Farm Wars: A New Host

Hey guys, 

WARNING

This blog entry contains graphic images of animal butchery.

ATTENZIONE

Questo blog contiene immagini grafiche di macellazione degli animali.

It’s been two days nine ELEVEN days two weeks since I arrived at this new farm. Sorry for taking so long to update - I fear these blogs may become few and far between from  now on. I’m starting to get into the routine of things but it’s definitely going to take some getting used to and am pretty much used to the rhythms which is good. I’m also wrestling with the internet which is temperamental at the best of times, though I did manage to stream several episodes of Game of Thrones without any problems. 

The journey here wasn’t exactly the best but I did succeed in registering with Trenitalia after a few days of waiting and managed to save 50% on my ticket. RESULT. After bidding a fond farewell to Michele at breakfast, Giulia before school, dropping Sara off at azilo and saying a massive thank you to Giusi at the train station (it lastest about 15 minutes, plus the 10 minutes where we were waiting for the train to pull out of the station), I was on my way to Padua. The journey was actually very pleasant and went in the opposite direction to the Venice train so I got to see the other half of the province of Belluno out of the window. The joy from this was somewhat short liveed though as I realised I’d seen most of it from a car seat already. It was also after the first five minutes that I’d regretted drinking those two mug fulls of tea. For some reason this train had no toilet. BAH!

Pulling into Padua on platform 10, I made a dash for the train to Bologna which, of course, was on platform 1. And as I powered on up those stairs what did I see? Oh yes, the train pulling away, mocking me with its squeaky wheels. You bastard. 

Never mind. There’s another one in an hour. At this moment of extreme frustration all of my muscles tensed up and I was reminded of the fact I’d been holding in a bucket of wee for a good couple of hours. I was now on a mission: FIND A TOILET. 

I completed several loops of the concourse and returned to the platform I had arrived upon because I’d definitely seen a sign saying “WC” at some point. Could I Find it? No. No I couldn’t. I went for one more walk and found it right at the end of platform one, behind a metal gate demanded silver and bronze discs in exchange for use of the services. GRR. Why do you have to pay for all the toilets here?  I needed change and fast. I had a moment of weakness with the prospect of an hour of doing nothing ahead of me... I bought some cigarettes. Oh dear Luke. But at least I had change!

After successfully answering the call of nature, I settled down on the platform and devoured an orange and a chocolate chip muffin (thanks Giusi!) and chain smoked five cigarettes. I then felt pretty terrible, but with nicotine coursing through my veins it was mere seconds until the train arrived, albeit five minutes late. 

Padua to Bologna was a pleasant trip once the sun came out, and here, in this part of Emilia-Romagna I could see spring; the trees were awash with blossom, daffodils were beaming with their honeyed glow and I was just about ready to slip into a coma when all of a sudden the train stopped and we were in Bologna. 

Two more changes to go. 

This one was incredibly smooth and no sooner had I gotten off the train, than I’d stepped onto the next. Another hour down the line and I was in Parma - I had 45 minutes to wait and then another hour long journey to Borgo Val di Taro. I rang Iris before the train departed to let her know what time I would arrive (16.45) and she had agreed to pick me up. This train was incredibly slow, or at least it felt that way as it climbed through the hills - I don't think my clock watching helped. 

Barocco (a.k.a. BaroccoBama)

In a surprising turn of events, as I exited the train I felt the cooling drizzle of rain...again. I went through a tunnel to cross the platforms and as I came up the stairs I was greeted by Iris and her dog, Barocco. As we climbed into the yellow submarine (the nickname for the yellow car) Iris explained that she had a couple of errands to run before we headed home. She was having problems with her phone. I don't know exactly what though. (over a week later Iris was forced to succumb and bought an iPhone.) I chose to wait in the car with Barocco - after seven and a half hours on the train the last thing I wanted to do was go for a walk in the rain. Within seconds of Iris leaving Barocco had launched himself through the tiny gap between the front seats and planted himself on top of me. I suppose that was one way to bond. 

Once she had returned we made our way to Casa Lanzarotti only to have to turn around to visit the local abbetoir for some bones for the mischevious pup. After making our way along some winding roads we made it to Gotra - the nearest local village - and also the place to catch a bus if I wanted to go into Borgo Taro. We also stopped in at Malcolm's house, who is a British expat living over here. Iris had kindly donated one of her roosters to him some time ago. 

