A major step

Yesterday, January 24 2014, I bought a forest here in Åmot! 1,2 ha, so not a large forest, but large enough to launch a new project. I want to work out the details first before announcing any details, but it will be in the area of ECO-tourism. The plan is to co-operate with a designer from Finland as well as with some innovative small companies.
I´m very much convinced that ECO-tourism, and now I´m not talking about green-marketing-tourism, has a bright future. More and more our guests are visiting us because of what we´re doing here in Åmot: a combination authenic, green and social responsible tourism.
I´ve now been asked to join a lecture in Gothenburg in March to explain what we´re actually doing. I´m ofcourse very glad that people are showing interest, because it´s a dream to not only make a profitable business, but also a business that doesn´t destroy nature or brings down people.
Permaculture has always been a very inpiring model. And allthough I have the feeling that we are still in the very early stages of adopting its principles, the goal is there to implement them step by step.

Finally winter arrived

Until January 9th we had to wait here in central Sweden before winter arrived. Pretty impressive if you know that exactly 1 year ago we were having more than 1 meter of snow and the lowest temperature was below -25. It is very unusual according to SMHI, the Swedish meteorological institute. So what it meant? We were having no snow, no ice, green plants, singing birds and this in combination with almost no daylight making it a bit unreal. But ok, let´s forgot this now and look into the future. We´re working hard here at Stilleben, but also with a few inhabitants in Åmot. We are looking at the future of tourism for this small foresttown. Åmot has many opportunities but things won´t happen if we are not joining forces and trying look what our potential customers want. At the same time we should make organic decissions or said differently makes steps that are in line with perma-culture principles. Do as nature does. So even if we need to structure, the structure itself shouldn´t be too firm, we need to stay flexible, able to adapt. And use the resources that are available and not start to buy-in and therefore make us depending on recources too far away. As said many times by others act local think global. In the next weeks and months we hope to launch some new products for the next summer season. Products with local Resources but for a global public! Wait and see...

Silence, a way of living

Since more then 5 years now, silence has become a part of how I want to live. Not being silent, or not talking or doing things, but more the understanding that Everything develops from silence. To stay connected I have built in some moments/habits throughout the day that remember me of that. I have noticed that when you learn to do that, Life becomes very simple/stable. This has lead to happiness. One of the moments of the day is that I allow the Sunlight to determine the pace. Easy things such as Wake up when the first sign of the next Days are showing or go to bed when the light is disappearing, have made my Life very stable. The interesting thing, besides the positive effect on my happiness-scale, is that I don´t feel that I´m living an "away from the World" kind of Life. I still feel as part of what is happing in this World. It has got nothing to do with being naive or to not care. This is very important I Believe, to stay part of the real Life. During our silent week, we will live together in silence and learn to look at the elements, such as Daylight and try to build them into our lives. So when you return home and when you use the elements to remember you day after day and hour after hour of your nature-state I´m pretty sure that you will become (even more) happy without being disconnected from the real World. More on this on our website. Welcome with your question and suggestions!

Winter 2012-13

Since today we have the first feeling of winter here in Åmot. OK, we already had snow late October, even more then 20 CM at some point, but November was one of the warmest ever in this region. Now we seem to be going into another type of weather for the next days and even weeks (and maybe months). Since yesterday we started seeing light snowshowers coming in from the East. The sea, about 60 kms away from here, combined with cold air from Rissua triggers them. Since last night these showers started intensifying bringin between 0,5 and 1 mm per hour. This now (28 nov, 17.30) results into around 10 cm of wet snow. Now talking about wetsnow. This morning I had to go for a meeting in Gävle, one of the main cities in the region and close to the sea. It is about 70 km away from here. While driving there I could see the snow getting wetter and wetter and in the end resulting into a mixture of rain and snow. While driving back I knew I was going to see the oposite happening, and that is exactly what is did. I started taking pictures from Hästa, near the coast until about 1 km away from Åmot. It was pretty amazing to see the effect of going from about 0 meters above sealevel to about 120 m. I think the fact that Åmot is well inland also must have its effect. Winter reaches Åmot about 1 week earlier than Ockelbo and between 2-3 weeks before Gävle. Enjoy the pictures! This blog will be regurlarly updated throughtout this winter.

