We're going home...

the hotness that is hungary

pictured: budapest looks better at night // nice map // clouds that looked like a painting (more so in real life)

now at the end of our 3-month euro-stint, we've just arrived in berlin after a few days baking in the budapest heat.

before arriving, i purposely did little research and held back from looking at pictures of budapest. beautiful, romantic, amazing - that's what people said it was like. so i wanted to be surprised. and i was.

there are lots and lots of really nice old building throughout budapest. but you can't put an ugly girl in a really nice dress and expect one to make up for the other (the dress is the architecture, the ugly girl is the commercialness, grime, and vibe of the city). overall, budapest sorta felt like what i imagine poland to be and what i imagine new york was like in 1970. poland because there appears to be no sensibility to contemporary design, fashion, or interiors - everything feels a little generic and cheap (which it kind of is). even restaurants that look nice end up just looking like channelside (in tampa) mall restaurants - and that's not what you expect from one of the prettiest cities in the world. new york in 1970 because the subways look and feel like that time period, and there's a bit of dirt on every wall. oh, and the people lack emotion - saying little and smiling never.

and when your city's subway maps are sponsered by mcdonalds (with icons to show you where the nearest one is - even though there's one on practically every block) - you are far, far from being beautiful, romantic, or amazing.

but as i said, there are lots of nice buildings. some are even so nice, that they are what places like vegas and disney copy - which unfortunately makes it kind feel kind of cheesy. but they are nice.

there's the castle district that kind of feels like a big sand castle.

and there are bath houses...which on a hot hot day, are amazing. the one we went to had 18 pools filled with the local spring water - rich in minerals. most of the pools are warm to hot, which after spending some time in the cold pool, are surprisingly enjoyable on a warm summer's day. but the cold pool felt great - they should make pool suits you wear when it's so hot. every 10 minutes the pool's jets would rotate between creating 40 or so jet/bubble clouds (which are intended for one person to stand on for 10 minutes for a nice massage) and a whirl pool shaped like a snail in the center of the pool (which is just sort of weird, since it was pretty small and rather fast). we were happy here.

something else that's pretty nice about budapest is how cheap it is. it's not taiwan cheap - but it's pretty close. most meals are generously portioned, and a three course meal with a drink at an everyday spot typically costs $10. not bad. one place we are at was a bio/vegetarian restaurant (there's not much bio/organic stuff here) and to our surprise had an interesting menu with some hungarian specialties - which were pretty yummy - and presented their food in a rather fancy manner. other things didn't seem so special, but it may just be the facade that threw us off (since the veg place didn't look nearly as good as it was).

and of course after surviving 2 days of extreme heat and no air conditioning (not even in restaurants or shopping areas - usually my releif when i was in ny) the last day was cool and windy. it really made the place look better, and we began to think our image of budapest was skewed by its hotness. but then our eyes caught site of the cheesey malls and mothers who were wearing skin tight shorts way too short and heals way too high (for shorts so short).

maybe it'll change in 30 years, like new york did. all it needs is a hungarian rudy giuliani. or something.

escape to regensburg

the really great thing - possibly the only good, to great, thing - about being at the animal farm is that it's within biking distance to the quaint, old-style town of regensburg. apparently it's also quite the tourist destination, since it's one of the only cities that wasn't destroyed by bombs during the war.

and a really great thing about germany is the well-kept, smooth, off road bike paths that can be found both in the city as well as the country. it makes riding very safe and enjoyable - even when there are very large bavarian hills to climb. and it makes bike culture something that's no just for the young hipsters of the world, but also an activity for families and so my amazement - the elderly. and when you see a grandma biking up a hill, you think you can do it too, but soon realise that she's probably been doing this her whole life and is much better at it than you will ever be. funny enough, it's a really good feeling, and makes me hope that america jumps on the real, larger than 3 inches, bike path bandwagon.

