The Greek Heritage Chapters.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link, The heritage chapter. 

This is the ancient town fountain that we call Cavallina. Perhaps what we see today is not what it was like in the beginning when the town was born. But we must assume that the water sprigs that feed the fountain have been their since the beginning of time, and the fountain must have been built and rebuilt several time, and this is how it looks like today. 

Welcome to my article, The heritage chapter. 

Dear readers, in this article we want to talk about the history of Genzano di Lucania, and the heritage that the ancient people that lived there left us. Like all old towns Genzano has its own fountain called La'cavallina, and this is where a lot of things happened in the past, so, let us tell the story.    

In Genzano di Lucania, there is a chasm called the Greek chasm, this Greek chasm, is the other chasm on the western side of the old town of Genzano; you see, the old town of Genzano was built between two chasms and in our last article we have talked about Saint Antony chasm, this is a chasm on the eastern side of the old town of Genzano where most of the inhabitant of Genzano make wine in the caves dug in the walls of the chasm below the town, but today we are going to talk about what the local call the Greek chasm, which is on the other side of the town below the fountain called LA Cavallina.

Anyhow, some writers that have written about Genzano history believe that a long time ago the Greek were living here in this part of southern Italy, in the chasm that even today is called the Greek chasm. 

There are reasons to believe that it is so, if one keeps in mind how the human race migrated from the Middle East to Europe; and also history tells us that 700 BC or there about Greece had colonies in southern Italy, which have lasted until the Romans took over. So, let us assume that the Greeks were there, because what is going to follow, is going to reinforce this assumption. We are going to tell you about, The Madonna story in our future articles, we can only say here that this Madonna effigy is very much like the effigies that the Greek people were making about the Roman times.

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The town history and heritage. 

Looking at old history books, there is not much written about Genzano di Lucania town history. However the myth says that Genzano is very old and it was named from a legend that tells us that a young guy called Jens (yens) fell in love and eloped with a young princes called San, they went to live in the caves in the chasm, which today are below the town of Genzano, and then, they started to build a small castle, where the old town of Genzano is now, the name is virtually the two name of the lovers put together Jens-san (yensan, or jenzan) I am saying this because I know that in strict dialect of the town even today it is pronounced Yenzan with no G at the beginning and no O at the end.

(For those people that can read Italian, I am pasting here a couple of links that modern writers have written about the history of Genzano di Lucania: One of this is Ettore Lorito, and here is a link that may get you to see his writing works,Scrittori e poeti, another writer has these two link, here,Arch. Pietrapertosa - Storia e dintorni - Genzano di Lucania, this writer has two links and both are very interesting,

http://ass-gentius.blogspot.it/ , let us hope they work)

Now let us talk about some history discovered in the archive of Potenza; this writer is Ettore Lorito and he said; the first time that Genzano is mentioned in the archives is that of two brothers Secondo and Donato who were Christian martyr in the year 258 AD, as they were beheaded in Genzano ordered from council Valeriano, which I guess was a Roman council for that part of Italy. This seems to be the oldest written record found written about Genzano history and not much else; so, let us go back to the Greek chasm story.

Because we want to describe to you the chasm that we call the Greek chasm, we have to say that this chasm starts about fifty meter from the fountain Cavallina, or perhaps I should say that at the beginning of the Greek chasm is where the fountain Cavallina is, then suddenly the chasm becomes very deep and a real chasm that is hard to go in it, and nobody goes there, unless you have to go there and know the long way; anyhow this part of Genzano is called the Greek chasm, so, by this name it is understood that a very long time ago there must have been a colony of Greek people living there.

About the Greek people and what happened to them nobody knows today, as there is no trace of them and there are no records to check with. So, we are forced to assume that there was a war, or something like that and they were driven out. Or perhaps they mixed with the rest of the inhabitants of Genzano and nobody remembers, or perhaps, as time went by lots of other things happened that changed the shape of the chasm; so, it became impossible for them to live in the chasm.

Recent history of Genzano’s Greek chasm. 

