New blog

http://deepinsidetheforest.blogspot.com/

Arctic farm for sale

(...sold...)

It`s been a while since I wrote in this blog. It`s because things didn`t come out as we wanted. Now we are going to move away from this Arctic dreamland. Not because we want to, but because we have to (due to family reasons).
So, we need to go to the south of Norway. To a completely different climate. To an area where there`s no need to pull up an outdoor wall against the cold, eastern wind. Where there`s no challenge to make the potatoes grow. And there`s no snow during the national day, the 17. of may. It`s no joke. I will miss it.
The distance between the beach and the mountain is just a few, hundred metres. So, we got i all, here. I have lived here for 20 years. After so many years, the climate and the seasons became part of my blood.
And the people. One afternoon an old lady was hitchiking along the road. You will almost never see old ladies hitchiking in the south. But you find them here. Things are so much more simple here. You help people. And people help you. That`s not necessarily the way in the south.

And worst of all. We need to move from our farm. With the most spectacular view of the Varanger fjord. With all its seabirds. You can watch whales and dolphins. It`s full of all kinds of fish, not to forget the wild salmons that you are allowed to catch from the seashore of the farm.
In just one day you can catch all the fish you need for a year.
We had so many plans for this farm. So, we hope that someone else can continue what we started.
Those who take over will receive quite a lot;
-40 acres of land with a great variety of Arctic plants.
-Two houses, one of them a fantastic thimber house from the 1700.
-A barn and stable
-A sauna, garage, ability to smoke salmon, potatofield, strawberryfield, chickenhouse, and a long, fine, private beach
-Access to fine fishingareas, ability to catch wild salmon, close access to hunting, fishing and berries in the mountain, ability to fetch firewood just above the farm
-You can use the farm into ecological tourism or just as a place to live with lots of space.
-You can have horses, sheeps, chickens and other animals as a hobby.
-You can also buy a tractor, all the equipment you need to run the farm, a fine, wooden boat with an engine, salmonnet and other fishequipment and lots of other equipment and materials.

If youre interested, you can watch more in my Norwegian blog, you can see more pictures of the farm in my photoalbum, you can watch a panoramapicture in my photosynth, see more information at the webpage finn.no (Norwegian language), see the Google map of the area, or make direct contact with the salesman; vza@advokathuset-vadso.no tlf. (+47)78941400.

We have known for about a year that this might happen. And it seems like it is the end of this blog, since my thoughts will no longer come from Varanger.
But hope to see someone taking over.

It takes time

Sometimes it takes more time. For long I didn`t write in this blog. Now it`s adjusted, so that you can find some new articles below, showing our life for the last months. It has it`s reasons why I didn`t write it before. Maybe it was the moon.

So it happened

At the 17. of march 2008 it happened.

Up against nature

The small house seem to stand up against all natural laws. Without thinking about how special it realy is.
I went for a trip in the late winther. The light was back. But still a lot of winther and wind. And the house stood up against it.

This house has been like this for a long time. And it seems happy about it. Having company with some red colour at the south.

The secret behind an old reed organ

The neighbour and I was trying to repair an old organ one night. Then we discovered a secret. Inside it was glued with a German paper from early 1900.
How this organ came all the way from Germany to Arctic Norway, we can only guess. Maybe during the Second World War. We also found an inscription, saying that the organ was last time fixed in 1957 by a local.
Now it needs a new repair. But we didn`t manage to fix it. However we hope to make it. One day.

With the speed of light

This is how it might go when the neighbour four year old and his father comes in great speed. Making the horses very nervous.

From a proud rooster to coq au vin

So. Then it`s done. Life is taken for the first time at our farm. I was nervous about how to deal with it. But it went okay. Almost like taking a fish up from the ocean.
We had three roosters in our henhouse. Too many. And one of them was quite a bully with the hens. So it was about time.
It was quick. From being a not too worried rooster. Until suddenly be without a head.
My wife kept a distance from the slaughter, riding on her horse.
Well this might seem to be quite brutal. But what is the best? To go to Mcdonald eating hamburger, not knowing the fate of the animal you eat? This is more honest. To kill your meal. Knowing that the animal was having a good time until the death.
So then it was lying at the kitchen table. Being mixed at a French recepy; Coq au vin.
Then the feast. Using a very fresh meat. And it tasted very good.

