Firenze, and on to Chianti

Ciao tutti! It's Monday and Liz and I are about to leave Firenze after two nights here... wonderful, relaxing with no museums but lots of walking, eating, gelato eating, and wine drinking! We are going to drive back to Spannocchia via Chianti, and have more recommendations on wineries, enotecas, and osterias than we could visit in a week... but we will bravely march on and attempt to cover as many as possible!

ciao!

The Baptistry, Duomo, Campanile in Firenze

Firenze Duomo

A wheelbarrow full of vino---who can complain?

Liz arriving at Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station

The barista loved us--evidenced by the hearts in our cappuccini!

Daily market at Saint Ambrogio. Someone wrote about it here: http://www.sitebits.com/2008/mercato-di-sant-ambrogio-08.html

The market at Saint Ambrogio

In Firenze...

Sidewalk wine at I Fratellini in Firenze--you're looking at  almost the entire shop!!

I really am a farmer...

23 luglio

Spannocchia

Time really does fly

I talked to mom, who read this blog, and really had no idea of what I was going to do in Italy. She said I am really a farmer, and I laughed! I am only helping with a little bit of each huge job that makes up this incredible farm...

The castellina and the wood piles

Riccio in the plow, Michael and Haley as we get ready to gather the potatoes

Jeri pushing the cart with newly-harvested thin skinned, creamy potatoes

Newly harvested garlic in bunches, drying in one of the pottery sheds

Jeri and Sheila sorting potatoes in the pottery shed

Andrew and the 500 liter French oak barrel

Erica pouring Toscana vino rosso into the bottler. The tall stack in the background is vino bianco, and the short stack is the vino rosso we bottled earlier in the day.

I last wrote on Monday, the day I was moving into the Fattoria. I like it very much, except (and this is a big except) it does not cool down at night. My old room in Pulcinelli had a door and a window on kitty corner walls, plus a window in the bathroom. This room is beautiful, high wood beam and tile ceilings, an old non-functional fireplace, three twin beds, a large old dresser with tall mirror, a desk and chair, and a row of hooks on the wall. But, only one window which faces the north east, so it gets plenty of afternoon and early evening sun. It’s on the second floor, at the end of a long large hallway, and there is a window on the other side of the hallway about half way down… so it really doesn’t provide much cross ventilation. Allora… I use a fan and try to not wake up too much. I imagine these buildings are both hot in the summer and cold in the winter…

On Tuesday I worked stacking wood in the morning, then in the cantina with wine the rest of the morning and in the afternoon. On Wednesday I stacked wood, harvested potatoes, and weeded the vegetable garden, and didn’t work in the afternoon. I did all of these things with different groups of people. Can’t remember if I’ve written this yet, but my schedule since the second week has been two mornings (7-1) and one afternoon (3-5) each week.

It is hard to describe how much wood there is on this property, in stacks and all manner of size and configuration of piles. And, I am sure I have only seen a bit of it. Of the ~1100 acres, most of the land is in forest, and Spannocchia practices sustainable forestry, growing and harvesting wood for sale, and to use on the property. I have heard that the forestry operation is subbed out to another company, but somehow this still leaves plenty of work for staff and volunteers on the farm to move and sort part of that wood. One day on my first week there was a huge truck/trailer on the road from the main road, with a huge load of wood.

On the first floor of the Fattoria there is a “caldaia” which is a big wood burning stove that provides the heat in winter, and hot water year round. I believe it services the Villa, the Fattoria, Pulcinelli, and the houses for the owners and staff that surround the villa, as well as a couple of guest residences in the same area. One of the jobs of the tutto fare interns is to keep the caldaia stoked with wood—it takes logs about 4 feet long.

Working with wood is interesting because it supplies both exercise and feeds my need to organize things. The first morning was a bit chaotic, with many people working, but for only an hour or so. The second morning was better, as I stayed in one place sorting and stacking as others brought wood from another pile. I learned a new word—when you are stacking wood (these logs are aobut 4 feet long) you need something to hold the end of the stack, so you use larger, straighter logs to build a castellina, or little castle. It’s just wood stacked in alternating criss-crossed rows, and is effective like a bookend on the stack.

After wood on Monday I went with the tutto fare, Andrew and Erica (who I had trimmed grapevines with on my first day of work) to the cantina. By the time I got there, they and Angelo the winemaker and vinyard manager had already set up the bottling process. I’ll describe it…

We were bottling the 2007 red table wine, which will be aged in bottle another year before selling. It had been aging in a 500 liter French oak cask—I’m not sure how long it had been in oak. There are a few tall, much larger, stainless steel tanks as well. After we had bottled, Angelo was describing how the wine in oak is stronger because of the way the wine breathes in oak, compared to the way it doesn’t in steel. I am sure he said much more than that, but I didn’t catch the nuance. It was very good, with nice fruit, and I felt very lucky to have a job at 9 am that entitled me to a nice big balloon glass to sip delicious wine! BTW, the glasses that we use for evening wine before and during dinner are those little round wine glasses that you would see in a cheap Italian restaurant. They don’t bring out the best in the wine, but probably discourage people from drinking even more than they do every night.

So, there was a siphon hose set up in the cask, attached to a stick that kept it from going all the way to the bottom to the dregs. The hose went to a filter contraption that had about 10 vertical plastic cells, that each contained a filter, so the wine goes through the whole series of filters, then goes out another hose to the top of the bottling unit. This has a tank on the top that feed into four spring-mounted spouts. You push the bottle up so the spout goes into the bottle, and the bottle sets on a rail. The wine fills the bottle and a sensor (?) tells it it’s full. So, someone stands and removes and replaces bottles, placing the full ones on the table (which sets outside under a tree with three chairs when not in use in the cantina), someone stands on the other side of the table and puts corks in the bottles, and someone else refills the crate of empty bottles from the pallet of bottles, or cleans off the plastic shells that hold the stacked bottles, or takes the bottles from the corker and places on the stack… It was a great way to spend the morning in the cool cantina, with its musty, winey, damp smell, cool, wet, wine covered floors, and brick and rock walls.

