Røros Christmas Market / Røros Julemarked

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This christmas I went to one of the most enchanting christmas markets in Norway, located in the UNESCO heritage mountain town of Røros. It is an old mining town, and the city center consists of a multitude of old buildings which are maintained after old norwegian traditions. People still live and work there, and you can find lots of cozy little shops. Røros especially values handicrafts, art and local cuisine with long traditions. It is even called the capital of locally produced food in Norway.


Click for music (from an old cozy christmas tv program filmed on Røros)

In the mountainous area you can find both wild and tame reindeer, herded by the Saami people. Quite a lot of my ancestors and extended family lives in this area of Norway, so I feel some kind of connection to the place and really like to be there.

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Going to the christmas market will surely help you getting into the christmas spirit, as there are always plenty of snow and the windows on the old wooden colorful houses will be covered in real frost. The christmas market consists of about 60 market stalls, filled with traditional art, craftmanship and food. The town will be full of christmasy activities, and you will be able to visit santa, meet reindeer and get the chance to enjoy horse drawn sleigh rides through the narrow streets.

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A great way of experiencing a real Norwegian winter and to start the Christmas celebrations.

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These guys had such awesome hats, and they had come all the way from England to experience it all.

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This gorgeous reindeer was right next to our stall!

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As a matter of fact, the reason I went to Røros was because we had a little market stall there ourselves. And we even won the price of having the best stall of the year! But oh my Røros can be such a cold place. One of the days the temperature had dropped as far as -27 degrees celcius. Here you can see some pictures of our setup:

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Here are some day-time photos as well, Røros looks gorgeous both day and night!
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The local church is from the 1700’s and made of stone.

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Many houses are really old and crooked.

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This is probably my favorite house on Røros, so charming, and it has a green roof, as do many of the other houses. If you follow my blog, you will soon notice that I’m a bit of an architecture nerd when it comes to traditional and natural building.

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Me and the reindeer.

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You can find many people dressed as traditional nisse.

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Another green nisse, just as us.

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Ready for the horse sleigh ride.

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Have you been to any christmas markets? Do you have any favorites?


#røros #julemarked #snø #vinter #jul

Christmas market at Trøndelag folk museum

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For a couple of years we’ve joined the new and quite small christmas market at Trøndelag folk museum. It is a cozy open air museum located close to where I grew up. It consists of a large area with a collection of old buildings, located around a hill around the ruins of an old fortress with history back to the viking age, now called Sverresborg.

The open air museum, with a glimpse of the city Trondheim in the back.

The weather was unfortunately really quite terrible, we had a lot of wind, snow and rain.

Our stall the first year
The year after
Just me, trying to sell you my homemade goods 😉

Met these awesome “yule goats”, we call them “julebukk”, an ancient norwegian tradtion, these guys brought you gifts a looong time before santa was invented.

Old saami building for storing food, safely away from animals. Love it!

Saami earth sheltered house, this is how many of them used to live.

Do you have folk museums where you live?

Halloween magic – Cats, pumpkin carving, decorations and cooking

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This entire blog post is written in english. It does not mean I’ll stop writing in norwegian, but I wanted to to keep to one language this time. Before reading I highly recommend some beautiful halloween music for the right kind of atmosphere, here are some recommendations: 

The music from A Vampyre Story
1 Hour of Dark Halloween Music | Witchcraft | The Unspoken Tales
1 Hour of Halloween Music & Vampire Music 

I’ve gotten increasingly fond of celebrating the time of Samhain/Halloween. Allthough most people think of it as a consumerist tradition from America, it is also deeply rooted in European traditions which have been mostly lost to us. It feels good to recreate the old traditions again and give them a new personal meaning. Personally I always celebrate the seasons as our planet circles the sun. I want it to feel fun, creative and purposeful. I find it important to celebrate the fruits of our labor, as life easily turns out to be all work and no play. For people wanting to live off the land and practise homesteading, earth based spirituality brings a richness into daily life.

For me Samhain means a conclusion of the season, when everything we have grown has been harvested, our land is made ready for the winter, and it is time to let go and just breathe a little bit. A time to reflex inward into the dimensions of the mind and the psyche. To gaze up at the moon and the stars, and to appreciate all those who were before you. To say goodbye to the autumn and all the richness of color. To dance with the fairies around the campfire. In Norway we call this time of the year Alfablot, the Sacrifice to the Elves, the ?elves? in Norse not meaning Faerie but referring to spirits that are both of nature as well as the souls of our ancestors who live on in mounds, where they can still be sought and communicated with. Read more here: http://freya.theladyofthelabyrinth.com/?page_id=339

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This time I decided to pumpkin carve the Elven star (also called the faery star or the septagram), because it has been our little family’s personal symbol since the beginning. I guess the symbology and personal meaning of this is best described in a later blog post, but for now, it was fun and a bit time consuming to carve.

