Chow Europa!

After our relaxing vacation on Crete we took an over night ferry to Athens. We had two short days there. The only thing we had planned to see while there was the Acropolis. Like Pompeii we ended up going in a back entrance, although this time we didn’t try to sneak in and were honest civilians. We paid a tour guide so we could learn about what we were seeing. Paying extra for the tour was well worth it, she was good and we learned a few things from her. The following day we had a flight back to Rome.

The Acropolis

 The farm we were at for 31/2 weeks before we went to Greece invited us to come back and stay for a few days before our international flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The location of their farm was easy and familiar to get to from the airport. I was unable to use my computer at their farm so I haven’t blogged about our stay with them yet.

 They are a family of 3 including Sanda, Guilliume and 31/2 year old Son Dario. Sanda is from Serbia and Guilliam is from France. They met in Italy and decided to buy land and build a life together there. We all found it very easy to be in each others company. Dario took an instant liking to both Lucas and I. He’s an intelligent little boy who speaks French with his Father, Hebrew with his mother, Italian with both of them, and by the end of our stay he was communicating with us in English. His favorite phrase is “do you want to play?” He says it in such a way while shaking his head yes and sometimes winking at us; we were unable to say no to him.



Our pal Dario!

 Our biggest attraction to this farm was that they are building their dream house using “green” principles. They are also doing most of the work themselves. I find this remarkable since neither one knew a thing about building before starting this massive project. It’s taken them a long time but they are finally nearing the end. The old house that was there before was built with stones found on the land. They have a massive pile of beautiful stones we would pay a fortune for in the States. With Lucas being a stone mason, He and Guilliam came up with the idea to use some of those stones to build a large retaining wall. Lucas spent most of his time there working on the wall. They also asked him to use instead of cement something called Calce. This product is similar to cement but stronger and less toxic. It’s what the ancient Romans used years ago to build all the things that are still standing today. In Italy there is a company trying to bring the use of Calce back. This stone wall turned out beautifully and it will hopefully still be there in 500 years!

 

Lucas is putting in the final stone.

While Lucas was busy building the wall I did other work. Sanda has a large beautiful garden. With all the energy she puts into being a Mom and the house the garden was a bit out of hand. I spent a lot of days weeding and clearing out beds for winter seeds to be planted. I also helped with the olive harvest, which took two full days. When finished we went with to the plant to see the extra virgin olive oil made. For the first time we got to try truly fresh olive oil. We were surprised how spicy it is. It’s amazing how much flavor oil looses after just one year.

Doing the olive harvest

 This was the perfect farm stay to end our Europe trip. After our streak of bad farms we needed a place we could feel at home. Although there is many countries we would have liked to visit that we didn’t have time for, Lucas and I are looking forward to a change. The Caribbean sounds glorious now that winter is here.

 

Greece!

We’ve spent the last ten glorious days in Greece. We were fortunate to have my high school friend Meredith visit us in Europe over Thanksgiving break. When she asked where she should meet us I looked at a map and found the farthest place south we could get while still being in Europe. That happened to be Crete, Greece. My hopes were that it would still be warm and we could spend our time on the beach. Unfortunately it wasn’t warm enough for that but we did have pleasant weather. We met Mere in the Athens airport on Thanksgiving Day and flew together to Chania where we rented a cottage in the old town near the old harbor. We had 3 full days with Mere where we walked the cobble stone streets, had a lot of delicious food to eat and went sailing on the Cretan Sea.



Lucas is helping Skipper pull up the sail

Mere helping with another sail

We all took turns driving the boat

Lucas and I decided to stay in Chania after Mere left. We down graded to a very cheap hotel (11 euro a night) that turned out to be much nicer than we expected. We had a view of the sea and old harbor out our window. We spent most of our time the next five days walking the beaches and spending the evenings sitting out on the pier by the lighthouse. We had the lights and hum of the city in front of us and the ocean breeze with waves crashing behind. The first night we discovered the peace of the pier it was a surprisingly warm night. We were drawn back every evening thereafter. We did have the opportunity to go swimming once. It was chilly but we weren’t the only crazies out there!



Enjoying the sea and sun on one of our many beach walks

The view out our window & our favorite place to sit at night

Our view of the city while sitting on the above wall. There was a full moon this night.

We met some locals we connected with that gave us their opinions and knowledge of the current crisis in Greece. Something we love about staying in peoples homes is we get to hear much more about culture and politics than you do being a tourist. Finding this lovely family to talk with made our vacation special. Also, it’s nice to talk with someone other than each other. Believe it or not Lucas and I do run out of things to talk about. Spiro offered to take us to a near by Monk Monastery where they have a stone walking trail down a mountain towards the sea. We went into a few caves on the way down and also saw some 500 year old ruins where the monks went to hide when the Turkish occupied Crete. They built a whole village down in a valley where they were hidden. This was awesome to see. The sun came out bright and hot right when it was time to walk back up the mountain to the car. We are very appreciative of him for taking us there. It’s something we couldn't have done on our own.



