At the Acetaia San Giacomo (acetaia is the facility where vinegar or aceto is made and the sets of barrels are used for aging), Andrea Bezzecchi takes the concepts of time, history and hand craftsmanship to another level. He started out by telling us bluntly that “the Balsamic name means nothing”. Literally over 99% of the…
As some of you may know, we are back in Central Texas connecting with local farms and networking with other like minded individuals. It has been a busy week of visiting farms that has been fruitful and inspiring. I’ll give you a recap of our farm visits (Dewberry Hills Farms and Richardson Farms) and all…
We have spent the last 114 days in Italy volunteering on a wide variety of working farms. This experience has been inspirational as well as eye opening for our whole family. We are so thankful to have been able to see, feel and touch another place so intimately. This trip has given birth to new…
What do you get when you get together a rough crew, hard booze, and dark coffee? My first response would be trouble and a bad hangover, but instead a salty crew of sailors and fishermen from Fano, Italy are credited with inventing a delicious cocktail. The Moretta is strong, yet smooth and sweet and can…
Many people ask us, “Where are the children when you’re volunteering on the WWOOF farms?” They are right beside me of course! 🙂 I really feel like I have eyes in the back of my head now! My parents always said that to me growing up, and I was reminded of that many times during…
We arrived into the train station in Boiano late one evening to meet up with Peter Farina, owner of italyMONDO!. He picked us up and drove us through the mountains to our wonderful apartment in Sepino, located at the foothills of the Matese Mountains in the southern Italian region of Molise. Peter, and his company…
We boarded a plane in Austin, Texas for our 24 hour journey to Rome, Italy. Two backpacks packed to the brim, one rolley suitcase, an umbrella stroller and an ERGObaby Baby Carrier is what we brought for our one year journey. (More in depth packing post later) The kids did exceptionally well for the length…
Happy 2013! The last year was a great year for our family. We worked hard and finished paying off our debt, Jill had a killer season with her cake business, we completed the final projects on our house (that has taken us 7 years), and are now seeing our heartfelt dreams of long term travel in…