Blogg

  • May

    Today we had a Swedish journalist with photographer visiting. Last week we had visit from Norway and Saturday we’ll have another journalist visiting. Much interest from the media currently. Soon it’s time for the next open tour as well, busy days!

    The climate in the greenhouse is very summery now, normal Swedish summer temps. Outside it’s a little colder.

    In the garden things are growing, most things still quite small though. First strawberrys are expanding and will hopefully turn red soon. Last year we started picking June 1 but it was much warmer then.

    Loads of different tomatoes in all sizes are waiting to be planted, they just need to grow a bit more first. Cucumber and squash is in the ground, maybe a bit early but they should make it.

    Planted many different flowers as well that have started flowering and gives some colour.

    The wines are growing lots and are full of flowers, should give more yield then last year I hope.

    Some fun plants this year, winter tomatoes, gigant basil, lemon basil and ”air onion”. The onion grows like chives but becomes thicker and produces lots of small onions instead of flowers! Strange. The winter tomatoes will stay fresh the whole winter after being picked, a nice suppliment hopefully to the diet. Will look nice with loads of tomatoes in the kitchen ceiling all winter too. Yellow ponderosa is the type we are testing.

    The peach did not produce a single flower this year as well, strange. Hopefully it will be happier next year.

    Mum got some nice sand stone slabs which we have made a small path out of. The path will connect with the main, brick path eventually when we continue that.

    For the terrass we finally got a table and chairs so we can start eating out some more. Great views of the meadows and our new sheep neighbours.

    Still many tickets for the next tour on June 2 if you fancy a visit. Dates for July and August are available too. Book in the events section.

    Some pics!

  • May

    Today we had a Swedish journalist with photographer visiting. Last week we had visit from Norway and Saturday we’ll have another journalist visiting. Much interest from the media currently. Soon it’s time for the next open tour as well, busy days!

    The climate in the greenhouse is very summery now, normal Swedish summer temps. Outside it’s a little colder.

    In the garden things are growing, most things still quite small though. First strawberrys are expanding and will hopefully turn red soon. Last year we started picking June 1 but it was much warmer then.

    Loads of different tomatoes in all sizes are waiting to be planted, they just need to grow a bit more first. Cucumber and squash is in the ground, maybe a bit early but they should make it.

    Planted many different flowers as well that have started flowering and gives some colour.

    The wines are growing lots and are full of flowers, should give more yield then last year I hope.

    Some fun plants this year, winter tomatoes, gigant basil, lemon basil and ”air onion”. The onion grows like chives but becomes thicker and produces lots of small onions instead of flowers! Strange. The winter tomatoes will stay fresh the whole winter after being picked, a nice suppliment hopefully to the diet. Will look nice with loads of tomatoes in the kitchen ceiling all winter too. Yellow ponderosa is the type we are testing.

    The peach did not produce a single flower this year as well, strange. Hopefully it will be happier next year.

    Mum got some nice sand stone slabs which we have made a small path out of. The path will connect with the main, brick path eventually when we continue that.

    For the terrass we finally got a table and chairs so we can start eating out some more. Great views of the meadows and our new sheep neighbours.

    Still many tickets for the next tour on June 2 if you fancy a visit. Dates for July and August are available too. Book in the events section.

    Some pics!

  • Spring cleaning

    Busy days. Many things needs to happen at the same time. Seeds and seedlings nursed to give veggies later on, the greenhouse cleaned up after the winter, preparations for the first tour of the house, continuing with building stuff! Also a very rewarding time, as soon as the sun is out we have summer temperatures. The wines and other shrubs have started to get leafs which is very nice, soon we’ll disapear in greenery 🙂

    The upper balcony/terrace is mostly finshed, now it’s more smaller touches left to go, a cool space. Once we have built a stairs from the ground up, the house will become and even more confusing 3D puzzle, awesome!

