News from the farm

July, 2024 #2

The third week on the farm was a week full of finishing things.

We finished our projects, the "store" and the pig step were repaired and smartened up and the firepit was redone, the fact that it later had a little explosion is something we won't talk about. Thank you History of Mathematics group.

The Bee group finished making their chic, insulated new hive, fully compatible with the existing hive system, and they extracted the liquid gold, the honey.

A new compost structure is standing thanks to the hard work of the Compost group. The ducks and the chickens are not impressed with the new roof on it since they can't get to the lovely scraps anymore.

Everyone finished research and presented their accomplishments to the whole course. We laughed a lot and learned a lot.

Friday it was amazingly good weather!!! Time for a barbeque and picnic.

We finished the week with the Coffee House where we displayed our different talents, dancing, singing, doing magic, and learning how to write in Chinese. Certainly one of the most memorable acts was the Brother Band. It's going to take a long time to forget that act.

With only one more week to go, some of us are already feeling a little sad to leave this place and the amazing experiences we are having.

July, 2024 #1

Already having covered two weeks of their residential experience, the 5th AMI 12-18 diploma course students have been working on their Study and Work projects for the last week.

There are three groups working with great commitment and collaboration on the farm. Taking care of the bees and the hives, rebuilding the compost bin, and exploring the history of mathematics have created an atmosphere of enthusiastic productivity.

Although the bee group faced the challenges of a cool and rainy summer that resulted in a weak bee colony, there was still a lot of constructive work and academic research involved. The compost group, with careful calculations and cooperative teamwork, were able to build a compost bin that will stand on the farm for decades. In addition, the math group took on a challenging task to repair the roof of the shop, stretching their physical capabilities and doing a excellent job working even on the roof.

The self-expression sessions also helped enrich the students' Study and Work experiences and added value to the work they did, exploring new skills that many of them thought they did not have. They also brought the students together over various types of work, which enhanced the social relationships.

Everyone also did their part on the community work on Friday, tending to many areas on the farm that needed attention. It was a physical morning, followed by a community meeting in the afternoon, where the students made goals for the next week.

The students are busy bees now, as they are reaching the peak of their work, where everyone is producing towards the presentations of their Study and Work projects.

Everyone is looking forward to the presentations next week, as well as the Coffee House and the Community Dinner that will bring everyone together. Music and laughter surely will be there, and be the weather rainy as it has been so far will not prevent the group from enjoying the time spent together.

July, 2023 #2

The fourth and last week experiencing the residential life at the farm, has been the return, again, to the routine of the training of the AMI Diploma 12-18.

After finishing our intense Study and Work for the last two weeks, as the adolescents do, we have come back to the rhythm of lectures and seminars on Montessori and literature as one of the keys of working in the third plane of development. We have continued with the daily cleaning tasks, feeding animals or preparing dinner and breakfasts as community tasks.

We have been saying goodbye to some colleagues, teachers and adolescents who have finished their time with us.

As a group, this week has been the chance of having more union among us. You could feel the end of this experience. After dinner, there was more community at the Farm House, finishing the 2000 piece puzzle, larger groups of conversations, meditation sessions, board games, piano and guitar songs. The school house light no longer turned on after dinner. We wanted to squeeze in as much as possible during our time here: to listen to each other, and enjoy each others company and many opportunities of self-expressions.

We ended this training module on Friday, 21st of July with a day of Community Work and the Community Meeting as closure. We now start planning our trip back here again next spring to finish off the final part of the AMI 12-18 Diploma Course.

July, 2023

For the past two weeks, the AMI 12-18 diploma course participants have been experiencing the happiness brought about by purposeful work as they complete Study and Work Cycles.

Two groups were presented with challenging tasks that stretched their capabilities, tested their grit and passion, and revealed unknown potentialities. The serious business of designing and constructing a new goat house and improving the aquatic environment for the ducks has been fully realised.

To create a balance between manual work and academic study, diploma students have enjoyed seminars and lectures with leading Montessori Adolescent practitioners and self-expression opportunities with visiting musicians and woodworkers.

