Hello from Maria.

06/26/2009 - 13:25

Hi I'm Maria. I'm originally from Ayr (scotland) but I've spent half my life in Tuscany as a result of meeting my husband Luca. We live in what used to be a dilapidated old farm house, that we moved into right away despite the fact that we had none of the usual comforts like a water supply or floors!! Anyway, it has taken us 16 years but we're at the final stages (of a nervous breakdown!) of renovating - we're getting the roof done at the moment, (a ventilated roof -wow!!)(our house has never been on the priority list 'cos my husband is the builder and he's always been too busy doing other people's houses to get the money to do ours.I'm interested in cultivating our own organic fruit and veg and the best part is that our soon to be "villa" came with an abandoned olive grove that is now producing great organic olive oil. I take care of all our 3 acres of land myself and I love it. Luca helps me with wood-chopping as we need loads for the heating and hot water. I help my husband who is a builder run his business and together we try to get people interested in using ecological materials building as well as techniques that save fuel.I've never been on a forum before ( didn't get broad- band until a few months ago) I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to write .Please forgive the hideous punctuation and I'm glad to use the spelling check as I sometimes can't for the life of me remember the correct spelling of words . Does that happen to other people who have been in Italy for ages? Better go , my husband thinks I'm writing an autobiography.ciao maria

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Location

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Hi Maria and a warm welcome. Montecatini is a beautiful place. Whenever we go to our old mill in Bagni di Lucca, we go there to visit and to have a meal or a coffee, particularly in the old area, high on the hill. I particularly love that old theatre and the shops that sell beautiful arts and crafts.Good to hear that your renovations are practically over and that you are going to start enjoying the place, at last!We have two groups that may interest you, one is "Gardening", where your experience in growing fruits and vegetables in an organic way will be very much appreciated and the other one is "Northern Tuscany" and I think that geographically you are in our area.I am sure that we are all looking forward to hearing more from you.

I'm new to this forum stuff I don't as yet have a clue!! Where do I find the gardening and northern Tuscany groups?

it's always like that! when you are good in a particular activity you have never time to do it straight for you!An italian idiom: when somebody writes a long text (as you've done and I appreciate it) his friend may say to him "Stai scrivendo un poema?" whose meaning is very similar to your husband's comment :)ah! Welcome to the Community!!

That would be funny in our house as my husband is a poet!

Hi MariaGlad you have joined the forum, and I expect you will get all manner of helpful sugestions in your quest for Gardening tips. I'm envious of your location as Montecatini is a wonderful location, you may wish to grace your Villa with one of those huge statues at the Pot Place by the Autostrada.........Ciao

HI Gromit, thanks for your advise. I did put the word "villa" in inverted commas and I think those little plastic gnomes might be more suitable !! By the way , did you know tha those statues and pots on the "autostrada" are actually made of 100%, pure, unadulterated cement! Lovely!!Regards Maria

Hi Maria,great to read your post, I am new at this too! At present I live quite near to you in Pescia, and am in the process of buying a farm near Coreglia Antelminelli. There is quite alot of land, very well cared for, and I am very keen on organic growing but as yet know little about it. I would be delighted if I may visit you if that is possible with your busy life, and learn a little about what you have done and how you went about it. I am retired and moved here from the UK a year ago, and now I am acclimatised I am ready to start my Italian life to the full. I started a blog, www.anewlifeintuscany.com, a few months ago if you want to see a little more about me.Looking forward to hearing from you, Liz Taylor

Hi Liz,Loved your blog, i wish I was as good at writing as you! Incidently my son has just recently made friends with Slitti junior and has been allowed to help himself to the chocolate!!!(lucky so and so) I agree with you that it's a great place, I always take my friends there when they come over. I could meet you in Montecatini Alto ,I'm not THAT busy , I do my best at on my land but it still has the feel of abandonment lurking roud the corner. The brambles always seem to come back again and again and by the time I've strimmed everything it's time to start all over again .I love Coreglia Antelminelli and especially rustic houses . We went mad two years ago when we were hill walking there( Garfagnana) and we came across a "For Sale "on a tiny tiny dilapidated shepherd's house out in the sticks.We had been seeing this place all these years ,we were just completely blinded by its beauty.Luckily the owner had just stuck the sign up the day before and he was wanting rid of it as sooon as possible . Also and most importantly the asking price was peanuts. Anyway we got a loan from the bank and bought it practically a month later!!!(that was while we still had a leaky roof over our own heads and no tiles on our bedroom floor - we still don't have those!!!). We now have planning permission to fix it but we can't afford to do it right now which is a nuisance but never mind we are so lucky to have it, we pitch our tent there sometimes.Regards Maria

Hi Maria,thanks so much for that. I thought I had sent you private messages in response, but perhaps I haven't... I really don't grasp much of how things work I'm afraid. I sent you a message, then forgot what I had said and sent another that, if you did get it, probably made you think this woman is loopy! I'm too side tracked by buying the house at the moment and can't hold a thought for five minutes.Anyway, I would love to meet you sometime in Montecatini Alto, and my email is liz-taylor@zen.co.uk. Glad you leapt at the chance and bought the shepherds house, and lovely to know it is there waiting for you. Your lucky son!Look forward to seeing you in due course,Liz

Your dilapidated shepherd's house sound interesting. We have a little house in the Coreglia Antilminelli area - would love to hear more about it!

Maria... ive been maried to an Italian for almost as long as you and for the first ten year she moved up to the UK... after that we moved down to Abruzzo... so not relevant to your region... however after just 7 years i have serious problems with my english vocab and spelling... to the suffereance of forum users that read what i have to say it has never stopped me... writing long replies too... like Valentina i aprecaite your long post... and did not look at the spelling because even though i dont live near you the the words interested me morehopefully you will find this place... much like i do a welcome place to move to without having to travel out of Italy... both as a place to speak english, have a good debate... and pass on tips and get some back

That was meant to be a joke!! Thanks for the encouragement . I love language as a topic for discussion in itself. You're right, if you've got something to say just say it and never mind all those hang ups about spelling ect.It might just be that we are in the process of inventing Italian English. Although , some things said in Italian English really annoy me eg How do you really say "ho un problema" ?RegardsMaria

Sorry, Maria, I missed your previous question. Look at the right hand side of the screen and you will find a list of groups available. Both Northern Tuscany and Gardening are open for anyone to join in.