More Molinaccio

Working on this farm has been so much fun, but also a lot of work! I've really started to fit in with the family. I feel like the older sister. The think about farming is that there is always so much work to do. It's never over. Since everyone else is working all the time I work a lot of the time too. 

Strawberries for market:

My main task has been turning this:

Into this:

And there are 6.5 rows total. I think I spent 6 hours yesterday on half a row. It's a daunting task, but there are only two rows left!

Ducks and chickens and geese oh my!

The view of the house from the raspberry fields:

A farm in Italy wouldn't be complete without it's very own ruin...

Market day!

Meet Margarita. She is the only survivor of her nest (litter?) due to terrible parenting. The duck who was sitting on the eggs wasn't even related to her (let's think of him as the crazy uncle), and in his excitement he stepped on four of her siblings and crushed them. We were able to rescue three eggs and Margarita. Unfortunately two of the eggs never hatched (they probably got too cold) and tw one that Elisa helped hatch ended up dying. Margarita got her name because of the little white flowers that she loves to eat. She is adorable and loves to chase after anything that moves. Elisa tried to put her back with her parents, and she followed them immediately, but they didn't want anything to do with her. Poor girl. 

Disclaimer: Margarita may or may not be female.

Rose syrup:

One thing that Elisa does is that she makes elderflower syrup (with lemons in it) and this week we experimented with different flowers. The rose syrup was amazing. 

Margarita really likes feet,

And when she gets cold she likes cuddling. 

Other than that, Elisa is a really great cook, we've done some planting, I've learned all kinda of new things (from plants and animals to cleaning and cooking), and I'm having a really great time!

Laurel <3

Il Molinaccio al Rio Chiaro

I arrived at my first farm on a Saturday evening. We had been talking to a man with an 11 year old girl on the train, but said our goodbyes as our stop was called. When we got to the door we pulled and pulled, but it wouldn't open! We saw our host ( Elisa) running after the train as it pulled away from the station. We didn't know what to do. A friendly English couple had just gotten on, and they told us to get off at the next stop and take a train back. We were really lucky. The next train came back just 7 minutes later. The train after that would've left us stranded for three hours. We got back to the station, but Elisa wasn't there. We asked a nice italian woman to call her for us and she said that she would be back at the station in 20 minutes. She would've waited, but she left things a mess at home, and couldn't stay at the station to wait for us.
Since it is an agrotourist farm she had guests the first night. They were a friend of hers (a customer who came back at least once a year), her husband and son, and her brother(?) and his son. The brother and his son were American. That night her friend cooked us a real Italian dinner. It started with bruchetta and wine, and then moved on to a huge plate of spaghetti with red sauce. Everyone was talking in various languages (mostly Italian and English), and laughing. For dessert there was cheese with a ginger spread on top. It was the steriotypical Italian dinner and it was so much fun.
After dinner I chatted with the two boys (both in their late 20s), an archeologist from Naples (Napoli in Italian), and the American who was a fighter pilot, but now teaches a class on electronic warfare for the military and is currently stationed in Las Vegas. Both families left right after breakfast the next morning.

Meet the family I'm staying with:
Elisa:
The mom.
Languages spoken: Italian, German, Spanish and English
She is on the shorter side, with long brown hair, brown eyes and a friendly smile. She's the only one who speaks English, so I work with and talk with her the most.

Christian:
The dad.
Languages spoken: Spanish and Italian
He's tall with dark features. He's Argentinian, and Elisa says he's a polotician, but I think she means activist. He's a voice for the organic farmers of the area, and gives lots of speeches and goes to lots of meetings about it. He'sgh very nice, and even though we don't speak the same language I can tell that he's funny. I've worked with him some. I appreciate how willing he his to try and talk to me even though he can only say a handful of words in English.

Manuel:
Christian's son from a previous relationship (but now calls Elisa his mom)
Languages spoken: Italian, Spanish and some German
Age: 7
Manuel has his father's features with dark eyes and dark crew cut hair. He's tall for 7 and very mature. He's adorable, always wanting to play, and not embarrassed to talk with his hands and eager to learn (especially to learn English words). Although he likes to torment her, he loves his little sister. I played with him for a whole afternoon, with him making up all kinds of little games. He's really creative.
He is also a cancer survivor. About a year and a half ago they found a node (nodule?) on his neck that tested positive for lukemia. He spent all of last year in the hospital, and is now officially cancer free, but they are continuing the home treatment for this year. It's incredible the amount of positive energy he has, especially after all that.

Emelianna:
Christian and Elisa's daughter
Languages spoken: Italian, German and Spanish
Age: 2 1/2
Emelianna is adorable. Blonde hair and brown eyes. She's very tall for her age, and mature. From the amount that she's talking and walking I would've guessed that she was 4. She has an infectious laugh, and the cutest little voice. It took her a couple days to warm up to me, but once the ice was broken she had no trouble playing with me and asking me all kind of questions that I can't answer (mostly because I don't speak Italian...) She loves to come up behind me at dinner (once she's done) and poke my back, then wait for me to turn around and giggle ferociously. She's also picking up some English.

