Goodbye 2020, can not wait for 2021

 

Just a little about the old year because it's not making sense to say to much about this year. The only thing I can say, I can not wait for the new year to come... 

What a year... 2020. What a beautiful dreams we had, a lot of great plans we all made... Old dreams 2020. Nothing came true. Most things got cancelled. Our lives stood still. We never expected it to be a year like this. We never believed it could be like this, it would ever happen... but it happened. It was very confrontating. To meet yourself. No one to  blame. Just deal with the things happening. Make the best out of it. Find out what is important for you. I learned to be happy with the small things (with the ones I love around me), go back to nature and my garden and just feel happy. Not only chasing money, buying more and losing your self. We need to respect Mother Nature much more, learn to live more in balance with Father Earth. Bye bye 2020!

Hello, welcome fresh and new 2021... New time for making new plans, new dreams and new memories, while Corona is still moving around. We need a little patience but there is hope and light in this year. We wish you all to stay safe, take care of yourself, give love to your nearest and dearest and the other ones around you. Belief it can happen, it will be better, never loose hope. We wish all the best to all of you, to be open to each other with lots of warmth and kindness. It doesn't cost anything to be kind and friendly and it can make your day. May all our dreams come true. Hope to meet you again...

For now... let's shoot away 2020 💥

God Jul och Gott Nyttår från Småland Sweden

Best Christmas wishes and a very very good new year filt with love for every one we know. We hope you can share the warmth, love and cosines with your dearest family or friends (not only with Christmas). It will be a very different Christmas then other years. Hope you try to be creative, to arrange something within the strict corona rules. Like we will do also. Think we will meet some people outdoor for a walk, or have a hot chocolate outside together, or maybe even have a grilling. Good luck!

But, when looking on the bright side, it's inspire to celebrate in another way you did for (too) many years. New traditions brings new energy too!

Christmas is coming soon

 

I think Christmas is coming soon...

I love the Christmas Atmosphere... the lights, the candles. The songs on the radio when you are driving a car in boring wet winter weather, hoping for some snow. Or the smelling in the kitchen when you are baking wintercookies (like the very Dutch Speculaas you normally eat with Sinterklaas). It's like taking a warm bath in cosines and warmth with a heart full of love. 

I have been working in my new created workshop. A place where I can create without any restrictions. I can leave all the mess when I want to anytime. The only thing, it's very cold inside. But when I'm working there I'm very happy. The only thing I need to make is a natural outdoor wreath. The one you see above, is made on a round wire, wired with steelwire. The one beneath is made on a strowwreath, it has more body, looks a little more massiv. Also OK when you want to have outside on a very big wall. This time I only used varietet Christmas greens, some (bought) moss and some whitewashed pine apples. So now my house i ready for Christmas... A little bit different from last year:  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. How did you prepare?

First Adventsday

 

It only takes 4 Sundays before it is Christmas Time. Last weeks we still have been busy outside but now it's time to prepare the inside to have it as cosy as possible together with the people you care about. We started to make some Christmas Decorations and most important to create some extra lights in and around the house. A lot of people have the tradition stairs, which we really don not like. We put some Christmas stars in the windows and burn some extra candles, it makes it already very cosy inside. You will need them the whole day this days, because it won't lighten enough outside. It feels very good to stay inside (except the daily very healthy walk outside of course). 

Below you see a very traditional Advent decoration, with the 4 candles. You have many styles, I prepared my own one with Christmas green. You start the fourth Sunday before Christmas (mostly around the first of December), every week you light one more candle. Just before Christmas you burn all the four candles. You see, we started with the first one today...

Do you want to know what we did some years ago at the same time? Just take a look. You're welcome for a sneak peak...

Grandma's Winter Cake

Longing for something heartwarming, spicy and sweet? This is the perfect (and very easy) recipe for wintertime, when the weather is grey, boring and it's getting dark early. You just need some a tasty cake with spices and whipped cream to warm you. I'm sure your grandmother would have made it for you when she had known it...👵

This ingredients you need:

• butter 
• breadcrumbs
• 3 dl flour
• 1 1/2 dl sugar
• 1 ts cinnamon
• 1 ts grinned cloves
• 1 ts grinned ginger
• 1 ts baking soda
• 100 g butter
• 1 dl unsweetened cream
• 1 dl milk
• 1/2 dl sugar syrup
• 2 tablespoons cranberry marmelade

How to make it:

• Put the oven on 175°C.
• Grease the form and put some breadcrumbs on the bottom of the form (1,5 liter)
• Mix al the dry ingredients in a bowl
• Melt the butter and mix it with all the wet ingredients.
• Put the wet and the dry ingredients together and stir it easily (by hand not mixing by machine) and put it in the form
• Bake the cake (low) in the oven in 40-45 minutes
• Start eating the warm cake... jummie 😋

Do you like sweet things? You need to try this one: Kanelbullen

Something to hope for

I'm so happy I have a lot of fantasy, creativity and interests. As a child I learned to use my fantasy and enjoy myself... Even now, when I have a lot of time for myself (because of Corona a lot of things closed down) I sometimes have too much ideas at the same time that I need to create some more focus. It's hard to imagine people get bored now because everything closed down. I know, for me it was more easy that time because I grow up in a smal village, for long time without any brothers and sisters and there was no internet, no mobile phone and no dvd in the car. I played outside in the garden or in the woods most of the time. When I was inside because of bad weather I started being creative. With writing, drawing, cooking, making lemonade, wine or cakes, designing houses, gardens or planning fantasy holidays. The only thing you need is some space, something you like and belief in your talents what ever they may be. Because when you like something very much you can loose yourself in it, you will forget the time and won't have time to get worried or bored. They will have to call you several times when dinner is ready....

This, when we have to step back because of the Corona pandemi in Europa (and lockdown everywhere), is a good moment to go back to basic again and find your talents, creativity and yourself again. Even in Sweden we have very serious rules now. But we live in Sweden in the woods, nobody around so we have a lot of space around the house and a very nice house to spend time in. We realise that's a very comfortable position, not everyone is in. We decided already we will start painting and decorate all around the house. When it's not possible to travel to our family in the Netherlands we will create a Christmas Home ourselves. We will prepare the garden outside as much as possible (depending on the weather), create new ideas or make plans on paper for next garden season. In between we bake our own bread and granola. And last but not least, we will go and sport a lot, inside gym and yoga and outside walking ans running. Because most important of all: be healthy (take good sleep, eat healthy and keep sporting no matter what weather).

I already started to paint some furniture I want to sell on the digital market next months. Last but not least, we want to make and finish a businessplan for our own small company for a open garden with small koffiecorner and plantmarket. In Sweden they call it "Trädgårdscafe" where you can have "Fika" (What's Fika) in spring and summertime and can visit a "växtloppis". We wanted to start it last year already, but then Corona came in between... and we stopped planning. We are not sure where it would go... and actually we still don't know. But let's hope it will be better one day...

Anyway, I will be busy next months. I hope, there will be one day finally, the world will be more normal again. I wish you the same. Good luck with finding your talents and creativity, it is worth it, because it will bring you lots of luck and satisfaction😍 

Autumn Colors & Halloween

Autumn Colors, now it's time to enjoy and fill your soul with the autumn colors and to harvest the year😄 - before winter starts. Last week I saw beautiful trees, with colorful leaves in strong orange and yellow... Like nature celebrating last days of the year. My eyes could really absorb the colors and it made me feel good. Untill this week I still had a lot of flowers in my Swedish garden (though a lot was eaten by the deer 😢).

Today I started collect some green and orange to make a nice arrangement for All Saints Day tomorrow and I felt the proces of rotting and melting away for wintertime already started. It was a big difference with some days before. It feels also a little like the end of the year... Days getting shorter and darker, weather getting more and more wet. That's not strange because because actually in northern countries, Gaelic and Nordic people lived with and from nature, with a Runic calendar (13th century) based on the sun. According this calendar it was the end of the year, the start of the winter. That's where Halloween (also called Samhain) comes from, the festival of darkness, based on the sun (solstice). Funny your still can find those names and celebrations today.

So the good thing is, only 1,5 month to go, then it will be lighter again and the days starting to be longer. Now it's time to go inside, inside your house, take some rest, think about last year (which has been very strange) about the good thing and the bad, for evaluation and make plans for the new year again....

Time for a Swedish Fika

 

What's Fika?