arriving in regensburg was a real treat. the city is right on the edge of the lovely danube river that runs throughout europe (again, bike path!...you can ride all the way to prague). and instead of hanging out at malls or lurking around gas stations, the youth here enjoys their free time sitting on the city's wall, feet dangling over rushing water. of course the youth here can also enjoy a beer or two - outside. so i'm sure that's also a bonus.

pictured: catholics are insane – the outside of the church // the ridiculously amazing inside // a grave // a skeleton wearing clothes (?!)

there's lots of really old buildings (like 2000 years old, old) to see and plenty of cafes and restaurants to relax at. which is exactly what we did. and it was luxurious. usually not a huge fan of buildings, i continue to be amazed at the intricacy of design and obvious effort - not to mention devote faith (most are churches) that must have gone into their being. why are we so lazy and skill-less these days?

pictured: famous cathedral

there also happened to be a wine festival (with beer too, of course) while we were in town. it was a traditional set up with colored lights dangling around the wooden kiosks that sell food and drinks served on reusable plates that you give a deposit for, fresh flowers on each table, and good ol'bavarian men dressed in their stately garb playing music that Walt Disney obviously stole (along with the bavarian castle design) for his wonderland. and it was here that i discovered a summer german treat (drink) that i really think needs to be brought to the states - Radler.

 

pictured: festival time // radler (left, bottom) and other goodies // typical

Radler makes a beer light, making it more enjoyable in hot weather and for asians who can't drink much. it's a simple recipe - sprite (or 7up, or fanta) mixed with beer (light or dark). it's really refreshing and my new favorite beer. yum.

pictured: starch-based (instead of gelatin) gummies are the best // street stuff // mushroom cafe in the park (that's for you val!) //why's over packaging so fun? ice cream treat with plastic hat and handle that turns into a whistle!

bavaria is really nice, i think mountains make everywhere nicer. and regensburg is a real winner. but it's time to move on to the hotness that is hungary.

Wwoof awards – the good, the bad

Now that our wwoofing experience has come to a welcomed end, alex and I have decided to put together a little award list that spans many different categories. this is due to the fact that no farm wins overall as the "hands down best" because there were really great (and bad) things about each and every one.

Overall, Sweden was the best country for us to wwoof in because: the people speak English well, like speaking English, are very kind and warm hearted, and think of their wwoofers as wwoofers – not field workers (aka, they teach you). but, it’s not to say we didn't learn and see a lot in germany…it just wasn’t as smooth of a journey. Anyway, the contrast of the two countries was really great and wwoofing is an experience I truly believe every person should be forced to partake in (if only for a few weeks).

and now, for the "good/best" awards...
Drum roll please…

Most educational: urnatur

Best food: urnatur / rosenhills

Most fun / silliest: rosenhills

Best dessert: appelfabriken

Most organized: appelfabriken

Best accommodations: urnatur

Best bathroom / shower: die grune ecke

Best access to urban life: rosenhills (stockholm by bus - 45min) / die grune ecke (regensburg by bike-1hr)

Prettiest / best landscape: urnatur

Best harvest: biohof barenfang

Best job: urnatur – traditional fence building

Least amount of bugs: solgarden

Best swimming: biohof barenfang

Best beach: solgarden (for aesthetic purposes only - that water was damn cold!)

Most farm-like: die grune ecke

and now for the not so great...

least educational: solgarden - pleasurable/chore work, but not educational (sorry!)

Most awkward: die grune ecke

Worst accommodations: tie between rosenhills caravan (because of the massive hornet we shared the place with) and barenfang’s bug room (bugs + mold + leaking ceiling = unhappy people)

Worst bathroom: biohof barenfang - mosquito infested outhouse, no real shower

Worst job: biohof barenfang – gigantic weed-tree pruning in 96 degree weather

Most mosquitos: rosenhills / barenfang

Most flies: die grune ecke - and they ate your flesh

Most wasps/hornets: biohof barenfang

Least fun free time on the farm: die grune ecke

Least farm-like: solgarden - most like a house-garden

A whole new level of wwoofing

pictured: sheep time!

today felt like a million days in one. I guess working before breakfast then taking a long break in the middle of the day before working in the evening will do that to you. it may also feel that way because we did a lot.

goats are smart. Sheep are stupid (so we were told, and so far it’s proven true). Which means that the sheep stay where you put them, and the goats - who do as they please - jump about into other animals’ areas. And so that’s how the day started – putting the goats back where they belong…and separating the lambs from the sheep before it was milking time.

