Merback Family Visit and Vacation

Since we were able to stay in Italia for an extra year we had the pleasure of hosting some of the Merback family members in Europe one more time.

First to arrive were Rob and Sara, who were feeling sprightly and ready to go to Venice immediately after being picked up at the airport on Saturday.

Sara at the Ca' d'Oro on il Canale Grande. The vast majority of pictures were taken of Rob and Sara by me with their cameras so I have minimal material here. See their Facebook and Youtube pages for epic posts and videos.

Eating street food in the Campo San Polo

Eating the best street food in the city, Dal Moro's pasta, next to a canal while gondolas came by.

Dusk on the Grand Canal, with a photobomb courtesy of Isaac.

The day after Venice, Sunday, we took it easy in the morning and then went up into the mountains above our house for the afternoon. This is a view from a hike that overlooks Lago di Santa Croce and the Dolomites.

Rob and Sara in the same spot. We would be hiking the Dolomites the next day.

Ashley and Georgie on the path. It really was a magical path through beautiful forests that ended at a shack that has been maintained by a family from the valley for 100s of years.

The shack. Such a cool place. It had memorials to the previous two generations of caretakers/builders inside. We need to come up here and have a bonfire party!

That night we had the traditional back-to-school finger food meal with Rob and Sara. Georgie went to her first day of fourth grade that next day, Monday, while Rob, Sara, and I headed up into the Dolomites.

I will never stop appreciating that this is a day trip from my home.

Love this picture of Rob and me hiking up the trail. Funny how much faster and easier it was without having to drag Juliet up the mountain. We had very deep and enriching conversations on this hike that I will always treasure. Something about being in the beauty of nature and sustained physical effort that opens up the heart and mind.

Rifugio Coldai near the top of our hike. We stopped here for a fabulous lunch of mountain food.

Some of the aforementioned mountain food: gnocchi, knudel, salsiccia, and polenta.

We went swimming in the snow-melt Lago Coldai just above the rifugio. It was COLD, but very refreshing and Rob got some video.

On Tuesday Rob and Sara took the train to Verona for the day while I went to work, and then they left for Florence on Wednesday morning.

On Thursday, we drove to the airport to pick up Mimi, Poppop, Pam, and Tanner. They were also feeling ready for a Venetian adventure immediately after landing. I took a lot of pictures of Tanner to email to Jake and Ashlee to reassure them that sending Tanner was the right decision.

Reunited again in Venice for their Cousin Honeymoon.

We went to the Piazza San Rocco and were reminded of the picture of the boys, plus Luke, from two years ago, so they reenacted it.

We missed Lukey this time around.

But this time we took a gondola ride, paid for by Poppop. Of course he was reluctant initially, but he loved it and afterwards admitted that it was money well-spent. Cousin Honeymoon on a gondola.

Jubie with Mimi and Pam. Our gondolier was Roberto, an original Venetian but a first-generation gondolier.

Such deprived boys. You get to see places like this on a gondola which are not accessible by foot paths. It was so quiet and peaceful off the beaten path.

Roberto sang a little bit of "Volare," but laughed when somebody mentioned "O Sole Mio." I think he appreciated the fact that I knew that it is a Neapolitan song and Venetians are not anxious to pollute their canals with that southern noise.

Proof that Kerry the Scrooge has been on a Venetian gondola on the Grand Canal. No denying it now.

Another shot of the Grand Canal.

Mimi, Pam, and Juliet on the Grand Canal

More gondolas plus the Rialto bridge (under renovation) on the Grand Canal.

The closest Poppop came to a smile the whole time.

Mimi and Pam.

This was towards the end of the excursion while Mimi and Pam were taking pictures nearby. Tanner was getting tired, Poppop was getting cranky, and Juliet was getting whiny. Love this little candid moment in the shade.

This accurately depicts how Juliet was feeling. Tanner faked it quite well.

Thus ended the second Venetian excursion in six days. The next day, Friday, we loaded up in both cars and drove to Florence where we picked up Rob and Sara. We then finished the marathon day of driving, finally making to our hotel near Sorrento at about 11 o'clock at night. The hotel was great but the road to it was tiny and I ended up scraping the side of the BMW pretty badly.

The next day, Saturday, we had a lazy morning and then headed out to Positano on the Amalfi coast.

Great family picture except for the car keys around Ashley's neck. Need to airbrush those out for the Christmas card.

Mimi and Pam. We stopped along the Amalfi Coast road to take these.

Oh wait, there's a semi-smile. That's Positano in the background.

The giblets. Like I said, Tanner knows how to take pictures.

