i'll take one please - tack!

pictured: spruce distillation in progress

the other night ulrika pulled out something amazing, something i myself had been thinking of purchasing - something that would take whatever you wish and turn it into a fragrance or oil. this amazing thing is a steam distiller, and we were going to experiment our way through it.

first, we would try spruce tips - the light, vibrant green tips of a spruce tree that can only be found during spring. after collecting some tips from the forest we finely chopped them up and got ready to make some oil. right away sounds started to plop and swish, and after 15 minutes or so our first drop of magical liquid fell into its place. and then 10 minutes later, the four of us (ulrika, hakan, alex, and i) sat around staring at a bottle filling with clear liquid and convincing ourselves that there was definitely a layer of oil. 10 more minutes pass and the layer of "oil" isn't growing any larger, but the clear liquid keeps on dripping. 10 more minutes pass and we have ourselves two bottles full of something that looks a lot like water. but it isn't. no, we weren't able to extract any oils (we don't know what went wrong) but we were able to create a pure, clean, distillation - something the swedes call hydrolator (maybe we'd call it that too, but i've never heard of it). this hydrolator is something that you can sniff for aromatherapy benefits, clean with, or use in some kind of recipe. and the later is what we chose to do.

ulrika came up with the seemingly crazy idea to turn the hydrolator into sorbet. i was on board, but alex, after tasting the liquid, was a bit sceptical - as he thought it was rather reminescent of cleaning products. but she did it anyway and it actually turned out quite delicious (alex and one of the daughters didn't care for it too much, but 5 out of 7 ain't bad).

pictured: pretty purple flowers

naturally, we still wanted to make some oil. so we tried experiement two with some lovely smelling purple flowers. they made nothing more than some nasty smelling water (think artichoke water that's been over boiled). and then we tried the spruce tips again thinking maybe we didn't pick young enough tips. turns out, that wasn't the problem, and now we have two more bottles of hydrolator to play with.

but i still think it's really neat, this distilling. and i wonder what it'd be like if you put coffee beans, or grounds, into the gadget - would it make clear, coffee flavored hydrolater (with the possible bonus of some oil)? i dunno. but i kinda wanna figure it out...

who would have thought

pictured: alex with more wood than you can imagine

when you wwoof at a forest you can expect lots of trees. and trees are good for many things - like shade, food, sap, and of course wood. and wood's important. afterall, what would (ha) urnatur be, without wood?

and now alex and i are skilled (but by no means experts - i can't really even carve into the wood to make it "startable" and it takes alex five matches to get a real fire going) at some things wood. we can use an axe (which is pretty awesome). and that's important for chopping wood so you aren't trying to light a tree on fire. and we're pretty good at shaping wood into something other than a tree - like fence poles. and we know how to carry wood - which is not as easy as it sounds. and we can stack wood tetris style and ensure it won't fall on your face. who would have thought, what woodsmen we'd become.

bunnies on a rampage

pictured: a duck among the greens // enough lambs quarter to feed a beast

The garden here isn’t so large. There are different kinds of green things: like onions, chives, wild spinach, cabbage, and celery. But those are just the things that have been planted. Nestled amongst the superior greens are other greens – things that are seen as worthless to some and worthmore for others.

Traditionally known as “weeds” these green things - lambs quarter, some broccoli related plant, some celery related plant, etc. – smell so deliciously fresh and juicy, and are packed full of nutrients. So, it’s these kinds of green things that are prized in the urnatur garden and are celebrated with a good grab, snip, cleanse, and boil – and then are frozen for less green times.

And of course as we pulled lambs quarter for the eating, we snacked a little, and I couldn’t help but imagine myself as the happiest bunny ever. Surrounded by goodness that’s free, plentiful, and so wonderful.

“this is probably the greatest place I’ve ever been…in my entire life.” – a.c.h.

pictured: 'tough as nails muscles' by christina (no, it's not photoshoped...there's just a perfectly placed shadow)

Yes, urnatur is something special, especially when it’s “free”. Not only are we staying in a lovely room, drinking real alcohol (like other Scandinavian countries, the only alcohol you can purchase at local stores is only 2.5% - for the real stuff one must go to a special government store), and eating delicious meals – but we are learning so much (partially, well no, fully, because we kinda use hakan as a living, breathing wikipedia genuis.)

