A letter from "Podere Trove"

Tonight, as I was beginning to prepare my head (and the excess clothes I will be shipping home) for the farm, I revisited the Help Exchange website where I originally discovered Barbara & Ugo's listing for Podere Trove, as well as the site for Barbara and Ugo's walking tour company, Tuscany Under The Skin.

Barbara & Ugo maintain an archive of letters on their site -- personally written stories about the farm & their own varied seasonal experiences. I came across the below, from 2004, and have deemed this document "Olive Picking 101."

I read about the farm into the wee hours. I can't actually believe I will be part of this world in two days. Following Barbara & Ugo's letter below, I've included some excerpts from past Podere Trove volunteers. I have 48 hours until I arrive, and I am already planning my return...

The 'buongustaio' or true gourmet knows that every region of Italy has one or more of its own specialities: it could be a wine or a liquer, perhaps a prosciutto or salami, maybe certain cheeses or sweets. Some regions boast a variety of special products. One such is our own area - the southern part of the Province of Siena.

But let's just talk about our olive oil. The small 'comune' or council area of Trequanda, which includes the villages of Petroio and Castelmuzio, specializes in extra-virgin olive oil. Nearby Pienza, only 10 kms away from us, is world-famous for its Pecorino cheese, product of sheep which graze on local herb-scented meadows. Trequanda has a different set of advantages: good aspect to the sun; a high altitude which discourages pests without the need for damaging insecticides; a timeless tradition of planting just the right mix of trees to produce that delightfully clean, sharp taste.

Another element is the human factor: olives are still hand-harvested with each tree in turn surrounded by a number of pickers up various ladders or working from the ground (maybe the trees enjoy all the laughter and teasing that goes on?). There is also a choice of small family-run crushers (frantoio) so olives are pressed while still very fresh without heating or forcing. The smell of newly-crushed olives is intoxicating and you are able to taste your own oil immediately on bread toasted above a small fire in the corner – a proud moment. Again there is so much competitive laughter and joking in the frantoio about who has the best yield, the best tasting oil.

Last year Ugo went to pick olives in the groves of a Swiss friend who has many more trees than us. And many more olives. His trees had escaped an Easter cold snap during flowering which had left ours bare. A drought or a freeze can be devastating. In 1985 a warm Spring day was followed by a night of 25 degrees Centigrade below zero. 75% of the olive trees in Tuscany were wiped out in a single night! Many families' fortunes went with them. In our area most of the pickers are paid in olive oil, so if we pick one hundred kilos of olives we get 7 kilos of extra-virgin olive oil as a wage. Ugo managed to pick enough for our household use. We used our oil sparingly last year, only on salads and on raw foods. When we were kids our grandma used to push a huge spoonful of olive oil down our throats accompanied by the magic formula : "It's good for you!".

This year we had more olives to pick than ever before. Well, the trees were rested and we've learnt how to care for them. The result was excellent: from a hundred kilos of olives the press extracted 19.50 kilos of extra-virgin oil. For us it was incredible, especially considering that our neighbours were extracting 10, 13 or maximum 15 kilos. It was hard not to boast. Not the done thing! But then most neighbours have about 2000 olive trees, which means that they have to begin picking very early in the season, October, therefore the olives are still green not full of juices as the olives picked at a later dates such as in November and December.

Our groves have a variety of olives - Frantoiano, Pendolino, Leccino, Moraiolo, Olivastra among others. Each farmer has a combination of different trees so the result is that every oil is slightly different from others, though this difference also depends on the time of picking: an early picking produces an oil which is greener and more nutty in taste, a later picking gives an oil which is more bland and yellow.

So I would say that there is no oil better than another although the taste of an unprocessed extra-virgin oil has to be the winner.

This year we had a multicultural team of young pickers from Australia, South America, the States … and ourselves. Lovely young people who in a way become like sons and daughters. Brian from Chicago reminded us of our son Brian Marco - the same dreamy look, the mannerisms, the grunting …. He had postponed his departure several times and Ugo realized that maybe he was trying to postpone commitments to life and his family, so one day just had to tell that the time had come for him to go. We have a book where guest workers leave their addresses and contact numbers. In it Brian wrote, "Can't thank you enough for the hospitality and opportunity, truly the experience of my life. You opened your home, your refrigerator and wine-cellar to me, but more importantly you gave me a better understanding of so much …. Tuscany, good food, good work, inter-relations (both friends and significant others) and the finer things of life …."

This year each helper got a present of extra-virgin oil. The bottles were lovingly placed in their rucksacks before going along on a trip around the world. We will always remember these young ones with great pleasure and affection.

Ugo & Barbara
"Trove", December 2004

Notes from previous Podere Trove helpers:

"Barbara and Ugo's 40 acre slice of heaven is home to olive groves and vineyards, a luscious garden and a huge old stone house of the typical Tuscan variety all nestled nicely upon rolling green hills and valleys dotted by the signature, stately cypress trees. helpers only work four hours a day and Barbara and Ugo insist that we enjoy the hammock, the land, the surrounding area...the house is all rustic and comfy and homey with lots of art and antique furniture everywhere. while this is in many ways the most rustic setting i've been in, it's at the same time the most luxurious and romantic. Barbara and Ugo are two wise, generous souls."

"If you are looking for a true Tuscan experience, then this is a place you must visit. I had to do some convincing to get Jonathan, my husband, to come on this working adventure with me. Once there, though, I practically had to pull him away when it was time to leave. Our first farm assignment was to the help the young olive trees on the hill above the farmhouse, digging a little trench around each of the saplings. It was hard work, but often we would stop, lean on our shovels and look out over the valley. It was serene and deeply beautiful. We talked as we worked and time seemed to go quickly until we heard Barbara's loud whoop! calling us in for lunch. Lunch was the highlight of the day, with all of us sitting at the long wooden table covered in bowls and bottles and wine glasses. We compared notes at lunch, eating the amazing food and then laughing as we went off for siestas or travels through the countryside. Later on in our stay, we picked grapes and then watched as the pulitrice separated the stems from the grapes - old style wine making! We went down in the evening to stir the wine in the big wooden vats and drink in the smells of wine in the making. We tasted wine from the very same vines we had worked! It was so sad to leave Trove and the golden light of the Tuscan hills. It was simply magical. Trove stays in our heads and our hearts. It feels like home to us. "

"Whenever friends ask us the most unforgettable part of our overseas trip, the answer is always: our farmstay at Podere Trove - after which we inevitably bang on for an hour or so about tasting fresh olive oil, insalata di Farro, organic Italian wines, personal tour guide trips around Siena and Tuscany, gnocchi with butter and sage, sleeping in the cozy converted barn and our own little fireplace, and warming grappa, and great cheese, and roasted chestnuts, and fresh apples and great company and the list goes on."