Greek Island vegetable gardens
If you ever have the opportunity to visit a local vegetable garden... do it.
While we were on Sifnos, we were lucky to meet Maria. Maria wore many hats... she was an AirBnB host, a language teacher and a fiercely proud Greek. She also knew a lot of people around Apollonia and took me on a very quick tour of the local bakeries and sweet shops, but that's another story.
Maria asked us if we'd like to visit her vegetable allotment. We met her and her husband Costos by the roadside on the way to Poulati, outside Apollonia. We climbed down the narrow track through the terraces that hug the hillside. We crouched through a small gate and entered delicious world. Along a parcel of narrow land, framed by the drystone walls of the terraces, we found capsicums, zucchinis, eggplants, cucumbers and tomatoes growing.
A caper berry plant was growing from the cracks of the drystone wall cascading down to the ground.
On another terrace below there were 100 year old pistachio trees just starting to bloom. And the olive trees were just as old. The pistachio and olive trees had been planted by Costos's grandfather.
A natural spring ran through this land. They told us how lucky they felt that they had the constant supply of water for their vegetables. There was a simple pump used to fill just enough water around the vegetables in the watering troughs dug around the vegetable patches.
Costos was meticulous in filling these troughs with just enough water before he would move to the next patch.
Costos picked cucumbers for us to munch on while we walked around the allotment. We heard Maria tell us that they pick their vegetables, keep just what they need and the rest goes to other family and friends. There's constant sharing in these communities.
This little visit cemented our love of Sifnos. It is an island of fertile soils giving full flavoured vegetables and fruits, which you taste and enjoy where ever you eat on this island.
Cheers
Fiona x
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