Agriturismo L'Arca di Anna Brambilla Fattoria Didattica e Sociale

description of organisation

The organization Arca was born in 2002 and certified as a farm in 2005. In 2012 it became a slow food garrison for the semi-wild state of the black pig of Calabria and it was certified as an educational and social farm. Always in the same year we became founding members of the Biodistretto BATICOS of the Upper Tyrrhenian Cosentino and, finally, in 2016 we were certified as an organic farm. The agritourism, purely during the summer, guarantees us the means of subsistence for all other non-profit activities that we carry out. In this way we can cultivate in a truly organic way, raise animals in well-being, without exploitation, devote ourselves to teaching and hospitality of people with social, economic and psychological difficulties, as well as having cultural exchanges with volunteers from around the world.

The educational farm is the ideal place for a trip with children, but also an opportunity for adults to discover how food is created, how animals live and what are the trades of the countryside.
Our guests can visit:
- The path of the plants of the Mediterranean
- The mini zoo trail
- The pond with geese, ducks, marsh turtles and fish
- The breeding in the semi-wild state of the black pig of Calabria
- The cultivation areas (greenhouses and open fields) aimed at spreading knowledge of the cycles of sowing, growing and harvesting
the following thematic workshops:
- From milk to cheese (from milking to cheese production)
- From wheat to pasta (all stages of cultivation and processing of wheat and preparation of fresh pasta)
- Food and wine: ancient traditional recipes
- Creativity: to create objects with natural or recycled materials
- Preservation of biodiversity: the podolic cows and their characteristics;
- The black pig breeding and transformation

THE SOCIAL FARM
At the Ark we think that the rural lifestyle is a model to be proposed as an alternative to the stressful and alienating one of the cities. The rediscovery of natural cycles and the mother earth that hosts us is essential to recognize and recover one's origins. In an era in which appearing and competition seem to have the upper hand, we offer an essential life based on the primary principles of respect for diversity, collaboration and sharing. Working in direct contact with nature, tiring for the body but reassuring for the mind, helps to reconcile oneself and others. Nature in all its expressions helps us to understand the profound meaning of life and of every single living form, including human beings. As a certified social farm we can host people who need to reintegrate into society in a peaceful way. We have collaborated with associations for the reintegration of political refugees or refugees for humanitarian reasons into our facility. We host foreign volunteers from all over the world for cultural exchanges. Much more can be done and we hope that, every day more, the Ark can be an initial refuge and a subsequent springboard for an ever-increasing number of people.

Volunteers activities:
As social and educational farm, L’Arca aims to promote the rural lifestyle to allow reconnection of man to his roots with Mother Earth. In this context welcomes volunteers who want to experience life together with our small community multiethnic, working side by side with us to develop the Arca project with care and love, learn our kitchen, our language in the case of foreigners and enjoy this lovely place, close to the sea and the mountains, rich in culture and history. We welcome all year for a minimum of 2 weeks and we prefer long periods.
We consider our farm as an extended family in which all people can be themselves and feel at ease, in which the only values ​​are respect for others and nature, but also equality between people. Within the structure we organize social inclusion activities for all disadvantaged people through contact with nature as we believe, for example, that disability becomes a handicap where the person is placed in front of psychological or socio-cultural barriers that limit the possibility of autonomy and insertion into active life.
With the ambition to reverse this logic, the project through actions aimed primarily at supporting people with disabilities, wants to create a positive synergy between different local organizations, to give people in the area concerned the opportunity to rediscover their vocation to volunteering and rediscover a dimension of welfare.