Love at First Touch (of Soil)

My first week of farming is behind me, and guess what? It's awesome!

That is, if you like hard work, getting dirty, and being outdoors. 😁 I'm deliberately leaving out the heat, because I've had my fair share of that too. This week, temperatures here have soared to their highest levels in 80 years. I naively thought I'd escape it, but that wouldn't be me… Two years ago, at the start of September, I flew to Scotland to take a break from the hot summer and enjoy some proper melancholic weather in the form of rain, wind and mist, only to be treated to almost two whole weeks of 'lovely' sunny weather at 20 degrees, whilst back in the Czech Republic it was 10 degrees, the rain hardly let up, and to top it all off, there were floods.

Four years ago in Manchester, England, the locals asked us when we'd be coming back so they could have lovely sunny weather (we'd been there twice in two straight months). Normally, it rains every other day in Manchester and there are frequent rain showers. We did experience a couple of them, but otherwise it was sunny and warm – something that hardly ever happens there.

Back to Sweden. The first few days of farm work were a bit of a massacre (in a good way), but you get used to everything, I guess. The midday sun at 30°C, the hard graft, the aching muscles, the early starts, the electric shocks from the chicken fence… But I've got the feeling my nails and hands will never be clean again. You scrub them with a brush and nothing happens. 🫣😅 Then you go to a birthday party and feel a bit embarrassed about it. In the end, though, you realise you're definitely not alone in this.

It's a good thing I'm keeping a record of everything, because otherwise I wouldn't know today what we did on which day. The days start to blur together, but that sense of grounding and peace is priceless. I already know I'll be crying a lot when I leave here… You simply never forget your first experience like this. And the people here are just like family.

At the same time, I feel like a hobbit here. I have one breakfast first thing in the morning when I get up, and another at 10 am, nice and cosy with a coffee – which I don't even dilute with water anymore. That only lasted about two days, mind you. 🙈☕ I'm 'looking forward to' the detox…

MONDAY

It was definitely the most physically demanding day. First thing in the morning, we moved the chickens (there are about 120 of them) in their mobile chicken coop to a new pasture. I've loved chickens ever since I was little; they were always my friends at my grandmother's. 🐔

Since the 'neighbours' here (in inverted commas because your neighbours are scattered over several kilometres and, unlike back home, there are essentially no immediate neighbours) often help each other out, we went that day to feed the chickens belonging to one such neighbour, who keeps them 'here' on the farm, next to the goats. You can't imagine the rush when 250 chickens knock down the electric fence and come charging at you because they're hungry.

Next came the preparation of four new 20-metre-long beds, which involves bringing in a gazillion wheelbarrow loads of compost and half a gazillion wheelbarrow loads of manure. Then you rake it all out nicely and evenly (it's not as easy as it might seem) and it's ready for planting kales. We had to carry everything by hand in wheelbarrows, because the moped with the trailer is broken.

It's been a loooong time since my muscles have ached like that. I was so surprised that I decided to go and give my back a proper stretch that evening, just so I could get through the next day. Luckily, this was probably just some sort of test from Emil, the farm owner, or from the universe, on my first day, and it didn't happen again after that. 😁

Later that evening, we went for our first well-deserved walk in the woods. 🌳

TUESDAY

Every day starts with feeding the chickens, filling the water barrel, and chasing the runaways back over the fence. In the afternoon, you do the same, plus collect the eggs they've laid. And yes, sometimes you just have to catch a chicken with your bare hands. 😊

Later that morning, we planted seedlings of various brassica vegetables (kales, etc.) in the beds we'd prepared on Monday. Meanwhile, Emil brought in the soil for the remaining three beds, which, fortunately, I only had to rake out.

You wouldn't think so, but these activities really do take up a lot of time on this scale.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday is all about the harvest, which you then prepare the following day for customers who've pre-ordered a small or large bag of veg. And I really enjoyed that. We got through it in no time, and the vegetables are simply marvellous!

