A peaceful place to be

This is our little caravan and tent village on the terrain. In the silence of this area it is only the building during the day that disturbes the peace. The generator we need still hums because we are not yet connected us to the grid. But if the bigger building projects are finished there will be a peacefull place to be.
We have used the on caravan on the left for office. It is a sixties Dutch design. The right is a more recent german product. The tent is our lounge for bad weather days and kitchen. The experience of adding space with tables and cupboards is interesting. It is disovering the convenience by installing kitchen etc. We actually sit around there a lot. Especially during hot days also. Enjoying the evenings with wine and cheese before retiring to bed.

Salute to the fathers

I wasn't aware her father would have been 64 the exact date I made this picture. Seeing her happy on her fathers shoulders. While on the table in the foreground her second year of wine is waiting in bottles.
Cor, her father enjoyed cooking and wine too. Barbara has same interests. She loves cooking. She also loves putting her hands in the ground and simply being in the garden. Most of the times alone. That is one of the limites on production. While at the same time she is the only one that can deliver mothers milk to Fleur.
We have to think about the fathers like: 'They would have been here too and would have enjoyed being here'. At the same time they would have enjoyed the cooking and sampling the wine too.
Well then: 'Here's to our fathers'.

Camper life

Living in a caravan takes some adjustments. Small space, moisture management, cooking, showering, building all the while also taking care of a little baby. We were back at our house in Leiden Holland. Because we were also building there we lived only on the groundfloor. After a week of that I remarked that we never needed the floor above. In a caravan everything is under hand.
Living in small spaces can have it's quieting charms. Every day we read Dik Trom. A dutch story from 1907. Fleur tests paper. Every evening and every morning has it's aspects that have to be paid attention to. It is very intimate. If you walk around and have the eye for it. Outside of the caravan you will see one liter yoghurt buckets. What are they for? The tent of the caravan gathers water also. We use it for washing. And also showering in the evening. It is getting colder though. However, it is very comfortable going between the sheets with a clean body. And sleep till the sun comes up.

Autumn building

The old house is being rebuilt. We start with a complete penthouse on top. A lot of glas and a view on Velika Kapela mountainrange 90 kilometers away.
We will cook on wood, cooking will also warm the penthouse. We are contemplating designing heating along the lines of rocket mass heaters. In alpine region of Europe the people use what they call: 'Speicher ofen'. In principle a stone mass is heated. Fire dies and stone mass slowly dissipates the heat.

We will use natural materials for insulation. For example straw on the roof. But also sheepswool for the front of the building. Strawbales would take too much space from te bacony. Sheep wool by the way is burned by the farmers. We were too late to ask them for the wool. Seasons rithm is unescapable.

Now the top of the building has been closed at last the house is starting to dry. Our boxes with books are on the bottom floor. Last week at last I dared look. Actually the books were in not too bad shape. And by the damp and cold experience we learn to value a closed house even more.

Rich harvest

Seasons deliver different results. Like winter brings snow, autumn delivers fruits, nuts and also mushrooms. In this case it is what we call in dutch:'Squirrels bread'. Very very tasty. Also possible to dry above the oven. And then make winter food tasty.

Searching mushrooms is a real art. We have a Croatian book and two dutch to learn wich ones we can eat. Croats take only a limited collection. The danger of mixing kinds is very real. We don't take that risk. By the way we leave also those we can eat for next time. So next season we can harvest again.

Creativity, dedication and fun

You see Anton Krivanec of Studio K spreading concrete on top of the roof. A major step in closing the top of the house has been made.
Anton is busy assembling a building team. Meanwhile also things like spreading concrete have to be done. Based on the experience of designing and building our resort a building company will be founded. The team is exercising by working together.
Every saturday is payday. Accompanied with a drink, a bite & an evaluation of the week. How was the cooperation. Were we succesful in reaching our goals this week? What is the plan for next week? Every period is analysed to learn for the next period. To reach optimum atmosphere and results.

Being is learning from nature

To live in nature once was a dream. Now we are living it. Learning from nature wasn't in the first place what I expected. It does happen though. Thinking about what the effects are of the presence of man I have reached some preliminary conclusions.

Next tot the fact I spend a lot of time with Barbara, Fleur and Nol I am outside a lot. Nature delivers every season. Different quantities but in general one can live of the land. A tree delivers what she is made for. Does not think about Wallstreet crashing.
There is no urge to manipulate genetically to up production. GM sereals fed to swines led to lung, heart, liver and brain problems. A human result. Nature does not analyse. Does not research.
And if that what man produced leads to above mentioned problems, then the end product as integraded fenomenon was a failure too. Analysis and the integration after some technical proces is the basis of human thinking and actions. It leads to plastic oceans, poisoned rivers, hunting after the idea 'man can create paradise on mars' etc. Maybe first learning to live on earth in the beauty of nature would be a first step to make.