Olive harvesting and final thoughts

Separating the olives from the branches (by hand
through a screen)

12 foot high on a ladder in a tree (Under the TUSCAN SUN)

I have lived and worked on this farm with a guy from Columbia, South America; a woman from Germany; a woman from Spain; and 4 people from Italy.  I have learned about different languages, different foods, different cultures...and acquired a strong sense of diversity and community.  We have worked hard together during the day harvesting olives and producing cold-pressed olive oil....

Olive oil pressed on different days

Presses down on olives and separates oil from pulp

...and in the afternoon after work (around 1:30PM) we would eat another big meal together,

 
clean and sweep the kitchen and dining room together, then sing and play music into the early evening (when we would probably eat again!). I love it here...Italia!

Life here has been full of Italian music, singing, lots of eating, walking and serenity.  The people in Italy live a much slower life than Americans...even in the cities. They do not have a desire to buy bigger or move faster.

Communities vote to have wind power

Persimmon tree outside my window

What I looked at everyday from my house

 Olives on the trees

  'You can have the universe, if I can have Italy.' So said Giuseppe Verdi. It sounds generous, but Verdi knew that Italy is a universe - diverse, beautiful, and crammed with the relics of two millennia of civilization.  I know I shall be playing Italian love songs for weeks after my return. Arrivederchi i apresto.   (Good bye & see you soon)  Darlena

3rd leg of journey: Toscana

CYCLOPEAN MASONRY

 HOME OF THE PAGAN GODS

 TYRRANEAN SEA

 Looking for my friends through the Roman ruins
  HOUSE OF DIANA (TOTAL AREA INCLUDING GARDEN, ALTER, BATHS, COOKING)

It is difficult for me to express the beauty of the Maremma of Toscana.  This area is in the southernmost part of the Tuscan region.  There are ruins here that date back to the beginning of the 6th century (early 500BC).  These ruins are Etruscan (before the Romans).  I am living near Grosseto, which has been the capital of the Maremma since 935BC.  The countryside here is magnificent, but it is extraordinary because of the history of humankind who walked here...and the pathways, aqueducts, and walls that still exist after the passage of 2500 years. The ruins of the city of Roselle (Etruscan/Roman) are only a few km from Grosetto. Yesterday, we went to the Civita of Cosa (the City of Cosa). It was built by the Romans in 273 BC using   Cyclopean masonry which  is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with huge limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and no use of mortar. The boulders are typically unworked, but are sometimes roughly worked with a hammer, and the gaps between boulders are often filled in with smaller hunks of limestone.  Cosa was built overlooking the TYRRANEAN SEA.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosa

The House that I live in.

 Another view of the house

 The views that I see everyday

 Vista that I see when I walk to the olive grove

 Walking this path to the olives

 In the groves with 2000 olive trees

 Picking the olives by hand, letting the olives fall into the nets, then putting olives into crates from nets

 Town of Scansano

 Scansano

 Friends on side of road while walking back from Pomonte at dusk

Around me is the vista of the 'cowboy' land of the Maremma. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maremma Wild boar and cows with huge antlers (like deer, not bull's horns) can still be seen in the Natural Preserve.  The landscape consists of olive groves, grape vineyards, pomegranate trees, persimmon trees, apple and pear trees, kiwi vines, and other fruit that I do not recognize.We work every day harvesting olives and then making olive oil.  If I want to go into town, I need to walk to Pomonte (nearest town) or take a bus into Scansana.  Both are small and beautiful, with shops selling fresh sheep cheese, bread, salami, cappacola, and pastries.  There is a small elementary school in Pomonte with only 80 students. The students eat a full lunch, all cooked from fresh foods in the school kitchen.  School begins at 8:30am, they take a break for eating and playing from 12:30-2:30, then are back in school 'til 4:30pm.  Seems like a good day to me!  It is late here, so I'll talk to you later.  Bouna Notte  (good night)