Two weeks in Abruzzo

Unfortunately, I only passed two weeks at La Canestra.
The first week, we could not do very much because the weather was very bad. But the sencond week was full of sun and therefore full of work.
I was responsible for taking care of most of the animals (pigs, cows, horses, chickens, sheeps, donkeys). Although somtimes it was hard and dirty work I enjoyed it very much and I am very thankful that I was trusted with this task.
At the beginning I didn't know what to think about the people, but then they turned out to be extraordinarily friendly and heartly. It was a pleasure for me to spend these two weeks together with them.
When the sun came out after the first week I was surprised to find myself in a really beautiful landscape. With the snow covered peak of San Franco always in sight, work was done with double pleasure (but took also double time).
In the second week, the highlight of every day was the short ride I used to make in the afternoon with Carboso, a very nice and beautiful horse.
Also worth mentioning is the food I tasted there: selfmade pasta and bread, a lot of meat and salad and cakes, everything was really delicious.

I am sorry that after this horrible earthquake I could not help with nothing but the work of my hands. But I hope very much that I will be able to return one day to offer my help once more and enjoy the hospitability of the family.

1 of May, Labour Day

The whole of Italy was celebrating labor day today. We were celebrating also. By labouring of course. Tina and me finnished cleaning the donkey stable of the hey mixed with dung but lots of plastic as well in form of strings that hold the hey ballots. I'll try and remove the strings from now on when I feed the animals or they get tangled in the hey and make it diffcult to get it out with the pitchfork. We took a brake one hour before lunch and just wondered around, slept, read and mingled. Yes, mingled since there were so many people coming by, mostly friends of Noemi, volunteers in the earthquake camps.

At lunch time we were maybe close to 30 people in the gazeebo (good thing Noemi's friend's brought food of their own!). After lunch me and Pepe went to catch the donkeys that escaped... once more. He got in a bit of an argument with the neighbours that were complaning that the donkeys are leaving dungs and the hey they make from the grass where the donkeys releif themselves won't be good anymore. Pepe believes that is just bullshit and is annoyed. But not as much as other times. Noemi's boyfriend is here to play guitar and calm the spirits. After chasing the donkeys around and avoiding the neighbours, making another electric fence enclosure for the donekeys and horses we started work on the spiral garden. I brought a chicken to feed on the worms we dug out but because Charlie was drooling over it I had to take it back. Her name is Vermisina. Good luck in trying to find a chicken that fits the name (one that eats worms "vermi").

After all the work I was looking forward for dinner. I had my fill of bruschete and Erica had her fun taking pictures of us.

Pepe, Radu, Luisa and a tiny little bit of Tina.

The tulip is giving a peck to Tina, the hard working volunteer.

Snow!

It snowed in the night up in the mountains! And it rained in very cold showers at our place! We can sense the cold from the mountains very well here. I even got a headache today and I'm thinking that it's the cold to blame.

But before it got to rain in the afternoon we got to do allot of work: cleaning up a place where the donkeys stayed during the winter, carrying food to the animals, carrying wood and feeding worms to the chickens. Much of it I did with together with Luisa and Tina and some with Pepe. Tina is a really hard worker just like Luisa.

That was until lunch time. After we ate me and Luisa (and of course the so annoying lamb) went for a walk. We got caught in the rain and had to take shelter under the roof of a gate. It was a weird situation because the owner of the house came out and talked to us from her balcony keeping us out in the rain. I am a bit anxious these days because it's getting closer and closer to leaving the family and the place and going away but Luisa is always around to keep my spirits up.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Another day of hard work

Today me and Pepe finished the new pig enclosure. It was hard work but I realise it could be allot harder if it wasn't for the electric wire that Pepe uses to keep the pigs enclosed. I don't agree with it but I'm not saying anything since it's a bad period that the family goes through. I'm also too tired to try and convey a message of morals in Italian. To bad I didn't take a picture but after finishing the work I looked like a wall on the edge of a country road after a rainy day. I felt so miserable in my big boots that I took them of and went along the property barefooted taking photos.

I found two types of mushrooms that I photographed and will ask Pio if he knows if they are edible or not. Later in the day when Pio came he let me know he doesn't know if they are good to eat or not but he can show me ones that he knows for sure are edible. We went to look for "chiodini", small mushrooms that grow in unplowed fields with low pasture. You can easily spot the place they grow in because the grass is darker in those spots and usually grows in semi circles. The "chiodini" are small, fragile mushrooms that at the moment I think I could recognise (they are not in the photos). We also picked "erba cipollina" (wild onions) and thyme.

The only bad news today was that someone used the laptop improperly the other day and some small part in the network card is broken. We have to use Luisa's computer for Internet but it's incredibly slow. Patience is the key word.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

New volunteer, Tina arrives

Today was raining as well. In between rain breaks I did some more wood cutting and finnished the new big wood pile with Pio. After that I went with Pepe and took part of the horse enclosure and made and new pig enclosure from it. We need to move the pigs apart since two of the pigs will have piglets soon and the male can kill them.

