Dog eats Blueberries.

Last Sundays outing took us to Hurum golf course, near the picturesque seside town of Holmsbu. The purpose of this outing was to visit Mrs VL university friend, who happens to be the daughter of the owner of the Golf course.

Whilst myself, the thoughtful Scotsman and the owners daughters man enjoyed 18 holes of golf, Mrs VL and the owners daughter took a stroll through the forest with Peggy, our 3-legged hound.

At this time of year it is common for such outings to be punctuated by a stop to collect and enjoy natures offerings. One such delight being wild blueberries. Peggy is always on a strict diet of only low calerie food to keep wieght of off her back leg. However, she is a crafty hound and has been known to supplement her measly intake with chocolate from under the christmas tree, dog buiscuits (whilst staying with a friend she opened the cupboard door in the middle of the night), scraps from the compost bin and so on. On this occasion it seems that she has turned to nature, as you can see from the photo's she has learnt to pick her own blueberries......

More Power, The Blog

is now in the Friends and Family Blogs list.

The re-creation of a previous attempt for two of my mates and myself to keep the world informed about our motoring exploits and experiences. This time by the power of the blog, reckon it should be more successful than our previous website.

Find links to other great motoring sites and keep an eye on "made us laugh today", currently featuring two muppets in a Ferari.... Priceless.

Oslo City Hall, A Correction.

The Thoughtful Scotsman has e-mailed to point out some inaccuracies in a previous post.

Oslo "Rådhus" was in fact designed in the 1920's which TS reckons is Art Deco, I decline to comment as I have already demonstratred my ability to get things completely wrong. It was not completed until the 1950's, however, due to the war and German Occupation of Norway.
The officiall opening was on "Oslo Day" 15th May 1950, coinciding with the 900th anniversary of the foundation of Oslo.

With such a wealth of information out there on the www, there is no excuse for such errors.I can't promise it won't happen again though.....

Warm and Cuddly (and slightly wet).

Yesterday evening on my way back from a trial of my two wheel, emmission free alternative to the bus,which I havn't used in ages, I stopped off to talk to the real pig farmer (a.k.a. The real farmers wife).

AS often, the conversation continued after the real farmer turned up, tales of our first week with pigs,their recent holiday, the lord Mayors dayghters new dog (at least abscence of) and so on....
During this time Mrs Viking Longship had begun the pre bedtime routine of seeing to it thatthe various animals are in the correct locations and suitable watered and fed. One of these tasksbeing to fetch our Bengal Stud cat "Vegas" in from the "Raspberry Cat Chalet" to the downstairs wash room, which currently doubles as a stud quarters. On an aside, I hope to have the cats web site www.starsprung.com up and running again soon, those of you who are interested watch this space.

Now "Vegas" is one who likes his routine. For some reason he has decided that he will not pass water whilst in the confines of the Cat Chalet. We have even installed a larger litter tray for him, but he still will not use it. So, normally, you fetch Vegas in, having a little "I've been out on my own and want some fuss" cuddle on the way, and as soon as he is inside he empties his very full bladder in the stud quarters litter tray. That cat can pee for what seems like 5 minutes. After this He is often allowed to have a run around in the kitchen and living room as the empty bladder significantly reduces the risk of spraying (although he doesn't seem too fussed by that in this new house, perhaps as cats have not lived here before).
On this occassion, as he was typically cuddly, Mrs VL decided that she would cary him down the 100 or so metres to where she was undoubtly certain she would find me. On seeing my big cuddly boy, I of course wanted to take him and share in the warmth of his cuddle too. After a little more discussion I became aware that Vegas seemed even warmer against me chest and almost sligtly damp. So there was I left holding a water cannon of a cat as he emtied his very full bladder with t-shirt soaked in nto so pleasent smelling male cats pee, much to the onlookers amusment.

The kind words from The Real Farmer being "It's just as well he didn't do that 5 mins ago when he was lying on your head, it would have gone right in your ear and I would have wet myself too laughing....."

