Our first harvest... Jerusalem Artichokes

We haven't had our garden parcel for very long, but last night we dug up a bunch of Jerusalem Artichokes - which we've inherited from whoever abandoned the parcel over a year ago. It's a nice way to start out the gardening experience - with produce!

I think I had heard the name of this root vegetable before, but I had never tried Jerusalem Artichokes before coming to Norway. It turns out that they are native here, and considered an invasive species in much of the world, but making a bit of a comeback as a food staple. Jerusalem Artichokes were what Norwegians lived off of before the potato - which is pretty incredible to think that the potato is not native here when plays such a big role in the local diet.

I am a big fan of these guys - they're tastier and somewhat healthier than potatoes, and it turns out that they basically grow on their own. No worries about pests or watering or wintering here. We brought this small pile home with us to cook up as home-fries this morning, planted at least as many and gave another pile to a garden neighbor. And that isn't the end of them - we actually haven't gotten down much finesse with the harvesting procedure so are certain to have missed a ton of them which I'm sure will pop up erratically through the year, outside of the neat rows we attempted to lay.

When digging, they are completely covered and hidden by the soil, so our method was to 'harvest' all the ones that the shovel happened to slice through - because then you notice the bright white interior. These have survived at least one winter in the earth and didn't rot.. It will be interesting to see how many we get next year!

Our next apartment and its oddities...

Living in rental apartments has it's pluses and minuses, but at some point there comes a bit of a temptation to have a place that you can actually alter - find projects in and make the place your own. Rolf and I have found what we hope will be the best of both worlds - we're renting an apartment with a bit of (slightly eccentric) soul, but more importantly with owners who are willing to support us in bettering the place!

So, I picked up the keys today and spent a couple hours looking around at the details, photographing, thinking about how we can make the place ours. Some of the details there now are great, others less so. I don't have any answers yet -- the apartment itself has really evolved over time (the building dates to around 1850!), and I think the best we can do is to continue that evolution, slowly over time. Of course, there are a couple of things that I am itching to rebuild/replace right away, but we'll see how it works out. We move officially on Sunday and I imagine it will take a few weeks of arranging, selective shopping and installations before we feel settled in. But for now, a few 'before Rolf & Melissa' pictures of the place - (apologies in advance for soft blurriness - I didn't realize my camera was set to manual focus for half of the shooting! ..and just maybe I should be wearing my glasses more often than I do.)

The apartment is really big for us - entry, 2 living rooms, kitchen, bed, bath, and this dining room.

This half of the kitchen is not particularly Rolf-friendly.

I can't decide if this room wants to be a living room or a dance lounge.

This 'hall' space off living room 2 may as well be another room.

We're not sure what is in the space behind that door...

It's quite a feat to find an apartment in Oslo with a bathtub..

I'm not sure why the toilet gets its own room.

I dig (some) wallpaper.

Wood construction is nice! This old tongue and grooved cross member is actually just decorative though.

Allotment garden!

Thanks to a tip from a dear fellow-gardening friend, we got our own garden plot this year at an allotment garden on the edge of the city. It's spring here now, the days are getting warmer, the sun is still shining at 9pm, plants are starting to green - it's an exciting time. The garden plot is (almost unbelieveably) the same size as our current apartment - around 500 square feet. However, we, along with nature, are in transition mode - we move to a new apartment (still in Oslo) next week, nearly doubling our living space... More on that and our efforts there later, but for now - a quick picture of the gardening work ahead of us.

 

The allotment gardens are called 'Eterjordet', and are tucked into the edge of the forest by a large lake in Oslo (Østensjø). Nearby are lots of ducks, hiking paths, and a bird preserve. The kind lady who has been running these gardens for the last 20 years or so gave us one warning when we arrived concerning pests - translating something like: "we have brown snails, 2-leggeds, and roe deer." Since the forest paths are public and there is no fencing around the gardens, we will have to see what kind of veggie munching visitors we might receive.

We inherited a wooden platform and box for tools from the last plot owner which should prove handy. The plot is super overgrown, so there will be some work - am looking forward to a bit of physical labor, especially if the sun hangs around for it!

We had our first official work visit there today - just stopped by to put up the fencing for compost, which we'll need when we start clearing the mess. I took this pic as a 'before' shot - I don't think we'll be keeping much more than the black currant bush in the foreground, the railway tie (which may be cool after we remove all the overgrowth), and the wooden platform in the back. Lots of digging and clearing to do, then, what to plant?

(Did I mention the plot is very overgrown ?)