Again, there was a bit of tension in the family from a bit of miscomunication between Guissepina, the grandma and Bruna, the mother. Erica was caught up in the middle and stormed out of the tent in a rage. Everything is ok now, Erica is smiling and laughing as she looks at one of the silly shows on TV (yes, we do have TV and Internet now in the tent) and Bruna was her positive self over the dinner table.

But the highlight of the day was going to L'Aquila with Luisa to pick up Tina the new volunteer from Germany. In the car on the way talking with Luisa, I was a bit worried about my trip to Trapani via hitchiking. That's because Italians don't speak that much English, I said. But Luisa just smiled and told me "Ma tu parli italiano!" ("But you speak Italian!"). It was the first I realised that I actually do speak basic Italian, enough to get around and carry a conversation.

When we arrived to L'Aquila we quikly found the new volunteer and drove back home where she got to meet the whole family, even Noemi who returned home with her boyfriend just as we arrived. Tina is a lovely girl and I have a feeling that the 5 days we'll be working together until I leave for Oslo will be a pleasure.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

The fun to be had listening to a Romanian talking Italian

Today we got to work with one of the donkeys (the male of course). We had to carry a bathtub to the cow enclosure for them to drink out of. We made a big hole in the ground for the bathtub to fit in and the water that was coming from higher ground to pour in the bathtub. It was hard work, digging with the shovel, the hole making tool, cutting, sawing, hammering, stomping and carrying. To bad we didn't have a camera to capture the funny moment of Pepe being stuck in the mud, loosing his boot in it and than having Bruna placing his foot back in it and tuging to get it free. Some more comic relief came by mistake from me while trying to use me best Italian to let Bruna know where the saw is: "sta a la COGLIONI" (meaning "it's at the testicles".... what I wanted to say was "CONIGLI", rabbits). Still, it was one of the most tiring days for me so far maybe also because I don't sleep that well at night for some reason I'm not aware of (maybe the earthquakes... hmmm). So while everyone was loud and talkative in the tent I went in one of the rooms and collapsed into a deep sleep. I woke up probably a few hours later and seeing a brand new pile of wood in front of the tent I started cutting away at it. That was about it for the day if you don't count the walk I took with Luisa and the lamb in the rain on one of the roads that goes up and around Aglioni and than past the family house in Collenoveri.

And as a word of advice to future volunteers: never state the obvious that "we eat to much" (here at "La Canestra", even in tents) or the teasing at meals time will have no end. Just enjoy!

The "caught in the headlights" look that Pepe has in the photo is my revenge for the teasing over dinner (even though he was the only one not teasing me!). In reality I just wanted to post a picture of us over the dinner table.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Flying to Oslo!

I've been talking to Luisa and also after meeting her cousin and being invited to visit them in Lanciano I reconsidered my plans of hitchhiking to Norway to the One Step Beyond! project. I'll be staying a few more days with the Commentucci family and than travel with Luisa to her relatives. I've already booked a cheap flight (10€) to Oslo from Trapani, Sicily and I'll hitchhike there instead. I'm also considering of stopping for a couple of days in Napoli as well. I'm not happy flying but I'm happy I'll get to stay more with the family and travel a bit more in Italy which I've started to grow fond of.

Mille grazie a Luisa once more because she used her credit card, a Visa Electron even that Ryanair doesn't charge a tax for, to book my flight with. I don't have a credit card so I just returned the 10€ in cash.

There's much to thank Luisa for, after lunch she even went with me to the family house and insisted on looking until we found that book on Permaculture that Pepe has. From the book we got an idea about making a spiral herb garden in front of the tents.

And even though I made the compromise of buying a plane ticket I was happy the whole day though because we got to do allot of work. Even the family that brought the chestnut tree helped out. They slept in their caravan. And I got to do some cleaning up in the pigs stall and bringing some hay, adding two more back breaking stones on the rabbit path and cutting wood with the guest family. After lunch I carried some hay, carried some wood and did some digging on the spiral garden.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Message from Carlo Spera

We did lots of hard work today me and Pepe, cleaning the mud from the pig's stall, bringing hey for the cows and reinforcing further their stall, relocating the donkeys and feeding all the animals.

But all the time I was thinking of joining Luisa for a small trip to L'Aquila where I was told something I longed for was waiting for me. After the morning work was done Luisa and me hurried to get to the damaged city of L'Aquila and forgot everything that we were able to forget in the rush, car keys, i.d., the camera on the windshield, etc. We were really eager to get there! Luisa's cousin was waiting to meet us there! She's such a wonderful person to be around.

When we finnally got to meet her and her parents she gave me a present from her fiancee, Carlo; a photoreportaje book of the events in Chernobyl that himself wrote and took the photographs for. A masterpiece in my oppinion and from such a modest and "normal" person. I'm also very glad he signed it and wrote a beautiful dedication on it. Thank you Carlo, get well soon!