In the afternoon Andrew and I cleaned out the French oak barrel, using hot water from the hose to add water, plug, and roll the barrel back and forth on the two rails it was resting on, letting the water swish away the red wine and dregs. We did that 4 times, then left the barrel, hole side down, to dry on the rails.

The afternoon bottling was for use on site, for 7:00 wine on the terrace and at dinner every night. This was the last of the 2005 red table wine, and would not have labels, so the bottles can be cleaned and reused, instead of being used once, transported to who-knows-where, and be recycled. Erica and Andrew filled the wine bottler manually, taking pails of table wine directly from a steel tank from the lower spout, then pouring it into the bottler’s reservoir, then bottling and corking wine.

We then cleaned out the large steel tank, using the hot water hose and using a scrub sponge to clean the dregs from the bottom and the tank fittings. Then hosed down and used a big squeegee mop to clean the floor and send the water to a shallow trough that circles the cantina floor. I also hauled quite a few loads of un-labeled red and white wine to the kitchen storage for on-site use.

After the previous days’ work, I felt pretty fortunate to spend most of the day in the cantina. The following day I would definitely pay my dues!

On Wednesday I spent most of the morning stacking wood and building another castellina. Then, I went with Jeri and Sheila who work in the gardens, and Michael and Haley, the new volunteers who arrived on Monday, to the vegetable garden. Jeri and Sheila had already harvested most of the potatoes with Carmen the week before. There was one more row to harvest, and it was quite a production. Riccio drove a tractor over with a spade like attachment, and started down the row, with the spade pulling up the row of potatoes. We went behind, picking out the potatoes as they were unearthed, with Carmen constantly yelling at Riccio to slow down, “Piano, piano!” and Riccio seemingly not paying one bit of attention. It was a pretty funny event, but hot and exhausting. We then went through with large hoes (I forget their name…) and picked out the remaining potatoes. We spent a few minutes pulling out the green bean plants (fragiolini) that had already been picked, threw them into a compost pile, and went down to the main garden to weed.

Five of us weeded two rows of beds and walkways for an hour or two, split with a good break in the shade, and by the time 1:00 rolled along I could hardly walk up the stairs to the villa—no matter that there were a few flights of stairs to get up to the driveway, but I was entirely bushed. I washed up at the outdoor sink, went to Pulcinelli for lunch, went to my room to put on my bathing suit, took a dip in the pool, and sat out in the shade chugging water for a couple hours. I went around the corner to the pottery sheds to talk to Jeri and Sheila who were sorting the potatoes (big ones, little ones, and ones with the skin not quite intact, or with holes that needed to be used first). I went over to the Fattoria kitchen where the wedding guests had left some beers (Moretti and Peroni) and brought three beers over.  The three of us pretty much agreed that they were the best beers we had ever tasted—Jeri and Sheila were pretty exhausted as well.

Thursday I went to Volterra which was a gorgeous drive through the Val d’Elsa, through Colle di Val d’Elsa, and up and up to Volterra. The Val d’Elasa is just a beautiful valley of farms, farm houses, and where you will look up and see a crenellated tower poking out of the trees… amazing. Volterra is a beautiful, intact, walled city. I went through the Duomo, the Baptistry, and paid 5 E (student rate!) to walk throught the Eutruscan Museum, where I saw an incredible assortment—dozens, and dozens—of carved alibaster funerary urns and other artifacts. Can’t begin to describe it here, so if you’re interested go to the web and I’m sure you will find lots and lots of information.

Today was mostly overcast, with the sun peeking in just enough to remind you how friggin hot it is… But a consistent breeze has kept it reasonable. I have done a lot of school work, some research design reading, and had lunch at Pulcinelli with Michael and Haley. Leftovers of Graziella’s amazing baked meatballs (Spannocchia meat, of course), her ziti with fresh tomato and basil, and braised carrots. Yum:)

Pino came to visit and I gave him the full farm tour… we went through all the common rooms of the Villa, including the chapel which I hadn’t seen before. He is very happy to see me living in the Fattoria instead of Pulcinelli. He said that Liz will be very happy as well. We walked by the pool, by the pottery sheds, then up to pig hill. On Tuesday Julio and Kerry and Molly took a trailer with 37 pigs down to a lower pasture, and on our visit today there was just a couple pigs in one pen, and a mama with her little ones in another. The meadow of mown grass there is so beautiful, and the views and the trees—oh, it’s all just so lovely! We saw Riccio, Julio, and Natalino on the way back down and Pino complemented them all on the work that goes on here. He is so impressed by the incredible work and dedication that goes into not only keeping up the many activities, but in being dedicated to traditional, organic, methods of farming.

Tomorrow Siena, Sunday to Firenze to meet Liz, stay there Sun-Mon nights, and drive back to Spannocchia via the Chianti region on Tuesday. Looking forward to the next few days!

Ciao, tutti!

19 July--the weekly report

19 luglio

Spannocchia

Secret Garden

Wow, it has been a while since writing for my journal, but I have been very busy with farm work, school research, and pure, plain enjoyment!

It’s Monday after lunch—another leftovers creation, but with some improvising with tuna melts since there hasn’t been a regular Villa cena since Friday night… and that was for the wedding party rehearsal dinner for 70, and I joined with the interns and Katie to do the setting up/serving/cleanup. After the cena we went to Katie’s where she made a special dinner for all of us—amazing hand made falafel, hummus, tomato/abergine salad, followed by a movie, which turned out to be an episode of “Family Guy” which I have never seen, which was pretty hilarious, but I doubt I will ever watch it again. I can see how clever it is, but it just doesn’t entertain me that much.

