Casa Faustina

Olives, Olives everywhere!

My job here at Casa Faustina has been to help out with the olive harvest and at the end of each day its not unusual to find olives everywhere - in your shirt, shoes, pockets, hair. I'm enjoying it for the most part as I have learned quickly and now have plenty of time to think during my monotonous tasks of moving nets and picking olives by hand. My Italian vocabulary is also improving because I hear the same words over and over again. I've mastered 'this one', 'that one', 'tree', 'olive', 'wait!', 'stop!', 'net', 'basket', 'where?', 'up', 'over', 'rain', and 'sun' and repeat them often to my Italian harvesting cohorts. If you ever need a translator on an olive grove in Italy, I'm your girl. In the end it will have taken one month to harvest 1,300 trees and the final results will be high quality organic extra virgin olive oil! I've tasted the new oil and it's wonderful! It's fun being in the 'land of delicious food' and really learning to taste and enjoy what you eat. I guess that's been true for most of my stay here in Umbria - my senses seemed heightened and I've become accustomed to really experiencing things fully. I take great hikes almost everyday and am appreciating the amazing view and sunsets which I think have colors in them that I've never seen before.

Otherwise I am loving everything about farm life. At times it seems so simple but then you realize how hard you're working. I love how practically everything we eat comes from within walking distance of the house and you really do feel proud that youìre literally eating the fruits of your labor. The downside of this, however, is that I permanently have dirt under my fingernails. Such is the life of a farmer. I'm becoming fascinated with ecology and am amazed how God created all of nature to work together in a perfect cycle. The tricky part for us humans is figuring out where we fit in and how to benefit from what God's given us without totally ruining everything!

I have about 10 or so days left here and will miss it when I leave. I get along very well with my hosts, Giordano and Tamara, and have had the chance to work alongside and live with South Africans, Australians, Italians, and a German all during my stay at Casa Faustina. My favorite thought, is Benvenuto, Giordano's father, who is a renowned sculptor and artist. He's hilarious - smokes like a chimney, sings opera, and yell all day at the two men they hired to work the harvest. He tells me stories in Italian and I barely understand him but I just smile at him a lot and it's all ok in the end. See the attached picture and look his work up online if you get the chance - www.benvenutogattolin.it.

Anyway, included are some pictures of Casa Faustina and the olive harvest that were taken by Giordano and Tamara's camera seeing as I have not yet purchased a new one, but I can't complain because these pictures turned out better than mine ever would! Enjoy!