Long time no see...my summer 2023
Now what happened so many times before in my life happened: It didn't go according to plan. Sometimes it's a blessing and sometimes it's not. This time it was probably a bit of both. I can imagine that I'm not the only one who had a different summer than expected (mildly said) with regard to all the rainfall and the storm as well. Neither the garden season nor the time at the mountain farm turned out as I had planned - but it was still not all bad and I didn't need to water a single time from June.
I don't want to bore anyone with a long text about everything that happened. Instead, I will fill this post with the photos I took this summer. Most of them are of nice moments - I won't pretend it was all sunshine, it really wasn't, metaphorically or otherwise. I just think there's been enough sadness lately and now, when I reflect on it, I want to focus on what was nice after all.
An old wooden boat became...
...a flourishing soil factory and bed for pumpkins and squash.
Many plants don't linke standing in immature compost/dung, while pumpkins and squash even thrive. I filled the boat with scraps and dung from the goats and the compost from last year and planted right in. It was a success despite thebad weather. Pumpkins and squash actually require a lot of heat and pollination became a challenge because the flowers constantly filled with water and lots of slugs that ate them. The compost that produces heat when it breaks down and my efforts as a pollinator resulted in a good crop anyway.
There was a lot of squash - it was clear that the green ones thrived the most. 
It was only one pumpkin, but almost 10 kg! The variety is a naked seed pumpkin "olga" but the seeds were not completely naked (without husk) and the pumpkin tasted raw like a melon and cooked like a potato...
In May, I suddenly got very busy because everything was happening at the same time. It had been cold for a long time and then it just went off at once both in the garden and nature in general. I had to drop a lot of what I had planned (including blogging) and focus on the most important things. Then it was very hot and dry in June, only to be raining from the beginning of July until the end of September.
Jeg reiste på setra med geitene sist i juni og ned igjen midten av september. Det er ikke innlagt strøm i seterhuset og ingen dekning - noe jeg egentlig setter pris på men det ble til en utfordring når været var så dårlig i hele sommer.
The goats could roam freely but always stayed close by and returned home at night. There were also some cows there, which I helped to milk. They weren't that vel behaved...that's all I want to say about that ^^
Not everyone was equally willing to cooperate - these two had to find out who is the most stubborn - so there was milking in the rain. 
At the mountain farm there's no fencing to keep animals in but out - the goats think of course that whatever side they are on is always the wrong one. 
It's nice to have visitors. Here, the goats are send off to the pasture after milking.
It is important to have both sun and rain, but this summer there was not a good balance at all. I tried to cherrish every ray of sunlight.
The rainstorm "Hans" has turned the driveway into a stream and swept away a lot of soil and gravel. Fortunately,nothing worse happened here. 
The sun did not show up often this summer. But it makes you appreciate every ray of sunshine. 
October 1st and one last day when I could pretend it was summer - it snowed 5 days later...
There weren't as many foraging trips for me than what was planned. Without electricity on the mountain farm, there wasn't much air drying either, as the humidity was far too high for that. But it doesn't just have disadvantages with a lot of rain either...
Well, it was definitely a mushroom year. 
Evenings in front of the fireplace are one of the best things on rainy days. 
Raindrops can be so beautiful.
Jeg suger i meg sommer som villbier suger honning, sa hun. Jeg sanker sammen til
ronja the robber's daughter from astrid lindgren
en stor sommerklump jeg kan leve av når… når det ikke er sommer mer.
Min sommerklump består av fine ting og øyeblikk som disse:
I took every opportunity to swim here - whenever the sun shpwed up I hopped right into the water. 
Arctic starflower - my favourite flower! 
Lucky me to be in such a beautiful place!
Balder is not exactly thrilled about the goats. He probably finds them a mixture of scary and annoying. But with so few opportunities for trips in nice weather, we went all together. Not that I really had a choice - whenever the goats saw me they joined in, and they kept a close eye with me.
My sweet and loyal companion. 
So much of what I love in one picture. 
Happy on the rocks.
Now it is autumn and almost winter. Autumn is a time for reflection and gratitude. That's when you start pulling inward - on th in and outside. I will try to put behind me all the frustration about what I did not manage to achieve. Instead, I want to cherrish every single moment of sunshine. Going through my phone and finding the photos and memories of the summer helped me feel grateful.
It became a nice little summer lump nonetheless and the goats were a big part of it. I hope that you also have a store of summer memories that will nourish you when it's cold and dark.
Happy Goating
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