I got to meet Carlo Spera and his humour and behaviour, very down to earth didn't give me a glimpse of his photographic talent and biting wit (has to be so when writing about all the things that went wrong with Cernobyl). On the occasion we met, the first day I arrived in L'Aquila and the smaller earthquakes that preceded the destruction of the city happened he showed me and explained to me some of the compositions in his book. A work of art and I would like to share it with more people for the 100.000 of words a few photos can convey. You can find out more about him and his work here:
- IN ENGLISH
- IN ITALIAN

Even more surprises were waiting for us when we got back home at about 2:30 PM. After lunch Lindsey's biscotti were the highlight of the table sweets! I wanted to take a photo but Luisa's camera was broken.:( Everybody enjoyed. They were made on a good occasion as well, with more than 9 friends of the family coming to visit and help with fruit, sweets, milk and other things needed around. The friends of the family are all very sensitive to the situation of the Commentucci family and it's nice to see their solidarity.

After lunch we even went out and planted and chestnut tree that one of the visiting family brought. A symbolic gesture of rebirth and autonomy that Pepe seemed to enjoy allot. And it was great to have a sunny day after so many rainy ones.

Collenoveri, outside Aglioni but close to the family house.

Everybody threw some ground in.
Yours truly, giving a helping hand.

Pepe, Erica and their friends.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

A bit of agression

Bruna and Pepe had a bit of a break down today because on one hand they don't know what to do next, if they are going to move to another region (Pepe also brings up moving to the Czech Republic, god knows why the C.R.) or stay and adapt and on the other the lack of organisation from the local council and in the big picture of the government. They don't know if they were excluded from a public meeting the day that passed or not, if they are going to get funds to reinforce the buildings, if they still have to pay taxes and the bills which people in other regions affected just as much, don't have to pay anymore. And than there are Erica and Michele who rely very much on their parents. I can understand what they're getting through.

But it was nice to get together around the fire in the evening when the spirits calmed down and hug, eat some biscuits and "colombo" cake with tea and liquers. And to think of it even though it started raining again in the evening it was a good day in the end because we got reorganise in the big tent, brought some other two beds in instead of the tent, I got to cut some grass for the chickens and open up the ground for them to pick worms from and we also got to reinforce the sheep enclosure where we placed the cows instead. Hope they don't escape once again! I've also washed the dandelion roots me and Luisa picked yesterday and we'll try and make dandelion root coffe tommorow. Here is an article on how to do it.

Oh! And not to forget that during work on the sheep (now cow) enclosure we had another earthquake. We found it's magnitude, time and location on this very good site dedicated to recording seismic activity in Italy: Sito dell'Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia .
It was a Magnitudo(Ml) 3.2 - ABRUZZO - L'AQUILA at 24/04/2009 15:38:53 (italiana)

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Alive but shaken

Hei everyone!
It's been a while since I've written to anyone or kept in touch though the blog or any other online social networking sites. It's a result of the current events here in Italy in the Abruzzo region where I'm volunteering. On the 6th of April an two big earthquakes hit the city of L'Aquila 30 km away from "La Canestra" by road and 10 km in direct line. Me, Lindsey, the American volunteer and Luisa, our coordinator on the farm didn't feel them much and considered everything will be back to normal soon.
Two weeks later and we are all sleeping in tents, moping the rain water out of them when it rains, take showers in the house with the doors slightly opened so we can go out in case of a tremor, eat in a enclosed space made by us from planks and thick, black plastic foil that doesn't leave any light in and everything couldn't be further from normality. But I'm glad I got to see the good side of this abnormal situation in the solidarity that the friends of the family showed as well as of random people. Full trunks of food and other useful things have been carried in our makeshift shelters by people who wanted to help, and volunteers from Italy and abroad have been coming constantly in the region to help the people in the camps, people that are left without a house or people who were advised it's not safe to return to their houses like us.
I'll try to remember how everything got to this point even though some details might have been blurred by daily routine and the stress of the situation.
Since the first tremor in L'Aquila, Pepe the father of the family, has been on alert. When I was thinking that we will be ok because the earthquake was over and not a problem for us Pepe on the other hand was already looking for alternatives to the antique stone built houses we slept in. (They welcome adobe, yurt of any type of light type of construction builders to experiment with other types of buildings than the stone ones that are so dangerous in case of an earthquake, by the way!). And he was right to do so since 10, 30 or even 100 km distance from such a natural calimitated area doesn't guarantee safety. From what I understand there are tectonic plates moving straight under our feet and the danger of a big one that could wipe out the whole village is always present.
From my last post and until the 10th of April we set up camp outside the houses on the therase where they already had gazebo under which we could set up small tents. The only problem was that Bruna's mother, Angelina couldn't take the cold, humid air because of her asthma and other problems and she had to sleep inside with Bruna looking after her. We also did flower necklaces for the lamb that follows Luisa everywhere as his mother, went for walks, we picked up stinging nettles, we brought from the family house a crazy Egyptian chicken, clipped her wings (feathers) and put her in with the other chickens. Not much else I think. We were in the first phase of the "terremotati", the people affected by the earthquake.

