SOME FUNNY OBSERVATIONS SOME JUST OBSERVATIONS SAN SALVATORE
No one but no one-no matter the age, young or old, stops at a STOP SIGN.....anywhere...EVER
3 things I wish I brought: skin-so-soft (mosquitos) and oxy clean (to soak stains off clothes)
And a flashlight. With batteries. The one you wear around your forehead.
If the washing machine is not stuffed so full you can't even fit another sock in it-don't start the wash
Every evening the supper is centered around BREAD and what you can put on it
There are AT LEAST 7 recyclable containers at all times...each having a different purpose
We don't eat butter because we don't know what that cow ate that gave that milk
(but smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day is ok)
Only feed the cats once a day so they get hungry enough to catch and eat some geckos
You don't have to be hooked up to cable tv to have to pay for it. Just having a tv warrants paying
CACHI a fruit falling from trees everywhere. English name.....................PERSIMMON
Another fruit that people have a lot of and are giving too much to us of.................QUINCE
Quince butter: after cooking the inedible raw fruit for a long time-It's one of the best things I've
ever tasted.
Many trees full of them now-everywhere-free-so I make juice.........................POMEGRANATES
All children attend school Mon. thru Sat. (yes Saturday)
If you sell your house in the "Red Zone"; area around Vesuvius in Naples, the government will
give you about 40,000 Euro (about $60,000 U.S.) just to get out of there. Vesuvius is always
bubbling and ready to blow! So people sell their houses to their friends. Gov't never checks
Grassano Park about 1 km from here-beautiful-ice cold, crystal clear river from mountain-
always around 40 deg. even in 100 deg. of Summer-there lives many BEAVER RATS!
Look just like a beaver in water-with a rat tail-and bright reddish orange beaver teeth.
Cute
No one has a clothes dryer. Sometimes it takes 3 days for your clothes to dry outside.
Concetta (Francesco's wife) doesn't go out very much. She always says she has to wash her
baby-Fabio(5). "Francesco, where is Concetta?" "Washing the baby". Too funny
You order a prosciutto cotto panini, you get a very fresh roll with ONE slice of meat-that's it!
No mayo, no lettuce or cheese or pickle. I went to the store and got just enough meat, cheese,
rolls and olive mix to put together 2 paninis. Gave one to MAX (12 and always hungry)
All he could say was:
WOOOOOOWWWW!! THANKS!!! He'd never eaten or seen a grinder before.
When I, on the one speed, approach a certain house on the way to Telese, 4 little, tiny dogs
see me coming. They crouch down so I can hardly see them, then as I go by, come racing
out at me barking like crazy. I almost ran one over (by accident). It's right near the 2000 yr.
old Roman spa that is so overgrown with trees and plants you can hardly see what it used to be.
As soon as I empty the water dish in the chicken house each morning, the duck who lives with the chickens goes and drinks the very dirty, muddy water and the rooster stands in the clean water.
For more one-liners, go to the Carovigno One-liners
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Many, Many, Many jars of sugo
Sept. 26th 2012
We received 7 bins of Roma tomatoes the other day. I don't know if we traded stuff for them or what but they just appeared and I was told on Tuesday at 3 p.m. we would start making sauce (sugo) and peeled tomatoes. This is not something I would think to START in the afternoon as late as 3. So Maria Pia started cleaning the tomatoes after Italo sorted the "perfect for peeling" from the the not so perfect for sauce. What we do is after cutting up the tomatoes (in half) and cooking them, we put them through this machine that separates the pulp from the skin and seeds. Just exactly like the machine Dora used in Battaglia. Only this machine here was much newer with some plastic parts. The older one in Battaglia was all metal. The sauce comes out perfectly smooth in just the right consistency for pouring into the jars. Then we fill the 1 liter jars 1/4 full with sauce. Meanwhile Italo is putting a large amount of the 'perfect' tomatoes into the biggest pot of boiling water you could imagine. The pot covered the whole cooktop of our stove. Then after they boiled for a few minutes he scooped them out and put them into the two sinks filled with cold water. Then I had to removed the skins which came off quite easily. these peeled tomatoes is what went into the 1/4 filled jars. Caps were put on tightly and when done put into more really big pots to boil for about an hour with towels securing them in place so they couldn't move After many hours of back breaking work and wet from head to toe, we were done. This is not something I'd want to do again. At least not right away.
We ended up with 132 liters (quarts) of SUGO!! Many will be sold. Rest for the family.
Also a carefully measured amount of salt was added.