Life retreats into the bulbs and the roots,
The time has passed for the flowers and the fruits,
As leaves fall thick and carpet the ground,
The Dark Mother waits in silence profound.

The veil grows thin at the time of the dead,
As we honour our long-gone ancestors,
In whose footsteps we tread.

Now is the time for the apple feasts,
Time stands still for humans and beasts
Seek the wisdom of days gone by,
To deal with the past and let it lie.

Face your shadow and accept your faults,
Look now to the future to seek your results.

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My kind of wild Halloween party: With my cats, books, magical atmospheric vampire music, pumpkin soup and pie, cinnamon tea, campfires, fairylights and lanterns. Welcome to my hermit life.

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Do you celebrate this time of the year? What do you prefer to do? 

 

#halloween #samhain #gresskar #alvestjerne #fairystar #goth #fantasy #eventyr #magi #halloween2017mood

Forest Troll Festival

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Do grown ups play? Do we have an inherent need to have fun? Every other year or so I feel the urge to go to a forest festival and just play! It is a bit like kindergarden for adults, only people behave a lot better and have a much better time. I’m usually a serious and responsible person. I never partied and I’m generally the most sober person I ever met. But still I have discovered the hidden world of forest parties. A place where true wilderness living and enjoying life/having fun merges. Where you can put up your tent far away from everyone, have your own little camp and go play whenever you want, or go for a hike in the mountains whenever you like. Where you can pick berries and mushrooms and cook it over your campfire. Then go dancing all night to pulsating music. Norwegian forest festivals are raw and wild! We are like elves, but also trolls and other creatures you only see in the dark. Feral!

You can expect freezing temperatures in the night, your share of rain, the terrain might mostly be like a swamp. But also glorious sunshine, myst covered lakes and the comfort of the beautiful forest. Just to arrive to our destinations you might have to walk for an hour up a steep terrain. Festivals like this are created out of passion and idealism. A lot of effort is required to make it work, and it is a beautiful co-creation of all those who attend. We all bring our own energy into it. And the good thing is, you can be completely authentic and live out the parts of yourself you might normally have to hide in regular society. You can experiment with new forms of self expression. You can follow your dreams. You can relax and let go. You can have the most wonderful time of your life! Memories to survive a grey adult life for years. I’ve met so many people who agrees with me: this is the best thing that ever happened to them.


Ready for an adventure?


The location





In the night:


People play with fire and lights every night


Someone made lots of blacklight glow-in-the-dark artwork




























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Fun with soap bubbles! I’ll usually be barefoot, but sometimes I put on rubber boots during the cold nights.

What do you do to keep yourself sane in this adult world?
Do you have some secret places you go?
Do you know about some nice festivals?

Picturesque Norway: Valldalen and Gudbrandsjuvet

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After driving up the impressive Troll Road (Trollstigen), you’ll arrive in a green beautiful valley called Valldalen. We camped our van up by some mountain cabins for the night, and the next morning we ate breakfast and went for a stroll up one of the valleys.

In Norwegian we call this “sæter”, an old style mountain farm, people took their cows and goats here in the summer months, and some still do it.






We felt pretty in our hats.





Lots of fireweed!


Gudbrandsjuvet

Gudbrandsjuvet gorge is beautifully located in the Valldalen valley, with impressive mountainsides. Over millennia, the Valldøla River has cut large potholes and intricate formations into the rock. The foaming river consists of glacier water and is icy cold, which is why it has this turquoise color.

Gudbrandsjuvet is a 5 metre narrow and 20–25 metre high ravine through which the Valldøla River forces itself. According to a story from the 1500’s, the ravine was named after a man called Gudbrand, who ran off with his new bride and saved himself from his angry pursuers by jumping over the ravine at its narrowest point. Gudbrand was declared an outlaw for his deeds, and lived the rest of his life in a stone hut in one of the side-valleys above Gudbrandsjuvet. The valley is still called Gudbrandsdalen to this day.


If you look beneath the bridge, this is where Gudbrand apparantly jumped… of course there was no bridge at that time. 



I just really like this place.



After driving through the valley, you’ll arrive to a beautiful fjord, where you can find viking ships!

Would you like to go for an adventure somewhere like this?

 

My enchanting birthday party in the forest

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English translation at the end of entry!