11th of April
We finally received a big tent from the commune, 5 days after the earthquake hit and sleeping in the small tents that got humid in the spring weather. I also tried to get back on the horse and this time succeeded in riding Carbosso but this time with a saddle and everything else.

12th of April
Not such a special day for the terremotati. Since we can't go inside we couldn't use the oven to cook anything special and we had the same "refugee" type of food we've been having for days. But it was a special day because we went to pick up Noemi from the camp where she remained to make the children feel better and get them to play and to have a sense of normality. That even though herself was very affected by the earthquakes and told us that everytime she felt a tremor after the big ones on the 6th she started shaking herself. Such a brave young lady! After picking her up on our way to the car the police stopped and gave her an Easter chocolate egg. It seems it's the one most important symbols of Easter for catholic christians here and people don't even know why. For orthodox christians like in Romania for example there are other traditions involving eggs but in a different way: the one that I really enjoyed as a kid was painting the eggs in red and than having "fights" to see who's egg is stronger. In the end we all ended eating an impossible amount of eggs. I was kinda home sick because I knew how many different things my parents would prepare for Easter. And that even though I knew the orthodox Easter is later than the catholic one. But Luisa had a great idea to uplift my spirit. Erica found a small belt in a Easter egg had written on it something to do with pirates which fit my new look perfectly because of the big scar across my face from falling of the horse. Luisa put the egg in my tent and told me to go have a look. I needed a belt so badly because my own I broke a while back. Thanks Luisa and Erica!After lunch Luisa and her father, that was now staying with us because his house in L'Aquila was damaged, invited me to go visit Luisa's grandmother (nona). She had a minor foot operation and was recovering in hospital. From my visit and talk with her I couldn't tell she was 95 years old (!!!). Seeing her making jokes and being so positive about everything even though her house was also damaged, she just went through an operation, earthquakes still went on and her age was inspirational and I felt great after visiting her.I was able to work hard all day carrying wood, placing the plastic foil over gazebo and other small things around our camp.

13th of April
In the cold morning it rained allot and the wind almost blew away the covers we made. They didn't protect us from the humidity much anyway. I also made a bit of a shelter for the dogs because they were in terrible shape out in the rain. At lunch we went to pick up the "refugee" food from the main camp of Capitigano. Small aluminium containers filled with warm and pretty good food. After that we reinforced the covers. In the night we had a pretty big earthquake 5 km away, 4,9 on Richter scale andI woke up to note down the time it happened: 11:20. It seems most big earthquakes happened during the night and surely there is a scientific reason behind this waiting to be discovered, something to do with temperature maybe. But to me the earthquake seems like something a worm from Dune would cause, waiting for the cover of night to attach unsuspecting Italians and the random Romanians like myself.

14th of April
Me and Lindsey had a bit of fun after lunch in an arm wrestle where we realised we were equal in strength. Ha ha! Good thing Pepe wasn't around to see this as he always differentiates between the two of us in the work he asks us to do: I always end up doing the "man" stuff, carrying and lifting while "fragile" Lindsey does the "woman" stuff in the kitchen and around the house. But as it is I ended up carrying some more wood, cutting wood, cleaning wood around the little creek, something that I went to do on my own. Lindsey probably washed some more dishes.In the evening we gathered around a glass of Melissa infusion, a plant that is supposed to relax the mind. Still, even tranquilised with Melissa, we still felt the earthquake from 10:22 PM and the other ones that followed.

15th of April
The first sign from authorities came today in the presence of the firemen (vigili del fuoco) that came to inspect the churches. Some of the churches are very old like the one dedicated to saint Rocco close to the agriturism from 1866, i believe. Another sign from the authorities but unwanted one came when I went risking my life to use the internet in the family house just to find a window that redirected the connection to a local free network for the people affected by the earthquake but that required a username and password! Work of the day for me was cleaning and carrying wood.

16th of April
At 9:30 Rocco and his son Maurizzio, friends of the family came to make a stronger enclosure for us to cook and put the tents under. They brought all their professional tools and we were cutting and hammering a new shelter in no time. On this occasion I noticed what a hard time Italians have remembering my 4 letter name, Radu. I've been called so far Romeo, Raul, Rudy, Chico, Prato (pasture) and as a joke Radura (pasture inside a forest) and Tare by Rocco. There've been more but I can't remember them all. It's always amusing to collect a new nickname.Along with having a wind and rain proof shelter this was an important day also because it was the first time I got to taste artichoke (carciofi). Mmmmmmmm! Tasty. Rudy likes.

17th of April
The morning we started in force when me and Pepe drove to load some hey and bring home. We also unloaded and organised it. We also carried some wood home and I was ready for a break. But than the cows escaped and we had to go chase them back in the enclosure. After lunch I felt I needed some time doing something for myself so I went down from the camp near the small creek that runs through their property to practice making a shelter from things lying around. I used the bag that the big tent came in as a hammock and placed a tent cover it as a tarp. Very comfortable and pretty solid. View to the hills and the stars above. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep in it before I leave.

