Articles and Press
Living and Working on a Tuscan Farm
(First of a series of articles appearing in the News and Record.)
Debby and I are living and working for two months on a Tuscan farm, Tenuta di Spannocchia. The name Spannocchia refers to a medieval family from Siena that made its fortune from banking. This valley of 2400 acres was one of their homes. In the early 1900s, the Cinelli family of Florence bought 1200 acres of the estate and for the past 25 years is refurbishing its buildings for staff and guests and restoring its farm and forest to organic and sustainable yields. Their land is also part of a bio-reserve and an Etruscan research center. Income is derived from the farm and its paying guests or “agro-tourism.”
As volunteers we are given a room to stay in, three meals a day, and general run of the place in return for 28 hours of work each week. The work can vary from stacking wood, mucking out animal stalls, herding sheep, weeding the orto (the vegetable garden run by Carmen that feeds 30-40 of us daily with fresh food), gathering chestnuts (yes, European chestnuts thrive), mending fences, and in the fall, gathering the grapes and olives--all the necessary work of a farm.
There are also nine farm interns here, typically from America, since the Cinelli family is now Italian-American through marriage. One of the fall interns is Rod Gingher of Greensboro. He works daily in the garden, loves it here and can be heard most evenings strumming his guitar. He and his cohorts stay for three month sessions, sort of like a trimester system, and work hard, play together, learn Italian, and travel or relax on weekends. I think Rod would say his life is idyllic.
Our room has been slept in for 900 years. Its tenants change, but its high ceilings and thick stone walls remain the same, only altered to receive modern wiring and glass panes. The window looks down on the large, rectangular farmyard that remains a workspace, even now. I think this needs to be in the past tense: In the old days, the workshops and animal stalls were on the first floor of the large, u-shaped yard. The workers lived on the second floor, the foreman and manager in adjoining separate apartments, and it if was an estate, as Spannochia was, the head of the family lived in a connected villa with formal gardens and its own entrance. Now the Cinellis occupy the former farm manager’s home and guests stay in the well-furnished villa bedrooms, seven in all.
A stout, medieval tower, once used for communications and defense, is now a favorite perch for a long, long view and beautiful sunsets. From it you can see the other villa towers or the day’s approaching storm. It is always visible from your place of work, a reminder of its former glory and power.
But the day’s business is work, and Debby assists Graziella in the kitchen. Graziella was born here. Her great-grandmother moved to Spannocchia as part of a share-cropping farm family. Each day she prepares a traditional, four-course Tuscan meal for 30-40 of us. We begin with wine on the terrace at 7pm with staff, family and guests talking together, and then it might go like this: an antipasto of sliced, raw porcini mushrooms with large flakes of parmesan cheese, lemon and olive oil; then, first course, hand-made lasagna with béchamel sauce; second course, venison with roasted fennel and potatoes; third course, salad; and finally, a sweet, perhaps chocolate and chestnut truffles. And, of course, the farm wine and olive oil. Debby is a good cook, but in this kitchen she takes notes, learns new techniques, and practices her Italian with Graziella.
Most of the food is grown in Carmen’s garden. Much is gathered from the forests: wild boar, deer, rabbit; mushrooms and chestnuts. How’s that for local and slow food?
How in the world did we get here? With a little luck and a little planning. Several years ago we began to learn Italian. Then we turned off the tourist track and joined WWOOF—Willing Workers On Organic Farms. For $35 you get a directory of 400 Italian organic farms that want volunteers. (WWOOF provides accident insurance.) Most Wwoofers are young; we are in our 50s. But few Wwoofers are as resolute as we were to find a place to settle into. Three years ago we first worked as Wwoofers at Spannocchia; we returned again and then again, and it became the place and community we sought.
It is easy to fall for Tuscany. What other place is so filled with such art, landscapes and wine? Everyone is falling over themselves to open their window to “la bella vista” or more hedonistically to live “la dolce vita.” So how do we do it? Are we one of those Americans that an Italian wrote sarcastically about in Too Much Tuscan Sun? We hope not.
We find that learning the language, our willingness to work, and hanging around for two months at a time opens a lot of doors. Eventually Carmen asked us over for dinner; Stefano, a talented baker and wine-maker, lent us his car for three weeks while he was on vacation; now I play the guitar and ping-pong with Riccio; and Daniela and Debby are planning to make a special liqueur out of “alloro”, an Italian bay leaf. Of course, what it really says is that our Italian friends are generous and kind, and they enjoy introducing their deep and rich culture to us. Our numerous mispronunciations are met with a kind correction, helpful to us.
