Living in nature and having lot's of inspiring people around.

Looking back to 2015.

We have so much to be grateful for.

So many people came into our life.

Ursula and Chris from New Zealand, Chris from Australia, Yaean from Whales, Ursula from Germany, Stanko and Mile (Kalimero) from Vojnic, Romana and Wurda from Vojnic, Robert from Dallas Texas, Julian from Canada, Bastien from France, Magda Pichler from Croatia, Mayta and Renaldo from Brasil, Leighann and Keri from California. The California delegation later went to our family in Sierra Estronad in Aragon, Spain. 

Referring directly to our family in Spain also was a successful first.

If you want to visit them;https://sierraestronad.wordpress.com/

Igor Monojlovic from Vojnic, (canoeing) Mario and Monica from Barilovic, Robert Fran from Karlovac.

We also learned so much from our older neighbours, Stevo Mrdenovic, Janko Mrdenovic, Janko Vujic. Getting to know more 

How to smoke meat and make porkfat for the kitchen. How to work with a scythe and hammer it sharp. Old techniques and valuable. Why? Scythe needs no gasoline, exercises the body, is silent, doesn't stink and the cut grass is better for the animals.

Dutch friends who provided us with the million star camping idea. Thanks family Vogelpoel for that. Especially their great inquisitive son who is interested in numbers.

Hence the million star camping.

New people in our lives: Rene and Helga Pronk of  His photography and tours in Zumbarak, Croatia. 

Walking tours and wine routes.

http://www.zumberaktours.com/

We were supported by so many people  also.

Not to forget our financial administrative expert Kruno Karin from Karlovac Call for excellen fiscal service in Croatia 0916460007. 

Also certainly not to forget Barbara's parents. Who support is in more than one way.

How we learn from nature

Stevo Mrdenovic teaches us a lot

Everything grows in nature

We learn by watching nature as we work. Also by asking the neighbors. How to stock wood for example. That they do for two years winter seasons. I didn’t know that. This season we will stock double. One for next year. One for winter 2015. From then on we have double the stock we use before every winter. Then in time you have the best wood ready for when the season changes. And so we grow.

Hospitality and agro possibilities on our terrain

Recently we found out we can start preparing for our camping. It will create possibilities for hosting workshops, paying guests and volunteers. It shows not every lawyer knows what he’s talking about. Double, triple check reputations might be a way out and prevent our situation. That we had to learn. Being out of money while possibilities are there. We experience this shortage and we keep on working on our goals. We’ll get there though. Never ever give up. That is also in our workshops. There will be difficulty. If you define that as: ‘The universe thinks I can handle that’….. It suddenly is a compliment. 

What if the economists are right?????

The growth we follow is like a political statement. My father burned out because of how government, lawyers and big money had made law so they could push projects over the backs of the citizen. That is where our democracy is out of balance. It is where the people fully report a NO to something and the government goes ahead anyhow. If someone gathers votes and says he’s going in a certain direction he’d better make that true in all actions. If not. UN!!! vote him or her. Then you can say you are so UN voted!!!! Go do something useful. Go drive a taxi. Then you learn about what the people really want. I would go straight back to taxi driving if I had to.

Same goes for where and what you buy. Just don’t buy the shares or invest in funds that manage shares of big coal, oil nuclear or whatever you don’t support. You might have noticed that the politicians and financers think that the citizen can and will pay for all that goes wrong in the economy. They must think that they have the money. Think about it. What if they are right?????? If we really can decide what happens because of where we put our money?? Just don’t pay for what you do not agree with anymore.

That is not to say you now are free to drive at a 250 miles per hour and not agree with a sanction that serves safety on the road. We do need a decent level of organization….:)

Interesting reads are Naomi Klein’s ‘This changes everything’. She shows vulnerable parts of our democracy but also very resounding triumphs of ordinary people standing up for their rights to live a healthy life. Like the people of Greece hopefully will these days.

Inspiring the young generation

We will design it so on our site that there will be an outdoor kitchen integrated in a lounge area. Connected to a pool and a building for washing, showering and going to the toilet. Also we will have space for training with up to 20 participants. Same number goes for beds ready on site. We will have light solutions for that. And some secret places hidden on the terrain.

We plan to go on working with the young people that come here. Here they can learn about how everything works in nature. We are still learning. And will be learning to the end. To that there is no end. We also look forward to having more people around us that love to live out here.

