Our Trip to Stockholm and Järna

Stockholm, baby!

We just returned last night from a trip to Stockholm and Järna. We had always planned on visiting them, Stockholm because it is Stockholm, and Järna because it is an important place in Sweden for sustainability and also the center of the anthroposophic (Steiner/Waldorf) movement in Sweden. However, we had always thought we would go just before heading off to Norway. For various reasons, we decided, quite last minute, to go down on Wednesday. After a car, two buses and a train, we arrived  at Stockholm Central. There, we bought 3-day passes for City Bike, the bike share scheme they have there. Lucy's toe is still not 100% so having access to the bikes was great.

by the canal, with our city bikes

After arriving mid-morning, we spent some time cycling around the city, unfortunately with Adie carrying a big (borrowed) backpack full of our stuff. While having lunch in a park, we happened to see the changing of the palace guard.

Then, after some trial and error, we found the Stockholm Stadsbibliotek, or Stockholm Public Library. Designed in 1920 by Gunnar Asplund, it is one of the most famous buildings of the twentieth century in Sweden.

Early Modernism, classical forms, stripped of ornamentation

Pulling up on our bikes, we were surprised to see that a 7/11 supermarket had been built in front of it! Fortunately it didn't detract too much from the modernist geometry of the exterior, and the beautiful central reading room did not disappoint either.

Books surrounding the central reading room

After that, we headed over to our hostel, on the edge of the old city, Gamla Stan. We dropped our bags and then walked around the old city before cooking dinner at the hostel kitchen (a large part of why we chose that hostel) and then heading back to the windy streets of the old city. We planned on going to watch a street theatre performance we had seen fliers for, but when it turned out to be in Swedish (and that it required following the actors as they walked down the streets...Lucy's toe was not feeling up to more walking) we instead decided to sit on a bench in an old square and read.

Stockholm skyline...

Old City

The following morning we headed out to a park on a nearby island to read our books before the museums opened. First we went to the maritime museum, which was ok, but unfortunately the main exhibit was only in Swedish. Then we headed to the Architecture and Design Museum, which had an excellent exhibit on bicycles. It was part history of bicycles in Sweden (did you know that in the early 1900s a nationwide bike path system was planned, with 10,000km of bike trails? Only 500km were built, and those are mostly reforested at this point) and part demands for major changes in transport infrastructure under the framework of 'Copenhagenize EU.' Then we had lunch in a cool cycling cafe, full of vintage bicycles, screening the Tour, and charging lots of money for sandwiches. Stockholm is indeed an expensive city! After an early dinner at the hostel, we biked over to Kungsgården, a small park that was having a free concert. When we picked up the bikes, there was a City Bikes employee loading bikes onto a truck from the already-full stand. He said that after a nice summer day, they have to move 300 of the 1000-odd bikes in the program. The concert was weird, but it was fun to see everyone out and about. 

The following morning, we biked into the outskirts of town to see the Skogskyrkogården, or woodland cemetery. It is unique because essentially all the graves are simply in amongst the trees of an admittedly quite manicured forest. We also got a glimpse into the Skogscapellet, or woodland chapel, another famous Asplund building. Also interesting was the nearby mortuary, built partially underground, in the same style as the underground root cellars we have seen across Sweden and Finland. Sorry there are no photos of the cemetery, but the atmosphere there was such that it didn't even cross our minds to pull out the camera!

Late morning, we took a commuter train south, about an hour, to the town of Järna. We were met at the station by a man named Peter. Lucy had contacted him earlier to see if we could come stay at the ecovillage where he lived. He was an incredibly friendly guy, constantly laughing at his own statements. After stopping off at a bakery/cafe, we went to the ecovillage, which turned out not really to be one! Peter had bought a farm 20 years ago, and started a sort of housing cooperative, selling off buildings to people. So it's a weird blend of coop, farm and a Waldorf kindergarten school. Weirder still was that Peter himself left to go sailing for the weekend, so we only spent four hours together before he headed off. In that time he showed us around the farm, showed us where we could pitch our tent and gave us several sets of keys. First, to his family's house so that we could use the kitchen, second to their spare car, and third to their bike locks in case we wanted bikes. Crazy! He also put out some paint and creosote, some wire and other tools so that we could do a few odd jobs on the farm in return. We also met Marit, a woman who teaches at the kindergarten and helps on the farm. She too was leaving for the weekend, but said she would be around on Sunday morning and we could do some work together.