Our life here is greatly simplified: no phone ringing (there is one downstairs for everyone), one computer (dial-up and shared by 20 others, as is the washing machine and clothesline), two meals a day prepared for us, no car and no shopping unless we get a ride into town. The regular staff has all the conveniences in their homes, if they want them; we don’t for these two months.
I took on some responsibilities, however. I proposed to the staff that I restore their orchard that has fallen into disuse. So I am busy with soil tests, plant inventories, drip irrigation design, and integrating chickens and compost into the life of the orchard. Fun work for me since I do it in Greensboro. I move along quickly because I want to impress them with my gardening skills. Then one day Riccio stops me. “Charlie,” he says, “this land is old. It has been cultivated for 900 years. It has its own ways.”
Yes, I thought. 500 years before the Pilgrims, Spannocchia farmers tended this land, perhaps planted some fruit trees. “Piano, piano, Carlo.” Slow down, Charlie, I tell myself. You have much to learn.
Charlie Headington
October 2006
Click here for the News and Record article with a photo of Rod Gingher.
Slow Food
(Reprinted with permission from The Business Journal of the Triad.)
The old saying goes, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”, and in some ways I believe it. I have always used food as motivation for one thing or another – a promise of good food at a dreary committee meeting, dinners as fundraisers for worthy causes, an excuse for just catching up.
Food seems to occupy more of our time and money these days. Think of the conversations you have that revolve around food. While hunger is a local as well as a global issue, for many of us, food has become sport. Consider the success and popularity of the Food Network, cookbook sales that have reached an all-time high while people are spending less time actually in the kitchen cooking, and the celebrity chef & rock star restaurant phenomenon. We don’t eat to live – we live to eat.
And yet, we buy tasteless tomatoes at the supermarket, we eat beef that comes from animals who have been pumped with chemicals & fed a diet of corn that their system is not made to digest, and we have few choices of packaged and prepared foods that are healthy and natural. We don’t know what foods come from genetically modified seeds, and despite an abundance of best-selling diet books and products touting low this or low that, we are a community that is fatter and unhealthier than ever before.
So, as I read about what is happening to our food supply in books like Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, Brian Halweil’s Eat Here, and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I wonder why we as a community are allowing this to happen to us. Our local community is rich in agricultural resources. We have choices and alternatives indeed – but we must support those choices to preserve the present and to protect the future.
An organization began in Italy in the early 1980’s that focused on celebrating regional and seasonal food. The Slow Food movement galvanized in the late 80’s with McDonald’s plan to build a franchise in the heart of Rome. The community rallied in opposition, deemed themselves the opposite of fast food, and became a powerful and important international player. The U.S. office opened in 2002 (what took us so long?!), and has been gaining members and strength ever since.
Local communities with interested individuals can form Slow Food chapters. As Corby Kummer explains in his book, The Pleasures of Slow Food, these chapters are called “convivia for their civilized and convivial bringing together of people who love food and traditions”. He goes on to say, “the chapters show people who don’t have a family farm to rescue – who don’t have a scrap of land they can farm, let alone the time to farm it – how they can reconnect with the land by finding and cooking meat and vegetables raised by people like the Garibaldi family”, a family that he has introduced us to earlier in the book.
Well – you are in luck. We have a local convivia here called Slow Food Piedmont Triad with 100+ members from the region engaged and participating. There is a website (www.slowfoodpiedmont.org) and a listserve for information sharing. Events are planned throughout the year that have in the past included a film series, a cherry picking day at Levering Orchard, a potluck hosted by Old Salem, and meals at local restaurants including Bistro Sofia and Zaytoon who practice Slow Food values and use locally grown produce and products. Other projects include a local food guide and work on the Wellness Policy for the public schools.
At the end of Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser states, “Nobody in the United States is forced to buy fast food. The first step towards meaningful change is by far the easiest: stop buying it. Even in this fast food nation, you can still have it your way.” I couldn’t agree more. Be mindful of where your food is coming from, how it was produced, what impact it has had on the environment, what it will do for your body and mind, how it affects our local economy. As Ruth Reichl, former restaurant critic for the New York Times, and current editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, says “Every time you go into a grocery store you are voting with your dollars, and what goes into your cart has real repercussions on the future of the earth.”
On top of all that – consider pure pleasure and taste – for in the end that is what gets us.
Dabney Sanders
September, 2006
The Business Journal of the Triad
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Our Features section is under development. We plan to offer a searchable database of local farms and food, reading lists, book and movie reviews, articles on farmers and foodies, recipes, and more! Please email lponeill@slowfoodpiedmont.org to submit articles or ideas for consideration.
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