The most heard translation in Sweden is: "Fika is a Swedish word that you can translate as taking a break for coffee or tea and a bit to eat." But after some yours living in Sweden, I learned, it is much more than that. "It is not only an moment to relax, to catch up with your family and to laugh with your friends. It is part of daily ritual, a cosy escape or a refreshing pause. It is the time between meals, the place between destinations. There is always time for Fika." Mostly the Swedes drink coffee (they really drink a lot of very strong coffee) and they will eat something sweat, like Kanel or Kardemombullar (look here for the recipe: Kanelbullensdag in Sweden). Where? When you are living in Sweden you will find out you will meet the Fika everywhere, in your company, in some local trädgårdscafe (you can find all over the country at least in summertime) or in the local bakeryshop. 

Autumn Jobs to do

 

Time to prepare your garden for winter now! It's a little depending where you are living, the climate of your country, but also micro climate such as height, shelter, seaside or not, etc. For me september is the for exemple perfect time to move plants, mostly it is more natural moist so they can root before winter frost is coming.

Autumn Crocus (Colchis)

Autumn jobs to do now:

1. Have some fresh autumn decoration instead of summerplants in pots.
2. Move the plants you want to move or split (easy work less watering).
3. Clean the border for the last time (pick the weeds and cut back old flowers).
4. Put plants who don't like frost inside in a frost free place before winter starts.
5. Collect the seeds form the plants you like.
6. Order and plant some springbulbs for next year.
7. Look after your greenery: Harvest your tomatoes and plant your garlic.
8. Cut the grass for the last time, a little longer certainly not too short).
9. Cover the compost place with this last grass you just have cut to start the biological proces of breaking down.
10. Put on some lights in your garden.

Oeps: and for the people living on the countryside; prevent some plants from being eaten by the deer in the winter...my Sedums and Salvias are like a delicacy to them, so I put some iron around them to survive. Maybe I forgot something...? Look at my post last year!

New life for old stuff

I'm working on a new project; new life for old stuff... Like I said before I like to create, I like making things more nice... Years ago I met these candles, they got a new painting (chalk paint) and wax and now they are a decoration in my living beside off the fireplace.

In Sweden it is very common to visit a "loppis" (a sort of second hand shop in all sizes with all qualities of stuff), to hit a "fynd" a special treasure somewhere. A lot of Swedish like to visit them in the weekends, you will find them every where around the country. You really have to try it!

 

I found this table (above) somewhere some day. It was very nice shaped, in good condition but a didn't like the color. Time for a small make over 😀... I t got a sandy chalk paint with some traces of the old days, now it's decorating my hall. Last summer I found a new treasure, a small dark brown table with glass and green tapestry. As you can see below (it is a little bit hidden because of the plant). It will be one of my next projects, I will show it later.

This rocking chair was my summer treasure this year... Found it nearby with Anettes Loppis on Bolmsö. And no no, I don't think it needs a painting, it's ok like it is... for time being😜

Do you want to see more of my projects? Feel free and have a look: Make new stuff old

Growing Grandma's Plants or Mormorsväxter

I'm interested in old days plants, in Sweden they call it mormorsväxter. Maybe it is because of the nostalgic, good memories or the longing for earlier times? It maybe, but I'm also sure that the old plants often smell better and can still attract the bees (the modern flower versions often lose their fragrance and fertility).

I like to have my garden filled with old days flowers, that makes me happy. I live in a place on the countryside in the woods of Småland, where that old plants fit perfectly. Beside of that I like to go back to the old days, where the plants were very pure and less manipulated. So maybe a can collect and grow them again?

I started looking for them in my garden when I started exploring some years ago. Of course I found a lot of Daisies (Prästkragor), Hemerocallis and wild Acquileia. Something to start with, they grow very well on sandy poor forestground. Because it has been a garden for a long time ago I found also traces from gardening and growing plants. Like an old Sedum (Kärleksört), an old Hungarian Iris Variegata and a Hepatica (Blå Sippa).

You recognize the flower above? That's Linseed Flower (Linum usitatissimum), A plant who will delivered linseeds, linseed oil and linen as a textile for a long time. I found it last week, I hope I can grow more of it... Last years I started dividing grote hoge Campanula's (Stor Blå Klocka) and sawing Sweet Hearts (Dianthus Barbatus or Borstnejlika), Sunflowers and Sunhats (Echinaecae). 

I started also looking in other gardens...with friends and family, for seeds or parts of plants from old days to enlarge my collection. I went home to my old father (who's already 91 years old and had a garden for a very long time) to get some parts of the old plants. He learned me the names of plants and how to grow since I was young. mostly it is easy to grow them again by making root cuttings. I found some old species like an old Paeonia, a Cannah and a Geranium and I took small rootcuttings. Because it's end of summer soon, they will should up next year in spring. Now they have time to settle. I'm curious what color of flowers they will give next year...

