hej då...part four (the big one)

so yesterday marked the end of our wwoofing adventure not just at solgarden, but in all of sweden. which, i must say, was quite sad - not only because as we leave one country for another i am reminded that 3 months has now become 5 weeks, but also because i have grown fond of the kind country.

and solgarden, like all of sweden, had been kind to us. again, it was a very different experience compared to the other 3 places - a little less organized and a bit less learning - but it was fun all the same (i really think this is because we were joined by kelsa and mike who were a pretty amusing pair). and magnus was just so nice - giving the boys beers, the girls ice cream, and paying for us to have a good time in malmo (among other everyday kindness).

so we wanted to work our hardest on our last day. and there was a long list of "to-dos" awaiting us in the morning and we were set on ticking as many off as possible.

first up, alex and i took on the "courtyard" area and tried to tidy it up a bit. we removed random bits and bobs that would be sent to the dump. but the big job was in the sand. a pile of sand somehow accumulated from construction (really, no idea why it was there) and gustav had the idea to level the stones in the courtyard with the sand surplus (and also to fill in the gaps with extra sand). not an easy task. and at first (and second and third) it seemed like a bad idea. alex and i felt as though we had just made one messy looking sandbox. we managed to level the stones as good as possible (without getting all nitpicky) but it wasn't looking improved.

pictured: a hesitant sand man

and alex had to move all the extra sand (which was a lot) to the backyard to create a new sand pile. fyi - sand is heavy. even with a wheelbarrow. and luckily, we must have just been blinded with sand, because in the end the courtyard didn't look so bad - maybe even good (well, it was night time, but still, it at least looked clean).

while we played in the sand kelsa and mike were in charge of trimming the hedge that surrounded solgarden. for the most part, it looked pretty good. but there was this one area where it seemed mike got a little too power tool happy and went all edward scissor hands on that poor hedge.

]pictured: mike and kelsa - when power tools (and their operators) go wild

and after we were all done with our jobs that didn't really seem to improve the solgarden appearance, we weeded a bit (which did make the place look better), removed the compost (only alex dared to do this - and a stinky job it was! the look on his face was priceless when his nostrils/brain got their first whiff of duck bones, egg shells, and god knows what), and put up the tent (again). and we felt satisfied with the day.

in the morning we headed off to copenhagen for a wwoof break that would last until sunday.

pictured: first strawberry of the season (of course it ripens the day we leave)