Back up a precarious little hill, round the corner and down another hill and we had arrived. FINALLY! I was first shown my room which is spacious and comes with a shared ensuite and kitchenette. 

A very spacious twin room just for me :)

When I first entered it was a little chilly to say the least. The room is joined to "the Lab" as Iris likes to call it which is a small industrial kitchen where they make jams, preserves and other things. The room would usually be used as part of the B&B but because of a change in regulations, they aren't allowed to open the Agriturismo again until the disabled apartment is finished. It was also explained that they'd been without heating for the whole of winter so that gave me a little perspective and all of a sudden I didn't mind so much. I decided to put my clothes away in the wardrobe after seeing the rest of the house.

Inside the chicken coop with Eliza.

We made our way to the main building and into the kitchen area where Eliza, a 29 year old Greek Agricultural student was working on her dissertation for her postgraduate degree. She asked me if I wanted a drink of anything like coffee, and naturally, I asked for Tea. She laughed and went to make some. She had filled the teapot full of tea leaves - so much so that it was crazy strong, but I appreciated it nonetheless. She explained to me that there were two americans also staying but they had gone for a trip to venice the day before and would be back  tomorrow. She had to leave for a brief moment to make sure the chickens were inside their coop  - this was especially important because out of three baby chicks, only one had survived (aptly named "Survivor 1") and she was determined to keep it alive.

I now had an hour or so until dinner to sort my clothes out and relax and have a look around. The weather still wasn't exactly inspiring (don't let the pictures fool you, these were taken a few days after my arrival). We had a wonderful dinner though I can't remember what, and we talked with Gianluca, Iris's husband for an hour after dinner. It was then straight to bed ready for an early start the following morning. 

The next day I went and had a light breakfast of museli with a big mug of tea. We then had to move bundles of lavender to the car ready to fill an order, then it was off to the greenhouses on the otherside of the valley. The greenhouses function as a nursery for 80 varieties of herbs and medicinal plants. We checked to see if the plants in the storeroom had germinated then moved them to the greenhouse. We also picked 500 sprigs of lavender and spent the remainder of the morning clearing another greenhouse of vines that had made their way in. 

Returning home, Gianluca had prepared a fantastic risotto with artichokes and for the remainder of the afternoon I did very little. I finished a letter to a penpal back at home and tried to learn some more verbs with fantastic sheet that Giulia had copied for me - thanks again! 

Once we'd wolfed down a hearty helping of Spag Bol and were clearing the kitchen, Eileen and David showed up. They were the Americans who had been visiting Venice when I'd first arrived. They come from New Hampshire - about 3 hours out of Boston and they build houses for a living. David has a few medical problems that should make him bedridden however WWOOFing keeps his body from shutting down which I think is fantastic. They've been half way around the world this way.

They really enjoyed Venice and had bought Iris and Eliza some jewellery from their travels. Eileen is very adept in the kitchen and makes some of the best brownies I've tasted. The next day was very similar in that we went to the greenhouses and moved some stuff around then came home a little earlier. I started to help David downstairs in the apartment by cleaning the wood beams of residual plaster and he told me more about how he came to WWOOFing and how he and Eileen met. He's a very sweet guy. 

We had a slightly embarrassing moment when trying to move the portable scaffold through the undercroft of the house...took us 5 minutes of trying to get it through vertically until I realised we could just turn it on its side. ha!

The next day we had a truly BEAUUUUTIFUL day of blistering heat and sunshine. Fantastic. I'd stayed at the house to continue to work on the apartment and Eileen made us lunch and dinner. Gianluca had left that morning and wouldn't be back until the following tuesday so he said goodbye to David and Eileen who were headed to another WWOOF host in Puglia on the Monday to build a tree house but they would be back. 

Now I know you guys have been reading A LOT so have a little break with these fantastic sunny pictures. You should probably be jealous but I hear England has been having pretty good weather lately so...just be a little jealous...please? 

Casa Lanzarotti

TOOL SHED!

ALL THE TOOLS!

Chickens!

 As the week progressed, the weather became warmer and I started to put the kitchen units together. The first day I slummed it away in the basement where there was a good sized work bench in the laundry room. But it was worth it because that afternoon we were going to the "Bruha-ha" aka the beer shop that David had spied some time ago but forgotten the name of. It'd make a nice change from wine and it was on our way to get milk. Perfect!

