Week 17 Moai Fuort, no?

Week 17

Moai Fuort, no?

Pronounced "Moy Fot, No?"

Frisian for (something like) Nice to be away, no?. Or, if you're from Queensland, "nice to be away, ay?"

Janny got one of our kids (she's 21 but going on 6) to write it fairly large and then took a photo and worked it through her printing system/press and so on.

For this year's boating ensemble...

at last...

and went for a 30-minute trip and managed the mooring without any bumps or crashes, despite a stronger than expected wind.

Unusually cold and still a lot of boats "on the wall".

...(fingers crossed)...the batteries are still fully functional and fully charged after 8 years, thanks to the solar panels.

Around the farm

girls on the tractor!

Chocolate Brownies

Ah, believe me folks, I'm gonna have the world's greatest pumpkins! 

(might be going a bit early here - these seeds were left over from my seeding trays in the glass house).

Officially, April has been colder than March!

The Turf Route

I've written about the "Turf Route" ( a canal near us) before. I found a little more history.

thanks to Google translate...

In a gray past, Southeast Friesland consisted largely of uninhabitable marshes. Only on the higher sandy grounds was habitation possible. These were the places where the first inhabitants had settled. Over the years, peat has developed in boggy areas. The peat consists of compressed vegetation remains. In the Middle Ages, it was discovered that dried peat can be burned. For a long time, even until the beginning of the last century, peat has been used as fuel for, for example, heating homes. The demand for peat was large, so that money could be earned with it's extraction and sale. In the second half of the 16th century the extraction began from Heerenveen in South East Friesland. Rich businessmen bought the farmland. There are co-operative relationships, such as the Schoterland Compagnie and the Opsterlandse Veencompagnie. The owners of the farms (verveners) employed workers for digging the peat. Cutting turf was hard work and it was badly paid. Often the workers had to buy their food at high prices from the employers. In addition, part of the low wages was also spent at the employer-owned pubs, with all the consequences of that. The peat workers often suffered a miserable and poor existence. These abuses contributed to the rise of socialism in Southeastern Friesland. With the dredging of Southeast Friesland, the shovel was also used to dig canals and quays to transport freight by ship. In the course of time, commercial use has transformed into watersport (recreational use).

We have always done the "small Turfroute" which passes through Wijnjewoude. It is possible to go further through Oosterwolde and Appelscha into Drenthe, which also has a peat extraction history. The same geological developments, including the Ice Age, which created the peat, have also resulted in producing oil and natural gas in this area.

(it's a public holiday today, so I have been whiling a few hours away by doing some research into possible boating routes for this year).

The Veenvaart (another peat boating route)

Old lock renovated....

English Version

https://www.emmenmaakhetmee.nl/english

and a Dutch YouTube video if you can be bothered (just for the pictures!). 4 mins 30 secs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2mFgscheWI

The new lock is "water-saving" - something I have not seen here before..... Instead of letting the water flow downstream, it is moved sideways and stored for the next lock operation.
An animation of how it works can be found here...

https://youtu.be/_Is91aaYHMY

Ben's 21st Birthday!

Janny's parents put the flag out for the King's Birthday - but we can pretend that it was for Ben!

He came to see us, at least! He has found new "rooms" (and a new job) in Amsterdam - looks like he won't be coming "home" anytime soon.

Week 16 Boat preparations

Week 16

Not much happening - at least not much out of the normal routine. A short week with Easter Monday and another short (and cold) week coming up for the King's Birthday. More importantly, to us at least, is the fact that The King shares his birthday with Ben!

They are expecting the coldest (this week) on record. It is the first week of school holidays.

Country Women's Cooking Club

mmmm, I wonder if they would like to learn about making a "Sunday Roast"? I shouldn't be too critical - at least they are experimenting - but not enough! It must be just cultural, environment, experience, etc. Even Ben is now complaining about the food we used to give him..... little matter that he wouldn't eat much when he was younger! Now that he is a seasoned traveler, his tastes have grown accordingly.

