Ecotopia is taking part in Österlen’s Garden Tour, of which the hub is Österlen’s museum with the exhibition ’ÖSTERLEN’S GARDENS – 200 year of happiness, knowledge and trends’ osterlens.museum@simrishamn.se. In the garden tour 56 garden-loving Österlen residents open the gates and doors to their gardens with activities like garden walks, tree appeals, exhibitions, education and herb field walks. It begins on 19 June and ends on 31 August. A wonderful local initiative.
This also in August when we have education in permaculture at Ecotopia. What timing!
A slug…! All these years I have said no to nice people that had come to us with plants or put them in water before planting. ’No bought-in plants, just seeds,’ was the motto. So the garden’s plants have been moved from one place to another. Then suddenly Åke, who runs the growing course, found a slug. It made us become active. Roland eventually found their home: the well under the road. They live here. Today the leader of the drainage company came, later we will make contact with Transport Department; then we will clear and rinse the well. So, if you find a slug investigate the wells! And if you find them there, tighten as the lid firmly in order to avoid attracting them to the vegetable garden. What one does next we do not know today, only first thing tomorrow.
Speaking of the garden, the plants are growing like crazy in this tropical climate. Garlic, lettuce, goosefoot, spinach, parsley, dill, and herbs like savory, oregano and sage are harvested continuously. The strawberries are beginning to colour and some days we can harvest elderflower and make juice.
On Sunday, the groups in the transition project met after we went our separate ways in February. The seed bank visited the collective growing group’s growing place in Solveig’s garden in Skåne Tranås. Exciting to see their plants and hear their thoughts and intentions. We, in the seed bank, talked about the aims and presented our action plan. But first and foremost we had coffee with lovely healthy and tasty homebaked cakes.
We got a visit from the Ystad-Österlen region’s Bridleway Association. Members came riding via Kronovall and rode in on the garden to the south. Thereafter we placed the horses in the beech forest and had coffee in the eco-café. We truly appreciated the visit! We have now had people that cycled and rode here. On Sunday Ann Bengtsson and Karin are coming on electric cycles, on a two-month hunt for reformers from Ystad to Umeå. Read more (in Swedish!) about the heroes in a podcast on reformers http://www.hjältarna.se/. So it also works to ride electric cycles here from far away, but it works even better to ride horses here.
We have hopes for both cycle paths and bridleways in the future:) They are sustainable solutions!
The participants in the rammed earth house workshop worked feverishly, even on Sweden’s national day. They pounded layer upon layer, interspersed that with theory, and the last day took away the moulds in the west in order to take in the work. All were very pleased. In order to give the walls their own character white and red clay, as well as volcanic lava, were applied. In this way, a pattern has emerged. We carried on working later so that the building has grown in height, and on Midsummer there will be a roof-laying party. We will also add the windows with the recycled bottles laid in clay. It is truly a recycling house and we have many non-reusable bottles lying around 😉
We wish you a happy and enjoyable Midsummer celebration!
