City Girl on the Farm

Even though I am covered in mosquito bites and scratching non-stop, I am having the best time since I've been in Europe! I am currently at an Italian oraganic farm that also rents out rooms, dorm beds and camping space. Being the adventurer that I am, I opted to spend the week camping in Italy! My tent is no where near like the one I use for camping back home, it is HUGE and camouflage and very dark inside because the rain cover always stays on. It is tucked nicely under apple and pear trees on the farm.

Let me back up to when I first got here. The farm is on a hill close to a National Park and close to a town called Sora. Because it is too far to walk with a big backpack, I was picked up by one of the staff at the bus station in Sora and taken to the farm. Upon arriving I was greeted with bread, olive oil and fresh tomato along with a glass of wine (all made fresh at the farm). I was also given a few plums plucked straight from off one of the trees! Talk about hospitality. Then I was shown the dorm and the tent and decided that I wanted to go ahead and camp for my stay.

After I got my tent settled in, I walked down to the creek near by and on the way saw some of the animals (sheep, a few goats, a horse and the donkey). I was a tiny bit scared at first but they didnt seem to notice me much so I much better walking across the pen-area.

A couple of hours later dinner time. Having dinner here felt like being at home in a way. The food was simple but extrodinary; the pasta was made fresh that day, the vegetables were picked from the farden that afternoon and the cheese was made by the local shepherd that morning! I don't really have that discriminating of a palate but I most certainly could tell the difference in the fresh fresh ingredients. Not only was the meal delicious, but the company made the experience great as well. The people that own the farm are an older Italian couple and their son is the one who mainly runs the business part of it. There were HelpX volunteers (look it up on google) who assisted with making the meal and also ate with us and then there were the rest of the guests coming from all different parts of the world. Overall there were prbably about 5 or so languages being spoken at the table! We all just ate and got into different discussions ranging from dogs to politics. It was the Italian experience I had been waiting for (however corny that may sound).

After dinner I turned in for the night and though it took me a little while to fall asleep (because of the hard ground) I actually slept pretty well!