How to clean your fireplace door

This is really an easy job... it takes only some minutes. Just take some old ashes on a wet soft sponge and start cleaning. Take care it keeps wet while cleaning. Afterwards you take a kitchen paper and dry the window till it is clean. No use of aggressive cleaning stuff which will burn into the glass, no hard work but easy cleaning. I have been doing this a lot of times already this wintertime, it really works and nothing special is needed. Good luck!

Tips how to handle your winter dip

Remember the colors of summertime

Are you in a winter dip? Just pamper your senses...
When you are living in Sweden, the days are very short and dark, sometimes even very rainy and cloudy. It is not always easy, because you can feel it in your body. You are getting in the mood for sleeping whole winter time. I have some tips to handle it for you:

1. Surround your self with nice smelling candles, a winter fragrance parfum, some summer herbs, flowers or incenses, where ever you are...
2. Take some time off to have a spa experience, with a massage, scrub your skin, use a nice soap, you will feel the new energy, even though it has to be in your own bathroom. 
3. Try out and taste a lot of new recipes you may like, such as cakes, cookies or a new self made meal and save the best to make and share for Christmas.
4. Find some music your are in the mood for in this moment, go where the mood flows for a while, play it load or just very calm as long as you need.
5. Have a look in all the summer pictures you made, see the nice fresh colors and remember the memories, create a new album or wall paper to color your life with and make new plans for next year. 
6. Start a conversation from your heart with someone, while you have a big heartwarming herb tea, you feel the warmth of the candles, the burning fire and even your dearest friends and family around you.
7. Start creating Christmas decorations, before you realize, it's Christmas again😜

The best you can do, is to take out what fits you the best. And always realize, it is just the circle of life, it will be spring one day, in some weeks, just go with the flow...

Summer herbs in my kitchen

The Swedish Sewer Project

OMG my garden....😱 it is totally ruined. What a project. We need to make a new sewer, the government decided. It needs to be "trekammerbrunn" because we live close to the lake. I can understand your want to keep the water in the lake as clean as possible, not to pollute it. But we always were already very aware form the fact we live in nature, in the middle of the woods. So we didn't use chemical damaging products, only ECO friendly stuff. Beside of that it is a very expensive job, even more when you know the old one functioned without problems.  

After work....

This is the result just before winter is coming. We didn't know we had clay in our garden until now, I only met a very dry and sandy soil. The driveway, which I spent so much hours on to remove it from all the grass because it was overgrown, has totally disappeared. We need to repair as soon as possible the driveway, because it will be very soft and muddy in wintertime, when the snow is coming. 

my driveway after

We have been working on this property for 3 years already. It will take some time to restore it again by ourselves, without big machines and big money. But we need to see it as a project. Maybe it brings us something we never expected before, something positive.

Jobs to do in your October garden

Still flowering till the frost will come....

What a beautiful flowers, still in my garden. Typical autumn minded flowers like Sedum, Helenium, Gaura Lindheimerii, Hydrangea Annabelle, Autumn Crocus and Trycurtis. I'm enjoying it very much because I know, I have to say goodbye, every day it can be the last one, it can be frosty soon.

Some days ago it already started to get below zero. Only two nights, but all the flowers are gone. Hope to see you next year...


Jobs to do in October:

1. Cut the grass, but not too short. As long as temperatures are above 7 degrees everything is still growing. And mostly also fast because it rains more often in fall. When you cut the grass for the last time think about it. It shouldn't be too short so it can manage frosty times in wintertime. Very important, not only in Sweden.
2. Take inside the pots or plant out the youngsters. Some plants are not hardy enough to stay outside during Winter in Sweden. When they are in a pots, they are even more vulnerable for frost because they will gett more coldness around their feet. I took inside some of them (like the Gaura Lindheimerii). Other ones can stay outside when they are in the open ground. So I plated out some youngsters from the Black Currant, where I took some cuttings last months and they started growing in pots. 
3. Take out as much weeds as possible, as long as possible, when the temperature is still above 7 degrees Celcius and your hands and body can manage. Because the roots are growing fast, while you not see it. But in Spring, then you'll know. they are much faster then you are...
4. Plant a lot of bulbs, they are often extra highlights in your garden. I don't plant tulips, I like them but the deer and mouses as well... But that animals don't like Narcissus, Galanthus and Allium (they smell like onions because they are family). I mostly like the hardy bulbs who can stay in the ground for years. Like Scillas, they will increase anyway (when they like it at your place). All though the deer will eat the flowers, but I like them so much I took the risk and planted them anyway. Just take care in Spring when they come out. The weeds are growing often that fast you do not see the small and tiny bulb leafs coming out.... Mark them very well with names. I'm sure the bulbs will surprise you. 
5. And last but not least....Go inside yourself and prepare for the winter. It's time for fall, also for you. Go inside, make a tea with a heartwarming cake (Mormors Mjuk Pepparkake), light the candles, take a book and start making new plans for next season.