We know that how time passes lots of things change, this has also happened to the Greek people and their chasm; so, nowadays the Greek chasm has been deserted from the people of Genzano for a long while, because most of the people are afraid to go into this chasm the way it is today; you see, today there is only a small part that can still be used and a track or road that can take you around to the other chasm.

This Greek chasm, apart that it is dangerous because of the abrupt drops in the level of the land, it can also be unsanitary as lots of rubbish used to be dumped into this chasm, and this includes also the human excrement that used to come out at the bottom of the chasm, when there was no proper sewer laid in town; and plus most of the men that lived in the old town when they had to go, they used to go and squat on the shoulders of the chasm and do it there, to save their women folks the extra sanitary work that they had to carry out: And this unpleasant task I am going to write later, how it was done from the young women that lived in those times.  

In the Greek chasm today there are a few caves that can be used, and most of the rest have been abandoned because it is impossible to get at them, since the erosion has made the chasm deeper, so, now some caves are left exposed halfway up the vertical cliff of the chasm. 

I believe that the erosion became worse in this chasm because: there is the fountain Cavallina upstream at the beginning of the chasm, and because, as the town grew larger most of the town’s storm water drainage was diverted into this chasm, and together with this drainage they built also a simple and effective sewerage system for the town of those days. The dunghill masonry was built underground, except for the opening where they used to drop the dung, and it was connected through a drain which came out at the bottom of the chasm. All this may seem ridiculous today, but I am sure that in those times was seen as a great improvement.

Now at this point I want to point out to you that there are some large masonry works in this chasm, because across the chasm there are two massive masonry walls, and one of them is so massive that seems as if it wants to hold the banks of the chasm apart. These two walls have been built for several purposes in mind, and the most important one would be to prevent any landslide which would endanger this old part of the town, and to stop the erosion that could undermine this part of the town, and also to hide the drainage and sewer system. So, the only thing that can be seen of the sewer system was only a large barred opening about three feet square at ground level, which was situated a short walking distance from the town’s fountain Cavallina; and this archaic but effective old sewer system was still being used when I was young. Not from my family, because we were lucky enough, as we were connected to the modern sewer system long before I was born. But it still was used from those less fortunate people in the community, which for some reasons of their own had not been able to connect to the modern town’s sewer yet, so, they had to use the old system as it was done in the old days, this must have been the most hated job of them all that the young less fortunate women had to do during their lives, so, let me write about it even though I hate doing it, because it is so hateful and at the same time necessary, in order to explain how the people were living in the past. After all we are trying to write about Genzano history, so, let us see how the most hated job of them all was done, in those times.

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Now, if you look at the wall in the background, you can see an opening, it is near this opening in the background where the old sewer was. In this opening is where human excrement were thrown in, then the container was washed and taken back home.   

This must be the most hated job. 

This must have been the most hated job of them all, that the women folks of Genzano had to do, as there were no other ways available.

Now looking back at the time when I was young, I still remember how the unspeakable job was done, from the women folks of those unfortunate families that were using the old sewer system; they had to do this horrible job two or three times a week, and they would be ashamed while they were doing it, because this would expose them in a mental way about lack of privacy, so, they felt ashamed and what a shame it was compared to today privacy and living standard.

Now, there is more to tell about this happening, because in those times young people sometimes were cruel, so, they would enjoy to see the funny part of it, without thinking that their actions would upset the other party; now that I am older and wiser I would have felt sorry for those women that had to use the old sewer system: But then as a young man; I and my teenager male friends thought that it was funny, when we would see in the evening before dusk, a couple of women per household come out of their houses with their own dung balanced on their head so to speak. One of them would carry this round and wide rimmed ceramic container balanced on her head, the other would be carrying a bucket and a little broom which was a sort of brush with a long handle.

They would be coming out of their houses, and they would try to go the back ways as much as they could, and try to be invisible if they could as they didn’t want to be seen. Can you imagine some teenager girls doing this low and unspeakable service, while some teenager boys were prying on them from a distance? What a shame! Those girls must have felt terrible to say the least, only because they were doing the most hated job of them all, which was to dispose of their own human excrement; but, it was necessary and inevitable.

