dirt...lots and lots of dirt...and cake!

pictured: plant box gets a layer of newspaper to sidetrack weeds / the biggest bags of soil i've ever seen / wheelbarrow madness / alex with rich compost - filled with worms

there's nothing like wheeling dirt back and forth on a dirt road to give ya sore muscles. it's one of those things that after you do, you think 'geesh my body is sore, but damn it feels good!' i think that's what people who go to the gym or workout say they feel. but i think gyms are pointless money sucking machines. think about it. you pay money every month to work your body. but the workout is simply for selfish satisfaction. because besides six-packs and biceps, your gym workout has done nothing for anything - there's nothing you've accomplished. unlike the wheelbarrowing - which works the whole body and serves as a means to transfer huge bags of dirt to desired location to grow desired plants - in this case different kinds of lettuce - that will feed your body so you can do more. now that makes sense. and it's free.

and then there's cake. that's something selfish i'll take anyday.

here at the appelfabriken, the kafe and butik are open friday through sunday. people come from near and far to enjoy nice cakes, pies, cookies, coffee, tea, and sandwiches in the greenhouse or around the garden. there's also a butik - or shop - which sells a plethora of yummy things - more jams and ketchups (mmm for lingon ketchup!) than you could ever imagine. and they are all made, by hand, at sweden's smallest factory - the appelfabriken (aka katharina and lars).

and this friday, the wwoofers were in charge of all three business (there's also a cat hotel). which, was pretty funny given no one really speaks swedish. so, of course, the first customer to arrive was a young couple and i was the only person there to greet them. so i thought 'let me put those rosetta stone lessons to use!' and said 'du talar engelska?' (translation: do you speak english?' too bad my grammar was wrong - although that happens to me in english too!), and luckily they did speak english. another encounter happened with an older man, who didn't speak english. i was just hanging out in the garden, painting the plant box with some flax paint (supposedly it's healthy for you) and he started rambling nonstop to me in swedish. i just smiled until he finished and to his disappointment told him i didn't speak swedish. the only thing he had to say in english was ' you don't speak swedish???? how is this possible????' then he walked away and alex spoke swedish to him and his old lady inside the shop. sorry, old man.

and at the end of today we had a cake party with the leftovers in the kafe. my favorite treats were the rhubarb tea and raspberry?banana bar thing. they were deliciously perfect after a long day of composting, planting, and fence fixing.

pictured: rachel in the kafe with yumness / yumness / the butik with a young shopkeeper / flaxa the dog with alex the human in front of the greenhouse