Chips and shavings

Chop! Chop! The chips are flying around. He gives his axe another sway. The early morning air fills with the aromatic scent of pinewood and resin. After a few more solid blows, a nice point has arisen at the end of the post. The next pole is peeled with a large knife. Long curls from the bark fall to the floor. The cat is enjoying the morning sun when she suddenly pricks up her ears. With a big jump, she attacks one of the curls that was blown away by a breeze. She frolics with it for a moment. The amusing behaviour makes me laugh.

It's June. Just a few more weeks until the longest day of the year and already the light is never fading from the sky. The forests are dense with greenery and the grasslands are colorful with flowers. Swallows dart back and forth across the yard to fill their bellies. Yes, it's almost hay time again.

A lot of preparations are still going on. The poles to make the hässjor (a kind of drying rack for hay) are not so new anymore and some have seen better days. That's okay, when you consider that most were made by our neighbor when he was a little boy, and that he is now in his late 70s. Then you can't complain after 60 years of use. You can imagine that we are very happy that a load of new poles were delivered a few days ago. These come so fresh from the forest so there is still a job to do. All posts should be peeled to prevent rotting and a point chopped.

Making hässjor is a simple and convenient method of making hay. If you do it right, the hay is of the best quality. Until the 1970s it was common in Sweden to make hay on hässjor but now it has been  forgotten when of tractors and the pack/bale press came in use.

Making hassjor may be a tough and time consuming job but it is a very reliable way to get the grass dry, even if it rains for days on end and it used to be the only way to get good hay for your animals.

Chop! Chop! The next pole is pointed. Some poles are so long that both a poles and a fence post can be made and even the chips are not thrown away but dried. That is ideal for lighting the stove. Nothing is lost and everything is put to good use. Only about 40 poles to go, but we still have 3 weeks....

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.

From flax to linnen, part 1

 After a long snowy winter, spring came cold and wet. Drizzly days followed one after the other. But one day it was suddenly there, summer heat! Deep blue skies and the sun's rays caressed the earth. The greenery exploded overnight. Hawthorn, lilac, and apple trees sprouted and bloomed, and our whole garden was covered in the delicious sweet floral scents.

On one of these beautiful spring days, somewhere at the end of April, a bag of flaxseeds arrived in our mailbox. I had signed up for a textile museums project here in Sweden. These send everyone who participates enough seeds for 1 squaremeter, with a newsletter about the history of flax and linen, how to sow, harvest and process. Until the late 1800s, linen was an important crop, especially for making undergarments. Later this was completely taken over by cotton, which could be produced more easily and cheaper. Now almost no flax is grown for linen anymore and so an important handicraft is lost and with this project they hope that the knowledge will be preserved.

Now that the white wagtail, which symbolizes the sowing time, has arrived again, it is time to sow my square meter. The birds were chirping in the hazel bushes that began to sprout along our homestead and the first bumblebees buzzed by. I had taken a good look at the garden to find a nice spot for my flax, preferably sunny and not fertilized. Finally I sowed them near the well. Soon the green stalks were sticking up from the black ground and just as the hay harvest was in full swing, the flax was blooming so beautifully! The frail blue flowers swayed in a warm summer breeze. I wasn't the only one who enjoyed it, bumblebees, and all sorts of other insects loved it too.

Summer was slowly coming to an end and the last flowers of the flax had finished blooming and the seed pods started to rattle and it was time to harvest the flax. The sheaves were then allowed to dry upside down in the shed. Then it was time to the rippling, that is, to remove the seed pods from the flax. Unfortunately I didn't have a very nice ripple comb, but it went well with an old mane comb from the ponies grooming box. Now I can sow 5-6 square meters next year!

