I'm a Carpenter

For the last week I’ve been building a cabin.  Nahum, the father of the Israeli family here, has been showing me the ropes of carpentry.  The work has been great.  It pretty hard labor carrying all the lumber and going up and down the ladder and levels of the cabin, but now were getting to the point where we can actually see the building and it’s pretty gratifying.  

Yesterday we put up one side of the roof.  I had to face my fear of heights to put that up, but after a few planks of wood it felt pretty sturdy.  This being my day off, I’m assuming the roof will be done by the time I get back and the floor will be in progress.  I can’t wait to finish it!  I already feel pretty comfortable with building, so hopefully after I'm finished with the cabin I'll be a pro (at least at hammering nails)

On another project of mine, the strawberries are finally showing their color.  I think in a few days we might be able to taste some of them!  Just in time before I leave the farm.

I’m really feeling spring now.  All the flowers are in bloom and the trees are getting leafy again.  There’s one tree that I pass everyday that I just realized is full of flowers and leaves.  Seasons…who knew?

I also got to go back to Cinque Terra.  After a long hike with a new injury to the good ole knee, I came down to see this view.  The three days of limping was totally worth it (although a bit unnecessary).  I’m glad I got to go back to Cinque Terra though.  It really is one of the most beautiful places in Italy.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

The weather here is either been freezing cold and rainy or beautifully sunny.  For example, there was this hailstorm a few weeks ago.

I’ve seen hail before, but only a few pieces of hail, not a storm.  It was pretty amazing being inside and hearing the loud drops of ice hit the roof.  In the two minutes I went outside to take this picture, I got a good amount of hail in my boots.

The good thing about weather like this though is that we get to stay inside to work.  These are Fukuoka clay balls.  Fukuoka was a Japanese man that developed a specific to cultivate vegetable with the goal of bringing back how nature likes to farm.  The idea is to mix a bunch of different seeds together with clay and compost.  Then we throw them where we want them to grow and what needs to grow will. 

Always after a long stretch of horrible weather, we have really nice weather.  This is the stone path that I have been working on with another American/Danish volunteer.  I hope I get to finish it before I leave. 

Some other outdoor work I got to do was to transplant a bunch of strawberry plants.  This was a good day of walking up and down the hill, bring the plants to their new homes on the permaculture mounds. 

With such great weather, I got a chance to go to Porto Fino on one of my days off.  I made some friends who live in the city of Chiavari, so they took me around the area.  I guess Porto Fino is pretty famous (although I haven’t heard about it until then), with the rich of the rich inhabiting the fisherman town.  It was pretty beautiful.

Now that it is spring, everything is starting to grow, including the insects.  I’ve been noticing an increase in months. 

For the last two weeks there were three other volunteers here, besides myself and an Israeli family.  The mom and son are from Denmark, but have been living in the States for the last 10 years, and have been traveling with the mom’s boyfriend for the last three months.  They left the farm a few days ago and we had a really nice dinner and send off for them. 

Ok, kind of a scrambled post, but I finally got to put up some pics.  More to come soon!

Catch-Me_up

Hey all, just a quick update. I couldn’t find the time on my last day off to post a blog so no pictures this time. Things are going well though. We had some really nice weather for a few days, but now its back to rain, wind and hail. Hopefully it will be nice nicer tomorrow.
In the past two weeks I’ve been doing a lot. Sowing a bunch of vegetables (which hopefully didn’t get washed away by the rain), transplanting strawberries, making Fukuoka clay balls with seeds inside and a bunch of random tasks. My big project however has been building a stone path. Things were going great when we had nice weather, but the past four days of rain has put it to the test and the soil, that didn’t get a chance to properly dry, is slowly turning to mud. So now, there’s a bunch of the path to finish and to fix. It’s good work though.
Alright, I’ll post pictures soon!

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!

Moving

Just a quick update.  I'm leaving this current farm and going up north to Chiavari, a town near the coastal Genova.  This farm was great and I loved working with the animals, but I'm ready to learn about cultivating some vegetables and really getting to know the farmers.  Hopefully I'll be able to post soon after arriving at the new farm.  

Here's a look at the past few days.

This is Marco's accommodations.  Marco takes care of all the animals and has become one of my favorite people on the farm.  He's just a mellow guy who keeps his calm even when half the goats have run away to the olive grove and the others, with the kids, have followed the sheep into the stable.  I think this wooden house fits him perfectly.  

Most of the kids have been born.  It's amazing how fast they grow.  Two weeks ago they were just born and learning how to walk.  Now they are running all over the place, hanging out together, and jumping down cliffy slopes.  Yesterday I got to actually watch a birth.  It was pretty incredible to see something enter the world and experience its first minutes. 

The weather has been pretty extreme lately.  One day it will be nice and sunny and I can work in a t-shirt.  Then the next day it will be rainy and windy.  In any case, its still beautiful.

