Today we left Todi and took 3 trains up north to Venice where we will be until the 18th. Before I write about Venice, I am just going to recap the last few days on the farm.
We finished the fence in the olive grove! That was the big project that we, and another HelpXer Anthony, took on during our two week stay. The olive grove was abandoned some time ago, and the terracing is still apparent, but is in some disrepair. Anyway, the fence was finished, although I was mostly pruning olive trees and building garden boxes while the boys were making the fence. We transported the sheep up there... Now the story of the sheep.
Ev and Claudia inherited a semi-wild sheep about 6-7 weeks ago.The sheep was from a neighbor who doesn't maintain the fence and a whole bunch of sheep escaped. Wolf, one of the two very nice German Shepards, decided to go after the loose sheep one day, and got this one and ripped off her wool. She looked pretty silly. So we took her up to the olive grove on Friday. Saturday, the other helper, Anthony took a walk up to the grove and saw that there was something wrong with the sheep. It was laying on its side, not moving when he approached. This sheep is, well, very sheepish, so it was extremely unusual when she didn't move. We all went up there, and realized that she was giving birth to a lamb. Unfortunately, the little lamb didn't make it. It was most likely a still born. A lot of sheep apparently miscarry, and they think this sheep is pretty young, so it's not that unusual... maybe. Remember we were staying with people who where starting a vineyard, they too knew nothing about sheep. It was sad that the lamb didn't make it. It would have been cool to see. By the way, if you don't like the smell of sheep, you won't like the smell of sheep giving birth. Yikes, it gets sheepy.
We had a great last few days with Ev and Claudia and probably would have stayed longer if we didn't have reservations.
Venice is so far really nice. We have a shower with water pressure! It's the small things...
I almost forgot the title of this post. It just so happens that we might have the hardest hotel to find in Venice. It took us two hours to walk from the train station. It should have been about 25 minutes. It was a combo of google maps not giving us the right location, and not being able to find this crazy hotel... Anyway, twice on the street we were consulting our maps when two old dudes asked if we needed help. Their English was great, and they knew instantly the hotel we were talking about. Maybe they were once tour guides? Who knows. They pointed us in the right direction and probably would have taken us to the hotel if we asked. It was very nice of them! The second guy told us it was hard to find. It was nice to get that help, so Thanks to the Old Dudes in Venice!
I will post pictures later. The internets aren't cooperating right now.
15 March 2010
12 March 2010
Pictures Continued
Some more pictures!
Part of a town that got was saved when an earthquake made the other parts of the town fall into the valley. It is an awesome place.
Part of a town that got was saved when an earthquake made the other parts of the town fall into the valley. It is an awesome place.
The only way into the town is the footbridge. No cars are allowed.
A lot of rain means that the grass is really green.
Really, really green. And also very muddy.
This Week's Pictures
I haven't had much time to do post, but here are some pictures that I have taken in Umbria over the past week and a half. I am doing this after a full day of making vegetable boxes out of some pretty heavy stones and an afternoon of wild asparagus hunting in which I got separated from the group, and while they were out searching for me I was busy building a nice warm fire (and getting even dirtier than I was before in the process). The fire is now as warm as I am dirty.
Flowers from a nearby town.
The farm land and surrounding landscape, for the most part, looks like this everywhere. It is beautiful.
The farmland again.
And one more time, just for good measure.
08 March 2010
Farming
Being on a farm keeps you busy. Really busy. So posting while really busy just isn't going to happen that often.
Anyway, we have been here for a week, and it has been really incredible. We have been putting up fences, cutting trees, pruning olive trees, cooking, baking, and taking trips around Todi. We have so far gone to Todi, Monte Castello, Orvietto, Monte Molino, and Civita de Bagno Regio -- an amazing place that I will post pictures of later. I have also been learning how to make risotto and curry, not at the same meal. Curry isn't Italian- this was in case you are an idiot and don't know where curry is from, but when a family is half American and half Italian anything goes. Also Aaron has been learning how to make fires. We have a wood stove - stofa in Italiano - in our room which is the only source of heat. Needless to day, we weren't very good at managing it the first few days and it was around 50 degrees all the time. After a week, we have been able to keep the room in at a comfortable 60 degrees.
I will write more later, but working on a farm has made me absolutely exhausted, so I am off to sleep. Maybe I will be more coherent and have more time tomorrow, but who knows, there is always so much to do in the Italian country side.
Anyway, we have been here for a week, and it has been really incredible. We have been putting up fences, cutting trees, pruning olive trees, cooking, baking, and taking trips around Todi. We have so far gone to Todi, Monte Castello, Orvietto, Monte Molino, and Civita de Bagno Regio -- an amazing place that I will post pictures of later. I have also been learning how to make risotto and curry, not at the same meal. Curry isn't Italian- this was in case you are an idiot and don't know where curry is from, but when a family is half American and half Italian anything goes. Also Aaron has been learning how to make fires. We have a wood stove - stofa in Italiano - in our room which is the only source of heat. Needless to day, we weren't very good at managing it the first few days and it was around 50 degrees all the time. After a week, we have been able to keep the room in at a comfortable 60 degrees.
I will write more later, but working on a farm has made me absolutely exhausted, so I am off to sleep. Maybe I will be more coherent and have more time tomorrow, but who knows, there is always so much to do in the Italian country side.
