baked earth – raw earth – cultivated earth
(art – architecture – agriculture)

Fattoria Fonte Trocchi, an agricultural and repopulation project, was started in Tufillo in Abruzzo by Nicolas and Federica in 2011. It produces fruit, vegetables, cereals, pulses, eggs and olive oil on 3 hectares of land for the farm’s needs, for sale locally and to share the abundance of food with anyone who wants to participate in some way in the farm’s activities.

Art is present in almost every activity on the farm, in the construction of houses and huts made of terracruda (earthenware), and also in farm work, shaping the landscape by gradually terracing the entire area available, moving small amounts of earth with each surface tillage, following contour lines and stabilising the steep part of each terrace with perennials such as rosemary, lavender, sage and fruit trees.

Many of the farming issues can be solved through experimentation, observation and through continuous adaptations to often unplanned situations, without therefore following any principle of any particular farming method (such as organic, synergistic, regenerative, syntropic etc. or traditional peasant farming), although it is nevertheless useful to be familiar with all these methods as an inspiration and source of ideas, which have already been tried out more or less successfully by others. The only principle that can be said to be strictly adhered to is that of avoiding monocultures on excessively large areas through crop diversification, and of living as close as possible to the cultivated areas in order to be able to make the necessary interventions at the right time with a considerable saving of effort and frustration.

The building materials for constructing the houses were partly the result of agricultural activity: stones removed from the fields, logs and branches from the management of hedges and woods, clay from the construction of wells, ponds and channels for directing rainwater, and cereal straw to mix with the clay or used loose as insulation material.

The ‘project’ ( at Fonte Trocchi, in reality, there is little planning) was born as an attempt not only to transform a marginal place without particularly attractive characteristics (a so-called non-place) into a liveable and productive area, but also to interact with the surrounding reality through participation in local political processes to revitalise the entire territory, by facilitating the settlement of new inhabitants with the intention of starting new agricultural projects (i.e. not only smart-workers, holistic activities and summer tourism) and transforming the landscape through a new management of water, forest and agricultural resources, also applicable to other marginal areas with similar characteristics and problems, rich in unused resources and at the same time threatened by destructive forms of exploitation of these resources.

Among the most obvious problems are the risk of forest fires and the damage caused by industrial agriculture and an overgrown wild boar population. As a solution, we propose the reintroduction of grazing animals, the partial reforestation of arable land through the planting of hedges and other barriers to manage grazing animals and wild animals, the replacement of chemical fertilisation with rotation between grazing and cultivation, and the thinning of some areas of the forest to prevent fires.

Over the years, Fattoria Fonte Trocchi has hosted around 100 people for periods varying from a few days to a few months, many as woofers, others as participants in workshops or at cultural events.

Some of these people have moved to Tufillo permanently, starting new agricultural projects. This repopulation process is important in order to build together a neighbourhood economy that allows the exchange and diversification of the complexity of products and services available.

The most recent of these developments are the establishment in Tufillo of a community cooperative to facilitate the formalisation of new economic activities, the foundation of the association Onlus Help to receive donations of unused houses, invest in renovation and then make these houses available to new inhabitants, who tend to be ‘fragile’

Recentissima la collaborazione con Attilio, originario di Tufillo, per far ripartire la sua attività con le capre, attualmente in crisi per la decisione di un collaboratore di ritirarsi dall’ attività. Sul sito di Wwoof Italia attualmente è visibile un’ annuncio (latte di capra & cesti) che da più informazioni sulle possibilità di partecipazione nel lavoro con le capre.

some pictures in this link:
www.fattoriafontetrocchi.wordpress.com/fotogallery