All of our nature walks begin at our local train station called ‘Sieci’. You can take a regional train from the Central Train Station in Florence (called ‘Santa Maria Novella’) to Sieci.

Long walk: The longest walk we offer is 4 hours by foot, where we walk the ring Monteloro in the woods.

Medium walk: We offer a medium length walk in the woods which is a total of 3 hours.

Short walk: Our shortest walk is 40 minutes in length.

HAVE LUNCH ON THE FARM: FRESH, SEASONAL, ORGANIC FOODS

Visitors who come in the afternoon can choose from the following workshops depending on the season:

• basketmaking
• chair making
• aromatherapy and aromatic herbs
• preparing homemade pasta
• cheese making
• natural soap making
• constructing wooden bird houses
• art making with wild flowers
• photography
• watercolor painting of Tuscan landscapes

Participant minimum 10 people / maximum 20 people

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Our farm allows for this direct contact with a real working farm and we want to provide a service of public education to others…

The outline:

Our educational and agricultural activities on farm are part of our ‘agriturismo’ but can also can be independent. Since 1998 several administrations in Italy have created regional organizations in order to register and qualify agricultural education offered by farms like ours.
The 4 H Club is a movement born in the United States in the early 1900’s and stands for Head, Health, Heart, Hand.  This summarizes the club’s objective: harmonious development of the individual through the head, health, heart and hands.
Even today, after more than 100 years after its creation, The 4 H Club is meant to help educate youth, farm workers and visitors.

The educational courses are generally organized and implemented according to the participants, such the world of education, various community and business associations, consumers, tourists or other special interested groups. Anyone can perceive when humans live in harmony with biological and ecological systems.  For example, on the farm we have the cultivated field, the company or farm itself, the land or property we steward, and the larger ecosystem of which we are part. To date, the involvement of young people is essential for us. It’s essential that our children understand the agricultural environment, the origins of the food we eat, animal life, the life of the farmer and hopefully are able to discover the importance of a job often overlooked and sometimes despised.

The offer:

We offer a variety of ways you can participate in farm education. Come and visit the farm to understand the various stages of the production cycle of each product or breed that we cultivate. In order to fully realize and illustrate these production cycles, we offer workshops where participants directly participate in them. For example, our bread-making workshop where participants make different types of bread. In the first part of the workshop the goal is to make bread in a slow and natural way. In the second part of the workshop, the goal is to distinguish which bread is which according to your senses. In our cheese-making workshop, we begin by feeding the animals, taking care of animals in the barn, milking the cows or goats, making a fresh ‘caciotta’ cheese and we finish with a cheese tasting.

These are just a few examples, but many other educational opportunities await: farm holidays, farm birthdays, Sunday on the farm, pet therapy, parties for parents and children and so on.

Our Farm:

The Olive Garden Farm was born from our love of animals, nature and the desire to live in the country. One way realize this dream of living close to nature, if you’re lucky enough to live in the country, is to keep both your home and everything around it by finding a way to be economically sustainable which is also ecologically sustainable (because for a process to be sustainable it must use natural resources at a rate such that they can be naturally regenerated). To realize this dream, it requires enormous sacrifices in terms of money, resources and labor. In honesty, this sacrifice, effort and commitment is required to realize any dream, not only in the countryside.

OUR DREAM IS TO OPEN AN EDUCATIONAL FARM IN AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES AND LIVESTOCK ARE A WAY OF LIFE, AND WHERE THE YOUNG, OLD OR ANYONE INTERESTED IN OUR VISION, CAN BE TRAINED AND INFORMED ON HOW TO PURSUE THIS WAY OF LIFE.

Here in our Farm we offer a detailed farm visit complete with an explanation of our working methods and you are invited to participate in our workshops, such as: Extra virgin olive oil production, Tuscan wine production (Sangiovese, Cabernet and Malvasia), worm farming, lavender cultivation, herb collection, breeding of cashmere goats, cheese production, making olive oil soap, lavender sachets, chalk, handmade lavender essence, caring for ponies and donkeys, etc. all serving the purpose of stimulating a relationship between our visitors and the environment/animals involved.