19th of April
Today was the orthodox christian Easter so I got a phone call from my parents early in the morning that woke me up. It was nice hearing from them though. They were both there to wish me all the things they were used to say since I was a baby and I felt close to them even so far away.But than the bad news started pouring in. The family was upset because their village wasn't included in the affected area and wasn't fit to receive government subsidies. And that when every other village around them was included. The damage to their family house is very visible as well as the damage to houses in the village. And not only the house was affected but also the agriturism. Understandably nobody is coming in the region anymore and the 40 people they were expecting for Easter canceled. As well as other people who came in just for the restaurant. Luisa and I had the luxury to escape for a bit from it all and we went to visit Luisa's grandmother again. She was in a good mood as usual and bought us both drinks in the hospital bar. After that we went to see if we could go into L'Aquila but the roads were still blocked and we could only see the "macelo", the mess around it. Truly impressive what Mother Nature can do in 20 seconds.

22rd of April
It started as a bad day for me because I pulled a muscle in my back cutting wood but it turned out to be pretty good having Bruna and Luisa massage me with a special natural cream that contains arnica, devil's grass and lavender. Also Bruna drove me to the pharmacy and bought me the same cream and insisted that she paid for it. I also fasted during lunch and dinner which I believe gives the body some time to readjust to healing instead of digesting.

23rd of April
Today was the day of the meeting of the ministers to decide on the budget for reconstruction and repairs of the affected areas. Since Aglioni di Capitignano wasn't included on the list of affected regions even though in a high risk area the whole family went to attend the meeting.While they were gone I started opening the big tent to let it dry and let some light in and started cleaning around the camp site. The back muscle was feeling allot better and I could only sense some tension in that area but no pain. Meanwhile a tractor full of fire wood came in and left a big pile of wood for me and Lindsey to organise. After this I went to get some hey for the donkeys that escaped once again. I left the hey there and went to find the donkeys with Michele after we had lunch. Meanwhile the family returned and after Pepe had lunch I went with him to shovel out some mud from the pig's enclosure. I have no idea why they keep pigs when they are such a pain to take care of and feed. In the evening after dinner Lindsey went in the big tent, sat down on one of the beds and after 3 minutes when I started talking to her I noticed she was sound asleep. Me, Pepe, Bruna, Michele and his friend went to a meeting at the main camp. Me and Michele got there first and couldn't get in because we weren't from the camp itself. They would have let Michele in because they knew him but not me from what I could make out. After lots of people came in to give their opinion while allot other were laughing and playing around us like children we finally saw Pepe, Bruna and Erica that were in the camp already. The meeting that we weren't allowed to attend wasn't happening anyway... Che cassino! What a mess!

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Seeding day gone wrong?

Today we seeded red and white onions and Roveja (Italian name for a plant I don't know the name if in English) but than it started hailing which I don't know how good is for the seeds and small onions.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

7th of April 2009

In the morning I went for a short bike ride while Luisa was feeding the lamb. When I came back I found Pepe at “La Canestra” making calls. He wanted to build tents since last night the epicenter of yet another earthquake was in Pizzoli, 20 kilometres from Capitignano. It was between 4-5 grade on Richter. We again didn’t feel it much during the night and even decided to stay inside and continue sleeping.

After lunch though everybody from Capitiganno went outside because the fire department advised it was safer.

I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing so i grabbed a piece of bread and cycled to feed it to the horse, Cabroso. He appreciated it so I also stayed for a while to pick up some grass for him. After I came back we all went to put out tents in an opened space just in case than gathered again with neighbours and friends of the family for lunch. I quickly finished and since my Italian wasn’t good enough to get involved in a passionate conversation on the current events I went to clean the horse.

I did that for most of the afternoon and than decided to roominess abit of my childhood riding without a saddle. But it’s not the same to ride a small tamed horse and riding an Andalucian. On top of that I was also wearing slippers. Once I got up on Carboso he started galloping and I fell scraping my arm. I’ve had a few phobias that I got over with a bit of work and I wasn’t going to develop one about riding horses wich is very important to me. I got on Carboso again but this time he made sure to let me know that’s not the way you ride an Andalucian. He was also very agitated because the family’s dog, Charlie was barking like mad at him. He started galloping again and without a mouthpiece to remind him there’s someone riding him he wouldn’t stop. I fell again and this time face first into a tree which left a mark. I got up, looked for my slipper that flew somewhere in the bushes while I was falling and went up to the house with Carboso. I tried to put him in his electrified enclosure but again he started galloping, pulling me into the mud of the enclose and breaking the fence which took me and Pepe a bit to fix.

I took a shower and got reed of the all the mud that I even had on my face and it was already dinner time. This time even the nun that held mass the last Thursday came and stayed a while with the family. And while everyone else was having fried meat with bruschete (toast with olive oil and salt) I was having my bruscheta with nutella, not a very healthy vegetarian alternative. But tasty.

