Back from the Family Farm. It was so lovely to get to spent time with Lotta's family before I left for USA. (Speaking of, I'm starting to really look forward to coming home. It's been a wonderful long summer.) We spent 4 days on Öland at the summer house. They have an old farm house 1.5 kilometers from the beach. We spent our days hanging around, going to the beach and Blueberry picking. What else are summer houses for??
Elvira, Ofelia and I headed down to the beach for a morning swim.
Blueberry picking!
Some of the family, after our successful picking. From left to right is Lotta, Sabe (Felicia's husband), Felicia (Lotta's oldest daughter), Ofelia and Elvira
The summer house.
Nice sunset.
When we got back to the farm we went out picking Kantarells. I've never been mushroom picking before this, but I had great success. I was actually assigned to pick blueberries while the children searched for mushrooms. As I was picking I came accross a goldmine! Found all these in one spot under a tree! It really is like finding gold.
We even found some growing out of Ofelia!
I spent a majority of my time hanging out with the kiddo's while the parents kept busy. One day Ofelia, Elvira and I made some tiny cupcakes and had a great time decorating them with our fresh blueberries.
Yum!
Two of their chickens had some chicks hatch while I was there. So sweet! They also had somewhere around 10 lamb!
On Saturday I attended a summer Garden party with Lotta and the girls at one of Lotta's friends summer house near Uppsala. It was the sweetest little summer cabin out in the woods along with some neighbors, who also invited guest and combined parties. Everyone brought food and cooked over the fire. I made some Dandelion Wine from my Grandmother's recipe (Thanks Grandma Joan!) at the beginning of the summer at Lotta's house and brought some to share. Some others brought their homemade ciders and beer so it was a great time taste testing each others brews. Mikel, Lotta's friend, had a kick wheel for pottery outside his summer cabin So I got a chance to throw some clay! We all had a great time late into the evening, dancing, eating and enjoying each other around the fire. I felt so at home. It really reminded me of a night back in Vermont.
I've been starting to long for the familiarity of home. Not that I am homesick. I'm still fully enjoying my time here. It's just that being in a new country for so long where the lifestyle and language is new can be exciting, but it also can wear on a person. I think that party was just what I needed to remind me that home is right around the corner and there is still so much here for me to enjoy while I can.
Today I'm off to the third and final farm of my visit. Rosenhills is an organic farm and Cafe. I've heard many good things about it from people who have been, but I'm trying to leave my ideas and expectations behind today so I don't feel disappointed in anyway. I am excited though to be in a more social environment and also at a working farm with a business. We'll see how it goes!
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