Easter and the last week in Belluno

Hey guys, 

Hope you all had a fantastic Easter! Here's a small update on what I did over mine, though there's not really too much to report. It's also my final entry from my first farm (Azienda Agricola Giusi Cappellari) so I'm a little sad.

There will be more pictures in this entry than writing (which will good for those of you who end up reading this on a hangover or worse, on a Monday morning OR WORSE on a Monday morning with a hangover.) 

EDIT: The above statement is a complete LIE.

Good Friday came and went - I spent most of the day sleeping and trying to finish the Venice blog entry and by the evening I was done and ready for bed. I don't remember Saturday and after asking Giulia, she seems to have absolutely no recollection either. I *DO* remember ordering an Italian version of Pom Poko for the kids which is preferable to a bit of naff chocolate. I also helped Giusi make a Ciambella unfortunately it didn't last that long when we came around to eating it so you only have this picture...sorry. Michele and myself also went on an adventure for milk, cheese, chocolate, biscuits and other bits in preperation for the next few days.

Easter Sunday is when everything started to happen - it's almost like a Springtime version of Christmas here - amazing! While I was lazing around in bed until about 10ish, the girls had been transported to church and afterwards they'd done the rounds to various family members for eggs and presents. GOOD TIMES! Meanwhile Giusi began to prepare yet another cake for that evening, but because she doesn't really like it she did it the easy way - with bought biscuits, bought blancmange mix and a cup of espresso instead of the usual Madeira.  

mmm now what could this be?

By 11 everyone was back home, and no sooner had they kicked off their shoes the girls began to rip into their presents...

 I was glad to see they had more presents than chocolate - and that they were actually functional. I was also incredibly impressed that the giant KinderEggs actually had something inside them which is certainly better than the void that awaits most of us. 

 They both recieved Snoopy PJ's, some jeans and a few other bits and bobs - everyone's a winner! After opening the small mountain of items it was time for some grubs.

Michele's mother had kindly prepared us Pasta roulade filled with pumpkin and a yummy beschamel sauce, followed by half of a Pie filled with spinach, artichokes, potatoes, cheese and eggs. It managed to get dropped somewhere in transit but the taste was still great :D We rounded everything off with Caffé corretto which is just espresso with a shot of Grappa. 

Giusi dishes up a slice of the delicious Pasta roulade. Giulia is poised with her fork, ready to dig in.

I know it looks a bit of a mess but trust me - NOM!

Not quite the Roast dinner I'm used to but certainly a wonderful feast. Following our little banquet we cleared the table and spent some time playing about with the toys from the inside of the Easter Eggs. 

The Bowling set was pretty nifty and provided everyone with half an hour or so of fun, but these toys are akin to christmas cracker toys and you get what you pay for. 

Michele misfires and it rolls off the table...

While Giulia set up another go for Michele, Sara had gotten my camera and started snapping away. Despite the poor framing, and the shadows from Sara's hands around the rim, I like it.

Even though the set was near enough broken, we managed to invent a new game. Meanhile, Giusi had fallen asleep (behind Michele).

Thankfully none of us paid for anything. WIN. 

As Giusi was beginning to fall asleep, Michele thought we should go somewhere and walk off lunch in time for dinner so we went to see the fields in Val Morel. After about half an hour of getting everyone organised we were in the car and climbing up the mountains nearby around some very dodgy roads. Soon we were rising above the clouds, and despite the looming storm behind us, I managed to capture this. 

 Across a field, down a slope, round the corner, through some trees and along a dirt track-come-stream...

Someone kept jumping in the puddles so no more walking along here - sorry about the dodgy quality, I nearly stacked it while taking this.

The plot of land covers about four times the size of the field on the left.

...and we finally made it to a large area of land - not entirely sure of the size but it was 3 good sized fields - maybe half a mile in total? not sure what that is  Not too shabby at all. This is the area where the majority of the beans and potatoes are grown - there's certainly enough room here to grow a lot of grub and provide a modest income. The best part is that it's on the mountain side so it gets fresh air and water well above the pollution. 