Even though I dreamt of terremoti (earthquakes) nothing disturbed our sleep during the night.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Earthquakes in L'Aquila

6th of April 2009

At about 6AM Pepe came into the room very worried and called Luisa outside. I also went out to see what happened and see if I can help. There was a 5,7 grade on Richter scale earthquake in the nearby L’Aquila at about 30 km from us and he was worried about his dauther, Noemi and his friends. During the night in Aglioni di Capitignano on “La Canestra” I felt two earthquakes but nothing big enough to get me out of bed. I was worried when he told me about the scale of the earthquake because I remembered we had a 7 grade on Richter scale earthquake in Romania that devastated it’s capital, Bucharest.

I was thinking I wanted to help if there are any fallen buildings and wounded in L’Aquila. I later saw in the news at the family house where all of us gathered that there were indeed people killed in the earthquake and allot of damage to the whole city. I even saw that the church dome under which I was waiting for Luisa to pick me up when I first arrived was collapsed.

Nothing happened in the village though, not even a broken vase. It’s a good thing that they finally reached Noemi on the phone because they were visibly worried about her. She and her boyfriend were ok and out in the car.

After we all had breakfast (colazione) we started organising a bit. Luisa went to the “comune”, the city council of Capitignano to see if there is anything we can do and to let them know that Pepe is offering his agriturismo for the ones that were left homeless.

The attitude of the family and their hearts are in the right place. Something visible from the number of phone calls that were made at “La Canestra” and at their place by friends who wanted to make sure the family is allright. Someone from Florence even left 3 or 4 voice messages from what I could make out to make sure that they call her back. And than friends started gathering at their place. But now that I try to remember what, when happened it doesn’t all come back to me.

It was a very chaotic day with car rides and cycling back and front between “La Canestra” and the family house. But sometimes after lunch we got to plant 4 trees and... a cross. Pepe said it is a memory of this tragic day, a rememberance of those who died and a protection for the farm. A mystic sign he told me when I started smiling at the ideea that we’ll put up a cross. And now I agree that it actually is a grand gesture to do while everyone else is preocupied with their own angoases and a strong memory for the day.

In late afternoon I had time to go with Pio to look for Morghelle mushrooms but we didn’t find any. But we did fill our basket full of Cicory and another local wild plant called Candi in Italian. Bruna was also very “brava” cooking all day for as much as 12 people even though she still had a fevre. Even though I’m not a big fan of cooked Cicory everyone seemed to enjoy the way she cooked it and I could feel the same about everythig else she cooked. She and Pepe are strong poles for the family and no earthquake is gonna shake them.

After dinner and watching some news, people gathered in the living room for weaving baskets but the events of the day finally cought up with me and I felt very tired. I cycled back to the agriturismo to our room where we seem to feel the earth shake less than anybody else; Lindsey even slept through the ones that caused so much panic and tragedy in L’Aquila and we barely noticed them. And indeed thourgh the night there was another one in nearby Pizzoli, 20 km from us but even with the fresh images of the devastated buildings and the wounded it didn’t feel strong enough to get out of bed. Could it be the cross?

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Green Italian camp and party for Roskilde festival

As part of it's campaign, called Green Footsteps, Roskilde festival in Denmark is sending out a "green" message: take responsability for one's own actions and how they affect the environment.
If one manages to take three of the four steps they are suggesting:
Throw a green pre-Roskilde party
Make a Green Camp
Support windmills in Malawi when you buy your ticket
Use public transport to Roskilde
than he receives an admittance paper to the Climate Community and gets special access to a central spot in the camping area Sunday 28 June before 20.00 when the area opens for everyone.
You can read more about it here:
http://www.roskilde-festival.dk/uk/about_the_festival/green_footsteps

I hope to get to work with my hosts at "La Canestra" into turning the party that is prepared for the 19th into a green pre-Roskilde party and to organise a camp at the farm so that the team from One Step can have that special access that they deserve. You can read more about the project and the team here:
http://1stepbeyond.wordpress.com/

First LIVE written post

So until now I've been writing the content for this blog on Luisa's laptop but today while most of the family is at mass I get to write the first post from Noemi's computer. It's a very sunny and beautiful day and it's a pity to spend it inside but I have write that really enjoyed the cake the girls made yesterday and which I had for breakfast today. So great! And I'm back to eating fruits in the morning again as there where some pears, apples and mandarins laying around.

After breakfast we went with Rocco, a friend and guest of Pepe's to distribute some wood to people around Capitignano. First we went to Pepe's mother very close to the farm and she gave me the best present so far: a very clean sewed pair of pants I was considering of throwing away at some point because they were so badly torn. They now look like new! She's such a sweetheart.

Soon I'll start reading on the project in Scandinavia that I'm joining in May and in perticular on my part of organising an eco party in May or June.
http://www.roskilde-festival.dk/uk/about_the_festival/green_footsteps/
If you have any ideeas you'd like to share about organising such a green event let me know.

