Norway's newest acting talent and cows in the onion patch

Well, three weeks down and about one more week to go here on the farm (we are also approaching 2/3rds completion of the trip!) There have been some additions and subtractions to the WWOOF house, and a new WWOOFer house entirely. After proving that Norwegian whole wheat flour cannot be used to make Czech dumplings (a.k.a. "dooompleengs"), Ivo is making his way back to the Czech Republic. We will miss his creative use of unfamiliar english words and his alcohol thievery. In his place, we have been endowed with a tiny kitten from the barn, whom we are acclimating to our human presence so he doesn't remain a crazed barn cat. We actually started with two kittens, but one of them was taken away as a birthday present for a snotty child (good luck, kitten!). The remaining one, whose name lies somewhere between his original given name, Nugatti, and "KITTEN! STOP CHEWING ON THAT ELECTRICAL CORD!", is a source of endless entertainment around the house. He goes through different stages during the day, from relaxed and cuddly to crazy racing around the floor chasing little potatoes, to biting everything in sight.





Late last week we were displaced from our first dormitory in order to make space for the guests of a wedding hosted on the farm. The downside is that we are further away from the milking parlor, so the milk isn't quite as fresh when it hits the table, but the upside is that we have a normal-sized kitchen and a better view (of the lake).

Aside from the kittens and moving, there has been a fair amount of fun and excitement around here since the last update. First and foremost, Meghan and Will(and Peter and Ginny and Ivo) have become famous Norwegian actors. Let me explain: every year, during the summer, the town of Fyresdal (30 minutes by car from the farm) hosts a festival that celebrates Norwegian history and Norsk folk heritage. The capstone of this celebration is a theatrical production that combines Norwegian folk tales, history, religion, and politics. Finding the play alarmingly short of Vikings, lawyers and slaves unpaid domestic workers, one of the local actors approached the WWOOFers about filling in the gaps. It was an offer we couldn't refuse! So after two days of rehearsing, we hit the stage gesturing, grunting, laughing, weaving, and responding in any other number of ways to the Norwegian dialogue that none of us understood. Obviously, we didn't have any speaking roles. The story went something like this: The time is the 13th century, the place is the Telemark region, Norway (although the story applies across most of Norway). It's set in the period during which Norway was Christianized. A village chietan, his two eldest sons and their hairy gang (of which Will and the other two male WWOOFers were a part) return from a 7-year raiding trip to Ireland. Part of their plunder is a beautiful slave girl and a Christian monk. The two elder brothers think the girl will be given to one of them, and everyone is suprised when the girl is given to the chieftan's youngest son, who happens to be a bastard son, Magnus. This son was too young to go on the raid, but has grown up in the interim. The girl is given to him so that he can gain some "experience" before he is married (an arranged marriage) to the daughter of a neighboring chieftan. This really galls the older brothers, who give him a sound beating, but Magnus doesn't mind too much, because he's fallen in love with the girl, who is Christian, and to prove his love, he also becomes Christian. The girl runs away, aided by the monk, but returns because she's had a dream telling her to go back. The two fall in love, and Magnus tells his father that he will not marry the girl he is arranged to. The chieftan also has a dream after hearing this news, in which he is told by a nature spirit (intended as a sort of spirit bridging the gap between the ancient Viking gods and the Christian god) that the times are changing, and he should give his blessing to the lovers. So he does, and the neighboring chief brings the lawyers (the second cameo role for the WWOOF men) to decide a punishment. In thanks, Magnus says that he will go on a pigrimage to Jerusalem to pray for his father's sin to be forgiven. He dies while on pilgrimage, and his wife dies giving birth to their son. The story gets a bit muddy after this- we never did recieve a satisfactory explaination of the end of the play, except that the times did indeed change, and Norway became Christian. And where were the female WWOOFers in all this? Well they were slaves, and popped in and out of different scenes a bit randomly, with food and beer (yes, there was real beer in this play!) a bit like a silent Greek chorus. It was a great experience, especially to rub shoulders with more of the local people (mostly Dutch), and some professional Norwegian actors.





Although not among the acquiantances we made during the play, we have become friends with a family living on the school property as "prakticants," which is to say they live a life resembling what the school is supposed to direct one toward. Claudio and Louisa, along with their two little boys Kenai and Alén, occupy a house that used to belong to the owner of a fishery that the school now owns. They are both involved with permaculture and "eco-villages," having lived in Colombian rainforest for ten years, and operating an organization called Change the World which effectively makes links between groups of people using appropriate technology, sustainable agriculture, green energy and so on. Claudio is currently working on converting the twenty something ex-fish production ponds into a nature preserve and education center. He is a very interesting and dynamic individual, and we have shared some of our experiences from Engineers Without Borders.

The farm work has been a bit exciting lately. A few days ago, just as we were returning home from a birthday party at Claudio's house, we found half of the herd of cows had made their way into the onion patch. Now, onions grow very close to the surface of the soil, so you might imagine that a half-ton animal tromping around atop them is a very bad thing. Indeed it is! Because of the minimalist approach to pasture fencing that's very common around here (not to mention the weak-sauce amperage in the electric fences), roughly a thousand red and yellow onions were crushed, crapped-on and uprooted. The situation could have been worse in a few ways, however. First of all, these cows wont eat onions, so we wont have to suffer with onion-flavored milk. Secondly, and most importantly, I think, is that because this farm is operated under the auspices of the school, there really isn't any lost income... only a few of the onions are sold in the CSA boxes and at market, while most of them go to the school cafeteria. This is perhaps the reason that the weekly cow escapes aren't taken as seriously as on a more sales-oriented farm. Some of the onions were suitable for drying, but the humidity might prevent successful preservation in that respect. One this is certain: we have been eating alot of onions lately! (Meghan and Ginny make a delicious french onion soup, by the way!)

Though the weather has turned away from the brilliant sunny days of last week, we managed to fit in a hike to the top of Mt. Roan from which most of Telemark can be seen (1190 meters high), and jumping from the rocks into the small river near Claudio's house. Until next time... check out the pictures and send some comments to let us know you're reading!