Anyhow, when they reached the square opening of the sewer, they would help each other to bring the contains down from their heads and would throw the dung down the square hole; and then the one with the bucket would go to the fountain and bring a bucket of water to wash the ceramic container. And finally return to their homes relieved that their dirty job was done, and they would be all right for a few days.

Can you imagine any young girls that are living today to do such a shameful job, I have nothing else to say but just compare it? So, when old people say that today generations are better off and lucky to be born now and not then, they are telling us the truth, because I am pretty sure that there is no one that would volunteer to do that hateful job. Here we can say a lot more and compare the youths of today with the youths of the past and see what has changed since then, but we will refrain from doing that, as it is not my life story and I intend to continue with my life story and the history of my native town.

So, see you next time, where we are going to tell you about, The Madonna story. 

To see more click on this link, The heritage chapter. 

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My November 2021 diary.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link,  November 2021, My Diary of What Is Happening..

In early November there were two important meeting that have talked about, the photo above shows the main leaders of the 20G meeting in Rome, after that another meeting will take place in Glasgow, hosted by UK PM Boris Johnson, where they hope to come up with an agreement, how the world can overcome the climatic change. 

Welcome to our article, November 2021, My Diary of What Is Happening..

Dear readers, this blog is a shortened version of my diary, and we talk about only about the climatic change, and a kidnapping of a child in Australia. So, let us look at how the internet reported these events.  

About the climatic change. 

• The G20 summit wraps up in Rome with few commitments on combatting climate change.
• In a joint statement, the member countries recognized, however, the importance of all countries taking action.
• Many member states now head off to Glasgow for the COP26 summit, hosted by UK PM Boris Johnson.

The G20 summit wrapped up in Rome with few commitments on combatting climate change. In a joint statement, the member countries recognized, however, the importance of all countries taking action. Many member states, including Australia, now head off to Glasgow for the COP26 summit, hosted by UK PM Boris Johnson. 

So, after the summit meeting in Rome, they continue to talk in Glasgow. 

Okay, now they have this COP26 meeting, but I wonder if they are going to achieve anything, because they are not publishing anything, the only thing that I know is that the prime minister of Australia has promised zero emission by 2050.

Now 2050 is so far away, that I wonder why they did not think of a closer date that would indicate, how this is going to be achieved, I believe that they do not know what to do. In fact, sometimes I think that there is not a clear way to follow, even the scientists do not know what to do, they know there is a problem, but they do not have a plan how to solve it. What I mean here it that so far nobody has found a way that states clearly what to do, so, we are supposed to do this and that, and hope for the best outcome. I hope that one day, somebody can show the world a clear plan, how to achieve what now seem so hard to achieve.

But let us talk about the Glasgow meeting, anyhow, the climatic change has ended, now there is a sort of an agreement that most countries want to reach zero emissions by 2050, but how they are going to achieve that is difficult to say. You see, nothing seems to be clear, because while they want to do something about it, they are not sure what to do, as you can see from the following paragraph, and I quote.  

A COAL NEW WORLD

COP26 is all wrapped up, and the results are … predictably mixed. President Alok Sharma broke down during the last day of the conference, reports the ABC, apologizing over after a last minute alteration to the text of the agreement: “May I just say to all delegates, I apologize for the way this process has unfolded and I am deeply sorry,” he said. “I also understand the deep disappointment but, I think as you have noted, it’s also vital that we protect this package.” (End of quote)

MY VIEWS.

Anyhow, it seems to me that what needs to be done is not going to be easy, because there is no clear way how to achieve that. The politicians know that it needs to be done, but they are worried about the economy, so, they are trying to delay the change. Then they want to take it slow, because nobody has planned how to achieve zero emission and its affect, because whatever we do, we may solve a problem, but it might create a different problem.

For instance, to build a wind power station that will produce one million wats of power for 30 years. But to build this wind power station, you need to use existing power that uses coal. So, the question here is how much we gain by building this wind power station, and if it is not a lot, then are there other ways that will give a better outcome?

