The Farm

Finally, internet!!!


Sorry about the lack of blogs, but travel has it's little inconveniences sometimes. I'll have to write a couple more blogs tomorrow, to cover our amazing trip to Tuscany. But until then, I'll tell you a little bit about this past Wednesday...


One of my... obligations (ha!) here is to complete 130 internship hours, and alot of our professional visits count. But, to log some hours, and because I thought it would be fun, I spent the day on one of Chef Polegri's friends' farm, in the hills outside of Orvieto.

These two fine ladies run a small farm and trattoria (traditional, rustic, casual restaurant) and have a little vineyard as well. They don't speak English... but are quite hospitable and friendly. They open their little dining room (the kitchen is smaller than the kitchens in many houses) for a few hours at lunch and dinner, Monday though Saturday.

After doing a small amount of actual work (raking some twigs and cleaning a few tables) they insisted that we sit down for lunch. This lasagna was awesome, it's just layers of fresh pasta, homemade cheese, and slowly simmered tomato sauce. You can't beat Italian Grandmother's lasagna. We ate with Nonno (Grandpa)... the elderly father who was a bit senile, but adorable. He puttered around having lengthy conversations with their fluffy white cat, who really seemed to enjoy it as much as Nonno. I think the cat was the only one there who understood him... aside from the dog.

That richness was followed by a spectacular platter of fried eggplant, lamb chops, and chicken (rooster, I think). Ah, to be polite, I had finished my lasagna and praised it highly, whilst trying to decline seconds of the pasta, when this second course came out (the Italians don't seem to understand the concept of "full", refusing seconds is tricky business, they may take offense) and despite my complete satiety was really happy for the battered and fried meaty perfection.

To work off lunch, I walked around the farm to visit with the animals. Two other students were there (only the 3 Bachelor's students were interning at the farm) and both were very happy that I knew some Italian, as they knew none! Anyway, both were quite suprised that I knew my way around livestock, I was a bit flabbergasted that the southern boy with the Georgian accent had never been on a farm. Anyway, I took the above picture because I thought the random bottle of Asti on the bench gave it some authenticity.

They raised two breeds of cattle, both for beef. The above breed is a very traditional, native Italian breed. It was used at one point in a breeding program to "re-introduce" the Aurochs into Europe, because of it's very primitive look. These cattle are quite small, however. The one above was young, son his horns hadn't reached their full length. What truly impressed me was thier docility... this was a barn with 20 BULLS in it!! And all of them allowed me to pet them on their noses, and several were quite happy to wrap thier tounges around my arm in greeting.

Another breed, also bulls, I decided to conversate with. They liked me.

Cavalli! The sorrel on the left was a big guy, and super sweet. It felt really, really awesome to spend time with the animals, I couldn't stop smiling the whole time. Later on, because I liked the horses so much, she took me to her friend's place to see his horses, he raised Arabians (Arabi) and an Italian breed I couldn't pronounce. They were quite beautiful, and hot blooded. Once again, I was impressed by the fact that there were no geldings... just stallions! (stallone)

Then she took the farm of a friend that had just moved to Orvieto from Sicily, who raised goats for cheese. His goats all had names! The kid is his son, who was a bit shy around us, but perfectly at home herding the goats around. They had just purchased the farm to renovate, and he promised (insisted) to send some of his cheese to Chef Polegri when it was ready.

Being out in the countryside was absolutely wonderful, it really made me happy to be around the animlas and on a farm again. I love how close the whole community is, everyone does something they're passionate about, and seems to know everyone else around as well.

Tomorrow I'll (attempt to) upload my photos from Tuscany...