So, on Friday I spent most of the day in Siena, and drove there by going north from Spannocchia through the Val’ d’Elsa. It seems that I have already written about this so I won’t now, but it was a gorgeous drive and I love driving my little car and I love roundabouts! I had no problem driving into Siena, and to the parking lot outside the walls at S. Francesco. I got lots of computer work done, got to say goodbye to Raffaella, which was great, and Pino showed me where to buy the BEST riciorelli in Siena, which I have had before, but never bought, and bought a package for the interns for Saturday night for our pre-opera picnic. Another “only in Italy” moment… the woman asked if I would like them wrapped, and I said yes, and she wrapped the plastic clamshell in lovely paper, put a gold ribbon around it, and sealed it with the store’s gold sticker. Lovely.

Saturday morning was rough… we didn’t finish at Katie’s until sometime after midnight, and the wedding party continued until the wee hours… easily 2 or 3… around the villa and of course around the pool outside my balcony door.

I met Katie and Riccio at 6:40 to load the van and go to Sovicille to the local farmers market—the sabato Mercado. It is held every week at one of the local towns—Sovicille, San Rocco al Pili (sp?), Rosia, and a few other local burbs. It is a fascinating cooperative effort by very dedicated people, including Riccio, his wife Daniela, and Carmen from Spannocchia. Randall and Francesca both talked about it, and support it in some form, not the least by having a Spannocchia stall at the market. It is followed by a lunch prepared by those involved in the market, for which you pay, and it is a number of courses in the community center… I don’t know where it is held in the other towns. I am writing extensively about this market system, most likely contrasting it with the Siena market, so won’t go into details. It is made up of all local, organic vendors. Spannocchia sells only meats, many varieties of our Cinta Sinese products, including proscuitto, many varieties of salumi, lardo, pancetta (thought it has a different name), and something like the guincale (sp) that I am enamored with after my meal at Pasta Bar.

The vendors sell plants (one had numerous varieties of peppers, plus other plants and herbs); meat including pigeon, chicken, and eggs; cheese including ricotta, other soft white cheeses, and pecorino fresca, aged one month, aged two months, and some rounds at various older stages; vegetables and fruits; bread; wine; raw milk, which you get out of a spout on a van; honey; jams; olive oil; and sauces/salsas. There is also a booth that Daniela and Carmen’s plant association staffs with information on using local, traditional plants, vegetables, fruits, etc. They are a great resource and if a person wanted to find out anything about local plants they are the most amazing resource for this area. Last, there was a booth with used books, with many in English, which I heard was unusual.

We arrived as the tents, tables, chairs, and meat/cheese coolers were being brought out of a lower-level large garage/storage area. I jumped in and helped erect the tents, move tables, and haul out chairs. All of this equipment belongs to the commune. The towns/cities are a mix of provence and commune that I don’t really have figured out. We are in the Siena area here, and the towns are the Commune of Sovicille, I think. Anyway, they have this great stock of things to use for public parties, festas, and the farmers market. That is yet another thing that would make fascinating research. I don’t know how much exists, but there is probably some since it is so interesting… Like all of the 17 Contrade in Siena, these small communities have communal space (public space like the piazza), buildings (where we had the lunch after the market), and tables, chairs, tents, coolers, etc, for public events.

It is so socialized in a very, very wonderful way. This is more than just supplying “public space,” and like the melding of secular/religious rituals in everyday life, the public space/private space/religious space is really one. It’s akin to the native American beliefs of not separating people/nature, and is quite contrary to the American way of thinking. Interesting, because with all this public/private/religious melding of ritual and use, my experience is that no one would every consider imposing their religious views on others, nor would they judge or discriminate based on others’ religious views, practices, or customs. Now that’s a huge difference, and one that I would like to explore much more.

Ok, back to the week’s events… I do need to get through this because I am way behind on writing up my research!

On Saturday night we had a really wonderful, once in a lifetime event. The interns decided to go to the opera Don Giovanne, which took place at the abbey of San Galgano. There is no way that I can describe this event in words, so I will do a quick synopsis, and post some pictures. If you are like me and do not go to the opera, check out the opera on the internet—fascinating. I am sure you can see pictures of costumes and sets, and know you can find an overview of the story. As for San Galgano, that is definitely worth a google search. The abbey (Abbezzia di San Galgano) includes an ancient church that no longer has a roof, and it is a magical, breathtaking place to be, much less to be while watching the opera Don Giovvane!

We started out at 6:00 for the opera that began after 9:00 and ended at about 12:30. We packed a big picnic with lots of yummy leftovers, some salumi, cheese, lots of bread, and lots of wine including some Spannocchia white, and a bottle of red (couldn’t figure out the grape) that I bought at the farmers market that is named after cherries, cieliege (sp?), and that has a lovely strong cherry note to it. Erica made fresh lemonade with vodka, which I tasted and it was delicious—like a lemon drop—but I stuck to wine. All but one of the interns went, and I had my first trip in the big, huge, many-seated intern’s van. Andrew drove both ways, and it was less than ½ hour each way. He did a marvelous job.

The interns had made a field trip to the Abbey, so knew where they wanted to picnic… they had the evening really figured out. We spread out a big table cloth—big enough for us all to sit—and ate like princesses and princes. We had watermelon that was probably the best I have ever eaten. I cut it up prior—it was one of those melons that weighs about twice as much as you think it should, and when you first put the knife in it, it splits itself. Do you even remember a melon like that? Also for dessert we had some leftover dessert that Graziella had made—I don’t know its name, but it has a chocolate crust, and has pears and chocolate inside, plus the riciorelli.

The setting was just marvelous, and even though at one point we did have to relocate (seems we were on a portion of the property that is not designated for a picnic—which I found amazing in a country where I thought you could eat or drink anything anywhere) we spent the evening surrounded by fields of sunflowers, soft rolling hills, rows of towering junipers, and the beauty of the ancient San Galgano church. Amazing.

Another “only in Italy” moment… we relocated to an area outside of a bar/gift shop that was on the property, where, of course, you could get a delicious caffe (which I did) or a glass of wine, or another aperitivo, and a light snack. Of course! How amazing that you really can’t go anwhere in this country without a bar. And remember, a “bar” always sells a variety of coffee/sandwiches/snacks, and often its own specialty, like gelato or pizza. Alcohol is available, but is part of a nice mix of food and drink.