We received 7 bins of Roma tomatoes the other day. I don't know if we traded stuff for them or what but they just appeared and I was told on Tuesday at 3 p.m. we would start making sauce (sugo) and peeled tomatoes. This is not something I would think to START in the afternoon as late as 3. So Maria Pia started cleaning the tomatoes after Italo sorted the "perfect for peeling" from the the not so perfect for sauce. What we do is after cutting up the tomatoes (in half) and cooking them, we put them through this machine that separates the pulp from the skin and seeds. Just exactly like the machine Dora used in Battaglia. Only this machine here was much newer with some plastic parts. The older one in Battaglia was all metal. The sauce comes out perfectly smooth in just the right consistency for pouring into the jars. Then we fill the 1 liter jars 1/4 full with sauce. Meanwhile Italo is putting a large amount of the 'perfect' tomatoes into the biggest pot of boiling water you could imagine. The pot covered the whole cooktop of our stove. Then after they boiled for a few minutes he scooped them out and put them into the two sinks filled with cold water. Then I had to removed the skins which came off quite easily. these peeled tomatoes is what went into the 1/4 filled jars. Caps were put on tightly and when done put into more really big pots to boil for about an hour with towels securing them in place so they couldn't move After many hours of back breaking work and wet from head to toe, we were done. This is not something I'd want to do again. At least not right away.
We ended up with 132 liters (quarts) of SUGO!! Many will be sold. Rest for the family.
Also a carefully measured amount of salt was added.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Picking of the grapes
September 22nd 2012
Francesco and his wife (Concerta), son Fabio(5) and daughter Allisia(8) are friends of Maria Pia and live down the road a bit on a farm with grapes. Concerta's mom, Maria (72) lives with them and is from Sardinia. Francesco's parents live next door to them.
So I went to help with the grape harvest. They have about 1200 vines. Several friends and family showed up early to help. It was easy enough to use clippers and cut each bunch off the vine and put them in a blue colored plastic bin. Each bin ends up weighing about 75 lbs. (35 Kilo). Then when there were about 20 or so bins filled, I got to drive the tractor while Francesco and Jonathan lifted and emptied each bin into the trailer and brought back to the house for emptying into a larger trailer and driven to Solopaca to be made into wine.
Meanwhile back at the house the moms made lunch for everyone. And by 1 p.m. we were very ready to take a much needed break and to eat. We did get served espresso and an unsweetened little baked good from Concerta after about the first hour picking. The name of this very popular crunchy bread is TARALLI. It's shaped into a circle and tastea like nothing more than bread. Nice.
The first trip with grapes to Solopaca weighed in at about 3200Kilos or about 7000 lbs. of grapes.
We all sat down at one long table in Francesco's parents house and were served pasta with tuna and black olives in sauce. After looking around I thought that this was all we were having for lunch . Jonathan ate his normal DOUBLE helping also thinking that this was lunch. Then they brought out the casserole dishes of eggplant and peppers, broccoli rabe and fried peppers and baskets of bread (and wine of course). And then they took my bowl and filled it with fried potatoes and sausages. By the time I was done all I wanted to do was take a nap. It was all very tasty but way too much food for one meal. I laid down in the grass for about 20 minutes before heading back to cut more grapes. By the time we were all finished, I couldn't wait to get back on my bike, ride home, take a much needed shower and get a second wind.
But before finishing with the grapes, shortly after we started back after lunch, Francesco's uncle, Michael, started singing! I thought "This day just can't get any better!". He and I were partners in picking so he was right next to me singing in Italian with a voice that should be recorded. His singing made my aching back not matter so much.
And then to top it all off, Francesco announced that he was taking me and Jonathan out for pizza for supper. We went to another amazing town of Cerrato. Must go back in daylight hours. Really beautiful even in the dark. The pizza was made (of course) in a wood fired oven off to the side as part of the dining room. Place was packed. Pizza was awesome!
All together we picked about 7000 lbs. of grapes
Another wonderful day of hard work, charming people and delicious food.
Porcini festival in the town of Cusano all next week. Must find a way to get there.
Francesco and his wife (Concerta), son Fabio(5) and daughter Allisia(8) are friends of Maria Pia and live down the road a bit on a farm with grapes. Concerta's mom, Maria (72) lives with them and is from Sardinia. Francesco's parents live next door to them.
So I went to help with the grape harvest. They have about 1200 vines. Several friends and family showed up early to help. It was easy enough to use clippers and cut each bunch off the vine and put them in a blue colored plastic bin. Each bin ends up weighing about 75 lbs. (35 Kilo). Then when there were about 20 or so bins filled, I got to drive the tractor while Francesco and Jonathan lifted and emptied each bin into the trailer and brought back to the house for emptying into a larger trailer and driven to Solopaca to be made into wine.
Meanwhile back at the house the moms made lunch for everyone. And by 1 p.m. we were very ready to take a much needed break and to eat. We did get served espresso and an unsweetened little baked good from Concerta after about the first hour picking. The name of this very popular crunchy bread is TARALLI. It's shaped into a circle and tastea like nothing more than bread. Nice.
The first trip with grapes to Solopaca weighed in at about 3200Kilos or about 7000 lbs. of grapes.
