Summer Solstice

Our summer solstice was nothing fancy, but still very nice. And the weather is great these days. To me, the summer solstice marks the beginning of summer. So I try my best not to pay attention to the fact that days will grow shorter and nights longer from now on.


We collected seven different kids of flowers and put them under our pillow. Seven or nine different kinds of flowers under the pillow on midsummer night is said to make you dream of your future spouse.


We did our very first attempt on making fairy houses. This one is for the forest fairies.


And this is one for the garden fairies. - Or angels as T. call them. We’ll make more of these. And T. is checking regularly for signs of anyone moving in or staying over. Maybe we’ll make a fairy bed and breakfast? I wonder what fairies like to eat… (something sweet maybe, like honey?)


And in the evening we went to a lake nearby. Not to take a bath (too cold yet – about 15 degrees celcius/60 degrees F). Too cold for me anyway…) T. was just testing the water… And (of course) she fell and got all her clothes soaking wet.


So she got her first bath of the year anyway, and was totally thrilled about it.


And baby V. was happy in the wrap with daddy.

Our new residents

This is Kasper Kanin (Kasper The Rabbit) - nibbling on a branch from our apple tree. He is about 7-8 weeks or something now and is a mix of flemish giant and some french lop rex (not sure about the translation to English here - the Norwegian names of the breeds are "belgisk kjempe" and "fransk vedder" rex). Three rabbits came to live with us a few weeks ago - this is Kasper and his mother Marte enjoying the newly built rabbit pasture/grazing enclosure...






Marte is "on vacation"... well, not quite - she's staying with us for awhile, and will hopefully have a litter or two to help us along with our breeding. Marte belongs to Kristin over at the Blomsterbarna blog. Thank you so much Kristin :)






And this is Idunn (flemish giant) and our daughter chilling out in the sun...

Rose petal jam

We're trying out something new and different - rose petal jam. At the moment the rose petals are in the fridge soaking in sugar... Didn't read the whole recipe and suddenly discovered that I had to let them sit in the fridge overnight... Oh well. But here they are in all their velvety, sweet-smelling loveliness...



I've just recently discovered the opportunity of using rose petals and rosewater in cooking. I used to think that roses in food smelled like really cheap soap or potpourri no matter what kind of fancy recipe. I didn't like the smell of it - not even the essential oil or the actual rose itself - it all made me feel a bit sick. But something has changed - I don't really know what. Maybe it all started with buying some Turkish (ehm.. Greek) delight while I was in Crete this spring. I just fell in love.



I was skimming through some books the other day, looking for ideas and inspiration for some mid-summery crafts and activities and stumbled across a recipe. My rose bushes (rosa rugosa) are in full bloom, and instead of just picking the petals and drying them for "something" - I thought I'd try this out. So now I have lots of ideas... homemade rosewater, jam, jelly, sauce, sugar, Turkish delight, other kinds of candy, different kinds of creams and beauty products, sachets for the bath tub, used in incense recipes, dream pillows, potpourri, dried and used to make art, put in a herbarium... The sad thing is that we removed a lot of the rose bushes this spring because they stung, took a lot of space, invaded the garden, looked... well, a bit sad... (Cut back hard and they will come back up looking as healthy and luscious as ever before). The good thing is that they will probably continue their invasion, and I will have even more petals for future projects. And rosehip tea and soup in the fall! I'm in love.

Recipe and verdict still to come.

Summer love

Fresh mint/green tea.


And this one running around in the garden. Life is good.

Life in the garden

Not much happening here at the moment. And that's because LOTS of things are happening in our lives - so there hasn't been much time to spend in front of the computer. More about that later - and maybe some photos as well.

Summer is here. And it's HOT (unusually hot, +30 degrees Celsius) and it's dry and it's clear blue sky... It's wonderful. Most of our time is spent in the garden; digging, planting, weeding, mulching, watering. Lots of construction/carpenter type of work going on as well - a shed for our rabbits (arriving in a couple of weeks or so), a chicken shed is going up, the terrace is being rebuilt, our daughters playhouse/cottage needs to be painted and decorated. We're already finished painting the walls inside - the color was her own choice - purple like lilacs. I'm so glad she didn't want pink...


We don't have much vegetables this year - the vegetable plot has been marked out and is ready to be milled/harrowed and mulched. We're hoping for some help from one of our neighbors who owns a tractor. It would have been fun to use a horse and manual labor though but... We don't own a horse (yet) and tractors are kinda convenient ;) Next year will be our first when it comes to growing vegetables on a larger scale. This year it is just some carrots, a couple of tomato plants, sugar peas and quite a lot of black currants, red currants, rhubarb and lots of herbs. I still have a pumpkin plant in a pot in the windowsill, but I don't know where to put it... Oh, all the things growing, buzzing and singing...

OK, just one more thing and I'll shut up about the garden. My latest purchase - black chokeberry. I have looked for it for awhile and found it yesterday. Black chokeberries (aronia or Aronia melanocarpa) has has small, white flowers in the spring - dark green and shiny leaves - striking color foliage in autumn - and gets lots of black berries . And these berries are one of the most potent source of antioxidant you will ever find! Although they don't taste very good raw - they're wonderful for making wine or jam.

And what about lemon verbena... Yes, what about it... It's just so lovable! I got one last year, but it didn't survive the winter. So I just had to buy another one - I just fell completely in love with it. And my lemon balm didn't survive either - so I'll have to get another one....

And willow has been planted - a living tipi in the play area! Photos are coming soon - but they are still very small (the willow that is...)

I'll have to stop now - plants need watering and me needs sleeping :)

Whats for dinner?


Stinging nettle soup!

And for dessert?

Rhubarb soup.