estwärts

On Wednesday morning, there are still four of us. Anton, Hagen, Lola, and Lukas are having breakfast. Unlike yesterday, there is even coffee on the table today. Our new gas stoves were not very useful yesterday without gas bottles. Today, we have all the necessary kitchen equipment to prepare a full breakfast with a hot drink of our choice. We’re still feeling the long journey a little in our bones, so it’s good that there aren’t any particularly big construction sites on the agenda today. The most important construction site starts at 1 p.m., when we have an appointment with Marju and Jaan to say hello properly . There’s cake and more coffee. Just the right thing for today! As a gift, we’ve brought some honey from our own production. Anyone who has been reading since last year already knows that honey is very popular in Estonia. As last year, we communicate in many different languages at the same time and someone always has to translate. Lola understands some Estonian, English often works too, and Hagen happens to know Norwegian, which Marju and Jaan understand a little. When things get tricky, Georg helps out by translating between English and Estonian. We are warned that there are a lot of bears around this year. That’s not a problem, though, as the bears have learned to keep their distance and there haven’t been any bear deaths in Estonia for a long time, says Jaan, the former forester. Nevertheless, the occasional warning signs are translated for us: don’t leave trash or food lying around outside. We wouldn’t do that for sure. Keep dogs on a leash, of course, but we don’t have a dog with us this year anyway. If you encounter a bear, don’t play dead. We probably wouldn’t have thought of that! The general rule when encountering a bear is to remain calm, maintain eye contact, and back away quietly. We then hear a hair-raising bear story from the old days, in which perhaps not all of these rules were strictly followed. Nevertheless, it ended well. Luckily!

Lukas, Hagen, and Georg have a special mission to complete this afternoon. A person we always refer to as the “well man” will be coming in a few days to take a water sample from the well we discovered last year. Until then, the old water that has been standing in the pipe for several decades must be pumped out generously. Unfortunately, this requires more than just a hand pump. We head to the first store, but unfortunately, they don’t have any pumps. The second store, a pump and plumbing supply store, has pumps, but what kind: Some fit into our well pipe, which is only 10.5 cm wide, but they are generously priced. On the other hand, they can pump water from a depth of 150 m and consume a correspondingly large amount of electricity. This isn’t the right place for us either. We finally find what we are looking for at the hardware store: a small electric pump that is even on sale! And best of all, it uses so little electricity that we can run it on our mobile battery. We had been worried that we would have to run the noisy generator all day. We drive home happily just a few euros poorer, but a pump, a host, and some accessories richer. We quickly refill our water supply at the spring (we won’t have to do that much longer) and start fiddling. We lower our new purchase about 5 meters into the pipe while ensuring that nothing gets tangled up in the narrow pipe with two pull ropes, a tube, and a power cable. Excitedly, we plug it in, it starts to rumble, and zosch! A few seconds later, clear water bubbles out of the tube! We are thrilled and relieved. What comes out of the tube smells a bit like sulfur, but we still have a few days to pump out the old water. We are curious to see what the well man’s expert opinion will be in a few days.

Anton and Lola have not been lazy either. The “magazine,” which is our tool storage room, is organized again. When you walk in, you know right away where to find screws and where to put the precious screwdriver boxes. The kitchen tent and the sauna house, where our supplies are stored (bear-proof), are now similarly structured. It’s nice that the trailers are finally empty and all the cardboard boxes have disappeared.

An empty trailer will be put to use for a new project on Thursday. There was the issue with the well pump and the mobile battery. Unfortunately, unlike power plants, for example, batteries have a tendency to run out at some point. But here’s where coincidence comes in: Hagen had already planned to install two solar panels on the barn for the cooler, cell phones, and laptops. Now, with a water pump running continuously, we have added quite a power consumer. To make even better use of our solar cells, Anton suggests that we first set them up temporarily on our empty trailer, which can then be turned toward the sun. For the next few days, estwärts e.V. has gained the important role of the trailer keeper, who optimally positions the trailer every hour like an oversized solar clock. Hagen will have to wait a few more days for the final solar installation. Meanwhile, the pump continues to splash happily, and on closer inspection, it still emits the slightly sulfurous smell of rotten eggs.

We are tackling another major project today. During the preparatory meetings, the desire for a mosquito-free zone (MFZ) was already expressed. To this end, we have purchased a mosquito net so large that it will only fit in our barn after some renovations. A intermediate floor has to go! Last year, it was still populated by swallows, but this year, as planned, they have moved into their swallow board under the roof. Equipped with dust masks, the floor is first cleared of hay and swallow droppings and then removed board by board by Anton. The non-reusable remains are immediately used for a campfire.

Just before the end of the working day, Lola and Lukas take refuge in the mushrooms once again: they are planning to prepare pasta with chanterelles. As was the case last year, they do not have to search long to discover entire colonies of chanterelles within walking distance. Finding and picking the tasty mushrooms isn’t the problem, but the mosquitoes seem to be particularly aggressive today! When the two return from the forest covered in bites, they have nevertheless collected a huge amount. The pot of chanterelle pasta is easily emptied, and just as we are about to sit down by the fire with full bellies, the neighbors come to visit again for a little tour of the farm.