We all sat down at one long table in Francesco's parents house and were served pasta with tuna and black olives in sauce. After looking around I thought that this was all we were having for lunch . Jonathan ate his normal DOUBLE helping also thinking that this was lunch. Then they brought out the casserole dishes of eggplant and peppers, broccoli rabe and fried peppers and baskets of bread (and wine of course). And then they took my bowl and filled it with fried potatoes and sausages. By the time I was done all I wanted to do was take a nap. It was all very tasty but way too much food for one meal. I laid down in the grass for about 20 minutes before heading back to cut more grapes. By the time we were all finished, I couldn't wait to get back on my bike, ride home, take a much needed shower and get a second wind.
But before finishing with the grapes, shortly after we started back after lunch, Francesco's uncle, Michael, started singing! I thought "This day just can't get any better!". He and I were partners in picking so he was right next to me singing in Italian with a voice that should be recorded. His singing made my aching back not matter so much.
And then to top it all off, Francesco announced that he was taking me and Jonathan out for pizza for supper. We went to another amazing town of Cerrato. Must go back in daylight hours. Really beautiful even in the dark. The pizza was made (of course) in a wood fired oven off to the side as part of the dining room. Place was packed. Pizza was awesome!
All together we picked about 7000 lbs. of grapes
Another wonderful day of hard work, charming people and delicious food.
Porcini festival in the town of Cusano all next week. Must find a way to get there.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Hair Salon Tuesday Sept. 18th
Nine weeks of hair growth, all white, and I just had to get back to being a brunette. Maria Pia took me to her favorite place in Telese. She was staying to have her hair done too. When her friend Sylvio heard we were going, he said he wanted to go too. We had an appointment. He just walked in, got right in and said he was staying to 'gossip'. We were there 2 1/2 hrs. and he stayed long after his minimal hair was washed and trimmed. He knew everyone and everyone was pleased to see him and talk.
I had a total of 4 guys work on my hair. First one put the color in and waited. The second one washed, messaged and messaged some more, conditioned and rinsed and messaged more. It was wonderful. The person washing your hair stands behind you as you lay back with head in sink. So much easier than standing over you and washing. Then the owner who was 1 of 2 who did all the hair cutting in the whole place came and cut my hair a few inches shorter than it was. Then the guy who does all the blow drying came and did that. 2 1/2 hrs. later I left with brown hair again and looking quite nice. It cost 1/3 the price for the same thing done in Ct. I was pleased.
I had a total of 4 guys work on my hair. First one put the color in and waited. The second one washed, messaged and messaged some more, conditioned and rinsed and messaged more. It was wonderful. The person washing your hair stands behind you as you lay back with head in sink. So much easier than standing over you and washing. Then the owner who was 1 of 2 who did all the hair cutting in the whole place came and cut my hair a few inches shorter than it was. Then the guy who does all the blow drying came and did that. 2 1/2 hrs. later I left with brown hair again and looking quite nice. It cost 1/3 the price for the same thing done in Ct. I was pleased.
Guardia
Sept. 16th Sunday
Whenever I would tell someone I wanted to go to Guardia by bike they would say "Oh Guardia is so beautiful but don't go by bike. It's all uphill". Well I still, for whatever reason I don't know, have to set these challenges up for myself. I guess it makes me feel good that I am not giving in to the age thing. So on my one speed bike me and Jonathan set out to Guardia after getting a lunch invitation from Maria Pia's friend, Marilina an English teacher from Guardia. We'll always accept an invitation to eat at someone's house.
There were hills and then there were bigger hills. I had to walk part of the way pulling the one speed through a few small towns and many vineyards. One town actually meant city of wine. I drank all the water I had brought. Found a stream, filled up my water bottle from it, drank some, then Jonathan said "I wouldn't drink any ground water in Italy". Oh well. I'm fine and it tasted good. But not as good as the cluster of grapes I snagged and ate to quench my thirst. All the grapes in the Benevento area are at their peak and ready to be picked. I'm just now seeing trucks and tractors pulling trailers overloaded with grapes going down the streets.
So as we got to Marilina's house I discovered I had a flat tire. She said she'd bring me home-no problem. It was about 10Km (13 miles) so walking was not what I wanted to have to do.
For lunch we had some kind of beef stew cooked in tomatoes, big flat pasta rings with sauce, rabbit cooked in tomato sauce, sausages and salad. The meats were cooked in tomato sauce that Marilina bought from Maria Pia. Sauce I probably helped to make. After lunch Marilina brought me and Jonathan a couple of miles up some more hills to the center of the town so we could walk around, take pictures and would pick us up in an hour to take ME back home. Jonathan wanted to go further on his bike to the next town.
The town of Guardia was built around this huge castle which now is at least half abandoned and the other half has been turned into apartments. The abandoned apartments were all open and looked like no one had been there for at least 50 years. And many had VENDISI on the door. FOR SALE. Guardia was on House Hunter International recently because of the amount of places for sale for around 10,000Euro.
As I had mentioned before, Clair bought one and was still in the process of finishing it when it was filmed and shown on tv. The castle was filled with really narrow alleyways, all stone and the few places that were lived in were nicely decorated with flower pots and window boxes filled with flowers. It took all of the hour we had to walk down to almost the bottom and around a few corners and then find our way back up to where we were getting picked up. I definitely want to go back and spend a whole day exploring more of Guardia.