I put the flax stalks on the lawn after the rippling. Neatly spread out so that all stems are in front of them and all root ends are in the same direction. They have to stay in the wind and weather for ten days and then you turn them over to "rot" them for a few more days. After this, the flax is ready to be processed into real linen. More on that later

Grow your own hat, sowing rye

A light autumn breeze has picked up this morning, the trees sway gently back and forth. The warm rays of the sun caress my face and the first yellow autumn leaves flutter around me. Clouds glide past against the clear blue sky. It's already the end of September! The hectic days of summer have flown by.

Most of the harvest has already come in from the garden, and the last flowers are in full bloom, until the first frost takes the life out of them. I made the cultivation bed ready to sow my rye today. With the hoe I make shallow furrows. The mixed scents of the freshly turned earth, the sweet scent of the fallen apples give a feeling of satisfaction. 

When I sow the seeds a little later, the silence is broken by the geese's loud cackling. Such a large V-formation of geese is always fascinating to see (and hear). I think they are so wise that they know exactly when the cold will come and then fly south. I wish them a good trip and look after them until they become smaller and smaller dots on the horizon. This makes me realize that winter is really just around the corner, despite the still mild temperatures. With the rake I work the seeds underneath and now I have to wait.

But in my mind I can already see the rye, waving in a calm summer breeze, and then after the harvest I see myself sitting on the porch. To carefully braid and sew the straws together into a new hat for me or my husband .... But that is the future. Let me now just make sure that the potatoes and other root vegetables come into storage.

cleaning the carpet in the snow

Outside, the world has been white for almost 4 weeks and it is cracking cold this morning. The thermometer read -18 celsius early this morning and the stove has to work hard to get and keep the little house warm. The mornings are the worst, when you have to get out of your warm bed into the cold. Break the ice in the water vessel in the kitchen to get water for the tea.

Everything is so beautiful it almost hurts, hoarfrost lies like a thick blanket over all the branches and glistens in the winter sun. Yesterday it was just as beautiful when we were working with the pony in the woods.

A little later I drag the carpet from the living room into the snow. Now that it's so cold, you can wash them just fine. It is not difficult and environmentally friendly too. It's not every year that I get the chance to do this, because apart from the frost and preferably cold, you need soft powder snow. Earlier in the year we already had snow, but it was too wet and lumpy, so it won't work. Most I know let the mat hang outside for a while before they put it in the snow so that it cools down well and the snow doesn't melt but that is not necessary for me... It was still cold enough after last night ....

Both sides of the carpet get their turn with snow and the brush. I throw shovels full of snow on the carpet and brush it off again, drag the carpet to a clean spot and repeat a few more times until I get too cold. I drag the carpet to the porch where I hang it over the balustrade and knock out the last of the snow. The mat is now completely fluffy again and shines with radiant deep colors and smells so clean and fresh.

After I have cleaned the rest of the living room, I roll up the carpet and take it inside. Now the living room is cozy and homely again. The sun shines nicely through the windows.

 

As the days lengthen, I long for the promises and expectations that spring will bring. Birds flutter to and fro, singing a shy tone on this cold winter day. As if they know that winter will now slowly fade away. Cold days and nights will certainly come, but if you take a deep breath you can already smell the scent of spring.

Winter wonderland

The little house was now covered in snow. A small plume of smoke rose from the chimney. The branches of the big spruce trees groaned under the weight of their white burden. Yes, now winter had really set in here in the north.

Homestead kitchen

New Years Eve had slipped by almost unnoticed and so the 12 days of Christmas with all its accompanying festivities were behind us.

Since the summer we have been renovating our homestead kitchen, part of which you have already read in this blog, the renovation part 1 . We have recently covered the rough beams with paneling. In addition to the tongue and groove, these planks have an extra ridge. This type of wallcovering was widely used in Swedish kitchens from the late 1800s and certainly into the 1930s.

