A bit more about yesterday

I had a most wonderful time with our host, Ettore, at the farm; and was thoroughly impressed with his intelligence, creativity and his wonderfully warm personality.  He prepared lunch from the produce of his farm, and served in the ancient kitchen complete with open fireplace.  We also enjoyed some of the wine he produces.  

We discussed everything from the history of Italy in Roman times,  the Etruscans and their early “ownership” of Umbria, and Umbria’s birth as an independent entity.  He went into great detail about the loss of all the olive trees in Umbria when a freeze occurred after an unusually early spring.  All the trees were in full flower and then froze solid.  The trees had to be cut down to the ground.  They did restore themselves over time from the roots, but one can imagine the economic devastation from this event.  One tree survived in Trevi, and it is believed to be over 1,500 years old, it was near the church, so it is considered a miracle.

Of particular interest to me was his explanations of the farming business following the withdrawal of farm subsidies in Italy.  He grew three crops: Olives, wheat and tobacco, and that has helped him withstand a downturn in one of the three dissimilar markets.  Without subsidies; however, he needed a better business plan.  He began growing vegetables and fruit, with a heavy emphasis on organic since the margins are slightly better.  A cooperative helped reduce administrative expenses.

Here is Ettore's picture entering the rooms to be used for conferences and large dinners.

Presently, he is one of a small number of farmers in his co-op investigating the growing of hemp.  It turns out one of the byproducts of the hemp core is a building material which has structure as well as some wonderful moisture toleration and insulation properties.  It may be a perfect material to use in the earthquake-prone mountains of Italy.  He explained that there are several marketable by-products of hemp harvesting, but this one struck my fancy.

He already has the several rental units for tourists like me, and is creating more in addition to a small conference center on the main farm.  We spent four and one-half hours together, and I’m sure I will look at this as one of the highlights of the trip.  All this and he can cook too!.

Here is an interesting side note.  All the windows of the facility have bars except the home.  It seems that olive oil is so valuable, that safeguarding the inventory is more important than safeguarding the family.  This picture is from the factory side, and shows the shutters on the inside which were part of the system to maintain the proper temperature in the rooms processing the oil.

The factory had central heating, but the home did not.