On our way back we tried to rebuild the dirt track by diverting the streams into the surrounding tree line - it was quite a messy job. We ate the snow and used it to clean our hands - it was a bit cold but tastey too. The portion of snow we'd used had just had a large Elk or Moose pass through only a few minute before - I was mildly annoyed to say the least but life goes on. 

Instead of a Majestic Moose...Michele!

Sara had found a new hiding place, with its own supply of snow. Unfortunately she was less than impressed when we told her not to eat it because an animal had next to it the night before.

Following our little adventure in the wilderness, we made our way further up the mountain to Isabella and Eugenio's home next door to their agriturismo, I Boschi del Castagno for some tea and cake.

Looks nicer in the summer (stolen from FB)

 
If you follow a rather precarious road, you are greeted by a collection of buildings that in the summer would look idyllic, but on a gloomy day like Sunday looked very plain.  Below the house lies the land which is farmed by Eugenio and Isabella, along with other WWOOFers.

We all kicked off our shoes after being greeted by a group of chickens clucking away, a very miserable goose and a few cats lazing in various bread baskets.

Inside is warm and cosey, with a wall full of books, a large dining table, a warm fire and the friendly company of Isa and Eugenio. I also met Simone, a WWOOFer who was staying with them for a month, before going to work with his friend near Milan. 

To the Left, Simone, and to the Right, Eugenio.

 We spent a couple of hours here, while a few other people came round to discuss some stuff but it was great to see another WWOOF hosts home and to share my experience with Simone. Unfortunately the other WWOOFer, Emett, had managed to get himself a dodgy eye infection and had to go home for surgery. 

Leopoldo

As well as the menagerie of birds and cats, there's also a beautiful dog who like Lucky, enjoys belly rubs. 

In the picture to the right you can also see one of the girls hands holding a Rubik's cube. I was encouraged to solve it and managed to get a whole side the same colour without peeling the stickers!
That's further than I've EVER gotten. I only wish I'd had the time to finish. If anyone has one laying around and wants to send me it feel free. 

When we went to leave the rain had started pouring like you wouldn't believe, so it was a mad dash to the car and then home. We made it back in record time and had some fast food: a simple dinner of Polena and cheese with lots of butter, bread and wine. Good times. 

For dessert we had the torta prepared earlier and then it was an episode of Cos 'è Fatto (How it's made).

They were making clocks, and while this was interesting, I was preoccupied. Why, I wondered, was it that when I arrived in Italy that we were one hour ahead, yet after England had moved the clocks forward we were STILL one hour ahead.

Stupid me hadn't realised that my phone had automatically adjusted itself and there aren't any analogue clocks around the house that needed to be changed. 

What a knobhead. 

Monday was also a bank holiday and that meant another late start - none of us were up until 9.30 which was a massive lay in and massively appreciated. I can't remember the morning, but during lunch we saw sheep being moved into a nearyby field. So after we'd cleared up and wasted two hours, it was time for a BAH'dass adventure before dinner. 

Sopra la panca la capra campa

Sotto la panca la capra crepa

(translate) 

(this is a tongue twister and doesn't mean anything significant)

As we went outside, up came a lad named Tomaso (I think?) chugging along in his miniature moped-come-truck. These things are hilarious but hey, it gets him about. He joined us on our walk. 

If anyone wants to use this as a book cover or album cover, I could do with the money so leave a comment with your best offer :P

There were lots of lambs hopping about too, but they soon got moved along to the next field so we were only out for about an hour. Not exactly badass, but still Bah'dass. On the way back both Sara and Giulia thought it would be a good idea to start removing the old crops from the field. 

It was agreed that they weren't allowed to eat until they'd finished the entire field...echoes of "Non è vero!" (that's not true!) filled our ears. As we neared the dirt track we were greeted by this vista:

It's just like Emmerdale (but the back drop is better and you can actually understand what the people say here!)

