simply enjoying

  I was pleasantly surprised when I got up this morning, this isn't what they predicted?! At dawn, some stars still twinkle in the northern sky. A golden glow appears just above the trees. What a relief, after all those gray bleak days. After I get dressed and got outside, the sun just peeks out over the edge of the trees. The long white plumes of smoke dissolve into the blue sky. This looks like it's going to be a beautiful day! wonderful!

After quickly working my way through my daily chores, I'm soon with the spade in the vegetable garden. I've been looking forward to this. Finally back to work in the garden. Dig after dig I turn the soil. The ground is still a bit frozen here and there, but after a few stabs I can get it loose. Pfff, it's warm too, in the sun! My coat and scarf can be taken off. While I am busy, the cats also peek around the corner, they are also happy that it is not so cold longer.

It started snowing from December 1st and until a week ago it was almost constantly white. In the beginning we had snow dunes up to 50 cm! and also quite cold. In itself it is quite nice, but cycling to the city takes a bit longer. By the way, did you know that you have studded tires for under the bicycle? That's so handy! Even with sleet you can just cycle.

In general, I can conclude that it is usually about 10 degrees warmer in the house (the living room) in the morning than outside. Usually we have about 6/7 degrees, but with heavy night frost it is then 0 or 1 degree. Funny enough it doesn't really feel that cold after all... And luckily we heated the room again in no time. Let's not talk about the kitchen and the bedroom.... Frost occurs regularly.... I have no problem sleeping until minus 10 degrees, colder than that, a bit annoying... But that came luckily only in the first year, now we have a second heater for when it's so cold, but that has not been necessary until now....

After a while of hard work, a garden bed has been completely turned over, still 19 to go...

By the time we get the ponies in before dark, the grass is already crunching under my shoes. I call the ponies and what's lurking behind Bella (the old welsh pony) and Brommy (the work shetland pony)? That's Pluis! A 2.5 year old shetlander who currently looks like or he still has to grow in his fur, hihi. It's more hair than pony.

He is our new worker on the homestead. Together with Brommy, he can help us with the farmwork, wood transport and the hay harvest. But first he can grow and play a little more.

Stormy weather

 My skirt puffs up completely in the wind and the rain hits my face. The storm, named Laura, rages across the landscape. One of the trees along our path has snapped. In his fall he took another tree and the fence with him. The barn door is almost ripped out of my hands but I hold it and boom!, I close it behind me and put the hook on it. Pfff, out of the wind. The ponies doze in their stables and the cats have not gone out today either.

With the basket in my hands I climb up the steep ladder to the hayloft. I put the sweet scented hay in the basket to feed the ponies. It's been worth it, to make all the hay. We are already March and we still have almost half of the hay left. Long coarse stalks of grass, interspersed with all kinds of herbs and even some favorite of the ponies, thistles. Auts, my hands don't like those thistles! Carefully I remove the thorn from my finger, that something so small can feel so annoying! With the basket filled to the brim, I go down the ladder again. As soon as the ponies see me coming, they already stand on their feeding spot. . I lower myself onto a beam and listen to the ponies begin to nibble on their hay. Soon there are also 2 cats on our lap and we all enjoy the peace in the barn. With the next gust of wind, the windows ring in their frames and at the same time the light goes out. Yet another power outage this winter! I better get back inside soon before the weather gets even worse! Now! Before the next windpush! I quickly open the door and slip out. Sander has also waited until this moment and also rushes over with a basket of firewood. Fighting the wind, we make our way to the house.

The rest of the day we will stay inside. At the sewing machine, I lower myself into a chair and continue with the project I was working on. The sewing machine ticks away. Row after row, I sew the cords between the fabric. Life here takes its mundane way, no power outage can affect us. It's almost time to prepare dinner. From the stock I get some potatoes, carrots and onions. The last jar of pickles goes along and a jar of stewed pears. That will be great feast tonight!

A glimpse of the hay harvest

This morning, with the scythes on our shoulders and the little old border collie by our side, we set off again to the meadow we are mowing. The mist was hanging in thick clouds on the fields. The sun could not prick trough it yet. When we reach the meadow we already have harvested, two deer are greezing in the field. The remaining haystacks are covered in the mist, it´s almost like a painting, so perfect and bright. Then the deer are scared upp with our presence and galop away into the woodlands. Mowing with the scythe is hard work but working together it´s pleasant. It´s not really difficult, so I think it´s always a nice time to meditate about one thing or the other. Mostly we work in silence, just side by side. The only noise you hear is the scytheblade cutting through the grass, the birds singing, the crickets chirping and the crowing of the rooster att home. It´s very peacefull out here. Every now and then we sharpen the blade and off we go again. Swish, swish, foot for foot the grass is cut. Around trees and stones, every inch turns into hay. It´s not only grass but also lots of weeds and herbs, tistles and even small trees. Even a wild mint grows here and there, it´s the most lovely smell when it is cut but also when you, in the dark wintermonths, are filling the hay trough, it smells like summer.