What I have said above applies also to solar power and any other existing systems. So far, I do not know which one can the best way be. So, I hope that one day they find the best way, and everybody is willing to do it. I know that these things are going to take time, but here we do not have a lot of time left, so, we need to do something soon. Anyhow, perhaps it is better that we start with whatever we believe can improve the situation, at the same time hope that one day, we discover a new way how to solve this problem for good.

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News about what happened in Australia.

Dear readers, let us share the good news first, this time.

For weeks we have been following this child kidnapping event fearing for the worst, but thanks to the police work it turned out alright. 

The 3rd of November 2021, the good news, (most of it is just what I found on the news.)

A missing four-year-old girl has been found alive 18 days after vanishing from her family's tent in a remote campsite in Western Australia.

Cleo Smith, who was dubbed 'Australia's Madeline McCann', was last seen in her family's tent at the vast campsite in Carnarvon, which lies north of Perth, at about 1.30am on October 16.

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With her tender voice quivering, the four-year old girl,

who’s smiling image captured the heart of a nation uttered the memorable words: “M-my name is Cleo.”

It was the moment everyone had hoped and prayed for — that Cleo Smith would be found alive after vanishing from her family’s tent while camping at Quobba Blowholes in Western Australia’s north on October 16.

Just before 1am on Wednesday — 18 days after she went missing — Cleo was rescued from a rundown-looking house in nearby Carnarvon by a team of four detectives.

Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine was at the center of the mission and described feeling shocked when he first saw the girl playing with toys in a room.

That shock quickly wore off to a feeling of elation.

The weight of the nation’s anxiety had been lifted off the shoulders of the WA Police Force — Cleo was finally safe.

Anyhow, today the man that kidnapped her has been apprehended and he is in jail waiting for judgment, when he appears in court. 

This is all I want to say in this blog, see you next time.  

To see more click on this link, November 2021, My Diary of What Is Happening..  

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Wine making the old way.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link, Wine making the old ways. 

Grapes ready to be harvested, There are many types of grapes in the world, we eat some of them the way they are like we eat fruit, but a large portion of grapes are grown and harvested to make wine. Now there are many types of wines, and wines are made in different ways, in different places. Anyhow in this article, we are going to talk about, how we made our wine when I was young.  

 

Welcome to our article, Wine making the old ways. 

Dear readers, in this chapter of my life story, we want to point out that life was different in those days. People made their own wine, and got drunk on wine and not bear. Anyhow, in this article we are going to talk about wine making the old ways. Now apart from wine making, wherever you go in the old continent, there are local things that are unique to that place only. In our previous articles we have mentioned that the first inhabitant of Genzano di Lucania lived in the caves in the chasms below the town. It must be true, because this is the only possible explanation that the caves were dug out in the chasm, so that they could have a shelter and live in them. But in my young days the caves were used to make wine in them.

Anyhow, I want to tell you my life story, and take you to see another place at another time, especially when it was wine making time. We know that this is an old way of doing things and making wine. But I can suggest to our readers that they can compare the ways of living of those times with the ways of living that we have today, anyhow, I believe that everywhere you go, there are unique things in their own ways, so, let us talk about Genzano and its wine caves, the way I saw it happening when I was young.

 

Genzano history and its wine caves. 

Today when I think about the town of Genzano di Lucania, I cannot help thinking about the chasms and their caves at the time of wine making; because I found that interesting, you see, we were involved in wine making, since we had some vineyards and a large share of a cave, so, we made our wine in this cave.

Nowadays, when I think about wine making I mentally recall what was going on in this chasm, where we had our cave and we made our wine, so, let me tell you how I feel about it. You see, I feel that there was something unusual and scenic about this chasm in this town, which I believe that people from outside would be amazed to see, if they could see it happening the same way I saw it happen when I was young. Because at the time of wine making the whole chasm seems to become alive in its unique ways; with so many people going around in this archaic place, and you can feel as if you were living in another era; or you would thing that you are dreaming.