Entering the church was so beautiful, and we had seats in the very back row, which was fine… there were probably about 25 rows of seats on the floor, then a custom-fitted set of aluminum bleacher rows that rose to the very back of the church, with molded plastic chairs. It was blissfully cool up there from the start, and got progressively cooler until it was actually sweater temp by the end of the opera. Saturday was probably the hottest day so far—I’m not sure what it got to, but it was predicted to be over 95. That was the first time I felt cool since arriving in Italy, and it was marvelous!

The opera was fascinating, the costumes beautiful, the set just amazing… All of us had a few nodding off moments by the time it ended after midnight, but it was the most wonderful night I can remember in a long time. Back home around 1:30 I was exceptionally tired after getting just a few hours of bad sleep the night before, and amazingly a few of the interns stayed up into the wee hours (ahhh... one of the wonders of youth!).

Sunday was beach day, and Randall and Francesca gave us the best advice on finding a great beach, and a detailed, hand-drawn map to get us there. Molly and Sheila and I went, and since those two had chores in the morning, I got up around 7:30 and put in laundry. Around two hours later the machine miraculously stopped, I hung my wash, and off we went to the beach. Those two bought a small salami from the Spannocchia store, got a few tomatoes and some basil, some cheese one of them had, and some olive bread from the farmers market, and made delicious sandwiches, that we ate immediately upon arriving at the beach around 12:30. The drive was beautiful, a bit over an hour each way, through hills covered with forest, farms, rock houses and castles, hill towns, vineyards… you get the drift… We couldn’t park at the suggested beach, as it was full, but quickly found a place to park, and brought our beach umbrella, two chairs, sandwiches and bags to the public portion of the beach. Like Follonica, there is a very long strech of the beach taken by private use, all with a restaurant, showers, bathrooms, and umbrellas/tables/loung chairs that you can rent. We were self contained, so we were set.

The sea was the best I have ever experienced. After a long shallow stretch, it quickly deepened and became the beautiful blue that you would expect of this part of the Mediterranean. The water was refreshing, but not cold—just perfect. The waves were light and rolling—just enough to keep you bobbing, but not crashing. The sky was blue, with a line of clouds to the north along the edge of the Bay of Follonica. There was a row of boats—not yachts, but normal sized sail boats and a few motor boats, that a couple could live in or use for a weekend. I definitely felt a bit envious, wondering what it would be like to spend time sailing around this part of the world… I think I’d like it.

It was such a beautiful day, and we all spent a lot of time in the water. Each time I would sit or lay down and try to read fell asleep… We left around 6 and came back to Sovicille and had dinner at the restaurant La Campagnia where the interns had eaten a few times before and it was yummy… I had a tallialino con pesce miste (sp?) pasta with mixed seafood in a light red sauce, and their yummy spinach. We all had dessert, and wow—was I tired! Back at Pulcinelli at 11:00 it seemed that everyone else was, too, because everyone was turning in, or else were really, really quiet, and I slept until 7:00.

Today I am moving from Pulcinelli into the Fattoria (with the accent on the penultimate symbol like “pizzaria.” A married couple is arriving today to volunteer for two weeks, and will have my room. I cleaned it up and packed and moved my things to the kitchen of the Farroria, waiting until my new room is cleaned. Nothing will change about my situation here, including my work, helping out, eating lunch at Pulcinelli, except my room. I am looking forward to the Fattoria because the room is large, with two oversized twins and and a regular twin. The bathrooms are shared, but there doesn’t seem to be many people in the Fattoria, so that should be fine. There is a large, fully equipped kitchen, which will be nice, because I will tend to cook a bit more for myself, which I have been missing. I’ll still take my dinners with everyone else at the evening cena, and look forward to that.

Now, to write up my farmer’s market research.
I'm putting pics below with captions...

Ciao, tutti!

The view from our back-row seats at the abbey of San Galgano for  the opera Don Giovanne

Girasole (sunflowers) view from our picnic site at San Galgano

My new room in the Fattoria

A house on the Spannocchia property

At the Sovicille Mercato--all local, organic products. Riccio, me, and Katie. Jeri is on the other side of the counter. The guy next to Katie in the stall next to us is a wwoofer from New York who is working on a sheep (pecorino) dairy.

The Sovicille Mercado setting

At the Sovicille Mercado, in the town's piazza

The last week and weekend plans...