In the morning we did a couple of hours of work.

Hard work

 Then it got really hot, so we drove to a lake, but the parking lot was full! So we headed out the other side of Järna to Ytterjärna, the true center of anthroposophy in Sweden. There we checked out the cultural center and other buildings. For Lucy, it felt like Waldorf on steroids! It is a very extensive place, with multiple Waldorf schools, farms, a medical center, housing and facilities for work and dance. After exploring we finally got our swim, but in the fjord at the edge of town!

The clay church in Saltä.

The visitor's center, with a living wall made from old shipping pallets.

The next morning we did a couple of hours work repairing fences with Marit, then she took us over to her house (hand built by her husband, a lumberjack, and really, really beautiful). We made lunch together with food almost exclusively from their garden, chickens, etc. Marit and Anders were some of the nicest people we have ever met, and were very open and talkative.

Finally, Peter returned, and gave us a ride back to the train station. We had a hell of a time getting home, because severe thunderstorms had caused flooding. The train to Stockholm wasn't running, so we took a bus to the nearest main station, then caught a train there. It, however, stopped short of the city, and with the assistance of a kind older woman, walked the 5 minutes to the nearest subway station. At this point we were already late for our train back up north, and were thinking about where in Stockholm we could illegally camp if we had to. But we realized that perhaps all trains were affected, and sure enough, when we arrived at Stockholm Central, the waiting hall was packed, and we waited for our (delayed) train to show up on the departure board, then ran to catch it. At the other end, we just missed the bus we were meant to be on, so had to get the next one. That meant we missed our second bus, the last one running that evening. So Lärkan kindly drove 20 minutes to pick us up. Needless to say, we fell straight to sleep!

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Our Non-Work Activities

And we are off! 

Waiting at a rest stop to start our journey to Norway. We needed the chocolate to stay up so late!

It seems crazy but it may actually be easier to blog while on the road than it has been at "home" this past month. No wifi and only a shared, excruciatingly slow computer makes blogging the last thing you want to do. A sick form of torture! Here is a bit about what we have been getting up to recently.

 Though we've certainly been pouring a lot of energy into our building projects, we've also had time for excursions and personal activities as well.

Our most frequent activity is cooking... for which Lucy serves as head chef. Adie and Greg function as unskilled labor sous-chefs. Greg especially is getting a real cooking education! Thibaud mostly keeps to himself while we are cooking (he seems to have a bit of a facebook addiction) but is happy doing dishes. A few days ago, however, he showed his true Frenchness, making crepes with homemade caramel!

Zucchini fritters and pancakes!

Next up is swimming. Because showers are few and far between because the spring that provides them with water doesn't provide enough water (in fact we ran out this week because it's so hot and dry and had to fill tubs at the community farm), we make up in other ways and at other places. We have been to the sauna at the local community farm, but mostly we go swimming. The first week we tried a few different lakes, but we have settled on a favorite. It sets itself apart because there is a long dock that you can jump off of. Jumping in is good because only the top foot or so of water is warm, and below about 3 or 4 feet, the water is frigid.

Here is Greg at our favorite swimming lake.

We also read a lot, and as a group, play cards. Like our lake preference, we have quickly settled on a favorite game, "Smashed and Out." This game has been a fixture of Mitchell family gatherings for about a decade. The game is similar to Uno, but played with two regular decks of cards. There are a lot of rules, most of them designed to be amusingly infruriating (e.g. you have to say "this is a spade" every time you play a spade!).

Finally, we are making knives! Lärkan has been making knives as a hobby for more than 20 years, although now he sells a lot of them, through friends of friends. Mostly he just makes handles and sheaths for purchased blades, but he does have a mini forge setup too, which he uses to forge blades from old metal files. During our initial tour of the farm, Marjo pointed out Lärkan's workshop, which had to be expanded into the hay loft because so many of the workawayers want to make knives. This got us excited, but unfortunately Lärkan was away on a fly fishing trip. He would be back for about 5 days, then was leaving for another fishing trip, so we wouldn't have much time with him! 