Today franz (host) did the milking alone and alex and i fed, cleaned, fed, cleaned, fed, cleaned.

pictured: giving cow milk to a lamb (weird) // me putting lambs in their place (so soft!)

The feeding for the sheep and goats starts by wheeling over the green food - a healthy diet of cut grasses and flowers. This happens three times a day – along with a corn pellet and sliced-bread snack. As I wheeled over all this food (there’s A LOT of it) I couldn’t help but think it’s a big waste of time – seeing as all that green food comes from the field just down the way….but apparently it’s too hot for the animals to be outside in the day and I guess it’s not practical to herd them back and forth for milking twice a day. Anyway it appears they like the convenience food – as they gobble it up really fast. But even after all that grass and a corn snack they are still left looking oh so hungry – so I snuck them a few extra pitchforks full of grass. of course after that, they still looked hungry. Oh well. Sheep are stupid (but so cute!)

As far as cleaning goes - there was a little doody-duty to be had. Okay, lots of doody - sheep, pig, and cow shit to be exact. Cow shit is by far the biggest and wettest. But surprisingly the least stinky (although it feels as if you are sniffing ammonia the whole time…it’s probably just the methane burning the hairs in your nostril.) It was nice to see that the animals are given clean living quarters (unlike the hen house experience back at rosenhill.) I even kind of liked (I know…) scrapping the cow shit off the burning hot cement. It felt a lot like baking a pizza.

pictured: poo time! alex scrapping poo into one big poo pile // cow poo patties - cool!

The more enjoyable things (even more so than the poo-pizza play time) of the day included: teasing the piglets – and touching their noses, holding the new born lambs for bottle feeding, and eating german delights like Bavarian pretzels with sweet mustard (really the best thing ever) and fresh cooked cherries with thick-cut pancakes. Yum.

pictured: piglets being lazy // me teasing the little guys

And as I think about the day I realize that it’s the first time on our wwoof journey that I truly feel like a farmer. Before I just felt like a gardener. But animals put you on a whole new level…because when you no longer care about the flies covering your clothes (which are the kind that bite…not sting, or bite like a mosquito, but bite your skin off) or the poop smeared on your legs – you know you’ve made it to “farmer” level.

pictured: true farmer

pictured: bavaria by night

Got milk? Oh yeah.

pictured: the sheep making their way to the barn in the morning - for milking and feeding

Done in a dim room swarming with flies (sounds really gross – it is), milking the sheep, goats, and cows takes about 2 hours. It’s the main business (they make and
sell butter and cheese in addition to fresh milks) so there’s even a special milking house -equipped with a long “treat trough” (my own term) filled with corn pellets and a seemingly medieval-inspired head-lock (like what they used to lock criminals heads and arms in to publicly embarrass at the town square) to keep the animals facing forward. it’s a very simplistic, yet efficient set up.

pictured: the cows at their designated milk stations

The animals know the routine (because they know what’s in the treat trough). Immediately they line up at the door – which when opened, creates a stampede of jumping, pushing, greedy animals (obviously stupid, since they will all eventually be fed and milked…funny enough, it’s just like some humans also possess the same pointless “rush” instinct – ie airplane boarding.)

pictured: where the magic happens - milk station // sheep awaiting their breast pump fitting

The actual milking is done primarily with pumps (just like a breast pump…I think), but you have to massage the utters and pull on the very long nipples to help stimulate milk flow. Sometimes there’s a special sheep/goat that must be milked by hand – so both alex and I have had that opportunity. It’s pretty fun, I guess, and we even thought we were pretty good at it – after all, milk was coming out in a nice stream. But when one of the apprentices (think big minnesota farmer girl/woman) took over, she showed us what was what – cause when she squeezed, that milk was pouring out – splashing even.