I've gotten behind on journaling since I have been getting work done on my project... finally! Just an update on farm life...
If you are reading this blog and want to see my facebook site, find me there at connietay4@msn.com.
Spannocchia is truly amazing. A few people get a wide variety of work done there, and there is always a rediculous amount of tasks left to do...
Here is my week so far, and my plans for the weekend. (I am in Siena right now, and want to get outside and walk around town, even though it's still sooooo hot!)
Monday: helped take down fencing on the way to pig hill--they are rectangles of rigid fencing, held to rebar with bailing wire. Helped load, then unload at a garden plot in another site on the property. Drove the little electric truck again, which is interesting because it's so dusty you can't see in the mirrors to back up... Helped Carmen, the garden manager, and Jeri and Sheila to put up the fence around the corn, tomatoes, cannellinin beans in a large garden. I'm bad at measurements, but would estimate it's about 1/4 acre.
Tuesday: worked all moring to clean the front of the villa--raking, trimming, sweeping. This has been an ongoing task for many, as there is a wedding this Sat, and everything needs to be cleaned up--and it's overdue spring cleaning time!
Wed: got a ride into Siena from Pino, went to the Wednesday market and got good photo documentation and took notes at the food section. Had a caffe. Went to the car rental and picked up my Renault Twingo. It's cute and new and has lots of pep. Pino insisted on me following him back to Rosia--so sweet, then I went to the Coop (pronounced like chicken "coop") and back to Spannocchia. Did Pizza night (I think I described it in an earlier blog) where there were, oh... about 20 extra pizzas, which the interns will eat for a couple days.
Thurs: Conducted and "unstructured interview" with Randall (Spannocchia owner with his wife Francesca) and Daniela (hospitality manager) about influences on local production, mostly about taxes and subsidies. Very interesting. Unstructured doesn't mean it isn't a real, rigorous interview--just that the interview is allowed to evolve while still focusing on the interviewer's questions. I recorded digitally and took notes for almost an hour. Then spent about 3 hours typing up the transcroption. I am very happy with it, and it provided further questions that I will use for subsequent interviews with other experts.
Dinner was nice--just Katy and the interns and me, as the wedding party went to Siena for the bachelor and bridal parties... they rented vans and a bus to take them in separately.
Fri (today): I drove from Spannocchia to Siena via Colle di Val d'Elsa and Monteriggioni, and made it right to the S.Francesco parking that is outside and below the wall of P. S. Francesco. I did better than I thought I would, and arrived without any wrong turns! I LOVE the roundabouts--they are the coolest traffic design in the world!!
Tonight we are all helping out with dinner, and it is the rehearsal dinner with about 70 people. After, I think Katie is making a special dinner for the interns at her house, followed by a movie. It'll be a late night!
Tomorrow I go to the farmers market with Riccio (the salumeria manager, and more--I haven't worked with him yet) and Katie to sell our products at the local "real" farmers market in Sovicille. I have been told about how it is followed by this amazing lunch that is prepared by people who support the farmers market and local foods, including Daniela and Graziella from Spannocchia. I'll report back... Then to the opera--all of the interns and myself bought tickets for "La Flauta Magica" and it will be held at l'Abbezzia di San Galgano--an ancient monastery near Spannocchia. Another thing I keep hearing about... the opera is held in an ancient building that is now roofless... again, I'll report back, or remind me if I don't!
On Sunday, andiamo al mare! Going to the beach--Katie and some of the interns may join me but if not, I am going anyways... I'm really looking forward to that!
Next week will be full, I'm sure, then I drive to Firenze on 25 July to stay two nights... I'll pick up my great girlfriend Liz at the train station in Firenze after she flies into Roma and takes the train to Firenze. We'll stay in MariaClaudia's studio--the same one I stayed in with Trudy for New Years 2009.
Ciao Tutti!

On the farm and in the kitchen

In Spannocchia's main kitchen. L-R:  Linda (kitchen assistant ), Angelo (winemaker and vinyard manager), Sheila, Erica, Carolina, Kerry, and Molly (interns) and Graziella, the most extrordinary cook, who cooks dinners 5 nights a week. Last night there were only 10 of us, tonight there will be a wedding rehearsal dinner of about 70, and a "normal" night is about 20-25.

This is a lovely garden box... there are quite a few villas scattered about the property and people staying in them can request a garden box of amazing produce--this has green beans, beets, red onions, carrots, basil other herbs, farro, and olive oil... all grown and produced at Spannocchia.

Last Monday I worked on the road to pig hill, taking down wire fencing. Then we brought it here, and I helped Carmen who is the AMAZING garden manager for the entire farm, Sheila, and Jeri (interns) to complete the fence surrounding this garden with corn, tomatoes, green beans. This is just one of numerous vegetable gardens throughout the property.

On Tuesday, me brading garlic. Ok, I wasn't really brading it, Jeri was, but I got pics of both of us at work... I was working right outside, doing a major spring cleaning all along the front of the villa... The garlic was harvested right after I arrived--probably on the 7th or 8th, then laid out in this small cellar to dry, then braided, and then will be stored somewhere...

Thursday at Spannocchia

Ciao tutti! I'm posting from my iPhone because its been a while, and my data plan still has credit that I need to use or lose! I'm finally getting some serious school work done, after fits and starts. Did a great interview today about tax and subsidies for agriculture, and have gone to the public market in Siena twice with lots of design documentation an have a good start in writing that up. This sat I go to the market in Sovicille, where we will sell spannocchia prosciutto, salumi, and other stuff... We don't sell our incredible produce there, but consume it here... It's food heaven-- very basic but always wonderful!

At Spannocchia, even the sink in the work area is beautiful!

So, I am really seeing the difference in real farmers markets, which there are veryfew of, and the many commercial outdoor markets. Still, lots if Italian products, if not strictly local or regional.
It seems to be cooling a bit but still hot! Days are at least 95 with no air conditioning.
I have a car now, a cute little Renault, and will probably go to Siena tomorrow where I may post some pics.
A dopo!

View from the front of the Villa

Another stunning villa setting

Lefover pizzas from Wednesday pizza night on the counter in Pulcinelli. Dinner leftovers always become lunch for the interns and volunteers (which includes me!)

Another great day, and I'm off to Siena!

9 luglio

Today was another great day on the farm… I just love this work! Woke at 6:00 to a gorgeous, fresh, almost cool morning with all my doors and windows open. I could have used more sleep after wakening at 2 or 3 am to the sounds of merriment in the pool that is just across the road behind my second story room. Being high, the sound carries too well and the conversations going on at that time of the night just aren’t that interesting…

My writing bench in the cool, shaded secret garden

I’ve been setting my alarm for 6, since I have been assigned to work from 7 to 1 each of the three days I’ve been here, but I’ve been waking around a quarter to every day. Out of bed, splash my face with some water, put on sunscreen, pull on some shorts and a t-shirt, downstairs to make the huge pot of espresso, pour a cup with a little warm milk, try to eat a little breakfast, back upstairs with my coffee to finish getting my shoes on and out the door to the wall where the interns and volunteers gather to get work assignments each morning.

What a change from my usual routine before work when I’m at home… I can barely make it out of the house in three hours—I’m not exactly sure how that happens, but it involves much more bathing and skincare and hair products! Not to mention the myriad tasks that I do throughout the morning. It is definitely easier living out of a suitcase, but not quite as satisfying.