    We got some nice documents from the local council, the permanent occupancy permit, no more interim permit! Very nice, thanks Vallentuna!

    We also sent water samples to the lab for testing. The drinking water has become better than the test done shortly after the well was drilled, quite normal. Slightly harder (more Ca) which would explain the calcium buildup we have in the sink etc. A de-hardening filter would be good.

    The other water sample was from the cleaned/treated waste water after the growing beds. VERY nice result! The beds are only 1 year old though so the values might increase a bit further on. But the echoli, BOD7 and phosforous values was extremely low. Lower than the big treatment plant north of Stockholm. Drinking water quality. The nitrogen is slightly higher but that is due to no plants growing in the winter, it will be nice to compare with a new sample after the summer.

    Anders Solvarm http://www.ecorelief.se stopped by one evening as he passed by Stockholm. Great to catch up, have a look around and do even more measurements on the beds. Anders designed and built the whole treatment system. This time he brought a measuring probe that could sample pH and ammonium nitrogen. I.E. sample before and after the beds to see how efficient they really are. Yucky to take the pre-bed samples but great to see the results, the nitrogen was reduced ~100 times by the beds. PH rose in the bed, probably due to the different types of salts that goes hand in hand with the nitrogen if I understood correctly. Results and more exact numbers from the tests are published under the ”data” page to the left.

    Also on the data page are the data from the heat recovery pumps first year. I expect the numbers to become even better next winter when the greenhouse is finished and will keep the temperature higher around the house + more filling material around the slab + house logs sinking/compacting making the walls tighter + tuning of the heat system + using the wood stove more.

    Only a few days left now before the first open tour of the house, lots to do, little time. Hopefully people will be happy afterwards at least. More dates for the summer has been added too, book your tour now! 🙂

    Time for some pictures! A bumble bee that needed some sugar (amazing little straw it has to suck up nectar), finishing some of the facade, washing the windows (everyone seems very intrigued how we wash the windows), big tulips flowering like crazy, wine leafs, more tulips and finally the solar sails that makes the balcony not too hot during the day. Way too nice to sit in the shade and work from home on the computer. Last pic of our road that got a sping cleaning too, a good grating/planing to get rid of potholes. Making the road grate again!

  • Spring cleaning

    Busy days. Many things needs to happen at the same time. Seeds and seedlings nursed to give veggies later on, the greenhouse cleaned up after the winter, preparations for the first tour of the house, continuing with building stuff! Also a very rewarding time, as soon as the sun is out we have summer temperatures. The wines and other shrubs have started to get leafs which is very nice, soon we’ll disapear in greenery 🙂

    The upper balcony/terrace is mostly finshed, now it’s more smaller touches left to go, a cool space. Once we have built a stairs from the ground up, the house will become and even more confusing 3D puzzle, awesome!

    We got some nice documents from the local council, the permanent occupancy permit, no more interim permit! Very nice, thanks Vallentuna!

    We also sent water samples to the lab for testing. The drinking water has become better than the test done shortly after the well was drilled, quite normal. Slightly harder (more Ca) which would explain the calcium buildup we have in the sink etc. A de-hardening filter would be good.

    The other water sample was from the cleaned/treated waste water after the growing beds. VERY nice result! The beds are only 1 year old though so the values might increase a bit further on. But the echoli, BOD7 and phosforous values was extremely low. Lower than the big treatment plant north of Stockholm. Drinking water quality. The nitrogen is slightly higher but that is due to no plants growing in the winter, it will be nice to compare with a new sample after the summer.

    Anders Solvarm http://www.ecorelief.se stopped by one evening as he passed by Stockholm. Great to catch up, have a look around and do even more measurements on the beds. Anders designed and built the whole treatment system. This time he brought a measuring probe that could sample pH and ammonium nitrogen. I.E. sample before and after the beds to see how efficient they really are. Yucky to take the pre-bed samples but great to see the results, the nitrogen was reduced ~100 times by the beds. PH rose in the bed, probably due to the different types of salts that goes hand in hand with the nitrogen if I understood correctly. Results and more exact numbers from the tests are published under the ”data” page to the left.