5th of April 2009

I came back to the agriturismo for lunch and found the living room full of clients so we first had to serve them but after we had a very filling lunch that ended with one of Bruna’s delicious home made tarts. I also wrote down a couple of children’s and checky poems from Rocco. The first one is about a man who goes to the boss to get paied but he is met with these logical arguments to why his salary is late:

“Lunedi te li darò
O martedì se li avrò
Mercoledì e San Clementè
Jovedi no ti do niente
Venerdi a questa ora
Sabato a buna ora
Se domenica non ti o pagato
Lunedì resiamo a capo”

It’s a good song to learn the days of the week for sure: lunedì, martedì, mercoledì, jovedi, venerdi, sabato e domenica.
The oher one is a prononciation game and it goes like this:

“Al pazzo di Santo Pazza
Una pazza lava una pezza
Pasa un pazzo
Con un pezzo di pizza
Ofre la pizza alla pazza
La pazza rifiuta
Il pazzo sincazza
Prende la pazza, la pizza e la pezza
E li buta nel pozzo d’al Santo Pazza”

After lunch and cleaning around the living room and kitchen I left Lindsey to finish cleaning and I went to bed because I had a bit of migrene. I woke up to find out Lindey, Luisa, Michel and Pio all left for the lake at the top of the mountain. Maybe I’ll convince either Lindsey or Luisa to write what they did and saw there. In a future post... Since only Pepe and two of his friends were around, Rocco and his wife, I decided to go back to the family house and use the internet. I returned at “La Canestra” only for dinner.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Blog officialy opens

4th of April 2009

I woke up at 10, went for breakfast and than started work on the pavement. It seems to be ancient but it's probably of a more recent date but still I don't understand how it was done because it seems every time I put one piece in, another sticks out. But I want to finish this pavement so that the picture of the small one room church that the family has keys to is perfect. Right now because the “comune” decided to work under the pavement and didn’t put it back once it finished it looks under construction. During this time the girls, Bruna, Luisa and Lindsey were preparing some delicious pastas, ravioli and cakes.

And as everyday someone I didn't know showed up for lunch and started discussing passionately with Pepe and Bruna so at some point everyone was talking. It's something that I like about this place, that everybody seems so comfortable at the table and able to speak with such passion probably about small things but from what I've been able to make out also about subjects as religion and existence.

Anyway, even though the seeding season hasn't started here yet we went to pick up a plow from the field and brought it at home so that means Pepe is expecting to start work on seeding soon. After that was out of the way we went to search for mushrooms that Pepe calls “morghelle”. I had one before at the other farm and they are very tasty even uncooked. But we didn't find any, this time probably because of the cold.

This was the day when I got a ride to the family's private home not to far from the farm and agriturismo itself, about 10 minutes walking and got to use the Internet. So on the 4th o April the “La Canestra” blog opens officially on the world wide web. I just have to move the contents, I wrote so far on Luisa's computer, on the blog. Can't wait to share all of this with my friends and family and I hope this will be a useful tool for future volunteers coming to “La Canestra”.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

On Friday Italians eat out

On Friday after a full day's work we had the surprise of a full house of guests for dinner and since the atmospher in "La Canestra" is so warm and homey they started leaving at about 11:30. This was the fullest day for me having finnished the sheep and pigs places and also serving the guests and cleaning with the girls once everyone left.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Catholic mass

2nd of April 2009

What a full and different day this was! When I got up I went to the family kitchen which also double as a restaurant and found Luisa there already at work. She gave me a bottle of warm milk for the lamb and I went to feed him. He's so small and fragile but I'm sure that with the attention he gets at the farm he'll grow into a big and strong sheep.

After that I had breakfast and as soon as Pepe came we went to work on the sheep enclosure. We did that until 9:30 when Pepe invited me to join him for mass. I was born a orthodox christian but don't practice it and don't consider myself a religious person, this was a catholic mass but I still went for the experience. Good thing Bruna found me a pair of Michel's pants as I hadn't any clean ones. I'm glad I got to go. It was such a mind boggling thing to see the little place where the nun was conducting her ceremony together with a priest with a slight lisp and a small and confused looking "altar boy" in his fiftthyes that always went ahead of everybody with reciting the verses. Everybody was there for the same reason though, to connect with something greater than themselves and together with the exchange of warm wishes and gestures it felt like a glorified hippie gathering more than a strict catholic religious ceremony. The feeling got stronger once everyone in the congregation received a small necklace and we started shaking hands and saying “pace” (peace) to one another. At the end we all kissed cheeks and went on out way. All in all a good experience and one that I would attend daily if only the wine and bread weren't just a tease.