Turn out it was called the "Beershop" ... so much for Bruha-ha!

Eileen, David and Eliza

WE FOUND BEER!

Myself, Eliza and Eileen.

Martha and Tiziano

Beer and more importantly...ALE!

David enjoys shiny things and was lured in by Champagne beer.

Tiziano and Martha were fantastic hosts and spent a few hours talking beers with us.

This is a failed group shot. My bad.

It was a really wonderful afternoon with lots of beers tasted and good conversation. Not only are Martha and Tiziano fantastic hosts but they are good sales people too. Hopefully we'll see them again soon. Unfortunately we spent far too long drinking, and as a result failed to get milk. David went and paid for it on the condition that myself and Eliza would collect it tomorrow...I suppose that was fair. 

That evening Iris had gone somewhere for a meeting but a strange fellow with a beard appeared while we were having dinner asking for Iris. His turning up wasn't strange, the fact that none of us knew who he was and the fact he'd let himself into the house is what was truly crazy. 

Antonio!

Luckily I've learnt enough Italian to communicate with people - unfortunately I'm the only WWOOFer to do so and as a result, I'm everyone's go to guy. I don't mind though, it helps me a lot. Antonio was here to collect things for a fayre to promote the local coalition of meat farmers in the region. Even thought we didn't know where anything was, Eliza and myself managed to get everything Antonio needed including a few tables, some banners, some leaflets and all that other good stuff. Perfetto! I also managed to have a good 15 minute conversation in Italian with him which I'm very chuffed about. He soon went on his way and shortly after Iris returned apologising that she forgot he was coming. Not the end of the world though. 

Antonio had made my job a little easier because I'd disovered where some fold out benches were - this was perfect: tomorrow I could work outside in the SUN!

SUCCESS!!

And when you work in front of a beautiful view like this, it's certainly good for morale. 

I'm ready to work!

I managed to successfully put together the remaining cabinets and we broke for lunch that Eileen had kindly prepared. It was a very warm that day, so afterwards I headed for a nice cooling shower. Just as I'd stepped foot under the stream of hot water I hear David calling and knocking at my door asking for my help - uh-oh! What's happening? I said to him to give me five minutes while I got dressed again. Iris had gone to Verona for a conference and wouldn't be back until later that evening - let's hope it's nothing serious. 

Cows in the barn (from a differnt day)

I made my way outside and he beckoned me to the barn. One of the baby calves wasn't moving and was limp on the floor. Not good. He said he'd tried to phone Stefano, but he didn't understand him so would I phone again. No problem. I ruined the Italian language, not knowing the word for calf I just said "bebe mucca" which got the same point across. Stefano said he was on his way. Within 5 minutes he was there and he'd also contacted Iris who had managed to leave Verona early and was only in Borgo Taro. 

David kept saying to me "tell him thankyou!" which I did numerous times. The prospect of the calf being dead was especially difficult for David because he was the one who had discovered it when it was first born and so to see it motionless was quite a strain for him. 

Stefano removed the Calf from the barn and began to string it up - it had only been like that for maybe 45 minutes to an hour so with any luck we could save the meat. This was a little difficult at first but the fact we could save the meat made David feel a lot better. Stefano quickly tried to bleed the calf.

While all of this was going on Eliza was meant to be making Pasticcio for dinner so she was all alone in the kitchen...

WARNING

This blog entry contains graphic images of animal butchery.

ATTENZIONE

Questo blog contiene immagini grafiche di macellazione degli animali.
 
Iris soon arrived and it was all hands on deck to prepare everything ready to skin the carcass. It wasn't particularly stomach churning or bad but others may find it quite distressing so if that's the case - scroll down to where it says "it's over!" in big red letters.

Barocco managed to steal one of these and we've yet to find it.

 

IT'S OVER!!!!

Finally, we can relax.

The skill with which Stefano and Iris worked was incredible, especially seeing as neither of them are formally trained. Finally we could all eat some of Elizas beautiful pasticcio - and it was delicious! mmmm. 

The next day was sunday and was a day of rest - we were thinking about going somewhere but would decide in the morning. After much deliberation Iris offered to take us to Bardi to see an old medieval fort and we'd have lunch while we were out too. 

