Tosra & The Auction, day 7

Farewell. Silage.

Karis kisses and tongue wakes me up, but we both just want to cuddle in bed for a while. I can not really relax during breakfast, as I know people are waiting for us. It is job interview time, but I let my sambos do it. They have a far better understanding what needs to be done, because what do I know about caring for animal or farm work? The mistakes during the pre moving in purchases show my ignorance, and here the women are the boss when it comes to the household and people. I hardly complain about it, as I can be in the background and take another opportunity to learn.

Three men and two women from the islands tries to get employment, and the population here isn't high. There are really only three farms, although there are a couple of scattered longhouses on the big island with people working for one or the other farm. One of the women is what I consider a little too young, just 14 years as it turns out, so the other who is 16 years can try for a month. If it goes well, it will be ongoing employment. One of the men is selected as a farmhand, a 19 year old who seem to have more experience of caring for different animals, and everything a farm needs to be done, and he also gets to try for a month. They can start tomorrow and move in then or today. It also feels better to choose the older ones as they don't already have life and jobs of their own, and I will certainly have more jobs available in a couple of years.

Another man is happy when he gets temporary work to help Iselin install sundials next week. Just the fact that he will travel down to Borgarsandr is obviously a big deal, but I should have expected that. They will also have Digraldi or someone with them to teach how to install a sundial, and I have given Iselin advice for the angle as well, and that she has been given a list of which angle to use for which town north and south and to give it to Digraldi. It does not affect that much because there won't be any installations over a large area, but still. Its easy to explain that the buyer could adjust the angle on the middle of the day at the spring or autumn equinox. There is a small mark to make it easier to line up.

The farmhand gets the attic room in the corner of the wing, which he is more than happy with, as he should be. It is a proper bed and he has plenty of space, warm, light, quiet and seclusion. We warn that there may be another farmhand in the future and they will share a room. Jalida and Elvira are happy that they do not have to take care of the animals or the toilet barrels, which is a shitty job - literally. They havn't had to do it yet, but it was just a matter of time.

The barn, which is basically finished, will be the farmhands responsibility, and he will also along with the craftsmen try to build 'small' silos for silage, ie grass and other growing green that is packed down and sealed of to limit oxygen, so the greenery retains its nutrients. Those white plastic bales, or tarp covered piles against a couple of concrete walls and floor that you can see on farms and fields, are usually silage. The purpose is to feed animals over winter.

It did not require much discussion with the women in my vicinity who are from Norway down to southwestern Sweden, to understand that the farms here in the north do not make silage. Another one of my assumptions of what I thought have existed since Roman times, and should be common, but does not seem to exist. Then again, it is kind of hard to get that air is the main problem, and to make it airtight, while avoiding contact with the soil. Just dry storing hay is a problem, and there is a lof of volume. Caecilia, Elvira and Jalida did not know about silage either, but crops for the animals are less of a problem down there in southwestern Europe in the winter, and more in the late summer when everything is burned by the sun, or might be on fire.

Here it is hay that feed the farm's animals, which feels like an inefficient use of the land, so it is understandable that they try to keep the animals out to graze as much as possible over the winter, and here by the coast that should be easier. But we will try silage on a smaller scale, and if it works well enough, we will spread the knowledge. So I have given directives that all three large farms on the islands should make atleast one silo, so we get more facts and experience than from one place, and better information about consumption and volume. We will also try using old food barrels as silage containers. A bit small, but there are many barrels at the workers camp that we can buy. The idea is more to have a somewhat convenient way to bring food to animals for a couple of days if there is snow or ice, or going by the sea. If it does not work, it does not work, but trying and getting real data is good. I predict that I will spend a lot of time and silver just trying stuff in the comming years.

We should probably use some form of silage liquid, but I have no idea what modern mixtures contain and have no molasses that I think they used in that 'Wartime farm' documentary series. Using sugar or honey is just expensive, but we might use it on one or two piles as a experiment.

After the ship has unloaded and been filled with food and water for the voyage, I hug and kiss Kari goodbye. Intensely and long, and she doesn't complain. Jane complains and act hurt that I just wave goodbye to her - not even a hug - so I choose to give her old answer back, and act a little insulted, and with eyes closed and my nose in the air with folded arms, say that she had her chance. She surprise me by holding me by the cheeks and give me a really overacted kiss on the lips with added 'muah' sound. I just look at Jane as she walks on board with a pleased: "So worth it for those faces." which I translate to the others who have seen everything. Kari kisses me again, twice, while Gunhild grins and walks on board. Here, you have to make any fun you can, and Jane seems to like teasing both me and Kari. Iselin just grins, and Caecilia tries to act like she didn't see anything.

It is a bit late in the season for most fruits, berries, nuts and mushrooms, and the harvest have been very good. Iselin of course see all fruit, berries, mushroom and nuts as important food that shouldn't be wasted, and since the first trip here, worked to have people store as much as possible. Iselin has even made sure to promise to pay them to pick extra, which I of course pay. It is such a small amount anyway, and since the children of all ages seem to have done a large part of the picking, I make sure that their parents understand that the extra coins I give directly to the children, are the childrens own silver. I don't like childwork, but work should be rewarded, and the children really shine as if I have given them a large wealth. Iselin has evidently remembered all we talked about preservation, and arranged for sugar to be delivered along with many earthenware vessels for it, as well as some special wood to seal them with - cork. The most common way of sealing jars is with a wax covered cloth draped over and tied on, and they have preserve the fruit with lingonberry or sugar syrup, and have stored lingonberries, bilberries, blackberries and rowanberries as pure berries or jams. We have a lot of jam, but jam on sandwiches or crispbread is nice. And it can also make porridge taste better, and give it more variety. That they use expensive sugar for preservation and the amount they continue to increase, just makes me a little more eccentric and rich. I am more for apples in syrup or lingonberry than preserved in honey, which is also expensive, but I won't eat the ones stored in vinegar unless I have to. Isch!