My last day as an employee

Last Thursday was my last day as an employee. Now the time as a businessman will start. Business... strange word for the type of business I will do. I'll have to start meditating about a new word for this.
In these days of change also wording will and has to change.
In the next 10 days I will be preparing for me relaction to Sweden. On February 6/7 I will be driving up north. Sam will be traveling later on by plane and with the dog. What a wonderful thougt that Bazzle finally will be living in the middle of the forests having all the space he ever wanted.
For me too, the new era starts becoming very realistic. The idea that I will be growing my own vegetables, no longer having to go to work, but to live my work, no longer having colleagues but rather people that work with you on the same project, to really start contributing to another world, ... these thougts are very beautiful.
For Stilleben a lot is happening now: I'm having meetings with accountants both in Belgium and in Sweden, presenting the "business" to organizations, the commune, neighbours. One way or the other it feels as if things are coming to me iso the other way around.
Keep reading this blog if you want to be updated on what is happening.

Some winter pictures

Winter is late this year and with less snow. But still, now on the shortest day of the year, nature is very beautiful. Enjoy and merry christmas to you all.

Changes

This blog hasn´t been used for tooooo long. Now that my life is about the change drastically I want´t "re-launch" it. It is a good way for to ventilate my thoughts, share ideas, keep friends updated, reflect, promote my new company, etc...
So 2 days ago I got the news that my current employer doesn´t need me anylonger. After 9 months in my current job, they decided to start doing things differently....again.
Since many years now, I feel that I need to start my own company so that I can use my "talent" for developing something I really believe in. While doing my job, I kept on investing in myself by doing courses, staying in touch with people whom I believe know the real truth, working on a real poject during my free-time. I must say that I´m very happy with that now. Some people feel lost when they loose their job, well for me it´s exactly the opposite, I feel free now. Another thing is that some people completely loose their structure while I feel that now I can finally start building my own structure in my life: Starting the day early, doing my yoga and meditation, eat a healthy breakfast, work during the morning hours, have a lunch and rest, work some more in the afternoon and than take time to reflect. I want to start living entirely according the speed of nature, according to the seasons etc.
This week, is probably going to be one of the most important ons ever in my life. At the same time that I want to express my feelings about being free, I want to be humble too. I experience this as a present and I want to treat it carefully. The new life is going to be about organic growth...

White christmas?

1 year later...

it took me 1 year to return to my blog and put some fresh pictures. Last weekend my sister, her little son and dad joined me for a short weekend trip to Amot. Winter was again very "active" with lot's of snow....

More pictures from winterwonderland

Merry (white) Christmas!

Yesterday I traveled back to Belgium for 2 days to celibrate Christmas with the family in Belgium. What a surprise to see snow on the ground at Zaventem, so maybe even here I might have a white christmas....
Here more pictures we made last days.

The day after

After more than 24hrs of snow Amot is covered by a blanket of more than half a meter of snow. My dad and needed quite some time to digg out. What a dream this is!

Mountains of snow

Back in Amot today with my dad to check out the amounts of snow, and guess what? Mountains of snow! While driving to the house the temperatires dropped from a moderate -7 to a frigid -19 with around 30cm of snow. Today we had light to moderate snow all day and ended up with more than half a meter of snow. While Belgium came to an almost standstill with 10cm, no one even mentioned the amounts here in Sweden.

Dalarna

When the days are short and dark, one needs to take action and use the light during the day to discover some more of the region surrounding Amot. Today, Sam and I went to Mora and the small towns in the near vicinity, like Nysnas and Tallberg. Very nice small towns with the typical Swedish red houses, beautiful nature and good food.

De eerste sneeuw

Today, November 10th we`ve had the first snow of the season. Nothing special, but it was snow. After an hour or so there was a light dusting of some MMs and made the countryside around Mora even more beautiful.

Lingon

These are probably the most famous berries from Sweden. In less than an hour we had 2 buckets full

When summer comes to an end...

Here in Sweden autumn has arrived. A bit early according to the people of the town. True it is a bit strange to see that compared to 5 weeks ago, nature has changed from dark green and lots of flowers into light yellow and lots of fruits. You find mushrooms in all kind of sizes and colors. Nights are already chilly with 1 or 2 degr above zero.