Farm Animals

I had to say hello to some of the farm animals while visiting the Berga Agricultural College over the weekend. Griseknoen in the top photo got me thinking about the movie I watched as a kid. Emil and the piglet, based on books by Astrid Lindgren.

Anita&Bo

I visited the annual "Bergadagarna" over the weekend. Held at Berga naturbruksgymnasium (Agricultural secondary school). The first people I ran into were Anita and Bo Stjernström, wearing the traditional folk costume "Haningedräkten". They are members of the the local historical association, Haninge Hembygdsgille. If you live locally you can meet them today during the national day celebrations at Tingshuset in Västerhaninge.

The Future of Urban Farming

KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology has set up this new greenhouse cupola at the Berga agricultural college. I visited during the annual open-house weekend. This is a aquaponic system. There's a fish tank in there. The water from the tank will be used to grow the tomato plants that are growing in sand.The water is cleaned as it goes through the sand and then back to the fish tank again. There are only two greenhouses like this one in Sweden today. In the future we will probably see them everywhere in the cities, up on the roofs. It is an interesting concept. No pollution from this greenhouse. The only thing added is water and fish fodder. The greenhouse will be heated by a heat exchange system, using a heat pump. The light will come from LED lamps.

The Chainsaw Artist

This is Åke Herrström. A chainsaw sculptor from Norrköping. He has worked in the forest for more than thirty years so he knows how to handle a chainsaw. I met him on Sunday at the Berga Agricultural College during the open-house weekend. He was invited by Studieförbundet vuxenskolan (adult education), and you can see on of their representatives in the slideshow. Åke made this beautiful eagle in no time at all, and it was impressive to see him in action. He showed me some of his earlier sculptures, including a one to one scale Harley Davidson, a work which took him one long summer to create. I asked him if he knew Lennart Jansson another chainsaw artist that I met three years ago and he told me that they had met a few times. To see more of Åke's sculptures check out the photos at his web site.

The Clown

A lot of people are afraid of clowns. That phobia is called Coulrophobia. This sad looking clown is called Max. He is an institution in Sweden and has made more than 5000 shows over the years. I met him earlier today when he was preparing for a show at the Berga Agricultural College. A little later I could hear the kids screaming, so either he was a big hit, or very scary...

Campus Life

The agricultural school at Berga opened in 1921. Back then it had only male students. Today that has changed quite a bit, especially considering the very popular horse programme. If you walk around the 700 hectare big property you will find many different buildings. Both modern and old farm buildings. They have everything you would find on a modern farm. And there is also a 300 year old mansion (you can see part of it in yesterdays post), or here from my 2007 visit, and a little museum with many objects from the old days. The school is self sufficient when it comes to heating, via a modern pellet heating system. As I have already told you there are many animals at the farm and all livestock feed needed are produced locally, like oat and corn.The building you see here was built for when the school opened in 1921. Back then it had class rooms, campus eateries and student apartments. Today there are newer smaller apartment buildings here and my flickr friend Jim has a fine photo of those apartments. Both Jim and myself have flickr sets with more photos. Here is a link to Jim's photos. And my set is over here.

The Perfect Life

I decided not to shoot any portraits on my visit to the Agricultural College as there was so much else to focus on, but when I spotted Kajsa I changed my mind. I met her as the open house weekend was closing for the day. She turned out to be from Västerhaninge. She is a sailer, or a mariner if you like. Employed by the Waxholmsbolaget, the ferry company that runs the archipelago traffic in Stockholm. She works there six months of the year. The rest of the year she either studies, travels the world, or goes on two months long sailing trips. She's been all over the world, and when I asked Kajsa for a favorite place she picked Central America, with Panama and Costa Rica as two favorite spots. Seems like a perfect way to live your life.

Do Not Disturb

Obviously I did shoot quite a few animal photos at the open house weekend at the Berga Agricultural College. They have horses, cattle and pigs on 400 hectare. And who doesn't love pigs! Some facts about the college. The 250 students here can choose between the environmental programme, the farm programme and the horse programme. Most students come from around Stockholm. But there are student apartments on the campus, and there are plenty of activities for the students that choose to live at the school.

Barefoot is the only way to go

I can't say that I was walking around looking at peoples feet to get a photo for theme day, but as it was the warmest day of the year, it wasnt that hard to find a suitable photo at the Agricultural College on Saturday. This is a young woman and her dog. There was an agility show on a big grassy area that was surrounded by people. Seeing her running barefoot as she guided her dog through the obstacle course made me realise that summer really is here. She was quite good with the dog, and the crowd seemed to enjoy the show, and gave her a big hand of applause when they finished.

Today is theme day.Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Getting a face paint

I will probably show you a bunch of photos from the Agricultural College Berga in the following days. They had an open-house weekend and I visited on Saturday. It was the warmest day of the year, and the place was packet with people. I met a friend who was there with his school (Vuxenskolan), and he asked me to take some photos for them. And here are two of those. A little girl getting a face paint. We asked her mother if it was ok to take some photos and she agreed. The little girl on the other hand wasnt that amused by the nosy photographer. But ten minutes later when she was done and was enjoying an ice cream she did look more pleased.

Water Tower + Art Thingy

The old water tower at Berga Agricultural College. There's a castle down by the bay with a bigger water tower designed by a famous architect called Torben Grut. It is possible that he made this one as well, but I'm only guessing. What the art thingy is I have no idea, but I like the look of it. From my visit to the open-house weekend at the agricultural college at Berga.

Berga Mansion

The mansion at Berga is around 300 years old. Today it's part of the college, and I believe that a few of the former principals used to live here. The college opened in 1922. The college founder Helge Axelson Johnson, also built himself a castle down by the bay, these days the military owns that land. I don't have photo of the castle but it looks like this:

www.haninge.se/upload/10660/berga1.jpg

From my visit to the open-house weekend at the agricultural college at Berga.

Sheep Shearer

Bigger photo.

A sheep shearer in action. Every year in the early summer the Agricultural College at Berga in Haninge has an open-house weekend. As a kid I used to come here with my parents. As it was a warm and sunny day I took the bike over to Berga on Saturday. The place was absolutely crowded. Long queues for everything that you could eat, but as I had anticipated that, (visited just after breakfast), I had a great time looking at all the animals, pigs, cows, horses and more. Also saw lots of tractors, farming equipment, machines and farming buildings. Then I cooled off with a visit to the museum. The farm here dates back over 800 years. The college is not that old, it opened in 1922. Many students live here year round. There's a castle down by the bay built by Helge Axelson Johnson. Today the military owns that part of the estate. I will be uploading a few photos from my visit over the next day. You can see them HERE. Did I buy anything? As a matter of fact I did. One big jar of cloudberry jam, so I will be eating a lot of waffles now...