The 4th Perennialen was the shortest yet, a short visit to Eirik and Hege’s wonderful place and LAND centre at Alvastien in Hardanger after the Nordic Permaculture Festival in Jondal! This year’s participants were Eirik and Hege, Meg, Karoline from Myrrhis in Denmark, Julia Sol and LAND coordinator Helene Bøhler!
Next year will be the 5th Perennialen and we will be inviting you to a road trip around great permaculture sites of Hordaland and Hardanger in May, so watch this space!
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!
Barony Rosendal (Baroniet Rosendal) is a historic estate and manor house on the Hardangerfjord going back to the 1650s. As part of Perennialen III, on our way to Jondal, one hour’s drive away (separate post), we stopped at this famous garden on 8th August 2017 to do some edimentals spotting! Despite several attempts to visit over the years, I’ve never been before. This must be one of the most picturesque gardens in the world with the dramatic scenery surrounding it! I was particularly interested in seeing the naturalised stands of spiked rampion (vadderot), used as a vegetable in the past elsewhere in Europe (video). The climate is very mild, and the sweet chestnut trees were particularly impressive, perhaps the biggest in Norway? There are also several beds with historical vegetables. Here is an album of pictures of mostly edible plants and scenery!
In June 2009, I was shown the only naturalised stand of victory onion (Allium victorialis) in south western Norway (away from Lofoten Islands – Vestvågøy – and Bodø area where there are several large populations). It’s found in a damp wood (which regularly floods in spring) along the Granvinselven. Please refer to my book Around the World in 80 plants for more information about this fantastic onion!! This onion can grow both in shady and full sun localities:
On my way to Canada, I’m doing a slight detour to Hardanger and Sogn in western Norway where I’m giving a talk for Sogn Jord- og Hagebruksskule (1700-1900) at Marianne Bakeri & Kafè in Aurdal (free entrance) next Friday 24th March (see also https://www.facebook.com/events/1866177443666754) .
I then travel on to Jondal where I’m taking part at a weekend course in small scale organic cultivation at the Hardanger Academy. See the press release below (and at http://hardangerakademiet.no/grunnkurs )
Pressemelding frå Hardangerakademiet, mars 2017
Interessert i giftfri, trygg og sunn mat, kurs i økologisk dyrking?
Den sjette seminarhelga i Hardangerakademiets grunnkursserie går 24. – 26. mars. Tema er: ET LAND – OG HAGEBRUK NÆRMERE NATUREN .
Økologisk dyrking for småskala yrkesdyrking og hagebruk.
Kurset har både praktiske tema om jordpleie, levande og frisk jord, om dyrking av grønsaker, frukt og ber, permanent hagebruk med fleirårige, spiselege vekster og meir teoretiske tema som utviklinga av jordbruket historisk og i framtida.
Føredraga omhandlar t.d. biologisk dynamisk dyrking, organisk biologisk dyrking og økologisk landbruk for framtida, samanhengar frå jord til bord til helse, landbrukets forhold til klima, miljø, jordliv, insekt, fuglar, mm. og landbruksutviklinga frå middelalderen til framtida.
Føredragshaldarar er: Arvid Wold, agronom, Dan Ente, gartnar, Vidar-Rune Synnevåg, gardbrukar, Reidun Pommeresche, siv.agronom og forskar, Tom Harald Eckell, økogardbrukar, Stephen Barstow, forskar – og mye anna.
Dette er det siste helgeseminaret i akademiet sitt grunnkursserie for undervisningsåret 2016/2017. Til hausten startar ein opp med eit nytt grunnkurs i fred, utvikling og miljø.
Det er mogleg å delta på ein av dagane eller på enkeltføredrag. Påmelding og kontaktinfo ligg på heimesida til Hardangerakademiet og på Facebook.
Gjør denne våren til din beste vår! Start med kurs i økologisk dyrking!
An album of pictures from my short Perennialen II visit with Eirik Lillebøe Wiken and Hege Iren Svendsen at and around Alvastien Telste in Hardanger. Impressive nature, good beer and fruit, good company and just relaxing this time! It poured with rain on the morning that we’d planned to look properly around the Forest Garden, so that will have to wait for next year! Watch this space for the announcement of the next Perennialen event at this wonderful place, now a Permaculture LAND centre, next summer!! Hope to see you there!
Alvastien Telste is Norway’s first LAND project (LAND officially started up in Norway yesterday) located on a side arm of the Hardangerfjord in beautiful surroundings…this was my next stop on my short tour of Western Norway. This little film (shot unknown to Eirik Lillebøe Wiken who was driving and narrating) shows the dramatic approach to this place, run by Eirik and Hege Iren Svendsen!
The road is very exposed to rock slides…see the size of the boulders that have tumbled down the hill and the repairs to the road and notice at 1:00 the sign warning of falling rocks 
In the last part, we enter the forest garden area before seeing the house!
A visit to Geir Flatabø’s forest garden which is located high above the picturesque village of Ulvik at the end of an arm of the Hardangerfjord was an unexpected treat on my recent visit to western Norway! I knew we would meet Geir but I had misunderstood an email from Geir a couple of years ago that the red deer had eaten everything he’d tried to plant…far from it, many of hundreds of trees, bushes and herbaceous perennials that Geir has planted on his plot are thriving. To reach Norway’s largest and most diverse forest garden, we drive high up above the village. Geir’s plot is a narrow strip of land almost 1 km straight up the hill with large spruce tree plantations on either side (felled on Geir’s plot to make way for his garden). Some might call it an arboretum, but Geir is very knowledgeable about the uses of the trees and other plants, most of which are edible or have other uses and he does call it himself his forest garden. We (my host Eirik Lillebøe Wiken and I) pass through many climate zones as we climb the hill talking plants with Geir. He has planted according to hardiness and has used various natural techniques to protect young plants against the red deer…permaculture in other words! An amazing place that will only get better as the year’s go by…and we only got half way up the hill….time went quickly and suddenly Geir noticed the time and dashed off to get to the National Fungi Symposium which was being held nearby…he was giving a talk that evening on the fungi of Hardanger!
