22 April 2011

Localita il Piano: Week 2

Things on the farm have been going very well.... It's hard work sometimes, but I really enjoy it.

So far, my tasks on the farm have included:

  • Weeding, watering and gathering wild asparagus
  • Digging holes upslope from trees
  • Filling the trailer with manure
  • Filling the holes with the manure
  • Leveling the ground around the grapes in the new vineyard
  • Spreading hay around the grapes (for fertilizer and to prevent weeds from growing up around them)
  • Readying a pasture for the horses
  • Gathering and stacking firewood
  • Helping to set up the irrigation in the vegetable garden
  • Killing red bugs that infest the garden
I'm sure there are some things that I am forgetting.... but that's enough for now. Here's what some of those tasks look like....
Molly leveling the ground in the vineyard
Me breaking into a new bale of hay
Spreading hay in the vineyard
Adolfo taking a load of manure up the hill
A very small portion of firewood... This is just the stuff that was too big to be put in the storage room
I'm staying in the basement, which is actually quite comfortable. There is a kitchen, bathroom, and bed. It's almost like a studio apartment. If only the rat living in it wouldn't eat my hat and shoe laces. Here's what it looks like....
My bed is the messy one on the right
The kitchen (obviously)
When I'm not working (or hanging out in the basement), it's nice to take a walk around the farm....
An olive tree, with the torre above Piedipaterno in the background
Sorba, Jujube, and Gialso seeing what I'm up to
The horses got moved to a new pasture... Gialso had to move in with the goats
It's also nice to go and explore the areas around the farm...

Darcy, Adolfo and Ben showed us around an abandoned castle between the farm and Spoleto.
The castle
Adolfo and Ben
 One day we walked down to this field by the river below the farm...


On another day we took a trip the Vallo di Nera....
Inside la chiesa di san Giovanni
La chiesa di santa Maria
The view from Vallo di Nero: Piedipaterno below and Paterno above.
If it weren't for the hill you could see the farmhouse.
A self portrait
Blood oranges for lunch
Until next time.... whenever that may be. Ciao!

3 comments:

  1. Bellissimo cappello! You're going to want a donkey when you come home. That's cool, Leo would enjoy a friend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We sit and wonder aloud, "What do you think Nick's doing on the farm?" Nice to see it in photographs. You are making some incredible memories. Good for you. Enjoy the adventure.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That donkey is so cute. I want one. The farm looks lovely. Ciao!

    ReplyDelete