Orange Mafia

I just found out that there is an Orange Mafia. We noticed that there were cars with a driver just sitting by the road. When we asked what they were doing, we found out that they were the Orange Mafia of Sicily.

Apparently each orange farmer must pay the mafia money to watch the oranges. Since oranges in Sicily have no real value, they are paying to not have the orange mafia steal their oranges. The Orange Mafia passes down from generation to generation (ie a father and son). They just sit in the car acting like there is really something to protect. I find it fascinating.

Another thing I found out is that my pictures of Paterno are really pictures of the cemetery of Paterno. It looks like a city. The monuments and headstones are huge. You can imagine that it must be very large for me to think it was the city of Paterno.

Today I learned how to trim olive trees. It is very interesting and very hard work. We were doing minor trimming because the trees were trimmed last year. You have to cut off all the bottom branches and any other branches that are going straight up rather than hanging downward. I elected to NOT get on the ladder (good decision). There wasn’t much to hold the ladder and you are not on flat ground. Joseph, the new Wwoofer, volunteered. We were all very tired after the day of trimming trees.

I decided to bake a pie (it was a way of getting out of trimming olive trees for an hour). All their measuring cups are in ml and I did not have a conversion. The oven is definitely old and I have no idea about the temperature. The pan is too large. It is Italy so you just have to go with the flow. It was fun anyway; everyone here loves to eat, so didn’t worry about how good it tastes. As I thought, the pie was gone as it was cooled.

Ciao for now