By the way, it;s amazing how warm (hot even) those sacks of milk are.

Turn fat into fun - with butter making 101!

Making butter is pretty simple, with the right tools.

pictured: the fat // the whipped fat // fat becomes fresh-made butter!

1. First if you’re using fresh from the cow milk you need a centrifuge. This seemingly house-hold appliance separates the fat from the rest of milk – leaving you with the heaviest cream possible and skim-milk. I’m not sure what the readymade product is called in-store.

2. The heavy cream (heavier than whipping cream) is then cooked (to kill bacteria) and then cooled.

3. Next, you whip the cream (maybe it’s churn) with the help of a machine and this leaves you with little solid pieces of butter and buttermilk.

4. After you filter and save the buttermilk (I always wondered why it was called that) you then must “wash” the butter by kneading it under cool running water.

5. The last step is filling a butter-mold with the soft butter and tada – butter!

It’s pretty fun, but I imagine it being more fun if could experiment with adding herbs and spices to the butter (mmm…garlic).

Animal farm

pictured: bavaria in the morning // Die grüne Ecke (farm)

Oink oink, baa, moo, neigh, meow, bark, hallo…this place is filled with animals – and germans.

upon starting work promptly after our arrival we knew we had gotten ourselves into some serious shit (literally and figuratively.) unlike plants (which is secondary), animals can’t wait. They need to be fed, cleaned up after, and milked – twice a day. And within an hour we were thrown (no introduction or any real explanation) into it all.

pictured: cows have really big heads

Alex took care of the feeding – wheel barrowing over lots and lots of green grass for the sheep and goats to chomp on, while I helped with the milking – something I really wanted to do – once. But the milk keeps on coming (it takes roughly 12 hours for the goats and sheep to make a full bust of milk) as does the poo - which of course is powered by food.

pictured: sheep and goats meet in the middle to feast on greens and flowers

And with so much milk being produced on a daily basis, there’s lots left over for butter and cheese making. Today I got to make some butter (see blog entry: Turn fat into fun - with butter making 101!). And while we haven’t yet made any cheese, we sure have been eating it! In the refrigerator is the biggest plate of specialty cheese I’ve ever seen (it’s probably worth hundreds of dollars if you were to get something similar in ny.). And because our diet is mostly bread here (breakfast and dinner are bread meals, lunch is the only “hot” meal) we have had the chance to try many cheeses. They are all good, but I kind of wish I knew what sort of cheese it is that i am enjoying.

Which brings me to the lack of communication we are (I am) experiencing. Even though the germans here know a decent amount of English, they forgo using it and only speak to alex – leaving me to stare at my feet or the flies during meals. It’s pretty tough - for me to just totally sit out of conversations – but there’s not much I can do (sometimes they even speak german to me as if maybe I’ll understand. – ie saying “we can speak English now” in german!) it’s not much better for alex. Even though he can understand what’s being said – sometimes we aren’t even told what to do, or why we’re doing it – so we end up just standing around until someone tells us a small part of the task (“move this there”). It’s really a bummer, cause this place is very interesting and there’s lots to learn – especially since is totally different from any of the other farms. Regardless, I do think we’ll still learn lots…it’ll just be like an ikea manual.

pictured: three pigs // pigs have strong noses

Anyway, I like the animals. The pigs are especially funny – I don’t think I’ve ever seen pigs like these. They look like animatronics since their eyes are skin are so human-eque. It’s a bit creepy, but I can’t help but want to give them a big fat hug. That is, if they weren’t rolling around in mud (typical) all day. Oh, and there’s a bunch of piglets that are free to roam around – and always look like they are up to something mischievous – in that cute happy pig way. Their noses feel nice.