    Also on the data page are the data from the heat recovery pumps first year. I expect the numbers to become even better next winter when the greenhouse is finished and will keep the temperature higher around the house + more filling material around the slab + house logs sinking/compacting making the walls tighter + tuning of the heat system + using the wood stove more.

    Only a few days left now before the first open tour of the house, lots to do, little time. Hopefully people will be happy afterwards at least. More dates for the summer has been added too, book your tour now! 🙂

    Time for some pictures! A bumble bee that needed some sugar (amazing little straw it has to suck up nectar), finishing some of the facade, washing the windows (everyone seems very intrigued how we wash the windows), big tulips flowering like crazy, wine leafs, more tulips and finally the solar sails that makes the balcony not too hot during the day. Way too nice to sit in the shade and work from home on the computer. Last pic of our road that got a sping cleaning too, a good grating/planing to get rid of potholes. Making the road grate again!

  • New life

    Let’s see if we can keep the blog up to date a bit more! Our first open tour is slowly filling up, will be exciting. April 28th is the day. Tickets available to the left. By then the greenhouse will have woken up a bit more, currently some things are starting to push out greenery.

    The greenhouse is still a bit open so it does not get as warm as it could be at this time of the year. Plants are a little slow. The strawberries have started pushing up new leafs, by June we’ll have loads of berries!

    The chives is waking up. Perfekt to the pickled herring and sourcream on Easter.

    Under the balcony we have tried to keep a warmer area for tropical plants. Currently only plastic ”walls” + a heater, next winter we hope to have glass walls to make a greenhouse in the greenhouse. Unfortunately the storm Alfrida in January caused a power outage for 36 hours which killed the lemon. The almond on the other hand is flowering like crazy.

    The peach out in the main greenhouse, also a prunus like the almond, is just about to push out it’s leafs. Hopefully we’ll get some peaches this year.

    The SE corner currently, quite a big differance to the summer last year when the walls were covered by greenery several meters up. Grape wines to the right, peach centerish and some sort of hibiscus to the left. Hopefully it has survived.

    Tulips pushing out of the sand but it’s slow, they have been working on it since February. Will bring some nice colours soon I hope.

    Let’s not be fooled by the cold weather, it can be hot already in the greenhouse! That is one of the benefits of the nature house concept, much longer ”outdoor” season. We’ve had several days where the greenhouse reach 25 degrees C and automatically start to open the ventilation. We found some solar sails on IKEA to protect a bit against the direct sun. Looks OK, we’ll see how good it works. The pergola beams are perfect to anchor all sorts of things like the sails. They are quite big at ~3 m high and 135 mm square timber.

    The black cloth is also from IKEA, ”balcony covering”,semi permanent. Mostly it is to prevent kids from climbing on the fence.

    The terrass is nearing completion, we made the floor out of sturdy and huge 2x9s (45×220 mm). Really nice, a bit soft wood but looks cool being so thick. Still left to do is the handrail with the same boards. Somewhere to put the drink!

    Lots of things to do now that spring is here. Long lists to complete but great to work in the greenhouse again. Next week will probably be putting up wires for the plants to climb on, finishing up facade boards and some more sowing of seeds. Currently we have two large mini greenhouses going with seeds.

    Until next time, smooth sailing!

    //Björn

  • New life

    Let’s see if we can keep the blog up to date a bit more! Our first open tour is slowly filling up, will be exciting. April 28th is the day. Tickets available to the left. By then the greenhouse will have woken up a bit more, currently some things are starting to push out greenery.

    The greenhouse is still a bit open so it does not get as warm as it could be at this time of the year. Plants are a little slow. The strawberries have started pushing up new leafs, by June we’ll have loads of berries!