    You can see the scrapes on the right side of the Beemer there.

I am officially a hypocrite! Posting a picture on the blog taken with one of those abhorrent selfie-sticks.

Walking down to the town of Positano. Robbie looks like a giant.

This was a short-cut that we took to the beach.

The big kids at the bottom of the short-cut.

There was a wedding at the duomo and the bride and groom exited right as we arrived.

After too much indecision, we finally settled on the free public beach rather than paying 12 euro per person for private beach chairs and umbrellas. It was thoroughly enjoyable. Mimi and Pam were in their element.

So were the kids. This one is a classic.

Georgie and Aunt Sara.

This is a small beach only accessible by swimming.

We buried Isaac under the small dark pebbles.

We then walked towards Fornillo Beach, stopping halfway to have lunch at this highly recommended restaurant, both for the food and the views.

I think the server fell in love with Jubie because he brought out her margherita pizza in the shape of a heart! Who couldn't love this girl? Not I.

Cousin Honeymoon in Positano. That background looks fake!

Juliet picking a wedgie at Fornillo Beach.

Looking back the other way towards the tower. There was a small cave near the shore that we waded over to.

This was the kids' preferred activity: smacking the incoming waves with their shoulders.

Final picture as we wound down the beach day. We then drove into Sorrento and had entirely too much gelato from Raki, our favorite place with the mascarpone flavor.

The next day, Sunday, was all about ancient Roman ruins. We caught the train to Pompeii and spent the morning there.

This was in the parking garage of the Sorrento train station. The attendant was very playful and grabbed Tanner's BYU hat off his head.

We hiked all the way out to the Amphitheater but didn't enter the strange wooden pyramid that was set up inside. Too bad. That's where they were displaying all the plaster body casts that are normally scattered around in glass cases.

Playing "Spot It" amongst the ruins while the adults stood in line for the brothel. This was probably a street-front store 2,000 years ago.

The forum with Vesuvius in the background. Fulfilled Rob's dream! And Georgie is hiding.

We spent the morning in Pompeii and then caught the train to Herculaneum, a smaller but better preserved area of ruins destroyed by Vesuvius at the same time.

And look who we found in Herculaneum! Dave Quinn was back to flying as an air marshall and had flown into Rome that morning. He caught the train to Napoli and then to Herculaneum where we met up on the main street. We stopped at this restaurant and had a great meal. I think I was in the middle of giving it a great review on Trip Advisor when this picture was taken.

Some kids play restaurant in their kitchen or toy room. And then some kids play restaurant in the 2,000 year-old ruins of a street food establishment in Herculaneum.

Our Caesars.

The security is much more lax in Herculaneum as well, so the kids were able to take goofy pictures in the 2,000 year-old rain-collecting pool/air conditioner of this home.

They're from West Side Herculaneum, just claiming their turf.

This was the seaside plaza by the thermal baths and just up from the docks, which were full of the skeletons of people killed by the pyroclastic flows while trying to escape by boat.

This was an incredible day, being with all of these people in this place.

My girls with Herculaneum and Vesuvius in the background.

We said goodbye to Dave at the train station and went back to Sorrento for more Raki gelato. I then had the worse driving experience of my life, including totaling Jake's car when I was 16 and spinning out on I-70 in a blizzard. I am not ready to talk or write about it yet. But lesson learned.

The next morning, Monday, we drove into Napoli and walked to L'Antica Pizzeria Da Michele, home of the best pizza in the world!

The boys are so cool in their hats and so bugged about waiting for their pizzas.

Georgie and Mimi playing hot hands to pass the time.

And then they arrived! We got one cheese pizza for everyone and one marinara (no cheese) extra. Suffice it to say we took a few boxes with us and ate it for breakfast the next two mornings.

Sara and Rob loving it. The crust is somewhat singed because they bake it at 900 degrees F for just a few minutes.

Tanner loving it. Can't get this in Vegas, baby!

Mimi loving it. We talked up this pizza a lot and still everyone was blown away.

We made the obligatory stop at the soccer store next door and Tanner bought five jerseys for himself and his four brothers. It was cool because everyone got a different player. Can't wait to see my nephews going to school in those jerseys with their plaid shorts, crew socks, athletic shoes, and spiked hair!

We then said goodbye to Rob and Sara, who needed to head home and see Will and the Twins. I loved having them here all to ourselves for a few days. We need to go on a couples' vacation in the future.

Ashley drove Rob, Sara, Juliet, and Georgie home while I took the rest of the crew to Lucca for the evening (no pictures that I have). We ate in a great restaurant and got some gelato in the oval-shaped Piazza Anfiteatro that used to be a Roman colosseum.