Fridays are group project day for the interns and I was asked to join in today. The wall where we meet is located behind Pulcinelli, where the work vehicles are kept, and where there are small shops and workrooms, and where there is a small garage where the little electric trucks are parked and recharged. We met with various other workers and managers, and then walked up the steep, narrow road that leads up to the grain processing and storage area, where there are a few pens of Cinta Sienese, or the belted Sienese pigs (maiale), the traditional pigs that the farm uses to make lots and lots of prosciutto and other products (I think I wrote a bit about this in the last day or two). There are various storage and maintenance buildings, and when we arrived there was a maze of old pig pens that aren’t currently being used. The project was to clean the area, and to pull down lots of fencing so that the pens could be reconfigured. The area is thick with trees—lots of oaks and others that I can’t remember—and there was an assortment of various junk—slabs of wood, lumber, old metal roofing, wire fencing around the pens and feed area, and lots and lots of brush, downed trees, and logs along the sides of the roads. We started out by splitting into two areas and cleaning stuff out and piling wood and metal into a big trailer. Then I was asked to go to a pile of small trees and brush and was instructed in the use of a small, curved machete—actually, it’s straight, with a small curved end—and quickly got into cutting branches and piling brush into a large pen that would later be mulched. After a bit of this I was asked to do my originally assigned task—helping Julio to bring the ground feed around to the various pig pens and to some of the cattle. I was surprised at the number of pig feeding areas there are, both up on that hill, and back down on various little roads off of the main road leading from the highway to the tenuta. For most of the time I rode, standing on the steps leading up to the tractor cab, leaning back and holding on to the door and on to the inside handle. The door was open, so I tried to not let it get hung up on branches and such as we drove along. When we got to a pig pen Julio would fill a bag from the silo attached to the back of the tractor, and I was up in the cab pulling the lever to let the feed flow from the silo to the bag. I am sure that if he had a guy intern with him that he would operate the lever and let the guy fill the bags, and I offered to do that but he said no… I got into one pen with smaller pigs to open a chute, but wouldn’t have wanted to get into a pen with the bigger pigs—some are just huge, and I can just imagine getting knocked over—the result would be somewhere between just feeling really stupid, to getting stepped on! But, the interns say that they are really docile, and they pretty much do what you prod them to do. I got to herd some of the little ones into a chute by waving and saying “vai” (go!) loudly… hahaha… Connie’s first day as a pig farmer!!

Anyway, during the pig rounds we also went to the pens where the cattle and the hay and feed for them are… most of the cattle is out grazing, but there were two bulls in pens who are being fattened up for steaks… I tossed hay into their trough with a pitchfork… it sounds so silly describing all this, but it is truly the first time in my life I have done anything like this!!

We went back to the rest of the crew at about 11:30 and I finished off my time with the rest of the interns, cutting and piling shrubs and branches… by 1:00 I was ready for another batch of leftovers—we were still eating pizza as well as the food from last night.

I am not sure if I mentioned this yet, but a highlight for me is wine on the front balcony of the main villa at 7:00, followed by dinner with all the guests and interns, and most of the staff at 7:30. Wine for the evening is Spannocchia's excellent white and red table wines. I have really enjoyed these dinners and have gotten to know some of the group which is a graduate class from University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The class of 8 is lead by Charlie, who has been a volunteer, or wwoofer at Spannocchia for over 6 years. The class is on cultural and food sustainability (I forget the exact name, and don't have Charlie's last name!) so we have a lot to talk about. They are enjoying lots of activities led by Charlie, Spannocchia staff, and others who Charlie knows and has invited to present to the group. They will leave on Monday and I will miss our conversations.

Interns at Dinner (Cena)

Saturday, 10 luglio

Now, I am off to Siena for the weekend. I’ll stay in the P. San Francesco apartment and am really looking forward to being in the city, walking around, cooking my own dinner, having internet access, and just being away from everyone for 2 days. I realize that I am really, really used to being independent, to having my own clean kitchen, and to having the freedom to come and go. I love all the parts of my farm stay, and really love doing the work, but I really miss my independence. Oh, how I would love to have my own house here, either within walking distance to the city and to the train or busses, or with my own little Smart car:)

Ciao, tutti!

First days on the farm

8 luglio

This posting is long, and describes my first couple days at Spannocchia. The Spannocchia.com or .org websites are excellent with loads of information.

My third day at Spannocchia. I slept the best I have since arriving in Italy. I woke, as I did yesterday, at around 5:45 to the sound of cars and trucks and tractors as the workers either arrived, or started their machinery for their daily farm work. It’s not an unpleasant way to wake up because people are calm and quiet, with no yelling, no frenzied pace.

My room has two doors, both of which stay closed during the day to keep out the sun and the heat. Even doors and windows that are shaded are kept closed because it helps to keep the cool in and the heat out. It is a beautiful way to wake up, although somewhat exposed as my room is on the back corner of Pulcinelli which is a main work and maintenance building. One door has a teeny balcony—really just a cut through the 2’ thick stone wall with an iron railing. The other is actually a large window with a 2’ deep window seat faced in brick.

My bathroom faces the back, same as the door, and up until an hour ago the two large windows opened to the driveway and pool with no covering… I found an apron or something—it’s a rectangle of patterned fabric with two long ties—and rigged it up so it would cover the window but still let in light, and still allow me to open the windows.

Spannocchia Doorway

I am sitting in the “secret garden” a beautiful set of terraces with a wall running n/s on the east side. It is very steep here, hence the terraces. The area where I am sitting is surrounded by tall, trees, perfectly spaced, with bare trunks and branches starting about 20-30 feet up, so it’s an open meadow, with great views out to the surrounding hills which I think are part of this Spannocchia land. There is one bench, on which I am sitting, that is the perfect height for typing on computer on lap.

