It is the season for root vegetables in Malta. Winters here are mild. Days are low 60s and nights only go down to the mid 50s. Freezes are not seen. Days are most often partly sunny with rain one or two times throughout the day. It is light jacket weather. A little warm for growing root vegetables. In spite of this Malteze root vegetables are of significant size. Cabbage, turnips, cauliflower and radishes grow the size of baseballs and basketballs.
Farmers’ Markets also display large juicy strawberries and fresh ripe tomatoes. These are grown in greenhouses all over the island. Unlike many islanders who must import their produce, the Malteze are growers meeting their own needs. Fruit and vegetable prices reflect this self-sufficiency.
The farmers in the Ta’ Qali Market we visited, kibitz like farmers in markets everywhere. In this market a heavy dice game was in progress with a little tippling on the side.
MedFlies 
Jill,
I’m curious to know if Malta is able to produce all its food needs. It would seem to me that they would have to import at least some portion of their needs. All cars, buses, trucks must surely be imported, as well as petrol, propane, diesel fuel, etc. The people look interesting. What are their ethnic backgrounds? And, lastly and significantly, how have they managed to avoid the flood of refugees and immigrants fleeing Africa/Middle East?
What’s the crime rate like. Enough questions for now. More snow here, but gone by noon. Walked by your house on the trial. An interesting view from there.
In general, Malta is not self sufficient. Most everything is imported. Food costs are higher than most of the places we have visited except for Australia and New Zealand. Small cars are the norm here. We see lots of Fiats but, surprisingly, not many Vespas. Driving is on the left.
Malteze lineage is a mixture of Arab and Italian. Though the position of the island in the Mediterranean has been an trading route for centuries. I asked our Casa Della Mozerella owner how to say hello in Malteze he suggested, “Goodday, Bonjour, and Buongiorno” so there are many nationalities on Malta. It was interesting to me that Malteze do not kiss in greeting. British influence?
You are right about there being few refugees in Malta. Sicily is the goal of most fleeing by boat. I don’t know why, but will try to find out for you. My supposition is that Sicily is a geographical doorway to Europe with many more routes out. Malta is just this small island.
Malta is spic and span clean with little crime. As a matter of fact I haven’t heard or seen anything that mentions any sort of crime.
Did you see our totem pole from the trail. You might see Fantan with Annuu, our sitter, when you are out walking.
Malta! Sounds really interesting, suppose it is a Mediterranean climate! What is the language…probably not Spanish, but guess I could Google it! (Just did! Maltese 95%, English 88%, with lots of Italian thrown in – I love Italian, but concentrate on Spanish because it’s more practical here in USA!
Here in the village of Naxxar, where we are living,the language is mostly Malteze. There is much more English spoken in Valletta, the capital. Valletta is measured to be the warmest capital in Europe in the winter.