Anidagri: The New Farm

I’m at the new farm and loving it.  Before I get into the details I wanted to share a few more pictures of the last farm.

My shepherd duties got transferred to another WWOOFer for a while since she would be at the farm longer than me.  But in the last week, Marco, the shepherd, left for a new opportunity and so I got to be with the stinkers again.  I made sure I had my camera with the little time I had left with the sheep and goats.

These two slowly grazed their way over to me.  I guess I was standing near some good grass.  

One very rainy day we had to separate the goats from the sheep in order to get the kids out of the rain and back into the stables.  Of course we couldn’t just take the kids without the goats, so all that was left in the heavy rain were the sheep.  They weren’t too happy about it.  At one point, I just started cracking up with the rain pouring on me because all the sheep were looking at me, utterly confused.

The great thing about heavy storms is that the sky is absolutely sublime after it passes. 

Picolino #2.  This one’s mom doesn’t make enough milk to feed all three kids, so we have to hand feed it.  Because of that, he is a bit more domesticated and follows humans around.  We accidentally left him behind at a neighbors farm, but it was lucky for him.  Since he’s so affectionate, the lady of the farm fell in love with him and asked to keep him.  I hope he grows old. 

Well, that was the old farm. Now I’m in a totally different setting. The new farm is called Anidagri and is half a farm and half a center for spiritual and martial arts learning.  The farm was created by a group of 30 that wanted a space for themselves and others to reconnect with nature.  About 7 people live/work on the farm and they are all great.  They are Italians from all over the country and are friendly, welcoming and open.  Anidagri is up in the mountains and this area is known for the incredible terraces that were sculpted centuries ago to create flat space for agriculture.

The land has a river that runs below and on the side of it.  There are some really beautiful areas of the river and it makes me want to jump in.  I hesitate though because I’ve felt it with the tip of my finger and it’s freezing!

Here’s my morning view.  I’ve been lucky to have mostly nice weather so far.  I hope it just keeps getting warmer. 

This past weekend was Pasqua (Easter) and a ton of people came to the farm.  It was the farm's first clients on their new venture as an agritourism.  Needless to say, there was a lot of food and I got to help out a lot in the kitchen.  Mainly chopping a ton of vegi's, but I got some notes at what the Italian mom's were making.  Tadeo, the farm donkey, made for some good entertainment.

Here's Paola weighing some fresh-picked veg.  She's not a farmer, but really likes agriculture.  I got to work with for for a bit with planting some artichokes.  

That's the update for now.  More to come in a week!