If you imagine what’s going on at this upper end of the chasm, which is the beginning of the chasm situated next to the old town and this is where most of the caves are and therefore the busiest place at this time of the year. This chasm doesn’t seem to have a name nowadays, but I think that it was called Vallone St. Antony.

During most of the year this wild and dangerous place has been almost deserted, except for a few people passing in the ancient and steep stone paved main road, which was once very busy for centuries, because the town’s people used to go to the fountain of ‘Capodaqua’ to do their washing, and also to fetch good drinkable water for their own needs in their houses: this fountain of Capodaqua is fed from a natural spring and it is good to drink; it has existed for centuries, it was enlarged in the sixteenth century after they found the Madonna, see, The Madonna story. Anyhow, this fountain was used from the town people and has been rebuilt in the early part of the 1800 for this use.

The reason why this fountain was so popular, it is because the water of the fountain Cavallina which is the fountain situated in the town was not much good to drink, and in the old days it was not as it is today; it is said that this fountain Cavallina was rebuilt in 1860 or there about. It was rebuilt, because the spring that feeds the fountain has been there from the beginning of the world. Anyhow, before the reticulated water supply came to town, this fountain Cavallina wasn’t big enough to supply the whole town.

But after they brought in the reticulated water supply to Genzano, early in the 1900, or soon after that, the town’s people installed running water in their own houses as soon as they could afford it. And so, the custom of going to the fountain of Capodaqua to wash and bring water to town slowly died down. Nowadays the people of Genzano don’t go to the fountain of Capodaqua as much as they used to go, that is except at the time of wine making, because it is easier to fetch water from the fountain to the caves, than it would be to bring down the water through the steep road from town.

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This is a corner of the chasm with several caves, some of which have become useless, but some of them can still be used to make wine. Anyhow, we have to say that today some of these caves need to repair their entrance, but that is the way they have become today. 

Life and sounds in chasms. 

Anyhow, this is a personal life story, where I want to describe this scene in this chasm, in the same way that I have experienced it when I was young. So, let me go back in time, starting from the time when I was a teenager and helping to carry the harvested grapes from the vineyards to the caves: Perhaps this is the best way to describe what it was like in the chasm then, which was how it had been for centuries before my time; but today this scene can be different since things are changing, because they have made those narrow paths wider, so that they can go down the chasm with a tractor, instead of carrying those heavy weights on horseback.

Now, at the time when I was a teenager, I helped at grapes harvest time, my job was that of a donkey-boy, while I was helping to carry grapes to our cave to make wine. So, I would have an ass with me to help me carry the grapes to the cave, in the morning I would go to the stable to get the donkey ready, then I would go to the vineyard to load the donkey with grapes, and then I would drive the donkey to the cave unload the grapes and crush them with the crushing machine. To load the grapes onto the donkey back, the donkey had a special heavy saddle fixed on its back, so that we could tie two large watertight wooden bins on her back, one on each side.

Those wooden bins would hold about two bushels each, so, the donkey would be carrying about 80 to 100 Kg. of grapes per load, depending on how packed down the grapes was in the bins. In my early youth there was no other way to carry the grapes down (or up) the chasm, to get to your cave and make your wine.

On the way down to the caves we had to be very careful with our donkey or horse, as a fall could end in a major disaster, and as we went down the steep main road and turned into the paths of the chasm to reach our cave, the paths would become smaller, so small that we had to find and wait in a wider bay, if somebody else was coming the opposite way, and also we had to be extremely careful when we were approaching some places where there were sheer drops of up to ten meter below us.

But not withstanding all the dangers of this wild place, the chasm was crowded with people at this time of the year. People were everywhere, and they were busy doing different tasks, depending on how advanced their grapes harvest was, because in this geographic position on the hills of southern Italy, the altitude varies a great deal, so, the grapes would not ripen all at the same time, but they would ripen according to the amount of sun the vineyards receive and the altitude.

