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Published: August 7th 2007
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Hello!
Xavier and I have spent most of the last month wwoofing on two vineyards in Tuscany - just what we needed after being in those big crazy european cities. 'Wwoofing' is 'willing workers on organic farms', which means you work on farms in return for food and board, a really great way to travel and experience life in the country. For us it turned out to be perfect and a lovely way to slow down and feel at home.
Our first farm was near a charming little hilltop village Riparbella in central Tuscany - owned by Ursula and Sigusmund Hadelich - Germans who have been living in Italy for 26 years. Our time there was absolutely idyllic - we only had to work a very respectable four hours a day and weren't allowed to lift a finger in the kitchen, not even to do dishes - in fact, not even to RINSE a dish. The food Ursula cooked was homely and yummy - she even made us a heart stew which was particularly hearty. We drank their wonderful wine which was a mixture of different varieties, red and white - apparently picked up by the previous owner who was
a truck driver who would collect different varieties when on the road and come back and jam them into the vineyard. Ursula and Sigusmund didn't even know some of the varieties there were, but it really didn't matter as the finished result was unique, light and very tasty.
The Hadelichs were very good people, and this was the first place on our entire world trip thus far that we stayed at for a full two weeks. Xavier and I found ourselves slipping into their way of life very quickly - drinking watered down Pompelmo - a grapefruit flavoured soda, and putting the chair cushions upright after lunch.
Working in the vineyards was beautiful. When we first started it was mid-May and there were wild flowers everywhere: yellow, violet, blue... and red poppies! Our work was to do a sort of a prune of the vines, yanking side shoots of the old bits of wood, and it was actually quite pleasant. There was another wwoofer there for most of the time we were there, Bree from Montana, who did everything at double speed to us, but we did feel better at the end when she'd gone and two new
wwoofers came that worked slower than us. Yay!
When we made the walk through forest to the nearest village Riparbella we found a small, very pretty place with flowering geraniums outside every window. Like many little hilltop towns in Italy, it was the sort of place where nothing happened. Old people sat in the squares and outside their front doors, and followed us with their eyes as we walked past.
The next place we stayed at was actually an 11th century castle. I know! We turned up and were shown our room, which we found a bit hard to find again for the first few nights, the castle being so big and all.
The castle had been renovated and brought back from the dead by Charlotte Horton and her mother Sally Greene (as in Graham Greene's nephew's ex-wife), two English women who have immersed themselves in the Tuscan lifestyle. We worked in the vineyard for 8 hours per day which seemed a bit steep at first after the other place, but when we came up from the vines after a long day we'd be able to treat ourselves to a big hot bath, beautiful wine and gorgeous
outdoor italian feasts (plus we were staying in a castle) so it really didn't matter a jot that we were working hard.
We also slipped into a nice routine here, where we'd work in the morning, then come up for lunch and wine then go back into the vines for a few more hours. Normally drinking wine in the middle of the day would be crippling for me, but interestingly enough it was definitely energising and made the afternoon a lot easier. We put it down to the 'organic' factor. In the second week we started a Siesta timetable, which meant getting up at 5:30am and working in the morning, then having a huge Siesta break after lunch till 5pm. Crazy at first but then we eventually got the hang of it... by our last day....maybe.
There were about 3 - 5 other woofers while we were there and also a few people staying in the apartments of the castle - including THE 'Emily' from the Pink Floyd song called 'See Emily Play', also on any given day there would be a wedding or a bus load of Norwegian tourists trapsing through the castle. So we had huge
long lunch tables every day - one day when it was down to 5 people things felt strangely intimate. There was also a beautiful pitch black great dane and a fit little chocolate labrador that kept us company in the vines while we were working, who were lovely dogs with very laid back characters.
All meals were strictly Italian - and had to be even when we cooked. Salad was to be alone, on the plate not as in by yourself, and tomatoes could not under any circumstance be cut into wedges. This was all very funny until we realised that it was actually serious and I actually couldn't cut my tomatoes into wedges. Fortunately, faux pas-ing all over the show wasn't enough for them to boot us out so that was a relief.
Our last night there was taken up with producing a short film about Proust - Charlotte had written the script and she handed out amazing costumes and then we got to it. Xavier wore a Victorian nighty and played Proust. It was all hilarious and totally mad.
We visited Rome, Pisa, Florence and Naples while we were in Italy, in and around our
wwoofing time, which I'm not going to write about, but I will say 'tourists', 'gelati', 'intimidating history', 'tiny alley ways', and 'stand up coffee'. The highlight was Pompei which was really cool - walking down Roman streets, peering into Roman houses, and dreaming of jumping into their huge baths and stepping out in togas. Their brothels were totally mental with funny pictures on the walls of how to conduct oneself in the brothel i.e. not with reservation.
Okay, was 41C in Bucharest today where we are now, so we're dreaming of the New Zealand winter... really!
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Anna
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My favourite
That's all I wanted to say! Tuscany looks like it would be my favourite. Oh yes. Great pics, especially the smoking sexual chemistry between the scooter drivers! Love anna