Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Eating green

@brittarnhild

I have been eating green today.
First a white pizza with asparagus for lunch, then for dinner, when we sat outdoors on the fondamente along one of Murano´s canals tonight, I had tagliolini gratinati con scampi e asparagus.

It is asparagus time in Italy just now. Many villages have their own asparagus festivals and on the local restaurant menus you are almost sure to find one or more dishes with asparagus. 

The Italians are following the seasons in their kitchen. Eat what you find in nature just, now seems to be their motto. I love that, and I try, the best I can, to make it the motto of my kitchen as well. We all want to save the planet, don't we, and very often the steps we can and have to take are simple. Go out, find out what is growing around you just now, check if it is edible. Eat it!

It could be simple. Unfortunately it is not. It is so easy to go to the supermarket and buy what is at hand, what is on sale, forgetting to check where it comes from and what costs Mother Earth has to pay.

Let us make it simple, shall we?

 

The garden lots on Murano

@brittarnhild

We arrived just in time for pizza for lunch, leaving Trondheim airport at 6am, flying first to Copenhagen, then continuing to Venezia ans Murano.

After the lunch and a little rest at the hotel, we went out walking. And walking, and walking.
We know this island in the Venetian lagoon quite well now after many visits, and as always our best feet forward took us beyond the tourist areas.

I already knew about the garden lots on the island, but never have I seen them so lush and beautiful as today.

Back in our own garden we put the peas (possum) into the soil yesterday, the potatoes a week ago and the cherry tree has just started to bloom . Here you could already dig up the potatoes, eat the peas and the blackbirds feasted on some remaining cherries.

Somewhere along our walks we met this lovely donna. She had been out in her garden and showed us the rosemary she had picked. If I knew Italian I would have asked her what was on her menu today.......

 

Italia, here we come

@brittarnhild

We are waving goodbye to our cherry blossoms, leaving the house and garden to a dear neighbour and will, some time in the middle of the night, fly south to Italia.

I hope to blog daily (well.......) I will post updates on Facebook, but most of all I plan to post daily travel letters on two of my instagram accounts, @brittarnhildsblomsterrom and @brittarnhildskreativeverden 
Follow me there, and Ill see you in Murano in a few hours.

 

 

Water for the onion bed

@brittarnhild

Sunny weather is here.
Terje and I have spent all day gardening today.
Preparing the garden for our weeks away.

You see, first thing Sunday morning we are flying down to Italy.

 

In the picture you see me watering my onion bed. Garlic was planted back in the autumn and has already startet to grown. Red and yellow onions were planted today.

 

Do you grow onions?

 

50 shades of spring green

@brittarnhild

All the snow has melted, the sun is shining, birds are singing, flowers are blooming and we are out hiking in the spring woods.

Never has green sparkled as it did today.
Never have the birds sung more beautiful.

We hiked where we have never been before,

and met some challenges along the way. The path was really not as simple to fight as we hoped.

Every new obstacle were met with our smiles though, and there were always flowers to enjoy.

Sleeping muscles

@brittarnhild

It looks perfect with all these daffodils. But when you do not see are the weeds. Well, Terje sees it, I see the yellow flowers. We will have friends over for wild garlic hunting and dinner tomorrow. They might see the weeds, or they might not. But anyway, today was a perfect day for weeding. With Terje working on the roof, I dreamt down on all four and started the work.

Oh my, tonight I can really feel that I have woken up some muscles which have been sleeping deep all through the winter.......

Weeding with such a view, sure, it is pure bliss.

 

Spring has sprung

@brittarnhild

We woke up to a white world this morning.......again. It did melt quite fast though, but before it did we were already on our way to the cabin. And look, here we have spring.

Every fall I plant dozens of daffodil bulbs, and are rewarded when spring comes.

Daffodils in the cabin garden, wood anemones in the woods, blackbirds and red robins and a million other birds.......and the weather forecast is good.

 

A late and slow spring this year

@brittarnhild

Spring is late and slow this year. We still get snow every day, and I am waiting for growth and warmer days. Not all the garden is covered in snow any more though, and the fresh snow we get melts quite fast. Actually, since quite a lot has melted today, more than half the garden is bare now. And new miracles are appearing every single day. 

Life is stubborn. Even when covered in layers of snow, the spring plants start to grow, and as soon the snow melts they praise life with their colours.

I still do my daily walks in the garden, morning and afternoon and in between, just as I do all through the year as long as the snow permits me. But where I spend most of my time is in the greenhouse. The violas have been blooming for weeks now, and with glimpses of sun through the day the greenhouse easily warms up and more plants are growing as well. In these pots are irises and pelargoniums.

In just two days now we are promised sun and warmer weather. I simply can't wait.
how is spring in your corner of the world?