Playing in darkness

I was out playing with the five year old during the dark winther. It was hide and seek. Using headlights.
"Give a sound". He was not too patient when looking for me.
Then we went for the sledding boards. Theres nothing like a race in the darkness.
Ready, steady go.

It`s a bit jumpy

This happened last winther. At the dark period.
The farm has given us quite a lot of challenges. It`s our first year at the farm. Everything is so new. We had to try and fail. It felt something like Dantes journey down to hell.
It started with a fire we put up at the seaside when we tried to get rid of some old mess. The smoke went the wrong way. Right to the neighbours house.
We were too late all the time. The boat was supposed to be brought to shore long time ago. But we didn`t manage until very late at the winther, when it was all dark.
The boat was tied out in the sea. I had to walk out to it. I borrowed a divingsuite. When I was out there, I realized it was madness. It was all dark. It was quite windy. And the sea was high. Very high. Up to my neck. On top of this I borrowed my wifes very expensive fox hat. After all it was very cold. But the hat blew off.
I managed to get onboard the small, wooden boat. Got it to the shore. And I was alive.
My next project was to park the tractor at the garage. But the door was to low. "Scratch...". The excaustpipe and the roof of the tractor almost broke off.
A friend of me helped me to rebuild the door. So from now it`s no longer too low.
The snow came. In huge amounts. I started to clear it away with the plough and the tractor. But the wheel came into a hole. It turned out the be a big hole. Where our, how should I say, our leftovers were stored. The tractor got clear. But the hole was full of materials and broken woods.
Soon the toilet was stuffed because of this. I had to put on the diving suite again. This time to dive into this hole. My life would never be the same after that.
During the late winther it blew up to a storm. A very heavy one. We were inside, eating supper when we heard a thunder. It came from our trampoline. That was lifted off and flew a hundred metres just upside our house. We should have taken this trampoline inside long time ago. But ofcourse we didn`t until it was too late.

Someone might wonder what we are doing at a farm with all these mistakes.
But there has been some progesses too. Which is too dull to write about. And all the mistakes is what we learn from.

Christmas lights at the neighbour and us

In the dark winther of the Arctic it gets very...yes dark.
And finally we have given in, buying some colourful christmas lights to put outside.
The pressure comes from our neighbour, living som 500 metres away.
His farm is lighten up all over.
We`ll never manage to compete his ligths. I think. But maybe. One day...

New business in town

Ebenezer, a refugee from Liberia, now living in our Norwegian, Arctic town Vadsø has opened his shop.
This has happened in a country where we for a long time thought that salt and pepper was the only spice that existed.
But the world gets smaller. And the Norwegians in the Arctic world finally knows a thing or two about it. Therefore, quite a lot of Norwegians comes to the shop of Ebenezer. To buy stuff we wouldn`t get elsewhere.
Hope he will succeed.

Treasures from an hidden past

My neighbour found a small box in an old playhouse at our farm one of these days. He was restoring the house into a chickenhouse.
Then the box came forth. Inside there was a big amount of treasures.
I suspect that the children that was hiding the treasures away, must have been adults long time ago. From the family that lived at the farm before us.
And I`m thinking about the moments. When the father was unable to shave when going to a party. And that he might have wondered for years where those cuffs went.
Now; As one chicken, tthree hens and two roosters have moved into the small house; The mystery is solved.
I think I will the father these treasures as a Christmas present.

Vadsø Skyline

It`s not a big town we got. But thanks to a closed fishfactory and the passengerboat "Hurtigruta", we can see it on the skyline when we wake up in the morning.
Talking about the "Hurtigruta". This boat carries valuable cargo and tourists all along the Norwegian coast, from Bergen to Kirkenes. For locals up here, the boat is very important. A kind of lifeline.
Every morning when I see her, I would like to travel with her. To go onboard, into all the lights, having a luxurious breakfast. And not the everyday work.
But then. Life goes on. And the everyday work calls on me.