Therefore, while some people, who had their vineyards in a lower sunny altitude had harvested their grapes and made their wine, there were others that were only starting, and they would be going out with a saddled donkey to Capodaqua fountain to fetch water. Here the donkey had a pair of small casks tied on its special saddle, which the owners would take to the fountain and fill them with water, and then take the water to their caves for washing their vats and casks, so, they would be ready to start the harvest of their grapes. While others were harvesting their grapes and bring them in, as soon as the grapes would reach their caves, they would be crushed with a Crushing Machine which was sitting on a large vat. The crushing machine was a new devise that was being used when I was young, before then the grapes were crushed by foot, and it was hard work. 

 

Vats are huge watertight timber containers used to make wine. Anyhow, at grape harvest time on a vat like this we would set up the crushing machine, to crush the grapes that we brought in from the vineyards.   

The grapes crushing machine, would be set on a vat and by turning the handle the grapes would be crushed.

Crushing Machine and sounds in the chasm.   

The Crushing Machine was a useful devise for wine making, it became affordable to the small wine maker when I was young. It was useful because it saved a lot of hard work; because before the grapes that were brought in from the vineyards had to be thrown in a vat first, then when the vat was full, the grapes juice had to be drained out of the vat and transferred to other containers, while a man or two would go into the vat with clean bare feet, to tread over the grapes until they were all crushed, and then the grapes juice had to be transferred back into the vat to become wine, you see, the type of wine we made over there needed to be together with the husks and stems to ferment, so, all that work needed to be done.

Anyhow, when the Vat was full of crushed grapes juice together with the husks and stems, it was left to ferment for a week or so, during that time somebody would check on the progress of the wine, and once a day would be pushing down into the new wine the husks and stems that have arisen to the top, so that they will all ferment together until the new wine is ready.

When the fermentation stops, then the new wine is ready to be transferred into a clean sealed wine-cask. The large and cleaned wine casks, which is a must to open and clean them up as soon as they become empty during the year, at this time they must be rinsed out and resealed to take in the new wine. It takes an expert to reseal them properly, as they must be watertight to keep to new wine in without leaking. Now the Cooper who is the expert to do this job is called to reseal the wine-casks, and he is very busy indeed at this time of the year. Of course, there are owners who are confident enough to reseal the wine-casks themselves, if they are in good conditions, since they have seen the Cooper doing it many times before.

Now, I want to point out that at this time of the year, the Cooper who is the expert that builds and fixes wine-casks is very busy indeed; but the poor guy during the whole year has not been doing much work, if he was lucky he could have done some work at a steady pace with his skew-axe during the year, like carving seasoned oak-tree-wood to make some new casks, or to fix and replace a rotten peace to the old wine-casks or vats, or doing odd jobs to earn a living: but now being grapes harvest and wine making time he is very busy indeed, because there are a lot of people that require his expertise.

The resealing of the wine-casks is a very noisy job; and since at this time of the year there are several people doing it at the same time, because it is grapes harvest time; as a child I felt that the sound that they made was very peculiar but pleasant to me, so, I would even stop playing and listen to it for a while, since the acoustic of the chasm made the sound interesting to me: The noise that they made when they struck with the hammer on the cask iron-hoops to tighten and reseal the casks run like this: The hammer would start the echo going when it hits the iron-hoop, and that sound will reverberate within the wine-cask itself, then within the cave and within the chasm in a very close chain reaction, which sounds like a long continuous sound very much like a large bell, which starts with a high steel sound and ends with a low wooden sound.

It is nice to be in the chasm at this time of the year, because there are lots of people coming and going all day long, while they are wine making, now most of these people know each other, and being a friendly country place they greet each other’s and exchange a few friendly words, most likely about their progress of their grapes harvest and wine making, as we all know country towns are usually very friendly people.

Anyhow, we have made our wine, drained it from the vat and filled the wine casks, and last thing to do was to call the winepress to extract the remaining juice from the grapes.

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The wine-press and its crew. 

The wine press and its crew were a very interesting lot.

