Urnatur – a poem of swedish nature (urnatur.se)

pictured: urnatur

A small town with a rural vibe - Ödeshög (where urnatur is located) - is a place with lots of history. For instance, the oldest city in Sweden is just down by the lake along with the first monastery in Sweden located just up the hill of a mountain (which was torn down by some king, so it’s just ruins – which to me is cooler looking anyhow). And some of the rarest insects and aquadic life swim in the spectacularly clear lake “vattern”. Not to mention each section of grass holds a plethora of species (perhaps even the most biologically diverse square meter can be found here) – some of which include relic flowers that existed in the ice age when the ocean used to be much higher and cover central sweden. So, it’s a pretty cool place that also happens to be quite beautiful in landscape.

pictured: urnatur's hermitage eco-resort with traditional cabins built by Håkan

And that’s just the tip of the ice age iceberg. The farm (which is more of a forest than “farm” – think forestry) is so incredibly beautiful. Håkan and ulrika are the owners of much here: land, urnatur eco-resort, urnatur textile business, and a lamb meat business…and they’ve truly preserved the natural beauty of the land as well as handicraft culture. All the cabins here are built by hakan himself. When I asked him “how did you start building a house?” he gave me a puzzled look and simply said “I just started building.” Self taught, it’s truly amazing how well, how beautiful, and how fast he can build houses. Not to mention he’s totally into preserving old styles as well as the forest – so there’s a story and purpose behind everything he does. I think having just talked to him for a day a half, I can say he’s one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve ever met (oh, and he even took alex and I along to meet the town’s green party(who are also a very nature-knowledgeable, fascinating group).

and while we aren’t staying in one of the cabins hakan has built, we have our own room in the barn he renovated. And it’s of course beautiful. We are so happy to have real beds, clean towels, and a real, large, well designed room. We really feel a bit spoiled.

pictured: our loft

But all good accommodation comes at a cost, right? So far, it’s a really decent cost. After a nice breakfast we spent the morning gathering stinging nettles (which you can actually pick without getting stung, and if you do get stung, so long as you have low blood pressure – like me! – it’s good for you – so I let them sting me a little). Then we spent the afternoon raking hay, spreading hay in the barn in preparation for housing the animals in the winter, as well as gathering pine trees hakan felled that will be used to teach us how to build a traditional Swedish fence. It was definitely the “hardest” works in terms of physical labor we’ve experienced yet, as well as the longest day – but it really felt nice to be outside and working hard.

pictured: alex bringing in the hay // taking back spruce for the fence

And then dinner came and because there are two dutch journalist staying (who are writing a feature on urnatur for a popular dutch magazine) we were invited to have dinner with them in the hermitage (eco-resort). And boy were we spoiled! The room in which we ate was so sweet. Lit with candles and warmed by fire, the meal and conversation were special. Ulrika has prepared a quiche like pie for dinner – made with the nettles we had picked in the morning – along with a “weed salad” that included both daisies and wild pea flowers. And alex has been offered beer at every occasion. AND we had a dessert of chocolate cake with orange liquor with whipped cream coupled with black coffee. Yum! I actually felt bad sitting there at the table with my fancy weed meal. It felt wrong, to be eating something so nice in such a nice house – for free. But it sure was nice! (apart from the moment when poor alex was sitting at the table, enjoying his food – when out of no where he made the oddest face – and then again…was he being attacked by a furry beast on the floor? What could it be????... of course it was a wasp that had stung him twice – once on each foot! I was so proud of him, being the wasp-terrified boy he is – keeping his composure and not knocking the table over.)

pictured: gathering stinging nettles

pictured: dinning cabin // nettles made into a pie

And by the time we finished talking (about things I dream of hearing others speak about – sustainability, food crisis, farmer’s attitudes, people’s attitudes, how to properly get kids interested in nature, etc.) it’s was 11pm and time to head back to our loft.

Good night!

pictured: us being farmers