WWOOFing and why we're doing it

Ryan and I have been talking about making an adventure together since before we got married. Ideally, we wanted to travel somewhere new to both of us, stay long enough to get a good feel for the culture, and do something beyond just being tourists.

That's what led us to WWOOF – Worldwide Workers On Organic Farms. Started in 1971, WWOOF is intended to help organic farmers in need of labor and to benefit volunteer workers who would like to learn about their methods. With organizations in almost 100 countries around the world, WWOOF is also a great way to learn about different cultures and their approaches to agriculture.

Why WWOOF? The pros and cons

First the pros: For us, WWOOF has been a great way to learn about Italy's culture beyond Pinocchio and pasta. We have gotten to know real Italians and their families, shared food and jokes, and learned about how agriculture works here. We have visited places that never made it onto the tourist map and tried foods we might not have otherwise. We've also been able to stay for much longer than we could afford to if we were paying for food and a hotel room every night. (In exchange for six hours/six days a week of labor, hosts provide workers with accommodation and meals.) Some of the things we've learned we will take home with us – ideas about drying herbs for tea and cooking spice, the recipe for Laura's delicious frigitelli and a solid understanding of how to pick olives (should we ever live somewhere warm enough). The timing hasn't been right to learn about market gardening, our main interest, but we hope to do some of that in the U.K. or France before we come home.

And now the cons: The most difficult thing about WWOOFing for an extended period like we're doing is that we're always house guests. We are totally dependent on our hosts, who dictate meal times and food types, where we stay, when it is time to work or to rest, etc. Being two independent sorts, we have been happy to take some days of vacation between farms when our time is our own. But mostly, the quality of the experience is dependent on the host. Some explain their operations well and work beside us, while others are impatient or difficult to work with. Some are great cooks, while others are happier to let you cook for yourself. It all depends. Insecurity is also a bit of an issue; it can be difficult to line up farms when and where you might like to work, and twice now hosts have canceled on us. Communication with potential hosts is also an adventure. One host explained that he had to cancel our plan to work there because his son's goose had to have an operation. ??? The farm we have found as a substitute is also a little anxiety-inspiring, listing "meditation activies with the donkeys" among areas of interest.

Still, altogether we are enjoying the experience and hope to continue WWOOFing through early summer. Wish us luck!

Olives e l'olio

Olive trees are everywhere in Italy, and in the past month we've learned a little about them:

The trees are unbelievably hardy and live to be very old (several hundred years). They require frequent pruning, usually done in February, and will generate lots of sprouts from these cuts and from the base of the tree. There are many varieties of olives, and the trees have different shapes, many with branches hanging down toward the ground to allow easier picking.

To pick olives, you spread a large net under the tree and use your fingers, small plastic rakes or even machines to pick the olives into the net. Machines pick the olives by shaking them off the branches (we called the one we used 'the italian tickler').

Table olives take a long time to prepare and involve months of soaking in salt to make the olives edible. Only the nicest olives are used for the table, and - surprisingly - these kind of olives do not appear often on restaurant menus.

Olive oil, on the other hand, is everywhere. Olio is the condiment of choice in Italy and is eaten with bread, on salad, on pasta, in soup and even on pizza. Fresh from the press, it is greenish in color and slightly bitter. After a few days, the color turns more yellow, and the flavor mellows over time. For long-term storage, oil should be kept in an opaque container or dark glass (not the clear glass we buy in the States).

Ryan and I are about to learn more about the olive oil process - at our third farm in Poppiano we will be bottling and labeling oil for sale. Exciting stuff!

Food, glorious Italian food!

Since food is one of the major reasons Ryan and I decided to come to Italy, it seems appropriate to write the first entry of our blog on the subject:

In a running tally of our favorite foods eaten so far, Ryan's No. 1 is a tripe sandwich he had for lunch in Florence (tripe is a cut of stomach - ewwww). Cooked in tomato sauce and with a squirt of hot peppers in oil on crusty bread, he has been talking about it ever since.

For me, top honors are tied between a Genoese pesto on pasta with potatoes and a dish called friggitelli – mild peppers cooked with tomatoes, garlic and basil in olive oil, with a generous amount of parmesan cheese added at the end. Benissimo!