On warm days in autumn and winter, there are thousands of dancing flies or winter gnats (vintermygg) particularly in the windows. Last week all the windows downstairs had swarms of these dancing up and down and were swarming all over the garden too. They are fun to watch and wonder why and how these are active in such low temperatures when most other insects are hibernating or overwintering as larvae or eggs. They can even be seen on warm winter days on the snow. These are flies in the Trichoceridae family (we have 15 species in Norway) and provide morsels of protein in winter for the birds in the garden! The larvae feed on decaying plant material, rotten wood and fungi…there’s plenty of that here!
An important component of my food forest garden.
Tag Archives: Food forest
Food forest at Landås in Bergen
Landås matskog (food forest) is situated under Mount Ulriken in Bergen, Norway. The area was until just a few years ago spruce forest, but when it was felled, an agreement was struck with the kommune in 2013 for the organisation Bærekraftig Liv (literally, Sustainable Living) to develop the area as a food forest (matskog). I have long wanted to visit, so was happy to finally get to spend a day there with food forest enthusiasts Lars Ove Kvalbein, Benedicte Brun and others during my May 2018 visit to Bergen to give a course for Bærekraftig Liv!
Surroundings around the site of the 2018 Nordic Permaculture Festival
English: It has been announced that this year’s big permaculture event in the Nordic countries, the Nordic Permaculture Festival will be arranged in and around the fantastic village of Jondal at the Hardanger Academy for Peace, Development and Environment (see http://www.hardangerakademiet.no). Jondal is situated on the Hardanger Fjord just a half hour’s drive from the Folgefonna Glacier!
Norsk: Det er annonsert at årets store begivenhet innenfor Permakultur i Norden, den Nordiske Permakultur Festivalen blir arrangert i og omkring fantastiske Jondal ved Hardangerakademiet (Nordisk senter for fred, utvikling og miljø) http://www.hardangerakademiet.no Jondal ligger ved Hardangerfjorden bare en kort halvtimers kjøretur fra isbreen Folgefonna!
- Jondal and the Hardanger Academy http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=15769 and https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155675715275860.1073743090.655215859&type=1&l=2167a8fdb9
- Jondal to the Folgefonna Glacier http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=15802 and https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155676046740860.1073743091.655215859&type=1&l=50f30c1216
- Baroniet Rosendal http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=15680 and https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155673512105860.1073743088.655215859&type=1&l=fc7f04d154
- Alvastien Telste Permaculture LAND centre, the dramatic approach road http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=7383
- Alvastien Telste’s multi-layered Food Forest http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=15840 and https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155677575765860.1073743093.655215859&type=1&l=7f02fe93db
- Perennialen III: Alvastien Telste – from fjord to shieling (a walk from Alvastien Telste up the steep slopes, “steeped” in history, to the mountain farm (shieling) http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=13351 and https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155323283065860.1073743002.655215859&type=1&l=67e61f41d5
- Perennialen I in early May 2015 at Alvastien Telste. See the slide show here: http://www.edimentals.com/pictures/picture.php?/1468/category/30&slideshow
- Eirik and Hege’s treehouse! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155689776475860.1073743101.655215859&type=1&l=8b9a3e6711
- My visit to Vidar-Rune Synnevåg in Stussvik (Ølve) in connection with Perennialen I in May 2015: http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=1175
My return visit in late September 2016 http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=7585
Alvastien Telste’s Multi-layered Food Forest
On the second day of Perennialen III, in early August 2017, we were joined by Rebecca Smith of Norway’s second LAND centre on Byrknesøy on the coast north of Bergen! Since I last met Rebecca here during Perennialen I, Eirik Lillebøe Wiken’s food forest which basically surrounds the house, both above and below all the way down to the fjord on steep ground, has grown well and is becoming more established. The diversity has also increased. These pictures are from our food forest tour together including a stop on the shoreline where we could only imagine the wild food forest also in the fjord, this is truly a food forest with many layers :)