WE ENCOURAGE OUR PARTICIPANTS TO PURSUE A DAY OF PERSONAL GROWTH AS THEY TAKE IN A GOOD DOSE OF NATURE, RELAX AND DIRECTLY PARTICIPATION IN THE VARIOUS ACTIVITIES WE OFFER.

And finally we would like to conclude by sharing the words of Victor G. Bassan:

“NATURE IS AN OPEN BOOK, BUT AN OPEN BOOK THAT YOU CAN’T READ CLOSED INSIDE A ROOM.“

Text written by Lara Fornai, taken from  www.agriturismointoscana.com

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Some examples:

Little chicks: ages 3-6

Fun games and activities to raise awareness on the complex issue of sustainability.

Young hens: ages 6-10

The forest and its inhabitants: learn respect for nature for the good of all.

Gazzelles: ages 10-15

The eco-friendly farm: how best to use our natural resources and energy for the environment’s wellness.

EXPERIENCE THE FARM WITH YOUR CHILDREN

Take a day to play and learn with your children on the farm!

GREEN WORKSHOPS FOR CHILDREN

For CHILDREN ages 5 to 10 with Elena Torrini, Educator and Professional Educator.

Storytelling”“The Story of a Small Seed” by Padmini and “The Salad Was in the Garden”” by A. Bossi

• Sow and transplant seedlings from the garde
• Paint with natural paints made from plants
• Explore the sense of SMELL with aromatic plants
• Cooperative games on the lawn

Contact us to learn more about all activities for your children on the farm!

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Materials include: twigs, dried flowers, old candles, boxes, plastic caps and other household reusable waste.

This workshop is offered in collaboration with The Tuscan Association of Biodiversity and Agriculture and Elena Torrini, Professional Educator. All children will be offered a snack of fresh bread and olive oil from the farm.

The cost of the workshop is 10 € per student (maximum 30) and the recommended ages are from 3 to 10.

You must book by November 29!

RECYCLED CHRISTMAS
When: Sunday, December 7, 2014 from 15.00 to 17.30
Where: Fattoria dell’Orto degli Ulivi , via Tornaquinci 14 in Molino del Piano Pontassieve (Florence).
Reservations: 3296049910 (book by November 29, 2014).

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At the Olive Garden Farm you will find a welcoming environment where you will not only learn how to make a cake with organic and biodynamic ingredients from the farm (milk, eggs, stone ground flour, fruit jams, etc …) but you will also have a lot of fun because Lara’s joy is contagious!

Try our cooking classes on the farm !!!

You will experience not only cooking classes on how to make cakes, but also jams, organic cheeses from goat’s milk produced by goats on the farm, whole wheat bread with organic stone-ground flour and other types of baked goods and homemade pasta. We welcome you for organized food tours, cooking classes and lunch for our students!

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But what do our children know about the harvest?

Some of them may have seen how grapes are harvested in the fields, if they have a relative or friend who is a farmer, but few are likely to have had the opportunity to take part of the harvest themselves.

And if there was a “Children’s Harvest”, wouldn’t it be fun to participate?

This opportunity has been proposed by the  Fattoria dell’Orto degli Ulivi with the Association “I Menestrelli del gusto e della poesia” (Association of Minstrels of Poetry & Good Taste): Wednesday, September 3, children can discover the “secrets” of the harvest on a beautiful day dedicated to them.

The event is at 10 am on September 3 at The Olive Garden Farm in Molino del Piano (Pontassieve). Children will spend the day on the farm at at 18:00 there will be a dinner-aperitivo for parents with wine tasting.

In the morning children harvest grapes in the vineyards and then press them with their barefeet.

Then we will demonstrate how to make pressed grapes into wine.

At noon they will have a bag lunch and a little rest or nap in the shade of our olive trees.

In the afternoon at 14:30 we will begin an art-making workshop with a demonstration of

how to prepare a delightful cake with crushed grapes!

Cost: € 15 per child as a contribution to the Association (there are discounts for siblings).

The cost for the dinner-aperitivo is 10 € per person.

The Olive Garden Farm is located on via Tornaquinci 14 in Molino del Piano.

For information and reservations, please contact Francesca Vannini at 338 8586705 or Elena Torrini at 329 6049910.

This event is sponsored by the City of Pontassieve.

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