The final presentations were a true display of the power of cooperative effort and combined research, knowledge, creativity, and humour. The "Coffee House" evening will provide another platform for course participants to share their aptitudes and talents following a shared community meal.

Our community of Adolescent guides grows and develops as each day passes and looks forward to what our last week together will bring.

June, 2023

Last week, the Center for Work and Study in Rydet, Sweden welcomed 19 students from different parts of the world, namely Algeria, China, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States of America. The students have spent the week on the farm in order to live and practice all aspects the adolescents in the farm live as part of their 12 to 18 Diploma Course. They experienced the Care of the Environment, the Work and Study Plans, Preparing food, Feeding animals, Community work and different types of meetings among others. The students will stay at Rydet for a period of 4 weeks in the context of their program. This program represents the residential practice that is part of the requirements of the Association Montessori Internationale for obtaining the AMI Adolescents Diploma and becoming guides in their own settings.

October, 2022

This month started rather well. During the first two weeks we finished harvesting all the vegetables from our garden (lettuce, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, beatroots, and pumpkins) and we used them in our kitchen. They were delicious! We also finished harvesting all the potatoes we have planted and it must be stated that we got a pretty rich harvest. All the potatoes we have now are probably enough to supply us for the whole school year but in consequence our cellar is bursting with potatoes. We made a lot of apple-mousse as well which we can store in our freezers and have for breakfast with porridge. Even so, we still have a lot of apples and pears that we can eat and make apple mousse out of. As October is a Fall month the weather got a bit chilly, rain pours more often, and wind blows freely and more powerful as ever. Leaves fall on the ground and even if the shades of red, yellow, and orange are an amazing spectacle they also result in a lot of work: leaf raking. We raked a lot of leaves, around 2-4 wheelbarrows every week, until there was not even a single leaf left in the trees. And that is the vibe of Winter coming.

September, 2022

We started off this school year with quite a few students, new and old. Our community is full of people from Romania, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Ukraine, Sweden, Senegal and Palestine.

We are harvesting the vegetables from our garden. We have a big collection of potatoes, onions, beetroots, carrots and pumpkins. We have also been busy picking grapes to make saft (grape juice).

We have been very busy in the workshop, making butter knives, napkin rings, cutting boards and much more! We are looking forward to a market.

In the beginning of the year, the weather was quite nice, so we went swimming in the lake. It was fun, but very cold! We also got the opportunity to visit the forest, and we went fishing in the creek. We put the fish that some students caught into our soup!

We have started our work and study for this term. It is about "heating", since winter is approaching.

We have had great experiences so far and are looking forward to many more!

School year 2021/2022

July, 2022

This month we hosted the 2nd Adolescent Diploma of AMI at our farm. We welcomed a group of 23 students aged between 25 years old to 70 coming from over 13 different countries bringing ethnic diversity to the community.

Next Friday, the 29th we would have completed our fourth week here at the farm. During this intensive month we got to experience what the adolescents do during the academic year. This involves community living as well as experiencing Work and Study as a part of the day long curriculum.

Aside from this we learnt to cook for large numbers of people, fix fences, change the pond liner and other tasks around the farm. More so they got a real glance at the farm work and study rhythm. Especially how the day is planned between work and study, in tandem with the community duties. Consequently we learnt to support one another, learnt being part of a team as well as working on ourselves for the sake of the community.

On various occasions we have conducted seminars on Montessori theory and literature, key components of the Montessori Adolescent Program. Apart from work and study we also learnt the value of Self Expression through music, arts and coffee house. Between all of these activities there was never a dull moment as the entire day was full of fun filled learning experiences.

Perhaps we should write "experiences" with a capital E and they were all very unique, exciting, grossly engaging and yet inspiring at the same time. We are enthused to put all we have learnt into practice.

The time spent at this farm brought a fresh perspective, calmness and humility which we take back to continue our work and study with our own adolescent communities.