pictured: horse and alex - horses have really nice noses as well

In addition to the pigs, there’s also: a horse, 3 cows, maybe 10 goats, 50 sheep, 2 dogs, a cat, and about 9 germans (we’ve only seen 3).

tschüß! - part one

pictured: the meal routine - cook & clean

today is our last day in treplin, germany. and i can say i'm pretty happy about that. to think of the showers and mosquito-free toilets that lie in our future is really, really - exciting.

and i really just wish i had spoken german. i think it would have been a bit different. or i wish that i hadn't felt so awkward here. this is the first place that on the last day, i feel no more comfortable than the first...

even with all my complaints, it has actually been a pretty nice time wwoofing on the barenfang biohof. i especially enjoyed harvesting day (even though it's much harder than one would think). even more, i really grew fond of harvesting food for lunch and dinner. there's nothing like a meal cooked with ingredients from a few meters away. mmm...

to celebrate the last day alex and i decided to bike across the country and see what fun poland has to offer (it's really not that far - 15 km - but still, sounds cool).

pictured: poland and germany separated by the oder river

first up was checking out frankfurt. not the frankfurt you've heard of. the other one. the one that has to have a parenthesis of the bordering river whenever it's mentioned - frankfurt (oder). the one that you won't ever visit. because there's nothing to do.

a small, working town, it actually felt very big compared to treplin. there were grocery stores! and there were malls (ek, but oooh, air conditioning). but that's about it. it's a bit of an ugly town. but at least they have pretty good bike paths!

and poland is just across the oder river. a town with an ugly looking name - Słubice - seems to be nothing more than a place for germans to get cheap cigarettes, petrol, and haircuts(?) because that's all there is when you cross over. store after store of that. and we couldn't even buy anything even if we wanted. they don't use the euro (yet) and the people apparently speak german, but don't like to (i get it).

pictured: alex in poland // me in poland

so, you can see why we didn't stick around long.

back to frankfurt (oder) (seriously, parenthesis every time...sad, sad, sibling city). we cooled off in a really big, nice looking church for a bit. took some pictures of the nicest buildings (really, nothing else even slightly resembles the old, nice buildings). then headed back to treplin for a swim in our favorite lake.

pictured: people really try to make things nice in frankfurt (oder) - not easy, but funny! // the nice buildings of frankfurt (oder) - museum of young art and city hall

a nice day. but our legs feel like jello (a description my friend katie once came up with - and it's so accurate!)

tomorrow it's berlin time. for a day. for the world cup final (unfortunately germany lost, so maybe it won't be as fun as we were hoping). then we are off to bavaria to see if the stereotypes of round bellies, suspenders, and all that german kitsch is really true.

pictured: the barenfang meadow at sunset

bean there, done that

pictured: clippers looks so cute and friendly - but they aren't

the end of the week ended up with a few surprises.

on thursday we luckily didn't have to shovel sheep shit from one pile to the next. instead we were given possibly the worst branch clippers (sorry, i don't know the technical name) known to man. and we were told to go out into the meadow and cut down the "big weeds". big weeds aren't weeds. they are trees. and these trees are growing...everywhere. there are minitrees that come out of previously cut trees. and there are big trees that somehow were overlooked during the last "big weed kill". and no matter the size - there's lots and lots of very tall grass, and other weeds that block your view and your cutting opportunity of the weed-tree's branch.

this job was bad. but we decided it wasn't as bad as shoveling shit. 6 hours of tree killing isn't fun though. a weed whacker would have been the choice tool. but they don't have that here. just very old branch clippers.

then friday - harvest day - rolled around and we were surprised with very few strawberries - sadly, that's now a good thing for us.

we were told not to waste our time on the small ones and only pick the big ones. so i took it upon myself to just eat every small one i came across. that was good. also because there weren't as many berries to harvest - my arm was a little less itchy (but the damn bushes still gave me a rash - so i was/am kind of itchy). and we had Nils helping us (he's the apprentice) so we were done picking strawberries in two hours or so. maybe less.