In those times, the winepress could be hired complete with the crew, and the crew of the wine-press was a very noisy lot, as they were five or six strong men, which were moving the wine-press from one cave to another wherever they were required. They were a sight to see and to hear, as they were very vociferous while they were moving the winepress through the narrow paths of the chasm, and they were shouting at each other to overcome their difficult task: Heave! Heave! Pull! Push! Heave! They were shouting at each other. I suppose they were already a bit drunk, even though it is still early in the morning, since they are usually offered a drink of the new wine, from the owners when they complete a pressing job, so, they are affected from the last drink of wine that they have had. Anyhow, they would come to your cave when you were ready, and they would set their press in front of your cave, then one or two of them would go into the Vat to fill up containers with the dregs, and they would pass these filled containers to the others to fill up the press, and once that the press was full, they would press the dregs through a system of livers, they would go around the press pushing these levers that would be attached to a huge steel nut on a long stem, and through these devises they would press the dregs dry.

Then they would release the pressure and open the press to empty it of the dry pressed dregs, and they would refill the wine press again and repeat the operation until all the grapes remains would be squeezed dry.

Once they had finished a job, they would pack the wine-press ready to move to the next cave, they would leave the dregs of the pressed grapes in front of your cave to do whatever the owner’s wanted to do with them. So, now there was the smell of the fresh grapes’ dregs. By now the owner would have offered them a drink of the new wine that they had pressed. He would be almost praying them to drink, or at least to have a taste of the new wine. So, after having a drink they are ready to go.

And off they go again shouting at each other: Heave! Heave! Pull! Push! Heave! As they move away from one cave to another cave. And so, the chasm resounds with their voices above all other people voices, and the acoustic of the chasm helps the scene and makes it even greater.

And this is the way that I remember the chasm and the wine-caves at the time when I was young. And this is the place that the inhabitant of Genzano used to live a very long time ago, but today they all live in the town; of course, there are farmers that live outside town in their own farms, because they have farm animals to look after and work in the farm’s fields, but even these farmers don’t live in the caves any-more. Today this wine making does not happen as much, but it is always good to remember.

Now we have to say that in the history of the places, every time that something happens it leaves its sign of those times, and this is our heritage, so, in our next article we will be talking about one of these heritage chapters of the town of Genzano, The heritage chapter. 

To see more click on this link, Wine making the old ways. 

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Making ricotta cheese the old way.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link, Making ricotta my grandma way. 

Here we are talking about how me made ricotta, when I was young. Anyhow, ricotta cheese is a soft cheese that can be extracted by using the whey that we have already extracted the cheese. Ricotta is usually used when it is fresh, but some people that know the procedure can use it dry, like grated cheese, it tastes different from normal cheese. 

Welcome to my article, Making ricotta my grandma way. 

Dear readers, in our previous article, we talked how we made cheese in the farms when I was young, in this article, we will talk how we made ricotta cheese. The name ricotta is an Italian name because it means that you are cooking it a second time, and that is exactly what happens when we make ricotta, we are cooking the whey from the batch of milk that we have extracted the cheese; we use a different procedure, when we cook the whey a second time, to extract ricotta, that is whatever is left that can be extracted from that whey. 

Anyhow, here we want to compare the old ways of life with today ways of life, since there are people that don’t know anything about how to make cheese or ricotta cheese and where they come from, so, let me tell you how ricotta was made, the way that my grandma taught me when I was young.

So, I am going to tell you, how we used the whey that was left over when we made cheese to make ricotta cheese. I am telling you the way that my grandma taught me; I know that you are thinking now, what is the use to know that, since we are not going to make ricotta ourselves. Okay I know what you mean, but just to compare the ways of life of today with the ways of life when I was young, which I believe life was a lot harder then, I am going to tell you how we made ricotta cheese my grandma way anyhow.

Here are links on the web that explain about ricotta cheese

What Is Ricotta?

What is ricotta cheese? « Baking Bites

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Ricotta making the old ways. 

To make ricotta cheese, let us go back to when I made cheese in Compare cheese making, at the end of which I have collected the whey and placed it in the large kettle and I was ready to make ricotta, so, let us start making ricotta cheese my grandma way.