June, 2022

After a lot of rain, finally there is sunshine and slowly but surely we are ending our school year.
In the last weeks we have been very busy working outdoors in the garden and with our animals. We planted and sewed a lot and slowly the plants start to come up. We weeded a lot, we fixed fences and we prepared our farm for summer.
Added to the outdoor work, we also finished our plan of Work and Study which was about the World Wars. We had some really nice presentations reaching from before World War 1 until after the Cold War. It was very interesting and we all learned a lot.
Last week we have also been on a very nice trip to the ocean and most of us went to swim in the sea. There were a lot of jellyfish we all were little afraid of even though they were completely harmless :) It was very beautiful and very nice weather.
To conclude our school year, a few days ago we also all went to the amusement park in Gothenburg and we had a lot of fun and all enjoyed roller coasters and other attractions. Some of us were even lucky enough to win some really big prices filled with candy :)
I think this year we all experienced and learned a lot of new things and there were very fun and nice moments. Now we will leave this beautiful farm for the summer and some of us are looking forward to come back next year :)

March, 2022

Finally spring is coming and it is slowly getting warmer and lighter outside.This month was a very exciting month for us at the farm since two calves and seven piglets were born in the last three weeks. We now have two little bulls and seven piglets. They all start to jump around outside in the sun. We will hopefully start to milk the cows very soon.

Otherwise with spring also comes the planting season and we were busy planning our garden and fields, buying seeds and ordering our potatoes and onions.We have started planting tomatoes, pepper and lettuce inside of our workshop. We also have started to cultivate our field so that we can begin to plant outdoors.

We are also approaching the end of our work and study which was about "History of Mathematics". We have researched a lot and are now preparing for our presentations which will happen soon. In addition to that we have also done a course in Ethics and Morality talking about the different virtues. We have all done an artwork illustrating one of the virtues and we will soon present those as well.

We are also looking forward to a small market coming up this week, where we will be selling our wooden products, sewed products and honey in front of the local supermarket.

Otherwise because of the amazing weather we had these last four weeks we have been on a beautiful trip to Gothenburg where we went to the coast and made a little trip with the ferry around the islands outside of Gothenburg. At the beginning of the month we also went on a very nice walk at the lake next to the closest village and we enjoyed the sun. Some of us were even courageous enough to have a little dip in the freezing water :)

We are looking forward to the next two weeks since there will be a lot to do outdoors and with the animals.

January, 2022

This January is chilly, but no snow to be seen for now.

We have started our Work and Study after a span of 2 weeks of isolation for corona, but now we are feeling a lot better.

The Work and Study consists of History of Mathematics, What Mathematics is (Arithmetic, Geometry and Algebra), Number Systems, Important Mathematicians etc. We are also doing a course in ethics, morality and virtues, which can be very interesting. So we are off to a good start.

And, sadly, our bull will be taken away for slaughter. But we will then have good meat in our freezer.

In February we will be visited by 3 adolescents from Germany. We are looking forward to this visit and hopefully one day we can visit them.

The Sports Holiday is coming nearer, so our time is limited until the holiday starts.

So we need to make sure that our work is done by then.

November, 2021

It is November and soon we will have December. The nights are getting colder and longer. At the farm we preparing for winter and hoping for snow, which will put our farm in a more beautiful landscape. The harvesting is now done and the garden shed is put in order. We have lots of potatoes in the food cellar and the pigs and cows are now also inside for the night.

After our autumn break we were joined by a Montessori teacher from France. She is here for four weeks and does a work and study with us. Our work and study is about trade and we have had many interesting presentations on this topic.

This is a season where there are many Christmas markets and we take part in three of them. This means that we have been busy (as bees) preparing for them. Together we have produced candles and many different wooden products. We also sell a lot of honey.

The first market four students went to set up together with other vendors. They set up a really nice table with our products which invited people to buy from them. Now everyone is looking forward to the next market. We hope to earn money so that we can continue our work on the farm.

Soon we will start to practice Christmas songs so we can be part of the Lucia celebrations at the school in Varberg and this weekend we will put up our advent candle lights to make the evenings brighter. Another thing to look forward to is getting our Christmas tree from the forest. The weather forecast has predicted snow, which will make us move into a Christmas spirit. Hopefully it will stay with us for the rest of the term.