pictured: some old chinese lady mowing the lawn

And even on a day like today where we didn’t really do anything new – we mowed the lawns and raked hay – there were still some magical moments to soak in. take the knots in wood. Do you know where they come from, what they are, why they are? Well, after the knot incident at appelfabriken, I really wanted to know. And of course who better to ask than hakan. Upon asking him why knots come to be, he gave me a peculiar look, as though he really wanted to make sure he understood what I was saying (aka I asked something stupid). Then he went on to explan that they are where the branches grew from of course. And of course! I hadn’t ever made the connection that branches grow from deep within the tree’s trunk – making knots of different sorts. Hakan also told me about some special plant cells – conifers grow them on the outside – that are compressed and serve to direct the plant toward sunlight. These cells also help if you are using a spruce branch as a “weather stick” (apparently a homemade device that can “predict” weather – when it’s more humid the stick goes down, when it’s dry it goes up).

pictured: the wood fired hot tub (alex actually is terribly sunburned - this image has been overly color corrected to make him normally white)

The dutch journalists had their last evening with us tonight, and therefore wanted to take a picture of alex and I in the “wood fired bath” (hot tub) this evening. How lucky for us! A warm 40 degrees Celsius, with a fire constantly burning on the side, this felt great. So good, we ended up sitting in there like two lobsters (alex literally looked like a lobster with his sunburn) until we had pruney fingers and toes. Sometimes we feel more like we are on vacation than at work here.

pictured: lunch (potato salad with asparagus), coffee and cake break, stone fired pizza time

But, we’re definitely working much harder here than at the last two places. Longer hours and harder work. But we like it. Not just because of all the perks, but because it’s fun to work with hakan and ulrika and to learn all about the wilderness. We don’t even want to take a free day because it’s so great here. We’re secretly fantasizing that when hakan and ulrika grow old they’ll leave us this forest. Oh, if only.

Side note…last night hakan took us on a ride to search for moose (Sweden has more moose per acre than anywhere else in the world)! Unfortunately no moose were seen, but it was great to see the forest, and listen to hakan talk. Plus, we saw a baby deer – something that’s apparently quite rare here. And we learned that there’s a house for sale that’s probably just $20,000. Hm, hm!

pictured: two prunies being goofs

Finding our inner cowboy

Quick post tonight (laptop battery is nearly dead and the internet connection drifts).

Pictured: alex prepping the spruce branches // spruce branches twisted into nature’s fasteners // the fence we are building

Pictured: lunch made from weeds // dinner made from more weeds // dessert made from a combination of sami (sweden’s natives) and ulrika recipes

We are breathing animals

pictured: a biodiverse forest // prepped spruce branches

Today we were welcomed again by a happy sun and cool breeze – perfect weather for the day's first mission – to pick more weeds for the evening’s dinner as well as to preserve (via freezer) for later in the season. Unsure of what the name in English is (and at the moment I can’t even recall the Swedish name) these herbs were housed with many tasty others. Imagine a place where moss grows on rotting stumps, wild peas flowers taste of the most purest flavor, and strawberry plants await their fruiting cue. This is urnatur, and this is where we were finding tonight’s salad. Both alex and I felt as though we had stepped into some fantastical land where we were free to be the scavenging animals that we once were.

Then it was time or a lunch break!

pictured: lunch - weed and spinach salad with walnuts, artichokes, and brie

The second mission for the day is one that will continue into tomorrow and actually started yesterday – to build a new, traditional style Swedish fence from two types of trees: juniper (the vertical posts), spruce trunks (the horizontal “fence”), and spruce branches (what holds it all together. In order to prepare the wood for fencing, lots and lots of axing was needed. And having never used an axe before, alex and I naturally weren’t the best woodsmen. But after sharpening a few juniper posts into what looked like really big pencils, we started to get better and better. And later on we had to remove all branches sticking out from the spruce branches with a gentle glide of the axe. What’s really neat is that tomorrow we will heat the now nearly naked spruce branches in order to make them flexible – thus able to be used like rope and hold the fence together. Crazy old ways!

pictured: alex taking a swim in the lake

pictured: mini island adventure - bird's eggs // alex with boat // mossy green things

pictured: alex's first row boat excursion

Then it was time for an after work break, including a row in a canoe (alex’s first) and a dip in the lake (an alex only adventure).

Then it was time for dinner!

pictured: dinner - alex's vegetarian dinner // lamb from the farm (one of the tastiest meats i've ever had // rhubarb pie for dessert

We are so lucky.

pictured: alex showing off his "working muscle" (apparently what all farmers have)

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