Sustainable Life on a Tuscan Farm: UNC-Greensboro
Dates:
September 29-October 7, 2008 (Eight nights)
Price:
$1,950.00
Program Coordinator:
Charlie Headington
Address:
515 N. Mendenhall St., Greensboro, NC 27401
Telephone:
336-273-7292
E-mail:
charlie.headington@gmail.com
Preferred method of contact:
email or phone
Contact Person and Info:
Julee Johnson at 336-334-4597 or jajohnson@uncg.edu
Program Description:
This program is part of a 3 credit course administered by the Master of Liberal Arts degree program at UNCG in Greensboro, NC. For registration please contact Julee Johnson (above). Anyone with a Bachelor’s degree may register for the course.
The first part of our course of study will be on-line with a discussion group formed in UNCG Blackboard. The readings will place the subject matter of the course within several contexts, that of Italy itself, the region of Tuscany, rural culture, and finally Spannocchia. Each of these contexts is articulated in a separate book and the reading of these books will comprise the first part of the course.
Italian context: The New Italians by Charles Richards
Tuscan context: Within Tuscany by Matthew Spender
Rural Italian context: The Tuscan Year by Elizabeth Romer
Spannocchia context: The Castle That Only God Knows by Delfino Cinelli
The second part of the course will be the week-long stay at Castello di Spannocchia, a medieval estate and farm outside of Siena. We will stay in the stone building that has housed farm workers for hundreds of years, participate in the farm life, enjoy its home-grown food and wine each evening, and visit hill-towns, markets, and other surrounding attractions. We will pay particular attention to the life and culture of organic farms and rural culture. To do so we will learn how a farm like Spannocchia works, visit at least one other farm, spend several hours at a new and thoroughly documented museum of rural culture, and enjoy the market and piazza life of nearby hill towns including San Gimignano and Siena.
The third part of the course will be a written paper on a particular aspect of Tuscan farm life that attracted your attention during the readings, you pursued while in Italy, and that you reinforced with additional research after your stay. It can focus exclusively on Italy life or be a comparison of Italian and American farm and food culture.
Coordinator Biographies:
Charlie/Dr. Headington splits his time among three groups: a faculty member at UNCG, head of the Permaculture Gardening Program at Greensboro Montessori School, and head of the Slow Food convivium in the North Carolina Piedmont Triad.
His UNCG courses are wide-ranging: from Slow Food in a Fast Food Nation to Simple Living in a Complex Age, from Religion and Ecology to Livable and Sustainable Cities. At the Greensboro Montessori School, he and six UNCG interns teach organic gardening, cooking-from-the-garden, and land stewardship to 300 students. The Slow Food convivium celebrates and supports the local food community: farmers, markets, restaurants, and consumers. It is in its fourth year with 90 members and a regular program of events and projects.
When not involved in one of these three areas, he spends his time with his wife Debby Seabrooke, a writer and teacher at UNCG, either gardening or cooking. He also annually conducts Permaculture workshops at his home. Each or every other year they travel to a Tuscan farm, Castello di Spannocchia, to live and work on this 1200 acre organic farm and study center. In Fall 2008, 14 graduate students will join them for a week at Spannocchia.