In the City of Power

This week, I spent a few days in the capital of our frosty country, on the icy shores of the Baltic Sea. It is a peculiar experience, to walk through the streets of a wealthy town, in the week of the Black Friday, watching one jammed shop window after another. Even the Old Town Island was drab, with neon colored flashing sales signs reflected in the small windows of the late-medieval alleys.

The City is a magnifying glass. Rich is richer and poor is poorer.

A couple of colleagues and I from a nut growing project were invited to give a seminar/workshop at the Royal Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. Flattered and nervous, I came to the prestigous location, with a presentation in my laptop and a bag full of assorted nuts to share with the participants. Oil paintings and arcane titles made me feel far away from the farm. A few of the members of the Academy were present in the audience and they gave us a gracious welcome.

Together with my colleague Lova, at the Royal Academy place, a cold november morning.

Maria led the discussions and gave a warm welcoming to everybody.

Fortunately, we also had a few friends in the crowd, which helped me to calm my nerves. Anders G., who grows nuts on a peninsula jetting out into the Baltic. Erik K., who runs a micro-size nut tree nursery. Julia K. and her parents, who run a beautiful farm in a place a few provices further North from the Capital. The lion share of the audience were people who I have never previously met. Some academics, some farmers, some orchardists, some dieticians, some students and a couple of food-forest people.

We shared our learnings from the last year of investigations, farm visits, variety trials and culinary explorations. After lunch we had a workshop where the participants would discuss and share their perspectives and advice on how to proceed. What is most important to focus on in the coming year? All in the context of: What would it take to grow professional nut farming from 10 to 10,000 hectares?

It is even possible? How long would it take?

Even on that scale, the production would cover only 10% of the recommended consumption of nuts for the Swedish population, from a health perspective.

Afternoon session workshop.

Some of the new acquintances shared innovative nutty perspectives, like Astrid, who makes hand crafted buttons out of nut shell materials.

See if you can find the heart-nut buttons.

Buttons made from heart-nut, black walnut and manchurian walnut shells.

When we were in the Stockholm area, we also visited the food development farm Torsåker to talk about growing nuts and cooking with nuts. A good vibe with the team there.

Visiting the Torsåker experimental farm and kitchen together with Lova from Miljömatematik.

Back on the farm

November is a good time of the year. We start selling bare-root trees when the leaves drop, which is around the first week of November. First out are the walnut and hazelnut trees, and a couple of weeks later the chestnuts drop their foliage.

Every Saturday, the farm store is open and people come by to get nut trees. Some of the people I have met before, but almost half of the customers are people whom I have never met. Since March this year, I produce a monthly podcast about nut growing, and some of the customers tell me that that is the reason why they came. Others have read about nut growing in one of the farmers' magazines, that featured nut growing this year. Others still tell us that they have seen the road sign and were curious to come by and get a tree or two.

Eagerly awaiting the first customers of the year.

Sandboxes full of trees. Walnut, chestnut and hazelnut plants, in alphabetical order of the varieties.

Snow

In November we got a week of snow, but it all melted away and we are back to +8C and drizzling rains.

A beautiful morning with 10cm fresh snow.

Snow is tough on the polytunnels, so I have to sweep them with a brush.

The days are short and evenings long, so it is a good time to make apple cake and pumpkin soup.

Our storage is almost full of apples and nut seeds.

Courses

During the year I give nut growing courses at several places. This is a part of the business that is growing well, and something that is very rewarding.

One of the settings is an experience sharing network for farmers who are starting to establish agroforestry systems on their farms.

Anders talking at a ERFA meeting.

Another place is the Holma Folkhogskola - a kind of community college an hour drive from here.

Field which gets rows of productive trees.

Different establishment strategies are tested.