Hemlig Trägård

Secret Garden

We have now spent a year in Umeå and are heading into our second summer here. Now that we know what to expect, we are going to make sure to enjoy every possible moment of summer that we can.

One way we plan to do this is we have got ourselves a plot in the local Koloniträgård, or allotment garden. Although I am a plant biologist, I have never actually grown a garden. I have planted a lot of flax, Arabidopsis, tobacco, poplar, and hemp for my work, and I have planted flowers in the yard in our condo back home. But never have I grown vegetables.

We started working at the garden last weekend, this was the same time we saw the garden for the first time. The Koloniträgård was tucked away in a clearing in a forest, one would never find it unless by accident. As we pulled up (on our bikes of course), we saw what looked like a tiny little village of gardens.

Anyone who has ever backpacked through Europe, or at least traveled by train, may have seen these allotment gardens tucked away along the sides of the tracks, looking somehow like a cross between a shanty town and Bilbo Baggins’s Little Hobbiton. As we wandered through the gardens we saw people were quietly working here and there, some were having fika on the patio of their little kolonistuga just enjoying the afternoon sun.

As we walked towards our allotment, we took in the mosaic of gardens in this small area. Some gardens were already in full bloom, or at least full germination, with well manicured walking paths, raised wooden beds, perfectly weeded. And then we saw ours.

It looked more like a lawn than a garden.

We spent two hard days working on digging up the soil, pulling out the weeds, mixing in manure, and planting seeds. Both Scott and I have gained a new appreciation for the ‘work’ of gardening. We both could not believe how much work it would have been for both of our Grandma's to always have grown such big gardens. We both had some sore muscles for quite a few days afterwards. Scott’s best comment of the day was “Imagine if our lives depended on this – we would starve”.

Our little plot of land has now been planted with radishes (radisa), onions (lök), carrots (morottor), beets (rödbetor), lettuce (sallat), coriander, dill, peas (ärtor). I’ve got some cucumbers (gurka), zucchini squash (gröna summarpumpa), and green beans (gröna bönor) growing inside our apartment right now. And we were lucky enough to get a plot with some things already growing (other than the grass, I mean). So we’ve already got some rhubarb (rabarber!!), strawberries (jordgubbar), and raspberries (hallon) on the go.

We were back again at the garden today to check on it, and since planting last week we’ve only got some radishes germinated. I breathe a nervous breath.

Here’s hoping that someone with a PhD in Plant Biology will be able to successfully grow something (anything?) out of the garden. Fingers crossed.

Daring Kitchen: Daring Cooks: May Challenge

Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken

Enchiladas

Our hosts this month,

Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Fo

od have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile &

Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo!

The recipe, featuri

ng a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

I made these for a family gathering the day after my sister’s wedding and they

were delicious!

Trevligt Valborg och första Maj!

One of the most interesting things to me when experiencing a new culture is getting to know what their holidays and traditions are all about.

Well, we experienced a new one yesterday.

Ever heard of Valborg? Walpurgis night? sista April?

It is a holiday with pagan origins (aren’t they all, really?) that, along with Midsummer, is very important in the Swedish calendar.

Valborg is celebrated on the last day of April (sista April), marking the beginning of spring by holding a huge bonfire to chase away the dark spirits of winter. As with most things Swedish, there will also be some singing and perhaps even a little bit of drinking.

To celebrate Valborg, we went down to the ‘Kampus’ to see the bonfire. We were actually surprised how big it was, in size and popularity. It was a cold, damp and muddy night, but so many people, especially families, were out to celebrate. There were performances by choirs, bands, and a fire show.

Valborg is one of the ‘de facto half holidays’ of Sweden which is usually recognized at my workplace by the sudden absence of all Swedish people around 2pm. Apparently on a ‘de facto half holiday’ you work ¾ of the day because it is the day before a major holiday. And you are thinking: “wait? I thought Valborg was the holiday, how can it be only a half holiday?” Well that is because May 1 is a holiday as well, which is called, appropriately, ‘första Maj’ (May 1). This was also a surprise to me, as I was planning to do a lot of shopping for gifts to take back to Canada with me when we go next week, and now, since it is första Maj everything is closed. Since most stores are normally closed on Sundays and evenings, it looks like next week I will have to take a ‘de facto half holiday’ of my own just to do some shopping!

Seasons in the Sun

In Umeå, I have now learned that the changing of the seasons are a little bit different. Having spent almost a full year here now, I can say I have fully experienced these changing seasons. Coming from Edmonton, the seasons are so distinct and really mark the progression of time throughout the year. Although I sometimes fantasize about it, I cannot really imagine living in a place that does not have this distinction.

In Umeå, the changing of the seasons is even more dramatic than what I was used to in Edmonton. It is strongly accentuated by the fluctuations in day length and the changing of the sunshine time throughout the year. The fall and the spring seasons are the times when the daylength is changing so fast, time moves so fast, it almost makes one’s headspin. Then when the light-changing slows down, either in winter or in summer, it seems like these seasons stretch out forever. Everyday being the same, a kind of stability is felt that is missing in the spring and fall.

In Swedish the seasons are vintrar, vårar, somrar, och höstar.

In Umeå I have learned that we don’t really have spring (vårar). The progression from winter to summer is so speedy it is actually called vår-vintern, which means spring-winter. It happens because there is so much snow that it really takes FOREVER to go away (still waiting…).

It has been spring-like weather for some time now, but of course we still have about a foot of snow, hence Vår-vintern. And once the snow finally goes, it takes only about 1 or 2 nice days, and then it is summer!

We are so excited for the summer here now! It will mark one year of living here for us, and we are excited for the things we enjoyed to do last summer but needed the long hard dark winter to make us really appreciate it.

Our plans for summer: we will picnic and barbeque every day, spend our evenings having a fire by the lake, do lots of hiking, cycling, gardening (we got an allottment in the community garden), staying up late when the sun won’t go down, playin kubb and Brännboll, swimming in the Baltic sea, and maybe even learning to kayak. A busy somrar ahead and I plan to enjoy every single minute of it!

Daring Cooks Challenge: Brunswick Stew

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

Rustic and warm, and it made a tonne! Even my favourite picky-eater liked it!

get the recipe here: http://thedaringkitchen.com/

Daring Bakers: March Challenge: Orange Tians

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

It was tricky but delicious! I made mine with blood oranges. Next time I might try Grapefruit!

Wish I had more to update you all about our adventures in Sweden, but we are just running off to the High Coast in Sweden for Easter Weekend!

Daring Cooks: March Challenge: Risotto

Since I love to eat, and I love to try new things, I joined something called the Daring Kitchen! It is a group of food bloggers that have secret cooking challenges every month to try new things in the kitchen!

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

I made a Hokkaido Matpumpa Risotto, with my own home-made vegetable stock. It was my first time making risotto (surprisingly easy, you just need not be in a rush) and a first for making my own stock! It turned out quite good! We enjoyed a lovely dinner with wine, risotto, and actually I also tried making pizza with my own homemade pizza dough (first time ever using yeast), and that turned out well too!

I also joined the Daring Kitchen’s group for Daring Bakers, so stay tuned to see what baking surprise I am working on for March!