Signs of Spring

Spring has arrived in Italy! I'll get back to that in a moment, but first I want to share a few more pictures from the last farm, further south near a town called Acqui Terme. The name literally means "Thermal Waters," so called for a sulfuric spring in the center of town:




Here's a view from a nearby castle at the top of a town on a hill:




And an abandoned vineyard returning to forest:




Here are the kids of the family I was staying with, 5-year-old Ian and 3-month-old Valentina (whose hair always looks like that):




And a wood-fired oven in the kitchen which she uses to toast nuts and seeds, roast vegetables, and of course make pizza and bread:




Anyways, for the last two weeks I've been further north, in the beautiful foothills of the Italian Alps! While there was an early heat wave (causing a perhaps premature purchase of sunscreen), it's been mostly rainy in the past few weeks, with the result that the forest is getting greener and greener by the day! But the unfurling ferns and bluebells aren't the only signs of spring:




Baby animals abound! Since I've been here, three goats and a cow have given birth to babies, which means milk is flowing all around. The goats are only giving enough milk for their babies, so we let them nurse straight from the mothers. Starting in late May or June, most of the babies go off to become meat, leaving the milk to become cheese.




The cows, on the other hand, give way more milk than one calf could ever eat for longer than he would ever want to eat it. So we milk the cows with a small milking machine (except the one cow given to bouts of mastitis) and then bottle-feed the calves. This calf was born the day after I arrived, and is still a bit confused - after I finish feeding him, he keeps trying to find the udders on his pen-mate, a young male goat. The confusion, however, is mutual: the first time we put them in the same stall the goat tried to, ahem, make the calf his wife.




Chickens are also as entertaining as ever, especially this brooch hen shepherding her three chicks safely around the barnyard. I definitely looked a bit suspicious with my camera:




This is the first place that I've been very much involved in the daily care of animals, and I've been surprised by just how much personality they have, and how different they are from each other. With only four cows, you really get to know each one! I can't imagine that in a barn with 200 dairy cows one really gets to know the personality of each one, but I've never been in that situation. And of course baby animals are even more fun to watch in person than in silly YouTube videos. Watching a newborn calf try to stand up reminded me of the scene in Bambi where he walks on ice for the first time - and that tiny brown calf with the huge eyes actually looked remarkably like a fawn!

When I'm not milking cows, taking goats for walks, watching "chicken TV," cooking, etc., there are lots of paths through the woods in the hills for hiking. It really is beautiful here!




I'm here for another ten days, and then I'm off on one last homeward adventure: a 15-hour bus ride through the alps, four days as a tourist in Brussels, then another bus under the Channel, a quick visit in London, and then a flight home to Chicago!

Look for another post in the next two weeks where I will reveal all about my future plans! Sneak peek: they involve a little red pickup truck!

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Location:Caprile, Biella, Piemonte, Italia