Home Sweet Home

Today I am sharing a few random pictures from around our household.

I believe that it´s all those little things that make a place HOME.

Don´t you agree?

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Fantastic Dandelion Pesto

Over the years of living on the wild side of the Vattudalen lake, I have learned to utilize wild herbs for many different uses, mostly for home made remedies and cures for both, the dogs and us, from different teas to tinctures, salves, etc. But many of these amazing plants have sparked my interest more and more in my kitchen.

We basically use nettles the entire summer instead of spinach, which doesn´t do well in our vegetable garden and I try to avoid the one from the shops due to the heavy pesticide used when growing it.

Dandelion leaves often substitute rucola in salads and on sandwiches and I also add chickweed for its super delicious taste and health benefits. 

Those of you who read my blog regularly know I´ve previously posted about our use of various dandelion parts in our dogs´ feeding program, but I realized that I actually haven´t blogged much about wild herbs in the use of my own kitchen.

So I decided to start off with this fantastic tasting, super easy recipe for dandelion pesto.

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A Few Great Gardening Ideas

As the season of snow and ice slowly comes to an end, I often find myself turning my mind towards another favorite season of mine - gardening!

Gardening is something that we started to take more seriously in the past couple years as we proceed on our journey to self sufficiency and natural health.

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It´s about time!

The gardening season officially started (at least in our garden) with the purchese and assembly of a large greenhouse.

The first items such as replanting 12 tomato plants (3 different kinds) and 4 peppers into large buckets, and even planting the first summer flowers (all hidden over nights in the safety and relative warmth of the greenhouse), have been officially checked off the list.

Let the spring begin!

Spring Birds

The weather is marvelous lately. Sunny days, still enough snow to run the puppies and seniors, yet not too cold to stay out in short sleeves and photograph the birds. And they are very happy to see the spring come.

Among the first were the geese I´ve heared and saw flying low above the kennels the other day, as if to say hallo and bring greetings from faraway lands, as they returned from the south, and headed to our northern lakes to nest.

Also the first herrons start to show up and we hear their cries that echo over Vattudalen´s mighty waters.

Even the coockoo is heared and at night, the small gray owls sing their blue tunes.

The road edges are full again with grouse, who walk slowly and seemingly arogantly along side.

These guys that we managed to photograph are not really spring birds, but they sure are busy and full of life now, that spring is on it´s way.

Some don ´t mind the company

while others keep for themselves

some feel comfortable only among similarly sized buddies

and are afraid of the big guys

some prefer to eat and watch everything
from the safety of the big larch tree

while others hide on the "bird tree", which will
turn into green retreat in a month´s time

And some don´t care about the sunflower seeds at the
feeder and search for tasty worms and bugs on the ground.

The noisy signs of spring

Although we won´t have the traditionally known spring with green gras and flowers blooming yet, for qutie a while (end of May aproximately), I do see definite signs of spring.

Let me tell you how "our" spring looks like :)

First of all, the world around us wakes up from the silence. The silence of snow and darkness.
Things are extremly silent during winter time. Everything is still and frozen and just rests to be awaken by the longer daylight, some sunshine and the winds.

The winds are the first messangers, that travel thousands miles to tell us spring is on it´s way.
They bring the first of noises. Once the snow shakes off the trees, they start waking up and begin their stretching excercise of moving all their branches in different directions.

When the sun comes, the shadows in the snow
get different shapes.

Then the snow, that lays on the roofs of our house, the kennel building and the different sheds, starts to get heavy with the first rizing of temperatures. The warmer, the heavier the snow becomes. Once too heavy, it slides down the roofs, making a big "bang" sound. You can hear it extra well, when you are inside the house. You hear the first sound that frees the snow off the roof metal, then a long, but fast sliding sound and finally a loud, stormy-like "BAAANG".

When the sun is out and leans it´s rays against the windows, another noise is created. The dripping of icycles, which, once too big and too heavy, finally crack from the roof edge and hit the pile of snow underneath the window.

Then the Earth, half awaken, breathing through the wind and sunshine, motivates the birds. They get busier and busier as the days get longer. First time I´ve actually heared them sing this winter, was in February. That´s when the constant grayness of deep winter leaves for good.

The great tits prefer feeding in the air...

But at the end of March, they not only sing and get busier. They start to chit-chat and poke each other. The other day we watched two bullfinches fighting at the feeder by the kitchen window. I swear it wasn´t a real fight. It was a brotherly picking on each other. They had energy and they had good mood again.

while the bullfinches munch on sunflower seeds on the ground

The forest becomes alive again too. While the bears will sleep until about mid April (depending on how wet and warm it will get), there are numerous animal tracks ziggzagging the woods and meadows.

While the owl was calling it´s mate constantly for a week in a row in the beginning of March, the foxes are also on the "hunt" for a partner.

We haven´t seen "our" fox boy this year yet, but the past years he always came in April, so he still has time to show up :)

The fox boy outside our house, April 2008

And although the foxes leave their foot prints in the snow very silently, and the sharp smell of their markings (on just about every tree that stands close to the kennel and trail) obviously doesn´t have any sound, there is still something "noisy", full of life, about it.

Spring is definitely a loud time of the year!

Fresh is fresh

There used to be days when I could only dream about this...

On Friday I cooked eggplant parmezan and picked up a handful of fresh oregano, basil and parsley from the garden, for it.

Yesterday we felt like having something sweet, so we had some berries.

And it is absolutely true, what they say - they do taste way better from your own garden!

I feared that we won´t have much success with our veggetable garden plans, due to the climate here, but with a green house and proper care, it works out just fine, despite this year´s cold and rainy months. The advantage of course is the 24 hour light in summer. Although, we won´t have much of that anymore very soon.

Fully Blooming Summer

I´ve added a number of photos to the Picasa albums and updated some of them with new pictures:

• Our Flowers & Garden - updated!
• Summer 2009 - Images of Nature - new
• Flowers of Summer 2009 - new

Magpie in Ladle

Magpies are known as monsters, thiefs, unpleasant, screaming unwanted visitors and overall annoying creatures.

Although they do spread dog poop from the buckets and steal seeds and fat balls from the bird-feeders, I still admire and love these mischevious and extremly smart birds.

I could write forever about magpies and their antics, as I watch them on a daily basis from my office window, each morning after feeding the dogs, and sometimes during the days.

The past few mornings a magpie (I have a feeling it´s the same one) keeps comming after the morning feeding, and sits in the ladle that we hang by the kennel gate. She then feasts on whatever is left from the meat soup.

Oops, here she comes again, just as I am typing!

The First Harvest

Today we feel like big farmers -- our first strawberry is red and ready to eat! Yeeehaw!

We also have many (still green) little strawberries on all the bushes and tiny little cucumbers too! Seems like we actually might be doing something right. Hopefully! If the tomatoes come out, we´ll be real proud, then!