(And; I`ve got a new camera. No more just pale mobile phone pictures. But a camera with a superb zoom. So that I can almost look into the ship to see what the tourists eat for breakfast.)

Bicycle on the road of death

I`m still using my bicycle to and from work. Two miles every day. It`s getting darker. But using blinking lights and reflectors, it works in the traffic of cars.
And it`s a nice feeling to be into the darkness, having only the small light to find my way.
But. This autumn it is the year of the lemmings. Sometimes there`s just so many of them. And they are running around. Into the shops. Crossing the road. Resulting in many flat, dead lemming corpses lying on the road. Forming a mosaic pattern.
The cardrivers may not pay them with much attention.
But from the bicycle, you get a completely different perspective.
They keep on running out in front of my bicyclewheel. I try to avoid them, men sometimes it is inevitable. So often I hear a "squeeeeeek" under my wheels.
Oh, well. Nature get`s a bit closer on a bicycle. That`s for sure.

Didjeridoo and russian electronica at the thimberhouse

We have some special days at the farm. There is music. From a didjeridoo. Russian electronica. Nordic hymns. African percussion. All mixed together.
And the rehearsals is at our thimberhouse at the farm.
You should come to the concert...

Also see Verden i Varanger and krabbefestivalen.
The artists;
Zotora, Ed og Lys, Daap, Josef Bahie Dago and Jan Hofseth.
Also Ebenezer and The Liberaters.

Food and ink makes mushroom

This is a mushroom which is one of my favourites.
In Norwegian it is called "matblekksopp". Directly translated as "food-ink-mushroom". Due to the fact that it developes a juice that looks like ink if it gets too old to pick. And at the same time you can eat it. As food (do you follow?).
People around this Arctic area don`t normally eat any mushrooms. They are very sceptical to it. That leaves more to a southener like me. And everyone passing by in their cars were looking at me with big eyes when I jumped around the field, picking the loads of mushrooms.
And yes. It is very tasty. Like velvet. Very nice to mix with cream, garlic and spices into a stew.
Bon apetite!

Potatoes and firewood

So. I`m writing about potatoes, again. This is my subject every autumn.
Still. It feels so good to dig them up. Shake some dirt. Revealing a treasure.
I washed some of them and put them on the kitchen table. It`s a piece of art. Almost pity to cut and fry them.

Then I had to cut the firewood. I like it too. Preparing for the cold and winther.

To hear the rhythm from the saw.

While the horses were silently eating in the background, the rest of the wood were divided by modern equipment. And everything thorough documented by my mobile phone/camera.

The Arsamakov-family may stay

For many years the refugee-family from Chechnia has been pulled back and forth. Their highest wish has been to stay in our small town.
But the Norwegian government wanted to kick them out.
They were sent from Vadsø to a camp in Oslo, and was supposed to be sent to a plane to Russia. But something came up, and they were sent back to Vadsø, to wait for their deportation. This has been very hard for them.
However, the bureacracy has been working very slow. The children of the family finally spent more years in Norway than in Chechnia.
They were given a lot of support from Norwegian friends in the town. it has been difficult to understand why children living in the country for so many years, should be expelled.
And finally, the government came to the conclusion, that families with children, spending a certain amount of years in the country, while the bureaucracy works to slow, may stay.

So finally. The government showed some kind of humanity.

We got children!

Finally it happened. Our two first children has been born at the farm. Two chickens which jumped happily around. A proud hen and even prouder rooster. Just the way it is.
Not to mention my own, swelling feelings.

Food of the mountain

They might not be so happy anymore, these two. But they are excellent food.
This is the first catch of our neighbour and friend.
The hunting season has started this autumn. At the same day as the election day, by the way.

Mysteries on the mountain

When I`m walking out in the nature, every human interference get`s mystical.
Like when two rocks are moved around, they look like a very small church.
or when two sticks points up, they look like a couple of....rabitears or something.
Well. That was on my mind one day on the mountain.