There have been ridiculously many plums on the plumtrees, like branch breaking many, which is good for comming years, and the apple trees are not far behind, while pears are much less, but that is also because there are much less pear trees. There is still some fruit varieties on trees like winter apples, which the maids, together with some of the island people and working women, of course pick all they can.

They really don't understand that boiling something kill bacteria and microorganisms, they just do as they always done. I have limited knowledge, but I probably understand enough and they have followed my suggestions. What I am most afraid of is that it might be Botulinum toxin in something, but we won't 'jar' garlic in oil that is among the most risky, but everything with too low acid in it that has not been heated up enough, is a risk when it concerns microorganisms and bacteria. If I remember correctly, food should be kept above 85C for at least 10 minutes. It may not always provide the best tasting food, and can destroy vitamins, but I have always prioritized safety. Of course, we won't eat anything that has developed high pressure in the jar or tastes bad. Thermometers are definitely useful in many areas, but I do not have a thermometer that can handle those temperatures. I will have to try to make a pair of mercury thermometers, but it is damn hard. Iselin is very enthusiastic about all of it, and regrets that she also has to travel and can not be with me all the time.

I seriously don't know how much we need for the winter, and I rather spend silver and have to throwing it away come spring, than go hungry or have poor food, and the mansion have plenty of space in the attics and basements. My sambos completely agree, and especially Iselin is adamant that we should store as much as possible, including stuff I usually don't consider to be food, like acorns. A lot of old important food have fallen out of favour in modern western life, and I know acorns were used during the second world war for a lot of things. There is a lot of oak here and we store bags of acorns.

I need to make some better modern bee hives this winter, and better equipment for handling bees and hives, such as smoking equipment. Honey and wax are incredibly important, and it doesn't matter what the Elfs think, the wicker baskets they use as hives are not advanced.

Bee hives: High tech shit. Who knew?

It is a really good idea to spread out many bee hives on the islands, so we get a lot of honey and wax for the future. Any surplus can be sold.

I have plans for more pastime games, and I am not interested in weaving as atleast half the women seems to be. It is quite logical when they say weaving is women's job in this world, especially in the winter, and can give important extra income to spin threads and weave fabric etc. My sambos don't have to do it, but they want to, and the maids took it for granted.

But I want more games. I want to try to introduce some role-playing game like Swedish Dragons and Demons in the future, but I need to get better at the language and adapt it a bit and make good dice etc, so it will be something different first. Other games like table top miniatures for the guards and me, but there are many simpler games like Ludo, which in Swedish is called Fia. I would like to create a variation of Risk, Civilization, Settlers of Catan, Alphabet and maybe even Twilight Imperium. But a lot of work with them, and a lot of cards that is hard to make without a printing press, and I need to at least make a paper shearer. So I have to start with simpler games, and ironically, table top miniatures can be easier. I will use a simplified variant of the 'Chronopia' rules. It fits with the era, the system is much better than Warhammer Fantasy Battle and I can do a few simple warrior miniatures, as the game is based on infantery units, which limits the amount of ranged units, which limits the amount of special units. So I ask Bodil if she would like to make more games, one is simple, but others will be something completely new. She seems very passionate about it and would like to be involved in future wood crafting work like what she has done so far. So I show the sketches on a Ludo game with a board that can be folded, and with a tied on pouch for the gamepieces and dice.

I ask Bodil to carve some small simple figures in wood or clay, and show the 28mm scale and it surprises her, but I explain that I will use them as a molds to recreate the figures in lead and tin, multiples of each. I give her pointers that she has to think a little about profiles, edges and how they pose, and they can be simple as long as you clearly see the difference between them. We start with four figures; warrior with sword and shield, archer with an axe in his belt, shield maiden with spear and shield and finally a warrior with a two-handed axe. It covers the basic units needed for the game to be interesting; melee warriors, ranged warriors who are bad at melee, melee warriors with pole weapons, and melee with range and power but no protection.

If the game is appreciated, I can introduce leaders, specialists, riders, chariots, war machines, monsters, etc. It is also possible to introduce enemy forces in other visual styles, armor and weapons, and also introduce terrain elements, houses, treasure chests, miniature Viking ships, etc.

I spend time during the day, evening and night with Iselin before she also disappears for a few days. I will miss her, and do not like the idea of her ​leaving without any protection of a guard, so I persuad her to bring Bodil along, and the guards simply have to accept that I will 'only' be protected by Alith and Hillevi for a few days. They are completely right that we need two or three more guards.

Iselin and I are talking about the world, science, and my construction plans, and that I will install the wind turbine here in the next few days and upgrade the battery bank. She would have liked to be part of it, but there will probably always be several projects underway, so we all just have to accept that she can not be part of everything, and some of them she already knows and helped with.

She will use horses and carriage to travel around with the hired temporary help and Digraldi man. With our nice summer carriage, she will at least have a nice and comfortable trip, and if necessary also be able to sleep in the carriage. On the way back, she will try to take a lot of oil lamps, parts etc, that are finished, because they can survive the journey via the country roads here if they are properly packed. We will wait with the oiling of the hardwood floors until they are back, as I want Bodil to be in charge of that work.