I thought it was funny that I had already determined the colors for the new kitchen and that while sanding the door we found out that it had also been in this color before. Then it had to be right ;) After the wall was finished, we could start on the kitchen cabinets. And now we have a real Pettson kitchen :)

Now this half of the kitchen is almost ready and we can continue this year with the other half, where a door has to be moved, replace a door, then the floor could use a lick of paint and the finish between the wall and the ceiling ... But it's slowly starting to take shape.

winter wonderland

The sky is gray and heavy. Here and there a flake flutters down. With every step my shoes sink deeply. Except for the crunch of the snow under our shoes, it is dead quiet. The pony effortlessly pulls the fully loaded sled to the barn, where there is already a mountain of logs. Gradually, the flakes begin to thicken and fall closer together. I hold up my hand and catch a few, the little crystals glistening in my hand. Welcome to winter wonderland.

God Jul

 "Now it's Christmas. Can you feel it too? The smell of baking day hangs around all the houses and farms, and the Christmas dough ferments over the dishes and the Christmas loaves lie like shiny eels"

Stot Anders Andersson (1865-1889)

I lug baskets full of branches in for the annual Christmas baking day. The wet footprints form a trail from the outside door to the wood box. Another basket.... Slide, slide, down the muddy path past the barn.

Over the past few days, Sander has been working hard on the new kitchen so that it can be used on this day. It's not quite finished yet, but now at least the top is ready for use since last night. It's going to be so beautiful! Until recently it was a pile of planks in the shed and now a beautiful kitchen unit is slowly emerging. It has had some headaches because the house is not completely square and straight, or rather a kind of skewed ..... Here you have no use for tools such as a carpenter square or a level tool, no, Sander is making it by sight. After all, the eye must also see it in the end :) With a handsaw, a screwdriver, a hoof rasp and toeing knife (farrier for sure ;)) and a hammer he makes the most beautiful things!

In the living room there is already a dough for white bread and a Christmas stollen rising in the heat and a batter for waffles. A "rån" waffle is a sweet, thin, hard waffle that is traditionally baked and eaten around the turn of the year, and I believe it originated in Norway. We'll see what happens because the last time I baked these wafers it was kind of a failure... They baked kind of into the waffle iron and could only get them crumbled off, luckily the crumbs were very tasty.. ..

The days are so short now and the light fades before you know it, with the sunrise around 8:30 am and the sunset 7 hours later at 4:30 am On a dark day it sometimes seems dim all day although in the Netherlands this was somtimes also the case.

The scent of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves mingle with that of the freshly grated lemon and orange. I slide one baking tin after the other into the oven to finish baking. I squeeze a little juice from a lemon over the bowl with almond mass and add one of the freshly laid eggs. My mouth is watering at the idea of ​​the freshly baked Christmas stollen with almond paste, mmm.

While the loaves are baking in the oven, it's time to bake the waffles. It is definitely better than last time... They are now a kind of chunks instead of crumbs... But this will require some practice in the coming time to make a few presentable wafers.

It is well after sunset before I have finished all baking and we can sit down to try the first cookies with a cup of tea.

And so we arrive on Christmas Eve. The morning was immediately bright and clear. The woolly ponies happily frolic along to graze on the rear pasture for a few hours. After that, the house and barn are cleaned up for the upcoming festivities. Wintergreen wreaths decorated with red bows are hung on the doors and at the entrance. In the afternoon we surprise a few friends with a visit and a basket full of cookies and sandwiches. Where we get surprised with coffee, tea and cake on the veranda. A cozy get-together, full of catching up and laughter. It's getting cold by the time we head home. The red sky in the west forecasts a cold night into Christmas Day.

The pleasant warmth in the house forms a stark contrast when you come from outside. Together we decorate our Christmas tree. Rocking horses made of fabric and hearts, woven straw pendants and angels decorate the tree, but I like my wooden Christmas bells best, they get their place of honor in the tree. Then I have to go to the shed, with my eyes closed, Sander guides me to the spot. In between all the chores he made me a beautiful writing table, which is strong enough to carry my knitting machine. Together we carry it home and make a nice place for it. Then it's my turn to give my present. Looks stylish doesn't it, this new jacket :)

And thus also this joyful day comes to an end.