When he got back, he sorted us out with some cheap stamped steel blades he had lying around, as well as the other materials we would need for the handles. Certain things we had to get ourselves because he was out of them, like leather for sheaths. He gave us an old how to video (on a video cassette!) which unfortunately was all in Swedish. We watched it in fast forward, and it wasnt all that helpful. However, Lärkan got us started with the first few steps and was also finishing up a knife and sheath at the time, so between those three resources we (mostly Adie) felt like we ought to be able to figure it out. We did, and are both happy with what we produced as first attempts! 

Here is a quick photo series of the process.

The block of wood has been cut to size, and squared up on the sander. Pattern of handle and tang (the portion of the blade that sticks into the handle) drawn on. Holes drilled into the handle, then widened by hand to match the taper of the tang, using a jig saw blade and much patience. This one is not quite in deep enough yet.

This is a slice of buffalo horn, sanded and polished, then fit onto the tang so there are no gaps. The corresponding amount will be cut off of the wood block to allow for this thickness.

Here it is with two layers of red spacing material, which absorbs glue and means here are no gaps in the lamination. This will all get glued up with epoxy by clamping the butt end of the knife up against the blade. If you did everything right, things line up nice and square. We didn't quite manage...but it's only cosmetic. 

Once glued, the handle is shaped using various power sanders, then 40, 120, 240 and 320 grit hand sanding. Soak overnight in linseed oil, then make a sheath (which isn't a difficult process in and of itself, but it's tricky to make it the right size for the knife!

This is Lucy's, the knife she'd been looking for to complete her sailor's "rig" (as the combo of knife and marlin spike is known amongst tall ship sailors). A sheath for the spike is next!

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Our Current Home and How We've Been Keeping Busy

Well we've been here at our current host stay for nearly two weeks now, and we've been busy. Given the complications of logistics and the broken toe, Lucy has decided to stay here for the full month as well, so we will not be separating. This certainly saves us some difficult decisions, such as who gets the tube of toothpaste? It's also nice to be in one place for a longer period of time as it is allowing us to undertake some larger projects.

This workaway location is the home of a semi-retired couple, Marjo and Lärken, who are looking to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle. They are pursuing small-scale food production, animal husbandry and, most significantly ecological building. They consider the place an educational center, primarily for clay building, where they host volunteers, workshops on various building techniques and offer guided tours for those interested in these sorts of projects. They have constructed a number of clay structures - an animal bayer, a chicken house, a chapel, an interior clay frame in their sleeping house, a clay-brick oven - and have a variety of ongoing projects as well. In terms of cultivation, they have a small area of raised beds with vegetables, a berry patch, and plans to create a food forest garden with perennials, fruits and nuts. They also have chickens for eggs, pigs as living tractors, and sheep for wool and meat to sell. And then there are the two cats, three family dogs, and one guard dog for the sheep.

Making rhubarb crisp in the barrel oven!

There are quite a few structures at the property besides those mentioned already: the couple has two private houses, one for sleeping and one for daily use, a large barn, with an upstairs room where we are staying, a prefab sauna being used as a guest house, and four trailers: one for eating and hanging out, one kitchen, one bunk room and one workshop space. Then there is a large pasture for the sheep. All told, they have about three hectares of land.

Reading before breakfast by the mini greenhouse (a fixture in backyard gardens here) with the lunch wagon in the background.

Our first few days here were spent weeding and planting in the raised-bed gardens, which had been neglected for a few weeks. There isn't much to harvest at this point except for mountains of radishes. Some earlier volunteers clearly went crazy with the radish planting! So we've tried them raw, sauteed, in soup, and pickled. The other vegetables are coming along, but cultivation does not seem to be a high priority right now.