03 March 2010
Farm in Todi
Hi everyone. We arrived safely at our first farm stay, HelpX
, on Monday night. We are staying with Ev and Claudia and Lorenzo on their farm. It was converted to a farm after being abandoned for quite some time, but now an old towerhouse on the Tiber river serves as their very cool home. They have been refurbishing it from its abandoned state for the last five years. In addition to working on their house they are starting a farm with a vineyard. The food they grow is mostly for their own consumption -- including homemade olive oil and wine. Our main purpose while we are staying here is to help with the planting of new vines for the vineyard, that is currently big enough for a family, but not to produce any wine commercially. Unfortunately, it has been very rainy and we are waiting for the field to dry out before we can start the planting, but never fear, there is no shortage of work to be done. We have put up steaks for a fence for sheep yesterday and pruned a large evergreen today. We also went to the town of Todi where the pictures are from. It is really old and midevil looking, and very nice. It was a nice walk around.
The farmstay basically works like this. We wake up around 7:15ish and get dresses in our already very dirty clothes and eat breakfast. Then it is out between 8:30 and 9 to the daily task. So far it hasn't rained so we have been doing outside work which had been fun; I am enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. Sometimes digging around in the dirt is a lot of fun. Then after we are done we wash up and have lunch, usually around 2 when Lorenzo comes home from school. The lunches are big and delicious. The afternoons are free. On Tuesday Aaron and I helped finish the morning work... neither of us could stop when there was just so little left. Today Claudia and Ev took us and the other HelpXer, Anthony, to Todi this afternoon. We wandered around the town, got some delicious hot chocolate and enjoyed learning the hisoty of the place.
Food: Breakfast is pretty basic. Granola and yogurt, cheese, honey, and tea. Tomorrow I think I am going to try my hand at the coffee machine!
Lunch: It is a big meal. Yesterday it was pasta with a sausage tomato sauce. Today it was potatoes and pork chops. A lot of the vegetables and spices are grown on the farm, as is the olive oil and wine.
Dinner: Vegetable soup, Risotto -- which I learned how to make, and breads and cheeses. We eat pretty late, around 8 and normally sit and talk for a while after dinner, maybe until 9:30 then clean up. Then it is bed time, and I'll tell you, the days are good but tiring. I will be sleeping well here! Also, the bed is way more comfortable than the one in the apartment in Rome, and definitely the hotel in Naples, so that doesn't hurt either.
To sum it up, this has so far been really fun and interesting. The time will fly, so I will try and keep this as updated as possible, and finish the posts from Naples, but I think I am going to need to get to bed early early tonight... I am pretty exhausted.
Hope all is well wherever you are, and thanks for the comments. I've been loving them.
, on Monday night. We are staying with Ev and Claudia and Lorenzo on their farm. It was converted to a farm after being abandoned for quite some time, but now an old towerhouse on the Tiber river serves as their very cool home. They have been refurbishing it from its abandoned state for the last five years. In addition to working on their house they are starting a farm with a vineyard. The food they grow is mostly for their own consumption -- including homemade olive oil and wine. Our main purpose while we are staying here is to help with the planting of new vines for the vineyard, that is currently big enough for a family, but not to produce any wine commercially. Unfortunately, it has been very rainy and we are waiting for the field to dry out before we can start the planting, but never fear, there is no shortage of work to be done. We have put up steaks for a fence for sheep yesterday and pruned a large evergreen today. We also went to the town of Todi where the pictures are from. It is really old and midevil looking, and very nice. It was a nice walk around.The farmstay basically works like this. We wake up around 7:15ish and get dresses in our already very dirty clothes and eat breakfast. Then it is out between 8:30 and 9 to the daily task. So far it hasn't rained so we have been doing outside work which had been fun; I am enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. Sometimes digging around in the dirt is a lot of fun. Then after we are done we wash up and have lunch, usually around 2 when Lorenzo comes home from school. The lunches are big and delicious. The afternoons are free. On Tuesday Aaron and I helped finish the morning work... neither of us could stop when there was just so little left. Today Claudia and Ev took us and the other HelpXer, Anthony, to Todi this afternoon. We wandered around the town, got some delicious hot chocolate and enjoyed learning the hisoty of the place.
Food: Breakfast is pretty basic. Granola and yogurt, cheese, honey, and tea. Tomorrow I think I am going to try my hand at the coffee machine!Lunch: It is a big meal. Yesterday it was pasta with a sausage tomato sauce. Today it was potatoes and pork chops. A lot of the vegetables and spices are grown on the farm, as is the olive oil and wine.
Dinner: Vegetable soup, Risotto -- which I learned how to make, and breads and cheeses. We eat pretty late, around 8 and normally sit and talk for a while after dinner, maybe until 9:30 then clean up. Then it is bed time, and I'll tell you, the days are good but tiring. I will be sleeping well here! Also, the bed is way more comfortable than the one in the apartment in Rome, and definitely the hotel in Naples, so that doesn't hurt either.
To sum it up, this has so far been really fun and interesting. The time will fly, so I will try and keep this as updated as possible, and finish the posts from Naples, but I think I am going to need to get to bed early early tonight... I am pretty exhausted.Hope all is well wherever you are, and thanks for the comments. I've been loving them.
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