estwärts

Our group has continued to grow over the last few days. Anne joined us on Friday evening and Tobias, Rüdiger and Sören arrived on Sunday morning. The tent area, which we previously enlarged again, continues to fill up and we are happy about the support.

Saturday begins for Janne and Anna with a visit to the spring to fetch water. A really nice place to start the day. We continue with a delicious breakfast with honey cake (meekook). This is a cake made from thin slices of dough that contains a lot of honey and layers of cream in between. After that, it gets busy on the farm and we do more than we thought we would:

Janne and Lukas continue to build the dishwashing line, which now has shelves for the dishes. Lukas is so impressed with the result that he doesn’t miss the opportunity to wash the dishes several times in a row.

Klaas sets up the tool storage and establishes order and clarity. Hopefully we will all need much less time to find our tools and have a better overview. In any case, the result is great.

In the afternoon, Stella, Lola, Luise, David and Anna set off for the Seljamäe bog. There is a 7 km hiking trail around and through the moor. The path consists partly of planks and partly of a simple trail. To the left and right of the path we find lingonberries and cranberries, which we collect for our next breakfast. Another highlight of the hike: an adder sunning itself on the edge of the path, which we observe for quite a long time.

Meanwhile, things are getting serious on the farm. We want to hold our first cultural event in the evening: a movie night. Marju and Georg are also invited. To make this possible, Anne and Petra build a platform for the projector and prepare the technology. Meanwhile, Hagen builds a curtain and a screen and combines the two so that the screen can be pulled up with a rope and the curtain opens at the same time. Fun gimmick!

Marju and Georg arrive at 8:30 pm and we start by catching up on the topping-out ceremony, which we didn’t celebrate on Friday after all. Klaas has prepared a verse in English that he reads from the scaffolding. Finally, we play a topping-out game: A nail has to be hammered into a tree stump with the hammer in as few strikes as possible. After a drink, Marju surprises us: just two skillful hammer strikes and the nail sits deep in the wood!

Then we go to the barn for the movie. Luise and Petra have prepared an extra intro with clarinet and violin to open the curtains. Then the movie “The Singing Revolution” starts. It is a documentary about the history of Estonia since the end of the First World War and in particular about the end of the Soviet Union and Estonian independence. The atmosphere is good and it’s totally crazy to suddenly be watching a movie in this barn in the middle of nowhere. Despite some minor technical difficulties - the cold of the evening is taking its toll on the batteries of our devices - we are thrilled and definitely want to do it again.

On Sunday, however, the tool room is really closed. The part of the group that hasn’t been for a walk goes to the moor, the rest enjoys the peace and quiet and the free time in Rihula. In the afternoon we are invited to Marju’s sauna. We enjoy getting really clean again and take the opportunity to talk some more with Marju about the time of the singing revolution.

Refreshed from our leisurely Sunday, we start the new week. On Monday, we start by harvesting apples from our trees, which Luise takes to Marju to press apple juice together.

In the main house, Anne, Petra and Lola continue to knock plaster off the walls and remove panels from the intermediate ceiling. This is work that will probably continue for some time.

Rüdiger, David and Tobias are working outside. In the area between the stable and the main house, Rüdiger is cutting a very overgrown apple tree and a lime tree. Suddenly the corner looks much brighter and you can see from the stable to the main house.

Janne, Stella and Jo make a huge shopping tour and fill several shopping carts at once. However, with 67 cm, the receipt is not as long as expected and much shorter than the previous record holder (a proud 86 cm), we are disappointed! But we are still pleased with the kohuke, an Estonian curd dessert, that we brought with us.

We are excited to see what happens in the next few days, new wood for new projects is already here. See you soon!