P.S. Jonathan went on further, got a flat himself and walked home with his bike. It was about 25 miles and he got home about 1 a.m.
Whenever I would tell someone I wanted to go to Guardia by bike they would say "Oh Guardia is so beautiful but don't go by bike. It's all uphill". Well I still, for whatever reason I don't know, have to set these challenges up for myself. I guess it makes me feel good that I am not giving in to the age thing. So on my one speed bike me and Jonathan set out to Guardia after getting a lunch invitation from Maria Pia's friend, Marilina an English teacher from Guardia. We'll always accept an invitation to eat at someone's house.
There were hills and then there were bigger hills. I had to walk part of the way pulling the one speed through a few small towns and many vineyards. One town actually meant city of wine. I drank all the water I had brought. Found a stream, filled up my water bottle from it, drank some, then Jonathan said "I wouldn't drink any ground water in Italy". Oh well. I'm fine and it tasted good. But not as good as the cluster of grapes I snagged and ate to quench my thirst. All the grapes in the Benevento area are at their peak and ready to be picked. I'm just now seeing trucks and tractors pulling trailers overloaded with grapes going down the streets.
So as we got to Marilina's house I discovered I had a flat tire. She said she'd bring me home-no problem. It was about 10Km (13 miles) so walking was not what I wanted to have to do.
For lunch we had some kind of beef stew cooked in tomatoes, big flat pasta rings with sauce, rabbit cooked in tomato sauce, sausages and salad. The meats were cooked in tomato sauce that Marilina bought from Maria Pia. Sauce I probably helped to make. After lunch Marilina brought me and Jonathan a couple of miles up some more hills to the center of the town so we could walk around, take pictures and would pick us up in an hour to take ME back home. Jonathan wanted to go further on his bike to the next town.
The town of Guardia was built around this huge castle which now is at least half abandoned and the other half has been turned into apartments. The abandoned apartments were all open and looked like no one had been there for at least 50 years. And many had VENDISI on the door. FOR SALE. Guardia was on House Hunter International recently because of the amount of places for sale for around 10,000Euro.
As I had mentioned before, Clair bought one and was still in the process of finishing it when it was filmed and shown on tv. The castle was filled with really narrow alleyways, all stone and the few places that were lived in were nicely decorated with flower pots and window boxes filled with flowers. It took all of the hour we had to walk down to almost the bottom and around a few corners and then find our way back up to where we were getting picked up. I definitely want to go back and spend a whole day exploring more of Guardia.
P.S. Jonathan went on further, got a flat himself and walked home with his bike. It was about 25 miles and he got home about 1 a.m.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Farm Work
Tuesday September 11, 2012
About 90% of what we eat, we grow. We hardly ever buy anything from the grocery store. We do
buy cheese, milk, flour, sugar, coffee but not much else. Tonight for supper we had bread, roasted cherry tomatoes, fried peppers, hummus and salad. Maria Pia traded raw chick peas for use in the hummus and sesame seeds to make the tahini. The lemons we got from her moms tree in town. We usually don't have cheese every day. Actually, not too often at all.
Because today was bread making day and there was no bread for breakfast, we picked figs to eat. Italo's friend always manages to bring a gallon of his wine just in time when the previous gallon is running low. For lunch (our biggest meal) we had linguini with broccoli rabe, tomato flatbread, homemade seitan,(wheat gluten) and tomato salad.
Just when I think we've almost depleted the veggies from the garden, we plant for the next season. Now we are planting a lot of broccoli, onion, fennel and salad greens.
We are constructing a type of greenhouse using bamboo walls for people to go in to read or whatever to get away from the flies. They are horrible right now. Last month mosquitoes were horrible. I wasn't here for that.
I have 2 roommates now. Jonathan (24) from Belgium and Markus (23) from Germany.
Markus is a world traveler. He's working on his civil engineering degree from a university in Germany where college is free. He has been at this farm before but just returned for a week until he flies home to help his uncle build a new house. Then he'll return to college. He wants to build straw houses or ones made from clay. He left here the first time to go to Sicily for a month WWOOFing. He spent a year in Australia working and living in his car that he bought after he got there. He said he really likes sleeping in his car because he always has all his STUFF with him. Interesting person. Speaks English with a heavy German accent.
I went to the market by bike this morning in San Salvatore. They sell everything from used clothes for 1/2 Euro to olives, cheese, fruit and most anything in the line of food even live chicks and quail.
Tomorrow school starts here. Max will be going by bike. Every child has a choice but once you make the decision of how you're getting to school, I think you have to stick to it. If you choose the bus, the parents have to pay. If you choose bike, you can't ride the bus. Max worked many hours today finishing his summer homework.
Almost everything we make to eat caters to Jonathans inability to eat dairy (cow), nuts and chocolate.
I've baked a few things substituting sunflower oil for butter. Not as good but that's what we have to do. Tomorrow I think I will cook with Italo's permission and make potato, chick pea curry with rice.