For noen uker siden hadde jeg bursdag, og for første gang på 12 år bestemte jeg meg for å feire dagen. Hadde allerede feiret med familien noen dager før, men nå nviterte jeg en liten håndfull med folk, fant frem en haug med pynt, og dro til skogs. Å feire bursdagen min på dette viset er noe jeg har drømt om siden jeg var liten, og det ble virkelig en fin og magisk kveld!

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ Trykk her for musikk! Loreena McKennitt – All Soul’s Night  ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

Jeg fant en vakker lokasjon like ved et skogsvann, og satte i gang med å henge opp mange LED- lyslenker (fairylights), veggtepper, lykter og drømmefangere. Jeg la piknikkduk og sauepels på bakken, og satte frem dekor, kaker, drikke og snacks. Tok frem høytaleren og satte på stemningsfull musikk, og så begynte gjestene å ankomme i skumringen. Jeg tenkte det ville bli koselig å holde feiringen på kvelden når det begynte å mørkne, med tanke på alle lysene, solnedgang og generell stemning.

Alt i selskapet mitt var sukkerfritt og forholdsvis sunt. For dem som ikke vet det, så har jeg levd 100% sukkerfritt i 11 år, noe jeg trives veldig godt med. Mamma hadde bakt 2 sukkerfrie kaker for anledningen, som alle syntes var veldig gode og smakfulle. Jeg fikset i tillegg bringebærkrem, et fat med oppskåret frukt, sjokolade, muffins og litt snacks og tørket frukt. Til drikke hadde vi peppermyntevann og krydder-te. Så mye godt! Vi hygget oss med god mat, fin musikk og hyggelige samtaler utover kvelden. Alle fikk LED- blomsterkranser om de ville 🙂 De fleste kom etter at det ble for mørkt til å ta bilder, men her kan dere få se de minnene jeg har fra kvelden:


Fant en plass ikke så langt fra disse endene, fordi jeg liker ender veldig godt. Dere skal få vite hvorfor i et senere blogginnlegg.


Høst og solnedgang


Utrolig vakker kveld!


Piknikduk med diverse

En morsom historie: Denne jenta pleide å være i bursdagene mine da jeg var liten, da vi var ca 1-4 år. Så mistet vi kontakten fullstendig, frem til vi for et par år tilbake møttes tilfeldig et annet sted i landet, og ble venner på nytt. Lite visste vi da om at vi allerede hadde pleid å være venner, for det var ikke før senere vi begynte å kjenne igjen hverandre. Ganske utrolig! Hehe. Nå setter jeg stor pris på å ha henne i livet mitt igjen.

   

Lys med fargede flammer! :O Dette er en marmorkake, veldig saftig og god. Blåste ut lysene og ønsket meg noe. Fikk faktisk høre to bursdagssanger, for hadde lys på begge kakene, fikk dermed også to ønsker. Det var virkelig en fin kveld som betydde mye, alle var så hyggelige. Jeg vet ikke med dere, men jeg ser venner alt for sjeldent, så da er det kjekt å stelle i stand slikt som dette. Jeg fikk til og med gaver, og bare slikt som jeg virkelig liker. For en fin kveld! Skulle gjerne invitert alle dere som fortsatt leser bloggen min (uten å ha postet noe på et halvt år) på kake og te i skogen 😉

English translation:
For the first time in 12 years I decided to celebrate my birthday. So I invited a handful of people, found a bunch of decorations and went into the woods. Celebrating my birthday in this way is something I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid, and it turned out to be such a magical evening!

I found a beautiful location by a forest lake, and decorated with lots of fairylights, tapestries, lanterns and dreamcatchers. I put a picnic cloth and sheep skins on the ground, with candles, cakes, drinks and snacks. Had speakers with enchanting music, and then the guests began to arrive at dusk. I thought it would be nice to hold the celebration in the evening when it began to darken, considering all the lights, sunset and general cozyness.

Everything in my party was sugar-free and relatively healthy, as I’ve lived very happily 100% without sugar for 11 years. Everyone seemed to love the cakes, cupcakes, raspberry cream, a plate of cut fruit, chocolate, snacks and dried fruit. For drinks we had infuced peppermint water and spicy tea. We enjoyed ourselves with all the tasty food, beautiful music and interesting conversations throughout the evening. Everyone got LED flower wreaths if they wanted 🙂 Most showed up after it became too dark to take pictures, but I still want to show you some memories I have of the evening.