The air is perfect here—still a little hot, but so shaded with a nice breeze. The only sounds are birds, flies, bugs, and other flying things, and cars in the distance on the main road. I just went to visit the main garden—there are more smaller ones on the property—and it is just magnificent. I walked down one row with one of the interns, Sheila, and saw the things that had been planted just today. The gardens supply most—if not all—of the produce for the property and all the guests, interns, residents—tutti! There are dozens of heads of wonderful green leaf lettuce that are ready or almost ready—we have salad with every dinner, and the guests have it for lunch as well. It’s served just lettuce, which you dress with olive oil and vinegar (both produced here) and salt and pepper. There’s not a better salad. The terrace that I walked on was bordered with lavender and sage, and full of butterflies. There was a persimmon tree, tomatoes in a greenhouse below, big, purple onions that are ready to be harvested, row upon row of basil, carrots, leeks, peas, arugula, and more that I can’t think of. Garlic was just harvested and is drying in a low rock building. We’ve been eating small, oblong yellow creamy potatoes, roasted with salt. And throughout the garden are zinnas, mums, roses, more lavender… it’s just a miracle to see it all. Sheila and Jeri are on the garden crew and work every day in some capacity in the food gardens.

Il Orto (the garden--but just a tiny part of it)

There are 8 interns—the youngest 18, and the oldest in their early 20s. I am staying in Pulcinella with them, where we have a communal kitchen, and where they share a few bathrooms. They are 2 to a room on twin beds. I am in the lap of luxury with my very basic room with a double bed, side table, writing table and chair, and built in shelves and drawers—plus my own bath and shower, and a closet.

We eat whatever for breakfast—there is communal food in a cupboard and one refrigerator, then a second fridge for personal food, and each intern has a wooden crate on a shelf for their personal food. We receive all of the dinner leftovers and eat those for lunch—the interns have a schedule where two of them are on lunch duty for a week, and they come in at noon to prepare lunch for the group, while everyone else works until 1:00. Last night was pizza night (that will take a couple paragraphs to explain!) so we had lots of leftover pizza, warmed in the oven, and salad—plus the leftover caffe gelato that graciella—the incredible cook—made for dessert.

This arrangement reminds me of when I was about 21 and Mike and I moved to Angels Camp, where all of the young boatmen and women had a communal house with kitchen. I spent little time there because Mike and I had the stepvan with our little kitchen, and which was parked in a beautiful treed meadow with all the other strange and wonderful hippie vehicles. I remember not really liking the whole communal food/cooking/cleaning thing then, and I must say I am not crazy about it now. I am not very comfortable with the lack of cleanliness, but hope that my system is hardy enough to withstand the change in bacteria… I just hope that nothing really breaks out in this group. I spent so many years working on the river, and all of us were really cognisant about the need for sanitation when you have so many people in close quarters. I’ll try to relax and hope for the best. Now, I want to write down the daily details, then about the work that I am doing.

Everyone eats dinner together. There are guests who are staying in the Villa, which is caty-corner to Pulcinelli, and that looks out to a common driveway and entry. Part of the building is a set of rooms where groups stay—one group at a time—who are here for a workshop or class, or such. These are all listed in the Spannocchia website. There is also a group of rooms that are simpler, where student groups can stay, or individuals can rent rooms—I think there are one or two families there now. They have a kitchen where they can prepare meals.

There are also individual houses, and the people staying in those have the choice of eating with the group for a fee, or not. All of us in Pulcinelli and the Villa, plus various residents, the owners, the education director Katie, eat dinner together each night. First, there is wine on the terrace, which is on the front of the Villa, right around the corner from the main entrance. The front of the villa is gorgeous with a door leading out to staircases on either side, with wisteria and rose vines covering the walls.

We have the excellent Spannocchia table wine—both white and red—each evening and with dinner. The dinners are made completely by this incredible woman, Graciella, who was raised on the property, moved away (I’m not sure how far) and now lives in Rosia which is the closest town, just a few km. away. She makes all the dinners except Saturday when people are on their own. She’s amazing. Last night she let me help her to pat and form the individual pizza dough balls, after she had done the work of mixing it into the most perfect dough, with silky, perfect consistency. She does get help from the interns, but it seems like she does almost all of the work herself.

The kitchen, like ours in Pulcinelli, has all marble counters, with industrial sink, dishwasher, fridge, and with an 8-burner stove. There is a huge marble-topped island in the middle. It is a dream kitchen.

I made my arrangements to stay here by email with Katie, the education director. She has just completed her masters in food culture and communication with the slow food university, has lived in Italy for 1 ½ years, is from Ireland, and is very well versed in the details of Italian food and wine. She is in charge of the interns, and gives classes to them and to the groups that are staying in the Villa, and generally works all day from sun up through dinner, and most likely into the evening at her office. She has given the group staying in the Villa a class on pasta and an olive oil and wine tasting class. She directs the interns regarding their daily work-tasks, although the staff in charge of each area also gives direction.

The interns work about 40 hours a week, but this includes some language classes and other cultural classes in the afternoons. They work very, very hard, and the phrase that I have heard from the beginning is that this wonderful, complex place would not be possible without the interns, volunteers, and woofers over many years. The 8 interns one cohort that is here for 3-months. There are also volunteers who come for 2-week stints, but none are here now. I am a special case, and for that I am thankful—I am here as a visiting scholar, with time for my research and writing and other academic work, but am also volunteering some hours to help pay my board. I am paying a very reasonable rate for my room, and am using my volunteer hours to pay for my board—which is basically the 22 euro per dinner, for 6 nights a week.

I think we are all getting a good deal—me because I get to experience this place and learn about life on a Tuscan farm, and them because I am working 3 mornings a week from 7:00-1:00, and am working my butt off! The interns meet at the low wall behind Pulcinelli every morning, Mon-Fri, at 7:00 am, where they are given their assignments for the morning. They are broken up into 3 or 4 groups—I may be missing one. There are the animali, who look after the cinte sienese—the Sienese banded pigs. Cinta means belt, and these pigs have a brown band around their bellies. They are the traditional pig of the area, and there are 150 of them here now. They are raised, butchered off property, then brought back in two halves to be processed into a variety of products—generally called salumi. I’m not even sure of the variety, but there are prosciutto (the prosciutto aging room must have over 50 hangning right now) salami, pepperoni, lardo (which I haven’t tried) and probably pancetta, and more… I need to see about giancale—that yummy pork product that I tasted in my fava bean and pasta dish at Pasta Bar in Phoenix!

