October 30, 2009

Bob’s Sabbatical

October 30, 2009

 

            VERY
foggy this morning, but it looks like it will burn off.  We go up to see Susan [the Brit].  First question is about the olive farmer’s
name.  He is Aldo, and is 72 years
old.  The second question ends up
breaking an assumption Susan Cowperthwaite has had all her life.  She has been told (see yesterday’s blog) that
she was named after her Grandmother, whose name was “Asunta.”  Susan (Brit) says that she has never heard
that, and that “Assunta” is a way of referring to the Virgin Mary, which she
confirms with a call to a friend.  Later,
a google search confirmed that.

            Dinner
update from last night: Wonderful!  The
people were fun and the food was great.

We want to follow-up on the olive-oil process.  Susan tells us how to go to the local “mill,”
and also tells us that there is a small Etruscan Museum nearby.  We decide to go straight to the museum
because it will close at 12:45 pm.  Note:
Susan Cowperthwaite is getting tired of going places where one must, “park
outside the wall and walk up the hill to the town.”

            Murlo is
smallest village we have been to.  The
Museum is in two buildings, one of which was a Church.  Artifacts from a town that was built in the 7^th
and 6^th Centuries, BC are on display.  Apparently the town burned, and people left
so fast that they left all kinds of things behind.  We found a little place for lunch, and then
head back to the “mill,” which looked closed when we passed it earlier.

            Now
there are cars, small trucks and plastic baskets of olives on a scale.  If we were looking for some “age-old”
process, we were to be disappointed. 
This is a modern building, with an elaborate series of stainless steel
machines all run by computer.   Farmers
pull up with olives in baskets (some in bags) that are put on a scale.  They then go inside where they are poured
into a hopper, from which they are carried through a washing process, are then
crushed, put through a centrifuge which separates the water from the oil, while
the rest of the waste is pumped into a pile outside (used for fertilizer?).  

Each farmer’s oil seems to be kept separate,
and I assume at the end of the season, the “mill” bottles and labels the oil
and returns it to the farmer.  The men at
the mill were very gracious – chair for Susan, after indicating the process
takes about 1 hour – even though they spoke no English.

            Here is
a picture of a garden behind our casa.  We
had to ask what the plants were.  Do you
know?

   Peace,

      Bob