October, 2021

We approach the end of this term. The days get shorter and colder.

Two fields of potatoes have been harvested, carrots and onions make their way to our stomachs and pumpkins are, slowly but surely, transformed into pies and soup.

Also we have good news on the animal side of the farm. A new chicken is born and two roosters have arrived from Sven's neighbour. Our eight piglets have been pierced and the bees are being fed with sugarwater for the winter. The goats and the cows are fine and enjoy the lasts moments of outside life before the winter.

Academically speaking, we are at the end of our work and study about ponds. We present our work, starting by the creek where the water cycle and erosion have been presented and then irrigation has been presented in the schoolhouse. After that, to present different kinds of ponds, we went to visit Annika. She is a very nice lady who lives at the end of the road and who has agreed to show us her pond. She explained how she built it, how she is takes care of it and showed us the rare species of animals that survive thanks to her pond.

We also look forwards to the Christmas markets, where we have been accepted in two places to go sell our honey and our woodwork from the workshop.

We have accomplished a lot in 6 weeks and are looking forwards to the rest of this exiting year!

September, 2021

We started off our new year with some new and also some "old" students who have come back from last year. We have people coming from France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Rumania, Slovakia and Sweden.

We have started to harvest the vegetables in our garden. There are a lot of onions, potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes and pumpkins. We are looking forward to even more vegetables and fruits. We have also been very busy making applesauce from our apples.

Furthermore, not only have we started our harvest, but also our production in the wood workshop, making butter knives and napkin rings for our production and exchange. We are looking forward to a market very soon!

In the first two weeks there was some warm weather, which ment we could go swimming in the lake. It was very enjoyable! We also went for a walk around another very beautiful lake. We have also started our studies. Our work and study for this term will be about "ponds", since we are planning on making a natural pond.

We had a very nice beginning of the school year and we are hoping for more nice experiences at the farm!

School year 2020/2021

December/January 2021

Happy New Year! To read the latest news about what has been happening at the farm Rydet, and to see some lovely pictures taken by the students, please find it by clicking below.

LADDA NER News...df43.pdf

October/November 2020

Market at AMI Conference

In October, we hosted an AMI conference for Swedish Montessori teachers. During this conference, we had a market stand where we were selling things that we make ourselves in the workshop and products that we make from our own resources such as honey and apple sauce. At first, most of the conference participants went on a guided tour of the farm. During this time, we took the opportunity of selling our products. We continued selling during the entire weekend, at different times.

All of what we sold gave us a total of 4550 Swedish kronor. We had been producing the products that were sold for a long period of time. Many objects were also products remining from last year. Although, the fresh products such as the yellow onions, honey and apple sauce all came from this years' harvest.

Farmschool Trail

Usually every year there is in the neighboring village the Sätila Trail. It is a running Trail (5k, 10k, 21k etc.) which goes around the large lake, Lygnern. Since this year it could unfortunately not take place because of Covid-19, we decided to make our own Trail. Two weeks ago we had our Farm-school Trail. We decided on a route through the woods and walked it once all together before the actual trail took place. It was around 4,5 kilometers long, partly very steep at times. All the students took part in the trail and we all ran under 45 minutes. It was quite difficult, however we all enjoyed it. At the finish line we were served cookies, apples and hot blueberry soup. We also each received a little chocolate. We are planning to repeat this at some point again!

September/October 2020

These last two weeks we have been working with our bees. A former student came to the farm to show us how to work with the bees and to show us the whole process. Last week we had two days of taking the honey frames from the beehives and extracting the honey from them. It was very nice and interesting. This week we have been busy with filling the jars with our honey and with feeding the bees with sugar water so they will get through the winter. We harvested our apples, grapes, and onions from the garden. We are planning to make applesauce and grape juice for our own consumption and partly also to sell. We are slowly getting to the end of this terms Plan of Work and Study and soon we will have our presentations. We are starting to make Christmas decoration such as candleholders to be able to sell them before the Christmas season arrives. Next week we are planning to go to a market and sell our wooden products as well as our newly harvested honey.

