Reinhard, an authentic eclectic philosopher is always up to something and a real pleasure to associate with.  His residence is a true international center and we enjoyed him, his "hotel", our day trip to Bellinzona, and all the other inmates. Our introduction was getting past the "attack" dog on our arrival, meeting the sole resident, an Argentinean ballet dancer with whom we could only converse in our halting, 30 year old school Spanish.
Elisangela is a real sweetie.  The plastic bottle and agriculture police will be checking on the new parsley, dill, and lettuce garden to make sure it is properly cared for – Schnee or not.  Note: The artifacts discovered in digging up the garden are to be donated to the local museum.  That will be simpler than dealing with the recycling police and can also count as a charitable tax contribution.  I discovered there was a pronged spade, like the one we discussed, in the very bottom of the tool box and used it for digging up the garden.

Alfred and Silvia's Schwalbenhof farm was an excellent experience from start to finish.  It is a busy, well run organic farm combining modern and traditional methods.  We learned a lot and enjoyed their family, friends, and people from the community.  We got a practical introduction to the care of cows, horses, pigs, chickens, potatoes, carrots, onions, corn, apples, pears, hay, leaks, cabbage, green chard, red chard, strawberries, the rare farm pixie, and Alfred senior.  Sometimes we were busy and other times we were not.  During quiet times I often found myself asking if there was anything I could do – which sometimes resulted in unexpected activities – like making mashed potatoes for the two pigs in a wood fired boiler, or just taking pictures of the farm and farming activities.  I took pictures of everything and have just completed paring them down to 100, Photoshoping them, and puttng them on a flash drive to mail back to the farm.  The president of our Swiss club publishes a monthly newsletter and our stay at Schwalbenhof experience is on the front page.  We will be showing the pictures and describing our stay at the next meeting.