Kanelbullardag

Grattis! Did you know it's Kanelbullensdag today in Sweden?

Foto: Pixabay

Every year on the 4th of October a lot of people eat a sort of cinnamon roll. They sell around  7 million on that day. That means that 51% of the Swedish people are eating them, or get one on their job. They started with this day in 1999 to stimulate people to make homemade sweets and sell more butter, flour and yeast. The cinnamon roll is typical Swedish (1920) and is often eaten with the fika, having coffee and cakes. A very popular daily habit in Sweden. So when you are in Sweden one day, you have to try one, it tastes delicious!

You want to start baking? For 25 buns you need:
35 g (1¼ oz) yeast
100 g (3½ oz) sugar
300 ml (1½ cup) milk
1 egg
120 g (4 oz) butter
1 tsp salt
1 tbs ground cardemom
750 g (26 oz) flour

Filling:
100 g (4 oz) butter
50 g (2 oz) sugar
2 tbs cinammon

Glaze:
1 egg
2 tbs water
pearl sugar

Preparation
Crumble the yeast in a bowl and stir in a few tablespoons of milk. Melt the butter and pour the milk on it. Add the rest of the ingredients and knead the dough in a dough mixer for 10–15 minutes. Let the dough rise while covered at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough so it is about 3 mm (1/8 in) thick and 30 cm (12 in) wide. Spread the room-temperature butter on top. Make a mixture of sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it over the dough. Roll the dough the long way and cut the roll into about 25 slices. Place them with the cut edge upward in paper molds. Place on a baking sheet and let rise under a towel for about 60 minutes or until the buns have doubled in size.

Beat together the egg and water, brush the mixture carefully on the buns and sprinkle pearl sugar on top. Bake in the oven (220°C/425°F) for 5–6 minutes. Allow to cool on a rack.

September feelings in the garden

Love these flowers: Sanguisorba Blackthorn

It feels more wet again, it can be very cloudy and rainy all of a sudden. It can be very sunny, getting even little warm. A lot of mushrooms showed upp already. You can smell autumn i coming in. But the plants, the grass and the weeds, they are doing very well. Not too hot not too cold, enough water and temperature to grow a little more.

Atalanta on the Helenium

It keeps growing and growing...

lots of orange berries this year, they say it will be a cold winter...

Good times for having high tea inside, with grandmothers soft pepparkake cake, warm and tasty

September light, dark clouds and sunny in Sweden

Special tree that Juniper

Foto: Pixabay

Sometimes you see tree sculptures in the Smålands landscape. The coniferous trees or shrubs Juniper (or Juniperus Communis in latin or En in Swedish) is often seen in Småland Sweden. Mostly when they harvest the wood in Sweden, they leave the juniper behind. You really cannot mis them. I don't know yet if that has a reason....

I already found out that the oldest one ever found in Sweden (in Sarek National Park) was 840 years old. It can become 14 meters high and 1,5 meter wide. It is a very common tree in Sweden but it is protected in The Netherlands. I think because there are not that much left in the Dutch natural landscape anymore.

It is a small tree or shrub. It delivers special berry, which are not berries but a sort of pine appels. It takes tree years to grow and become blue. joke: when all the berries are ripe you can get all you wish.... (it will be never)

But did you know it has very special stories too?

