Sterilization and Also Fun Stuff

This week flew by quicker than I knew was possible in a place where everything is supposed to move “piano, piano” or “slowly, slowly”.  Domenica (Sunday) was a lazy day spent mostly hanging around Spannocchia.  It’s amazing the pleasure I take in simple things here, like hanging out the laundry.  “Italians don’t believe in dryers”, I was told upon my arrival.  Despite having brought five pairs of work pants, this still struck a cord of anxiety with me…how will I ever have clean, dry pants?  But allora, the clothesline situation works miraculously well, even in the dewey springtime.  Everything we do here has stood the test of time it seems.

It’s perfectly natural, I would suggest, to compare one’s unknown surroundings to familiar ones.  My first week here, driving through the nearest town, Rosia, I was trying to parse out what makes it different from a little suburban/agricultural town in California or Oregon.  The difference?  People have been living here for 500, 600, 700 years or longer.  It is evident in the architecture which ranges from truly ancient to the more recent installments of attempted look-a-likes.  The result is a hodge-podge of stone buildings—some true beauties, some tacky attempts at authenticity. 

Finn in front of the Fattoria, unloading some alfalfa from il Pickup

That said, Spannocchia is a vision and so are many of the other hilly little towns.  Sunday afternoon we took a visit to a nearby village called Brenna and found the one café where the locals were enjoying a lazy Sunday lunch.  The ragazzi and I had pizza and Campari spritz and took in the sunshine.  That evening Richard and I didn’t get started on evening chores until around 6, so by the time all the animals were fed and put to sleep we had our headlamps on and the full moon was rising in the southeast.  Richard and I sat in the middle of il piano (yes, that word again, this time it means ‘field’) for an hour and shared meaningful conversation, the kind you have with old friends, under the yellow moon.

One of the sows and her piglets, the "Chloes"

covered in farina, holding un secchio

Giulio with some pigs, believe it or not!!!

A restful weekend gave way to a busy week.  Mondays and Thursdays we run around the property and refill all the animal feeders with grain.  Giulio, our fearless leader, drives the tractor with a large grain silo attached to the back.  The grain is pumped out the back of the silo (probably the wrong word for what I’m talking about, which is cone shaped), Richard and I stand at the back holding buckets and say “pronto” (ready) and “basta” (enough).  On Tuesday we ripped up a whole feederia and put it back together in a way that was molto forte.  It was tough physical work, but Richard and I both felt like we did a great job.  Giulio seems to trust us to get shit done right, which is nice.

Wednesday the real fun began.  That’s right folks, I’m talking about castrating pigs!  Little baby boy pigs.  Since the male sterilization is very straightforward and fairly non-invasive, they only receive local anesthetic.  The experience was not pleasant at all.  I had to hold their mouths closed so they didn’t scream.  Giulio quickly and precisely made a small incision in the scrotum, popped out one ball at a time and, using forceps, twisted them off one at a time.  We did a dozen pigs.  It was gross and exhausting, but once each pig was done (it took about 5 minutes per pig), they were running around and playing in the mud.  It’s an unfortunate part of farm life, but by no means a tragedy.

Today we did the girls, seven of them to be exact.  The vet came to help because the females need to go under.  Again, a very small incision is made, this time in their side.  Giulio or the vet would fish around blindly inside the pig until after a minute or so they presented a fallopian tube.  Those were clamped with the forceps and cut off along with the uterus.  They were then sewn up and given some antibiotics.  The process, again, was gross but not tragic.  All in all, I can say I will never be a doctor and I am super glad it’s the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In fun news, I took some great runs this week, and one morning I woke up at 6 and took a long mountain bike through the forest and then watched the sun rise behind Spannocchia.  I've never mountain biked before, but there are many bikes here at Spank and it's so fun to ride around in the crisp morning air before anyone is up.

Sunrise

Presunrise bike 'n' hike