Pesto and Pasta

After the late start, the vegetable garden is finally in full swing. We are beginningto enjoy mixed salad leaves, spinach, raddish and the typical sudden excess of courgettes is looking imminent. The potatoes which had to wait until the middle of June to go outare also looking due to flower very soon.

Last nights dinner was something of a first. Home made pesto using home grown basil. At least, the basil started out life as one of those horribly overcrowded pots you get from the supermarket. My previous experiences being that you use them once and then they wither away. On this occasion, I had a little space to fill in the 1st terracethe veg garden so I took the basil out the pot, broke it up into about 6 clumps and shovedit in the soil. For the first few days the basil really didn't seem sure if it could cope with this new found freedom and hung on the edge between life and death. But now after some weeks it is growing at an amazing rate of knots.
I easily collected the "3 good handfulls" that Jamie suggested and left the plants lookingnone the thinner. A quick session with the pestle and mortar with the addition of roasted pine nuts and garlic, blend with Olive oil, parmesan cheese and a little lemon juice. Season to taste, and hey presto, pesto.....

I can thoroughly recommend it (both planting out shopped basil and the pesto).

Oslo, The magical mystery tour.

This weekend, on account of our visitor, it was neccesary for us to step into the real world and remind ourselves why our quiet and peaceful world is so much better. Where better to indulge in this opportunity to clarify the stark contrast of our rural life than on the streets of the capital itself.

It was a grey day all in all, the greyness being added to occasionally with a spot or two of rain and equally occasionally broken by the suns rays glinting through gaps in the cloud. This weather was pretty good for us as it reduced the dehydrating and jading effect of the night befores Thai banquet served with a suitable quantity of homebrew and washed down with an equally inapropriate quantity of Ardbeg.

After the hour long drive we arrived in the capital at about 11:30 a.m. Our purchase of 3 Oslo Cards for 195 Kr promised us access to most Museums and attractions and free transport on buses, trams, tube and trains inside Oslo. Always a worth while investment. Whilst most likely only a moderate financial saving the time and effort saved in not paying everywhere you go is worth the cost alone.

Our first stop was the reptile park. The name doesn't give any clues that this comprises of the 4th floor of the small building in one of the main streets. The lack of size and absence of parkland is a bit of a let down. However, the array of snakes, lizards, multicolour frogs (blue, lime green and orange...), spiders and even the odd alligator (who amazingly co-habits with two large terrapins and a large catfish and doesn't seem the least bit interested in eating them) are excellently presented and most interesting. Enough to please, not too much to overwhelm.

Next was a trip up Karl Johanns to the subtle and understated castle. A magnificent building but not quite on a par with the national monuments of the UKs royal family. The Thoughtful Scotmans was understandably apprehensive about getting his photo taken standing beside the guard on duty, so it was up to Myself and Mrs VL to brave it out beside some-one who looked barely out of school and was equipped with a machine gun.

The city hall was our next host, it's' dull brown 70's architectural statement on the outside gives no indications of the breath taking splendour of the main hall where the nobel peace prize is handed out, or of the Munch room with it's almost lifesize Munch painting "Life". The splendour and detail of the full room murals depicting Urban and Rural Norway would require days to take in every detail and the decor is a clear indication of the way that the wealth of oil has breathed new life into this once poor country.

After the city hall we took a short boat trip over to Bygdøy, to get a flavour of Norways ocean going history in the maritime museum, then on to the Viking ships, one of which is almost perfectly preserved after being buried with it's dead owner (to assist in the journey to the new life) by people very skilled in natural preservation techniques.

T'was a good day, with good company in a beautiful and cultured filled city, capped off by a quick swim in the fjord at the Viking-in-Laws chalet.

Blog News: Links Found in Sidebar...

Amazingly, I have managed to modify the blogs sidebar and add some links without mucking everything up.

So, to begin with we have.

News from beyond the north wind. A friend of ours from our previous life in Cumbria and some of his local associates. The man who suggested I should blog myself. This blog is well subscribed and heavily published with top quality content. Everything from book reviews, the wonders of the Cumbrian and Scottish mountains, local and global rants and much more. Sometimes serious sometimes hilarious, but always something for most to enjoy.