so then we moved on to the fields of beans. where were the beans??? oh, there they are. green beans. nice, long, fresh, crisp, yummy green beans (i grew up calling these string beans...does anyone else call them that?) i hadn't ever seen a green/string bean plant. when i had first seen these plants two weeks ago i thought they were peppers. oops.

pictured: green bean plant // me and my hotness // my collection of beans

it was pretty fun to pull beans from their plants - but it was really hot. so my legs were dripping in sweat - so i rolled up my pants. then spiders started to crawl on me. but it was too hot to bother.

and after all that bean pulling i went to pick the first tomatoes of the season and alex went to harvest radishes.

and then we picked flowers again. with three people it took 3 hours. not as bad as 4. but could have been better. i think motivation was running low. and flowers were running low. they were all burned up. poor guys.

and then it was the end of our last day of work here - yipee!

repeat week

pictured: me...i've truly let myself go here (with no shower, no mirrors, and no one around, it's inevitable really) // the tiniest carrot ever

running a farm is a bit repetitive. you plant, you weed, you water, you harvest and then you start all over. sometimes nature throws you a curve ball and then you have to rethink your cycle. but when you're only at a place for two weeks you can expect to do things over and over.

and that's what this week has been like.

monday we harvested the left over strawberries that will be turned into jam (see entry from last monday - it was exactly the same). and we pruned the tomato plants and helped them grow up their string in the plastic tunnel (a little different because there are red tomatoes now - yum!)

tuesday we picked at plants. for some reason, people plant carrots with some push-seed-wheel device and in most cases, it over-seeds the plants. meaning instead of one carrot plant every inch or so, you have 5 in one inch. meaning someone has to go back and pick away at the 4 extra plants to make room for that one carrot. that someone was alex and i. and it wasn't just a foot of carrots. it was 6 very long rows of thousands of tiny carrot plants. better than weeds - but kinda the same. and i like it, but my back and neck don't like it. and it kinda drives you crazy...cause your brain just drifts and you focus and focus and pull...whew. at least we got to pull up carrots - even if they were only a few centimenters long and translucent instead of orange. they still tasted like carrots.

and today, wednesday, we planted some more plants. flowers instead of herbs. my fingers are once again chewed up and dirty.

tomorrow, thursday...i don't yet know. i fear tomorrow nature will throw us a wild card and a truck will dump off tons of sheep shit. which will need to be shoveled to another area by some naive city dwellers. i really hope that possibility (mentioned on monday) falls through. i don't want to sit, stand on, or shovel shit.

friday is harvest day. there will be some more strawberry picking and many more hours of flower picking.

saturday is another free day. we think we might ride our bikes to poland! just so we can say we've been to poland.

sunday we leave for berlin to watch the world cup. too bad germany just lost to spain. now it won't be as fun. thanks for nothing germany.

bike trip! - free day #2

pictured: the area to be explored // alex on bike // animals in the area

with a pair of bikes awaiting our bums and the sun shinning at a brilliant 85 degrees - alex and i headed off on dirt roads, cobblestone paths, and smooth bike paths.

our destination? falkenhagen
why? ice cream
why's that special? because there's only one restaurant (meat-centric, no thanks), one grocery store (the one that's seldom open), and one crappy ice cream stand within miles and miles. and markus said there was ice cream in falkenhagen, so we figured we should go (even though we were just hopping for something along the lines of baskin robbins)

but we found so much more. the ice cream place is an ice cream palace. they have all sorts of flavors and combination sundaes and shakes and yummy yum-ness. they even have haribo marshmallow ice cream! unfortunately we didn't get that, even though i REALLY wanted to try it. and this ice cream palace was hopping - the parking lot was full and the bike racks were kinda full. there was a tacky, small-town vacation-ness to the whole place - but it was great, and it really made us feel as though we had escaped into a dreamworld.

i had a strawberry bowl - with strawberry and vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and of course, strawberries. alex went for the banana bowl with banana and chocolate ice cream, whipped cream and yep, bananas! we swapped some scoops, hoping to get that perfect banana split ratio. it was divine.