August/September 2020

We started our new year with many new students from different nationalities. We have students from France, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, Germany, Austria, and Italy. This year we are six girls and four boys, and we are still waiting for students from the US, India, and the Ukraine. We do not just have new students we also got a new Houseparent. Her name is Marta and she is coming from Italy. We still have quite warm weather, so we went swimming in the lake and the creek which was really nice.

We started our new plan of Work and Study. We are working and studying on fences and fruits and vegetables. We also started to work on our Production and Exchange. We got new managers for Economy and Production and Exchange. The group which studies about fruits and vegetables went to the elementary school in Varberg to pick some Aronia berries to make juice out of them. Now slowly our harvesting season is starting which means we have started harvesting onions and grapes. For the animal part we have five piglets and five ducklings which were born during the summer break. Our animal Manager is thinking about adding some animals to the farm which would be very nice. We also have some ideas for hospitality. Because of the current pandemic, we now must try to think more national and less international since we do not really know yet if people will be able to travel and visit us. So, we thought about opening a little B&B for people which just want to stay a night or two. For instance, someone who is passing by and needs a place to stay for the night. To conclude, I think that we started our year well and it is hopefully going to be a lot of fun.

July 2020

The weather is not as great as one would hope. We had some very nice and warm days a few weeks back but now it is colder and cloudier with some rain here and there. The students have left for summer holidays, but the farm continues to produce work. Strawberries, rhubarb and sugar snaps are among the produce that has been harvested so far. We are looking forward to many more things from the garden towards the fall. With summer comes a lot of weeds as well. Fortunate for us we have an alumnus who wanted to come back this summer and help around the farm with the many things needing to be done in the garden.

The garden is not the only part of the farm that is changing. Last week one of our beehives swarmed. Luckily, we noticed it on time and managed to gather the new bee society into a new hive. That was challenging but very interesting work. Yesterday one of our sows gave birth to six piglets. It is too bad that the students are on holiday and were not here to see this as it really an amazing experience to watch. Hopefully, next year the birth will happen during the school year. Five ducklings have hatched, and we are waiting for more to hatch soon. So exciting!

Usually during this time of summer, we have many adults visiting and staying on the farm during their AMI Orientation to Adolescent Studies. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we were not able to host the first AMI Diploma Course for the ages 12-18 this year. Their on-site experience has been postponed by a year. We welcome them here in Sweden next summer. Even though the course could not take place on-site, we have started off the Diploma Course with a two-week online session. One week has past and it has been very nice meeting the 31 participants online. They come from 13 different countries. How amazing is not that? To see Montessori adolescent work spread and reach many different parts of the world is truly amazing.

May/June 2020

The end of the school year is coming closer and close, and there is still a lot of work to do. Everyone is working very hard outdoors. Because of the Corona crisis, there are only five students at the farm and it is hard to get the work done. We also have a lot of work to do with our studies. This term we had two plans of study and work. The first was about 'potatoes', perfect in a time where planting crops, including potatoes, is of high priority to make sure we have enough produce for next school year. The second plan of study and work was individual and each student chose their own study to research, anything from the theoretical possibility of being able to live in space to 'gymnastics'.

We also had a few outings in May and in June. One weekend we went to Varberg to visit one of our teachers, Sven. We went to a big market, went biking, swimming and did many other fun things.

This last week of school, we went hiking for two days near one of our close by lakes. Our first day of hiking we walked around 20 km. It was tough, but we all managed it. In the evening we were all tired but happy. We built a wind shelter for the night that we all slept in. Some of us snored which made others not being able to sleep. The next day, we continued walking home. After six hours, we finally arrived back home. Sore muscles but with good and happy memories.

In a few days we will all have left for the summer holidays. It has been an interesting, exciting and amazing school year for all of us. We look forward to coming back in August to continue living on the farm and working hard.

