Sångshyttan Micro Season Calendar
Inspired by Japanese tradition and Alexa Firmenich on her blog Lifeworlds, we now create a micro season calendar. We follow life on the farm as it unfolds over the course of a year. It describes different events and important relationships that we have with the more than human world on the farm. Instead of dividing each day into one of four seasons, the Japanese calendar is divided into 72 different sections. Each of these sections lies within one of 24 divisions, all of which have been given descriptively beautiful names. The 72 sections (or kō) only last for about five days each, but still perfectly describe what happens as life blossoms and ebbs.
11 – 15 september / Apple harvest
Now our apples of different varieties are ripening and boxes are driven to a local muster to return in as bag in box, apple jam is cooked and we enjoy putting our teeth into a fresh acidic and sweet smelling apple. We have never seen so many apples and so beautiful and not infested by pests. 2024 an apple year
6 – 10 September / Trees changing colour
Almost without noticing it, the trees change colour. The fresh green of the past has turned into a saturated green and now it is suddenly brown and red, soon yellow and orange. Now I am more attentive, every day something new happens.
1 – 5 September / Late summer heat wave
Suddenly, warm winds sweep through the landscape. The water warms up and the morning swim becomes more enjoyable. The grasshoppers are playing their last meadow orchestral works, which become clear when almost all migrating birds have left us for the year.
27 – 31 August / Hazelnut harvest time
It's time to harvest hazelnuts, but we're not the only ones who crave these delicious nuts. The spotted nutcrackers (Nucifraga caryocatactes ) have found their way here and every season there are more and more of them. Their calls are insistent and special, so you know they've landed...
22 – 26 Augsust / Flies on face
Right now is a special time when the house flies come to my face when I go to sleep. At this time of the year they wake me up at night, time and time again, I wave them away, they come back. I hide under the covers. Is there something they want to tell me?
17 – 21 August / Southern storm winds
Autumn winds suddenly sweep in from the south with sheets of rain. It sounds like thunder as the crowns of the trees bend in the wind almost as they bow to the coming autumn. I hope our apples still hang on the branches and finish ripening.