The Babutzi farm is a place of course, and clearly the place where the Babutzi family lives, thinks, tinkers. A family made of humans, dogs, cats, fish and chickens. Yes, all of them are part of it, even the guest frogs who come to visit us every spring to disappear in winter.

We moved here a few years ago, slowly renovating this countryside house, transforming and re-building it as our family needs it. We have some land, a pond, trees and loads of sun to begin with, and a simple happy life to fill with weird activities.

There is the Babutzi father, strong and kind, always working and creating. There is the Babutzi mother, cooking and performing nature magic (it’s science, but it’s funnier calling it magic). There are the dogs and the cats, with official names and very unofficial ones – I know literally nobody using the proper name for their pets. You start giving them something official sounding and then you descend gradually into madness, so Duke Leto Atreides the First becomes Bubbo over the years.

The fish do what fish do, so they live peacefully under the water lilies and try to grab your finger when you put your hand in the pond. They know human hands mean food and so they get very close and confident.

And then the chickens. I didn’t know how lovely chickens were until I started having some. They are funny, they are very good foragers, they live free in the land and are quite cocky, sitting on my lap when I’m outside, following me everywhere and demanding attention or cuddles.

That was the what and the who, it leaves us with the why. Why? Because life in the city was burning me out, because the babutzi father loves nature and feels almost claustrophobic in cities, because this life has a different pace. We both work, and when we are done with our workday we thought we’d decompress in the babutzi farm. Ah, the delusion! We work and then we work more in the farm. Feed everyone, clean for everyone, be sure everyone is thriving and happy, care for the plants, preserve the fruits, dry herbs… it’s what we chose to do.

So that is it. Who we are, why we are, what we are. And this is our life.