The next morning, Tuesday, we drove into La Spezia, where we caught the train to Corniglia on the Cinque Terre coast.

After street food (what else) and gelato (of course) in Corniglia we started the hike to Vernazza. This is gelato number seven for Isaac.

Tanner, Pam, and I just outside of Corniglia.

On the trail towards Vernazza. Tanner with his ever-present BYU hat.

Looking back towards Corniglia.

Now you can see Vernazza on the peninsula and Monterosso way in the background.

Tanner photobombing our picture.

This is a million dollar shot, right here. The beach in the lower left corner was our destination, and it took me quite a few wrong turns to find it. Those rocks that jut out from the top of the beach is where Ashley made out with her gelato boyfriend 15 years ago.

We had to walk through this cave-like under pass that went directly beneath the village peninsula.

See what I mean? There were rock cairns everywhere which inspired us to build a few of our own.

And we finally made it. Cousin Honeymoon in the Mediterranean at dusk. This evening was so magical and the only thing missing was the love of my life.

Tanner built a retaining wall to protect his rock cairn.

He then meditated on the perfection of the evening.

And then the cousin honeymoon continued in the shadow of the Vernazza bell tower and terraced grape vines.

Cousin Honeymoon in the marina. This is my favorite. Goobers!

Finding a place to eat that evening was a little challenging, but we ended up doing all right. We rode the train back to La Spezia and then drove back to our rented home. The drive took us right past Carrara, which is where all the famous Italian marble comes from and which is right on the coast between La Spezia and Pisa.

Speaking of Pisa, we woke up the next morning, Wednesday, had a ping-pong tournament at our AirBnB house, then drove to Pisa to see the famous campanello pendente.

The crush of tourists here was rather unfortunate and led to some not-insignificant tension. But after some good sandwiches and time to think everything was put right again. Mimi, Pam, Isaac, and Tanner went to the top and got to stand where Galileo, a Pisa native, stood while conducting his gravity experiments.

The baptistry.

Tanner did his part holding the Torre up.

As did Poppop.

We then left Pisa and drove back to our home. We spent the next day, Thursday, taking it very easy, just relaxing around the house. Isaac was starting to get sick and didn't come with us the next day, Friday, to Cinque Torri.

Less than 72 hours before we were swimming in the Mediterranean! And now we were hiking in the snow amidst the most beautiful mountains in Italy. You can see the tower that fell in 2004 lying in three sections to the left of the big tower.

Looking back towards Monte Pelmo, which we saw from both Cansiglio and Civetta, and the Rifugio Scoiattoli where we ate lunch, and the ski lift that we rode up.

Cinque Torri is a WWI site. First the Austro-Hungarians occupied it, but the Italians retook it and engaged in fierce artillery battles up here. Here Mimi is standing in one of the rebuilt trenches. We have stood in trenches from WWI!

These placards are all over the place. This is one of the most interesting. I can remember studying WWI in both 8th grade and the Academy. Never was it more relevant and interesting.

Tanner and Pam inside a roofed embattlement from which the men could watch and fire upon the enemy.

And this is the view that they had. Not bad, if you aren't freezing to death, starving, and fighting for your life.

Tanner was a little cold and hungry, but not so much that he didn't enjoy the scenery.

Not a bad start to his year of home-schooling education.

Here is a rebuilt artillery cannon complete with life-sized soldiers and projectiles.

This is a small cave they hollowed out to store ammunition, conveniently close but separated from the men by several meters of thick rock.

Tanner and Poppop standing in the trenches with the big tower in the background.

Tanner was always up for a picture. Here you can see the tower that fell on the right side of the picture.

Inside another embattlement with Tanner imitating the fake solider.

After holding up the Leaning Tower less than 48 hours before, Tanner decided to help hold up the Leaning Tower of the Dolomites.

When that wasn't enough he decided to put his back into it.

Poppop taking a rest amongst the Dolomite peaks.

Tanner kept doing his part to hold them up.

But even he needed a break after a while.

Some more incredible peaks and valleys.

Poppop trekking amidst the Dolomites.

We ate a great lunch at the Rifugio then caught the ski lift back down to the car. Again, I have to remind myself that this is a day trip from my home.

This is the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo below, a high-end ski town and host of the 1956 Winter Olympics.

Looking down the valley towards the east and home, where we were headed next. But not before stopping for gelato in Cordignano, of course.

The next morning, Saturday, we left for Lake Bled, Slovenia, crossing the old Iron Curtain and increasing Poppop and Tanner's country tallies.