The stone path we walked built by the Monks

The ruins we hiked to

This is a church built into the side of the mountain where there was already a cave.





It was hard saying goodbye to Crete. It’s by far our favorite place we’ve been so far. In my opinion it was far more beautiful, had friendlier people and was much more affordable than anywhere we’ve been in Europe.



One of the caves we went into on our hike



Mount Vesuvius & Pompeii

 
We were lucky our last farm had great public transportation and was close to tourist sites. We were able to take a bus into Sorrento where we caught a local train to Pompeii. There we got on a city bus that took us most of the way up Mount Vesuvius. It was just a short (although very steep) walk to the top of the volcano where we went 1/3^rd of the way around the crater. The volcano has erupted over 50 times in all time history. The most famous was in 79 AD and the most recent in 1944. From the top we had great views over looking the city of Naples and the Mediterranean Sea. We were hoping to see smoke coming out the crater (we heard some days its smoking) but unfortunately that day it was not. We hung out around the crater for a while observing everything and looking for cool rocks to keep.



The crater was too large to get the whole thing in a photo

 
 
After our walk and bus ride back down Mount Vesuvius we went to the city Pompeii. We tried to sneak in the exit but were caught by a guard who then sold us discounted tickets and let us in the exit anyhow (pocketing the money, I’m sure). All of this was accomplished him speaking Italian and us English. Once inside we were surprised how large it was! They gave us a map and a booklet showing and explaining what everything was. We had to seek out the things we wanted to see specifically or else we could have spent a lot of time there. We went to all three of the auditoriums small, medium and large. The bath house and we saw where they spun wool. A big one on our list was to see the people that were buried in ash. We overheard a tour guide saying that they are just casts of the people. The ash hardened and over time the people decomposed, then at a later date Scientists took out the bones and filled the cavity with plaster. Walking around the city was cool seeing how well preserved things are. The casts of people covering their faces and mouths while they suffocated was very emotional. The day altogether was a humbling experience.



Here I'm in the medium stadium

Walking the streets Roman style

An ash cast of someone



Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius behind

Bella Vista

 The last two weeks has felt like a bit of heaven compare to the last farm. We have a spacious room with a walk out balcony that looks out over the Amalfi coast. It has all the Italian charm. The attitude towards work here is work if you feel like it, when you feel like and how long you feel like. I must say it’s been difficult for me being a person who likes structure. I like to know I start work at 9 and finish at 4 everyday.  I learned quickly I wasn’t going to get that here.



Lucas enjoying the view. I'm up on our balcony taking the photo.

We spent the whole first week of work harvesting olives from their 30 olive trees. This is a family event so Alessandra’s Brother, Mother and Aunt all came to help. Her Mother and Aunt were super friendly. They spoke about the same amount of English as we do Italian. It was entertaining trying to figure out what each other was trying to communicate. There was a lot of hand gestures and acting, followed by a lot of laughs. Once we had all the olives harvested they took them to a plant that processes them into olive oil. We got to ride along and watch the olives we picked washed and go through the process of turning into oil. The deal is the person that brings in the olives gets the first 30% of cold pressed oil. This is enough oil to supply the whole family for the year (and they like their oil). There is no money exchanged, just olives for oil. I’m super bummed because I forgot to bring my camera to the processing plant. I could have shown everyone how it works from tree to table.

 

 

We used this special ramp to pick all the leaves and things out of the olives.

This is about half the olives we picked.

Our second week of work was the most unorganized. We spent a lot of time waiting around to be told or shown what work needs to be done. We planted some things, mowed lawn, harvested fruit, and created a new garden by tilling the ground and creating rows for planting. They are very fortunate here to have a year round growing season!


The garden we tilled and made these rows using muscle power.

 Although the views are beautiful and the work is easy and minimal it’s been difficult “fitting in” with the family. I’ve felt awkward and left out more here than anywhere so far on our trip. They don’t really acknowledge us or include us in anything. We’re just these people floating around that they have to feed. That being said I’m excided to move on to our next farm in a few days. It will be nice to have a change of scenery.



The yummy dinner we bought because our farm host told us at 8pm they wern't feeding us dinner after we spent the whole day working on their garden.

Boot Camp

 

 

I’ve decided not to write much about the farm in Southern Italy we went to immediately after Rome. It was a very busy & traumatic week for both Lucas and I.  Looking back now I feel taken advantage of and disappointed at the same time. Luckily we were able to get out of there early on the farm owners request. We would have stuck out our two week sentence if not given the opportunity to leave after just one week. Although I’ve chosen to block most of the experience from memory there was great views and I would like to share some pictures.



A view of the farm

We experienced our first Lizards. They were everywhere!

Most of the time we were above or in the clouds



Paris & Rome



On top the Eiffel Tower

The last few weeks have been complete chaos. I find it hard to go back and blog about things that happened a long time back. I know, two weeks isn’t very long but the amount of things we’ve experienced makes it hard to sum them up.  Having said that I’ve decided to give a brief description about Paris and Rome and share a few of my favorite pictures.

