Thursday Thoughts – Along the Old Country Road

There is something special with old country roads…Every autumn we walk some kilometers along this country road, and I guess you might recognize parts of it, even if it changes over the years. But, that is one of the reasons why I like to photographs this walk every year.

This part of our neighbouring village was always an agricultural area with many small farms.

Today farming is mostly a business for big farms with much land and large machines to work it.

This house is a typical old farmstead, but I am not sure anyone lives here anymore. It looks abandoned – even though you can see furniture and lamps if you look in the windows. There are even withered house plants in some of them, and a sign with the owner’s name. It looks like the owners just walked out the door left it that way.

Old wagons and tractors are left at the road side or in an abandoned garden.

I feel sad looking at it, because farmers work hard every day, every hour on their land – but as they grow old, they reach a point where they cannot manage it any longer. Being a farmer is a lifestyle, and that must be hard to give up.

There must be a few farmers still working though, because there is cattle in the small fields and meadows.

Aren’t they beautiful, making bypassers feel the harmony and the beauty of the landscape! I wonder what their story is…

Thursday Thoughts – Fresh Air and Open Landscapes

Another chilly day of clear skies – so, if you feel like it – you are welcome to join me for a short drive in the nearby countryside.

The farms are lying out there, waiting…for the season to start…for life to return to the land.
Some farmers have already started – where the fields have dried up there are some spots softly turning green.
I pass the meadows, but there’s no cattle out there yet…
…only some horses enjoying the sun near the barn. Can you hear the silence…? Almost touchable.
I never tire of the old oak trees – in fact I love them even more during winter time. I’d love to walk up close, but there is an electric fence I cannot climb. It is there to protect both cattle and trees.
I am waiting… Maybe next time I pass here, everything will have turned ”springy” green. Thank you for keeping me company on the tour!

Thursday Thoughts – Outdoors – Vårvinter

In the early morning, I decided to drive out to the open fields to listen to the skylarks – my thrill this lovely day. And yes, they had arrived, and I heard them singing as soon as I opened the windows. I saw cranes ploughing high up in the sky and I heard swans trumpeting.

What we call Spring Winter, means the snow is melting and almost gone, leaving puddles and soggy clay.
The farmers are waiting for the soil to dry up enough to become useful for the new crops.
I love this muddled landscape and its earthy colours. Its rapid and unpredictable changes between sun and dark clouds.
On my way home again, the swans lifted and sailed away to greener fields.
This was a morning to my taste – but now, time for breakfast!

Thursday Thoughts – Farmland

Evening – And the harvest is in

Thursday Thoughts – Autumn is Coming

So now we are here…Autumn is inevitably coming to the northern hemisphere.

A short drive to town – and along the road the familiar landscape is slowly turning into soft autumn colours.

 

Some fields are aglow in the evening light. The harvest is in and a calmness is settling over the landscape.

This year, being a farmer has been a positive thing. Working outdoors all the time,  and the weather staying kind to the crops.

We have to take care of and treasure the few positive things this year – the year of corona. I returned home with a calmness in my soul and a soft smile on my lips. Just like natured showed me .

 

A Sunny Day…One of Few

To remind me of one of the few sunny days this summer. Cold, windy and showers every day – this Swedish summer of 2017 will not be one remembered for its glorious weather. This week is also the last holiday week for many Swedes – always a bit terrifying…but nowadays it doesn’t matter that much how the summer was. I am lucky to be free!

Travel theme: Dried

Travel theme: Dried

The Sahara desert is dried of course…but also the farmland straw towards autumn in Sweden.I love the colours of things dried.