Last day WWOOFing

My hands have thankfully returned back to their normal size after being attacked by Norwegian midges! Yesterday I was luckily enough to have been invited for walk to pick slopes - no idea what the english name is for these blueberry looking fruit that can be picked in the surrounding forests here. I was helping Kristina pick slopes which become sweet when they are put in the freezer, she then uses them to make a kind of liqueur to give to friends for Christmas.

I am on a island, apparently this area swells in population during the summer months when wealthier Norwegians come to enjoy the warm and sunny weather. I suppose it's like Bournemouth? I was told that cabins here go for about 200 000 000 NOK to buy.

The nearest town consists of a SPAR supermarket, post office, cafe/bakery, library/local government, police station, internet cafe and liquor store. All alcohol can only be bought at government controlled shops. Funnily you can by beer in the supermarkets but not spirits or liqueurs. Taxes on alcohol are high. I bought six bottles of beer the other day for almost 12 pounds.

I was invited to watch a film lastnight as part of this 3 day workshop on how to start a sustainable garden. My host has allowed me access to her library and have managed to get half way through a very good book called The Permaculture Garden by Graham Bell. A book my host has used to based her lessons on. It's a very good book and one that I will definitely pick up when I get back to Canada. The workshop is also being run by an american/norwegian, a woman who came to Norway in her early twenties and is now a Norwegian citizen after almost 30 years. She has been nice enough to invite me to stay at her place for the weekend in Oslo. I'm very glad to have met her as I would never have seen a film she was nice enough to let me see lastnight. The film was called "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" a documentary on a farmer in the United States who inherited a family run farm in his 20's, lost the farm and was able to start again from scratch with the help of a community of people living in the city who wanted to source locally grown produce. It's a very interesting film that proposes how farmers can re-establish a one to one relationship with the people that they provide food for. I'd highly recommend it.

My host makes tea in the mornings from the Bjork (Birch) trees that are located around the property. I've started to fall in love with it. It's like Norway in a cup.

The host has a family cat. Her name is Palimoore (sp?) She is 19 years old and looks like a kitten. She makes me miss my own cat Ruby Tuesday, who hasn't been doing very well with my friends in Edinburgh. After a few days at the vet she is now back home with them and doing well again. I feel relieved.

Tonight I will make quiches made with leeks/onions/broccoli from the garden supplemented by bacon, cheese, milk and eggs from the shop followed by baked apples (apples I picked yesterday from the apple trees in the garden) stuffed with raisins in a sugar and cinnamon butter. Can't wait!!!

Tomorrow I leave my host and will travel to Oslo with Linda who has been generous enough to invite me to stay with her for the weekend.