You got interested? Take a look at my other pages: Grandsma's early spring flowers,

Spring flowers or Secret Garden.

Impressions of Tusen Trädgårdar Open Gardens in Sweden

What an inspiring day to meet a lot of people who love gardening, taking care of plants, do know a lot about plants or have briljant ideas about design or just enjoy the colors or the place. It made our day!

We didn't know what to expect for this day. Nobody knows the place, maybe they have seen us working every day? We are not really in a busy garden area... But we found out some people visited the place because of garden interest, they are driving often this road, or family went to school in this building. So yes, we got visitors nicely spread all over the day, very Corona proof😊

Finlandsrosa, you should smell it, it's lovely

This place really has a history. It's an old building, a former school (Read more about living in an old school in Sweden), there are art sculpture, nice old plants in a beautiful area. I like to tell about it or to find out more. The concept with some history, some art sculptures and grandma's plants (mormors växter på svenska) feels as a natural connection to this place which people are interested in.

We were happy to meet a lot of nice people and the good weather stayed (at least nearly till the end). It gave a lot of spirit, ideas and energy to go further on this road...

Thanks 😄

Mormorsväxt Gullviva (Primula)

Tusen Trädgården Sjöbygget Skola Open Garden Time

Next week, it is open garden time all over Sweden. It's called Tusen Trädgårdar. We will join this event and open our garden at Stegaryd Sjöbygget Gamla Skola in Vittaryd. The school and the barn were build in 1875. A lot of people form farms in this neighborhood walked to this place to go to school. It was not always that close to their homes. In 1939 they closed the school 
 and the place was sold.

We have been told there was a lady living for a long time, she loved gardening too. The garden was always full of flowers. But later the garden was forgotten and overgrown by a lot of trees. The sculptures the old lady made are still there and sometimes I found old days plants, placed them in the nursery and they started growing again. Like grandma's plants.

We want it to be a nice garden again and started working. It still needs time to grow of course, its not ready yet. Last autumn we had even to make a new sewer, it didn't really didn't serve the garden. But we hope one day it will be a garden full of flowers again, even when it is a challenge sometimes. Just now there is a hare who specialy likes Campanulas, Salvia s and Plox. They are all eaten just now.

But anyway, we live in the woods and we like to share our work to any one who is interested. So it's time to open up our garden for the first time. You are very welcome on the 28th of June 😊

Grandma's Swedish Early Spring flowers

Early spring it starts in our garden with wild Crocus and some later (Mars/April) with "svenska sippor". That means vit sippa (Forest-Anemone) , blå sippa (Hepatica) och vårlök (Ornithogalum), as you can see above. I'm always very happy to find some Hepatica's in our garden. Because it was so grown over, you wouldn't believe they were still growing. I'm making a little more place for them now, I protect them against the strong spreading and killing Sevenleafs. But it is getting better and better, after some years.

Fritillaria Meleagris

Viola Odorata

Some of my favorites are Fritelaria Meleagris, (Kungsängsliljor in Swedish, Lapwingflower in english) the brown and the white one, I really like them. They are so beautiful and so vulnerable. And they actually are. I think we had a hair hiking around (we live in the Swedish woods) which really liked this ones too. I was lucky I discovered in time, so I could save the other ones from being eaten. But they will flower next year. They need to stand in an wet area, best is in the gras.

Spanish Hyacint

Myosotis - Don't forget me

The spring flowers start every year again, no matter what. It makes me very happy. Nature just going on. No matter what i do or think. I try to create within the nature. A little going by the flow, what is nature bringing me. What is possible here? Which ground, is it sandy or clay? How much light they need? What about moisture? And then try to combinatie with colors, flowering times, leaf sorts, structure... It is like making a painting. In the grandma's style with a special touch of me.

Soon the other Spring flower will come...

DIY Natural Healthy Granola recipe

My favorite natural, very healthy and colorful granola recipe is has been created by doing it very often. It tasted and smells really fantastic! You have to try it yourself...

