CONOSCO I MIEI POLLI.
  "I Know My Chickens"
  (an Italian saying)

La Fattoria di Marino Rosia (near Siena)
28 Febbraio 2004
February 28, 2004

Camposanto 104 km
Arcigliano (where I work) 50 m
Pistoia (where I live) 4.2 km

La Giuseppina
My grandmother's name was Giuseppina. She was born a hundred kms. from here, in the town of Camposanto.

Giuseppina tells me that the Americans and British who liberated her village from the Germans were drunk every night and her mother had to hide her in an armoire. The problem with the Americans, she says, is that they wanted everything. Are they still like that? she asks.

<-- 38 chickens live here.

i polli (the chickens)

(she feeds them day-old bread from the ristorante)

Giuseppina has 38 chickens. She says they each make about 50 eggs a year. I ask her how many eggs she gets a day. 5 to 6, she says.

38 chickens
50 eggs per chicken per year
5-6 eggs per day
38 x 50 = 1900
5.5 x 365 = 1882

(Giuseppina knows her chickens.)

She brings eggs to the ristorante where I work and trades them for slabs of pecorino. Giuseppina thinks we use them to make our fresh pasta. We don't. (It's now against the law.)

<-- olivo (olive tree)

<-- acqua (water) in the barrels

<-- cancello (gate)

My Italian mother in law makes a special dish each Christmas using a castrated rooster or capon: La ricetta per "Brodo di Cappone" Mettere in una pentula: 1. acqua 2. una cipolla (non troppo grossa) 3. una carota 4. un gambo di sedano 5. sale 6. lesso di vitello (per ottenere un brodo meno dolce) 7. un cappone intero (levare il grasso, pulire e togliere le zampe e il collo, lasciare la pelle) 8. bollire lentamente per due ore 9. aggiungere i tortellini 10. servire con parmesano grattugiato sopra. The recipe for "Brodo di Cappone" (broth of rooster) Add to a pot: 1. water 2. an onion (not too big) 3. one carrot 4. one celery stalk 5. salt 6. a piece of meat (for a less-sweet broth) 7. a whole rooster (remove the fat, clean and remove the feet and head, leave the skin) 8. Boil slowly for 2 hours. 9. Add the tortellini. 10. Serve with grated parmesan (parmigiano reggiano).