And taking care of the elderly. Restoring the chain that binds young and old together. Together we all go the same direction. It is more in the end that that becomes clear than during the voyage. It is life’s energy. It is life’s energy to stand for which you choose. And to learn that. And keep on learning. And celebrate we are going at 33 km per second in the right zone around the sun. Pretty amazing.

Financing

This project is in no way possible if we think to do it alone. We will need more support than we have asked in the past. There will be a permanent team assembled from those that One of the supports we will ask is financial. For specific projects. There will be offerings of participation in specific steps of the project. Also we are preparing our version of permaculture and personal development and project management workshops. We will publish our digital versions of both in the near future. For that there are some experts we will engage to help us launch those in a successful way. And in so doing finance our own development. In order to speed things up, we will campaign for funds for the start of 2015.

Relaxing at cafe Markan at the Korana river.

This is one of the places we love to go to. It is in the area of Barilovic and this is the Korana. The wall in the water served a watermill. And mark the boat. It is of a very simple design. Easily made at home.
Here we go to cool off. In the first years we didn't have a bathroom. So as soon as possible in the season, we would be the first to 'dip in'. The local population usually waits a little longer before they declare it 'summertime' let's jump!. Under the stony bottom crayfish are hiding. The water is usually christal clear. It creates the Plitvice waterfalls and lakes. Next to our little paradise is Cafe Markan. Family owned, you can sit in the shadow under the trees and be served all day.
'The sun always shines at the Korana you know'. Now you must be frowning...... Like, what, summer? We missed a serious amount of sun. This season was different from all seasons I experienced ever anywhere. The amount of rain falling in one night recently would be enough for 3 months in autumn. So the summer elected to take some time off this year.
And really cafe Markan is the place to go. While it is sunny :) .

Buying local

Here Barbara is buying at the local market. Obviously these two are enjoying their company. All foods come from local smallfarms. It is within a reasonable distance. What we don't have we buy. We have no hesitation in buying local. And the quality is all the more compared to supermarket goods.

Optimal vehicle combinations

Somewhat ominous here you see how our trailer is filled with a cubic meter of sand. I googled the weight of that. It seems a cubic meter weighs up to 1,5 tons. The trailer was way over it's maximum therefore. I took it easy. Anyhow, the mazda pickup and the trailer are the best buy if you know you are building. If you are building your own project and involved in buying and transporting a small pickup and trailer are indispensable. Masses of material can be bought by truck. In between and smaller loads you have to do your self. Otherwise the supplier is going to take the most effective way to get the goods to you. You will not know when they will arrive. Also transport costs are going to go up. The trailer is 3 meters long. The pickup is up to 14 years old. Technically that is also an advantage. These days auto builders are more and more choosing to build cars and profit from repairs. Therefore the cars are less durable. I am glad I bought a slightly older combination.

Googling in piles of paper property documentation

Every country in the world has it's own system for organizing, documenting and storing. The separation of Yugoslav countries also had to take place on administrative level. Through hundreds of years ownership, use, inheritance etc of real estate was done between people. It wasn't updated with every change in reality. Someone died. Family continued use of lands. Hey, we live here. What do we care about administration. Life is more important than paper. If you want to know something, if it is in the piles of paper they know their way in and the pile of paper has your document hidden, they know how to find it. They have some system in their head and they know how to google in age old piles of paper. They walk straight to it, pick up a bundle and out comes your document. And mind you, there are I think miles of those piles.

Guests from Leiden travelling to Mozambique

Our dutch friends the Colijn family from Leiden on the road to Mozambque arrived at our place in september 2012. We had a lot of fun together. Cooking and eating together. For their trip they have the best tools. A safari trailer and an air cooled landcruiser. For the jeep to cross the Mediterranean there was separate barge. They arrived earlier in Egypt. Some days later the barge arrived and they were reunited with their mobile camp combination. They are experienced overland long distance voyagers. Earlier they made a trip down east Africa and up west. They took more or less 2 years for that. In the meantime they experienced all kinds of adventures that have to do with border crossings, repares and long distance travelling in general. Let's say that every country has it's own culture of how they organize and administrate things. At least they are enjoying their house on the coast of the Indian ocean now. Marcel is contemplating going into farming. We are looking forward to their next steps.