Maybe you've noticed that I'm a little obsessed with olive trees and olive oil. This obsession started here in Istria after I tr...

Animals used to be a big part of life here in Istria, where farming was a way of life for a long time. During childhood visits, I loved spen...

The tradition of božićna pšenica (Christmas wheat) was not one I was familiar with before moving to Croatia. But every year around mid...

Following my recent post about the olive harvest , this one is about a visit to our local oil mill. After helping our neighbour pick his...

In Istria, olive-picking season starts in October and continues until late November. This is usually the time when olives are ripe and r...

Finally we had a thunderstorm last night. We were eagerly waiting for the rain after weeks of sweltering temperatures in the high 30s. I f...

Our cat Squeaky is a minor celebrity in the village as the cat who travelled here all the way from India . Squeaky has adapted to her...

Welcome Summer! Today is the longest day of the year. The sun came up this morning at 5:14 and will go down at 20:54. This is what...

It’s that time of the year when the sweet smell of elderflowers is in the air as the elder trees bloom. Called bazga in Croatian, th...

You know it’s really spring in Istria when the wild asparagus appears. One month ago a neighbour told me he was going to pick asp...

Just when the rainy winter days seemed like they would never end, Spring is finally here. After a damp – but relatively mild – wint...

One of the things I like about living in Istria is the quality of life. ‘Quality of life’ can mean many different things but what I m...

Today’s the first day of winter. Though I wasn’t looking forward to winter, the fact that today’s the 21st of December is a bit of a r...