Cheese Babies

To pick up where we last left off - Gabri and his cheese-babies. Each one was fawned over and checked on by him like a lactic baby. He was supremely crushed when they ended up turning out anything except exactly how he envisioned they should. Even if the cheese was a delicious accident he would throw up his arms in a dramatic fashion and declare it a failure. Emotions I can completely relate to.

Gabri was pretty much the most useful WWOOFer on the farm; I don't think anyone even really thought of him as a WWOOFer as he knew pretty much all facets of the farm and farming and was capable of repairing pretty much anything on the farm. He is also an incredibly kind person.

Which is probably why he wasn't with us the day we had to shovel through a metre of horse shit. Though this may sound gross, it was not nearly as nasty as cleaning out the pigs' stall. Being tasked to take care of the animals and clean their stalls we came to appreciate some pretty odd stuff - such as the consistency and smell of a particular animals' shit. Pigs were the most vile, followed by the cows and tied for a very distant last the horses and goats. The little animals don't even count. We were also tasked with various minor construction/repair projects, which included the creation of a garden, fence repair and the beginnings of a mini greenhouse for herbs. Since I was terrified of shop class in junior high and have never done anything with a hammer but destroy things, it felt incredible to be creating something and actually doing repairs. (Granted I did smash my finger with the hammer hard enough to make it spurt a flowing geyser of blood).

Stefano and his partner Alice are both from the Bergamo area and both had past careers having to do with animals prior to starting the farm. Stefano was a vet and Alice, a dog trainer and breeder. Stefano also happened to be a very good cook, teaching me quite a bit about the. Bergamaschi kitchen and allowing me to help out on Sundays at lunch n their restaurant doing cheese plates. Did I mention how blindingly delicious the cheeses are?
Alice kept a much lower profile and we didn't really get to know her as well. We pretty much knew she has a pack of various dogs and had very strong opinions about food.

Our last day on the farm was a couple of days ago, and though we were sad to leave, it also feels nice to be on the road again, travelling and seeing some new towns and scenery. Afterall isn't travel about just that?

Ciao for now,

Matt & Lynn