news-record.com

Sunday

My 15 graduate students from UNCG are coming tomorrow to join Debby and me at Spannocchia, the farm where we volunteer. We are studying rural sustainability, Italian style, in a Master of Liberal Studies course, "Sustainability on a Tuscan Farm." We have nine days to do it.

I'm hoping that here at Spannocchia they can answer the question, what does it mean to be green? Spannocchia is several things: an organic farm, an inn and a learning center. Its buildings and cultivated land are hundreds of years old. It is beautiful, ancient, learned and productive, but is it green?

Monday

My students love this place. How could they not after an introductory walk through the vineyards and olive orchards, wine on the terrace as the sun sets, the four-course dinner. How will they direct their bedazzled brains and begin to study how it works?

Wednesday

So far, we have completed a tour of the garden and a cooking class, an Italian language lesson, a historical and architectural seminar, a wine tour and tasting, a discussion with the eight interns about their work, a visit to the Etruscan museum and the local olive press in nearby Murlo (the Etruscans preceded the Romans and from them derives the name, Tuscany), and several meetings of our own.

My approach is to let them see, taste and do as much as possible and draw their conclusions from the activities and people around them. My students come from many professions, range in age from 32 to 70, and only a few have a cultivated knowledge of sustainable systems, much less experience on a Tuscan farm. But they are very bright and their engagement is palpable. Farms are where food comes from, but we know so little about them. Most of our food is processed out of recognition.The combination of eating the prosciutto that you have just seen roaming on the hoof, or sipping the wine that grew from the vines you just visited etches a strong memory and corresponding appreciation in one's mind. I'm hoping it will transform the way they eat back home.

Thursday

Tonight I will give them an exercise to see what they are learning. I ask them to draw up a list of sustainable practices that they observe at Spannocchia. I am using the metaphor of a stool with three legs. Sustainability is the "seat"that is supported by the three "legs" of Ecological Integrity, Economic Security, and Community. That is, you cannot be green unless you work together, with nature, and support yourself in today's economy.

Here's a summary of their full document, three points for each leg of the stool:

l Waste=Food. The cycles of using, restoring and reusing are completed wherever possible.

l Multiple Land Use. Forests, gardens, orchards, vineyards, pastures and buildings form a more stable land community.

l Humane Care of Plants and Animals. Many species can live together.

l A Diversity of Incomes. Diverse sources of income allow you to meet short- and long-term expenses.

l Understanding and Adopting Italian Ways. There are cultural ways of getting things done.

l Meaningful Work for Everyone. All levels and types of work are respected and enjoyed.

l Non-Hierarchical Community. It seems like everyone is an equal (even though we know that some people are in charge.)

l Respect for Others. We dance, eat together and help each other.

l Learning Community. The commitment to educate others has created a community in which everyone is a co-teacher.

They concluded: "We found Spannocchia to be well on its way towards sustainability. It is a happy, prosperous and balanced place while forging a partnership with nature."

I am pleased with my students' ability to see the whole picture and I congratulated them.

Friday

Today we have a workshop in the raising of the Cinta senese pig and how it is made into prosciutto. A tasting will follow. The Cinta is an ancient breed, popular in the middle ages, since it was well adapted to the chestnut and acorn diet of the Tuscan hills. In the Renaissance painting "On the Effects of Good Government," Ambrogio Lorenzetti depicts a Cinta pig, along with a host of traders and horsemen, entering the well-governed Siena. By the 1980s Tuscany was down to just a few Cinta and in response to a plea from the regional government, Spannocchia bred them back into existence. Now Spannocchia raises them and prepares award-winning prosciutto, a worthy example of a good act turning a profit.

In the afternoon, we travel 20 minutes to Colle di Val d'Elsa, where 95 percent of Italy's and 15 percent of the world's crystal glass is made. We wander the old town, built high on the hill, peering into crystal shops while licking our gelato, and make our way down to the lower part of town. We buy a hand-etched crystal vase to give to Spannocchia.

If this isn't enough, after dinner a Tuscan folk group comes, complete with a caller, and we dance with the entire community and guests for two hours. Folk dancing in Tuscany has similarities to our contra dancing, especially the double line. It is more bawdy, however, and gets everyone laughing and loose.

Saturday

We travel all day today, first to Buonconvento, an old village that sheltered many resistance fighters during WWII and thus was heavily bombed. Now the old town granary houses an agricultural museum about the sharecropping system that began in the middle ages (Spannocchia was one of the first large farms to adopt it in 1300), and ran until its abolition in 1963.

We end up in Montalcino where Brunello, one of the world's best wines, is produced. At the fortress there is a bar where you can try a $100 bottle for a fraction of the cost. It's fun to do a blind tasting with three grades of wine and see if you can tell the difference or if you agree with the experts.

Sunday

A quiet morning. Then a trip to Siena, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its beauty comes from its sinuous streets that meet at either its civic square, Il Campo, or at its religious center, the Duomo (its cathedral). Most of the city is pedestrian-friendly; few cars would dare to navigate its narrow, and often steep, cart paths. I recommend two things: seeing the inlaid floor of the cathedral and sitting with coffee in the Campo. My students add a third: another gelato.

Monday

This is our last full day on the farm. Andrea Batino from a nearby farm leads a honey workshop. He brought some of his bees and we taste seven varieties of honey, each different, each put to a different culinary and medicinal use. After lunch we attend our last workshop, on olive oil. My students feel good enough about their analysis of sustainability that they present it to the Cinelli family, the owners of Spannocchia, along with the hand-etched crystal vase.

Tuesday

My students left early this morning to catch a plane to America, or for one last look at Florence. I am assessing the week, especially their document on "living green."

They understand that sustainability is not only about ecology, but includes the economy and community. Economics, furthermore, is not simply a matter of production and consumption, but about a partnership with nature that ensures a wise use of renewable resources. And finally, our communities must practice fairness and mutual respect. Without any "leg," the stool falls.

Charlie Headington is a UNCG lecturer and slow food advocate. He and his wife, Debbie Seabrooke, are spending the fall in Greece and Italy. This is one of several installments on their experiences.