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Not been blogging much or writing on forums recently as we have been busy writing and preparing our book for publication Our dream of working our own land was fulfilled when they moved to Cyprus in 2009. Gardening in the Mediterranean was a new experience and the book evolved from a website and...

Where would we be without our wonderful olive trees which supply us with edible green and black olives, olive oil and kindling and wood for our wood burning stove. We have now discovered that the leaves are also a very useful resource and make a very healthy tea. A tea which has been brewed in...

Just tried it and it works. Crush a garlic clove and place in a large spoon, add olive oil and heat to infuse for a few seconds until bubbling. Allow to cool, before dripping into the aching ear. After a few minutes massage the ear and move your jaw up and down to get penetration. The...

What is it that you are prepping for? Personally, I cannot envisage a total end but what I can envisage is a period when living costs will rise very substantially, when food will become very expensive or scarce for a healthy balanced diet, when energy costs will be unaffordable for many and...

We have just completed an earth oven and successfully baked our first loaves. For details of how we constructed it go to our blog at http://cyprusgardener.blogspot.com/2012/04/build-wood-fired-earth-oven-part-2.html

The chard we planted in December is now ready to harvest and we are always trying new recipes to use our crop. One locally suggested recipe is a traditional vegetarian Cypriot recipe. Why not give it a try. Ingredients: 800ml water; A bunch (10-15) chard leaves thoroughly washed and dried 350g...

Have a go at making your own olive pate or tapenade which is great spread on crackers, fresh bread, on pitta bread or used when making pizza's. Our recipe is vegetarian but you can add anchovies or other ingredients such as hot peppers or sun dried tomatoes for a different flavour. The following...

This recipe takes quite a few hours. Its time consuming, but worth it! Makes about 2 1/2 cups of candy, depending on the size of the melon. 1 small watermelon washed 1 Tbs sea salt salt 2 Cups granulated sugar, plus more for coating 2 Cups water, plus more for cooking 2-3 sprigs fresh mint...

Bottling is a very useful way of preserving your fruit gluts for use throughout the winter. Fruit selected for bottling should be fresh, firm and free from signs of disease. Hard fruits should be washed thoroughly and left to dry before preparation. Soft fruits should be soaked in a salt...

Our way of life is unsustainable, as we cannot go on forever with our high energy and consumerist lifestyles because the resources we depend on are not limitless. We must break away from our dependence on oil, on which our food systems are especially reliant. The world's food supply is heavily...

Our chicory has gone to seed and has produced lovely light blue flowers. They stand out not only because of their unusual colour but also because they are held aloft on stems that are about a metre high. I think we will let them produce seed to collect and then we might try to make some...

The following are 14 superfoods grow well in Cyprus and in climate zones that are similar or you can consider adding them to your diet. For additional details on planting fruit trees go to http://sites.google.com/site/cyprusgardener/home/fruit-trees For guidance on vegetable growing go to...

We currently have a glut of globe artichokes and this is a great surprise as we only planted the off-shoots last November. The following recipe for globe artichoke soup is a delicious way of using up some of our glut. The recipe provides enough to serve 4 and the soup is wonderfully rich...

We have been growing tomatoes for 20 odd years and every year we cannot wait for our crop to start producing so we can stop buying those supermarket ones. Luckily here in Cyprus we are now starting to get our first ones...

If you are interested in growing herbs or starting a herb garden http://cyprusgardener.blogspot.com/2011/05/grow-your-own-herbs-how-to-plan-herb.html

Has anybody had any experience of passive solar room heaters? Has anybody got any simple instructions on how to build one which attaches to the inside of a window?