Author: grontofs

• Elderflower Syrup – using Stevia based sweetener *Recipe*

  We had a really awkward elderflower season this year as we had very windy and rainy weather right as the flowers were ready for harvest meaning many had been blown off and the pollen washed away. This can be annoying when making this syrup as the pollen is what gives the syrup its flavour and is why one should never wash the flowers!

  This recipe uses stevia based sweetener in an attempt to reduce the amount of sugar used. It is also not a very sweet syrup meaning one uses a higher syrup-water ratio than usually. This can be changed by adding more sugar/sweetener. A very sweet syrup uses a ratio of 1L water to 1L sugar.

  

  Ingredients:

  • 30-40 Elderflowers (Fläder blommor)
  • 1.2kg Sugar (Socker)
  • 200-300g of stevia based sweetener (Sötströ)
  • 2.5L Water (Vatten)
  • 4 teaspoons Citric acid (Citronsyra)
  • 2 pinches Sodium benzoate (2krm natriumbensoat)
  • 2 Oranges
  • 1 Lemon

  Cut off as much of the flower stalks as possible to reduce bitterness in the syrup. Wash the oranges and lemon in hot water and slice them thinly.

  In a large container (I used my largest 5L pot) layer your flowers and citrus slices.

  The next step is to boil the water and sugar + sweetener until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the sodium benzoate and citric acid and stir well. Turn off the heat and let it sit for a minute.

  Carefully pour the hot liquid over the flowers. Let the pot cool down and then store in the fridge for around 3 days.

  

  After the syrup has had time to infuse, carefully remove all the larger items and pour the syrup through a strainer followed by a finer straining method – anything from a fine sieve to a cheese cloth can be used depending on your preference.
  
  Fill the syrup into disinfected bottles and store in the fridge.

  grontofs

  June 18, 2023

  Recipe

  Recipe

• Weeds to production – Creating beautiful outdoor planting space

  ✍️ Lilly

  📍 Next to the Greenliliths- Greenhouse

  Between the Greenhouse and the workshop is a long strip of Grass that has always been full of nettles and weeds and awful soil. Some years ago we used old doorframes to make some simple garden beds for potatoes and onions. Those have since been taken over.

  

  

  One of the issues with the space has been the difficulties with mowing the grass. Awkward gaps made it impossible to cut back all the weeds.

  It’s time for a redo. We had just gotten a huge trailer load of mulch for covering some flowerbeds and had a good amount remaining. To combat all the weeds we decided to lay a wide stripe of ground-fabric along the workshop that would be covered with mulch. This is also where the new, more manageably-sized boxes will go.

  First we pulled out the old rotten wood frames and broke up the roots and weeds to get a somewhat level surface. We pulled out as much nettle rootmass as we could somewhat evened out the area. We placed the fabric and started weighing it down with some of the mulch/wood chips.

  

  

  Then we put up some new plant-beds using leftover pallet collars that we had been collecting and purchased to recycle. Of course Sandy was in the middle of it all, making sure everything was done correctly.

  We also brought out some plant-boxes from the greenhouse that had been standing too far from the watering system for anything in them to thrive. We transferred most of the old dried soil from them to the new boxes to start filling the bottom and then topped them off with fresh soil and a mixture of flowers and other plants.

  

  

  We continued spreading out the mulch around the boxes.

  What’s left to do: A few more wheelbarrows of mulch and soil for the boxes. Then we can start planting salad outdoors. It’s far too warm in the greenhouse now for any leafy-greens.

  grontofs

  June 17, 2023

  Groundwork

  Greenhouse

• Spring Beginnings and taking down a massive tree

  ✍️ Lilly

  

  Spring announced itself with bright colors. A blue sea of scilla dappled with crocus followed by bright orange tulips that had spent the past years silently multiplying. The bulbs I put in the ground before winter started to wake up. I hadn’t made a specific planting scheme so every flower was a new surprise.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  As the sun came up higher and stayed out later it was time to start preparing for our first year in the garden.

  

  The big cherry tree we used to climb as children had sadly died and was nothing more than a corpse looming over what is to become the first part of the vegetable garden.

  In April we started setting up raised beds and filled them with soil. I stuffed wood chips and branches in the very bottom and then topped it with 2 trailers of compost from our local recycling plant. I sowed the first seeds, radishes and spring-onions.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Temperatures started to climb and the first seeds were sprouting and we ordered strawberry plants.

  

  We had held out hope that the cherry tree would still have some life in it but after discovering decay on one of the main roots peaking out of the soil we knew it’s time was up so down it had to come.

  May 7th:

  My partner and I are both very hands-on, spontaneous and stubborn which were necessary traits for this job. Within a couple hours of noticing the rot we had whipped out the little extendable electric chainsaw from my parents we had been using all of autumn and starting cutting back branches. We made quick work of cutting down and dividing the branches into manageable piles. After all, we had ALOT of practice by now. Again, smaller branches were shredded and the rest chopped for firewood for my parents house.

  

  

  We worked from the outer branches in. I climbed to the top of the tree to reach some of the higher branches. As we got to the thicker ones the same started to struggle. My dad came by with 2 larger chainsaws but neither started… As my dad took apart the saws and tried to get them to work we kept at it with the small saw. It was slow and tedious but eventually we got it down to just the trunk.

  

  After some more hours of chopping we were able to push and pull the trunk and get the tree down within the day. Now the real heavy work was about to start. I started digging around the trunk of the tree, revealing 3 huge, yet very surface roots. We borrowed and sharpened my parents axe and between digging around the roots and axeing until our callouses turned to blisters we were able to piece by piece get the roots and eventually the trunk out of the ground.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  FINALLY! It took many days of hard sweaty work in the hot spring sun but we finally had a huge hole in the grass and could keep working on our new projects.

  Being the person I am I was obviously going to take this opportunity to make a flowerbed out of this already cleared area. (Post to come)

  With this massive task complete and finally being out of frost risk I could give more attention to creating new beautiful areas in the garden.

  grontofs

  June 5, 2023

  Flowers

• Reclaiming the Garden

  ✍️ Lilly

  In November of 2022 my partner and I moved into the house that I grew up in. The garden was in need of a proper haircut and some trees needed to be removed. We started working on the garden in August

  

  The autumn was spent chopping down overgrown thujas ( bringing much more light into the house ), removing lots of self-seeded trees and cutting back all of the bushes. Since thujas don’t sprout from anywhere that isn’t fresh and green we had to remove them. They were just too big and crowding out other plants as well as blocking a lot of light.

  

  

  

  We used a wood-chipper to process all the branches we could and used the wood chips to mulch around bushes. The remaining wood we brought to my parents house and helped my dad chop them down for firewood.
  

  Between the garden work and our studies we moved all our furniture and things from our previous apartment. You’d be surprised how much stuff one can fit into a 2-room apartment…

  The grass needed cutting so we took apart and repaired the lawnmower that had stood in the garage for a good amount of years. It took a couple new parts and several rounds of taking it apart and re-assembling but we got it running in the end.

  

  

  After a late summer/autumn filled with garden work and some home renovations (painting, laying new flooring) the garden went to sleep over winter. The winter was spent settling into our new home, figuring out how we wanted to use the space and moving around furniture. While the plants outdoors were asleep I focused on my indoor plants getting them set up in their new home.

  

  

  grontofs

  June 5, 2023

  Groundwork, Landscaping