Marjo had quite a few projects that she would like to complete this summer, but she gave us free rein to pick what we would like to work on. So, along with Greg, the volunteer from England who arrived the same night as us, we decided that we would like to build a reciprocal roof for the clay oven and outdoor kitchen space that they had created. For a sense of what this type of project entails, check out this video (just the frame part): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgjY7CGLy9U
Thibaud, a volunteer from France who came a few days later, also liked the idea, so the four of us created a plan and began to put it into action. There are also three men who work here during the week through the unemployment bureau, two of whom are from Africa and receive Swedish lessons from Marjo. So we had plenty of muscle to put to work!

The initial setup: six posts around the barrel oven and outdoor kitchen space.

We spent the next week working with full dedication on this project. The kitchen ring already had six vertical posts erected around the edges, so we planned to build a roof with six poles. First, we cut beams from an old barn that had been torn down to create a ring around the top of the poles.

Adie and Abdi, a Somalian refugee, placing the first horizontal beam on top of the posts.

The horizontal ring is complete! Lärken later sawed off the ends of the beams.

Lärken used the chain saw to cut the beams to size and make notches for lapp joints. They were rough cuts, but we drilled holes and pounded in pegs to connect them to the posts.

Drilling holes for the wooden pegs.

Marjo felled suitable trees for the roof poles, which we de-limbed and debarked.

Lucy using a scraper to remove the bark from a pine tree.

The guys struggling to carry a seven meter tree from the pasture to the building site.

Then we built a five-meter high tripod to use as scaffolding during construction. We lashed the tops of the poles with rope, then screwed boards on to the sides to serve as added stability and steps. We positioned the tripod inside the ring so that it would fit through the hole that forms at the center of the reciprocal roof.

Lucy, Greg and Thibaud admiring the tripod.

Unfortunately, we suffered a setback when we created a model of the roof on the ground. We set up the poles in their approximate position, lashing the joints for temporary stability. When we put the last pole in place, there was a small gap between it and the first pole, which has to sit on top of it. We decided to try pulling out the support prop (called a Charlie), hoping that the first pole would drop on to the last one and hold.

Adie, Greg and Eric, straining to yank out the Charlie (the thick square posts under the poles).

However, when the guys yanked the Charlie away, the sudden force of the entire ring dropping onto the last pole snapped it in two. Thank goodness this happened on the ground and not five meters up in the air! Nevertheless, it forced us to reconsider the whole plan and brainstorm alternatives to make the process safer.

The central ring after the crash - the broken end is in the middle.

First we decided that we should double the number of roof poles, from six to twelve, because most of the examples we'd seen had about that many. This meant cutting down more trees that were at least six meters in height. Also, because one of the problems we'd encountered was the flexibility of the green wood, we decided to cut and debark them, then leave them to dry in the sun for two weeks before constructing. So we undertook a feverish afternoon of cutting and debarking seven hefty pine trees. Then that evening, we had a neighbor bring her horse and Marjo's pony over to drag the trees back from the edge of the property to the barnyard. It was quite fun to watch the horses easily pulling the trees across the pasture!


However, after a weekend of rest and discussion, Marjo and Lärken decided that they would rather not build the full roof without having the input of an experienced builder first. So instead we've decided to create an outdoor shower with a smaller reciprocal roof instead! There is only a shower in the private house right now and the spring does not provide enough water for daily bathing, so the opportunities for getting clean are very infrequent. Lucy had inquired about the possibility of an outdoor shower, knowing how wonderful they are, and Marjo decided that the time is right to build one. So plans are already underway for the new project!

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And then Lucy Breaks Her Toe...

Yes, that's the big news of the past few weeks.
After two days of settling in, during which we still failed to receive a shower (nearly two weeks since our last one!), we decided to go to a nearby community house for a sauna. Along with Greg, one of our fellow volunteers, we headed down the road, expecting a pleasant Friday night and some well-deserved cleanliness.

