Slightly warmer today and the first day for 5 or 6 days without new snow on the ground. A beautiful tranquil start to the day until, 5 minutes later the explosions started…the 21-gun salute marking the start of the Norwegian national day. This “tradition” was only started here in Malvik a few years ago. Is it really necessary in the middle of the breeding season, particularly this year when birds were already struggling in the record cold May. Ja, vi elsker dette landet :(
Monthly Archives: May 2020
Common gulls house hunting
A pair of common gulls (fiskemåke) testing the neighbour’s chimney for size this morning:
Floppy Habby
It’s that time of year that Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde) goes all floppy and needs help to go upwards rather than sideways! The floppiness you see here has nothing to do with the weather which habby loves although it’s never expereienced being snowed on for 5 days in a row in the middle of May in its short 18 year lifetime!
A tour of the lower parts
I thought I’d take you for a tour of the lower parts of the garden including the forest garden. No commentary, let’s just listen to the birds and observe. In the first video, I unexpectedly stumble on a willow warbler (løvsanger), my first in the garden this year, foraging on the ground in the cold weather….you can otherwise hear singing redwing (rødvingetrost), great tit (kjøttmeis), fieldfare (gråtrost), meadow pipit (heipiplerke), house sparrow (gråspurv) and blue tit (blåmeis) in one of the two videos.
Green Ostrich Pasta
I noticed yesterday that the ostrich ferns (strutseving) in the forest garden had put on a spurt despite the cold weather and were almost past the harvesting stage. This is the main disadvantage of this great vegetable. The harvesting window is very narrow. I quickly harvested some, taking care not to take more than 1/3 of the shoots. Together with Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach), a bit of sea kale (strandkål), ramsons (ramsløk) and sand leeks (bendelløk) this made a delicious green pasta sauce.
See the video before I picked below!
Third day of snow
3 mornings in a row new snow has greeted me, but it mostly melts again during the day. I’m feeling for people in the north where the arctic city of Tromsø still has over 1m depth of snow and in the hills around here where the snow is accumulating. On the plus side I can still harvest for dinner in the afternoon and there’s entertainment with the abnormal numbers of birds in the garden foraging as open patches start appearing every morning. There are still several meadow pipits (heipiplerke) and many fieldfares (gråtrost) some coming right up to the house. This morning bramblings (bjørkefink) also made an appearance.
Bumble bee in snow
I didn’t expect to find a bumble bee feeding first thing this morning but I found this Bombus hypnorum (tree bumblebee/trehumle) busy visiting flowers of Ribes divaricatum and its selection Worcesterberry. The air temperature was about freezing…
More of the white stuff
Most of yesterday’s snowfall melted during the day, but it was back again this morning…
No problem, we’re perennials!
It was forecast several days ago but it was uncertain if the snow would lie down here at sea level. Nevertheless it was a shock to wake to a bright light this morning!
I’m not at all worried for my plants as I haven’t planted out any annuals yet and perennials are well adapted to late frosts and won’t be affected….just slowed down…which is an advantage for me as it extends the spring harvest! I’m one of the few that love cool weather in May! Long May it remain cool!
JA Quiche
Jerusalem artichokes (JAs / jordskokk) in quiche? Why not?
Yesterday’s quiche included JAs, Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde), Aegopodium podograria (ground elder / skvallerkål), dandelion (løvetann), rehydrated dried chantarelles (kantarell), garlic and chili and poppy seed (opiumvalmue) topping. With a 100% whole grain Svedjerug (old Norwegian rye) and barley (bygg) crust.