After mass and returning home we started work again until lunch time which was at about 1 when Bruna called us with the help of a bell she keeps in the kitchen window. As with every meal since I've been here this one was an incredibly tasty one as well. After lunch Pepe and me hurried back down to start work. While pushing a stake into the ground I scraped a big chunk of skin of my pinky on another pole and I had to rush back to the house to find something to stop the bleeding. I quickly found the first aid kit, cut the extra skin of, washed the wound and with Lindsey's help bandaged the finger. Good as new and back at work. I really wanted to see that sheep enclosure finished because I started working on it from scratch. But after a while Pepe had to go into Capitignano and I went to help the girls carry some wood for fire from down the valley up to the house. I pushed the wheelbarrow and the two “bravisiomo” girls Noemi and Lindsey pulled. After a while Pepe returned and we started work again until dinner.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

April's Fools Weather

1st of April 2009

The day started early. Both me and Lindsay got to speak with our parents back home. In the morning I got to move some wood with Luisa in the wheel barrow and after lunch I got to do quite allot with Pepe, moving recycled materials and poles for the fence and almost finished it until the weather played a 1st of April joke on us and it started raining just enough so that we couldn't continue working. During work though he told me we could go searching for mushrooms one of these days as the rainy weather might have helped them spring up. Can't wait for that. In the meantime we still got to work on our baskets inside; it's not called “La Canestra” (“The Basket”) for nothing. Yesterday we got to find out the meaning behind the name as well: Noemi was telling us that during harvest time in the special local baskets people used to carry bread and different other things so the basket became a symbol of the countryside and in the same time of bounty.
Before dinner we went with Luisa to visit some of her friends in the nearby part of the Capitignano. Leo, the huge white and friendly dog of the farm came with us all the way and today we even got to meet the two horses that live on the farm: Carboso the Andalusian beauty and the very old horse that along side Carboso seems like a pony.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

Learning to weave baskets

31th of March 2009

On this day we were introduced to the family, farm and even though it rained in small short bursts we still got time to do some work and explore. The day started late at about 12 but we still had an incredible breakfast prepared by Noemi, the oldest daugther and the only one of the three children who work at the farm. She surprised us with warm milk, coffee, cocoa, honey, gem tart (caringa), cake (ceambelone). I wrote the Italian names as well because Luisa was near me for breakfast today (1st) and we had the same, along with liqueur cake with chocolate filling and oat meal with warm milk and apple. The chocolate cake was made by a family friend, Roberto that came for dinner with his wife,Amelia.
During the day I got to work with Pepe, the father at digging holes for a fence and got to see Bruna, the mother cooking. She agreed to sharing some of her recipes on the blog and if enough people are interested I will start posting one recipe a day.
In the evening after the wonderful dinner (with the wonderful cake) with the whole family and the two family friends, Roberto and Amelia we all gathered around the fireplace and learned how to make baskets from Pio with the branches that the three of us, Lindsey, me and Pio picked during the day from around the region. I'll have to continue on working on my basket in the following days.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta

"La Canestra" Agriturismo and school farm - first impression

30th of March 2009

My last day when I wake up in the beautiful but cold vecinity of the Abruzzo mountains. For the last two weeks I've been living in a house up in the hills of the small village of Pescosolido with no electricity, heating, gas or hot water. Not for long compared with the resident volunteer, Gunther Hertzog who's been there one month before me, but still enough to make me yearn for a hot shower. And today is the day when I'll take one but on another farm. Today is the day when I leave for the "agriturismo" farm "La Canestra". In a few minutes after breakfast I will say goodbye to Gunther and Anna, the austro-swiss volunteer that joined us for a few days into the wild, and start hitchhiking to "La Canestra" which is close to the town of L'Aquila and the Grand Sasso National Park. A day later after fast rides with hitchhiking, less than a minute waiting, few earthquakes in L'Aquila and dinner with Luisa, my contact for "La Canestra", I'm writing a draft from bed on the farm (actually by the time this message arrives online it would have passed through Luisa's laptop first).

"La Canestra" is a Italian family run agriturismo and school farm smack down in the National Park of Gran Sasso and the Mountain of the Lake (Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga). First impressions when I arrived here last nigh couldn't have been better. Luisa, our young coordinator, the only person not part of the family drove me and Lindsay, the American volunteer to "La Canestra" late in the night and gave us a quick tour before we went to bed in one of the agriturismo's rooms, room #3. All of us were tired and didn't have time to soak in every wonderfu little detail that gives the place a sense of tranquility and ancient beaty. But as I write I can't wait for Lindsay to wake up so we can go meet the family and start our day. If the family is half as welcoming and warm as Luisa than I'll have a hard time parting with them after just one month here. Come on Lindsay, wake up! Even though I hitchhiked from Pescosolido to L'Aquila, experienced the earthquakes during the day and spent my time at the dinner table with Luisa, her friends and family trying to deschipher as much Italian as possible I'm sure she is allot more tired. It's only undestandable she's so tired: she arrived in L'Aquila at 11:30 after a delayed 5 hour bus drive from Florence. Prior to that she was telling me she didn't sleep much because she needed to organise her luggage.

Radu Burtescu - Romania, Constanta