TWWOOFer One

(I can tell you’re all amazed at that epic pun of a title so I’ll try and think of another one next time.)

The First Morning

So this is where I am staying at the moment. It's a small but cosy home set over 3 floors. The downstairs feels smaller because the back room is full of food/jackets/coats/ etc.

The Kitchen - Giusi has a fine collection of tea atop the cupboards

Currently have two bunk beds to myself,while the girls sleep upstairs.

Sara has kindly donated a shelf to me.

Came down for breakfast at about 6ish (I think?) not entirely sure. A nice spread of yoghurt, cereal, cookies, coffee, tea (<3 Giusi for loving tea but Twinings tastes better at home). I had a bit of everything and then Giulia went to school, followed by Michele heading off to work – he constructs new robots for making cars I think? Quite the contrast to Giusi but it’s necessary to pay the bills, Sara then went to school after playing with my camera,  and me and Giusi headed to the farm. 

Giusi's Mother's House

What a lovely place to work in. Molto-molto-molto MOLTO BELLO!

Giusi explained that her mother now lives alone on the farm, and doesn't drive so has a daily walk into town. While she went to get changed I had a dander round the property and took these photos. Even though there is snow on the ground, the sun is warm from about 10 until 4ish - more so because of all the labour. I was then finally introduced to Lucky, probably the most excitable and happiest dog I've seen  - he's a labrador/pyrenees cross. 

Giusi and Lucky!

Giusi showed me the tunnels where they keep the harvest of Raddichio (Chicory) until it is ready to be sold and how even though the outside goes all mouldy and has a dusty mould on, inside is a beautiful beetroot-purple head of chicory - yum! I was then presented with a huge pile of the mouldy outer leaves which were ready to be moved onto the compost pile. It wasn't far away but the sodden ground was quite the challenge when going up hill. 3 Hours later we returned home for a simple lunch of chicory with potatoes but it was yum!

Giusi helping Giulia with her homework in the afternoon of my first day.

 After lunch Giusi helped Giulia with her homework, and then I helped her with her english - though when someone asks you what the near-past is (la passato-prossima) in english, as a native english speaker you actually have to think...I was pretty useless to say the least. 

Sara was intrigued by the shutter in the camera.

Once all the work was done, I kept Sara and Giulia occupied while Giusi prepared the dinner. They are massive fans of studio Ghibli so we ended up watching My Neighbour Totoro in italian - it was just as enjoyable. While we were doing so they thought it'd be a fun idea to shoot me, and were amused by the fact my Tshirt was already dyed red.

Sara helping Giusi

Tart, Salad and Muffins - YUM!

Finally we were called down for dinner - some kind of kale or spinach tarte with raddichio salad and some fried potatoes. perfetto! 

 As I said before, Giusi has a good tea collection though it's still not as nice as the home grown stuff, but I'm gratefull all the same :D 

The following day was slightly more grim. Rain. We didn't get much done, so I helped Giusi peel the raddichio inside, though we had quite a few visitors who came to trade bits. Giusi's Mama gave us some Mozzarrella and some bread and we headed home at midday. After lunch - a simple tomato pene al forno, but with some of Giusi's home grown chillis that really pack a punch - we headed into Belluno to drop Giulia off at Gymnastics and then went in hunt of a Sim Card, but they don't have "normal" pay as you go sim cards here. Weird, so stuck with the one i've got to only use in emergencies. We returned to Giulia (and Sara who had arrived by other means) at the gymnasium and took them home along with Giulia's friend, Lenora. The afternoon there was a lot going on - occupying the kids, helping sort potatoes. It was all go. The temperature had dropped considerably so the fire was lit early - one on each floor, and they aren't central to every room - but they head up the house nicely :)

Warmth!

Even Lucky (who normally sleeps outside in a dog house at la Casa di Mama Cappellari) was inside tonight!

Sara has this funky toy... I don't know how else to describe it.

 Then we spent the evening driving about the countryside collecting beer and apples to be delivered in a nearby town. By the time we got in it was gone 9 so we had a quick dinner of polenta, raddichio and an olive and tomato sauce. 

All in all an uneventful day, but I really must concentrate more on my grammar. I only know about 20 verbs and can't conjugate many of them with ease. it's a pain in the bum. 

until next time. :)

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.