Radicchio Rush

Hey everyone, hope you’re all doing well and in good spirits.

As I write this, I’m in the car with all the family; the rain is lashing at the windows, our bellies are full of focaccia, R.E.M. is blazing through our ears and we are on our way back from Padua. Today has been eventful but I’m afraid that’ll have to wait for another post.

This week started off as being rather uneventful but by Wednesday the man behind the curtain cranked everything up to 11 and it’s been all go since. I warn you now, this is probably going to be a VERY long post – or at least there will be a lot of photo’s that will be infinitely more entertaining and less of a chore to absorb into your minds than reading. 

Monday and Tuesday as I said were very uneventful, and so was wednesday until the evening. I spent most of the days peeling Radicchio or clearing land ready for planting peas. 

Dinner, Dinner, Dinner BATMAN!

Giusi's cousin John (a bajillion times removed) came over from England with his wife Tandy and their friend Ken. They had been Skiing in the dolomites and it was also John's 65th birthday so, naturally, we all went for a lovely meal! It was at a bijou little place up in the mountains called La Gioi.

This is the only picture I took because it was like a monsoon outside (my camera isn't weather proof) and so was left with my phone. Unfortunately the light was dim, but wonderfully cosy. You entered through a door and are immediatly greeted by a small bar filled with lots of alcohollic delights, but we didn't indulge just yet. We moved into the next room which has only 5 tables - one large table for about 14 people, two 6 seaters and a couple by the window for couples or at most, 3 people. No more than 30 or so covers for the whole place which is a very comfortable number. We were greeted by an intoxicatingly intense wood burning fire - I daren't sit down at this point for fear of slipping into a coma.

I was introduced to Giusi's brother, Giancarlo, who works for a company that makes your home greener as well as selling solar panels and stuff, and his wife Michaela (sp?) and their son, Matteo who is a very bright kid. 

After being introduced to everyone else and having a good old chinwag, we sat down. It was a very enjoyable evening where wine flowed freely but the first did get a bit too much. To start I had artichoke and Gorgonzola Crustini followed by a beautiful Mushroom Orzotto (like risotto but made with barley instead of rice) and after that a beautiful squid dish that truly melted in your mouth which was accompanied by two big chunks of polenta, some fried potatoes, fresh beetroot and a small salad. By this point I was stuffed and my eyes began to glaze over. John's Birthday cake was like an italian bakewell tart - really scrummy but you needed a pint of tea to go with it - so sweet! Thankfully coffee floated around soon after. As we left we each had a sugar cube soaked in minted Grappa - pretty intense but a nice nightcap. 

The kids were conked out, as was Michele who had enjoyed a little too much vino. Giusi and I had a good discussion about  the words "Allora"  "Dai" and "Cosi" and how versatile they are to use - they are very context specific and by the time I've worked out what they mean in the sentence someone has said, the subject has been changed. We finally arrived at home and no sooner had my head hit the pillow it was time to wake up again.

Sunshine at last

Thursday was the first day of solid sunshine we've had and the entire landscape was visible - a truly beautiful sight to behold. I decided to quickly nip out with a proper camera to try and capture the beauty - unfortunately the main lens for my camera is terrible unless used at a wide angle so only got a couple of decent shots but there are some others below.

I can see EVERYTHING!

 I know you've all seen the inside of the house I'm staying in but not the outside so here you go: unfortunately I'd been a little foolish in leaving the house through the back room where the dog was. No sooner had I turned around to take a picture of the house, there was something nudging me with a wet nose  but I have evidence of Lucky's escape.  He's a very clever doggy.

The House to the right of Lucky is my current residence.

He managed to escape the night before when we had a small thunderstorm. He's scared of them, but that time he went INTO the house. 

Michele was absent at breakfast, having left for work in the early hours so that he could help us in the afternoon on the farm.

I started the morning off peeling radicchio and we left for lunch a little earlier and luckily even managed to capture a picture of my hosts elusive cat, Tigro,

We returned in the afternoon to start preparing them for a customer in the next province. It was such a pleasure to bask in the sunshine for once - and sat down too!

Truly an idyllic location to work in when the sun's out.

Only two tunnles of Radicchio left!

After about 20 minutes of being back, Michele turned up and put on his snazzy work gear, there's still A LOT to do. 

The three baskets are infront of the door to stop chickens going in.

Still A LOT of radicchio left...

We only have about 20kg prepared at this point - we need another 30kg. D'oh!

Michele's work station.

It's ok Lucky, you just lay there...

Tea Time...the only time that really matters.

