Farming in Sicily

I am currently working on a farm outside of Catania, which is on the eastern coast of Sicily. I thought it was hot in Tuscany, but as I got off the train in Catania I realized that Tuscany was practically a winter wonderland. Working on the farm here is really difficult sometimes, but we usually avoid the hottest hours of the day. We wake up at 6 or 7, work until it gets too hot to work anymore (usually happens around 11) and then rest or work inside until the evening. Yesterday, though, I woke up a little late and ended up working into the afternoon - burning wood. Yep, I was in charge of the burn pile, at noon in July in Sicily! I walked into the kitchen after several hours of that, covered in sweat and grime and dust and ash, and the other American WWOOF volunteer looked at me with an expression of complete horror, as if she'd never seen anything so awful in her entire life!

The funny thing is, I felt great. There's something really satisfying about being completely disgusting after a long day of work. If at the end of the day, I still look clean and smell nice, that means I didn't accomplish much!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to come back to work in Berkeley and stop bathing, or start rubbing food all over myself at the end of a work shift to feel like I worked hard. Haha! No, in fact probably the best part of being so incredibly filthy was the feeling of being clean again after a nice, long shower. This farm is less rustic than the one in Grosseto, so I have the opportunity to bathe every once in a while.

The name of the farm here is "Casa delle Acque" which would means "House of the Waters." The reason is that they collect all of their water from the river running down from Mt. Etna. To water the orange and olive orchards, they use an ancient irrigation system - it's over 800 years old! It consists of a network of stone canals which send the water from the river rushing through the orchard. It's really beautiful because since the orange orchard is on a hill, the water cascades down in tiny waterfalls, and forms little rivers leading to each individual tree. It's amazing that without using any hoses or sprinklers, it's possible to water hundreds of orange trees this way, using just the water from the river!

In Grosseto, the family does something similar, in a way. During the winter, they collect rainfall in huge tanks and then use it to water the garden. It's just such an easy way to preserve water and the rainy season in Tuscany gives them enough water to get through the summer. Imagine if everyone in the world collected water from a natural source like they do on these farms!

I wish I had enough time to post pictures of the amazing countryside, to write about everything I'm learning and experiencing, to say all the things I want to say... but I need to get back to work! There's actually no internet on the farm and the closest internet point is in the nearest town of Paternò... an hour-long walk from the farm! Today Caroline and I made the journey for an almond granita (frozen almond milk) but it's getting hotter every day so I might not be able to post again. I love you all, though, and I can't wait to be home... just 2 weeks from today. Every day I feel just a little more excited.

:)

Lightning Speed Update

Working on a farm in Grosseto, that is, Southern Tuscany. Harvesting wheat, which we then use to make flour and then bread in an outdoor wood-burning oven. It's very rustic, no electricity and no running water but a few small solar panels so there's a little bit of light in the evening. Organic vegetable garden and olive grove, and I can't even describe how well I've been eating because it would take hours and I would drool all over the computer.

I haven't showered much (at all) since I've been here. There's a water tank which I can occasionally use to splash myself, but I'm still pretty gross. For example, today I was working not far from a pile of donkey poop and realized that there were more flies on me than on donkey poop. I am trying to convince myself that since donkeys eat mostly hay, their poop can't smell that bad...

The family is amazing. Riccardo and Caterina are the parents, Maya (10), Blu (6) and Lumi (2) are the kids and there are 3 goats, 3 donkeys and a crazy old cat named Chili. We all get along great. There's also another American volunteer named John who has been trading books with me. Right now I'm reading Pinocchio in Italian, whenever I don't know what a word means I just ask Maya. She's my 10-year-old living dictionary.

The work is hard and it's HOT but we take every afternoon off to either laze around in the shade or go to the beach. There's also a (relatively) cool wind coming in over the hills so it's not too bad.

Wish I could write more, but there's no time! Gotta go hit hay with sticks (more on that later)!!