Life on the farm

Fabrizia - boundless energy

Mila - hard at work

Onion Braids

A few of the tomatoes from our harvest

Finished fig jam - green and black

Life at Ca Penelope is very simple. The farm is small and manageable – two donkeys, one cow, 9 ducks, 20 or so chickens, 6 cats and 1 to 3 dogs – depending on who is there that day. There is a large ornamental rose garden, a large vegetable garden – planted with tomatoes, onions, chard, garlic, eggplants and peppers. There is a small planting of grapes for wine – put in just two years ago and a long ways off from being harvested. There are fruit trees – plums, cherries, figs, apricots and peaches; and nut trees – hazelnuts, walnuts and chestnuts. The farm was designed as an educational farm – during the school year there are frequent visits from local school children to learn the ways of the farm. Now it is harvest and there is much to do, preserving the bounties of the growing season. There is a also a small restaurant – serving both the guests of the house (5 rooms – some with small kitchens) and people from the outside – typically the visitors come from within Italy. The restaurant is open every morning for breakfast when there are guests to be served and 4 nights per week for a small, full-service typical Italian meal.

Making a frittata- found a double yolk; 

my lucky day

Chicken laying next to the grill - the hunt is on for eggs

Every day, we begin about 8am – feeding the ducks and letting them from their holding pen, changing their water and filling their pond; of course taking time to look for eggs. Then it is off to feed chickens, top off their water and look to see what eggs may have appeared overnight, letting them roam off into the cow/donkey field and beyond to scavenge on bugs. Next we must make sure that the donkeys and cow have hay and water. The cow/donkeys are put out to pasture during the day – moved around the property to feed on fresh land. The animals happily share the land – freely wandering about the property – making sure to linger closely when we enjoy lunch outside. There is always extra pasta and bread to spare to keep them happy. The chickens can be quite predatory and care must be taken to ensure that they do not eat all of the food of the ducks and the cats – it’s a frequent struggle chasing them off as they steal and torment the other animals. On occasion there are battles – a duck and chicken pecking at each other; cats chasing cats or competing for a meal, dogs chasing cats, chickens, ducks – whatever, but for the most part – life is very amicable. In the evening, we return the animals to their respective homes – looking for eggs, topping off water and giving them their final meal for the night.

Throughout the day, the projects will vary. On nights when the restaurant is open, there is much work to be done in the kitchen; on other days, we work on the land or preserving its many gifts. Since my arrival we have: harvested rose hips to be later used in the making of rose jelly; harvested 3 gig trees and making preserves from their fruit, harvested tomatoes – drying some in the sun, making sun dried tomato pesto and sun dried tomatoes in oil, making sauce for use in later days and of course using them in cooking for ourselves and guests; we have picked chard – the leaves will be used later in the week for filling tortelloni (a larger version of tortellini that is used with sauce, versus the smaller version which is typically served in broth), the stems are cooked up in frittatas and as a vegetable side dish with pepperocini , garlic and olive oil; we have removed the flowers from countless lavenders stalks – these will be later stuffed into small pillows to decorate the rooms and be given as gifts; we have harvested eggplants and zucchini – spending hours processing the older zucchini into 5 huge pots of soup, the younger ones grilled alongside the eggplant and then preserved in olive oil scented with lemon juice and garlic for use in the weeks to come. We have harvested onions - red & white, braiding the stems into beautiful and functional decorations. We have weeded the fields, mowed the grass, cleaned the duck pond and worked as a collective team to keep the farm running smoothly.