March 2020

The spring is slowly making an entrance, with sunny days and beautiful flowers blooming. After the break in February, we got a new calf. A black male which does not yet have a name. Everyone got to see him after the birth, which went well. He is now enjoying life together with the other calf in a small enclosure we built in front of the cabins. Because of the corona virus four students travelled home, and they are currently working from their home countries with the same schoolwork as the rest of us.

We are continuing work here at the farm in the spring sun. Our animal manager bought a male goat to accompany our other male in a pasture we fixed for them on the hill. But they unfortunately jumped out and ran back to the farm, so for now we are keeping them in the barn while looking for more goats to keep them from escaping. We are currently working on fixing the duck pond for our ducks. Outside work is very enjoyable in the spring warmth. We had a market in Sätila and we are planning more production and exchange opportunities before the next break, which is approaching fast. We have one more week left before the Swedish students travel home and the international students stay and enjoy the Easter break at the farm. This terms plan of work and study is migration. Everyone is working hard on their topics, being everything from plant migration to why people migrate.

April 2020

In April we finished our work and study on migration with some great pieces of work. Before our two week break, some students left and will not be able to return before the end of year, due to the Corona situation. During the break we got a new goat and it had an issue with another one of our goats, so it used to fight with it. Now it is much better. We also went on a few road trips during the break. First to a huge lake with an enormous amount of Cranes and also to a place were many deer were kept. The second road trip was up along the West coast of Sweden. We went to a museum and for a walk on the beach. It started to be pretty warm weather. After the break, we began a new plan of work and study with the topic 'potatoes'. Everyone chose his or her own topic that they will research. We started to plant all the plants in our garden, such as potatoes, leeks, carrots etc. It was interested month full of happiness and joy.

May all beings be happy!

December Newsletter 2019

As the rain still falls down, the work still goes on. Since December a lot of things have happened on our farm. Before the Christmas break, we got a new calf from one of our cows. Now the calf is nine weeks old, healthy and on good ways. Sometimes we go on short walks with her so she can get used to what happens around the farm, the nature, people talking, cars driving etc. We also do that so it can jump around. Not just does the calf go outside, but so do we. Before the break we often went on walks during the weekends in the forest, nearby lakes and waterfalls. It was really nice.

We are also continuing building our new cabins for guests. We finished with the outdoor shell and we have started to insulate the inside and to put the final walls, roof and floor in place. Before going home over the break we also took part of two Christmas markets to support our production and exchange. The markets were in Sätila and Varberg. Unfortunately on the way to Varberg, the car broke down leaving the excitement of how we were planning on getting home. But we all survived and we managed to sell some of our produce such as honey and wooden products. To celebrate Lucia we all went to the church in Sätila were the local school had prepared and performed the well-known "Luciatåg".

January/February 2020

Though it might seem early for spring, in the last few weeks we encountered birds singing and plants rushing out of the ground to become beautiful flowers. Spring is coming and even though we encountered a terrible windstorm which took down trees and the chicken fence, we were quite productive.

This Saturday, we served a brunch and had a market stand in the schoolhouse. People came to enjoy our pancakes or coffee. It was a great production and exchange event. The week before that we had a fika in the schoolhouse. We sold chocolate balls, muffins, cakes and other lovely fikas from different countries.

We celebrated Valentine´s Day in a romantic fashion and a community member´s birthday. The break is coming soon and we will depart home, whether we live across the field or on another continent. Students continue to work hard both outside on the farm with finishing the construction of the new cabins or in the schoolhouse with their academics.

2019-09-19

Welcome to our new students!

Four weeks have passed since our new school year began. We have 12 students coming from Sweden, France, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia. There are many new routines, cultures and different ways of doing things to learn, but we look forward to seeing this learning process and how the students will grow this coming year. To look back at the farm during this past summer, there was an AMI Montessori Orientation to Adolescent Studies taking place here. 31 participants from 14 different nationalities. The mix of cultures and people made it an exciting time and something amazing to be part of. Four weeks of intense lectures and community life, however, there were a great deal of laughter and joyful moments at the same time. We look forward to the closing weekend which is taking place later this autumn to reunite and to hear about the great work they have done so far.