pictured: the ice cream palace's cheesy, yet welcoming entrance // i'm a strawberry kind of girl (i wear red) // our magical scoops with apple drinks // alex is a banana man (he wears yellow)

then we headed out into the woods for an adventure. we found nothing more than sheep poo, lots of bugs, and sandy roads - not very bike friendly. no wild boars or other fun animals were spotted :(

pictured: land, lots and lots of land

and after out falkenhagen exploration we headed back to that oh so special, clean lake for an evening dip and bath. it felt so nice.

let's take a gander - free-day #1

pictured: wild peas (not as tasty as they look) // me with a dirty body and some wild grasses // roadside flower

this morning we knew nothing. now, we've walked, we've experienced, and we've seen what there is to be seen in the brandenburg region (well at least a small part of it).

there's sheep just around the corner. there are lots of them in a space that's too small for so many sheep. they looked hot and they smelled like poop.

pictured: sheep in too small of a space

a creek is just around the bend - a creek with extremely stagnant water. i'm gonna go ahead and call it a swamp. a sign told us that it once use to be a water mill used by traveling religious groups and tradesmen. now it's just a place for mosquitoes to breed.

pictured: old water mill turned mosquito basin

about 2 kilometers from the farm there's a town - treplin. here, houses look pretty suburban but there are a few old barns that help make the lime green houses, hurricane blinds (really, they have these here, and it's not for hurricanes), and tacky gardens look a whole lot less depressing.
and being such a booming city, the even have their own grocery store - open for a total of 10 hours a week. today they were open from 8am-9am. we missed that window.

pictured: treplin garden art // treplin's prize berry

if you continue to follow the sand, sidewalk, sand path you'll eventually get to the shining star of treplin - a stand alone strawberry that sells cherries, safts, and of course, baskets of strawberries. i was hoping for a nice strawberry milkshake, or some cookies. but i guess that's just what you find inside big strawberries when you're in plant city, fla.

keep trekking another kilometer and there's a sign for snacks. and a parking lot full of cars. which is exciting, because it must mean there's something grand to be found. and there is! ice cream, coca-cola (i've never been so happy to get an ice-cold soda), and fries that are about as good as a school cafeteria are sold from a plump german. but that's just the icing on the sandy cake. there's a beach! and a lake! lots of people with sagging bodies scoot back and forth from the food stand and other lay about in the ironically - imported sand area.


but there's a path through the woods that takes you around the river - past naked men sitting on tree stumps in water, young couples fishing with homemade poles, and a tree that has a built in cable swing. and this is where we decided to take pleasure (and a well needed bath) in the clearest, warmest lake water we've yet seen. and it was probably the best thing ever (well, at least the best thing of the whole week).

pictured: me near the swing tree // alex swim out into the middle

if you're silly enough to leave the best thing ever and keep walking toward towns that seemingly offer nothing - then you'll eventually run into Petershagen. a blank town, there is a secret gem - i might even call it a secret garden! growing from inside an abandoned building, a magical jungle land could be found. unfortunately, there were no doors (they had been cemented shut) of which we could enter. there was a special feeling to it though. i imagined it being a really nice cafe.

pictured: welcome to petershagen // mysterious "green house" building for sale // wild life peaking out from inside // the hidden treasures

there's also a burial sight tucked inside the forest - a place where nazis rest. it was weird. we thought we heard wild boars.

pictured: forest cemetery

as we kept on walking, we eventually remembered that we'd have to walk back. and that's not as much fun as walking forward. so we turned around and headed home - just in time to hear that germany won their match in the world cup (we missed seeing it via live stream due to the ten or so wasps that decided to leisurely pop out from our room's ceiling every minute or so).

i hope you enjoy those berries...

pictured: harvested onions - we had nothing to do with this...but they were grown here, and look lovely!

