Grass on my stone wall

Purple

The color of the day in Svångemåla is purple. The meadow I, a bit pretentious, call The Field, is purple in many parts and so is my garden. Butterflies are everywhere and the bumble bees have to work hard to get their share of the available food. In many ways it is a wonderful time of the year but tomorrow a so called harvester is coming to cut down the trees that are now growing where the new road will be. Wonder if they know what is coming? The trees I mean...



On their way to the table!



Harmonious co-existence

Rhubarb part II

The 25th of May last year I wrote about my admiration for rhubarb flowers. This time I would like you all to take a minute to admire a rhubarb leave. Is it not wonderful?

Big birds do not fly in dense forests

Yesterday I was out driving on a narrow gravel road in the middle of a very dense forest. The speed was hardly much faster than I would have done on a bike and I really enjoyed the fragrances that came through my open windows when suddenly a big, very big bird appeared just in front of me. It was some sort of eagle but I must admit that I have no clue what kind it was. It continued to fly just in front of me for at least a couple of hundred meters, just like a rabbit that is caught in the headlights of a car. I was wondering why when I realized that it was just not possible for the big bird to veer off into the dense forest since it was too big. The space was not enough. I thought about it later and came to the conclusion that it is the same when you have a big idea. If the environment is full of narrow-minded people, where the norms are standing as close as the trees in a dense forest, the big ideas cannot come in but must follow the open road until they eventually are hit by a car or just fall down due to exhaustion. The Svångemåla proverb is:

"Big birds do not fly in dense forests."

Pigs, lots of pigs!

There are approximately 100,000 wild pigs in Sweden today and the experts predict that the number will grow to 500,000 within five years. It feels like Svångemåla is one of the hardest hit areas since you cannot walk very far in any direction without seeing where they have been digging for food. So far, they have only once ventured into my plot but they are coming closer and closer and my neighbor have had large parts of his garden re-shaped by the vandals. You might remember my fight with a badger but I must admit that compared to the pigs, it was nothing.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to take photos of the pigs since they are extremely shy, mostly move around in the night and have very good ears and noses. The best way to spot one, as is often the case when you are looking for animals, is to drive around and I will do that to be able to maybe spot one without hitting it. Collision between cars and pigs is, however, a growing problem and, considering the size of a full grown pig, I do not look forward to that sort of meeting.

Mushrooms

The rain has made the mushrooms pop up like...well, mushrooms. My absolute favorite is the chanterelle. It is easy to recognize and tastes fantastic. It is also no disadvantage that it is very easy to prepare. Just take some butter, salt and pepper and let them slowly stir for a few minutes before you put them on a piece of brown bread and enjoy them with a glass of beer. Food cannot taste much better!

Albino

It is not always easy to be different. I have experienced this many times, both in Africa and in Asia. One example is when my wife and I arrived in Beijing’s railways station 1987 together with a couple of thousand Chinese travelers. (3.5 million Chinese travel by train every day today!) My blond hair and light skin as well as the fact that I was probably half a meter taller than the rest, made me stand out like a ...European in China. This has also happened many times in Africa when I have been to slums and other places where white / pink skinned people are as common as black people are in Svångemåla. It has never been a real or serious problem but you cannot hide from curious eyes and it is impossible not to be noticed. I thought about this today, when I saw that my albino horseradish plant has once again dared to come up. I do not know how it manages the photosynthesis that I have been told needs chlorophyll but maybe someone can explain that to me? It is,as you can see, much smaller than its green siblings but beside its color, it looks exactly the same. It also made me think about the atrocities albinos in some parts of Africa experience but that is another story.

Amelanchier spicata (Häggmispel)

As I expected, the clouds brought rain, a lot of rain! It is good for most of the plants and trees and in particular the Amelanchier spicata I have planted to hide my garden from the planned new road. Its leaves have a surface that is similar to a newly waxed car and makes the water form wonderful pearls.

