Farm Livin' Is the Life For Me...er, Us

We are writing but a single blog posting about our goings on at Tenuta San Carlo (plus a couple of additional postings about notable people on the farm), a farm and ranch in Tuscany where both members of the Pork Chop Express were lucky enough to be selected for an artist residency.

First things first—we had to get out of Rome. Navigating Termini again proved to be much more hassle than necessary. The big board on which the train schedule was posted was hard to read, the ticket validators hardly labeled, our train put on the farthest track possible from the main entrance, etc. But we did it (by the seat of our pants), and hopped on the train to Grosseto, one of the main towns in Tuscany.

Tenuta San Carlo is owned by Ms. Samantha Lotti, who operates Tenuta San Carlo as a farm, as a horse retreat (for vacationing race horses), and as a choice spot for agriturismo, or agricultural tourism popular in Italy. At the farm, people can rent apartments and enjoy hanging out at the farm, walking through the park land that makes up a good portion of the property, and enjoying the food products that the farm has to offer.

A few years ago, Samantha started an artist residency program which gives scientists, dancers, artists, novelists, composers, and philosophers the chance to experience Italian farm culture and land. This session, there were three artists in the program—your two affectionately magnanimous Pork-Choppy hosts and Ali Fischer, a modern dancer from New York City.

Samantha Lotti, an artist herself, pushes the limits of painting and concept. She splits her time between the farm and New York; already a person who has lived several lives over. Her discipline requires scrupulous presence and an ability to capture without hesitation or contemplation. Trust me... this is hard to do.

Ali Fischer spends her life in motion. She sees and feels the rhythm of all things around her and, charged with the vigor of life, she bends her body. Everything is a meditation for Ali. It is hard to summarize her spirit, but her openness was infectious. It is difficult not to want to jump on her band wagon.

We are proud to announce that Ali and Sam are honorary members of the Pork Chop Express. Oink Oink!

Getting on with the tale, we have to start with the food. We at the Pork Chop Express pride ourselves on our cheapo standards. If needs be, we can live on questionable tuna fish and a piece of hard tack. So we didn't quite know what to expect from the food at the farm. And then we found out. For the entire two weeks, we were treated to the best food on the face of the planet—bar none. And we're not even exaggerating. Here's how a typical day's culinary experience commenced: we get up and prepare our own breakfast, which usually consisted of quality coffee made in a moka or a spot of tea along with a selection of biscotti, or these cream filled croissants that we affectionately called 'Italian Ho-Hos.' This simple breakfast was pleasant and nice, but lunch time was when the party really started.

At around 1:00 every day, we ate with Tiziano, the farm manger, and the rest of his family (Tiziano will have his own blog post, in which we proclaim our undying love for him and his family). Gemma, Tiziano's wife, and their four daughters helped prepare the most amazing meals representative of the region (all kinds of pasta, risotto, meat dishes, salads, freshly grown veggies, and desserts like pannacotta, a cream custard that kinda made our brains explode). Every time we'd bite into some new dish, all we could do was look at each other and shake our heads. Not only was it always the 'best thing we've ever tasted (and most assuredly the best lasagna we've ever had anywhere),' but it was so good that we knew we'd be screwed for the rest of our lives. Could we go back to boxed macaroni and cheese? Nope. No way.

And then came dinner. Every night, we had dinner with Samantha in the farm's main villa. And we were treated to some (more) amazing, incredible food, courtesy of Flavius, the chef extraordinare on premises. Each of these lavish affairs began with a first course which was usually hand made pasta in sauces so unique and tasty that they probably contained crack. Then came fresh veggies and a second course, many times a meat course, like bacon-wrapped chicken, pan-fried fish caught from the Mediterranean Sea, or on one night, roasted wild boar that was soaked in milk for two days to get it tender and tasty. Do we dare even go into dessert? Let's put it this way: one night, Flavius brought out an impossibly light tasting cream filled torte the likes of which we had never tasted. When asked what it was, she simply said that it was a 'simple cake.' We're sure she wasn't lying. Our brains explode again. To top it all off, after dessert, we were especially treated a selection from Flavius's home distilled liquors (which were exceedingly strong, as you could probably guess).

So what were we doing to deserve such delicacies? Well, we came to the farm to work, to be in communion with nature, and to find inspiration in our respective arts. We accomplished the first two together when we could (unprecedented rains had flooded much of Tuscany in the weeks preceding our arrival, and the rains continued into our stay there). One of our big jobs was to help keep up already existing trails on the property that had become overgrown. So we put away the computers and our walking shoes, took up saws, pruners, machetes, and knee-high rubber boots, and delved into the beautiful and lush landscape that Tenuta San Carlo has to offer.

When the rains were too heavy to make going out into the forest practical, we were given over to Andrea (AKA 'he who is more awesomer than Chuck Norris'). When we worked with Andrea in the wood shop, we were sanding down old doors and windows to strip the old paint off them, then re-varnishing and shellacking them. We'll go into more of this in a future post, but rest assured, Andrea deserves the title that we have given to him.

Our main down time came after work and before dinner. We'd have a couple of hours to do with what we saw fit. Often times, that meant a sit down with pen and paper, a walk through the property, quiet meditation, or not so quiet hanging out and carousing over platefuls of Flavius's terribly delicious cookies.

And that was it. By and large, we were cut off from everything and everyone except for the nature around us. Chances to communicate with the outside world were few and limited. Instead of that, we sat and discussed things, mused about our lives and about our lives on the farm, asked questions about Italy which Samantha was glad to answer. There was something to living that simply that exposes long-buried thoughts and ideas. We learned a lot about ourselves and each other. We learned a lot of how to be better people and how to treat others more justly in our daily existences. In many ways, being on the farm made many of the illusions that we construct for ourselves much easier to see and reflect upon.

We at the Pork Chop Express heartily recommend coming to Tenuta San Carlo (go to www.tenutasancarlo.com for more details) if you're looking for a place to chill on your summer or winter break. Definitely a special place.