Having been living in Valle Libera for over two weeks, we’re starting to feel truly at home. We thought it might be interesting to share a bit more about our routines in this beautiful farm in Umbria.
Our alarm goes off around 7:15 in the morning. Already dressed in work clothes, we head down to the kitchen. The first task of the day is to deal with the organic waste: we have a small bin for food scraps for the chickens and another one for everything else (coffee, tea, etc.). We take the latter to a large composting box before taking care of the chickens. We free them, give them the food scraps and water, and check if they’ve laid eggs (they usually do it during the morning, so it’s more common for us to collect some at the end of the day). Before returning to the kitchen, we also serve a meal to our China.
For breakfast, we usually fry up 2/3 fresh eggs from our chickens, accompanied by some Sicilian avocado toast. To complete this delicious meal, we make a classic Italian moka coffee or a black tea.
At 8:30 it’s time to start working! There’s always something to do here on the farm, and Jordie’s concern for good task distribution is evident. The first two weeks were mostly dedicated to planting trees for truffle cultivation (which we explained previously on the blog). However, we started to dedicate ourselves to other things more recently. Nour’s room occupied us for a few days with the need to clean it, prepare it, and finally paint it. Other tasks included building and assembling fences, cutting and preparing firewood, building stone stairs, repairing the composting box, cleaning the house, etc… We even helped making orange jam!
At 1 pm, it’s time to put away the tools and have lunch, which Jordie or Jasmine prepares for us. It’s often a dish they consider “Italian fast food,” but turns out to be a wonderful homemade pesto that’s only “fast food” in terms of how quickly it’s prepared. Among other delicious pasta dishes, they also often treat us to an incredible lentil soup. These lunches truly taste like rewards for the morning’s work and provide us with good moments as we all gather at the table, often outside enjoying the good weather.
The afternoon is for us to do whatever we want. Sometimes the first hours are spent resting in the sun in the garden, while other times we dive right into our hobbies. You’d most likely find Mar crocheting (she’s dedicated to making a whole blanket), Ricardo reading, Emily painting, and Julien woodcarving. We also usually use this time to work on this blog or plan our upcoming weekends and steps of our sabbatical.
We also have responsibilities in the late afternoon. The first is to make another round of the animals: count and close the chickens in the coop, collect the eggs, feed China and the cats. The second is to cook dinner, a task we share with the Belgians (every other day). It’s not as easy as it sounds since Jordie and Jasmine are vegetarians, with Jasmine also avoiding dairy products.
To be honest, we were a bit scared and lost with this mission of cooking so many meals with so many restrictions. None of us has ever been on a vegetarian diet and we were also used to having a supermarket nearby to buy whatever we wanted. However, we quickly tamed the challenge, inventing and discovering vegetarian recipes that even surprised ourselves. On top of that, we really feel that this diet has improved our well-being and is an excellent option.
Like lunches, dinners also end up being good moments of socializing. Often preceded by playing with Nour or a glass of wine. After the meal, we usually sit by the fireplace to relax a little more.
So many beautiful moments in Valle Libera!
Until next time!
Ricardo and Mar