countryside of life

I have enjoyed my last few days on the farm. And this farm was also my last stop before I went back to reallity! I had a really good time there, I've met a lot of amazing people from around the world and I've also found some really good friends! I will miss them all!

With me also two other girls have left on the same day, so we decided to make a small campfire in the forrest. For this celebration we made some American Chocklade Chip Cookies. And we also had some marshmallows and 'chep tequila'!
A night full of fun, love, stars and warmth. sharing - laughing - dancing

-- a perfect last moment

grilled marshmallows on top of a super delicius cookie!
 

the Mexicans theaching us the cumbia dance

last harvesting days

My last days on Ramsjö Gård are gone now! Here are some pictures of my last baskets days!

the biggest onion I've ever seen!

 

 

Jody and Kelsey - taking a rest after the work is done

Vikings

Yesterday, while I was harvesting potatoes I found this super cool viking weapon!

 I love my job!

 How cool is that?

baskets days

Ramsjö Gård is none of these typical farms that sell their products through a shop or a dealer. They sell their products directly to the end consumer and so they achieve immediate production chain and freshest quality. This is done by the so called CSA-Baskets.

CSA means 'Community Supported Aggriculture'. This is a partnership between farmers and people who eat their food. The customers purchase a share of the harvest at the beginning of the season, and the farm delivers vegetable baskets to a local drop-off every week. CSA also provides that the customer get fresh, local and certified organic vegetables, by creting a direct connection to the farmer. CSA farmers can be found around the world!

Each basket contains a variety of 8 to 10 different vegetables, all grown on the farm. The vegetables that are includet to the baskets vary in the course of the season, depending on what grows straight.
At Ramsjö Gård these baskets get freshly prepared and delivered every Thursday and every Friday.
What does this mean to us wwoofer, a lot of work, because almost everything has to be freshly harvested on the same day. Only the potatoes are harvested and washed the day before, so they only need to be weighed and packed at the baskets days. For the rest of the harvest teams are formed in the morning. Two helpers roap together a sort of vegetable, for simple jobs one person is enough. After everything has been harvested, the vegetables will be cleaned and if necessary with a string put together into bundles.

 small paperbags with tomatoes and portlack, other vegetables in the back

When everything is ready prepared and complete, the packing of the baskets can be started! There are baskets in two sizes, whole and half. The baskets are also divided into several groups and each group has a different color, which considerably facilitates the classification of the baskets and therefore also the delivery.

 what the baskets look like

At the end are the baskets quite full, which makes stacking a bit difficult. But once this hurdle is overcome and everything is in the correct order, the boxes can be loaded onto the pick up and delivered after lunch break.
As the owners of the farm are not the youngest anymore and are not allowed to lift heavy things, one of the volunteers has to join them during the drive.
Currently it's always me, because with the extra work I want to earn a ticket to Karins astrological course, which I'm very intrested in.

Each group has its own baskets-delivery-spot, these are usually empty garages, under some stairs, or in the summer unused saunas, which are provided by some customers. To these spots we deliver all boxes of the respective group, from where they are picked up by the related customers. For each route 4 to 5 of such spots are driven. And then also other spots of past deliveries to collect the empty baskets, so we can refill them in the following week again.
So the delivery takes about 2 to 4 hours in total.

new farm, new luck

For two weeks now, I'm on a new wwoofing-farm. Further south of Edhe Gård in the near of Uppsala. Here the vegetable farm Ramsjö Gård is run by an elderly couple. This farm also tries to be as self-sufficient as possible!

Here we have our own vegetables, our own grain and a private water source. And yes, we all have to feed ourselves vegetarian, like the owners do. What initially fell pretty hard to me, because there was meat on the old farm at every meal. But now I am used to the food and the life here, and since the harvest season reached its peak, we have plenty of vegetables to eat.

 the three greenhouses

 tomatoes

 eggplants

 beautiful eggplant flower

 chili peppers

capsicums

At first we were 13 helpers, every week new ones were added and others left us again. Meanwhile, we are 'only' six.
In comparison to other farms, this one is pretty trashy! Cleaniness and hygiene emphasis isn't placed great, for the benefit of our unwelcome roommates, mice! But I quickly got used to the circumstances and I feel really comfortable now, due in large part to the other wwoofers, which are really nice people. Here are many different nationalities, so you can learn a lot about foreign culturs.
Usually the work lasts no longer than to four o'clock, so that we have a lot of freetime in the afternoon and can spend the time together doing various activities.

kubb - a fun game for everyone

After a long working day there is nothing better than a game of kubb.
This is a traditional swedish game, which has been already played in the middle age. Espacially in Sweden and Norway enjoys the game great popularity, but also in other countries awareness is increasing.
Kubb is a skill game including some strategic elements. The game symbolizises a battle in which two warring groups fight for their king. This could be the reason why in other countries the game is often called 'viking chess'!

I guess it is so popular because it can be played on every ground and on every season. Meadow, sand, snow or even on ice and every time you are faced with new challenges by the environment and you needs to come out with new tactics!
It is a really fun game and can be played in any age. The whole family can play, or just view the spectacle.

It is an entertaining and sociable evening over and over again!

