Near Assisi, Olive-Tree Pruning and a Peppa Feast

Peppa – now in her late seventies and still working full days on her land – is beginning to feel the effects of years of hard labor.  More and more often, a “local” will be with her to assist in seasonal tasks. Like the pruning of her ninety olive trees.

When I arrived there one day in early April,  helper Ivo was just putting away his pneumatic pruning shears (yes, Umbrian agriculture is on the fast track to modernization) having completed the pruning of all Peppa’s olive trees in about a day and a half.

It was lunch time and we headed together up to the kitchen where Peppa was about to drain the pasta.

…and oh, what a sugo she had ready:

..and wild chicory sautéed in garlic and her olive oil was ready, too:

Peppa dished us up generous portions of lumaconi (or “big snails” – an apt description of their shape) with her sauce:

A generous sprinkle of just-grated Parmesan for each of us:

Ah, che buono!

Peppa generally overlooks any guest’s refusal for “piu?” (“more”?) and in this case, I was glad she simply plopped a second helping of that buonissima pasta on my plate.

…..and then I saw the meat:

Who could refuse those delicately-sauteed chicken breasts with mushrooms?

Not me….. nor Ivo:

Wild chicory followed:

Peppa’s cake, la roccia, accompanied our after-lunch espressi:

Care to join in a similar feast? I think Peppa needs help now on binding up all the pruned olive branches…

Click here for many more stories about Peppa and our other farm friends

Read about a Peppa feast enjoyed by Pino