The fort at Bardi

The town of Bardi

Eileen kindly gave us a running commentary as we went around.

I *LOVE* this picture of Barocco and Iris. He looks so  bored.

I won't bog you down with pictures or tales of every corridor and room we went in, suffice it to say, the castle was old and smelt like a castle. It had some old stuff, and many twisty and turny passages and some nice ceilings. Afterwards We headed to a local restaurant just outside of town for some lunch. 


There was some confusion when Iris ordered as she'd wanted lots of plates and to share the antipasto of cured meats and cheese, but we all got individual plates of everything - unfortunately eating was higher on my list of priorities than taking pictures so lets just say it was bloody lovely - we also ate some delicious pasta and wild boar were all extremely grateful when Iris offered to pick up the bill. 


So the first week at Casa lanzarotti was exciting and action packed though at that point I was still missing Giusi, Michele, Giulia and Sara but I'm sure i'll see them again in a couple of months. 

Monday morning came and it was a hot day again. We were all up early to bid a fond farewell to David and Eileen but we'll see them again next month. Eliza and I returned to the greenhouses to finish up and start reorganising everything over the next few days - the sun was insanely hot, and even more so inside the green houses. Monday afternoon we helped to butcher the Calf from the other day and spent a long time vaccuum packing and labelling everything. Half way through Stefano showed up to lend a hand. I offered to make everyone a stew with the heart and liver and some ofthe scraggly bits of meat that would be used for minced meat the following day. 

Everyone enjoyed the stew (I think), and Eliza had made a delicious strawberry mousse for dessert - we are an unstoppable culinary team. Stefano's friend Marco also joined us for dinner. He is an ex-forest engineer and would be back on Saturday with Stefano to fell some of the rotten trees. I said I'd make everyone something else for saturday too. 

Meanwhile, for the remainder of the week, the temperature soared and we continued to work in the greenhouses - by friday we were exhausted but finished!

35 degrees C and Eliza managed to construct a fan - very snazzy!

Saturday came and I'd started to prepare a beautiful Lamb Tagine with a few ingredients I'd requested. The meat had been marinating over night so I was hoping it'd be fully infused. Rain started to pour and Iris said that Stefano and Marco wouldn't be coming but maybe I could still prepare it for dinner. Ok I thought....then 20 minutes later she said they would be coming anyway - SHIT! I was running behind now. It was a mad rush to get everything in the oven by 11 but I'd managed it and two and a half hours later it was ready to be eaten. 

Stefano unfortunately had to leave early but hey - more for us! Everybody was very impressed with the food and there were echoes of buonissimo, molto gustoso and Eliza even claimed to be in ecstacy so it must have at least been ok. It was also the first time she'd had cous cous and was very happy with it indeed. Marco has invited us to a local Ristorante which specialises in Trout so I'm very much looking forward to that. He also said we should go up to the black mountain with him in July to see a species of medicinal herb that is rare and only grows in a few places so that sounds like a lot of fun.

 Tomorrow myself and Eliza are going to head to Borgo Taro as it's our day off. I'll tell you about that adventure next time.

So that's it for the first couple of weeks - pretty good eh? Just as a side note: I've unfortunately contracted a stomach bug and am making regular trips to the bathroom. The first few days it was bearable but last night was unbearable. Hopefully it'll ease up soon.

With any luck the next update will be sooner.

For those of you that don’t know or have just stumbled upon this blog, my name is Luke and I’ve recently sold almost everything I own and moved out to Italy to experience a bit of La Dolce Vita (should probably try and avoid those sorts of clichés) through an organisation called WorldWide Oppurtunities on Organic Farms – more commonly known as WWOOF. It was set up in 1971 by a couple of people  from England who wanted to escape the stresses of inner city life and get back to basics with farming organically and away from the general hustle and bustle. Their friends heard what they were doing and wanted to join in and it sort of spiralled out of control from there. It’s now a global organisation promoting low impact living and each country has a specific website. You pick a country, pay a membership fee (about £25/€30/$30-40) and you get access to a list with hundreds of farms. You contact them directly and tell them why you want to volunteer on their farm.  In exchange for working on a farm or small holding for 6-8 hours a day, you get to meet wonderful people, gain experience regarding organic farming techniques, eat delicious food and have a bed/caravan/ tent for the night.