Janny watches 3 cooking shows each evening....so my score for this months submission by the Cooking Club.....only a 5 - they have done better!. (this is tongue in cheek - I hope they don't get to hear of it!).

If I have any success with my pumpkins this year, I will definitely put it to them that we do (another) "Cooking With Pumpkin) session. The last was in 2013 - also the last time I had any success in growing anything - too cold, too wet, not enough attention to detail!

A nice segue into....

This year's pumpkin preparation.

Still way too cold to put them outside yet, so I have begun with seed boxes in the window sills! Paul and Georgia organized some seeds from Bunnings - they survived the post and customs.

It's a start......

Later, some of them will find their way here - I've made 5 of these to try to beat the "drowning" I suffered last year!

and here... from about mid-May.

and in the meantime...

I have booked the boat to go back in the water on Tuesday. Our work experience young man has holidays - but he asked if he could still come and help! Who knows, I might be able to generate some interest in ropes and knots, engine (and other) maintenance, swabbing decks, boat handling and so on?

Just about organized....toilet, gas bottles, new fenders, new required books on board, varnishing... still have to buy our Marrekrite Flag (for 3000+ moorings in Friesland). Janny has also been experimenting with the name - have to wait for the right coloured paper.

I had a burst hydraulic hose on the tractor this week! A nephew normally does the maintenance, but he was on holidays at some warm, exotic location! So, I had to sort it out myself!

Some of "our" boys, all of an age that they will be leaving soon. I find it very difficult to let go after so many years (7) with us. They keep growing up! 

Last of the wood cleaned up...

and finally, a flashback to 2010! Cheryl and kids.

They also keep growing up!

Week 15 Slowing Down

Week 15

Janny and her sister don't believe me.....

I heard the following on a podcast, not unlike television's QI. In our last few shopping forays at Lidl, I have picked up trays of multicoloured carrots, particularly liking the "presentation" appeal. Yesterday, we took Greethilda with us. She didn't believe me about the purple/orange carrots!

I also picked up some black potatoes this time around. Lidl actually has quite a range of fruit and vegies, not like the more "local" supermarkets. I just figure that there must be other people being more adventurous with their food. Aha, I am not alone, after all....

Janny's parents have been with us for 1 year exactly, so I'm making them a Sunday Roast; pork but without the crackling (they simply don't sell it here with the crackling attached!).

Anyway...

Orange carrots get their bright orange colour from beta-carotene. Beta-carotene metabolizes in the human gut from bile salts into Vitamin A. The origins of the cultivated carrot is rooted in the purple carrot in the region around modern-day Afghanistan.

The modern day orange carrot wasn’t cultivated until Dutch growers in the late 16th century took mutant strains of the purple carrot and gradually developed them into the sweet, plump, orange variety we have today. Before this, pretty much all carrots were purple with mutated versions occasionally popping up including yellow and white carrots. These were rarely cultivated and lacked the purple pigment anthocyanin.

It is thought that the modern day orange carrot was developed by crossing the mutated yellow and white rooted carrots as well as varieties of wild carrots, which are quite distinct from cultivated varieties.

Some think that the reason the orange carrot became so popular in the Netherlands was in tribute to the emblem of the House of Orange and the struggle for Dutch independence. This could be, but it also might just be that the orange carrots that the Dutch developed were sweeter tasting and more fleshy than their purple counterparts, thus providing more food per plant and being better tasting.

So there!

and the black potatoes...

and for barbeque lovers....

House of the Week

In Dokkum, one of our favourite places, by boat or even by car for visitors.

and in 2014 we were moored just in front of it!

more photos...(of the house).

http://www.funda.nl/koop/dokkum/huis-85576937-diepswal-13/?utm_source=naf_mail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=funda&utm_content=object

Small Boating Licence

Under the existing system, more than 388,000 people have the Klein Vaarbewijs (Small Boat Licence). I got mine in 2012 - wow 5 years, already! In this week's Boating Newsletter there is an article stating that the Small Boat Licence system is being taken over by a Govt. Department. The existing Watersport Organisations who currently manage the exams are concerned that the Govt. Dept. is more oriented towards the Professional Shipping Licences which they now administer. Despite the protests, the Minister is going ahead with the changes over the next two years.

