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Our own creation: moskito!
birch sirup and birch leaves in alcohol, tonic and mineral water, some ice cubes would have been nice – but difficult to keep them up here in the forest…
You can get used to moskito – I promise :)

Gin Tonic once arose as the kitin in the Tonic was needed against malaria. On its own it was far too bitter- but with the Gin it got a pleasant drink…
The Gin gets its flavor from the juniper berries.
Well, this is made from the birch instead. And I have no idea if it is useful against mosquitos – but if you drink a lot you might not be bothered (or aware) of them any longer…

Skutt means ”bounce” and is the name of one of our calves. The other calf is a little lady called Bonny.
Skutt bounced around the first thing he did when he was born (that is why he is called Skutt)- but got really bad after some hours and was close to die. He got drip-feed, got antibiotics and vitamins, we had to milk his mum and bottlefeed him as he was to weak. But he finally recovered and now is the strongest healthiest little bull calf again :)
When we let them out yesterday he was running back and forwards through the pasture non stop – pure happiness, energy and freedom. Here he is in action:

PS: Just read it is not happiness but stress that makes them bounce around when you let them out. What a strange statement I must say!!!
They should come here and look at the lambs and calves playing around – just having so much fun!

Have not been updating my blog for a while. Sorry! April is busy in many ways. But now finally the lambing is over, the food for the cows and sheep is at its end and today we finally let them all out which is a happy day for both them and us. Will put out pictures tomorrow hopefully :)

Here are pictures of Toyota who was here for a conference and had some afterwork up in the hermitage. Just after we were serving some snacks and birchsap champagne the sky darkened and there came some heavy rain…
Love that black picture.
Or – how often do you stand in the forest, with an umbrella and a glass of champagne in the pouring rain…

Coltsfoot is about the first thing I gather in the early spring. It makes me happy with its bright sunny flowers. These my daughter picked for me and it will be used for a tea mixture with lots of different flowers and herbs that will bring back the feeling of warmth and summer next winter.

normal day in Sjögetorp

To go out to the hens and pick the daily eggs for breakfast is like celebrating Eastern all year with this range of lovely colors.
For the first time I now tested an incubator – so we hopefully in future will have enough colored eggs to serve all of our increasing number of guests as well. Look at this miracle:

yesterday night – breaking the walls:

same fellow today :)

Back from our little adventure at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm…
Good to be back ;)

After some fantastic sunny days spring feels close. Tonight though it was fairly cold and the ground is deep frozen – nevertheless I found the first little single snowdrop flowering today :)
11.00 am: Was down to the lake for a walk. The ice was singing and making most strange sounds as if it wanted to tell me its story.
I so much wanted to record these strange and wonderful tones, but I do not have that kind of equipment. Too bad!

The snow on the ice has melted and now the ice looks perfect for skating (I have been waiting for that all winter) but it might be rotten and there is open water on several spots. But it reminds me of last years pictures we took with Håkans stoneage outfit with moose-skates and moose-ear hat…

I here want to share links to two of our very skilled and dedicated friends and stone-age experts:
http://www.lynxvilden.com/
http://www.primitiv.se/

Sara Mac Keys wonderful pictures from the wood hermitage – article ”tillbaka till framtiden” (back to the future) – published in the latest Hemslöjden magazine. Swedes can read the entire text in the news site on our website!

Thank you Celia, Sara and Malin for letting us share article and pictures on our website and blog!
Link to Hemslöjden magazine

-10 °C tonight. Sunny day, clear blue sky.
And: the solar is working, actually heating the water!
Days are getting about 35 minutes longer each week right now. So good to get the light back! Now the light is harsh, clear and cold. But I love it!
We tried to walk on the ice today – but it is rather thin, yet. Too thin actually. Longing for trying out my skates.
Found this artwork in the snow, made by the wind.

Urnatur is nominated as one of three Swedish eco tourism entrepreneurs for the Grand Travel Awards Eco Tourism price for 2012.

The prize is awarded on Wednesday 22 February to the organizer that is bringing to life ​​Swedish eco-tourism the best in the past year.

Cross your fingers!

And: Thank You everybody out there who nominated us :)