estwärts

Before we focus all our attention on preparations for our farm festival on Saturday afternoon, there is still work to be done on several construction sites on Friday.
In and around the main house, Anna, Anne, Steffi, and Jolie continue to remove the old paint from the window frames, sand them down, and oil them for the first time with linseed oil.

Meanwhile, Klaas and Anton are spending time near the kitchen tent working out the details for the toilet block. In the morning, they made several trips to the sawmill and to Marju and Jaan to pick up a big load of lumber. Now they’re sketching and figuring out the best way to build the outhouse with the materials they have. Putting these plans into action will be our top priority for the next two weeks. It’s great that we now have a scale drawing to work with.

Outside, preparations for the festival are underway and construction work is being completed. We are clearing the festival grounds and preparing additional areas for parking, finishing the deadwood hedge, and tidying up the grounds.

One particularly important area of the festival preparations is, of course, the kitchen. To ensure that the large amount of shopping we want to do before the festival can be stored away properly, we are setting up our river refrigerator from last year again.

The shopping before the holiday then exceeds all expectations. The cashier at the supermarket, who probably recognized us, was also surprised. This time, the receipt is unexpectedly long: it’s a whole meter long! Last year, our record was a mere 86 cm.

Now the preparations for the festival are really getting underway all over the farm: Janne and the kitchen team are preparing onion soup, a large mixed salad, bread dough for stick bread, and, of course, our contribution to the potato salad competition. There was a discussion beforehand about whether we should enter the competition with a North German version (with mayonnaise) or a South German version (with vinegar and oil). In the end, we decided on vinegar and oil. Everywhere, people are chopping, frying, and stirring. Among other things, we are processing more than ten kilos of onions for the soup, and as they fry, the aroma of caramelized onions wafts across the entire farm.

While everyone is socializing in the kitchen, Krista’s hiking group suddenly arrives with five cars and a mobile sauna in tow. It is skillfully parked next to our (unfortunately currently non-functional) sauna. Just as quickly as they arrived, they set off again on a short excursion before joining the party later on.

Last year, we used the area next to the sauna as a festival venue. This year, we want to focus more on the courtyard and the newly built stage in the barn. Tables and benches will be set up in the courtyard, and the buffet will be prepared and decorated. The barn will also be spruced up so that we can use it for our small program.

Everything is ready at 3 p.m. sharp, and the first guests arrive right on time. First, a few familiar faces appear, including Marju, Jaan, and our new neighbors, whom we have already mentioned. Together, we open the cake buffet and show off the changes to the farm. Anton can’t join us yet because he has to head back to Rakvere to pick up Petra, Basti, and Anna, who are arriving today. The farm quickly fills with even more people, and Krista’s hiking group also returns from their excursion shortly before the small ceremony. At the last minute, they whip up a potato salad from ingredients they brought with them, as the competition is about to begin. But first, we all gather in the barn to officially welcome our guests and briefly explain what we actually do here as an association. We frame the entire event with three songs that we have rehearsed together. Among them is an Estonian song that we sing together with our audience. Fortunately, our guests know the lyrics, so it’s not too noticeable when our language skills are still a little rough around the edges. Hagen acts as the moderator between songs and Krista translates.

At the end of the program, Anna and Anne explain the idea behind the potato salad competition: potato salad is often served at parties and celebrations in both Germany and Estonia, but in very different ways. There are also major differences and many variations in preparation within the cultures themselves. We wanted to bring this diversity to the table and discover it together with our guests. This also marks the start of the dinner buffet, where the six participating salads can be tasted. Thank you very much for the great contributions!

The grill is lit and we raise a toast to celebrate the day. Choosing the best salad seems to be difficult for many, and discussions are taking place everywhere about which recipe is the most appealing. In the end, the votes are very close between a version with vinegar, oil, and lots of onions and one with egg and mayonnaise, which wins by one point. The cook receives widespread praise and is presented with the grand prize, the Potato King, along with a small gift.

While the fire in the grill slowly dies down, the sauna is already being heated up on the other side of the square. Little by little, the group moves over there and everyone who wants to enjoys the cozy sauna and the refreshing river. The sauna seems to be designed for a maximum of eight people, but we still manage to fit eleven people in at the same time, with one person having to stand. It’s also getting cozy in the yurt next door. The fire is burning, we get out the guitars and bake stick bread. Together with the last guests, we let the beautiful day come to an end here. Many thanks to everyone who spent this wonderful celebration with us!