,

Petrol Art. On mans love and experiences of all things motor shared in photographed art for all those with a passion of the automotive world. See his (and our) experiences at motor events around the UK (and the world), with pictures of the sublime to the rediculious. An essential viewing for all pertolheads.

and

The Deep North. Been at the "small-holding" game longer than us, probably just as mad and nearly as far north......

The thoughtful Scotsman.....

Well, we've just finished cleaning the house from top to bottom. This can only mean one thing, we have a visitor due.

On this occassion it is the Thoughtful Scotman who will be with us. I am quite sure that this weekend will be the typical whirlwind of construction, sightseeing, fine food, Ardbeg Whiskey and so on. What will be missing from the visit, and this will be a first for our good friend, is the presence of a 7.5t lorry waiting to be filled with our worldly goods, a feat which Mr TS has helped with on 2 occasions in the last year.

As I write this I am completing another important part of the preperation for our visitor. I must say, a noble excercise and not one to be undertaken lightly. As you all had guessed, this task is to confim that the quality of the latest batch of home brew is up to scratch to save us from paying the extortionate cost of beer in the supermarkets. This latest batch is not my preferred Muntons Gold (which I have been unable to get hold off so far since the move from Bergen), this is Coopers brewery kit. This does not follow the all important "Reinheitsgebot" and requires the addition of common suger which is alien to the brewing process. Other than a hint of cloudiness it is acceptable however.

The itinery includes, completion of the pig house ready for their big move outdoors (see post below), a trip to an English pub (run by an Englishman) down the road, a trip to Oslo and much good food and company.

You can expect reports of cultural experiences and detailed descriptions of successes or failures with the planned menus. I will even attempt to get a guest report from Mr TS himself, but given his thoughtful shy nature this is unlikely. Maybe I just need to wait until after a few Ardbegs.......

Pork, Unprocessed and in bulk.

Yes, another milestone in our quest for true small-holder status.

I realise that some of you may find the title as a slightly unacceptable or inhumane way to describe our latest two additions but that is exactly what they are. More on that later.

Saturday was spent building a completely over-engineered "movable" electric fence in preparation for the new arrivals due on Sunday. Unfortunately the electric fence energizer I had ordered from Ireland had obviously suffered a little more than just superficial damage in transport and failed to operate. I rang the manufacturer this Monday morning and they were very apologetic and put a new one in the post straight away. So assuming that the new one arrives in good time and works I may get sing there praises.

So, in the absence of a functioning electric fence, Sunday morning was spent constructing a pen inside the barn. Built using pallets and planks of wood. It was nice to have all my pallets in one place, again thanks to my parents tidying efforts during their recent "holiday"!!!

So 5p.m. on Sunday we duly "collected", with a lot of help from someone who knew what there doing, our chosen 2 from the farm next door. These had been carefully selected during a previous visit. Mrs Viking chose a 28Kg boy (because it had a retained testicle and offered a veterinary challenge for her (pigs are not castrated in the UK so this was a new thing)), and I chose a 22Kg girl (because it was the first of the bunch to come to me). Both are now around 9 weeks old.

As it turns out. Having them inside for a short while has given time for observed recovery after the boy had the Op (+ch anag.), the opportunity to worm and vaccinate before infecting our clean virgin land with any parasites and the opportunity to get a little close contact before they move on to pastures green.

Anyhow, back to the title. Pigs intelligent, friendly and amusing nature makes it all the more important to follow Mr Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall advice in the bible according to Hugh. . Roughly that is that one must never have it to far in the back of your mind that this is meat in production and not a couple of pets. Sure they will be treated with the same respect and care, given the same amount of attention to there welfare and needs and looked after as any animal should be, but they are going to slaughter and will be processed to end up as what I hope will be many excellent culinary creations. Difficult as it is, that is how it is. So, no names and a conscious effort not to label them with personalities. It's going to be difficult this first time but it will happen.

