In unsuspecting times, when I was very little, Nonno Nanni and Nonna E. had a Permaculture business in the Chianti hills, precisely in San Martino.
They had decided to leave Florence to go and live in the countryside and live off what they produced. Subconsciously, I had already started living my future. I loved sitting on the ground, next to my grandfather, in silence, observing what nature did so well, without the intervention and forcing, typical of man. He invited me to eat fruit, climbing and choosing the ripest from the tree and to share a few pieces with the birds. He didn't want me to wash the strawberries, a little dirt never hurt anyone, he said. He showed me his experiments with vegetables that grew better or worse next to other vegetables in the garden and encouraged me to move the ladybugs to my grandmother's roses when they were full of aphids, so they would have a good feast! On that farm there was harmony between man and the environment and everything was delicious, nutritious and healthy. Thanks to Grandparents, I have always eaten well and I grew up healthy and with a strong immune system! At the time, anyone who didn't use 'powders', as his grandfather called pesticides, was not defined as organic, synergistic or biodynamic. He did not follow a project in permaculture, sustainable, zero impact, ecological, green, etc etc etc. My grandfather wasn't Fukoka but he did exactly everything I've read, 40 years later, in his books.
Today I wanted to tell you this because sometimes, you don't need to be an agronomist or have a certified company to have common sense and the will to live without impacting the planet but rather helping it heal. Good will can be implemented, even on a balcony of the house or with conscious choices, during a purchase.
Today is San Martino and I think of the Grandparents, who like the Christian Saint always had a gesture of generous altruism towards the planet, the animals and all the people who, not only during the Second World War, fed, welcomed and with whom they shared all their fruits.
Thank you Nonni, for your precious teachings. Sant'Egle would not exist without having met you and a special thanks goes to Nonna E. whose historical memory lives every day in many of the recipes with which Sant'Egle's organic products are made!