TUESDAY TUNES:I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR

 TUESDAY TUNES:Helen Reddy said it best that we know too much to sit back and pretend...Ladies make sure everybody you know votes today. It's the least we can do for our. daughters and grandchildren. The world is awaiting with bated breath...

I AM WOMAN

MONDAY MUSINGS: CHOOSING ONE'S LIFE STYLE -PODERE IL CASALE

Those of you who have followed Life in the End of the Rainbow Valley since its inception know that this suburbanite ended up living off the land in a valley after meeting Natureman, a back-to-the-lander, whose favorite book was 5 Acres of Independence. He actually had 42 acres but this once city dweller had to figure out how to live off the land with a big learning curve. I benefitted from his knowledge and his dream. This is probably why the story of how Podere Il Casale came to exist touched a special place in my heart.

Picture a young couple immersed in the world of punk rock in Switzerland with dreams of living in a place of healthy food moving in 1991 to the small town of Pienza in Tuscany. Sandra and Ulisse found a farm for sale atop a hill with an expansive view of rolling hills and mountain range including the inactive volcano Amiata.  

What a view to wake up to for 30 years!

       Val D'Orcia became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

The couple was fortunate the previous owner stayed on a year to share his knowledge re: farming, animal husbandry and cheese production. 

Fast forward to today, 5 grown sons later they are a shining example of Agriturismo.  

Podere Il Casale now has a campsite, organic restaurant, cooking classes, farm visits. as well as being a site for weddings and special events. 

Our guide Ervin gave us an informative tour including the farm's history, cheese production and its farm animals. 

We saw goats, sheep, mules, pigs, peacocks, cats and dogs in their stables.

There is a small farmhouse shop to purchase their own flour, pasta, honey,  wine, and cold-pressed olive oil in addition to cheeses.

 

One can also enjoy a cheese platter of different aged sheep's milk cheese (pecorino)  and goat milk cheeses in addition to mixed goat and sheep cheese in their farm to table organic restaurant. 

We enjoyed local wine* and a salad from their garden with our cheese sampler platter. The drunken cheese  (middle right) aged with the bran of grape skins was my favorite. 

There also were honey and jam sauces to put atop the cheeses.

*Nearby are also vineyards with some of the most famous wines in the world : Brunello di Montalcino, Nobile di Montepulciano and Chianti Classico. 

 From a land preserved, nurtured, and inherited by the work of sharecroppers now we as agritourists can also benefit from this one couple's dream...

FOTO FRIDAY: WHO KNEW?

 

FOTO FRIDAY: Who knew? Not me. 

Bellísima, ¿no?

When my paella recipe calls for saffron, now I understand why it is so costly.  The vivid crimson 'thread' is the saffron. The flower is appropriately named crocus salivus,  the saffron crocus, whose season to bloom is October here in Italy.