I wish I could post pictures of them, but Elisa asked me not to because of what Christian does.

The first couple days have been a lot of hard work, but they've also been a lot of fun. I've been weeding raspberries, planting peppers and tomatoes, harvesting strawberries, and learning so much from Elisa. She knows a lot about wild plants, and almost every night for dinner she's shown me a different one, we've harvested it and eaten it. She also makes elderflower syrup. The best part about living on a farm is eating what the farm produces, and we do a lot of that.

The farm has chickens, ducks and geese, and all of them have babies. There are also two dogs and a handful of (unfriendly) cats. The weather has been beautiful. Each day is like the perfect summer day back at home, and it hasn't rained yet (although I wouldn't mind if it did). They grow raspberries, strawberries, garlic, potatoes, salad greens, peppers, tomatoes, chickory, leeks, cucumbers, zucchini and probably some other vegetables that I haven't seen yet.

Venice

I've always wanted to go to Venice. It might be because we have a picture from Venice hanging in our bathroom that has always enchanted me. What would it be like to live in a city where the main form of transportation (at least by the locals) was by boat? Venice has been called many things, and as the setting for many murder mysteries has always been shrouded in untold secrets. It has been whispering promises in my tiny little ears ever since I first saw that picture. 

We arrived by train, and through trial and error, and asking people we eventually found our appartment. It was in a part if town that was right next to a couple colleges, and was less touristy than most areas. (Side note: what would it be like to go to college in Venice?!?)

Venice is a maze of tiny streets and canals, but wandering it was fascinating. I set off the second night to do some exploring on my own, and ran into all the cute things that happen. I witnessed a second floor window to window conversation between two older Italian ladies, I saw a girl calling up to her roommate for some item she had left, I saw boatmen mooring their boats and shop owners closing their shops. I wandered down tiny alleyways and alongside big canals. It was exactly what I wanted out of Venice. 

We saw various churches, with famous paintings, and wandered into a couple mini art museums. Venice should really be renamed "the city of bridges."

All in all it was an amazing experience. 

Pisa and Lucca

After Rome we stopped in Pisa on out way to Lucca. We only had a couple hours in Pisa, so I immediately bought a ticket to go up in the tower. It was timed for me to be able to enter at 5:45.

We had some pizza while we were waiting. 

The view from the top was beautiful. 

We ran back to the station and hopped on our train to Lucca. 

I didn't take many pictures of Lucca, but it was a cute little Italian city. It had a wall surrounding it, and cars weren't allowed in the center. The first day in Lucca we wandered the city searching for a supermarket. That took the while morning, but we finally found one. In the afternoon I ran around the top of the wall (where there was a huge walking path, complete with grass, trees and even some ancient ruins!) while grandma and grandpa walked it. They ended up getting lost, so after about an hour alone in the appartment I decided to start dinner and hope they came home. Luckily they arrived just in time for dinner and it all worked out! I've cooked every night since then which I think my grandparents appreciate (plus it means I don't have to do dishes!)

The next day it was raining, but we explored a little more. 

Roma

Rome was a blur of meeting up with my grandparents, seeing all the sites (the coliseum, the pantheon, various churches, etc.)

The most exciting day for me was the day we went to Pompeii.

The beautiful, abandoned city that was buried when Mt. Vesuvius erupted for the first time in quite a while, burying the city and killing those residents who didn't flee. It was hauntingly enchanting, and a very cool glimpse at what life must've been like. 

The next day:

What would a trip to Italy be without food porn?

Next stop: Florence!

So I'd heard of Florence, but I wasn't really sure why. It ended up being a beautiful city, but what it was known for was it's "duomo." This dome, constructed of brisk sits perched atop a large church. This duomo was built before they should've had the technology to build it. The church itself was started well before anyone had any ideas on how to construct the dome! Filippo Brunelleschi, who eventually designed and built the dome wasn't even born when the church was begun. He was a genius. Eventually the church and dome were completed. We climed the tower next to the duomo for a better look. 

The view of the city was breathtaking. 

Catching up

Posting from my tablet has been frustrating, so I downloaded a blogging app. 

Let's see, where was I?

Switzerland!

I'll just post the important stuff: chocolate, James Bond and mountains. 

We were on what they called "the top of Europe," the heighest point in Switzerland and the film location of a James Bond film. It was gorgeous, cold and really bright! It took us three gondola (cable car) rides up to the top, and then we took two down and walked the rest of the way back down to Lauderbrunnen. First we explored a small town (I forgot it's name). Reed ran down while my mom and I walked. It was further than we thought it would be, but it was a good walk. 

On the way out we discovered this in a vending machine:

And to me and Reed's surprise mom agreed to buy us one!

(Turns out it doesn't actually get you high, it's just cannabis flavored. Ew. Why would you want that?)