Thursday, 26 February 2015

Daily tools #nomouseinsight #blog



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Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Digging Rings

Ok, so it wasn't exactly sunny today, but with spring quickly approaching, you've got to take advantage of the snow-free days. Cat and I were on digging duty today and boy did the rocks make us feel special... The size of the holes that these lovelies leave behind are actually making it a bit tricky to build mounds of our deep beds. We've only got so many twigs and compost.

Trophy rock
The good thing is that we've got plenty of material for a stone wall and stone paths between the beds. Like Monty Python sang, always look on the bright side of life. 

After 3 hours of digging, we finally finished our first bed. All in all, it probably took us 3 days of digging 3-4 hours a pop. 

After that kind of workout, the rings in the garage provide a great stretch. I'm looking forward to the day when I don't feel like a broken woman after a bit of digging. 

  • Putting Simon's Xmas present to good use

Monday, 23 February 2015

Poor weather for digging


So, just as we started to gain some momentum digging out our new produce garden, bad weather stops play. For the last few days we have had snowfall and freezing conditions almost everyday, not perfect conditions for digging.  We have a huge list of other jobs that require our attention, so it is certainly not tools down, although we did find time to build a snowman!



Thursday, 19 February 2015

Wednesday, 18 February 2015

Sunday, 15 February 2015

Hard Labour

So, the first week in Sweden has been pretty energised. Apart from getting used to living in a completely different, even alien environment, we have kept ourselves busy by jumping head first into some essential manual labour. This comes part of the package when you live fairly remotely and have a bit of land to look after.

First job was to cut back and clear any debris, such as twigs, branches and trees from the electric fence that surrounds our property. Presently, this is used to stop unwanted creatures in, i.e. the wild boar! They have been burrowing in one of the fields, so keeping the fence live to prevent entry is key. This job gradually turned into a tree felling exercise, so brandishing a saw we started to remove some of the trees that were too close to the fence. Fun! We still have a way to go but the pile of logs is pretty big and should make for a good Easter bonfire celebration.




Second job was to start thinking about the Produce Garden. This is a key element of our self-sufficiency plans and we want to be ready to transplant the seeds and seedlings come the beginning of April. We agreed on a perfect location; slightly sloping ground facing south and within close distance from the house. We set out the beds in 7.5m x 1.5m bays and started to dig. The actual technical term is 'double digging' but we'll go into more detail on that in another post. Anyway, this turned out to be really hard work, as the top layer, just beneath the surface was littered with large stones and the odd boulder. We persevered and reached halfway along the bed. Unfortunately the weather turned for the worse, so we will be hitting it hard again this coming week when the freezing rain disappears.




All in all a good first week and the sign of times to come, my body has that satisfied achey feeling all over. Bring it on!

Found a lagoon. Just need a few more degrees on the thermometer and I'll be swimming in it. ❤️ #paulssonpaleo



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Saturday, 14 February 2015

Splitting wood. #movetoSWE #newjob #blog



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Saturday, 7 February 2015

Eating It All/ Här Käkar Vi Allt

As you may know by now, we're fans of using all the odd bits of the animals that we eat. The same goes for the veg. I was especially proud of this evening's side dish:

Sorry, not my best pic...
What is it? The leaves of two cauliflowers, fried with copious amounts of onions, ghee and spices. Enough as a side dish for five hungry people, plus leftovers. We're saving the actual cauliflowers for some cauli rice tomorrow. Cheap but oh so cheerful food, check! 

****SVENSKA****

Jag predikar ju jämt om att vi ska käka hela djuret. Detsamma gäller ju givetvis även grönsakerna som vi äter. Jag är speciellt stolt över middagens tillbehör. Jag tog blasten från två blomkålshuvuden och stekte den med en massa lök, ghee och kryddor. Det räckte som tillbehör till fem hungriga personer, samt rester. Vi sparar blomkålshuvudena till morgondagens blomkålsris. Riktigt nöjd med mig själv och min påhittighet. ;-)

Friday, 6 February 2015

Sprinting Like An Elf/ Lufsar Som Ett Troll

Now that the move is essentially done, I want to get some more vigorous exercise into my daily regimen again. Apart from spending an inordinate amount of time lugging boxes and cleaning hinges with toothpicks, I've done very little PROPER exercise in the last 3 months. I don't count the daily postural therapy as exercise really, because I've hated every single second of it despite it being necessary to correct my posture... (I'm not sure a PT should admit to hating exercise, but this particular brand of it took the boredom biscuit).

Anyhow, the time has come to start running again, so that's what I did. Bliss! 

Flared nostrils = excited by the prospect of sprinting like an elf through the woods

***SVENSKA***

Nu när flytten i princip är avklarad är jag sugen på att få in lite mer flås i mitt liv. De senaste tre månaderna har främst inneburit en massa kartongkånkande och städning och VÄLDIGT lite gammal hederlig motion å styrka. Jag räknar INTE min dagliga posturalterapi till detta, eftersom jag av någon anledning verkligen avskytt den. (Jag vet inte om en personlig tränare borde medge att man inte gillar att träna, men just den här formen var extra trist, om än nödvändig för min hållning).

Iallafall, det är dags att dra på löpardojorna igen! Hurra! 

Cat running off into the wilderness. ❤️ Cattis springer ut i djungeln. #paulssonpaleo #functionaltraining #paleo #primal



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Thursday, 5 February 2015

Carrot Spaghetti


It was my turn to make dinner tonight and I wanted to impress the others by trying something new. A few Internet searches later and I was inspired to make carrot spaghetti. I don't miss eating pasta at all, but I wanted to use our usual vegetables in a different way. The carrot spaghetti can be varied endlessly, but this is what I made today:

Serves 4.5
Four large carrots, cut into spaghetti with a julienne peeler
One stick of celery, sliced thinly
10cm leek, sliced thinly
Handful of chopped butternut squash
Handful of cashew nuts
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Ghee (or other fat)

Fry celery, leek, butternut squash in ghee until soft, put to one side. Then using the same pan, fry cashew nuts, carrots and garlic, adding spices to taste and adding more fat if needed. Fold in the other vegetables once the carrots have the consistency of cooked spaghetti. Done! Serve with for example baked salmon.

Excitement at Paulsson Paleo HQ

It doesn't take much to get us excited... The sun is shining again after a few days of clouds and our seeds arrived!
Paulsson Paleo HQ aka Breared Kannesten
Long walk with sleeping baby
The seeds finally arrived!



Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Walkabout In Simlångsdalen

I needed a bit of "me time" today, so I went off on my own this morning. The woods around here are seemingly endless, with loads of trails to discover. So far I've walked a few of the marked trails around our place, straying into the undergrowth a few times with the help of the GPS.

Trail art. The red dot with attitude.
Trailing off into the undergrowth is perhaps not the wisest thing given that it's still hunting season, but I'm hoping they'll spot my red ski jacket before they shoot...

I'm keen to familiarise myself with the surroundings, so that I can share the magic of this place with our friends, family and other guests in the future. I'm starting with the roads and marked trails to get comfortable enough to find my own unmarked paths. The season is ideal for this "exercise", as the leafless trees and snowy ground make it easier to get a feel for the terrain.

Spot the river! And what may or may not be an island... Oooh, the suspense!
My favourite part of the woods is and will probably always be the river and its waterfalls. I can't wait to discover all its twists and turns!

Part of the "Danish Falls": legend has it some Danish soldiers fell into the river here in the 1600s