HelpX #1, Part 1 -Castrello

Michael Dunkley - Castrello, Citta di Castello, Umbria
~Part one~ October 2, 2011


So my first week has already passed (well okay, five days), and I want to write about it now instead of waiting till the end of my stay here like my original plan because today is a bit of a transition time. Julie, another American from Virginia, left early this morning to head on with her own travel journey and four more Americans arrive later today. So the bond that we have built, Julie, Isa (from Germany), Charlie (from Australia) and I, is now going to have to transition to another phase and be ready and open to something new.

So let me tell you about where I have been staying and what I have been up to. I arrived at Michael's place last Tuesday, located up on top of one of the beautiful rolling hills of Umbria, to be greeted by Tao, the donkey, Paddy, the Camad horse, Corrina the dog, Mambo the cat, and of course the other helpx-ers. Michael, originally from England, bought the property and crumbling 400 year old farm house 20 years ago, and since then has been fixing it up and farming the land.

This stay has been a rediscovery of sorts. It has taken me back to a time of the first few years of college, a big time of openness to discovery and new experiences - Friday Night Hoedowns, baking bread, cooking soup, dicovering beets are an actual delicious vegetable and not slimy sliced purple things in cans, sunset bike rides along the water, writing, laughing, connecting with new friends, bubbling apples in a pot ready to be canned apple butter, crisp evenings on the porch, chaco sandals (I've switched to Teva's since then), hiking and having a new respect for trees after five of us hand in hand not being able to wrap our hands around a trunk, pie, more music.

And that's the feeling I have here, in an environment Michael has created that allows us to be productive with our hands working outside and then a wonderful space for each of us to be creative in our own interests. I have been playing so much guitar, have made a breakthrough on an interpretation of a song I have been trying do for a year (I'll let that be a surprise!), and feel songs on the tip of the iceberg waiting to be brought to life.

So let me give you a run down of a typical day:

**Wake up and put on some tea, drink outside on the porch watching the day begin, fresh breeze blowing, Tao occasionally giving a big hee-haw, Corrina running up to be petted.

**Go catch Paddy and take him for a ride along the many old roads/trails that go through these hills. We're both growing to trust each other and ready to explore. Oh Paddy, he is such a great horse! I am so thankful to have this time every day to ride and get back to really loving being on a horse again. And he is so small, just over 14 hands, which was really a different experience when I first got on him. But he is just as willing to work and listen and explore with me.

**Come back and work with the rest of the gang. At the moment we've been taking out this past year's plants and weeds in the couple of small fields. Good, gratifying work. And when you stop and look at how much you've taken out, it's very satisfying.

**Then lunch, a hearty lunch. We all eat together out on the porch table for both lunch and dinner. All this being outside of the house is a reminder how nice good it is to spend time outside, even at home. I'm lucky to get to do that for a good portion of the summer at music camps, but it's good to remember for the rest of the year. (Unless of course it is negative twenty or so in the winter in Montana! Then I guess cozying up by the fire is okay!)

Charlie jumping on the weed wagon

**And then the afternoon. The afternoon where we don't work, but have time to do what we want. Lay in the hammocks and read a book, strum the guitar, go out walking, watch the sunset, and then, all the sudden, when you thought you had all the time in the world, it's already eight o'clock or nine and dinner is being served.

Only downside to all this is because of my horse/cat/(donkey?) allergy, and being in an environment where these animals' hair is all over the place, I've been having to take a lot of benedryl, and every time I think I am adjusting and try to go off it I literally feel like I could scratch my eyelids off. Oh well, I just deal with it!

Oh and I can't forget to talk about the church bells. Somewhere down in the valley there is a little church that rings it's bells every hour, and on some hours even plays a little tune. These sounds waft up through the hills, in earlier times probably letting everyone know in the area the time or give some message of importance. But now it is just a little comfort, hearing that ding-a-ling roll up in the wind.

Isa and Julie with Corrina

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So I guess so far this helpx experience has been a great opportunity for me to have an intense time in really bringing out the creative, musical side of me - really having the space to work on writing songs (you all KNOW how much of a block I can have there!), and remembering and embracing ways of being that I realize are important for me in my own everyday life. **like having a hammock! I need a hammock!!*

Tao the donkey

It was strange going down to the little hamlet at the bottom of the hill yesterday (Sunday, our day off) with Charlie and Julie. We are isolated up here on the hill, and even only after having been here for five days, it was a bit of a shock to the system to be around other people (oh yeah - we are in Italy!), and this was only the smallest of little hamlets. But because we are so secluded up here on the hill, it really gives the feeling of being on a retreat, us four, a time to do our own individual things and then come together when we feel like it. It's been really nice because all of us more or less have the same way of being. We are all very comfortable in silence, being around each other but not feeling the need to talk, and then with ease, we can transition to having a really meaningful conversation or playing cards. Everything seems to flow so well between us. And so that is why I have to be ready for the dynamic to change today with the coming of new people - and ready for that new experience. And be ready and welcoming to them as Charlie, Isa, and Julie were to me! All very much like the changing of weeks at music camp.

Mambo the kitty!

I know that every helpx experience is going to be different - next one is on an olive farm helping with the harvest and the other is on a place that trains jumping horses (I'll be no doubt breaking out the benedryl again!). One where the community around the farm will be involved and the other with a small Italian family. All of these are going to each be their own unique, wonderful experience and I am really working to savor each day and not think to far ahead because before I know it, it is going to be the the end of November, and I'll be on that plane heading back home.

Hmm, just got Joni Mitchell's "Urge for Going" stuck in my head!

Okay, off to enjoy the day now!

p.s. Everyone check out the album "Figgis on Figgis." It's Charlie and I's new discovery on Michael's itunes. We put it on and it wafts through the house as dinner is being cooked. Soooooo gooooood.