Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Synergistic Gardenin'


Morning view from the house.


Vittorio's home. No technology (other than a radio). No internet. No clocks. Also, there is a pure spring at the bottom of the valley so he has a series of filters and then a long black tube that goes all the way up to his place into a tank. It then fills up (about 3 thousand liters) and then feeds into a smaller tank for the irrigation to water the trees and the garden.

A little bit about Vittorio. He grew up in Australia in a town where almost everyone was working at the local factory. Both of his parents were factory workers and that's what they wanted him to do, but Vittorio knew he wanted to do something else, so he ended up moving to London. He eventually came back to Australia to teach Italian Literature at a college in Melbourne. I don't know too much of the details but after he retired he bought this piece of land in Sicily as well as a place by the famous Lake Como. During the winter he moves up to Lake Como for about 5 months. I asked him once what job he preferred, farming (which for him includes making botanicals, bath salts, etc) or teaching. There was no hesitation in his answer. Farming. Also, he speaks fluent English and Italian. He is one of the coordinators for Sicily wwoofing (world wide opportunities on organic farms). 


View of the house from Alfredo's. See above the house to the right? That's the tent I sleep in every night.


The first day I worked in the garden alone, it was somethin else. He has what's called a synergistic garden. And as I was working I saw so many new creatures I've never seen before. A giant black ninja bee pollinating flowers, a green ladybug with pink spots around the outside, a whiter than white spider, and so many butterflies. I picked green beans, tomatoes, hazelnuts off the ground, and cleared up some thorns. Also, he had some purple plants from Japan that smelled so good. I kept smelling it and taking it in and it was so addicting. It was like sweet mint but totally unique. Days here are relaxed and balanced. My diet is cleaner here than what I had in St. George and that's saying something. A normal snack for me would be a handful of hazelnuts, a pear, handful of figs, and a few tomatoes with sea salt and oregano. Everything from the garden. My body thanks me by giving me abundant energy, mental clarity, clear skin, and sound sleep. Life is great.

One afternoon I went on a little hike down to the valley floor where the spring is and then up the other side. I stopped to take a few deep breaths and I caught a smell of something. I look down and it was a small patch of wild sage! Mmm. I made a mental note on its location and continued on. I then found a bunch of wild blackberries! Nature was hooking me up with the goods. I went to town for about a half hour just feasting on blackberries. I find that wild berries are always smaller than their cultivated cousins but much tastier. On my way back I picked some sage and well let's just say dinner was wildly good...

This is what real food looks like. It doesn't need to make any health claims. And he has several fig trees which is like total bliss. Both purple and green varieties. I find that the purple ones have a clean grassy finish, whereas the green ones are like straight up caramelly candy. 


Fresh hazelnuts make a nice addition to oatmeal, figs, and almond milk.







Mmmmm froggy num nums.

Working one day I felt frustration fill me up and I just dropped what I was doing and walked deep into the forest where I had it out with myself yelling at the top of my lungs and throwing huge logs around. It's been crucial to my well-being to embrace my humanity but not be attached to my human emotions, because who knows I could wake up feeling empty or lacking motivation or frustrated or whatever but it brings such clarity to stand back and feel that this is not my true Self, it's just a process. That process is called being human. 

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