I'm missing baking every day but I just saw a big basket of green apples in the back room. So maybe I can make an apple cake too. It's very nice of Maria Pia to say we shouldn't have food that Jonathan can't eat. I know he appreciates it.
About 90% of what we eat, we grow. We hardly ever buy anything from the grocery store. We do
buy cheese, milk, flour, sugar, coffee but not much else. Tonight for supper we had bread, roasted cherry tomatoes, fried peppers, hummus and salad. Maria Pia traded raw chick peas for use in the hummus and sesame seeds to make the tahini. The lemons we got from her moms tree in town. We usually don't have cheese every day. Actually, not too often at all.
Because today was bread making day and there was no bread for breakfast, we picked figs to eat. Italo's friend always manages to bring a gallon of his wine just in time when the previous gallon is running low. For lunch (our biggest meal) we had linguini with broccoli rabe, tomato flatbread, homemade seitan,(wheat gluten) and tomato salad.
Just when I think we've almost depleted the veggies from the garden, we plant for the next season. Now we are planting a lot of broccoli, onion, fennel and salad greens.
We are constructing a type of greenhouse using bamboo walls for people to go in to read or whatever to get away from the flies. They are horrible right now. Last month mosquitoes were horrible. I wasn't here for that.
I have 2 roommates now. Jonathan (24) from Belgium and Markus (23) from Germany.
Markus is a world traveler. He's working on his civil engineering degree from a university in Germany where college is free. He has been at this farm before but just returned for a week until he flies home to help his uncle build a new house. Then he'll return to college. He wants to build straw houses or ones made from clay. He left here the first time to go to Sicily for a month WWOOFing. He spent a year in Australia working and living in his car that he bought after he got there. He said he really likes sleeping in his car because he always has all his STUFF with him. Interesting person. Speaks English with a heavy German accent.
I went to the market by bike this morning in San Salvatore. They sell everything from used clothes for 1/2 Euro to olives, cheese, fruit and most anything in the line of food even live chicks and quail.
Tomorrow school starts here. Max will be going by bike. Every child has a choice but once you make the decision of how you're getting to school, I think you have to stick to it. If you choose the bus, the parents have to pay. If you choose bike, you can't ride the bus. Max worked many hours today finishing his summer homework.
Almost everything we make to eat caters to Jonathans inability to eat dairy (cow), nuts and chocolate.
I've baked a few things substituting sunflower oil for butter. Not as good but that's what we have to do. Tomorrow I think I will cook with Italo's permission and make potato, chick pea curry with rice.
I'm missing baking every day but I just saw a big basket of green apples in the back room. So maybe I can make an apple cake too. It's very nice of Maria Pia to say we shouldn't have food that Jonathan can't eat. I know he appreciates it.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
CELEBRATING THE BEGINNING OF THE GRAPE HARVEST
JACO
A friend of Maria Pia's is staying with us for just 2 nights. He is Jaco (18) gorgeous, from Rome and here with his parents whose father is from Solopaca, a neighboring town. Jaco just returned from spending a month with relatives in New Jersey working at a restaurant. His face belongs on the cover of GQ. He went to New Jersey to learn English but when he got to the restaurant, the kitchen was full of Mexicans. So learned a little Spanish instead.
Let's eat
We all went to Solopaca last night at the house where Jaco's father grew up. All the neighbors on the street get together to celebrate the beginning of the grape harvest. Today there will be a parade complete with music and floats.
We all walked in to this house in town, through really big wooden doors into what is now a garage. Many years ago it housed the cow and huge vats of wine. The house is what we would call a condo. There are several attached so not a free standing structure. After going through the garage and up very wide marble stairs we enter the long hallway that leads to the backyard where there are about 26 people all seated at one long table just getting served the appetizer. So we all sat down and ate melon, prosciutto and 4 fried fritters all a little different from each other. 2nd course was fresh fettuccini with white beans in a light tomato broth with a very hot pepper alongside. In case you weren't full enough we then got served baked chicken with roasted potatoes. More melon slices after that with white table grapes and cactus fruit. Then came BABA, cake soaked in rum with gelato and a peach slice. The gelato was vanilla with shaved chocolate. And all through this was sangria, water and white wine. At the very end a champagne toast. Now it was midnight and Jaco's mom asked if I wanted to go to the concert in town. But it was midnight! I wasn't going to be the stick in the mud so said SURE! We all walked up to the main street in Solopaca which is quite long and lined with shops, restaurants and businesses on the street level and apartments on the second. There were many, many people; afterall it was a festival to celebrate the grapes. There was a live band playing a kind of hip hop/pop music and many people dancing everywhere.
It was a very enjoyable evening. Good food, music and very friendly people. It was 2 a.m. and I was still up. But "When in Rome"......
Saturday, September 8, 2012
One week in San Salvatore
September 8th Saturday Random thoughts
I've been here at my second farm with Maria Pia now for 1 week. I'm getting adjusted to new people with different ways of doing almost everything. I am 1 of 2 WWOOFers here so some tasks get done
together and I always have someone to do things with.
