dinners take the biggest role.
-wine at lunch, wine at dinner. water and wine are interchangeable

Looking Back a Bit

Alas, it has been a while since I have written, not from lack of internet, but a lack of will. Sometimes you have to savor things before you digest them.

I stayed at Sandro's farm in Fara-Sabina for about two weeks, with intermittent trips to Rome. While I was there, a pair of ducks had ducklings and I got to see several of them actually hatching! They were the sweetest little scared things there ever was, and the parents were fiercely protective. As often happens, one little yellow duckling didn't make it, and we had to bury it in the spot on the farm under the eucalyptus trees where all the pets of bygone days have their resting place.

The food while there was great, fresh eggs every day, greens from the fields, milk from the neighboring dairy, tons of olive oil, wine, and homemade limoncello. Also, the typical italian expresso make with those little upright coffee makers (and lots of sugar). Sandro's neighbor Rossana who is about 70 would always come over with some pretense, but really to chat and have some company. Mostly though, she talked. and talked and talked. Even if I didnt understand much, I was happy to lend an ear and listen to her gossip and when i was your age stories.

Speaking of Italian, my language ablilities are improving, probably two steps forward and one step backwards, and often I dont remember if its something I heard or learned or if im just using my spanish knowlege and making it up. Thats the difficulty of romance languages.

In terms of farm work, I planted zucchini, helped layed out a row of plastic for weed control, mucked the chicken house, planted eggplant, lettuce and peppers, layed out irrigation, and all other sorts of outdoorsy work.

The unfortunate thing about traveling around this summer is that I never get to see my crops grow, and I won't reap the fruits of my labor.