The Tunnel

Today it was cloudy and 60, so I could work in the hoop house with it's new clear plastic and not die. I got to use an Italian roto tiller for 6 hours and listen to trance, plus two coffee and cinnamon roll breaks that Mats insisted I take. I think it's a common belief in Sweden that you will die if you go more than 2 hours without coffee and carbs. I might have to agree.

Kinda a fun day today, manure goes into the hoop house tomorrow! Can't wait to see how that smells.

Cluster Prune?

So I guess you're supposed to prune your tomato clusters? This is news to Mats and Karin. Do I tell them how to run their business though? meh probably not but I want to know more about "cluster pruning" (Brandon and Ann...)

Life Cycle of the Cuckoo

Today during the coffee break (fika) the new German girls told me about the life cycle of cuckoos. I was talking about how great it is that there are real cuckoos here, and Anna interjected darkly: "you know they don't build their own nests, right?" Well no, I suppose I didn't know that, where do they lay their eggs? "The parents will lay their egg in the nest of another bird and then fly away, so the other bird takes care of the baby cuckoo thinking it's their own. The baby cuckoos are born so strong that they will push the other babies out of the nest and then they get all of the food. Soon the baby cuckoo will be much larger than the birds who are feeding it." OH. Oh...

Tord, the local guy who works with me in the tomato house, added that it's Swedish superstition that if you hear a cuckoo calling from the south it means you are about to die. Good thing all we have to our south is Lake Mälaren. There WAS an osprey fishing in it yesterday, but I don't think that means I'm about to die...

I need natural history books about Sweden, and Helene from Stockholm promised she'll fetch me some of hers when she goes home this weekend. I hope there are more charming life cycles than that of the cuckoo in these forests...

Dandelions!!

There are so many dandelions in Sweden. I kinda like them, and I can see why they come up again and again in Swedish design. Pay close attention next time you're at IKEA...


As a fun side note, today I was working in the cucumberväxthus when a middle aged woman wearing latex gloves walked in and said in a very dignified British accent "I've come to remove the unwanted fetuses and such". It took me a minute to register: OH, she's here to thin the cucumbers!

Also, went on my first adventure to town! Caught a ride with a carpenter named Anders and talked about the Swedish military. It's been downsized substantially now that the neighbors to the east are slightly less threatening. In town I wandered around and discovered that everyone, from the guy selling flowers downtown to the teenage cashier at the bus station, spoke perfect English. I always feel like a d bag explaining "oh actually I can only introduce myself in your language, now we have to switch to English because your primary education was better than mine."