When we arrived, there was no fire in the sauna yet, so we lit one, then went outside to hang out while the room heated up. We chanced to find a kid-version soccer ball sitting in the grass, so we started kicking around to pass the time. The three small children that were staying at the house came over to check us out, and soon we had a lively game of barefoot pickup going. Being twice their size, we had to keep it toned down, but everyone was clearly having lots of fun.
Unfortunately this enjoyable evening came to an abrupt end. As Lucy and Adie ran by each other, Lucy's toes got caught on Adie's heel, and Lucy's pinky toe lost the tug-of-war. With a snap, our feet parted, leaving Lucy's little toe jutting out perpendicular to the others. (We have photo documentation, email if you're interested.)

We had to forget about the sauna and shower sadly, preparing instead to take an excursion to the hospital. At ten pm on a Friday night, the only one open was in Gävle, forty-five minutes away. Thankfully Greg was willing to drive, as Adie is no help in that department! We got directions from the kind folks at the house (how strange to get injured in an unfamiliar country at a stranger's house!), returned home for our documents, then hit the road just as the sun was setting.

Once at the hospital, we took our ticket in the queue, then settled in to wait for a doctor. Of course a World Cup game happened to be playing on the television, so we got to relive the accident by watching some professional football. After more than an hour, Lucy was taken for registration, then sent to wait in a hospital room.
All in all, it took three hours until we finally saw a doctor! But apparently this is fast for the Gävle hospital. At 2 AM, he came to check out the toe, injected some local anesthetic, then popped it back into place. A nurse put on a velcro strap to attach it to the next toe, then shooed us out of the room. No paperwork or anything. If you have to get hurt, best to do it in Scandinavia where there's free healthcare! We woke Greg from his uncomfortable spot in the waiting room and returned home, catching a beautiful sunrise in this direction.

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The Rest of the Trip to Järbo

Well, we're way behind on our blogging, but we've decided to catch up from where we left off on the last post. So here's the story of the rest of the journey to our current host in Järbo, Sweden!

After exiting the National Park, we continued through rolling, pastoral hills until reaching the small town of Ullånger. We had only ridden about twenty kilometers, but it was already midday because of our long morning in the park. We collapsed at a picnic table on a small pavilion, Adie immediately laying down to take a nap. But, having passed a few shops on the way into town, we spontaneously decided that it was time for a treat. So off we went to find some ice cream! Of course we were successful, and we devoured the well-deserved cones under the hot sun.

One of the many beautiful views.

While resting afterward, we were suddenly caught in a summer downpour! Luckily, there was a small shed being built next to the pavilion, so we sheltered inside, happy not to be trying to ride in the torrential rain. As is usual with these passing storms, the sun soon returned, so after a hearty lunch we were back on the road.

The rest of the afternoon was beautiful and uneventful compared to the previous twenty-four hours.

Always fun to see a familiar name!

We passed through a tiny town called Nora, stopped at a church, then raced another rainstorm down to the edge of a large fjord. At this point we were exhausted, so we picked the only satisfactory campsite we could find - a field next to the train tracks - and pitched the tent just in time to escape a second shower. After a big dinner of lentil curry, we hit the sack, barely disturbed by the faint sound of electric trains passing by.

The next morning we hit the road fairly early, estimating that we had forty or fifty kilometers to ride to catch a bus at 11 AM in Härnösand. We were set back when a link in Lucy's chain bent after the chain fell off the front ring. Thankfully, Adie has a chain tool on his multi-tool, so we were able to replace the bent link with new. We had to ride fast after that, but luckily the road ran right along the road, providing a glorious view of the water glistening in the morning sun. We reached the city just before eleven, giving us time to buy tickets, use a real bathroom and fill our water bottles before the bus arrived. Thankfully, there was space for our bikes underneath, which was not a guarantee. We can't believe that Sweden has so few bike-friendly public transportation options!

Adie removing the section with the bent chain link.

During the four hour bus ride, Lucy slept, trying to recover from some mild dehydration, we ate, no surprise, and caught up on the reading and writing that we never have much time and energy for while riding. We had a half hour break at a rest stop beside a lake, which was surprisingly pleasant for being right next to a highway. Eventually we reached the city of Gävle, where we were dropped off at another rest station along the main road. This threw a bit of a wrench in our plans because we'd written out cycling directions from the city center, but we found a map appeared to show some roads that led to our route. Unfortunately we discovered that these roads were mainly dirt tracks, many of which were really just driveways. But finally we tried one that took us more than a hundred meters, and we successfully joined up with our intended route.