Clouds over Svångemåla

It has been a fairly rainy summer so far. I do not mind too much since I have very little that I absolutely must do outside but I do mind when we have lightning too close since it means that all sensitive electrical appliances as well as the phone must be un-plugged immediately or they will, more or less, melt and must be replaced. Cordless phones are particularly vulnerable and I have had to replace three sets as well as two modems. The above cloud is a typical sign that you must be able to read to live in a remote place like this. But on the other hand, it is also beautiful in the same way a poisonous snake or spider can be.

Bluebells or harebells ?

Just imagine if all those bells started to ring! It is the big bluebell season in Svångemåla and it would be absolutely impossible to neither sleep nor hear anything else since there are hundreds or maybe thousands of them around my house. But they don't and I just love them.

African proverb

If you climb up a tree, you must climb down the same tree.

Snails

It has been raining a lot recently and the snails are coming out in full force. I am not too concerned since it is mainly ordinary "forest snails" and not the so called "killer snails" that eat everything that comes in their way. They are still not my favorite animals since they are extremely slippery if you happen to step on one and they also leave long strokes of slime when they slowly move around in the garden, on the terrace and so on. On the other hand, I am sure they are nutritious food for various birds and other animals that I admire and am happy to have around me.

Wild strawberries on a straw

To many, the midnight sun is the what they think of when (and if) they think of summer in Sweden but to almost as many, wild strawberries on a straw is just as typical! Astrid Lindgren, and many other authors, have written about children picking wild strawberries (smultron) and put them on a straw and almost all Swedes have done it. It is a special feeling to do that and when you put them in your mouth and slide them off in one single sweep it is like an explosion of tastes!

It is a VERY good year for both wild strawberries and blueberries and I hope I will be able to pick enough to make at least one pie.

Hops II

Exactly a week ago I wrote about my hops and also showed you a picture of it. It is amazing what can happen in just a week! The lone sprout trying to make it without the support of neither the pole nor any other sprouts, has now been joined by several new sprouts and is continuing "up,up and away". It is a doomed endeavor but still something to admire. At the same time, the plant has started to branch out in a serious way and it is looking more and more like a tree. It must be all the rain and the fertilize that I gave it that is pushing it. You can draw a lot of conclusions from this and the most important one is probably that the top benefits if the ground is watered and given plenty of fertilizers!

Is this necessary?

Do you remember this picture from 2007? It is one of my favorites and I use it on my desktop. I thought of it today when I saw what modern forestry management does to our wonderful forests. In a few hours time a so called "harvester" can make the most peaceful and untouched old forest into something resembling a battle field that has been bombarded with heavy artillery.

I understand that the old days of strong men in boots and helmets, cutting down carefully selected trees have been replaced with huge machines that cut down and off everything that comes in their way in a matter of minutes. But still, is it necessary to rampage and destroy as much as they do now? Hundreds and thousands of square meters are left like enormous wounds for months and sometimes years before they are replanted or wild, green bushes and flowers have covered the ground.



These are not “before” and “after” pictures from exactly the same place but they give you a good illustration of what I mean.

Jasmine

Yes, I know, I know, you have seen my jasmine before but it is such an amazing bush and its fragrance is so lovely that I cannot stop myself from posting it once again. And no, the house in the background is not my cottage but a shed where I keep my fire wood and some garden tools.

Hops and making it to the top…

My hops have thrived, so far, this summer. The cold weather held the plants back a bit in the beginning of June but they have grown at an amazing speed the last couple of weeks. I have two varieties, one Swedish and one Austrian and the Austrian needs a bit higher temperatures before it “takes off” but both have now reached the top of the pole, which made me reflect on the similarities between hops and what it is like to make it “to the top” as a careerist.

On the way to the top, you get support from both the organisation / company (= the pole) and other staff members (= hops’ branches) but when you are up there, you are suddenly on your own and it is a lot more difficult to stay at the top.

Small is beautiful

It is amazing how many wonderful and amazing flowers we can see if we only bend down a bit and carefully study what is just in front of us! At least if you are in Svångemåla!



As always, click on the picture if you would like to look closer.