10 things i'm loving right now

1.living life alongside my sister

inspirational knitting conversations in the sugar snap pea rows
dressing like twins without intending to
spending precious weekend time cooking up a storm... and kitchen boycotts

2. picking flowers and making bouquets for market



3. Sofia Karlsson
Our favorite Swedish singer, an absolute must-have in the cd player while doing those flower bouquets on friday afternoons. check out "Norr om Eden" on her site.

4. Spending every moment of my time (minus sleeping) outside, in the garden.


5. knitting

specifically, stripes seem to be the summer theme.

this pattern is the current project on the needles:



6. watching his belly grow bigger every day with all that grass


7. A visit from 2 very special "family" members from Sweden


8. Dancing

And having the joy of introducing something new to an old friend.


9. flea market finds


10. mountain lakes

i have some good excuses

I really do. I have been meaning to blog, wanting to blog, seeing a million moments every day i want to capture on camera and share with you all, but here is my schedule: up at 4 am. eat. work. eat. work. eat. bed at 9. and a slow computer. But life has been happening. Real life. Real, raw-milk-straight-from-our-organic-dairy-farmer-friend's-tank life. Life that includes popping sugar snap peas into your mouth while you're picking, and one that makes time for putting up strawberry jam. One in which your body grows strong, skin gets tan, and yes, maybe a little tan-looking from the dirt.



And we even make time for fun. Mostly fun centered around food. How could food NOT be the main excitement and subject of conversation as we work in the fields all day, surrounded by delicious inspiration?



I wonder how everyone's summers are going. I hear Uppsala had some rainy weather in the beginning of June, but hopefully it's nicer now? I know how important a nice summer is when the winter can be so....well, depressing? Not every day, but i remember those cloudy, dark, slushy days as being a bit tough to get through.

But let's not talk about winter. SUMMER is here, and on the farm things are in full swing. I am loving this lifestyle and learning so so much every day. And my convictions are growing even stronger that I deeply desire to raise chickens and grow food, perhaps sell flowers, and do bees? honey and candles? I'm not sure of the specifics, but it sure feels good to be a producer and not just a consumer. Here is a link with more farm pictures....they are from june when i was dropped off in Minnesota by my mom and little sister.

Minnesota news

Well, I meant to write about 3 weeks ago to say that I was moving yet again, and give all you precious readers a heads up. But the night before the 22 hour car ride just wasn't the time. And then I got here and it's all been a whirlwind. So this post will hopefully catch you up on the basics of where I am and what I'm doing. Then I can share smaller details of my life here every now and then. Which is all I'll have time to do I'm afraid. The blog most definitely must take the back seat to other things happening this summer.

So....way back in the middle of the cold, dark Swedish winter I decided that when I moved back to the United States I wanted to live with my older sister and dear friend Rebecca on her and her husband's farm in Southeastern Minnesota. Beautiful rolling hills, covered-in farmland Minnesota. I couldn't picture a better place to transition to life back in the States than to enjoy their friendship and work hard to help them realize their vegetable-growing dreams. They bought their 40 acre farm just a few months ago, and there is much to be done.

We wake up just a few minutes before 4 am (the 3:something is significant psychologically) nearly every day to be in the garden harvesting by 5 am. They grow an amazing diversity of vegetables, herbs, and flowers to sell at 2 farmers markets and through a CSA (community supported agriculture). No chemicals are used, just lots of hand labor, hand tools, and diligent weeding.

I hope everyone had a wonderful midsummer! I'd love to hear from my Swedish readers how you celebrated. Sadly I didn't get to dance this year or see little girls with flower wreaths in their hair, but I thought about Sweden a lot that day. I am teaching Rebecca a lot of Swedish this summer. She is a language lover and eager learner. It's very fun for me to keep speaking!

"To be of use"

To be of use
by Marge Piercy

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

"Magic Foot" makes for a magical night

Contra dance. If you don't know about it, or have never tried it, you must. Last night's dance was held in an outdoor pavilion. We had a roof over our heads which was edged with lights, a wooden floor, and no walls, bringing in fresh mountain air. The band was "Magic Foot" from New England. Four young guys playing fiddle, guitar, accordion, and drums. Am-A-zing sound. The night was like a blur. Lining up dances, reconnecting with old friends, spinning myself silly. And a post-dance dip in the pond. Can one do anything more invigorating, more smile-inducing? I think not. Check out this video on youtube for a peak at what it's all about. Many of the dancers on the floor are friends of mine, as is the talented fiddle player in the band.

something passed down, something handmade

I've undertaken 2 projects as of late. One is to copy down those recipes of mom's that I can't live without and find a little vintage wooden box in which to store them. I've already hunted at the flea market one Wednesday without success, but hopefully tomorrow's early morning trip will bring victory. This small task of going through her recipe box, pulling out those well-worn, stained index cards, and copying "summer pie," "apple dumplings," "strawberry pie" ...hmm i notice a pie-theme here...will save me countless hours and probably days of my life spent on the phone, asking mom for the same recipe over and over again, which I would then copy on a minuscule scrap of paper and shortly thereafter misplace. Not that I want those phone calls to end, really. It's a nice excuse for a chat, but I feel it's my duty and delight as a daughter to copy those recipes that my mother probably got from her mother, who received them from her mother...and there you have it; family history is preserved in the simple and everyday act of cooking.

The second project is this little "gratitude wrap," as it's been named by it's deisgner. It's a handy tri-folded wrap with 3 pockets on the inside to hold envelopes, paper, and stamps. A way to take thank-you writing and old-fashioned correspondence on the go. Don't look to closely at the photo, please. I'm really only just started to sew and my skills are depressingly few. It's a lot harder than it looks to cut a piece of fabric straight and carefully hem an edge without it ending up crooked.



So what about you? What projects, even the littlest ones, have you been able to spend time on lately?

the beauty of the nearby get-away

On Wednesday evening we scrambled to pack our bags. On my short list: bathing suit, trusty green wool sweater, books (Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, Bible, Lectures to my Students by Spurgeon), and various other things. Time of departure: 9:00 pm. Time of Arrival: 9:45. For 2 a half days the family took a mini-vacation at a friend's lake house, situated beautifully on the mountainside at the shore of lake Keowee, with a steep, leg-burning walk to the water's edge and a fantastic view of the blue ridge mountains.

Sometimes all you need is to change location to feel refreshed and filled with new energy. Even if all you do is tug your book from the porch at home to the new, awesome porch at the lake. ahem. The reading comes alive in a new way, especially as it is surrounded by such lovely activities as swimming in the still-cool May water, kayaking down long, secret coves, and exploring the local waterfalls. Oh, and eating. Why does food taste so much better after a day in the water and sun? We partook of steaks and red wine, homemade pizza with beer brewed in Greenville, and a "European breakfast" spread of cheeses and crusty bread.

Families, though they share a roof, can sometimes just miss each other during the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I haven't lived at home for any length of time for a few years now, and I'm realizing now that the dynamics of everything changed when all the kids turned into teenagers in what seems like the time it takes to turn one's head away and back again. You can't keep them in one place anymore...everyone has social plans in the evening. (except me...you can usually find me watching a movie with mom and dad or with my nose in a book:) So this lake trip was just what we all needed: family time, away from the possibility of someone leaving, with the great setting of a mountain lake as the backdrop of it all.