Thursday went especially quickly, but on friday it was all hands on deck - Giusi, Michele and I headed to the farm for dead on 9 and continued to work through into early afternoon. Giusi then left to make lunch and wait for Giulia to arrive home, meanwhile, myself and Michele stayed on the farm continuing to prepare radicchio. After a quick lunch it was straight back to work, and Giulia came along for the ride and to see her Nonna. As the light began to fade Michele returned home to wait for Sara and then bring her round. As the warmth from the sun began to fade, Giusi's mother came along with a cup of tea for both of us. Giusi was on the phone at the time so me and her mum spoke for a while about the meal the other night, the dentist and the prospect of snow. I also asked her if I could have a picture of her for the blog but she said I would have to wait until after she'd had her hair done. 

Michele soon returned to deposit Sara and continue working. He joked and asked me if i'd moved about in the last couple of hours, and I had...just not more than 6 feet or so. I supposed I should have a little dander and stretch my legs. I'm certainly glad I did, the light in the valley in the evenings is beautiful (at least when it's sunny). The beautiful mountain shot (my current fb cover) and this were the highlights for me. 

As night descended and the wind picked up, it was time to move inside for those last few kilos. 

 Eventually, after another 50 minutes or so inside we were finished and it was time to go home, eat, and sleep - had to be up early saturday. 

It doesn't look like much, but 50kg of Radicchio adds up to a lot of work. You certainly learn to appreciate the value of food more and why some things are so expensive - this isn't a process that can be done by a machine effectively. 

Dové siamo?

Despite working late, we all went to bed relatively early and I was up and ready to roll by 6. We swung by Micheles parent's house in Limana to deposit Giulia, then went to the farm to deposit Sara and Collect the raddichio. 

Still doesn't look like a lot but trust me, there were a lot of man hours put into this.

Our destination was somewhere inbetween Trento and Verona, but because of the nature of the dolomites and the pre-alps, it all looks the same so you never really know where you are - though you do get some beautiful vistas. 

On the road again...

I promise I'll try to stop taking pictures of mountains...one day.

I've noticed that while this is a wonderful place to live, it's a massive pain in the arse to get anywhere. The distances aren't particularly big, but navigating such rugged terrain is where the difficulty lies. Having said that, the roads are fantastic (most of the time) and people are required  by law (at least in the north) to use winter tires between september/october and April - sensible, but certainly not cheap. 

With Michele at the wheel there was no chance of getting lost.

Longest Tunnel EVAR

It was a long drive but we talked about the feudal system in Italy, the mafia, British Gangster films, Hugh Grant (myself and Michele both rolled our eyes at this point), the local forts and castles and soon enough we were more than a little lost. 

Michele despairs with Giusi's map reading skills. 

On top of that, once we managed to work out where we were Giusi had no signal - thankfully Michele did. 

After being lost and driving around some very dodgy mountain tracks we managed to find where we were meant to be - Val di Gresta. It's a good sized farm with a small mountain top factory.

The owner was ontop of a fork lift truck when we got out of the car. He promptly disappeared to wash his hands, then came back and apologised through a handkerchief because he'd got a cold. The facility specialises in Sauerkraut as well as other pickled and preserved foodstuffs including olives and a really yummy sunflower beer. He spoke a different dialect to Giusi and Michele so while showing us around everyone spoke Italian which mean I could understand almost everything! RESULT.

After being given the grand tour and buying a few bits we headed back to Michele's parents house.

 I met his brother and his brother's girlfriend who are both my age and his mother. She'd prepared a delicious artichoke and spinach pie, some salad and some gnocchi to have with either a gorgonzola sauce or a bolognese sauce. 
It's not the most flattering image of Giusi so apologies to her but the food was good.


The day wasn't over yet, so we went to finish up clearing at least one of the beds for the peas before the snow came tomorrow. Sara stayed inside with her nonna while Giusi, Giulia, Michele and I all got involved  and we were finished in under an hour. 

  To the Left: Giulia and Michele 





To the Right: This bed looked exactly like the one next to it - not quick to clear at all!





After that it was time to go home and chillax for a bit - tomorrow we were headed to Padova and the first Gymnastics Gala for Sara. We walked back while the sun was still out though it was pretty cold as rain clouds rolled in. 

It's taken me two weeks to realise Giusi's Mother has a US post box...

On the way home Michele stopped to see if he could make a noise with these little trumpet flowers...

...he couldn't!

 Hope you're all doing well and here's another moody mountain picture - next update won't be as long and will hopefully appear 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 Willing Workers 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.