Down on the Farm

Home sweet farmhouse

I had an incredible 2 weeks working on a Tuscan farm. I met some great people and really enjoyed getting to work with my hands; after reading and writting about it all year, it was nice to actually DO it. My first week coincided with the beginning of the olive harvest, so any available moment was spent picking olives. It was nice work, you didn't have to think to hard about it and often there were 2 other people picking the same tree, so lots of time for chatting...it made the work go by quickly. I joined the other interns at the press for the first week's harvest- nothing tastes better than JUST pressed olive oil that you have had a hand in creating.

One of the olive groves I worked over.

Our first week's haul

So beautiful...so tasty!

For some reason, olive pressing calls for grilled ribs. While we waited for our turn at the press, we chowed down outside...no complaints here!

The second week was mostly spent working with the Salumi (cured meats), cleaning the salami, tagging everything, rotating racks of curing pork belly into and out of drying rooms. I developed an odd rash on my arms from all the mold that I was dealing with, but I didn't really mind...I just thought of how tasty everything was going to be! The farmhouse I stayed in was rustic at best...no heat, only about 1 hour of hot water, and lots of big spiders everywhere. I spent most of my free time huddled by the fireplace. Meals every night were prepared my an elderly lady who could certainly cook. Almost everything that we ate was produced on the farm...and everything was delicious! It was so nice to finish a full day of work and have such a great meal waiting!

Impromptu chestnut roast

Me and the salami