It takes a village!
Help Valentina and Nicolò at Podere le Fornaci raise €5,500 for new cheese-making tools
Hello friends,
I’m popping into your inbox this week for a special cause!
My friends Valentina and Nicolò at Podere le Fornaci in Greve in Chianti are running a crowdfunding campaign to purchase new tools for their cheese production. They aim to raise 5,500 euros, which is a significant expense for a small farm with modest profits.
I absolutely love their work because they have a holistic approach to farming.
They make decisions based on what’s better for their “princesses”(their small herd of goats), the land and the local community.
How do they do this?
They only milk their goats and produce cheese from April to October. This choice impacts their profits, but its aligns with their values and ensure the well-being of their animals. If you’re someone who doesn’t like goat cheese because of its pungent smell, I highly recommend trying Valentina’s cheese. When goats are well-treated and live in spacious conditions, their milk doesn’t develop that strong smell!
Their approach to hospitality is authentic and not sugar-coated. Being a small farm in Tuscany is challenging, to say the least.
They love their land and are committed to supporting the local community.
Instead of listing their small properties on Airbnb, they decided to rent 3 rooms to young people from the nearby town of Greve. These young tenants pay a small amount and help in the community-vegetable garden during the week end. While renting through Airbnb would generate higher revenue, it would negatively impact the community in the long run.
They’re also part of the WWOOF network, so if you ever interested in working with goats you can join them for a short time.
Valentina is the only farmer I know in the Chianti area who places so much value on sharing her knowledge about food and cheese making. She willingly takes time to teach others.
On a personal note, when I was teaching in France, I had a huge career and identity crisis. My coworkers and I at the Italian department often joked about leaving academia to raise goats in the French Alps. None of us did that (though we all took different paths!), but I see in Valentina and Nicolò what my life could have been :)
If you can, please consider helping them with a donation!
Remember the butterfly effect:
Invisible and inevitable, like a butterfly that beats its wings in one corner of the globe and with that single action changes the weather halfway across the worldYou can support their crowdfunding campaign at this link.
A presto!