As of mid December there has been a lot less snow this year than in previous years. But spiked shoes or Yaktraxs are still important as there is sheet ice everywhere. Although it has been cloudy we’ve made the most of sunny days to go out walking and had a bit of time to sort […]
I did some final house repairs, it got cold this month and the first winter snow-storm came, I got sent to Spain, I tidied the garage Gravel Apron I finished placing the last of the insulation and gravel around the house, just before the snow hits. I had to dig out some old bushes by […]
There was some flooding this month. Significant projects were mouse protection, general winter preparation, and some basement work. Heavy Rain The month started with heavy rain. It kept raining and we told tell from experience that it was unusual. As it got worse we got flood warnings come through on our phones. I went down […]
This month is when a lot of vegetables and fruits are harvestable. The onions in one bed were massive. They really seemed to like the conditions. We had a great crop from inside the greenhouse. Growing less made everything more manageable this year. Because we were overproducing, we queried local neighbours to see if they […]
About this time of year, everyone else is on holiday and the garden is happily growing. The weather is swapping between sun, light rain, and overcast so it’s sunny but a lot less extreme than other months. If you have the time needed you can achieve a lot in the garden. Garden Plan The garden […]
We arrived in July 2020 so it is now our 4 year anniversary of coming to Sweden. We’ve both really glad to be here. We’ve been stretched in multiple directions and so we’ve made great progress in some areas but have a lot more to do in others. Here’s a short round-up of where we […]
June has been hot, and the start of June needed lots of garden upkeep, such as strimming, mowing, and hand-weeding. It’s hard budgeting available spare time between maintenance, planting and progressing the garden plan. The current plan is to reduce windspeed a little, increase shade, remove remains from previous projects and then think about infrastructure […]
In northern Sweden, May is the big change from below zero overnight temperatures to full/blown summer. Here is what we got up to this month. New Fence Our main investment this month was a small traditional Swedish fence (gärdsgårder). The idea was to give a bit of a windbreak because the plants in this corner […]
April brought the start of the return of the birds, and the snow started to melt. It’s not possible to plant anything due to frosts, snow and the ground being frozen. Most winter sports are no longer possible but also neither are the non-snow activities, so it felt a little like waiting for May. Starting […]
This month I worked on renovating the spare bedroom and fixing a problem in the attic. In hindsight I took on too much work. I might need a new rule of no renovation projects over winter. Outside was pretty but no significant sunshine yet. Water damage fix A sewer vent pipe routed through the wall […]
I took two weeks off work and spent most of February renovating the small bedroom I use as a work from home office. The snow outside had started to harden and so the snowmobiles were all out. Work From Home The office had gypsum walls that were damaged with some large holes. Despite using background […]
Pretty Snowy December was great, with lots of snow. The snow makes Christmas feel real, and the reflected light from the snow brightens up the darkest month. We saw the northern lights a few times on evening walks, and the greenhouse survived the snow without problems. Upstairs Sewing Area As a winter project, we started […]
November sees real snow that settles and stays, with the occasional snowploughs on the main road. All our activity shifts to indoors or to winter orientated outdoor activities. Making Planned Wood We setup the basement workshop to process rough-cut timber into planed wood, and planed our first planks. To do this we used the circlesaw […]
