Baffi the vampire slayer

Ricardo talking to cinghiale on the cell

Chances are this week will go down in history as the week Ricardo had a creepy moustache.  Or perhaps it will be called the week winter came back, because both of those things happened.  Luckily today he shaved the baffi off and just as quickly, the sun returned.

It was another great week here at Spannocchia.  Finn and I were on lunch duty together, so rather than breaking for lunch at 13:00, we would stop at mezzogiorno and spend an hour cooking pranzo for the interns, WWOOFers (we currently have two who are from Berkeley!), butchering volunteers, and Tom, our resident academic.  The first couple of days Finn and I were ambitious, making cornbread and chili, or pasta and pesto with frittata, and then as the week (and the rain) wore on, we made Allora! soup (everything in the fridge plus vegetables and water).   

Italian lessons are going well and I am making a concerted effort to speak as much as I can with my boss and with everyone else.  It's tough because most people here speak english, and speaking Italian takes a long time to formulate, but once I have formulated a meaningful sentence, it feels pretty excellent.  I've taken it upon myself to learn the past and future tenses, and the imperative, out of necessity.  Luckily Giulio, my boss, speaks English well, and he, Richard and I enjoy teaching each other our mothertongues.  

Fluffly on the left and Hufflepuff on the right, are our two young bulls.  Hufflepuff was born my second weekend here. 

Animali life was laid back this week compared to the blood and gore of last week.  We did a lot of feeding, a lot of mucking around in the rain, and plenty of fence fixing (something I am getting mighty good at).  I'm not sure I have explained the extent to which the wild boar (cinghiale) run the freakin' show over here.  Every night they come prowling around and in the morning--che casino!  What a mess!  They destory fences and feed areas, but because Spannocchia is on a natural preserve, we are unable to put up any truly permanent fence.  So walking the length of the electric fences and fixing them is a daily chore--one that I don't mind in the least.  The pigs are semi-wild, and they get acres upon acres to roam around in.  Some of the pig areas must be a square kilometer at least.  Walking the length of the fences and occasionally fixing them is not unlike taking a hike through the woods.

On Tuesday evening I got to wield a weed whacker and trundle through the forest hefting that piece of machinery.  What a workout!  It was the first job here where I've been truly outside my comfort zone.  Luckily, my supervisor was attentive and helpful with it and even came running after me into the forest when he thought something was wrong.  The people here are nice.

The Cinta Senese pigs are one of the most special things about Spannocchia.  Today I heard Jessica, the intern coordinator, say that of the things we produce, the salumi (the cured meats) are by far the best product.  The olive oil that is made here unfortunately hasn't been enough to meet our demands in the past few years (we have to buy extra) and while the wine is plentiful and decent, it's nothing to write home about.  The salumi however, really really is.  It's delicious and it comes from the darling (ha) pigs that I tend to every day.  The Cinta Senese breed was very close to dying out at the end of the last century, and local farmers and food-eaters have made an effort in the last twenty or so years to revitalize an interest in this heritage breed.  This ancient breed was depicted in a 1339 fresco painted by Lorenzetti called in English "The Allegory of Good and Bad Government".  I had the pleasure of seeing this piece in Siena two weeks ago at the Palazzo Pubblico.

I sure am enjoying my job here, and I wouldn't trade it for any other.  Working with animals means there is always something new, exciting and different to do every day.  I feel like I use my whole brain at work, not just the menial task part.  We are constantly fixing things, using tools, moving pigs, etc.  That being said, when the day is over I am one tired little monkey.

This week I broke a record by conking out at 19:30!  Part of it has to do with the fact that I work pretty damn hard everyday and by evening I am ready for some shut-eye, but the other reason for all this sleep is that I love to be up with the sun.  This morning I woke up late at 6:15 and it was the first time all week that it was light out when I got up.  My usual wake up time has been around 5:30, I strap on my running shoes and suit up in my flannel tux and set off for a few kilometers of cardio.  Today I decided to stop by the Cappanonne cows and feed them during my run, as well as the pigs on that part of the property to make it easier on us later and also to impress my boss.  It's lovely being up that early, hanging with the animals and smelling the fresh poopy air.

Loredonna (our teacher), Tom, Nina and Greta make chocolate salame

Friday is a wild-card day.  We either have group projects or we go on field trips or some other crazy stuff goes down.  Today we did some morning chores from 8:00 til 9:30 and then we had cooking class!!  We made "chocolate salame" a kind of unbaked cookie, ravioli, gnocchi, two different sauces, a fennel salad, and fried artichokes.  It was a blast, and we even got to take a break to eat some 'chokes and drink prosecco halfway through.  As I've said before, life here is TOUGH.

Finn, Catherine, Greta, Sheridan, Me, Nina and Richard..."the interns"

Here's a totally adorbs pic of me and "choochie".  We are actually both called "choochie" and so are all the other interns and all the pigs, as far as I'm concerned.  In Italian "choochie" is spelled "ciucci".

Me and my BFF doing morning chores.  "Sometimes I trust you...and sometimes...I love you"

 Today after our cooking class, we visited a nearby 12th century monastery called San Galgano.  I reserved most of the good pictures for my film camera, but in case you forgot what I look like...