Everything is blooming and booming in the garden. The calendula is on it´s best, orange and yellow flowers everywhere. Peas, beetroots, potatoes, carrots and loads off other stuff it´s just ready to be eaten. Many jars are already filled and canned with various berries and now the time will soon come for making various pickles. 

First day in the garden and considering off grid living

Today the sun was shining, the birds were singing and my lovely hens were picking in the just turned soil, it felt like springtime had arrived.

After the long dark winter I had longed to be outside in the garden again and finally that time has come. With the spade I turn the rich black soil up. My hens are just in front of my spade to snatch the worms that come up, the hen that gets the worm runs away followed by a very hungry troop, sometimes it´s looks almost like a rugby match. I love just watching the hens, they are so intelligent and clever and it´s very interesting to see how the pecking order works. 
With February almost passed away I need to hurry to decide which crops I want to plants this year. It will not vary much from year to year, but the quantities change over the years and I try every year some new plants or verities.

 Our cats are also loving the warmer weather, hunting and clambring everywhere, even on our car :)

Despite of the dryness of last year we have still food left. It´s now a race against the clock to eat the last potatoes before they sprout, and there is still some fresh kale and brussels sprouts in the garden. In the pantry have we jams and canned tomatoes, berries and pears and some jars with pickles. When we run out off fresh food we can still eat from the dried beans and dried corn and maybe by then the first nettles have grown.  

 We have been cogitating for years about to go off grid in the future. All pros and cons must be weighted. Although we use only 125 kWh on a year, it´s something we are used to. Will it be functional to produce electricity for the computer and the phone with solar power? What will it cost? What will we spare by being off grid. This will be the main question's to seek out this year. It would be a big step in the right direction if we could produce our own electricity.

March, winter or spring?

It´s the 9^th of March and still lots of snow. Last year we did a lot of outside work in February and March but now we are still waiting on better weather to arrive. Last Tuesday we had some glimpse of spring. The sun was shining clearly, no wind and it was complete silent only the soft sound of chirping birds. We took our time to sit outside and enjoying a cup of tea. It was even warm enough without coat and scarf, I´m looking forward to more of these days. But for now it´s snowing again, so waiting for the next nice day to come…..

 laundry drying in the sun 

But in the meantime, there is lots of other work to do. We are still busy with the firewood making, but it´s in progress and hopefully done in two weeks… 

My lavender seeds seem to sprout, I hope the will grow! Of course, I´m still sewing on my new dress, I have finished the upper skirt, (the skirt consists of two parts, a shorter the upper skirt and the longer underskirt,) and I almost finished the day bodice, I only need to sew 7 buttonholes and two buttons. After that is only the underskirt, a ball bodice and the short cloak left to make :).  This will be a multifunctional dress but more over that later.

 working with our workpony to be, he ´s doing so well! 

Planting my first seeds and the hens are laying eggs!

A week ago, one of my new hens laid her first egg and after that, we got an egg every other day. So, after a long time without chickens and without eggs now we finally have them again. There is nothing above going outside and get some eggs and take a slice of the very best homemade bread with butter and scrambled egg, yummy!

Every year we try to have al the work with the firewood done before Easter. So, in December and January Sander cut some trees and now he will saw them in pieces and cleave the wood with the cleaving axe. For sawing he used a crosscut bowsaw. They have their saw teeth bent out on either side of the blade. Therefore, the teeth create a channel which is a little wider than the wide of the saw blade. Which makes it much easier to saw the wood. But after a while the teeth bent toward each other again and need to set, as it is called. To set a saw is to bend the tip of each cutter tooth away from the blade in a slight amount. Just as alternate teeth are sharpened opposite each other, they are set opposite each other to. You can buy special tools to it, but we do it on a more basic method, with two small adjustable wrenches.

I have got all the seeds I need for the coming seasons, most vegetables but I did buy some flower seeds to. One plant I like very much is Lavender, and I bought some seeds to it. It is not the easiest seed to plant. These seeds need a cold period to sprout. Most you should sow them in the autumn or put them in February, in a bit of earth, in your freezer for at least one week. But I couldn´t do, nor the one nor the second method, for we don´t have a freezer and I hadn´t my lavender seeds last autumn. But it is still very cold here and we do have a cold spot on the loft and it´s there I put them. I hope it works and I get at least one lavender plant after all my 1000seeds I sowed.