To re-enforce this in my head I have during the past evenings been referring to my library of cook books (especially the one named above) and getting some ideas what I will be doing with the meat. Parma ham, dry cured bacon, black pudding (if I'm really feeling brave), all manner of sausages, ribs, chops, maybe a bit of smoked bacon, chorizo..........

Anyhow, more pig stories to come, with photos once they are outside no doubt.

The weather, oh, and of course the hay

As you will not have managed to miss, we were in the process of making hay last week.

As most of you will know you require dry weather to make hay, so I was keeping an eye on the weather forcast. Rain was due this past weekend, but a quick check on the internet on Wednesday showed that that prediction was brought forward to Friday or possibly Thursday.

This of course left a dilema, do we play on the safe side and get the hay in on Wednesday, and then be left with very "Fresh" hay to deal with inside, or do we risk leaving it till Thursday evening when the hay will have had an extra day to dry outside but we may risk it being ruined by rain.

We decided Wednesday was the evening and, as shown, duly loaded up the trailer and karted the hay inside. This left us with a trailer full of heavily compact, slightly damp hay and due to the early harvest no where to put it as the space allocated to it had not been tidied and prepared. Since then we have prepared the area for the hay (with pallets covering the floor to allow some air to circulate under) and bit by bit emptied the trailer trying to ensure that all the hay is fully dry before is buried. It would be terrible to find that next year, when we come to use the hay for one of our planned livestock projects it has gone mouldy and is unusable.

This whole experience has evoked some new feelings and learnings in me.

Firstly, on the hay. There was something special about what could be described as our first large harvest (all be it small by many standards). When I say large, I mean something that you need a large trailer to collect. Sure it is probably lower value, easier and less work than the wonderful harvests of potatoes, onions, chilli peppers, tomatoes and so on that we were obtaining from our kitchen garden during our last years in Cumbria, but there was something different about this. I guess that this was a part of farming. Here am I, a well qualified, well paid (well not bad anyway), responsible engineer and what gets my mind going.... Feeling like a farmer. Can someone explain that, I'm not sure I can.

Now, on the weather. How does it effect your life. Is it a pain because you get wet, or maybe, too hot in your office and so on. Hardly going to ruin your day, or your year. Here, it has been very dry and very hot for a good number of weeks, lovely weather, if your going to the beach. But when you speak to the people growing the crops, the people who feed us and make a living out of doing it, it's been too dry. The crops have grown weak due to the lack of water, and now this weekends, long overdue, heavy rain has been too much for some of these crops and entire fields are flattenned as though a steamroller has run riot. Now that would ruin your year. For me the weather has been an inconvinience, maybe set the veg garden back a bit, but for some it really does make the difference between sucess and failure, income or no payment for the years work.

Blog News: Hit counter revelation

Wow, that was really quite simple.

By the power of the internet this blog now comes complete with hit counter at the bottom of the page!!!!!

I'll be trying to link to other websites before you know it (yes, before you say it, it'll all go horrible wrong).

This Bird has Flown

At least that's what we hope.

The story of Splash, the injured seagull has come to an end.

On Wednesday morning after over four days of recouperation, Splash, who was had been left in his usual position standing on the lawn vanished. As there was no indication of struggle or attack and judging by his increased level of activity that morning we can only assume that he took himself off. An extensive search of the area was conducted and there was no sign.

So here's hoping and wishing Splash all the best out there in the world outside our Garden.....

Drying the hay

Phase 2 of Part 1 in the grand hay making plan is ongoing.....

This involves drawing the hay together in rows, as displayed in picture, in the evening to keep most of it above the dew. Spreading it out again in the morning (i.e. 6 a.m. to give me time to get to the bus) and turning it when we arrive home from work.

Al in all, a bit of a palava... One I thought was only for a couple of days but now we have it on good authourity, from a wiser, slightly older and very much more experienced hand that even in this warm weather it'll take a least 4-5 days to be fully dry and ready for storage. This means it'll be up early for the whole of this week before loading up the tractor trailer on Friday evening and depositing the finished hay in the barn before the rain that is forecast at the weekend.

If it was easy everybody would be doing it.............