Paris was short and sweet! We spent only two nights in Paris leaving us not much time for touring. Our top two things to do were The Eiffel Tower and The Louvre Museum. If time permitted Lucas wanted to see the Arc de Triumph, which we did get to see the night we arrived. The next morning we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower which was remarkable. I do have to say I did not find it romantic one bit! It was the best view of Paris we could ask for, but not romantic. After our climb to the top we immediately headed to the Louvre. Top on our list was to see the Mona Lisa painting. Both Lucas and I were not impressed with the painting. We’ve seen so many amazing pieces of art that make the Mona Lisa look plain and boring. The bullet proof glass, ropes to keep you at a distance and mobs of people around didn’t help much. However, we were impressed with the Louvre. You could get lost in the museum it’s so huge! We spent a few hours there and didn’t see close to everything they have. That evening when it was dark outside we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up. That I would put in the romantic category. It’s so huge and they do a great job lighting it up, it really is beautiful. Throw in a couple meals, a lot of walking and that about wraps up our Paris trip.

 

 

Outside the Louvre Museum. Immediately after taking this picture we got drenched by a heavy rain fall

 

Rome is another story! We spent 8 long & expensive nights in Rome. Most of you know we had plans all along to meet my family in Rome for my cousin Michael’s Ordination as a Deacon. One of the best parts of Rome was having someone else do all the planning. My aunt Theresa put in a lot of work to make our week in Rome an experience we’ll never forget. We saw many churches, art work, the Pope, Coliseum, and of course the Ordination! Theresa also had a few day trips planned where we got to see things outside of Rome. We ended our busy week with a relaxing trip to the ocean on our last day. We sat on the beach and soaked up as many rays as possible on the beautiful sunny 85 degree day.

 

Saying goodbye to my family was a bit emotional knowing it’s going to be a while before we see them again. Although after such a busy schedule of touring we were ready to get to the next farm in the relaxing country side of Italy. What we didn’t realize was all that touring would make us soft for our most labor intensive, slave driving farm to come.

Lucas & I at Michaeal's Ordination in St. Peter's Basilica

Lunch in Assisi with the Fam



Walking the cobble stone streets in Assisi

 

Milking, Castration & Chemicals

The farm we’ve been at the past month in Ireland has been a big disappointment in the farming area. The goats were the main thing that attracted me to the farm. In the description on the WWOOFing site they said nothing about the 300 acres they farm commercially for cereal crops. We could have possibly never even seen that area of the farm if it didn’t happen to be harvest time.
 

Here the goats are being milked by machine

My goal for this farm stay was to learn as much as possible about goat husbandry. I feel rather content with what I’ve learned in that area so far. Although, there is a lot of things I would do differently myself. On the first day we arrived (which was a Friday) we were put to work immediately. I was given the job of cleaning out the pig pen then & every morning thereafter, along with feeding the three kid goats three times a day fresh goat’s milk. That first evening Dominic (the father) recruited me to help him make ice cream (using goat’s milk of course). He was trying to perfect his pecan flavor. Along with ice cream I learned how to pasteurize milk & make yogurt. I also got the job of picking peas and blanching them for freezer storage. Something I have never done before and am happy I learned how.



I'm feeding the Kids

 



This is Jack

One day Dominic asked if I would like to see how to castrate a goat. I said, “Yes, of course.” I’m usually up for just about anything. I asked a few questions about the process and he said it’s very easy and the goat hardly makes a fuss. I should mention we are talking about my favorite goat here that I named Jack. He instantly became my favorite out of all the other goats because he was so sweet natured & friendly. Let me tell you, hardly makes a fuss was the understatement of the year! The poor guy screamed out in agony! To make matters worse we had to do one side a 2^nd time because it didn’t work properly the first time. I was absolutely horrified! Jack wouldn’t come near me after that for two days. I think in the future I will leave any castration jobs to Lucas.

 

The biggest reason we’ve been disappointed with the farm is because they aren’t organic at all. Due to the harvest Lucas was busy the first two weeks working really long hours with the lads. He didn’t mind at first because he was learning how to drive big tractors & work machinery. After about a week the long hours starting getting to him and the excitement of the big tractors wore off. Slowly he grew more and more agitated with the way they do things. We had no idea big farmers spray their entire crop with herbicides to kill everything so that it will dry out to harvest. After they harvest the grain and make their bales of straw they give the fields another dose of round up to prevent any weeds from growing. They also use artificial fertilizers along with animal poo fertilizer. After much discussion Lucas and I agreed it was good for us to see the operations of this farm. It’s only made us more passionate about living an Organic lifestyle.
 

Lucas driving the tractor

 Chemicals aside I do need to say that we did grow very fond of the family. Dominic & Fionnuala are the Mom and Dad with four children Diarmead (21), Fiona (20), Rosin (17), and Osin (15). They were probably the most entertaining family we’ve stayed with yet. It’s unbelievable how very different the four kids are. Dominic and Finnoula are great parents and are raising them all to be beautiful people.

Me milking Tayto