The requested shot of Tanner with his grandparents with the castle and church of Lake Bled in the background.

And my giblets with their grandparents.

The swimming area was still open but justifiably not-crowded as the water was cold and the air not much better. Still, we had a great time. You can see the island with a church on it in the background, and the ladies and big kids rented a row boat to go out to it while Poppop, Jubie, and I played and swam.

Lake Bled at dusk. The lifeguard at this place was hilarious. A British girl was having trouble swimming back from one of the platforms and he had to dive in to save her. As her brought her in he was yelling at her, "Why you swim so far out when you can't swim!" He pretty much threw her down on the deck once they got out. He was cranky the whole time, but suddenly became very chipper when he was telling us, "Five minutes until closed!"

We ate at the restaurant just above the swimming area and sat on two big couches. The food was great and the views even better.

We stayed in a hotel in Ljubljana that night and the next morning, Sunday, went to the local LDS branch for church. But not before finding a fantastic bakery with wonderful pastries. We then did a short walking tour of Ljubljana.

Cousin honeymoon continues in the shadow of the Ljubljana Castle.

And on the banks of the Ljubljanica River.

The famous Dragon Bridge.

Lunch was perfect. These two restaurants are called Romeo and Juliet and are right across the street from each other. Juliet has traditional Slovenian food while Romeo has Slovenia's take on Mexican food. So while Ashley, Georgie, Pam, Mimi, and Poppop had goulasch and such at Juliet, Tanner, Isaac, Juliet (ironic), and I had nachos, burritos, and quesadillas at Romeo. And of course I had to get one of Romeo's famous crepes.

Cousin honeymoon over Mexican food in Slovenia.

One last parting shot of Tanner and Georgie on the river. We went to a gelato shop that had very interesting flavors and then to a pastry shop where Ashley bought a bunch of macaroons and everyone had more gelato. Just because you aren't in Italy doesn't release you from your gelato obligation.

We made one last detour on the way home, getting off the freeway to see the famous Predjama Castle, which looks like something out of Dracula.

Lost my temper a little bit at Isaac for giving me grief about taking this picture. I mean, I understand that it had been a long two weeks full of driving, walking, and pictures. That's probably why I was a little short-fused at this point. But all in all, I am glad to have been able to show my family these fantastic sites, go back to some favorites, and even have some new experiences.

On Monday and Tuesday I went to work while Juliet and Isaac went to half-days of school. Everyone took it easy, except Poppop, who mowed most of our enormous lawn with a weed whacker since our riding mower has been broken for about 12 months at this point. So frustrating. Thanks, Dad.

I apologize for the temper issues and driving mishaps. I hope it was worth the time, money, effort, and energy that you all spent to come out. It made us homesick for the U.S., but also renewed our appreciation for Italy and Europe.

Sepp Holzer's Krameterhof

In February 2014 I learned about Permaculture, a movement started in Australia in the 1970s that means "permanent agriculture". It has a prime directive, which is that "the only ethical decision is to  take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children". It has three ethics, which are 1. Care for the earth, 2. Care for people, and 3. Return of surplus to the earth and people.

In general, it is against monocultures and the use of fossil fuels. It is for biodiversity and sustainable systems in energy, food, water, shelter, etc. I am completely hooked and Ashley loves it as well. One of the most famous permaculture practitioners in the world is the Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer. He took his parents' unproductive farm in the alps and turned it into a productive, polycultural, pond-filled paradise. Check out "The Rebel Farmer" on YouTube if you are interested.

His son Josef now runs the place, Sepp having retired to a different property, and they hold seminars and tours during the summer. It is only about three hours away from us and seeing it was the opportunity of a lifetime. So with Nann in town to babysit the kids for four days, Ashley and I took off for the Krameterhof in late July.

This is the entrance to the facility.

This is Josef wearing his lederhosen. He is explaining the ventilation system of the earth cellars that he built to keep products from freezing in the winter.

This is the view across the valley that gives you an idea of what was here before Sepp started farming: spruce forest that was intermittently logged.

This is a solar herb dryer that folds up to be taken under the eaves when it rains.

This is Josef's pig pen. He has large pigs, medium pigs, mini pigs, and wild boars (!). The boars interbreed and help maintain the instinct for finding their own food. The mini pigs are small enough to be kept with chickens, which helps ward off predators but also ensures that the pigs don't eat the chickens. We know all about that.

This earth cellar (notice the greenery on the earthen roof) is right next to the pig pen and is used for curing the pork legs.

This is a pond high up on the property that Josef uses as a nursery for pond plants that he sells to others wanting to imitate his system.

