Terra Viva
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Yesterday, we visited a biodynaic farm, Terra Viva, which is at the end of a little road in downtown Ferrara called Via Delle Erbe. I had no idea that it has been thriving there since 1985 and that its 4 hectares (approx. 2 acres I think?) comprise the biggest cultivated land area inside of city walls anywhere in Italy. Whoa! I was amazed to see that, first of all, they are planting a new round of veggies in October. Blissful Mediterranean climate! Second of all, their adherence to Rudolph Steiner's intensive gardening philosophy allows them to grow gigantic vegetables, raise bees and make linden honey, and have a little shop where they serve lunch every day and from which customers can purchase not only produce but also local products that they have made, even down to the pine nuts, raspberries, tomato sauce and fresh pasta! They gave us freshly roasted white sweet potatoes to sample - delicious! We chatted with the owners about things like, "italian people don't understand the delights of kale" to "where do you find those rare white truffles in the woods around here?" I can picture you loving this place up.
Learn more about it at http://www.nuovaterraviva.org/
After a brief walk back through the fields and past the city walls, we were back out on the streets and the main piazza of Ferrara, which leads into Parco Massari, the park where I used to play on the gigantic Lebanon Cedars whose thick trunks seem somehow smaller to me now that I have adult limbs with which to climb them.
Learn more about it at http://www.nuovaterraviva.org/
After a brief walk back through the fields and past the city walls, we were back out on the streets and the main piazza of Ferrara, which leads into Parco Massari, the park where I used to play on the gigantic Lebanon Cedars whose thick trunks seem somehow smaller to me now that I have adult limbs with which to climb them.