I realize I’ve been absent nearly 3 weeks and for the entirety of my Italian WWOOFing adventure thus far. It’s been long days without much of a break. I’m mostly enjoying the work, but enjoying more being a part of the family, who are already experienced with volunteers like myself.
I’ve done a brief summer of each day thus far, and none have even remotely been the same. I’ll do my best to continue this, especially now that I’m caught up.
Day 1 – Tuesday, June 7
Left Spain, crying. Got into Pisa and then Florence quite late and without much appetite.
Day 2 – Wednesday, June 8
Took a stroll around Florence before catching my train to Bologna. I walked all the way to the old bridge, passing the Duomo, and remember exactly why I still think it’s the most beautiful city that I’ve ever seen. Made my way to Bologna and got on the next bus to pass the farm. Missed my stop, caught the bus going back the other way. Meet Paola (the head of the whole operation), her husband Roberto, and son Gabriele. Then ate pasta, picked cherries with her mom, Mara, and then we all played football before dinner.
Day 3 – Thursday, June 9
Worked with cherries from breakfast until bed, piecing on them throughout the day – they had never tasted so sweet. I noticed the beautiful church bells in that ring through the valley where the house sits. We picked, we separated, we sold. We finished the day with a little bit of gelato.
Day 4 – Friday, June 10
No cherry picking, but helped to make fresh pasta (just cracked the eggs and watched the rest), cherry jam, cakes and cookies. Hand pitting cherries was a seeming endless job, and I was surprised that the red stain washed off in the end (but impossible to clean out under my nails).
Day 5 – Saturday, June 11
The day started out with a torrential downpour, muddying everything thoroughly. I first put on the rain boots to walk around the farm and show the animals (giggling over a little boy frequently sticking in mud and exclaiming “momma mia!”) and then later put on an apron and served a the group of kids and their parents lunch. Then prepped the guesthouse for the kids camp that would start the next day. Got really good at making beds without fitted sheets. There were a few karaoke breaks in between everything, of course.
Day 6 – Sunday, June 12
Still rising earlier than the family and it sort of catches up with me when picking cherries. This is partially remedied by eating a lot of said cherries. When picking the cherries, I usually went with Paola’s mom who cracks me up with her crazy ramblings and sounds, but makes incredible food and cakes in the kitchen. Later that night, we check in 18 kids who will be staying the next 5 days for camp. Finish the night by reading a bedtime story and watching the fireflies before tucking them into bed.
Day 7 – Monday, June 13
Ran around serving kids breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and all the activities in between. Discovered it’s a rather interesting activity to try and tell kids what to do when you don’t share a common language, but we all seemed to manage.
Day 8 – Tuesday, June 14
First day of complete sunshine! We taught the kids how to make gnocchi, and they included a station for me to learn too. We made the kids their gnocchi for lunch and low and behold they didn’t like it because it tasted like potatoes (crazy!).
Day 9 – Wednesday, June 15
A mix of activities between the kitchen, and watching the kids play football, and weeding between the lavender plants. Come up with a crazy metaphor that compares the weeding process to solving life problems. The heat has obviously gotten to me.
Day 10 – Thursday, June 16
Was assigned the task to follow the kids around and take pictures with my camera (the only working one left), had a scare that it might have broken after some moisture got in the lens, but it was nothing that a bit of warm afternoon air didn’t cure.
Day 11 – Friday, June 17
The kids left in the afternoon, which as kind of sad. I had gotten used to the confusion of communication, and enjoyed their energy and curiosity. I cleaned the rooms in the guesthouse and welcomed the new WWOOFer, Caroline, who would be here for the next 3 weeks. We proceeded to clean everything from the kids, and I came face to face with a spider that had probably escaped from the nearest zoo and a scorpion, all within about 3 minutes.
Day 12 – Saturday, June 18
Moved bed, cut lavender, fixed the goats pen, moved hay around, and weeded around the entire cow pen. My back screamed for relief. Don’t know how day laborers do it all, day in and day out, and I gained a new appreciation for those who bend over all day for a living.
Day 13 – Sunday, June 19
Hosted the largest group yet, at nearly 100 people and I went between helping with them and picking more lavender. There’s so much lavender.
Day 14 – Monday, June 20
Only lavender: picking, organizing, bundling, hanging. I really never thought it was such an intensive project (I didn’t think cherries were either, but those also turned out to be surprisingly intensive too.) I guess I always assumed the work stopped once things were picked from the tree/plant. HA.
Day 15 – Tuesday, June 21
More lavender. There was also a retirement group that came to spend a day at the farm. It was quite funny seeing Paola do the same demonstration and activities with them as she does for the 4 and 5 year olds.
Day 16 – Wednesday, June 22
Yes, more lavender! We also had the chance to watch Mara build a fort out of wooden pieces and pieces of cloth and then play “Caveman” with the kids here for the week. Listening to her shout “Oooooga ooga!” and pretend she was eating mammoth was one of my favorite moments so far. Later, Paola and I covered the strawberry plants which entailed all things farm: jeeps, sledgehammers, wasp stings, fashioning homemade instruments.
Day 17 – Thursday, June 23
We started the day by wrangling a sheep, pushing it up a incline then pulling it down the hill (while it’s tied up and complete dead weight. I never knew sheep weighed so damn much). It was really like a bad joke: how many adults and children does it take to catch and drag a sheep to sheer it? The answer: too many, and it takes too long. Then there was more lavender. Surprise, surprise.
Day 18 – Friday, June 24
It was little Gabriele’s birthday, so I helped with the party. There were bouncy slides and a newly inflated swimming pool in the front yard, legs of lamb in the oven, a treasure hunt, and a gelato cake. With the rest of the family, I later pulled on his ears 9 times (ending with a kiss!) to wish him good luck for the next year. I still managed to work a bit on the lavender. It doesn’t stop for a 9-year old’s birthday.
Day 19 – Saturday, June 25
Slept in until 8:30! But was still so hard to get up. Before our single group came later in the day, my assignment was to spring clean the barn-converted-restaurant. The vacuum was my weapon again as I attacked all the cobwebs and their creators. I’m pretty sure I could have started a zoo with all the critters I had gathered. After finishing, I helped to roll out and bake lavender cookies with Mara, which tasted surprisingly wonderful.
Day 20 – Sunday, June 26
We hosted both a birthday picnic (completely with cookie demonstration) and a political meeting with lunch. Everything had to be perfect for the big dogs, so hours in the kitchen were endless. Usually the presentation is nice here, but the family tried extra hard this time and everything looked wonderful. I was a bit scattered when I was left alone serving pasta to the group and had to ask “ragu o spinaci?” with the varying answers I would receive. I managed, and the day went by quickly, despite the long hours.
To enjoy pictures of the farm, house, and the wonderful children that have been here, click here.