The mystery in the forest

Suddenly it was there, in front of me. I was going down through steep scree and thick vegetation when it emerged. A kind of enclosure, formed by natural positioned rocks and stones put down by some people. And an opening in the east.
But what was it?
Made by kids?
Not likely if it`s done lately. Don`t think kids of today would bother to go up in a thick forest to carry stones.
An old animaltrap? No, it didn`t seem to be so old, either.
Maybe a hideout for moosehunters? But are mooses capable to walk around in this scree?
Well, I hope someone can tell me what it might be.

Latest news:
Commentators on the Norwegian blog suggests that it is a machinegun-nest. Either from the second world war or from the local Homeguard.
Probably.

It`s been a nice day on the mountain

The hay is in the barn

This is a story of important science.
I have been walking around with a great fear lately.
Cause you don`t need much scientific knowledge to understand that rain is no good for grass that is supposed to dry.
And the last weeks it has been raining. A lot.

We are a relatively young (...well...) couple, new established hobby farmers, with two jobs and lot`s of other things to do. And we know an old, married couple who know everything there is about hay. The old, traditional way to dry it. They know it all.
and have helped us, showed us and given us advice. About a lot of things at the farm.
-Just give it two days with dry weather, then get it quickly inside, they adviced us.

Yesterday it was the second day without rain.
-Get it inside. Now, they insisted.
-Tomorrow it`s probably rain again.

So, after work we stressed ahead with the tractor.
We could smell and feel that some of it was wet and rotten.
I`ve got a hayfever. So soon I felt I had a kilo of hay inside my head.
But some was dry and nice. Especially the one the old couple helped us to put up on a stack. They were raking it in a way that made it very airy.

It went back and forth with the tractor.
At 2 o`clock in the night, we had finished.
Everything put inside the barn. Put up as airy as possible. Scattered with salt to keep it in good condition the whole winther.
We were so tired. Just a few hours until work again.

The next morning we looked outside.
It was raining. A lot.
So the lesson is: Just follow the advice of the old people.

The psychology of cloudberries

I went up the mountain one early Saturday morning.
Climbed up through bushes and rocks.
And was suddenly up on the flat mountain plateu.
So relieving to breath the mountain air and to watch the open scenery.
I started to search the berries. Found someone here. Someone there.
And suddenly...this huge amount.

Many of them was still immature. But things happen with me when this occur. The heart beats faster. the picking gets faster.
And when I look at the horizon, I see something disturbing. Two humans. Far away. And they are picking berries.
-Damn, damn, I was thinking.
-Don`t come here!

They didn`t come, but disappeared in the horizon.
So I finished and went back to the fjord again.

Going down, i met an old couple. They seemed so harmonic, walking at the mountain.
-Are you the one we saw at the cloudberryfield, they asked.
Yes, I answered. And got embarrassed since I almost had thoughts of murder up at the mountain.
They were so nice. Said it was still a lot of berries to find. And soon the hunt for mountain birds would start.
-You can come by our cottage and get a bird, they said.
I said thankyou, and went down the last bit of the journey.

Weather changes

What a day! Very warm. No wind. Temperatures like the south of Europe. The small birds in the threes. Hiding away from a fish eagle. There`s a lot of these eagles these days. We can see one or more every day.
Also, there are a couple of hares jumping around each evening.
Not so frighten.

Until a certain limit.
I picked a bucket of strawberries from my garden. And worked in the heat.
Talking about the weather; It`s constantly changing. Last night it was lightning and thunder. And heavy rain. One morning a thick fog around us. One day grey and eastern wind. Until it gets quiet and shimmering silver and blue.
Noe dull days around here.

Grass collection

Some are collecting stamps and coins. We are collecting grass these days. To have food for the animals during the winther. Some is stored in a modern way. Stored inside some big plastic balls. At another field, we have dried the hay on a rack.
This is the old, traditional way.
An old couple helped us. And all along, when people came by, they ran up to help. Some came and told stories about the old time.
So. This work made a lot of memories among people.

Beautiful evening, hard morning

It was such a wonderful evening. Sun and rain. No wind at all. And a shimmering rainbow.
Then. Early in the morning. It wasn`t nice. To stand at the airport, watching an important part of the life at an end.
But I cannot avoid it. It happens to us all, one day. And I should applaud the braveness.
Not far away there is more struggling. In the battle of what is up and what is down. Nothing else to do, but to keep it up.