A fun story: This girl used to come to my birthdays when we were about 1-4 years. Then we lost contact completely, until a couple of years back we met coincidentally somewhere else in the country and became friends again. Little did we know that we once used to be friends, since it was not until later we began to recognize each other. Pretty amazing! Hehe. Now I greatly appreciate having her in my life again.

Now this might look a bit girly, but 4 boys were here as well. I do not know about you, but I see friends far too rarely, so it’s nice to do something like this. This little party meant a lot to me. What a lovely evening! Would like to invite all of you who read my blog for cake and tea in the woods 😉



#høst #oktober #bursdag #fødselsdag #fest #magisk #stemningsfullt #natur #naturfoto #solnedgang #høstfarger #fantasy #eventyr 

Foraging for fairyfood

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I attended a course this spring where we foraged wild edibles in nature, and then cooked with it. I think it all looks like fairy food, especially when decorated with edible flowers! Highly recommend to join similar courses or workshops in your area, there are always more to learn 🙂


Wood anemones (not edible, mildly poisonous)


Fiddlehead ferns


True delishiousness!


Dandelion pasta

Do you cook with wild edible plants?
Or would you like to try?

Good days in the summer garden

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I get more fond of our garden every year! It is such a diverse and magical place. Every summer it get covered in huge magical ferns and it all is so very green. My garden is huge and turns into a managed woodland, where I’ve made many paths, which I love to decorate with lanterns, bridges and pieces of art. We have various fruit trees and berry bushes, and we have several vegetable patches and an area where we grow strawberries. It is a moist and somewhat shady garden, but you just have to make the best of what you have. I aim to make it as magical as possible.


We got a visit from a french couple, with two dogs, a husky and a samjojed. We had a lovely time!


Love having our own campfire place


Come join me on a stroll through some of my woodland paths in our garden!


I’ve planted wild garlic to cover the forest floor.


So many ferns!


Chives!


Some of the woodpiles I’ve made, it is a lot of work!


Rescued this stunningly gorgeous woodpecker.


The wilder parts of our garden


We made 2 curved wooden bridges, I want to make a post to show you how!


Portal, it lights up in the night.


We’ve made a pond as well, with a LED fountain


Meadowsweet lemonade, sweetened with stevia


Also made fireweed lemonade, it turns reddish pink, so beautiful!


A good raspberry year!


I love days like this.


Raised beds for various veggies. See another post for how we made them.


Our little oak tree!


Fav flowers in the garden, clematis.


Lots of blackberries are growing right next to the garden


One of our neighbours


He’s secretly a unicorn!


I made some oils and tinctures of St John’s Wort

Hope you enjoyed this brief garden tour! 🙂

Snapchat fun!

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So I got myself a Snapchat, just to be silly with a little handful of close friends. After a while they got filters, which most people seem to hate or at least feel are annoying. I personally don’t take it too serious. Some of them are even nice. I’ve always LOVED dressing up, especially as animals, so excuse me while I grab the opportunity to show you around in my hidden life of Snapchat fun 😉 I often forget the app exists for days or weeks at a time, so only post a couple of times a month.

Here’s some pictures I saved, so you all can share in the Glory! Sorrynotsorry 😀

Some are with the filters, others are not.


I finally had the time to sew some clothes. Yay!


We got a new bed, Zelda is helping me make it cozy!

Before the Hobbit premiere.


I found a cat!


Me and a friend which used to be friends as 4 years old, we coinsidentally became friends again without recognizing each other, and even living hours away!


Time to go inside for the day? I don’t think so!


Love him


Took a break with a kitten in my lap. Feeling blessed.


Climbing trees is a worthwhile pasttime.


Swimming at my local beach.


That leaf pile was taller than me!


I work as a mushroom inspector in autumn.


My little cousins made a Very tall snowman!


Reading the last book of ‘Earth’s Children’


Before going to the Star Wars premiere, slightly inspired by Leia and Amidala.


Elf ears makes housework more fun!


The filters has arrived!

That winter I finally hibernated for some days, and put up my own blanket fort where I drew and made art and ate cinnamon rolls, drank tons of tea and cuddled my cat. My idea of a perfect hibernation!


In the flow.


I make cinnamon rolls once every second year. It tastes like my favorite thing, that’s why I make it so rarely. Dangerous stuff! Even though they are sugarfree and often gluten free. These last years I’ve limited myself to max 1-2 at once, the rest I freeze.


Cuddles


Color testing


I spoiled myself by finally playing a game, my dream since I was 11 was to properly play through Zelda Ocarina of Time (without asking anyone for help.)