Everywhere I go (almost) has to be by bicycle which I don't mind until it gets dark. There are no street lights and not being able to see the holes in the road or the road ending altogether is a little scary. But there are many little villages doable by bike in this area that I will definitely take a day to go to.
Jonathan the other WWOOFer is almost constantly fixing at least one of the 5 bicycles we have here. They're old but if working, work real well. San Salvatore is just about 1 mile from here and if it's not between the hours of 1 and 5 in the afternoon has many shops and places of interest to see.
Last night I went with Maria Pia and Jonathan to Benevento. Very lovely, very big compared to the towns around here. Many, many parts of the city are 2000-3000 yrs. old. The streets are made of these huge stones and the alleyways between the buildings are a little wider than a small car. So walking and avoiding fast moving cars can be very tricky. Jonathan and I went walking around town while Maria Pia sold or traded stuff at the market (which is why we all came in the first place). It's extremely helpful going anywhere with someone who speaks fluent Italian. (Jonathan)
We just got invited to go to a friends house tomorrow to have gnocchi. They live right down the road. So I guess my bike trip to Guardia will be postponed. Guardia is about 18km (15 miles) and was just on House Hunters International. Claire from Scotland was here and is the owner of the property they featured because she bought her house (in need of a lot of work) for 10,000Euro ($13,500). She invited me out there to see her house of which work is not all done. Claire came here because she buys veggies from Maria Pia once a week. She's dating a married man. Enough said about that.
Yesterday was tomato day. All the tomatoes were picked, sorted, washed and the ones that needed to be used right away (bruised or not quite perfect-of which there were many) were cut up and cooked for sauce. That was a back-breaking job; leaning over a sink and cleaning thousands (it seemed like) of little pear shaped 1-1 1/2 " long tomatoes. But it's done and my back still hurts.
For anyone who might think I'm on a vacation-I'M NOT!! I work very hard and my bed is hard and I have only one pillow. I'm used to 3. Showers are short. Hot water is heated by 1 solar panel so runs out quickly.
Hot water is scarce. Because it is heated by solar and can only be used for showers. I have to wash dishes by hand using cold water only. After a couple nights of that, I started heating a large pot of water on the stove and that is ever so much better. The WWOOFers before me didn't do that. I don't know why.
We have a girls and a boys bathroom. Right now the one upstairs (girls) is used by just me and Maria Pia. The guys bathroom is kind of gross.
Every single day we have visitors.
Lunch every day is many hours of preparation by Italo and is treated like a celebration. We usually eat around 1 p.m. Today we had rosemary foccacha, buffalo mozzarella, pizza with just sauce, fried potatoes with peppers and zucchini greens cooked with peppers and potatoes. Kind of a mixed bag but was all very tasty. No one bakes so guess what? I made apricot/peach muffins. Fruit from our orchard. Bottles of water (our own) and wine at each lunch. And sliced tomatoes.
Wherever we go, Maria Pia knows many people. Grocery store, post office, book store, on the street etc. She greets each with the traditional double kiss.
The post office deserves a separate entry. Everywhere in Italy it is used as a bank/post office. Anyone on Social Security, unemployment or any other social assistance gets their money from the post office. They have to show up in person to get it. There's no direct deposit or mailing of the check. You have to always take a number when entering the post office and it is a dreaded trip like going to the DMV in the U.S..
Grocery stores are interesting. Prices seem for many products cheaper than at home. But the minimum wage here is 4Euro (approx. $6). Maria Pia won't buy cheese or meat unless she knows which village it comes from. She say there are some she just won't buy from-not pure or good enough.
But she smokes probably 2 packs of cigarettes a day. I'm definitely getting a lot of second hand smoke
so my short stay for that reason isn't short enough. Everyone smokes. Maria Pia fills her empty already put together with filter cigarettes. Most of the time she smokes part of the filter.
But recycling is done so precisely. I never am exactly sure which bin things should go in. So people care about the environment so, so much but smoke cigarettes like crazy.
I've been here at my second farm with Maria Pia now for 1 week. I'm getting adjusted to new people with different ways of doing almost everything. I am 1 of 2 WWOOFers here so some tasks get done
together and I always have someone to do things with.
Everywhere I go (almost) has to be by bicycle which I don't mind until it gets dark. There are no street lights and not being able to see the holes in the road or the road ending altogether is a little scary. But there are many little villages doable by bike in this area that I will definitely take a day to go to.
Jonathan the other WWOOFer is almost constantly fixing at least one of the 5 bicycles we have here. They're old but if working, work real well. San Salvatore is just about 1 mile from here and if it's not between the hours of 1 and 5 in the afternoon has many shops and places of interest to see.
