I must start off by apologising for the lack of time I am able to write, Spring is here and it is the most busiest time of all for us. But I have now caught up so I really hope that I can spend some time sharing some of our moments spent here at Sensone. So here we go.
What the difference a couple of years makes, before my C.V. was pretty standard for a Sales/Marketing Director and I think I was always most popular for the customers and clients that I had more than any other skill set I might have had. I had been in sales and marketing for many years and I didn’t have to give it an awful lot of thought to the job, my personality and sheer tenacity did all of the work.
Three years on, living full time at Sensone things have changed so much and Id like to consider myself a philanthropist. And whilst pulling wood out of the forest yesterday I thought back to my office bound days and it is quite surreal as I noted how I have adapted and changed my skill set to help with the situation I am now in. And how I love working outside in the forest, the warmth of the sun, well most of the time anyway, together with the physical work out really does make my whole body glow with the sense of achievement.
For instance, in my previous life high on my list of skills was Communication and Teamwork. Both of these where put to good use when we were pulling the wood from the forest. For those of you that don’t know Sensone and the surrounding area, it is dense old forest growing on the edge of the mountainous Apennine slopes. It used to be a working Chestnut farm but even before we brought it, it hadn’t been worked for over 35 years. So it is hard to imagine how dense and dangerous working the land is.
Sometimes we are working on slopes so steep that we have to be tied to trees to stop us falling to the bottom. Lumberjacking in these conditions requires knowledge, patience and skill to remove the wood whilst causing as little damage to both the vegetation you want to leave and to the work force. We are not clearing whole sections of the mountain; we are trying to revitalize the forest, keeping as many of the old trees as we possibly can, all of which makes the job that little bit harder and more challenging.
The walkie talkies are essential. We don’t have sophisticated machinery; we have gone back in time using pullies and rope together with the Jeep or the pony. On the flatter terrain we use Coco the pony, he loves to work and has picked up what we want him to do really quickly. But most of the time it is sheer brute strength and hard labor that brings us such sweet reward.
The other day we were working as a team of three, one lower down on the slopes cutting the tree into movable sizes and tying the rope around the trunk, another to manage the rope and pullie system and then to catch the trunk as it surfaces, and another driving the Jeep. I was the Jeep driver. The first few to come to the top are the hardest as they are the ones that clear the path for the others, but once the path is clear we seem to be able to get them out very quickly.
For maximum safety and efficiency Tim on the lower slopes was the main person giving most of the directions, with Richard having to communicate with both him and me, and very quickly we had an efficient team system pulling the trunks from the forest at a reasonable speed. Whilst I waited for the boys to make ready the next one, I would continue to spack the wood, I don’t know how much we moved but it was a lot and how we love the Jeep it is so useful in these conditions.
I truly applaud anyone working these mountains, for us it is to clear the forest more than a business we do it for fun! The locals who seriously work the forests know only to well how dangerous it is. One of our local men is in hospital recovering from a coma after he was hit on the head by a trunk, its been over 6 months now. Wishing you well Andrea our thoughts are with you and your family.
I have been watching the workers on the main road to Renaio working on the steep slopes there, again teams of three to four people, each one knowing exactly what he has to do, knows exactly when to listen when to react. Clearing whole banks of forest, man handling the wood over and over again, before it is carefully stacked and loaded onto the Ape or the waiting tractor.
There are many hidden dangers apart of the obvious of slipping down the banks, twisting your ankles on the uneven terrain, or as our friend Brian found out, the dangers of using the chainsaw in such unfriendly conditions. Brain now has a lovely scar and a story to tell and he is one of the fortunate ones. There are so many things that can go wrong. You truly are in the hands of the Gods.
Then there’s the spikes from the Acacia tree, at least 1.5cm long when fully grown, digs into your skin like a needle, but as you pull it out works like a sword causing great pain and internal damage. And also for those unfortunate enough to have an allergic reaction (as I found out to my cost with the horse), the puncture wound can become infected, swell into boils which left untreated cause an untold number of problems. I was doing some work for a friend and I grabbed hold of the branch of the Acacia without even thinking, something I would never do again.
I have seen and learnt so much over the last three years, there has been so much to learn, so much has changed and I know there is still so much to learn. But I feel that I have learnt so much in such a short space of time. With the awfully wet winter that we have had, we are now expert Water Management Consultants. With my gardening I am quickly becoming a Horticultural Expert, not to mention (providing I can keep the goats and pony off the veggie patch) famer of extreme conditions.
I can now add speaking another language, not to mention the lumberjacking, dry stone wall builder, carpenter, painter and I am sure that the list will continue to grow as living here pushes and expands my creativity and skills to yet another level.
I also see this kind of growth in many of my friends, often trying their hand at new crafts or work that they wouldn’t have undertaken in the past. Working the land working together with Mother Nature is one of the most rewarding jobs there is. Sometimes, I just wish that I could be one of those women, you know, you know the kind, immaculate nails, lovely hair and makeup, high heels and summer dresses – well that’s in my dreams anyway, for now its wellie boots and Richard’s work shirt But do you know what, I wouldn’t change my life for anything – I am loving it!
Article by Sensone