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Wwoofever
I am beyond excited. Tomorrow we’re heading out on our second (or first official) wwoofing experience. We’ll be staying with Vanessa and Marcus at Törnagården. I spoke to Vanessa on the phone last weeks, and she sounds really nice. In fact, she IS really nice – she got us in touch with friends of hers who will take us in after our stay at Törnagården – Antonie, Fabian, and their two sons at Fridslund.
It’s amazing how I sometimes feel like everything will always stay the same. No matter how hard I struggle, nothing seems to change – and then, all of a sudden, so many things just happen. Without me struggling at all.
I have been browsing the host-section of the Swedish wwoof-site like I normally only browse on etsy. I feel so inspired. There are so many people who sound amazing, so many places that look really beautiful. This summer is going to be amazing.
This may very well be the last blog post where I can claim that I don’t know how to milk a cow …
Here’s to not struggling for change, to just letting it happen.
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The time is now
I did it. I quit my job. On Thursday. In a way, this was bound to happen but it was kind of out of the blue anyway since I had always imagined that I would find something I’d rather do while working.Last week I realized that that wasn’t happening, and that maybe that wasn’t the way to go about things. I remembered my former room-mate in Germany, who had quit her job because she was too discontent to continue but she knew that she wasn’t unhappy enough to do anything about it unless she had to. So she quit, and a few months later she found the perfect job.
For me the realization came during a conversation with my good friend La. I kept going on about how I really needed this to be over soon … and suddenly I realized that I could and would have to make that happen myself. Then I went through a phase of anxiety over the conversation I would have to have with my boss. I dreaded it, and almost didn’t want to quit just to avoid it. It sucks when you feel like you’re letting someone down – and it sucks even more when someone else feels like you’re letting them down, and want to make you feel guilty about it. That was honestly the reaction I was getting myself prepared for.
At the same time all these wonderful perspectives and opportunities started coming into my life as soon as I had made that decision: going wwoofing (we’ll actually start next week, though only for a few days but still), the prospect of a house, actually by now it appears that there might be two … So by Wednesday night (the night before I was going to tell my boss), I was a wreck with all these thoughts in my head. I obviously didn’t get very much sleep. I prepared myself for The Talk with some of the tips that La had given me – most of all: to not let the conversation get emotional, to be compassionate but not make my boss’s issues mine.
So, on Thursday, I went in prepared for the worst reaction. I kept telling myself that no matter how this went down, as long as I did tell her about my decision, it would be fine in the end. It would be over a month from now. And then the most amazing thing happened: my boss was completely understanding, and happy for me. We actually had a really good, personal talk.
My last working day (in this job anyway) will be June 19. Excited to find out what’s next. It looks like I might actually be able to keep the resolution I made for myself – that I do not want to celebrate my next birthday in this apartment.
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I just opened my etsy-store! Finally, one loose end tied up! Yay!
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Recipe – Almond milk
Like I said, this trip inspired me. A lot. Our friend eats raw food and while we were there, so did Peter and I. I found eating raw food surprisingly diversified, digestible and filling. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t feel like I had to eat a lot to feel full – but for me that’s kind of a mental thing I need to get over. I am probably not going to go Green for Life, although I did find the book very interesting and sensible in a lot of ways. For now, however, I do feel like trying out some of the nutritious deliciousness our friend introduced us to.
My favorite – which I had tried and failed at before – was her almond milk.
Tastes great with the lupine coffee I’ve come to love so much. Here’s how it goes:
- Take about two cups of almonds (makes about five cups of almond milk, less if you like it creamier), and let them soak in water over night.
- The next day, pour the water out, and pour boiling water over the almonds. Only let them sit for about a minute, this is just so that you can peel them more easily.
- Rinse the almonds.
- Put the almonds into a blender, add a little bit of water at first, blend.
- Gradually add more water until you’re satisfied with the texture.
- I added nothing else when I made this this morning. Our friend usually put in a banana (both for sweetness and texture), sometimes some agave syrup.
As for the health benefits and more detailed information, I unsurprisingly found something on my favorite health/food/diy blog.
After they’ve been soaking. You can tell they’re beginning to sprout by those little „tails“. 
Easier to peel after you’ve put them in hot water for a minute. 
Voilà: plain almond milk. 
Lupine coffee + almond milk + cinnamon -
Living the country life
I am back from another trip. More inspired than ever! I do apologize, though, to certain friends (Lisa, you know who you are) who worried my offline-ness might translate to „something bad happened“.
Nothing bad happened – I was just hanging around somewhere without internet. You know, out there, in first life. Note to self: in the time and age of „There is no offline, there is only away from keyboard“, announce any awol from the virtual life (technically, is it „awl“ then?). At least for as long as there is no way to virtually transmit the bad smell coming from your apartment that might alarm your neighbors – who might not even care since you live in one of those anonymous big city shoe boxes – but not the ones who do care but don’t live close by. Another note to self: keep notes to self short…ish.
Our friend lives in this house. She spent her childhood summers here – when it was still her grandma’s house. Pretty neat, don’t you think? Anyway. Peter and I were visiting a friend who lives the way we hope to do one day – somewhere on the Swedish countryside, growing lots of her own food, with no stupid electro smog. There was no internet. It was beautiful. Not because or despite that fact. It just was. Although we were only there from Thursday through Tuesday, this trip was a real learning and healing experience – most of all, unsurprisingly, about myself; my current state (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, … in any way) as well as my wishes for my future.
This cozy little cabin was „our room“ for the time we where there. I realized that …
- … a life closer to nature and more self-sufficient is not only what I imagine I want. It is what I do want.