The neighbouring farmer was marking out his land for the next time he plowed the fields and he had a truckful of the cutest baby lambs ever - one decided to poop on the others head, unfortunately my camera decided to be a dick and not want to focus... probably for the best but manual focus next time methinks. 

When we got back Michele's parents were there to greet us but soon left. As they were leaving Giusi's mother came round for dinner with us. I had a good in depth chat with her about her family (she's from Salerno) and has lots of brothers and sisters distributed around Italy. We somehow got onto talking about funerals and I explained how I preferred funerals to weddings - not in a morbid way, but there just seems to be more alcohol and family around, this wasn't the best thing to talk about but we laughed it off.

Anyways, it was time for round two of pizza with spelt flour - thankfully this time it turned out perfect and managed to rise. We had 2 pizza's and one calzone which were both deliciously moreish! 

That evening Michele's brother and his girlfriend, Gabriele and Deborah visited to see teh kids and for a cup of tea.

The girls are currently obsessed by this game on the ipad where you have to pull the toilet roll off of it's holder and then give a cat a shower and brush it's teeth. I don't know what's so appealing, but it also has a voice changer so everything you say is repeated back at a stupidly high pitch. 

Endless fun for the kids. 

Not for us. 

Much of the remainder of the week was quiet - we continued to clear the strawberry beds for the peas and spinach. Michele had fashioned some tools over the last few lunch breaks at work for us which made removing the stubborn dandelion roots infinitely easier. Thankyou!

The final weekend at Azienda Agricola Giusi Cappellari has gone all too quickly! Saturday rolled around and it was time to go and collect 54 litres of Prosecco to sustain the family for the next couple of months. Michele's friend owns a farm in Valdobbiadene and is the fine producer of the Prosecco I've been drinking all month long. If your prosecco doesn't come from Valdobbiadene - don't buy it! 

While true prosecco should have bubbles, this only has the fizz from the natural fermentation which is still enough to know it's not a standard wine and means you can fit more in the bottle. It was €97 for 54L of prosecco. While the massive containers were being filled we were kindly presended with bread, coffee, cake, wine and a selection of locally cured meats. 

Delcious!

We hung around for an hour or so being social, eating, drinking and being merry, but then we realised the time and it was a mad rush to the garden centre for a few supplies, then back home to prepare a light lunch fro when Giulia got in from school.

While at the garden centre we managed to lose Sara underneath a load of Cacti, but once found all she wanted to do was stare at the turtles. I don't really understand why a garden centre would sell turtles though...

Once we'd returned home and had a quick lunch, it was straight to work to finish clearing the beds and plant the remainder of the piselli and spinaci. We finished quite late but it was good to finally get everything done.

I promise this will be the last picture of Lucky!

 

Finally, a picture of Giusi's Mama - I don't think she'd like this picture but it's the only one I have. (and yes, i know, Lucky is here too but...get over it!)

I came back, had a long hot soak in the tub, a hearty bowlful of Orzotto and then in the evening carried on with this entry - so much effort - but the end is near!

Today is now Sunday and my final day. I'm thankful that today has gone slowly - this has given me time to get everything ready though I still need to dry some clothes but will wait until later when Michele needs to dry his too. We'll do some midnight laundry so I might have a few pictures from here left over for the crossover entry. 

Giusi has kindly donated some of her precious ruby red chili's that definitely pack a punch so I'm going to keep the seeds and start growing them next year - should be good. 

Pepperoncini prodotti a Limana, Belluno. Giusi - Michele, Giulia +Sara

AND inside...

I've had such a wonderful time at this farm, in many ways I don't want to leave. Giusi, Michele, Sara and Giulia have become more than friends -  they are now family. I'm sure this won't be the last time I see them, and if the next farm is a complete nightmare Giusi has said not to hesitate to give them a ring which is really lovely. 

Th-th-th-that's all folks. 

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.