today was harvest day here at barenfang. and just the other day, when everyone was saying how friday was the hardest day, alex and i thought - yeah right, how hard can it be - picking fruit and flowers and whatever else...that's fun! well, we were partially wrong.

like everyday, we started at 8am. but today we set out to collect lots and lots of ripe strawberries. immediately, it felt great, discovering big juicy gems hidden under the straw - i practically felt like an animal. i even thought the small strawberries were oh so cute - and imagined how great they would be as garnish on things like cupcakes. but then after hundreds of berries - the small berries start becoming irritating berries, hands start becoming sore, and you begin to notice a rash creeping up your already over-tanned arm. the whole time i was out there i was saying (to myself of course) 'i hope you enjoy those berries that are the best deal ever' (seriously, they sell these things for too little for the amount of man labor that goes into each precious little pint. and the smaller, probably less appealing berries take even more time!)

pictured: the harvest begins // aw, cute - smallest berry ever // snack time

after 5 hours of rash-induced strawberry fun, we took a nice lunch break (alex made fresh herb potato salad) and enjoyed some soft ice cream during the hottest week of the year. and at the end of lunch we were given our next task - pick 30 bouquets of flowers. i thought - easy. i thought wrong.

pictured: my first bouquet of the day // alex contemplating his next flower

it was estimated that it should take us 2.5 hours to complete all the bouquets. i thought that must be an extreme overestimate - but as it turns out, it took us 4 hours. yep. and just as with the strawberries - the first hour or so was pretty enjoyable (at least for me - alex didn't really like flower picking/arranging at all). but then, the skin of your fingers starts to fall off from "picking" (more like tearing) thick, woody wild flower stems. my hands have never looked so sad as they do right now. once again, 'i hope you enjoy those flowers' (that are sold for a mere 3 euros).

oh, and i forgot to mention, that practically with every job you do outside - bees, wasps, and hornets (alongside mosquitoes and other unpleasant fliers) zoom right by your ear - as if they know how to just scare you a little. and today we discover a seemingly friendly bee, fly thing - that happens to actually be called "bee fly". it sounded and acted like a teeny tiny hummingbird.

pictured: bee fly getting his nectar on

the deserts of germany

pictured: the land of sand // alex with his hoe in the grass

apparently, we're experiencing the hottest week of the year, here in old eastern germany. and i'd say that seems like it could be pretty accurate - cause it's damn hot. in fact, it seems a lot like a desert.

the soil, isn't what i'd call soil. it's sand, or dirt - if you are lucky enough to strike such gold. and wild plants, well they look pretty dry - the grasses and plants sway with the wind because they have no succulent leaves or flowers to hold them back.

so, when we were told to do some planting, i couldn't help but feel sorry for those poor little plants - who looked so happy and moist in their potting soil homes. but, it was a job that was necessary if there were to be a harvest in the fall. beets, basil, dill, kohlrabi, broccoli, onions and some other, unknown plants, were on the list. thankfully, they all got a good drink of water soon after their transplanting. they have no idea what's coming their way.

pictured: the beets - living the good life // alex showing a beet his new home

as the sun got just a little bit warmer, it was time for us to return to the previous day's wedding extravaganza. i guess there's one good thing about farming in such a desert of a farm - and that is that not nearly as many weeds are able to grow - at least compared to the other farms we visited. but, there were still enough to make you hate 'em. lamb's quarter and grass were the most common - with the latter being the most irritating to destroy - especially when it has intelligently grown very close (if not intertwined) to the cultivated crop's root.

with sweat coming off us by the bucket loads, we crawled and scooted around on our knees, butts, and sides (changing position is really the only way to prevent post-weed pain). and for the 4th time in 2 months alex and i decided that we should build a weed scooter - a stool, chair thing that you can relieve some of your body weight onto while picking million of weeds in a farm setting. that would be really nice. we still have yet to build it.

(fyi - when i first arrived here and said the farm was small scale - i hadn't yet discovered the much larger field down the road. it's by no means a huge operation - but it's probably the biggest we've been on - farm wise.)