- … the difference between life in the city and on the countryside is not to be underestimated. My body had a hard time adjusting to physical labor (which does not always allow for ergonomic execution), my mind had a hard time accepting that I/we took so many breaks. I felt very unproductive, although our host did not express any such complaints – or any complaints at all. Here at home I want to get through with everything I have to do as quickly as possible, there you spread out the (more physically exhausting) work over the entire days, take it slow, take time for conversations, contemplation, simply being.
- … I am especially unhappy with my job here at home.
- … the difference between the life I am currently leading, and the life I want is huge. I had an episode of deep depression the second day when I realized that gap. I had no idea how I should get from one to the other, and this uncertainty scared and frustrated me. I still don’t know but I am hopeful now.
Liverleaf – let’s turn more to the light like they do 
Hm, something’s wrong with this picture. Oh yeah: the chemtrails. 
Nothing wrong with this picture! We copiously drank tea made from calendula and dandelion – both, of course, „locally grown“ as you put it these days. 
Calendula – love the sound of the word, too. 
Before they become sunflowers. Our friend is a raw-foodie – so she, too, grows and eats a lot of sprouts. Her windowsills are a lot less „mono-cultural“ compared to ours. That’s gotta change! 
Buckwheat 
Well these tomato plantss obviously got a head start. (Look at my itty-bitty one further down …) 
Haven’t been able to find out what „tråer“ means (could be Norwegian?), nor do I – despite my general nosiness – know what’s in that bag. Just think it’s pretty. 
This is in the little cabin. I finally know how to start a fire. Yay! 
If you look closely you can maybe pretend to see the birch juice we collected in this bucket. We had no intentions of juicing this tree but when Peter removed what he thought was a dead branch – well, it turned out that it wasn’t dead. Luckily, the branch broke in a way that there was just enough left to hang that bucket. Thank you, dear birch tree, you tasted delicious! 
Despite my vertigo I managed to paint some of the eaves. Apparently this is something you need to do the first few years to make these kinds of log cabins „weatherproof“. We used a mixture of linseed oil and tar, so no poo – and it smells really good, too. 
Our friend covers her flower beds throughout the winter with a thick layer of straw/hay to protect the plants beneath from the nip. We thought it was time to pull away the blanket and get the roots out of bed but the ground was still partly frozen. When we came home I was excited to see if any of the seeds I had sown had grown anything during our absence. The score: two tomato plants are sprouting and I can see the beginning of morning glory.
Like I said: teensy tiny. 
… unlike the mint. Peter says it’s the coffee grounds but I think he just says that because it was him who thought of that, and he wants all the credit for it. My theory: this plant is just amazing! Das könnte Dir auch gefallen:
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Planting the seed(s)
Besides uploading pictures and doing laundry, I also used my free day to finally do what I have been wanting to do for weeks but put off on accounts of the sucky weather – not that that’s changed but I’ve really had it! Yes, I sowed some seeds. Look:
All organic, yay! 
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*** As you can tell, I used egg cartons to pre-grow seedlings. Even felt compelled to make some labels. Here they are, in case you want plant labels in Swedish/German/English for cilantro, parsley, basil, nasturtium, morning glory (love the name), and tomato. I just printed the page twice and glued them together with a stick I made from cardboard in between.
We’ll see how this grows, I hope.
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Spring on the inside
The gray has been following me – when I was in Germany it was sunny at home (and gray in Germany), now that I am back, it’s graygraygray with – no kidding – snow (well, that was yesterday, but still). We’re not ones to give up so easily, though, so if Muhammed won’t come to the mountain (is that even how you say it in English or is this Swenglish?) …
Peter recently bought an air humidifier, since the air in our apartment is so dry we always wake up with what feels like a desert in our mouths. It was crap so he returned it and found something way cooler: plants that do the trick. Now, I don’t know what they’re called and so far I cannot claim that I can feel a difference but it definitely gives the apartment a more homely feel, don’t you think?
Disclaimer: I did not pick most of these plant pots, so I refuse to be held accountable for any possible ugliness (guess which one I really want to get rid off). The mint has been keeping up the spirit despite the grayness – maybe it’s the coffee grounds Peter has been feeding it with.
*** This is what the kitchen looked like this morning:
*** Bought some lavender yesterday. The girl at the flower stand told me I should put it in hot water. She told me the same about a gerbera I purchased. Never heard of this before – maybe there is such a thing as „trends“ in plant watering? Do you know anything about this? Anyway, the lavender:
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Long closed doors
Yesterday a friend shared one of her spiritual teachers‘ predictions on facebook:
„This week:
Long closed doors will open.
Walk through with joy.
Have a blessed week.
Love and light, Agni“Today I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t checked the e-mail account that I had set up for this blog in quite some time. Guess what: apart from about 70 wordpress notifications there was a message from someone who used to be a dear friend of mine, and whose not being in my life I had a very hard time getting over.
Here’s to joyfully walking through opening doors!
See any doors opening for you? Thinking about opening some long closed doors yourself?
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Bad Nauheim
The neighboring town (where I was born and lived for the first four years of my life, in case you weren’t wondering). We went there for a walk today. It’s a spa town, so it looks really nice, especially the park:
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Pizza buns
It has become sort of an institiution for me to make Swedish cinnamon buns when I visit anyone in Germany. But since my friends and I are meeting for dinner tonight (yes, you guessed right, this is a scheduled post – I am on the train to Frankfurt if you’re reading this right when it gets posted), and someone else is already taking care of dessert, I decided to make pizza buns instead.
The basic recipe and technique is the same, I just didn’t add any sugar this time, and instead of cardamon I used pizza spices. For the filling I took tomato purée, chopped up mushrooms and peppers. Topped off the buns with mozzarella cheese and salt. Et voila:
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