The continuing Splash Saga

You will be pleased to here that Splash is still with us, although we thought we'd lost him at one point....... Having circled in an upwards direction for about 2 full revolutions during a test flight, splash began his decent. Unfortunately, due to some innacuracies in the flight computer, splash crashed into on of our large maple trees and "landed" in the middle of a large patch of wild Rasberries. Forunatly previous golf ball seeking experience was put into use and splash was duly found and recovered.....

At close of play last night, Splash was drinking, unaided and showed some improvements in awareness and even moved of his own accord (albeit a few inches.....).

As you are all, no doubt, on the each of your seats!!!!!, regular updates and significant events will be posted as they occur.

Thanks to Dad.......

For fixing the garage door.

Which has now had it's 2 coats of Norwegian Farm Red......

Cutting the Hay

Well, after a long days work, phase 1 of part 1 of the hay cutting is complete.

This will hopefully leave us with some nice hay and now the land which will become the Orchard is all ready for a couple of pigs to prepare the soil...

In the morning, like A real farmer.... I have to get up at some rediculous hour to spread the large piles I have left the hay in back out for another day of drying in the sun. The theory being that at night it should all be in piles so that the there is less grass exposed to the due and during the day it should be spread out to give the maximum surface area for drying in the sun.

Hopefully the weather should keep the way it is which will mean that the hay should be dry in a couple of days which means that I only have to go through the piling and spreading procedure a couple of times, apart from the other half of the hay area which I have not yet cut......

The Saga of Splash

Here's one for all you animal lovers out there (although I can't promise a happy ending).

Splash, the seagull (a small variety) arrived on Saturday afternoon after Mrs Viking had finished her morning surgery at the clinic. Splash had suffered some form of truama to his (his for convenience, sex unknown) head, and had been resident at the clinic since Thursday.

Yesterday splash spent his day swaying (you couldn't really call it standing) , sitting, bobbing (when placed in water) , controlling decent before crashing (when launched) and spitting out the food that he was fed. All in all it was not looking to good for splash so the decision was taken to PTS before we went to bed. However, Mrs Viking was called out at the last moment and as she did not return until the early hours, Splashes fate swung in the balence for another night.

This morning the cry went up "lets put that bird out of it's misery", but of course first it was neccesary to check for any improvment. So, splash was duly Launched into the skys..... To our surprise splash did not simply control his decent before crashing uncerimoniously into the ground, instead he flew upwards in a controlled circle between the house and the trees (before crashing uncerimoniously into a bush). Reprieve Number 2.........

Today (Sunday), Splash has spent his day standing (with a hint of sway), bobbing (with a hint of swim), drinking, swallowing (one entire king prawn and some cat food so far..), and keeping Peggy amused.

So assuming that splashes recovery continues it'll be off to Rema 1000 for a kilo or two of frozen prawns on the way home from work tommorow.

Welcome to Our Blog

Hello family, friends and all.

Welcome to our Blog, which will hopefully give those interested the ability to keep track of and comment on the goings on in Haugtuft (lit. Small farm on the hilltop) out here in southern Scandanavia. I don't know quite how all of this works yet, but those of you who wish to post (as well as comment) on this blog are welcome to do so...

However, I can't really waste too much time now as the sun is shining and it is not supposed to rain for the next few days, so I really must make Hay whilst the sun shines.

Not just making hay but also preparing the area for some planned new arrivals. Two 25Kg 10 week old pigs who are going to come and prepare the ground which next year will become the orchard.

I think that I can now officially be called a farmer as yesterday, due to a continuing saga with oil pressure in the Landrover, I drove to the shops in my Tractor.......

We hope to pubish some more detailed bloggings on the various projects which are ongoing and maybe, if I can get a handle on the latest blog technology, include some piccies for those with whom words are not enough!!!!!

Anyhow, got to go and make hay, put a second coat of paint on the newly repaired Middle bottom garage door (thanks Dad), feed splash (the resident sick seagull), take the front wings off the landy to work out which gaskets I need to change to keep oil in the engine, fix the timing and lights on the Opel, make a pig house and cook dinner.........

A (and M (who's out on a call at the mo...))