The fifty kilometer ride to our host in Järbo was mostly through flat suburbs and fields. There was a long, straight section with strong headwinds that felt like what we imagine riding through Kansas would be - not so fun. But we reached town, turned down the road to our host, and immediately returned to dirt, which reassured us that we were in the right place. We arrived just after 7 PM, hoping for some food and a long night's rest, which wasn't exactly what we found but we were happy to be at a new home nonetheless.

A panorama of our new home, taken from the top of a tripod that we've built (we'll get to that).

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An Adventure through Skuleskogen National Park

So much for consistent internet! After a thunderstorm a few days ago, we finally have internet again.

After our extended stop in Ornskoldsvik, we continued south, entering the High Coast region. The start of this area was certainly noticeable to us cyclists, as our consistently flat coastal terrain suddenly turned into rolling hills! It was a welcome change though, as the crest of each climb afforded a beautiful view of the sea and the surrounding fields, followed by an immediate descent.

Our next destination was Skuleskogen National Park, a hotspot of various geological formations resulting from the last ice age at the northern end of the High Coast. We were hoping to have a chance to get off our bikes and explore for a little while. Our only concern was that the only roads near the park stopped at the north and south ends, so, unless there was a way to bring our bikes through, we would have to go to the park, then backtrack and take a long detour inland to continue heading south. Given that the park is only about seven kilometers long, we assumed that if there was a bike-able path through, that would be much easier.
And as luck would have it, there was! We reached the entrance area and discovered that cycling was only allowed on one path, that which ran from the north to the south entrance. So we enthusiastically headed in, expecting to spend a lovely night on a little island, with some enjoyable hiking to boot.

Well, this enthusiasm did not get us far. After an easy few minutes through the woods, we soon came to the coast, where the path ran along a bank above the shore. Here, are smoothly graded trail turned into a boulder field, with massive roots and rocks barring our way. Being the adventurous lunatics that we are, we plunged ahead, expecting the section to end quickly. As it were, the conditions only deteriorated, forcing us to push and carry our fully-loaded bikes over and around the impediments. To make matters worse, Lucy stumbled at one point and fell over onto her bike, gouging her ankle on her large chain ring. At this, we decided to leave the bikes and walk a bit to see if it the going was ever to get easier.

Luckily, we found that it did, the trail evening out to a more walkable/bikeable surface. Of course we had no idea what the rest of the park would bring, but given the misery of trekking through the previous section, we were loathe to do it again. So after a quick grapefruit snack, we continued on, eventually reaching the slightly easier stretch. There was still a steep, rocky ascent to conquer, but at last we made it to the turnoff to the island, where we abandoned our bicycles for the night.

Trudging back down to sea level with our panniers over our shoulders was no easy hike either, and we both realized that we'd be doing no further exploring that evening. But we did enjoy a pleasant dinner on the beach, complete with grilled halloumi, our favorite touring appetizer!

Exhausted after trudging with our panners. This photo annoyingly refuses to be rotated.

View from the island. 

After a less-than-perfect night (we tried to cowboy camp only to have bugs and rain force us to sleepily set up the tents after an hour), we got going at five to try to make it to the south end before other people were on the trail. Four miserable kilometers later, we passed the last campsite and found that the remaining trail turned into evenly-graded dirt! We were overjoyed, and celebrated with a dip in the sea, then a hike up to the rock canyon feature that is one of the highlights of the park. Then we dined on pre-boiled beets and feta before completing the final trail section and reaching our beloved pavement at last.

Lucy ices her ankle, which was damaged after losing a fight with a bicycle chainring.

Cobble fields several hundred feet above sea level mark the glacial-era shoreline.

Chockstone. Too many mosquitos to hang around for long.

Food.

Road.

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The First of Many Updates

Random rest stop in the Swedish High Coast

Well there is a computer here at the workaway. It is the slowest computer we have used in years, but we will have consistent internet and computer access, so it is time to share some stories from the past week.

First, we have added in the photos that were missing from the last post...see below.

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