Zelda turned me into an anime-character 😉


Bringing out my crazy inner evil rabbit. Ok but I like myself as a rabbit. I would wear bunny ears, but then I remember I don’t want to be associated with the porn industry 😉


I almost never drink coffee, so when I do, I get the full effect!


Yay, facepaint 🙂


I dyed my hair temporarily purple that next spring.


Having fiddleheads for dinner.


I collected morel mushrooms!


On mornings with no makeup when you look dead tired and your hair is a mess, why not wear a snapchat filter for the rest of the day?


Got a visit from sweetest Camilla


I wish I was this cute always.


Renovating our house like Royals!


Deer woman… now we are talking!


Ok but I really loved this facepaint!


Being a bat on Halloween? Yes please!


Ok this is my fav so far. Bringing out my true form.


Just me, no filter.


Mjauwwrrr…. got to love being a cat!


Just me dressing up without the help of Snap.


He joined my cat gang at the ski resort.


Look of the day.


Why did I always refuse to be a goth?

  
Soulmates.

 
Why use a snapchat filter when I am a snapchat filter?

Do you enjoy Snapchat at all?

    Celebrating our Norwegian Heritage out in nature

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    Vi tilbrakte 17. mai på samme sted i år, et yndet sted i skogen ved fjorden. Jeg feirer alltid denne dagen i vakker norsk natur iført ekstra fine kjoler, det er liksom den eneste dagen i året det er tillatt, og da må man jo benytte sjansen. I tillegg synes jeg det er den vakreste tiden på året. Det er virkelig ingenting som slår en frisk, nyutsprunget irrgrønn skog full av hvitveiser og andre fortryllende vårblomster, sang fra lykkelige fugler og høyreiste blånende snøkledde fjell. På denne dagen sanker vi også noen ville spiselige vårvekster, slik som ramsløk, strutseving, spissmorkler, bjørkeskudd, geitrams-skudd. For noen dager siden lagde jeg verdens beste melk av rogneknopper! Gleder meg til å dele mange flere blogginnlegg om ville vekster altså <3

    Vanligvis pleier vi å feire 17. mai alene, men av og til drar vi på familiehytta på en øy ute i fjorden på kvelden. Dette året ble 3 venninner også med ut i skogen tidligere på dagen; Marina, Svanhild og Julianne. Vi gikk en vakker skogstur, før vi dro ned til stranden og spiste sunne og gode kaker og drakk løvetannsaft. Alle var enige om at det var en kjempefin dag!

    English translation: The norwegian national day May 17 was spent at the same place as last year, one of my favorite places in the woods by the fjord. I always celebrate this day in beautiful Norwegian nature wearing extra fine dresses, it’s like the only day of the year when that is socially acceptable, and then I have to take advantage and dress up. In addition, I think it is the most beautiful time of the year, so wouldn’t miss a chance to frolick in the forest. There is really nothing as strikingly beautiful as a norse spring forest in full bloom, covered in wood anemones and other cute and serene wildflowers, bird song from all those happy birds, and all those epic snowcovered mountains looking blue from a distance.It is also a day to forage for wild edibles such as ramsons, fiddleheads, morels, birch leaves, fireweed…. A few days ago I made the world’s best milk of rowan buds! Looking forward to sharing a lot more blog posts about wild food <3

    Usually we are celebrating May 17 alone (allthough most people flock to the cities and join the parades), but sometimes we go to the family cabin on an island out in the fjord in the evening to be with our closest relatives. This year 3 friends also came with us to the forest earlier in the day. We went for a beautiful little forest hike before we went down to the beach and ate healthy and delicious rawfood cakes and drank dandelion lemonade. We all agreed that it had been a great day! Here are a  few pics. 


    Julianne i sin fine nordlandsbunad


    Dette bjørketreet var flettet på en spesiell måte


    De 3 bildene over er tatt av Svanhild


    *plukke ramsløk*


    Meg og min kjære. Her hadde vi vært sammen i 11 år og 2-3 dager.


    Utsikt mot en fin liten øy


    Måtte pynte litt. Tenkte først vi skulle ha piknikk på bakken i en lysning i skogen, men det var ganske vått.


    Raw blåbærkake fra meg, dekorert med prumla, gjøksyre og gjøksyreblomster


    Raw løvetannsjokoladekake fra Marina


    Havfrue-Marina skuer utover fjorden

    Hadde du en fin 17. mai? Hvordan feirer du denne dagen?

    #17mai #nasjonalromantikk #nasjonalromantisk #norge #natur #skog #skogen #friluftsliv #tur #middelalder #viking #villevekster #villmat #vår #foto #naturfoto