    The chives is waking up. Perfekt to the pickled herring and sourcream on Easter.

    Under the balcony we have tried to keep a warmer area for tropical plants. Currently only plastic ”walls” + a heater, next winter we hope to have glass walls to make a greenhouse in the greenhouse. Unfortunately the storm Alfrida in January caused a power outage for 36 hours which killed the lemon. The almond on the other hand is flowering like crazy.

    The peach out in the main greenhouse, also a prunus like the almond, is just about to push out it’s leafs. Hopefully we’ll get some peaches this year.

    The SE corner currently, quite a big differance to the summer last year when the walls were covered by greenery several meters up. Grape wines to the right, peach centerish and some sort of hibiscus to the left. Hopefully it has survived.

    Tulips pushing out of the sand but it’s slow, they have been working on it since February. Will bring some nice colours soon I hope.

    Let’s not be fooled by the cold weather, it can be hot already in the greenhouse! That is one of the benefits of the nature house concept, much longer ”outdoor” season. We’ve had several days where the greenhouse reach 25 degrees C and automatically start to open the ventilation. We found some solar sails on IKEA to protect a bit against the direct sun. Looks OK, we’ll see how good it works. The pergola beams are perfect to anchor all sorts of things like the sails. They are quite big at ~3 m high and 135 mm square timber.

    The black cloth is also from IKEA, ”balcony covering”,semi permanent. Mostly it is to prevent kids from climbing on the fence.

    The terrass is nearing completion, we made the floor out of sturdy and huge 2x9s (45×220 mm). Really nice, a bit soft wood but looks cool being so thick. Still left to do is the handrail with the same boards. Somewhere to put the drink!

    Lots of things to do now that spring is here. Long lists to complete but great to work in the greenhouse again. Next week will probably be putting up wires for the plants to climb on, finishing up facade boards and some more sowing of seeds. Currently we have two large mini greenhouses going with seeds.

    Until next time, smooth sailing!

    //Björn

  • March rain

    The rain is pouring down and melting the snow. The summer feels distant but things are starting to wake up in the greenhouse. The almond tree has been in full bloom a few weeks, tulips are pushing out of the ground. The strawberries are pushing new leafs as is the chives. Seeds has been sown for the coming season. Time to prepare!

    We have been here for 11 months now. Very nice so far but time is running too fast. Last summer was hot and things grew like crazy. Hard to imagine the jungle now.

    Time to start having open/guided tours! We have added one date, April 28 so far, more to come. Book your tickets under ”events”. A bit of confusion between English and Swedish in the web page plugin but it seems to work at least, albeit the link only shows up on the Swedish version of the page.

    Some pictures from the year we have been here below.

  • March rain

    The rain is pouring down and melting the snow. The summer feels distant but things are starting to wake up in the greenhouse. The almond tree has been in full bloom a few weeks, tulips are pushing out of the ground. The strawberries are pushing new leafs as is the chives. Seeds has been sown for the coming season. Time to prepare!

    We have been here for 11 months now. Very nice so far but time is running too fast. Last summer was hot and things grew like crazy. Hard to imagine the jungle now.

    Time to start having open/guided tours! We have added one date, April 28 so far, more to come. Book your tickets under ”events”. A bit of confusion between English and Swedish in the web page plugin but it seems to work at least, albeit the link only shows up on the Swedish version of the page.

    Some pictures from the year we have been here below.

  • Nearly there…

    Time flies… a long year of building since the last update, but now we are nearly there! Some more documentations then approval from the council. We have to move during easter either way so hoping to get the approval next week.

    There are still many things to complete but it’s totaly livable currently.

    Ending ths short update with a winter pic.

  • Nearly there…

    Time flies… a long year of building since the last update, but now we are nearly there! Some more documentations then approval from the council. We have to move during easter either way so hoping to get the approval next week.

    There are still many things to complete but it’s totaly livable currently.

    Ending ths short update with a winter pic.