Pigs, pigs and more pigs

Our pigs which are Cinta Senese, a heritage breed from here in Tuscany which was close to going extinct many years ago.  Now Spannocchia breeds and butchers these sweet and delicious animals. 

One of the younger maiali (pigs) with il torre (tower)

It's ya girl!  This picture was taken yesterday when I wasn't covered in la farina e il pig shit

Today was our first day of work, huzzah!  It felt so good to finally get my hands (and every other part of my body) dirty.  We only worked from 8am til 1 because this afternoon we had an Italian lesson.  So Ricardo and I met our supervisor, a young guy named Giulio who grew up in the nearby town and is into all the cool stuff: animal husbandry, mushroom foraging, hunting pheasants (and wild boar), fixing motorcycles and the like.  He is very knowledgeable, efficient and also laidback. 

So this morning we went around and did all the feeding, also some electric fence testing.  Spannocchia has around 200 pigs scattered around their over 1,000 acres.  There are also a dozen cattle and three adorable donkeys.  The pigs are at all different life stages and get fed different amounts according to how old they are and whether or not they have babies (which three of the sows do—one litter is only a week old.  Sono molto carini.) 

L'asini

Me and Floppy

Spannocchia grows and mills its own grain (or at least mills it…), including wheat, oats, barley and farro.  The result is what we call farina, and is closer to flour than the typical grain you may imagine.  And the animals LOVE it.  So Richard and I followed Giulio all around the property in a little white pick-up (my dream car).  Richard doesn’t know how to drive stick, so I get to do all the driving, which is also super fun. 

The whole thing was amazing to be perfectly frank.  All the animals are very docile and their quarters are kept up very nicely.  Giulio speaks English rather well, so we talked about mushrooms and dogs while we worked and he was very patient with us.  I also got to practice my Italian, which isn’t terrible if I do say so myself.  Also it seems all the employees here know to speak to us very slowly—so that helps.

the monestary

Yesterday evening, a couple of other interns and I hiked down to an old, old monestary that is on Spannocchia's property.  I'm not sure HOW old it is (I'll find out tomorrow) but I'm guess that it's 15th century or something ridiculous like that.  On the hike down I saw many wildflowers I'd never seen before, and some that I had.  It's amazing how much beauty there is all around here.

Last night I was on dinner duty with one of the other interns.  It was our job to set up, serve and clean dinner for all the interns, staff and guests.  A group of 15 high schoolers came in last night and another similarly sized group from another high school (both from the States) got here today.  Tonight at dinner will be a little crazy.  While Eliza set the table, it was my job to light fires in two fireplaces in the villa for our guests to enjoy.  Luckily, I have taken on the role as resident fire queen in Pulcinelli (the house we interns inhabit), so I am well practiced in my fire making skills, and within twenty minutes, I had two pretty rocking fires blazing.

inside the monestary