Last night I went with Maria Pia and Jonathan to Benevento. Very lovely, very big compared to the towns around here. Many, many parts of the city are 2000-3000 yrs. old. The streets are made of these huge stones and the alleyways between the buildings are a little wider than a small car. So walking and avoiding fast moving cars can be very tricky. Jonathan and I went walking around town while Maria Pia sold or traded stuff at the market (which is why we all came in the first place). It's extremely helpful going anywhere with someone who speaks fluent Italian. (Jonathan)
We just got invited to go to a friends house tomorrow to have gnocchi. They live right down the road. So I guess my bike trip to Guardia will be postponed. Guardia is about 18km (15 miles) and was just on House Hunters International. Claire from Scotland was here and is the owner of the property they featured because she bought her house (in need of a lot of work) for 10,000Euro ($13,500). She invited me out there to see her house of which work is not all done. Claire came here because she buys veggies from Maria Pia once a week. She's dating a married man. Enough said about that.
Yesterday was tomato day. All the tomatoes were picked, sorted, washed and the ones that needed to be used right away (bruised or not quite perfect-of which there were many) were cut up and cooked for sauce. That was a back-breaking job; leaning over a sink and cleaning thousands (it seemed like) of little pear shaped 1-1 1/2 " long tomatoes. But it's done and my back still hurts.
For anyone who might think I'm on a vacation-I'M NOT!! I work very hard and my bed is hard and I have only one pillow. I'm used to 3. Showers are short. Hot water is heated by 1 solar panel so runs out quickly.
Hot water is scarce. Because it is heated by solar and can only be used for showers. I have to wash dishes by hand using cold water only. After a couple nights of that, I started heating a large pot of water on the stove and that is ever so much better. The WWOOFers before me didn't do that. I don't know why.
We have a girls and a boys bathroom. Right now the one upstairs (girls) is used by just me and Maria Pia. The guys bathroom is kind of gross.
Every single day we have visitors.
Lunch every day is many hours of preparation by Italo and is treated like a celebration. We usually eat around 1 p.m. Today we had rosemary foccacha, buffalo mozzarella, pizza with just sauce, fried potatoes with peppers and zucchini greens cooked with peppers and potatoes. Kind of a mixed bag but was all very tasty. No one bakes so guess what? I made apricot/peach muffins. Fruit from our orchard. Bottles of water (our own) and wine at each lunch. And sliced tomatoes.
Wherever we go, Maria Pia knows many people. Grocery store, post office, book store, on the street etc. She greets each with the traditional double kiss.
The post office deserves a separate entry. Everywhere in Italy it is used as a bank/post office. Anyone on Social Security, unemployment or any other social assistance gets their money from the post office. They have to show up in person to get it. There's no direct deposit or mailing of the check. You have to always take a number when entering the post office and it is a dreaded trip like going to the DMV in the U.S..
Grocery stores are interesting. Prices seem for many products cheaper than at home. But the minimum wage here is 4Euro (approx. $6). Maria Pia won't buy cheese or meat unless she knows which village it comes from. She say there are some she just won't buy from-not pure or good enough.
But she smokes probably 2 packs of cigarettes a day. I'm definitely getting a lot of second hand smoke
so my short stay for that reason isn't short enough. Everyone smokes. Maria Pia fills her empty already put together with filter cigarettes. Most of the time she smokes part of the filter.
But recycling is done so precisely. I never am exactly sure which bin things should go in. So people care about the environment so, so much but smoke cigarettes like crazy.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
2nd day at 2nd farm
SEPT. 2ND SUNDAY
Didn't get to bed until 2 a.m. this morning. This house and everyone in it like to stay up, drink wine and talk!. Last night we ate dinner at 10 p.m. then went out to town where there was a festival with more food and drink. It's going to be difficult keeping up as I cannot stay in bed past 7 a.m.. This morning they all got up between 9 and 12. Being Sunday and a day off, everyone sleeps as late as they want. I got up and had to listen to all 3 cats outside screaming for food. Couldn't find the food so gave them all milk, Then picked out a bike, went to town and went to church. They told me it was 3km but it was probably just 1 mi. not 2. Really easy ride into town.
Still don't know what to think of my job here. They do a real lot of food prep. From 10 a.m. until we sat down to eat at 2 p.m., Italo, Maria and myself worked in the kitchen preparing lunch. It's now 3:30 and the last dish just got washed and put away. We had 9 for lunch. Aside from the meal prep, Maria and Italo do a lot of putting food up in jars for later. Today while doing lunch we mixed up a bowl of sun dried cherry tomatoes, garlic, anchovies and oil. This will be used in the near future on bread. Italo made meatballs for lunch and the green beans I picked this morning and stuffed peppers. The ingredients that went into the meatballs and the stuffed peppers all were hand chopped into little bits. If I was in a hurry I probably would have put them all in the food processor and been done with it. The taste in the end would probably have been the same but they take a lot of pride in working the food not processing it. Stuffed peppers was with bread, tomatoes, onion, celery, basil and anchovies. They like anchovies and so do I. As condiments we had pickled eggplant and some of the sun dried tomato pesto. Dessert was peaches and apricots (both grown here).
