Norway
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15/09/2019
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The Market Garden At Dokka is a small farm located at the end of Randsfjorden and is approximately 7 km from Dokka. I bought the farm this spring and started setting up my market garden. A market garden is a biointensive approach to gardening, where permanent beds are made with a lot of compost to enhance soil quality. We seeded the first seeds in June and now (August 2019) we now have carrots, turnips, radishes, beans, sugar snap peas, lettuces, zucchini, beetroot, fennel, cucumber, chard, tatsoi, pak choi, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach and some other stuff in the garden.
Since we are trying to minimize our ecological footprint here at Hanssvea, we are going to use material that is already on the farm. Other tasks are looking over the garden, seeding, watering, transplanting, harvesting, washing and packing the vegetables.
The only person that lives on the farm is me, Marte, I am 28-year-old woman from Oslo. I am a cheerful, spontaneous soul that loves to meet people and to teach you about all I know of nature, agriculture and plants. I am an ecologist and botanist and know a lot about the flora of Norway. I have grown vegetables for many years, but this year I am taking it to the next step and going to produce for sale.
I am inspired by Jean Martin Fortier, which is the founder of “The market gardener” and has developed a set of techniques to maximize yields, with intensive spacing and minimum tillage. Another person that inspires me is Richard Perkins, the former of Ridgedale Permaculture, and for those interested in this, it will be possible to take part in his online course while you are here.
Besides starting up the farm, I work as an ecologist in Dokka. This summer I will be working besides the farmwork, this means that there will be some free time or time to work on your own projects. Mainly, we are going to do farmwork together in the morning, before I will head out to work and then return in the evening. This means that if you travel alone there is a possibility that you will spend some time alone in the day. There are about 1 km to nearest swimming spot - Randsfjorden.
Right now, I do not have any animals, but I am considering getting a few sheep of the breed Norsk Villsau, which is a traditional Norwegian sheep breed. If there is time, we will also be making a hen-house and look into the opportunity to make some of them portable, so that we can use them as pasture hens. This summer I will also be looking after my friends horses, one Icelandic horse named Gustur and an old trot horse named Viktor.
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Hanssvea aims to be ecological sustainable, so that people in 1000 years can do agriculture the same was as we do today. By mimicking nature, we can enhance biodiverty in the area and at the same time get much higher yields than conventional farming do. You will learn how to grow a lot of organic vegetables in a cold climate and how to process these vegetables into delicious meals. You will also learn general farming tasks like building fences, greenhouse and other building tasks.
In June there will be a lot of seeding, transplanting, weeding and general gardening. We will also be making a wash station, packing station and some seeding racks, so if you are good at capentry you are most welcome. In the garden this summer we will have broccoli, beets, kohlrabi, asian greens, kale, chard, lettuce, carrots, turnips, peas, bean, spinach, cabbage, radish and fennel.
From August there will be general gardening tasks and harvesting. We will also be picking a lot of berries; cloudberries, blueberries, raspberries and lingonberries. I know a lot about edible mushrooms and we will be spending some time picking and processing both berries and mushrooms. Typical task will be making juice, jam or ferment different types of food. There is a milk farm not far from here and I usually go there to collect some fresh milk to make yoghurt, butter and cheese, so If you would like to learn more about this, we will make time for it.
Norwegian, English
You will be living with me in the main house. Depending on how many people there will be here, you will either have your own room or share with one other.
I want to cook all meals together, but you are of course free to get your own food.
I eat both fish and meat, but also make a lot of vegan and vegetarian food. And there will be no problem to host neither vegans or vegetarians, but I do not buy special foods. The cupboards and fridge consist mainly of vegetables, grains, nuts, meat and fish – no ultraprocessed food comes into this house.
There will be some time off everyday. We will be working together in the morning from and after lunch you will have spare time to do as you like or to continue with own projects. There will be a good opportunity to start your own projects like making your own garden beds. There are a lot of hiking opportunities nearby and it is an hour to beautiful Valdres and a little more than an hour from Huldreheimen. In about 1,5 – 2 hours you will be in Jotunheimen and there is opportunity to go there if you like. I will also gladly show you where you can go for hikes and swims in the area around.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