The pond.

Josef is holding up a European crayfish that he breeds and sells, both for breeding and eating. The American crayfish almost wiped out the European breed when it was introduced, but Josef is trying to bring the natives back.

I think he is saying "Hook'em Horns"? Or facciando le corna?

This is the view looking from Josef's property down to the town where we stayed below.

This is the castle above the town that we hiked up to. It has been completely renovated and now functions as a family resort for summer vacations and reunions. It was fantastic.

The inner courtyard.

The view of the town from the castle. We ate at the same restaurant three nights in a row because they had this amazing pumpkin seed-encrusted schnitzel, not to mention a salad bar with pumpkin seed oil dressing.

This is our design project that we completed. Behind me are Sara, John, Alex, Miriam, and Mary.
Sara and Alex are married and live in Strasbourg on the French-German border. Sara's mother is German and her father is French, but they speak to each other in French. Sara works as an early childhood educator in Germany while Alex is a sales team leader in France. They dream of having a homestead where they can grow their own food. John is from the US and wants to start a farm in the Hollywood Hills. No joke! His girlfriend's mother owns property up there and is letting him have a go at it.

Miriam is from Slovakia but works for the EU in Brussels, Belgium. Mary is from Thailand but married a Czech guy and they split their time between the Czech republic and Thailand. They all want to have property where they can grow a significant portion of their own food.

Our project was to take a contour map of a piece of property, use mud and brick to build a 3-dimensional scale model of the property, and then make a plan using permaculture principles for road access, structures, water management, garden placement, tree placement, crops, animals, ponds, etc. It was intimidating at first but ended up being very fun and enlightening.

Here we are building a Hugelkultur bed, which is something that Sepp invented. You dig down through the top soil and subsoil until you hit rocks. Then you fill the pit with organic material that hasn't broken down yet: tree branches, leaves, grass, anything. You build a nice high mound, about 1 meter tall, and then cover it back up with the top soil. You can plant vegetables directly into the soil, and as the organic matter breaks down it releases nutrients to fertilize the vegetables and heat to keep them from freezing. After a year or so the mound has shrunk and is almost flat to the ground again. You then have an area of very rich soil where you can plant trees, graze animals, or continue growing vegetables. The solution to slash and burn agriculture.

Some people worked harder than others. The guy in the center background with the black jacket is Jens, our translator, who is an architect, has his own farm near Graz, has his own architecture firm, and works as a consultant with Josef. This guy in the foreground, despite being a hard worker, was a blowhard from Denmark who seemed to contradict Josef and Jens at every turn. I tried to teach Alex some American slang by describing this guy as a "d-bag", but Alex already knew that phrase from watching Family Guy.

This is "worm juice", the bottom layer of a multi-story vermi-composting box. The top layers have earthworms and organic material with a fine grate underneath. The liquid that drops down is high-quality fertilizer and can be mixed 1:10 with water for irrigation.

This is another consultant, blanking on his name, who taught us about Hugelkultur, vermi-composting, and Bokashi composting. Everyone is taking a turn smelling the worm juice.

This is a Bokashi bucket, similar to vermi-composting except that you use bacterial cultures instead of worms. The leftover solid material is very nutrient-rich and you can use it 1:2 with potting soil to make your potted plants go crazy. The liquid from the bottom is SUPER potent and can be mixed 1:100 with water or used directly as an organic Drano.

Here we are getting ready to build a pond, which is much more complicated than simply digging a hole in the ground. First you remove the top organic layer of grass and weeds and put that in one pile. Then you remove the topsoil and put that in another pile.

Then, you start digging from the front of the pond, piling up sub soil in thin layers along the back of the pond. After a few inches you stop and stomp on that layer over and over again until it is nice and firm. Then you repeat. Many times. This way you build a solid dam as you dig out the pond. The inlet from the water source above has rocks zigzagging on opposite sides all the way down to prevent erosion.

There are also rocks that act as "steps" from the inlet down into the pond. This slows the fall of the water and prevents erosion. Once you release the water down into the pond you add to topsoil back both into the pond and on top of the dam. You have to stir the topsoil around in the pond so that the fine clay particles work their way into the bottom of the pond and seal it.

The ponds are used to grow water plants, fish, crayfish, irrigate, store water up high, slow water down to saturate it into the ground, and make the place more beautiful and diverse. Most of his ponds are much bigger than this, but the principles are the same even on a different scale.

This weekend was jam-packed full of information, practical experience, new friendships, and schnitzel. Many thanks to Nann for making it possible and to Ashley for sharing my dream. This is our future life together.