daily food

One of the many open air markets in Dalmatia.
This one is in Trogir.
All of it is pure organic food, grown and harvested in small gardens, ripened in the Dalmatian sun.

All year round seasonal vegetables and fruits are being sold.
In winter the offer is limited, from spring till alte autumn however the variation is enormous.

Once you've tasted these tomatoes, peaches, melons or figs, you'll never forget it.
Even the variety of potatoes is amazing, and.........tasteful.

erotic fruits

Erotic fruits, that's what figs are !
Couldn't resist (re-)publishing this picture, like I did once before.

As spring has not yet arrived here, the cats have their kittens, birds are returning and nature is changing to green again day by day, so it will be spring soon (as always).

However summer is still far away, the moment will come the figs ripen at the trees again, waiting to be picked, one by one, sipping the sweet juice leaking on my hand.

Fresh they are the very best, dried still a fantastic nutritious addition to winter tables.
As you know what they say: "a fig a day keeps the apples away".
(And the doctor :-).

Should you want to dry figs yourself, here are some tasty tips:
-dry them in open sunlight.
-dip them twice in seawater (preserving and adding taste).
-wrap them in a paper bag, with dried leaves of laurel between them.
Like this you can store them for months and months.

Warning:
The milky juice from branches and stems of fig trees may cause some allergic reaction to some people.
So better avoid contact with it, and enjoy it's flesh.

no thanks, ne hvala !!!

Today in Holland (and elsewhere ?) lots of vegetables are grown like this.
Mind you, floating on plastic islands in large water basins, with computerized systems to feed the plants.
Factory food, huge amounts of green stuff, they call vegetables.

To me this is a horror scenario, but I live in a small Dalmatian valley, where people still grow their own food, so I guess I am lucky.
DOMACI is the word, HOME MADE the translation of it.

Let me put it this way, as grapes and olives give a perfect example:
Each and every piece of land has it's specific character, less sand, more stones, clay, less sun (not here), more sun (sure !!!), natural water, minerals, even the manure (goats shit) is pure natural.

For wines and olive oil it's obvious, each of them has it's specific taste, and we are gladly paying the price it deserves.
Now think of salad, tomatoes, and a lot more vegetables and melons that grow on natural soil.
Don't you think those are like good wines and olive oils, with a honest, nutritious taste, even with a specific taste due to the patch of land they grow on.

I dó, I knów now we are polluting ourselves, or at least missing the good properties of those vegetables grown outside, harvested from good soil, with here and there a lesser leaf, perhaps even a small hole or a brown spot made by a hungry insect.
But at least it has taste, it has nutritious values, it's góód food !

And however the masses need to be fed, I am not blind for that argument, vegetables growing on waterbeds, computer fed, that cán not be the answer you asked for.
Food means FOOD, taste, minerals, fibers, vitamins, NOT this green stuffing grown on waterbeds.
Waterbeds are for good sex or pleasant sleep after good sex.

In a couple of weeks I will be preparing our land again for a long season of fun, making my hands dirty, looking how our food is growing under the Croatian sun.
Tasty, nutritious, honest, DOMACI food.

Priatno, enjoy your meal, hopefully like we do.

PS:
Eat what the seasons offer, don't ask for strawberries in winter 
(unless you live in Australia :-).

the greenhouse effect

Maybe not thé most perfect greenhouse you ever saw, but having it both invented and built myself I am proud of it ánd it works !

Size L300xW250xH200cm. (my length plus 20) I created this from steel bars covered with water hose (called Okiten over here) against oxidation problems, covered with UV-resistant transparent strong professional plastic.
The strips of grey tape will soon be exchanged by a more permanent solution, I simply had to build it following the principle of trial and error.

Not afraid to fail in an experiment, some adjustments still are on the "drawing board" (one of the many tiny peaces of paper I fill with my ideas), but it works !!!!!

Had to create a place where my lemons could survive common cold winter storms, having no space inside, and survive they dó, including the greenhouse itself of course.

Left and right on the ground I created planting beds, in the back I built a working table to put seeds and cuttings in small containers, on the right I recently welded a rack for my strawberry baskets, hanging them high above the ground.

It may not be thé solution to stop the worldwide greenhouse effect, creating a rise of the oceans, melting glaciers, destroying eco systems, to me it's simply great fun to see it wórks !

And work it does, that I already know, as my own garlic starts to grow, my celery makes new leafs, and when the sun heats up the interior, I might see some early strawberries too.
When winter season turns to early spring I will be ready to plant a variety of vegetables and herbs, as the young plants will be ready to grow outside after a protected life inside.

To those who are interested, in front are growing some of my Brussels sprouts, and slowly I expand my agricultural to a level in which I can provide ourselves with fresh "domaci" food, all of it organic.

Once more:
Not a "green fanatic", I just like to do the things I do the way I do them.
It's all a hobby, but at the same time it helps, however tiny the effect may be, it does help !

Or to say it in Dutch for once:

"alle beetjes helpen" zei de muis
  en beet de kater in z'n kruis.

simple life, good food: DOMACI !!!!

Perhaps the word "DOMACI"does not mean a thing to you, so I guess I must explain that first.
Domaci simply means (traditionally) home made.

Here in our little village (and many villages of Croatia) much of the food still is grown, harvested, prepared ánd eaten in a traditional way.
In other words, people still take pride in making their own.

Wine, olive oil, rakia (pure booze, as a basis for orachovic, travarica and more), all year around home grown vegetables, fruits, potatoes, chickens, eggs ánd.........pigs for a lot of excellent home made meat products in different styles.

Well, let me tell you a bit about those pigs.
After summer has gone people buy one, two or more pigs, depending on the price and the space to keep them.
Long before those pigs arrive figs are harvested and sun dried, and pig food is growing in the gardens.
Those pigs get the very best they can get, all of it organic, in order to put them on a healthy and tasty diet.
The main goal is not to get bigger or fatter pigs, but to get bétter pigs with bétter meat.

All life ends some day, also for happy pigs, as on a cold December day they are butchered, after which the real deal starts, preparing a wide variety of delicacies.
The famous prsut, that delicious salted, smoked, dried, ripened ham for instance, and believe me, you will never ever taste any better than those hams made by local people.
If you have the luck to have good friends in Croatia, ask thém for a slice of their domaci prsut, and you'll never think again the prsut sold in stores is the real stuff.

It would take a while to explain what comes from a good pig, simply everything is used, processed into many delicious sausages, bacon, pancetta, and even the bones are smoked/dried, to provide a basis for delicious food.
AND.....it's all free of chemicals, tenderizers, preservatives and antibiotics.
Which is a good thing to think about when you buy your daily portion of polythene wrapped food.

On the picture my very own ingredients for a great stew, all of it organic, all of it as tasty as hell, nutritious and nót malicious !!!

Food is, and should be, more than filling your tummy.
Domaci is the answer !

Still, I am not a "green fanatic", I drink my coke, I smoke, and on hot summer days the airco does its job, but a lot of things are truly an improvement of our life and a pleasure to learn.
And learn we do, évery day, from all good people around us, and from giving it a try.

So when visiting Dalmatia, try to experience the Zagora (the hinterland), as in those small villages it's still happening, passed on by proud people.

If thinking about a better diet, think about better food first.
And that's not coming from large factories with clever marketeers.

Don't eat LESS, eat BETTER.