Recipe for a perfect summer morning

IMG_0278IMG_0279What is your idea of a perfect summer morning? Here is mine. Ingredients in this recipe can be scarce or difficult to find, but as always, you take what you have.

 

Recipe for a perfect summer morning
Sun shining
Relaxing temperature
Birds singing, insects humming
Soft wind stirring the leaves
View with green and blue horizon
A large cup of tea or coffee
Sandwiches with a good cheese
Bowl of yoghurt with berries of all kind from the garden
(here: raspberries, wild strawberries, cherries, redcurrants, blackcurrants).

Enjoy!!

Some garden …!

There are gardens, and there are GARDENS. Recently I visited Wij Trädgårdar (Wij Gardens) in the town of Ockelbo, about 2 hours car drive north of StockIMG_0238holm. Every time I go there, it is like entering some kind of paradise. Have a coffee outside the old mIMG_0237ansion, stroll by the vegetable gardens made by the IMG_0239gardener school situated there, enjoy the elaborate rose garden, be astonished by the artisan works in and around the gardens, be inspired by the examples of different garden settings. Lake, fields, plantings, old buildings, bridges, garden shop – everything has this air of peacefulness. Wij Gardens is wellknown over Scandinavia, I IMG_0246wish I could spread the word in the world about this beautiful place. If you go there, perhaps you will even get a glimpse of the crown prinsess family, since prince Daniel is born in Ockelbo.

The art of scything

IMG_0228Few people today know the art of scything, but old Swedish traditions are coming back and it is nowadays possible to see this old way of cutting the grass at special landscape events, or you could sign up for a course  in using the scythe.

The scythe is a tool that was used for cutting crops such as grass or wheat, with a long curved blade at the end of a long pole attached to which are one or two short handles.

My scythe is very old. The pole I got from a friend, the blade and the beautiful fastening parts were a present from a neighbor. The pole is in fact too short for me, so I am searching for a longer one, but on the other hand I am very fond of this old one.

Important is thIMG_0222e knife-grinder, and recently I was able to buy a perfect little grinder tool. When the scythe is sharp, it is sheer pleasure to cut the lawn. Yes, in fact we have saved the grass on our lawn to create a good environment for bees and other insects, but also to discover a whole world of different species of flowers that have been popping up in our field/lawn – which happens when you let the grass grow. Well, in a week or so we are going to scythe everything, and then my husband will be happy to run his garden tractor over the grass to transform it into a perfect lawn again.

The dessert is ready

IMG_0231IMG_0230I am having some friends for lunch today. So what could the countryside offer them? Got the idea to take a look out in the woods behind our house. Spring was rainy, just what  blueberry plants need, perhaps I could find some berries for dessert? Guess what! The woods are full of blueberries. I even found some wild strawberries, made a nice mixture. So my guests will be treated with morning picked berries and icecream for dessert – the perfect summer treat, isn’t it?

Mushrooms!!!

When I found one single chanterelle near one of the apple trees, I was so surprised. A chanterelle is a delicious edible mushroom. But what to do with one single one? Suddenly I remembered a neighbour talking of having seen chanterelles in our garden long before we moved in. Of course! If there is one, there are more of them. With rain pants on and boots – there are a lot of nasty bugs! –  I walked into the high grass tree area of the garden and started looking. One chanterIMG_0202IMG_0201elle suddenly turned into one litre( a quarter of a gallon)!! It’s amazing what gifts this garden give us. Butterfried chanterelles on a toast made a nice starter before dinner that evening 🙂

The magic of life

I meet the magic in my garden, every day, every moment. WIMG_0163hen I am present, really in the moment of everything, I see the wonders of life. This morning, on my usual early morning tour in the garden, I was startled by the beauty of the peonies. How is it even possible that a tiny, tiny bud can turn into this intricate, multipetal beauty, fifty times larger than the original bud? Those moments of meeting the magic of life are the most precious.IMG_0162