Easter bonfires

Easter fires are lit in various parts of Europe and probably have pagan origins. In the Netherlands, most are found in Drenthe, Groningen, Overijssel, Twente, Friesland and Gelderland but there are all sorts of regional variations about what is burnt and when. The village of Espelo in Overijssel has the world record for the highest hand-built Easter fire – 27 meters and no cranes allowed.

There is one bonfire that won't be going ahead - because a Great Tit has built a nest in it! The organisers said that they are happy to let nature run its course - they'll burn it at the next opportunity.

BTW, my East St. Kilda/St. Georges Motel Correspondent has been sending me information from a Dutch News website (in English). 

http://www.dutchnews.nl/

I'm not sure who writes it..... 

In another source, I read an article the other day about the way Dutch people bring up their kids - "free-range style". It was written by an American who was giving her views but stating it as "the way it IS" - rather than saying it was just her opinion.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/08/how-dutch-parents-raise-free-range-kids.html

It made me think about the way I might say some things here - although I try not to include politics and religion. (It's hard to avoid the madmen politics at the moment!). (I think) it is especially true that foreigners (me) can't help but be coloured by their previous experiences and so their view of the things they see around them is going to be skewed. 

Good Friday

Not for the first time, I was taken unawares by Good Friday. It is just a "normal" day here. I never get used to it, again showing how one's previous experiences have so much influence. There was a footy match in Melbourne for the first time ever on Good Friday....well, well. Who knows, we might even get Sunday shopping here?

On Slowing Down....

I have been unwisely thinking how good it is that "I can still do everything". Seems I can't!

Note to self: "spend more time on the boat"!

't Moaiste fan Fryslân

More of the top 100. 

There are 10 categories.

The jury has selected the first 50 and the public has been asked to submit their ideas for the next 50.

• Heritage
• Green and Water
• Religion
• Icons
• New Development
• Public Buildings
• Transport, Energy, Conservation
• Neighbourhoods, Villages, Cities
• Work
• Living

My selections, so far....

Hindeloopen

Harlingen

De Deelen - not far from Heerenveen - showing the result after peat digging 

Sanfjirden. Never heard of this one. About 20 people live here.

Windmill "de Rat" in Ijlst. Still a working sawmill.

The Planetarium in Franeker (the oldest in the world - started building 1774)

The former prison in Leeuwarden - now used partly as a hotel and business development centre.

One of the "11 Cities" of Friesland
I can't pick which one it is! More photos of the 11 Cities can be found here...

https://www.friesland.nl/nl/ontdek/de-elf-steden

Edit: part of our boating this year will be to include as many of the 11 cities as we can.

The afsluitdijk

The church on a terp (mound) at Hegebeintum. (7 metres above sea level)
We went here more than 20 years ago but I can still remember how impressed I was with the history. Before the dykes were built, people "headed for the hills" in times of flood. They would take their chooks and cows with them! So, a place of physical sanctuary as well as spiritual. There is also an opening and recess in the outside wall. Thieves or other "unworthies" were not allowed inside the church but had to witness the service through the opening.

Oud Bildtdijk. 13 kms long - the longest dyke with residences. Built in 1505 to keep the Waddenzee out after the land was reclaimed.

A typical "kop-hals-romp" farmhouse (head-neck-body) supposedly looking like a cow lying down!!? (never heard that before).

Around the farm.....
not much different this week. Still cleaning up the felled trees, preparing the vegie garden, mowing and expecting sub-zero temperatures next week!

Ben has a month trial at a new job. Being a contact person at music and other festivals/shows.

https://www.facebook.com/livecrowdNL/