Water Buffalo First Steps. I melt!

In the area of Salento, Puglia, we visited a Buffalo Mozzarella maker and farm. La Masseria San Biagio is an old farmhouse that now supports a water buffalo herd and creamery as well as extensive wild herb and vegetable gardens, a young fruit orchard, and an educational farm.

The day we visited we found ourselves the happy witnesses to a baby water buffalo's first steps! I know we'll see many births and first hobbles in our future, but I'm positive that this one will hold a special place with me. After a chat about the Masseria and a walk through their fascinating and madly deliciously smelling gardens, Davide, one of the farmers, told us about the calf that had just been born. He brought us over to a secluded area padded with fresh straw where the most beautiful, doe-eyed, knock-kneed, dewy nosed little creature lay blinking while it's enormous wild eyed and dramatically majestic mother paused from nuzzling and licking it to circle her calf before tossing her fur around and taking one or two "don't mess with my baby!" steps towards us.

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The Fading Art of Transhumance

Transhumance is the ancient process of seasonallt shepherding animals through large tracts of fresh pasture. Back before our animals were fed grain and kept inside warehouses or fenced in permanent dirt lots all day, shepherds would guide ruminant animals across public and private lands to consume forage at the optimal times of the year. In the summer the animals were brought to higher elevations as grasses and shrubs matured in the low country. Before humans came along animals would just do it themselves.

In Abruzzo we're staying at La Porta dei Parchi, which is owned and operated by Nunzio Marcelli and his team of farmers, shepherds and cheesemakers. We'll be participating in a couple days of transhumance starting tomorrow morning. We got a little practice yesterday morning with the goats and rams, check out the pictures below.

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From Puglia to Abruzzo, Cheesemaking Along the Way

We left Puglia on Monday and headed to Abruzzo. Puglia is relatively flat and very similar to the U.S. Southwest. Lots of cacti, palm trees and other desert plants. Abruzzo, however, is mountainous and lush and a welcome few degrees cooler (although still pretty hot!). Puglia is the olive oil region and Abruzzo is more focused on wine (montepulciano), although plenty of olive groves still dot the landscape. We've visited and made cheese (or at least watched the making of cheese) at three places thus far, one buffalo mozarella and two sheep's milk cheese. More photos after the jump:

 Newborn Water Buffalo at Masseria San Biagio in Calimera, Salento

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