Too many puppies...

Day Twenty Three through Twenty-Six

Since finding El Dorado we have not had to go to either of the first two farms Jacob and I went to. This is a very good thing because not only do I loathe the other two farms, but I absolutely love this newly discovered one. It has everything I like about the first two minus everything I hated. There is even covering to protect from wind, but not so dense that you cannot move. It has a slope that makes it easier to pick, but not so steep that you can barely stand. Plus, the chestnuts here are significantly larger, and there are more of them. This farm is so large that despite going there every day, we are at a different area every time.

Massimo has started bringing us there by tractor which is both awesome and terrifying. It is awesome because we are riding in a freaking trailer but terrifying because he hits trees and almost dumps us over multiple times per trip. Two days ago, Rosa rode with us- poor lady- and kept yelling (In Italian) "Let me out! I want out! I WANT OUT! I AM AFRAID!" with a death grip on my knee. Keep in mind she is a grandmotherly type of woman so it's not like watching a friend where you can laugh. It was like watching an old woman fall down the stairs- it breaks your heart. Finally Massimo stopped and let her out, but the rest of us stuck it out. It was beginning to rain and I would personally rather move quickly and risk danger than be stuck in the rain. Call me crazy.

That morning, Rosa brought us to Montemilleto to buy some new wool clothes at the market. It was pretty awesome, and they had a lot of various things for sale. Pigeons, for example, and also veggies, hats, clothes, books, plungers, you name it and it was probably there. Jake and I walked away with a total of 5 sweaters for 11 Euro. BALLIN'! Needless to say with, "the wool on the skin," (as Rosa constantly says) we have been very warm and cozy every day.

However, yesterday was a different sort of day. Rosa had said that we would only have to work a half day which was already awesome, but even better was that she was bringing us to her walnut farm in another town! We didn't begin working until 10am, and when we arrived we were greeted by six of the most adorable, ratty, sweet baby puppies you'd ever imagine. Momma pooch was tired and annoyed, but stuck around long enough to be sure we weren't a threat. No problem, though, because Papa pooch (who more-so resembled a fucking wolf) didn't go far and kept a good eye on us. Each puppy was missing a bit of fur here and there, except for two who looked fully intact. One, a little girl pup whom Jake and I named "Chuck" and another tiny one who I named "Piccolo" (Italian for "tiny") because it was the smallest of all the puppies. We picked walnuts for a few hours which was fun and also disgusting. Walnuts come in this rotting fruit that you need to peel away to get to the nut- luckily a lot of the fruits were dried and just broke away. We collected about two bags of walnuts before eating our picnic of cheese, bread, fresh tomatoes, and hard boiled eggs under the hazelnut trees.

After saying our goodbyes to Chuck, Piccolo, and the rest of the puppies, we all piled in the car and made our way back to Montefalcione.