From long times ago they believed the plant could protect against ghosts around the house, the stable and even around the accres to protect the harvest. It was also used to burn in the chimney or to clean rooms which were not warm in wintertime, to smell more nice and keep away the mold. The bark was often used to cover the floor and the branches for the smoking of meat and fish.

The trees is still very useful today. They use it as a part of medical supplement, to stimulate the kidney function, to clean the liver, to drift moisture of or to lose weight. But don't start eating this tree pure. Maybe you bought some bathing oil, big chance there was Juniper in it.

The berries (or actually pine appels) are used to make gin and aquavit. Or you can still use it when you make a special marinade for wild or sauerkraut. You can still buy it in the supermarket.
So I think it is a very special tree that old guy...so when you see one, think of this story 😇

Loppisrally Vittaryd Smaland Sweden

I really like to invite you...

Next week there will be a loppis rally again in Vittaryd and surroundings in Smaland Sweden. It is a very nice area to visit and you never know what you will find on your way 👀

It will be on the 18th of August 2019 from 10 to 15 o'clock. You can get a map with sellers with the Qstar in Vittaryd.

You want to see some pictures of last year? Please have a look here: Vittaryd loppis rally 2018
Vi ses in Vittaryd!

Lingonställen Sunnerbo Västra Småland

Do you like to discover nice and hidden places in Sunnerbo Västra Småland? Try this area!
They are all small businesses on the countryside. All specialists in homemade food, arts and crafts. Everything is produced in this area on a small scale. Meet the kindness of the people living around here, taste the products and let the arts surprise you. A lot of nice experiences and possibilities for some souvenirs to take home.

They have a special "lingonrundan"on the 3 of August. But of course you can also visit them later on another day. (Please check their individual websites, to see when they are opened).

More information:
Facebook: Lingonställen Sunnerbo Småland
Instagram: Lingonstallen_Smaland
You can also pick up the card with information and adress with the tourist information or on one of the locations. See you soon 😉

My 10 Favorites to visit in my neighborhood Småland Sweden

Systrarnas Lantcafe ör (Växjö)

Of course when you like nature you always can walk or bike around in the area where you are, enjoy the views on the lakes, take a boat or start grilling somewhere. But when you want to see typical Swedish places or enjoy something special, I
can recommend these places because I like them very much.

To eat and drink
1. Sussies Cafe (in the summer weekends from april till september)
2. Brunstorps Trädgårdscafé in Husqvarna (with a stunning view on Vättern)
3. Systrarnas Skogströms Lantcafe Växjö
4. Cafe Timjan Vrigstad

To see and visit
4. Sakletare Tånnaker
5. Bolmso Loppis in Hov
6. Anna's Kuriosa Hamneda
7. Ostregård Moheda
8. Klockaregarden Systrarnas Skogströms Lantcafe ör (Växjö)

Brunstorps Trädgårdscafé in Husqvarna

Be more active?
9. Isaberg Mountain Resort Hestra
10. Go fishing, walking or cycling and enjoy the beautiful nature (and meet yourself 😉)

OBS: The only thing you always should do it to check times of opening. Because it is very common to close restaurants in summer time or only to have opened in the holiday time of the Swedes.

Special Fishing Spots?
A lot of lakes in the neighborhood: Flyxen, Bolmen, Flåren, Vidöstern or choose the river Lagan, a real trout and salmon river. But: Don't forgot to buy a license for each of them!

Walking tips
I'm very happy to walk long distance paths. I started a part in Kalmar (Kalmarsundleden), we walked from Helsingborg to Sofiero Slott (around 6 km's) and we walked a part of Bohusleden in Göteborg (from Mölndal till Bratås). I can really recommend these parts. It is close to the cities and easy to go to the start and come back by public transport.

Cycling routes
Actually I never cycle but when you like it you can experience and explore Småland region very well while cycling. Echte fietsroutes zijn Bolmenrunt en Sverigeleden. Maar je vind ze in elke regio, zie de linkjes onderstaand.

Do you need more info about this region?
Lokalmatisunnebo.se (a lot of adress in the nearest area)
visitsmaland.se
visitljungby.se
http://www.visitvarnamo.se/en
https://jkpg.com/en/ (Jönköping)
https://www.destinationhalmstad.se/
visitkalmar.se