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.)