This morning we called Sebastian to see if it was still a good day to come see his donkeys, "Of course!" he said. So he came to get us since his farm is a bit "in the sticks," although he assured us our car could make it. He brought along his dog Tifu when he picked us up. He let us know it is a fairly rare breed of dog with only 600-800 in existence. Emmy was in love.
We traveled a few minutes out of town to his property, rolling grassy hills covering 20 hectares with a small farm house and pond perched in the middle.
His goats were also a rare breed and he said all the animals on his farm are rare. When I asked how he found them he said simply, "I looked for them.". He brought bread in a bag and we fed the goats, careful to only give them small pieces and not let any fall on the ground. Apparently they're very picky and won't eat food off the ground. He started with four and now has many more. There were some young ones who were born in April and ey were especially cute. They were very sweet at he talked to them like children (or should I say "kids"). He milks them daily and uses the milk to make cheese and soap. We all had a lot of fun meeting them, especially Boris who was one of the younger ones and had a bouffant like Elvis.
We then crossed the electric fences to meet the donkeys, we were reminded to watch our step in the grass because of snakes. The donkeys were very sweet as well and another rare breed. There were a few young ones and they had this rough, shaggy looking coat. Sebastian said they are born with black fur, then shed it, but what we were seeing were the remnants of the thicker winter coat. He said nothing is softer than a baby donkey's coat. The kids took turns sitting on one of the males. He trotted away with Davis aboard, but luckily Sebastian grabbed him before he got too far. Sebastian milks the donkeys as well and also breeds and sells them.
Another dog "Leena"
Sebastian has been in this farm for four years and before that he owned an ad agency in Zurich, (after having gone to college in the states and lived in Japan and India). He got fed up with the rat race of owning a business and wasn't feeling fulfilled so when a friend joked, "want to buy an abandoned farm in Umbria?" he said, "Sure, why not." He didn't know any Italian when he moved here. We asked how he knew Jacopo and he said simply, "I know most of the people in town. No one really speaks English or German or French" (so it seems he's a bit of a translator for folks). He knew Jacopo and helped him with his website and now greets his guests. We asked him how he learned to be a farmer and he said he grew up on a farm near Scotland but that he spent a lot of time at the library with the old guys and whenever he had a question he just asked. We had some watermelon in his backyard and then were one our way. It was a very fun outing.
Quiet day at home by the pool and napping then walked to town for dinner. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow, but we will be packing up for Positano.
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Whoa, nellie....those aren't goats, those are two-horned UNICORNS!! You don't know how truly rare those are! Now, if you could only get one home...
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun outing for you all, ending with relaxing by your pool---perfect!
xo,
Angie