You need:
5 dl rye and/or oats grains (2,5 dl mix is the best)
3 dl grinded cocos
1 dl pumpkin seeds
1 dl sunflower seeds
2 dl coarsely chopped hazelnuts
4 ts  cinnamon powder
2 ts cardamom powder
1 ts kurkuma
1/2 ts salt
2 dl honey
2 spoons water
3 dl mixed dry fruits (for example my favorites russin, mango and goji berries)

How to fix it:

• Put the oven on 175 degrees
• Mix all dry ingredients except honey, the mixed fruits and the pumpkin seeds
• Add the water and mix the total
• Put the mix on a baking tray and spread half of the honey above it
• Roast it in the middle of the oven for 5 minutes
• Take it out, shuffle the mix and put the other half of the honey on it
• Put it back again for 5 minutes each time and take it out and shuffle again.
• Ready after 5 minutes and mix it
• Take it out of the oven
• Add the dry fruits and the pumpkin seeds
• Let it cool down, some time.

Total baking time is about 15 minutes, it shouldn't be too dark then it gets bitter.
Delicious as a cereal in your morning yoghurt!

After some time you will make your own favorite recipe out of it, bij trying, changing and making it better each time 😋 Good luck!

Dreaming about plants

Today we have the perfect time to dream about gardening. When you have the Corona virus moving around and the weather is not as good as last weeks. T too bad for getting out and do some garden jobs outside. So today I made a small garden design for my neighbors. Just a circle of plants in the middel of a nature garden in Småland Sweden. A beautiful, flowery spot the year around without too much maintenance. With plants who can stand heavy hot sun from the south but also severe winter days in Swedish zon 5, so hardy as well. (oeps Sweden has its own numbers in climate zones, warmest is 1 and coldest is 8)

I love new creations in the garden, like painting with plants. I love to see nature growing, it makes me happy. It is always going on, no matter what happens. Whole my life I felt the connection with gardening and plants. My father told me all the latin plant names, as if they were Dutch common names. I got used to it. But it also filled my heart with pleasure. I can forget everything, working hard to maintain or just dream how to make it look better.

And you know what? We want to make it our future!

DIY Creating a hide away

We have been very busy last months. We got a new sewer. The result was a totally ruined front garden. We got tree concrete reservoirs for the sewer and a infiltration bed. No one could miss it, even if you tried very hard. The must ugly things I have ever seen in my garden. So now we try very hard to hide away this thing. It was a though job to do. But when we see the result of today, maybe the garden is even looking better then before.

What did we do? Actually we changed the ground, so you will not see it is an infiltration bed anymore. We higher-ed up the ground where the concrete sewers were. We created a hat out of willow and birch. And created a oval border with plants around it. We love it!

Do you want to see what happened before in our garden? Take a look here 😃

What are weeds in your garden?

Viola Odorata

The most important to know is, that -objectively seen- weeds don not exist at all. Because they are all plants anyway. Actually it is a very subjective view on a certain location where certain plants are not welcome in the view of some one, for exempel a farmer, a florist or a gardenista.

All the plants you can buy in a garden center are found one day long ago somewhere in the world and brought to Europe. They were collected at first, afterwards they tried to breed them to get stronger, bigger or more colored plants in flowering and leafs. Some plants came from warm countries and never got used to the cold in northers Europe. Now they are sold as summer plants for one year or for your greenhouse 😊

The definition of weeds for me are plants who appear growing of other plants, or are killing other plants in my garden. My biggest enemies are Sevenleaf (Umbelliferae) and an invading grass called (Elytrigia). They invade by making underground roots as far as possible, special into the roots of other plants, so it is difficult to take them away. But when they take over, they will kill all your other plants. So I spent a lot of time digging them out. 

Today I'm living in Småland Sweden since 2016 and I want to create a natural garden on the countryside. A little like Piet Oudolf, a very famous dutch garden designer abroad. With a wink of course. Not totally natural and wild or formal but something in between. Something from nature and something from me. Colorful all year, easy to maintain.

It takes time and a lot of money before I realize this beautiful garden with one can visit for fun.
That's why I''m very tolerant for plants coming up spontaneously (because they grow very well on this location) and nice to see as well without being aggressive. Like wild daisies, combines, violets, forget me not, forest anemones and honeysuckle.

forget me not

How to recognize weeds in your garden?

You can learn by looking to small plants and the way they grow as often as possible while maintaining your garden by hand. You will only learn bij trial and error. It takes time of course, but it also brings a lot. Your garden, which you are growing yourself is a gift. With some time and attention it will pay you back with a lot of joy and relaxation. It shows you the natural life, the seasons of the year and how to handle real life. Today i heard a very good quote: to take care of a plant is to take care of yourself 😍