It's worth noting that everything here is grown organically, so don't expect any chemical sprays. I'll be leaving with so many tips – not just on growing, but also on tools I haven't seen anywhere else so far, but which will make the work much easier. Now I just need to raise the funds to set up my own farm. But when I think about it, it would make the most sense to do it right here in Sweden anyway. 😊 🇸🇪

The afternoon was spent planting around a hundred pumpkin seedlings, which will be spread out on the dried, flattened rye.

THURSDAY

On Thursday, we harvest everything that needs to be as fresh as possible (this time, lettuces and parsley), and then we pack the bags for customers, which Emil then delivers to the surrounding towns. This task went very smoothly for us too. What's more, we weren't exposed to the sun, as everything is prepared in a huge barn.

After lunch, Kerstin – Emil's wife – and I weeded the flower beds. I really like this part of the farm, mainly because of the reason they grow flowers here. Just like back home, local herbs and flowers in the meadows – which are absolutely vital for the countryside and everything that lives there – are gradually disappearing, partly due to large agricultural companies. And because of the pollinators, they're also vital for the farm's own harvest.

And so Emil and Kirsten decided to grow local wildflowers and sell their seeds in the region. Of course, this meant, at first, that they had to collect all the seeds by hand as they walked around the meadows within a radius of just a few kilometres.

Later that afternoon, we planted another bed of lettuces and a few fennel plants, and then off we went to the lake and into the woods. 🌊🌳

FRIDAY

As there was a lot of work to be done in the greenhouse, we agreed that this time we'd start work at 6 o'clock in the morning so that we'd actually be able to cope with being in the greenhouse in this kind of weather.

We pruned and tied up the tomato plants, tied up the cucumber seedlings and planted some more. Before lunch, we managed to do a bit of weeding, and then, because of the heat, we treated ourselves to the whole afternoon off. (A little siesta as you might call it.)

We'd planned to harvest the first flowers late in the evening, but when we arrived at the 'field', we realised the flowers weren't dry enough yet. So I set about hunting mosquitoes in the caravan. I have to say that last year's training in catching mosquitoes in Sri Lanka really paid off. I was catching mosquitoes with my right hand (I'm left-handed) whilst they were still in flight, and I had absolutely no trouble at all. 🤣🦟

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

For me, the weekend means time off, but I wouldn't be myself if I didn't at least finish off the work from the previous day – weeding the vegetable beds. Generally speaking, thanks to the WWOOF scheme, I'm more or less obliged to work 4–6 hours a day from Monday to Friday. Apart from Fridays, though, I've always managed to carry on working with Emil until the end of his 'working hours'. Of course, his working hours more or less never end, but he tries to keep them within some sort of limit.

Then it was time to cool off in the lake again, where, for the first time in my life, I swam towards a grass snake. Not to mention the dozens of dragonflies, the little fish right at the edge of the lake, and the freshwater mussels in the water. It's wonderful to see how nature can thrive in its own way. 🙏

That evening, I was invited to a birthday party for one of Emil and Kerstin's friends, where there were about 20 of us. What I really appreciate is how they immediately make you feel welcome here; they try to speak English amongst themselves so that you can understand them, and they treat you to a wonderful time. There was food, there were drinks, there was ice cream and coffee at midnight (I haven't gone that far yet, mind you), a quiz, and dancing in the barn. You go to sleep in your tent in the garden at 3.30 in the morning, with the sun already up, and you're probably the happiest and most grateful person in the world. 🩵

Getting up at 7 am and packing up the tent in the rain was actually wonderfully refreshing. I'm not the sort of person who sleeps all day after a party like that, so I'll probably catch up on my sleep in the evening. I'm spending today writing this blog post, then I'll probably go for a swim whilst the days are still nice, sunny, and warm.

What's more, I'm turning into a Swedish-looking woman – my hair is slowly lightening to the colours I used to have 12 years ago. On the other hand, I'm already more tanned than I'd be if I were somewhere by the sea. As Emil calls it – 'farmer's tan'.

Bloody hell… I'm so damn grateful to be able to experience this!!!

🩵 With the head full of memories from the past week, your wild doe
Markét

TIPS AND LINKS

Don't expect to find standard natural yoghurt in a pot here. They sell it in a carton, just like milk is sold back home in Czechia. (I have to admit, though, that this is a much more reasonable solution.)