A Farm in Tuscany

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Podere Spereta, a farm in Tuscany near Montalcino, which is about 30 minutes from Siena. The farm is not at all a tourist attraction and luckily I know someone who knows someone to allow me into this personal/family farm in the hills:) It was incredible it get such a true insight into Tuscan farming. The family raises pigs, sheep and goats. They also have wheat, olive trees and a vineyard. It is one of the few farms left that does not use machinery to make the cheese. I actually got to watch what seemed to be the "head woman of the farm", a plump woman with rosie round cheeks, make and shape the cheese. The pungent smell of the cheese in the small room where the magic happens, was so incredibly strong that I almost fainted (no, really.)

As I walked around the farm, I watched the pigs snort and roll around in the mud; the piglets were so tiny, about the size of a 10 pound baby. There was also a goat who had gotten it's head and horns stuck in a bale of hay; it was so hilarious (I kept my laughter to myself as I watched) watching two lovely, plump, women (head of the farm and her daughter) try to move the hay, speak hastily in Italian about the situation and then try to pull this goat out of the hay. There I stand, wanting so bad to laugh and take video, but I resisted and just watched. Finally the animal was set free. I walked/hiked around through the farm, noticing the vineyard, large round hay bails, tractors, about 5 dogs and watching where I walked only to avoid stepping in sheep poop.

My only challenge for the day was trying to figure out a word or words to describe the beauty and tranquility of the green Tuscan hills. Green Velvet? A blanket of Green? Oil Painting? ... cliche and already over-used....hmmm...photos in calendars don't do it justice and neither will my photos. My only suggestion is that you get on a plane and come to Italy and see it for yourself!:) I had to leave the farm, but what I really wanted to do was sit at the top of the hill, look out, and write down all of the words that came to mind to describe the hills.