Oh, did I mention it snows too?  I was in the fields with the animals and it started coming down.  Crowding around the goats for warmth I thought "How crazy is it that I'm a shepherd in the south of Toscana and its snowing?"  It was really a cool experience (pun totally intended).  

When I'm at the next farm I will miss the animals.  I have grown attached to them and have enjoyed working with them.  I'm really lucky to have gotten this photo.  She's a tough goat.  

Sono un Pastore ( I am a Shepherd)

I live on a farm.  I’ve been here for just over two weeks and I like it here.  The place is beautiful.  The work is hard.  The food is good and the family is nice.  The farm sits on the top of one of many hills, overlooking a valley of woodland.  In the distance you can see two towns, a dormant volcano and a bunch of isolated farms like ours.  

Here’s the office area/storage space of the farm.  The farm is called Podere Il Casale.

Basically I am a shepherd.  I work with Marco, a mellow animal-lover, and together we take care of the sheep and goats.  My days pretty much surrounds one goal: feed the animals and make sure they make milk.  Cleaning and filling troughs, shoveling hay, bundling olive branches, taking the sheep out to the fields and even hand feeding lambs.  There are about 150 sheep and 40 goats on the farm.  That's a lot of mouths to feed!

During my day these guys get in my way.  Every morning as I'm shoveling hay, they eat exactly where I'm working.  I think they  think I'm there to serve them fresh hay for breakfast.  They are goats who hang out with the sheep because they think they are sheep.  At  first I had negative feelings towards them, but I’ve warmed up to them and I think the feeling is mutual. 

When I first got here there was one other volunteer.  Fisherman Bob, a 65 year old retired Alaskan fisherman with a heart of gold.  He’s one of those people that you are just glad to have met and hope you’ll cross paths with in the future.  He left to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain a week ago. 

During my first week here the sheep started having babies.  These lamb were born the night before I took this picture.  It is a really cook sight to watch something explore the world for the first time.  Since then all the lambs have been born and all but a few kids have been born.  The farm is full of baby animals. (Casey, you'd go nuts!)

Speaking of goats…I’ve come to favor them over the sheep. They are just smarter, more affectionate and (the best part of all) they don’t complain.  Plus they scale rocky slopes - now that's impressive.

On the farm there are a bunch of animals.  Here’s one of the peacocks that loves to show off.  There’s also hens, a donkey, a pony, a duck, a ton of cats, two dogs, the sheep and the goats.  There is always something amusing to see when there are that many animals around. 

Here’s Ben, the watchdog, doing what he does best. 

If any of you have seen Into The Wild, you’ll get this.  This isn’t my accommodation, but I wish it was.  It’s a pretty cool hang out though.

Here’s Marco taking the pony back to its pen.  The sunsets here are amazing with insane colors warming up the Tuscan landscape.  It's a nice way to end my long day.  It's starting to warm up now too, so I can stay out a bit longer to enjoy.

Enough said. 

Chapter Firenze is Closed

Today is my last day in Firenze.  It's strange thinking that its over already, but over the last week I've been gaining closure to this city and am ready for the change.  Its always interesting to me how your view on things changes so drastically when you have a week left in a place.  For me I realized that I'm really connected to this city, but I am ready to live simpler.  

I climbed the Duomo the other day to get a view of Firenze from the center out.  It was breathtaking.

It's just crazy how many amazing things are in this picture.  There's the Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza Santa Croce, the Bargello, San Miniato and Piazzale Michelangelo.  Being up there really gave me good perspective (excuse the pun) on my experience here.  Just seeing Firenze as a whole like that made my time here feel like a big experience, rather than just a bunch of moments

Yesterday I explored Tuscany a bit.  First I went to Lucca, a charming medieval town with a huge wall surround it.  It really had that old feeling to it, with no sidewalks - just paved streets going up to buildings.  I originally went to eat at a specific restaurant for a specific dish, but the restaurant was closed until March 1st and the menu didn't even have the dish I was looking for.  I did however find Baccellato di Lucca, the famous bread from Lucca with raisins and  anise seeds. 
Here's a shot of a Palace from the wall.  The wall is really thick and you can walk on it.

After Lucca I went to Pisa.  I've been there a number of times, but only to its airport.  This time I made it into the city.  Ok, what do you think about when you hear the word PISA.  I'm guessing its something leaning.

Well, so does everyone else, and they all attempt to save the leaning tower from falling over.  

Next to the tower there is a great cathedral.   To my surprise it was very decorative inside and is one to the best cathedrals I've seen in Italy.  There are huge oil paintings lining the walls, nice bronze and marble sculptures, an over-the-top altar and golden ceilings.  

And here's the tower in a mix of cool and warm.  Don't let the slightly sloped grass fool you, the tower is pretty leaned.  

Tomorrow I head for the farm.  I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to post there, but check back once in a while and I'll show you my life on the farm.  Montepulciano in T-minus 12 hours.