The other crews are the two who work in the gardens, and “tutti fare” which means doing everything, and this is the crew I have worked with yesterday and today.

Yesterday morning I helped Erica to move wine around in the cantina (the cellar where the wine is made and stored) and to bring bottles into the cupboard off of the main kitchen to refill the daily stash. Then, she and Andrew and I went in one of the small electric trucks to Nuovo vineyard—one of four. The vines have been trimmed and trained up to this point, and now they are at the stage where they needed to be trimmed and tied again. Here’s the deal—the vines grow vertically for about 3 feet, then are trained to turn at a sharp right angle, and grow horizontal to the ground. These make up the permanent trunks of the plants. The new growth is trained to grow vertically, to about as high as I can hold my hand up over my head on tiptoes. To do this there are thick, vertical posts of tree trunks or branches along the rows, about 20 feet apart. There are two rows of wire strung from pole to pole—one row at about 3 ½ feet up, and one about 5 ½ feet up. The new growth is trained to grow up in between each set of wires. The grapes grow along the lower level, right at the horizontal trunk area. There are really no grapes above that level. So, the branches grow up, but want to grow in any direction. Erica and Andrew had alreasy been through this vineyard a month ago, and now were on their second pass. Angelo, the Italian winemaker and vineyard manager, has likely been through himself, and I am not sure if there are other workers who work on these vineyards as well. Anyway, the two have been working their way through the rows and there were 7 left to do. We did 2 yesterday.

At this point most of the vines have cleared the first set of wires, so you go through and thread the ones that are outside through the top wires. Then you clip the vines about as high as I can reach. I didn’t have clippers until the very end, so spent most of the morning pushing the vines up and through. Then you clip the lower vines. At the point where the new vines grow from the old trunk there is a lumpy node. There should only be two vines growing out of that node—otherwise there are too many vines and grape clusters. You want to concentrate the clusters, and not let too many grow. There were only a few where a third vine was growing out of the node—most are developed nicely with one or two strong vines.

Then, because these vines have grown past the point of the top row of wires, you go along and use twist-ties to tie the bottom and top rows of wires together at 4 spots between each supporting pole. This helps to stabilize the whole thing, and new vines growing up just hold on with their tendrils, making the long line of vines strong and stable.

It was very beautiful to see the contrast between the rows that had just been trimmed and tied, and the ones that were still ungainly, with vines sticking up and out at all angles, with many going to the ground. We didn’t go out again today, since we were put on the Limonaia cleaning, so I hope to go out again to help with the remaining 5 rows. I imagine that there will be more opportunities, since there are 4 vineyards! I also didn’t have my camera, but might walk down there later just to sit and enjoy the incredible view and the silence of the vineyard.  There are a couple of guest houses there at the edge of the property, and it’s just ridiculously picturesque. I was in shorts and a tank top, so going down one side of the vines I got sun all along my back, and then my front on the other side. By 1:00 the sun was directly overhead, and it was definitely time to go back to P. for lunch. The interns take off from 1:00 to 3:00 with free time, and it’s really needed. It has been very hot—not unseasonably hot for June-July but just darned hot when you are out in full sun.

Today I worked with Erica and Oliver—Erica is an intern, but Oliver isn’t—he is the son of a woman who works here. There is a huge room that is a level down from Pulcinelli and the Villa—there is a narrow staircase that you can’t see until you are on top of it that goes down from the parking area. This building is the Limonaia, which is the place where the lemon and other citrus trees, and any other frost-sensitive plants are stored in the winter. I think that they usually have a lot of windows, more like a conservatory, but am not exactly sure. This is a beautiful space, with a very tall, arched roof. There are two big doors with large windows on either side, and another window that looks out to the valley below. The room was filled with stuff—tables, artists easels, some miscellaneous junk and chairs and stuff… plus four cars that were pulled by one or two animals—horses? Oxen? Donkeys? that seat two people. These carts were pushed out to the large grassy area along the driveway, alongside the Villa. All of the other stuff was loaded up and taken to a storage building (the laboratoria, another huge building with lots of stuff in it, and a caged off area with banks of drawers with seeds? Soil? and where the two washing machines are that we use).

The Limonaia

The limonaia and all of the grounds around the front of the property, and the front of the Villa are getting a good spring cleaning, and a man with a mechanical bucket for tree trimming has been here for two days, trimming all of the tall pines, the junipers, and all of the vines that climb up the buildings—the transformation has been very beautiful. I didn’t notice that anything needed trimming until he would finish with each tree or vine, and it was a really nice
difference.

Tenuta di Spannocchia

We did some work outside, then by 8:00 started whitewashing the Limonaia walls. First we scraped the flaky parts with sandpaper, then we brushed the walls, then we swept, then we cleaned the baseboards so the tape would stick. Then we taped dropcloths, then we whitewashed. The whitewash is a thin paint-like substance that you mix 2:1 with water. You use these big, chunky brushes, and you do more dabbing and smooshing the whitewash into all the crevices and holes than actual painting. It doesn’t cover completely, and we had to go over the parts that had flaked down to the gray plaster a couple times. But when we were finished, all the walls looked really great, and the old, yellowing whitewash had been transformed! We only worked up to the trim at high-arms length, and the manager was deciding if they would come back and do the two semi-circular arcs at either end of the room. I finished up by going around and washing the paint (ours and past painters’!) from the plastic baseboard. Next, the brick floors need to be completely swept, and washed down, and the Limonaia will be ready for the wedding that will take place there a week from Saturday!

It’s 4:40, and I am going to see if the computer (there is one for all interns and guests with no wireless. That’s a bit painful—it wouldn’t be an issue if I were simply relaxing and recreating, but I’m struggling with the lack of internet to do my research. I really want to get on to the ASU library website, and also access some papers from my class websites, but that will have to wait. I am going to go into Siena over the weekend, and stay there Saturday night, so that will give me a chance to get caught up. I’ll be there all day Saturday, returning here Sunday, which works well because everyone is on their own for the weekend, and there is no dinner on Saturday.

Ciao tutti!