On Friday, I worked all day with Andy on the farm. It was great to finally meet the family he has been living with: Anna, who is German, emanates a quality of calm command, while also seeming easy-going with her always-ready smile and laugh; Dario, who is from Napoli (southern Italy), is always ready to make a joke at the expense of Italians of various "categories," or often at the expense of himself; and Teseo, who is only a year and a half, is at the moment entirely obsessed with Andy. They are in their mid-thirties, but seem like they could be even younger. They met on a farm in Italy in an olive orchard, where they were doing something like WWOOF-ing, working for food and lodging.
Their place is full of good vibes, and it felt quite therapeutic to live there for a few days. Their house is so charming and cozy. About two-hundred years old, It was called 'il circolo' (the circle) during the WWII era, and it was used as a community gathering space. The first television in Montefiascone was housed in this building, and the whole town came to there to watch. They remodeled it, and it is absolutely perfect, if you ask me.
Andy's room is adjacent to the kitchen, and it has sliding glass doors. So there isn't much privacy, and Teseo comes in and out of the room as he pleases, but mostly we enjoy his visits. His favorite activities at the moment are playing guitar with Andy (he calls it lala), racing all around the flagstone floor on his plastic car, and saying Andy's name (An-da) approximately every two seconds, apparently even when Andy is gone all day. When I first got there, he was very shy towards me- every time I looked at him, he would look away, giggling shyly. Then he warmed up to me... Andy may have some competition- the second night he gave me his apple when he wouldn't give it to Andy, and he let me beep the horn on his car, which he never lets Andy do. His favorite words are scarpa (shoe) and gamba (leg). In the first two days of my stay, he learned to take off his shoes before coming onto our mattress- he did it on his own without being told beforehand.
The work, gathering and burning the trimmings from olive tree pruning, was surprisingly enjoyable. The orchard is beautiful, and although there are glimpses of the lake valley through the border vegetation, it feels like a little micro-universe, a protected little pocket of serenity. It felt great to work with my body, instead of sitting all jammed up in a classroom, for a change. They are a little late in pruning their trees, and it is a lot of work, because this orchard was left wild for some years before they recently acquired it and began farming it. So, there is extra pruning to do. Andy and I worked on gathering and burning wood all day, from 9am to 6pm, with a short lunch break. We got lucky two other days, because it was raining- we worked one long afternoon and one long morning. Andy has gotten really good at building "carts", using the larger pieces to cradle the smaller trimming, so that he can drag a large load over to the burning spot.
Three teenage cats kept us company- one was especially sweet and eager for attention. We named her Tesoro (treasure) and contemplated plans to take her home with us. But she seems quite happy to live in the orchard, playing and climbing oilve trees with her brothers. They probably don't get much to eat, and they were boldly going after our lunch as we ate. Dario, who clearly has a soft spot for kitties, fed them some ricotta.
Our lunch was ricotta, which we spread over homemade brown sourdough bread, upon which we drizzled oilve oil. We also had a large omelet with chives, which we split amongst ourselves. I couldn't imagine a more satisfying meal. Another day, the homemade brown sourdough bread was accompanied by a wedge of pecorino and greens braised in olive oil and served with their own cured black olives.
For more insight about life on the farm, check out Andy's blog:
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