Editor’s note
Well, I have finally been sacked as main writer and assigned the job of Editor (i.e. spelling, grammar, word-processing, design, tea and toast). Verity has taken over most of the writing, and I’m sure she’ll be more diligent than I ever was. Sorry. It was good while it lasted. [Actually, no. It wasn’t—Ed]Simon [Ed]If you have any questions, or would like news on anything in particular, write to us at : news@patrignone.com.
V’s views: where is the water?
Welcome to the January edition of Podere Patrignone's newsletter. Sorry Simon's been so lazy. I promise that the wait will be a little less next time; I finally have a little more time as the three boys went back to school last week after what felt like three years, but was in fact just three weeks holiday. We had a lovely Christmas back in the UK catching up with some relatives and introducing Max to English culture and grey skies. He liked the chips, but not the fish.And while we are on the subject, we'd like to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2012. Right, on with the news.It has been an extremely mild winter for us thus far with temperatures yet to dip much below zero and very little rain. Great for our solar panels (more about them later) but not so hot for the olive trees and garden in general. It is wonderful to be able to get out walking and cycling with the boys every afternoon, and taking the dogs for walks, but we're a bit anxious about the lack of water. We had a warm dry summer last year which was slow getting going but perfect temperatures , rarely higher than the late 20's. But not a drop of rain fell throughout July, August, September and much of October. This isn't terribly unusual as November tends to make up for it with more than a third of our annual rainfall coming in this month (whilst we pick olives).But not this year. This year we had a tenth of what we would normally expect.So either we're going to have a very wet spring, or water is going to be an issue for everyone in 2012.Most of the water for our new organic vegetable garden came from our rain collection system, but the tank has yet to refill. I am still blindly optimistic that rain is on it's way; let's just hope it doesn't choose to fall when we have our first guests. Rain has a poor effect on guests’ psyche. [It makes them grumpy—Ed] The prospect of less rain in coming years will have an impact on how we decide to utilise the rest of our available land. Whether it be crops or livestock, they will have to be light water users.[What about Tuscan Tequila? - Ed]
You are what you eat
If you came to Patrignone in 2011 you will have seen our new vegetable garden with its six large raised beds. My first attempt at l'orto, and not too shoddy. [Even if you say so yourself—Ed] We had a big crop of incredible potatoes, amazing tomatoes coming out of our ears, as well as peas, broad beans, green beans, borlotti beans, rainbow chard, beets, onions, garlic and some fantastic salad leaves. We won't talk about my carrots.Our local deer also loved my salad leaves. On their first couple of visits they only consumed one particular variety of leaves, so I just planted some more. However, they became impatient and began trying everything else. It didn't taste bad and so they told their mates. They had a small party, and ate the lot. It was near, though not total, devastation. Nicu and Simon built a fence in double-quick time (destroying Simon’s back in the process), and apart from the occasions when I left the gate open (!), all was well.I loved picking the food and preparing it straight away; you can't beat it. It has always been important for us to let our menus be dictated by the fresh produce available in local markets, but to be able to take the lead from our own kitchen garden was a real thrill. And phase 2? We have just started building another six beds. I want to try growing peppers, aubergines, zucchini, pumpkin, melons, celery, and more. I would also like to increase our yield of spuds as we munched through our crop in just 5 weeks. Water is bound to be an issue. But we’re experimenting with biochar to try an reduce our requirements, and we’ll have another try with drip-feed watering systems.And we’re going to need a lot of sheep’s poo from somewhere, both for the old beds and the new. Several cubic metres of it. [That is a lot of poo—Ed]
This time Simon & Nicu are building the beds using our own cypress wood, and I guess my new beds will need the same protection, so more fences. Simon is over the moon. [Really. I am.—Ed]Oh, and did I mention our new herb garden outside the Old Frantoio? Very cute, and handy for the main kitchen.
The battle for cleaner energy
Our solar panel project is well and truly up and running after the usual teething problems. Work commenced in September 2010 (immediately after Simon & I got married). Simon's clever idea was to create a shaded car park away from the accommodation, with less car noise and dust near the apartments. The panels form the roof and give plenty of shade so that guests don’t get 3rd degree burns when they go out. Work progressed slowly, not helped by endless bureaucratic delays. At one point we were forced to redesign the structure to ensure it won’t collapse in an earthquake...more on that later. This meant a lot of engineers structural drawings, a lot of paperwork and a big additional expense, plus having to reorder materials and missing our arranged slot with our chippy. As usual, we were right up to our deadline to get the project signed off with the electricity company. Had we failed we would have missed-out on key grants. Anyway, having finally got everything squared off with the planners, built the structure, installed the panels, and wired it all up, on the 31st December 2010, just hours before the deadline, we were finally plugged into the grid.
Is the story over? Hardly.
On May 13th at 10.46pm, we were hit by a rather large shudder. It was enough to get us (and all our guests) out of bed very quickly, but at 3.1 on the Richter-scale, although the epicentre was just 3km away, it was not big enough to cause damage ...or so we thought.
It was only some days later that we noticed that our over-engineered super-strong earthquake-proof car port and solar array was now listing rather precariously. Bloody engineers! Some emergency reinforcement and some super-careful use of our trusty old tractor and the structure was straightened and reinforced, permanently. But it certainly gave us a bit of a scare.