At the moment the farm is turning into autumn, meaning colder mornings and darker evenings. The community is deep in the process of harvesting crops such as potatoes, onions, carrots and pumpkins, and of course many other greens as well which then will be stored and preserved for usage during the winter. They are getting the farm prepared for what needs to be done before the cold months arrive. Also, plans are being made to order and build new cabins to be able to host more people. Sven still comes every Wednesday to do woodwork and physical education with us. The students have all made their own napkin ring and are now learning many new skills, as well as collecting ideas of what they can create and sell for their production and exchange. We also had the pleasure of having Ann-Marie and Ruth come to do a workshop on craft making and needlework. Here too, ideas where shard to what could be good things to generate and sell.

So here it is. A quick update of what has happened during the summer and what the current events are around the farm. If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to send an e-mail or give us a call.

2019-10-12

The farm has had many things going on this past month. Seven weeks have passed since the beginning of school, and we have two more weeks until autumn break. During this time a lot of work has been done. The students have been harvesting their crops, building a new cabin, having their first market selling their products in our small village Sätila, as well as had visitors come and experience the daily life on the farm. In addition to all this, they also maintain their daily life with cooking, cleaning, studying as well as other chores.

The students cook their own breakfast, lunch, fika and dinner every day. Many new recipes and varieties of food have been brought to the table. They are also in charge of daily taking care of the animals, meaning making sure they are fed and are well. The students also have cleaning chores to ensure the environment is kept nice and tidy.

It is quite noticeable that autumn in approaching, and quickly. We have had some cold mornings with frost, but also some very nice days with sunshine to be able to enjoy the outdoors. Last weekend we went to the lake to play frisbee, walk on the beach and merrily enjoy life. We look forward to more of such nice moments these coming months.

2019-04-15

Spring is finally on its way, slowly but surely. We have been so fortunate to have sunny weather which means a lot of work has been done on the farm. The barn wall is being repaired and repainted and the garden is being prepared for planting. Nature is starting to look green and the flowers have started to blossom. Another sign of spring is of course life being born at the farm. Two weeks ago, one of our sows gave birth to eleven piglets. This was incredibly exciting, and we see them now outside playing together in the sunshine. Our calf who was born in March is doing very well, she is growing every day. We have started milking every evening which means we have our own milk and butter. We can now drink as much milk as possible for our meals and it is highly appreciated by the students.

After six weeks of intense study and work, we have now started our spring break. The students are at home for two weeks. During the last Plan of Study and Work they had the pleasure of hosting a special guest from Germany who came and taught the students about photography. They went to the ocean to take photos and there are some very nice photographs they could share with the rest of us when they came back.

We look forward to having the students return in two weeks after all the Easter celebrations to get back to working on the farm. There are many different parts of garden work and other work to be done before finishing up the school year.

2019-06-15

Time passes by so quickly and we are already at the summer holidays. It has been an intense last few weeks of school. We had a group of French students visit the farm as well as other families from Germany, Slovakia and Italy.

Springtime always means a lot of garden work to be done. The students have planted everything from potatoes and onions to cucumbers, tomatoes and pumpkins. We look forward to harvesting these crops in the fall. The 6th of June we celebrated the Swedish National Day by going on a road trip. It was a long but incredibly fun day. We went up along the coast and visited different traditional small fishing villages. Of course there also had to be a dip in the ocean. The students have now all gone home and we look forward to seeing the returning students in August, and for those who this was their last year here, we wish them all the best for the future.

Up next on the farm is the AMI Montessori Orientation to Adolescent Studies that is taking place here this summer. We look forward to getting to know new acquaintances and having four inspiring and joyful weeks together. There are 31 participants with 14 different nationalities.

2019-03-14

Last Friday, a beautiful calf was born at our farm Rydet. It is the first calf to be born here. She is gray with a few patches of white. Almost everyone had the pleasure to be part of this great event, and we now see her daily enjoying time with her mother. The pictures are from just a few minutes after her birth. We are now looking forward to having our own home-made dairy products