Priorities

Recently, I've noticed that the jar of pumpkin seeds from last autumn was still waiting for me in the shelf. Waiting for what ? To be peeled of course.
Last year, I merely dried the seeds from our pumpkins and put them away, thinking of peeling them later. Well, we're at the door of autumn and we've been buying pumpkin seeds since last year.

It's indeed very romantic to dry seeds (or berries) and start processing those nice goods from nature, but there's a question of priority in it (and therefore a good lesson for me).
Why priority ?

Because some part of it are just boring and time consuming. But guess what, without it, you end up with nothing (and have to buy it in this case).
If boring is more or less a point of view, the "time consuming" is real. It took me time to remove the shells from the pumpkin seeds and it was a bit hurting on the finger and nails, but finally, Morten will be able to use the seeds in his next batch of bread.
Time, we've all got some, 24 hours a day. How we decide to use it, that's where we have to set priorities.

So today, while gently drying currant in the oven, I've sat down, put on one of my favorite opera, Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart, and started de-shelling.

Here I'm half way through it.

I'm not any expert on the matter, so it tried different way of doing it. Eventually, I came up with this technic. First, I cut the edge of half the shell with a knife. Then, I remove easily the seed from shell.

In the process, I've gain half a jar and a fantastic musical moment !

Actually, to be fully honest, I loved having an excuse to listen to a full opera (approximately 3h) !! Maybe… I should find more small things like this to do !

Ha det bra !

"What is dead may never die"

After being away for a week, Morten and I are back from England where we stayed with friends to celebrate our one year anniversary. It was a beautiful moment and I'll treasure the memories of it.

Now, the wind and the birds have replaced the tumultuous London and our solitary life has been back on our doorstep.

Already, a lot of things have happened and many thoughts were discussed, leaving me with a plenty of new posts in the making. 

As a starter, here's a story of a dead tree that turned out to be not so dead after all…

When Morten moved here, 5 years ago, there was a plum tree on the east bank by the house. Unfortunately, the tree died during the following winter but Morten didn't cut it down. He left the dried trunk where it was. Two spring later, another tree started to shoot out of the ground, about a meter to the left. It was a plum tree. Even thought the main tree hadn't survived winter, the roots beneath the ground did. Now, 3 years after the second tree was born, not only it's still growing strong, but it's also carrying fruits for the first time. 

And all that from a root…

Nature never ceases to surprise me. No matter how dead it looks, "life finds a way".

(and a photo with Morten for the scale)

Same story with another tree, at the back of the house this time. Two years ago, the tractor that cut the grass on the field ran over the small tree. Today, the new one is one it's way up.