Since then, we have been happily receiving all our day-time juice for free on sunny days, with the excess pumped into the grid. I have had to change a lot of life long habits, using the big power guzzlers (washing machines, dish washers, etc) during daylight hours instead of at night, but it is obviously well worth it.
We now would like to reduce our gas usage by having hot water solar panels and a biomass boiler for grey days...but this is all needs a lot of cash, plus the usual approvals and state funding, so keep everything crossed for us.
Wedding bells
You’ll be forgiven for not knowing we got married in 2010. We didn’t know ourselves until the last minute, deciding to make the most of the fact we had friends staying to tie the knot and have a party. Even the friends who were here didn’t know until they got here. It was a lovely day, with food from our favourite restaurant (Wynn’s Al Macereto) and a party in the woods. Fantastic.
Last year was a quiet year for weddings with only one symbolic ceremony taking place on the Terrazza, a lovely couple from Northern Ireland who had married earlier in the year and decided to celebrate with their families in the Tuscan sun. The bride and her family were returning guests, and included an ex-priest who was able to don his old uniform and perform a beautiful ceremony. Congratulations again to Kate & Mark!
However, 2012 is a very different animal. We are playing hosts to three international sets of bride’n’groom (English, Canadian and Australian).
Weddings are a lot of fun, but they are also a huge amount of extra work and extra pressure. After all, there is rather a lot at stake!
So we limit the number of weddings we do, and unfortunately we’ve already had to turn down several requests for this year.
But we’re looking forward to this year’s events, especially the parties afterwards!
May the sun shine on them all!
[Oh please, oh please, oh please— Ed]
The Food Page
Having the brood and the business that we do, we don't tend to get out much. But we do try, and when babysitters allow try and find new places for us and our guests. And recently we have made a few great discoveries including some new restaurants, places and shops.
Simon & I returned 4 or 5 times to La Cantinetta di Passignano on our night off last year for amazing raw shellfish & seafood last summer. The restaurant-come-wine bar is nestled on the side of a hill in the very sleepy and pretty town of Badia a Passignano, just 25 minutes from here. It is decorated in a clean, fresh, anti-Tuscan style with lots of very comfortable outdoor seating. We used to sit and watch the moon rising over the vineyards whilst sipping prosecco with stunning antipasti and desserts.
Talking of desserts, their mascarpone cheesecake is amazing.
Our second discovery for great, traditional, home cooked Tuscan fare is Le Panzanelle in Lucarelli on the way to Panzano. The restaurant is run by two 30-something Italian women and their partners. It is a pretty and charming setting for really well cooked Tuscan fare at very reasonable prices, and with an extensive wine list. The menu doesn't differ dramatically from many others, but how it is cooked, in my opinion, does.
We also love Volpaia, an exceptionally beautiful and sleepy little town with just 40 full time residents. Visit Paula in Bar Ucci for wonderful ricciarelli biscuits (my latest obsession, both eating and making them) and bubbly service. There are a couple of good-looking restaurants there we plan to try this year.
And we made it to the white truffle festival in San Miniato which is high on a hill between Florence and Pisa. The festival was great with heaps of stalls and eateries. We treated ourselves to a 10g truffle but fear we were had as it tasted of nothing! We know what we're looking for now so we'll do better next year. We were very impressed with the town and its varied and imposing architecture, so we will return.
Harvey and I accidentally stumbled across a superb gelateria in Florence. In the touristy areas quality tends to be pretty poor, and prices sky-high, but this place was fantastic. South of the Ponte Vecchio and just out of reach of most tourists, I had my first ever grey ice cream made from black sesame seeds, and it was delicious! For all of my other top tips you will have to come and ask in person.
Animal farm
I know you'll all be dying for updates on your furry friends so here it is.
Charlie & Lola are both doing very well. After problems with them fighting for dominance last spring, we had to keep them separate throughout the summer. This was such a pity for all concerned, as only one could be walked or played with at a time, but it was completely necessary after their brutal scraps.
They have been free to roam since October, and they have only had one scuffle. We are hoping that it was a one off so that we don't have to separate them again. If we do we may have to come up with a more permanent solution which will break our hearts, but we want them both to be happy and safe.
Meow continues to lord it over us all. She pops over every evening for her supper once the dogs are safely tucked away in their kennel. There have been no more eye-witness accounts of her famous loo-using trick, but as we haven't smelt or seen anything unseemly in here we assume she still pees in the toilet….clever girl.
We also have a new edition to our menagerie: introducing... Billy the Pigeon! Hussah!
Back in early October we were adopted by a pair of homing pigeons of unknown origin. They were originally named Pinky & Perky but by popular demand [Not so popular—Ed] they were changed to the more suitable [?!! - Ed] Billy & Brian. They were soon following me wherever I went outside, and eating from our palms. Very cute.
Unfortunately Brian felt that Patrignone wasn't for him/her (it really is quite hard to tell) and he/she left [luckily he/she didn't post a stroppy review on TripAdvisor - Ed].
Billy has stayed on and boldly walks in the front door whenever it's left open. Lola has not stopped chasing her [??! - Ed] and Miao, of course, loves watching her from our kitchen window whilst Charlie watches Meow from outside.
But for the moment, everyone seems to have found his/her/its place at Patrignone.
Oh and we are busy preparing a palatial palace for this years planned additions to our ever expanding family……chickens!