Therefore I am on the opinion that every household should own one of these games. The pieces for the game can also be done quiet easily by yourself.

 game pieces:

• ten kubbs: rectangular wooden blocks; 15 cm tall and 7 cm square on the end
• one king: bit larger than the kubbs; 30 cm tall and 9 cm square on the end, mostly adorned with a crown design on the top
• six batons: 30 cm long and 4,4 cm in diameter, circle at the end
• six field marking pins: four to designate the corners of the pitch and two to mark the center line

 

 the playing field:

The standard size of the field is 8 by 5 meters. The field size can also be selected freely, depending on the skills of the players. First you mark the corners of the field and also the middle line. The king stays in the middle of the pitch and five kubbs on the baselines of each two teams.

rules:

the rules are quiet complex and probably confusion for beginners. But after a while you get the hang of it and you can fully enjoy. The exact rules of the game and the different variants thereof can be found on the internet, or even with a purchased kubb-game!

have fun while playing!

Pictures: Edhe Gård

getting the cows from the big fields into the barn for milking time

 what it looks like in the barn

 happy pigs!

 lea: one of our lovely baby calfs

wilfried: very dangerous boy!

working at the lakehouse

a typical day on Edhe Gård

The daily routine is not controlled really strictly, sometimes bit earlier or even later. Usually we wake up between six and half past six. After getting up we eat a small snack and get ready for the barn. In the morning the barn takes longer time than in the evening because in the morning we have time to do all things like milking, cleaning, filling up the feeding table and feeding Lea our youngest baby calf, she is the last one who still gets milk. We also have to grind barley, feeding our two pigs and empty the poop ditch. Yes even the not so beautiful works are part of the wwoofers life. But if you have got used to it it's not that bad anymore!
The fact that fjäll cows (swedish: fjällko) are kept on the farm, makes working with animals for beginners, like me quiet pleasant. Fjällko are an old swedish mountain cow breed. These cows are little smaller than other breeds, by nature not horned and they have a really friendly temper! They are so easy to handle, therefore you don't need to have fear of these animals! And we keep the barn always really clean, thus it does not smell so strong and the air is not stuffy.
Only the bull makes sometimes troubles, he is badly violent and angry! So we have to be carefully when we get the cows. But he is going to be slaughtered as soon as every cow is pregnant! And everybody on the farm is already looking forward to a great steak! ;)

After the barn, one or two wwoofers help to prepare the breakfast. The others do some small work outside like weeding, cleaning or fixing something. Then we all have breakfast together. The family is very religious, so before the two main meals of the day we sing a psalm, someone speaks a grace and we read from the Bible or from the Mormons book. I by myself am not Christian, but I kind of like this ceremony before eating. It gives you a wonderful feeling that I could not describe in words. After the prayer, we may throw ourselves on the rich breakfast table.
Then we work until about 17 o'clock. In this time there is always something else to do. Painting, weeding, picking berries housework or process food. It never get's boring or monotonous. We also have a short break around 13 o'clock, the so called 'Fika', the swedish "coffee break" where we drink juice and eat a cinnamon bun.
At the evening we have dinner, our second big meal. Before, or after the dinner we have to go to the barn again. The evening barn is done really fast, because we only have to do what is really necessary, milking, feeding and cleaning.

And then finally the work is done! :)

ps: pictures will hopefully follow soon

Edhe Gård

Today I want to write something about Edhe Gård, where I currently live and work as Wwoofer!
Edhe Gård is an historical swedish dairy farm in the small village called Eden, about 10 kilometers from Junsele. The farm is run by Loraine ( Nainy) and Hans, who try to live as much self sufficient as possible. And they accomplish this task quite well. From the milk of their 15 dairy cows they produce primarily butter, cheese and Långfil 1, but also other dairy products that are needed.
In addition to the dairy cows, there is also a bull, about 16 calves, a few mast cows and two pigs for meat produktion and also some sheep.
The farm has also a large potato field and a really huge vegetable garden, which includes all the major vegetables. Here and there also grow some berry bushes.
All products are processed and stored right on the farm. Only the animals gets slaughtered elsewhere and we get the finished and portioned meat packages back and freeze them in one of our big freezer. So the family and the Wwoofers are supplied all year round with plenty meat. There are also seperate storage systems for all the other foods, that are partially housed in different buildings.

Currently we are four Wwoofers, we all share a big bedroom in the main house, where also the family lives. The life here on the farm is generally very familiar. It is all done together, helping each other.
I really have closed the family and the others into my heart and I enjoy the time I have left on this farm, before I go to the next yard!

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 1    Långfil is a Nordic dairy product made from soured milk. It is similar to yoghurt, but is produced using different bacteria and cultured at lower temperature than yoghurt, which gives it a different taste and texture. (from Wikipedia)

Midnight

What it looks like at midnight in Junsele - Västernorrland/Sweden. It never get's dark! -NEVER-

Restart

Here I am now in the north of Sweden and I finally managed to create a new blog. Still in it's early stages a lot of work is waiting for me, which is not quiet as easy without a laptop. Let's see how far I get, the design will hopefully follow soon!

After I didn't liked the layout of my old blog provider and I never get really used to it, I will now try it with this one. Some friends use this blog page, so I wanted to try this now. I'm excitet to see what awaits me!