Longing for summer and a stable tour

Mmm, freshly baked cupcakes and a cup of tea, that´s what I need to write my post

When I would use my camara some days ago I found some movies of last summers hay harvest. It gave me a lot of happiness to see everyting so green. I long to the springtime and long to work in the garden again. But now is everything covered with snow and the ground still frozen. So I spend some time with planning my garden instead. I think it´s good to have something to look forward to. It gives a lot of pleasure. Sometimes is longing to even better then that you were looking forward to.
I hope this little silly movies will you make happy to.. please enjoy.

The last weeks my husband is working in the barn. We have 2 ponies on one side of the stable and our horse stands on the otherside in a large box. She can see the other two but not make contact them and now we have sold one pony we have one box empty on the ponyside. This will be her new box. Only the railing was to low. She is 150cm high instead of 95cm. I think she could just step over it. So that is what we needed to change and she needed also a larger door. This is done by now and the last step will be to cover all electricity cables.

 Vera´s new stable/box, on the left jou see a bit of the pony boxes

the pony stables just next to her. 

Our chickens are also waiting on warmer weather. When it is snowing they don´t like to be outside... I hope now the daylight is become longer again that I might have our first eggs soon!

 little Betsy is waiting to go inside again, she follows me everywhere😺.

how to build a Scandinavian haystack

  The day's are become shortening again. At 9 Pm we really need to lighten our lamps, and a view day's ago, when it was a really rainy day, we needed light far more early. The weather is a bit wet lately, a view days dry alternate with a couple of days really wet. It's not the best weather for hay making but we will make it do.

  A week ago, we decide to bring some hay into the barn. It was not a very bright day, but the sun was shining and only a view clouds where hanging on the horizon. So we prepared everything and went to get the horse, Vera. She likes to work and always she comes first at the gate, but not this day! We called but she would not come, Sander decide to go and get her, but when he almost could get her, she ran away. What is this, I thought! Is she playing with us? After 10min we get her and take her with us. I looked up to the sky and realized it was not so bright anymore, the view clouds hanging on the horizon, has grown fast and now almost covered the hole sky. Maybe the horse tried to tell us something, maybe we go to have rain.
"I remembered a day for more than ten years ago. Almost the same weather and I would go out and ride for a while. Vera had no sense to come and after I had saddled her she was really slowly and annoying. I decided then it was better to ride homewards and before I was home, it was a hail and thunderstorm. Then I knew she tried to tell me, it was not save to ride out, and I praised her when we were home again".
 I told to Sander were I was thinking about and give Vera the benefit of doubt, and brought her back on the field. You will believe it or not but just after 15 min it was raining! She knew it and lucky for us we listened!

With this rainy weather I'm happy that we have a methode of haymaking that has been proved since the middle ages. Always have and had farmers problems to get the hay from the fields. Before the tractors it was very labor intensive. The small farmer needed a methode to spread out the haymaking season. Not being so dependent on the weather. In almost every country they invented a type of haystack. The hay now needed a shorter time to dry on the fields and lay save till the day you would bring it into the barn.
We use the same type of haystack as they did in the time of 'Carl von Linné'. I made some pictures of it and describe how we're doing it.

 The grass mowed we the day for and the same day we're building the haystack. It was not nice weather so it is still very wet. Also is the grass very short what makes it not so easy to build. The best haystack you build with very long grass. On the picture above, Sander is digging the first hole for the first pole.

 We use always 10 poles to one stack. Around 1m metre apart the first two lean a bit outside, like \\, the six in the middle stand in zig saw and the last two lean out to the other side //. so it will look like \ \ | | | | | / /.

 Here I'm laying the first layer of hay/grass. We strung a wire about a 40-50cm from the ground. This is were the grass is hanging upon. Just fill it up with a 10 a 15 cm grass when it is wet, like it was this time. If the grass should have been more dry, I would lay maybe twice that much on it.

 First layer done. You can see that there is a opening on the front, as well on the back. It allows the wind to go trough, and will dry the hay.

 Making the next layer. A second wire is strung 10 to 15 cm above the grass layer. Fill it up like the first one. Make sure it is evenly spread and hangs in the right balance.

 Here I'm making the 4th layer, you can see how the wire twisted on the pole.

 Higher and higher!

And done! 5 layers of hay, will now dry 3 weeks on the field. Protected from rain and sunshine. The hay is drying without becoming brown. A nice green hay, rich of  nutrition. The animals will love it.