After Wednesday there will be just Jonathan (23) from Belgium and myself for WWOOFers. Jonathan is staying the whole month of Sept.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
New Farm Sept 1st
SEPT. 1ST
OMG I'm not sure how to describe this farm that I arrived at today. I can't believe I'll be here for 7 weeks! I know it's still very new but I certainly won't be working like I did at Palazzo Gallotti.
First of all there are 3 other WWOOFers here; two are leaving next week. So there will be just me and Jonathan fromBelgium who is 23 yrs. old. The other 2 WWOOFers are of similar ages. One is Sanni, girl, from Netherlands and a guy who name escapes me is from Denmark. So it's a much younger house. Maria Pia the host is 52. Her ex-partner, Italo (pronounced eetahlo) also 52 is a chef, makes EXCELLENT bread and since I've only had lunch which they all so graciously waited for me to arrive to have, also makes wonderful food in general. They have a very nice, polite and easy to talk to son named Max. For lunch we all sat outside, had homemade (everything is) gnocchi with suco from their (our) tomatoes and the most wonderful bread and cherry (pomidorino) tomato salad, wine and fresh fruit. And we had sautéed eggplant and peppers. Then Italo's friend the wine maker came. With wine. Now Italo works at a pizzeria every Fri. and Sat. night in town (San Salvatore) making pizza. I WILL learn to make really good pizza dough while I'm here. Anyway, he came with wine, I went out to pick up hazelnuts from what had fallen from the tree in front. While doing this, I heard really loud music coming from the house thinking it was Sanni listening to some music. I opened the door to the room where it was coming from and it was Italo and Giuseppe his friend making music using computer generated music and adding to it with a keyboard and vocals. It sounded awesome! So all 3 of us sat there making music and drinking Giuseppe's wine! tonight we are all walking into town to go to a festival to eat, drink and party. Holly cow! This is the exact opposite from where I came. The house is a cement house built by Maria pia's grandfather around the years of 1920 and 1930. It has about a thousand clay pots everywhere, each different and each filled with some flower or plant. There is no order. The place is cluttered and very lived in. Everyone seems to be very content and happy. Nothing uptight. You don't have to clean constantly. But the place could use some straightening up. But no pressure. Tomorrow being Sunday, everyone has off from work. There are 5 bicycles to use whenever you want. Not a 24 speed mountain bike that is perfect. But a one speed that you don't have to worry about getting dirty. The gardens have a very wide variety of veggies including many hot peppers. (yah) Everything they eat is out of the garden and now I get to eat someone else's cooking. How wonderful! I'll have my own room for a few days. Then I'm not sure.
OMG I'm not sure how to describe this farm that I arrived at today. I can't believe I'll be here for 7 weeks! I know it's still very new but I certainly won't be working like I did at Palazzo Gallotti.
First of all there are 3 other WWOOFers here; two are leaving next week. So there will be just me and Jonathan fromBelgium who is 23 yrs. old. The other 2 WWOOFers are of similar ages. One is Sanni, girl, from Netherlands and a guy who name escapes me is from Denmark. So it's a much younger house. Maria Pia the host is 52. Her ex-partner, Italo (pronounced eetahlo) also 52 is a chef, makes EXCELLENT bread and since I've only had lunch which they all so graciously waited for me to arrive to have, also makes wonderful food in general. They have a very nice, polite and easy to talk to son named Max. For lunch we all sat outside, had homemade (everything is) gnocchi with suco from their (our) tomatoes and the most wonderful bread and cherry (pomidorino) tomato salad, wine and fresh fruit. And we had sautéed eggplant and peppers. Then Italo's friend the wine maker came. With wine. Now Italo works at a pizzeria every Fri. and Sat. night in town (San Salvatore) making pizza. I WILL learn to make really good pizza dough while I'm here. Anyway, he came with wine, I went out to pick up hazelnuts from what had fallen from the tree in front. While doing this, I heard really loud music coming from the house thinking it was Sanni listening to some music. I opened the door to the room where it was coming from and it was Italo and Giuseppe his friend making music using computer generated music and adding to it with a keyboard and vocals. It sounded awesome! So all 3 of us sat there making music and drinking Giuseppe's wine! tonight we are all walking into town to go to a festival to eat, drink and party. Holly cow! This is the exact opposite from where I came. The house is a cement house built by Maria pia's grandfather around the years of 1920 and 1930. It has about a thousand clay pots everywhere, each different and each filled with some flower or plant. There is no order. The place is cluttered and very lived in. Everyone seems to be very content and happy. Nothing uptight. You don't have to clean constantly. But the place could use some straightening up. But no pressure. Tomorrow being Sunday, everyone has off from work. There are 5 bicycles to use whenever you want. Not a 24 speed mountain bike that is perfect. But a one speed that you don't have to worry about getting dirty. The gardens have a very wide variety of veggies including many hot peppers. (yah) Everything they eat is out of the garden and now I get to eat someone else's cooking. How wonderful! I'll have my own room for a few days. Then I'm not sure.
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