First we had to rekindle the fire, and make sure that we had enough fire wood for the whole procedure, then lift the large kettle and whey on this three legged devise on the fire, and start warming the whey slowly and steadily, as the whey warms up, you need to turn this wooden devise around and around in a slow motion always in the same direction, this wooden devise is a simple stick with a larger rounded end, it has been made from elm-wood or some very high grade wood, it has been purposely made to last a long time, perhaps for generations; anyhow, you need to turn this wooden devise around in the same direction, with the larger rounded end dragging softly on the bottom of the kettle, so that any ricotta that is forming while the whey warms up does not stick to the bottom of the kettle.

While the whey warms up and you keep turning this wooded devise, this procedure will reach a stage, when you can see that some very fine flakes of ricotta are forming in the whey, this is the stage when you need to set the ricotta to rise at the top of the whey, this can be achieved by adding about half a liter of goat milk to the whey, while you continue to turn your wooden devise as described before, this action of adding this goat milk should set a reaction to the forming ricotta in the whey and it will rise to the top.

This is how it is done, and if you follow this method and you add just goats’ milk you end up with a beautiful soft and very tasty ricotta cheese, but if you want more ricotta cheese than usual, then you have to add to the whey some acid stuff that you have made yourself, (usually this is some old acid whey that we kept in a bottle from the previous ricotta making) anyhow, in the country where they make ricotta you can buy this acid stuff from the chemist, with this stuff from the chemist you can make at least twice as much ricotta, but the quality will not be as good as when you use plain goat milk.

Anyhow, let us go back to make this ricotta cheese; and here you need to continue to turn the wooden devise around even more slowly for a few more minutes; you have to take it slower because you don’t want to mix the rising ricotta to the whey again, and when you see that all this ricotta has come to the top of the whey, you can slowly take out the wooden devise from the kettle, then lift down the hot kettle and you are ready to collect your ricotta, which is now at the top of the whey for you to collect.

Collecting your own ricotta. 

The new hot ricotta was collected in small woven baskets that would let the rest of the whey out while the ricotta was cooling down, we collected it with a colander with handle from the top of the whey, at the end of all this work sometimes we left a bit of ricotta for ourselves, and we used it in the following manner: you see, in the farms of those days you had to think for yourself, what you were going to eat next time, so, this was another way to make a warm meal quickly.

Usually in the farms of those days, there was plenty of dry old bread that was hard to eat the way it was, so, we would slice the bread and put it in a large dish, and then we would put the still hot ricotta and a bit of whey on top of this dish filled with old bread; this rustic prepared dish usually would replace a whole meal during the day. Okay, you might be shocked and spew that this was a prepared dish of wholesome food, but hey it was either that or just old dry bread, I hope you see what I mean, and I am pretty sure that if you were in the same position, you would prefer this warm dish to just dry old bread; believe it or not that is how hard life was in those old times; so, we all should be thankful to the progress that we have achieved since then.

Anyhow, at this point of time the whey in the kettle is still hot, it has got to be because to make ricotta, we had to warm the whey to a very high temperature just below boiling point, so, I have one last use for this hot whey before I finish with it; I have to dip the fresh cheese that I have made in our last article into it, for say half a minute or so, and this is a sort of pasteurization for the new cheese.

I know that this procedure about cheese and ricotta cheese making is boring; but I still have to explain something else, in those days even the whey had to be put to good use, it has always been so in farming, the main rule in farming is; waste not want not, so, what we did with the whey was this, we can give small drinks of it to cats and dogs, it had to be small drinks otherwise it would make them sick. The rest of the whey was good for the pigs to drink and to mix with coarse milled grains to feed them. Yes, you guessed it right once again the farmers don’t like to waste anything at all, and the pigs are the saving bank of all farm foods that would otherwise go to waste.

Now that I have described to you this cheese making and ricotta cheese making, I think that I have said enough about my farm life, now let me see what else is there to tell you: Yes I can tell you about wine making the old ways, the heritage chapter and the Madonna story and others things, we are going to do this before we leave the town that I was born and lived my young life. After that we are going to talk about my life experiences as a migrant in this land of opportunities Australia. See you soon, in our article; Wine making the old ways. 

To see more click on this link, Making ricotta my grandma way. 

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