Greetings from Hof Louisgarde

Hello all. Well alot of things have happened and I haven't had time to write much. A mountain decided to kick up a bit of dust resulting in many-a-stranded tourist. Suddenly the accessibility of this world was a little bit broken down.
But all was not lost. Somewhere just south of Würzburg, on a farm surrounded by forest, children are paddling a little raft and an old bathtub on the duck pond shaded by a huge willows and hanging birches. The sun beats down on me as I lay the last red clay tiles on the barn roof. The past couple weeks have blessed us with some of the clearest skies Hof Louisgarde has seen in a while. Well this place has had people on it since the 1100`s when it was first built as a monestary, but I meen since there have been airplanes. Thanks to the volcano, there was no more flightpath above us. But this week the traffic in the sky returned. And it was under the white and blue plaid sky that we made birch-tar yesterday. After reading about methods of tool-making thousands of years ago in the ice-man exhibit in Bad-Margetheim a few weeks ago, Theo, one of the kids here got excited about making birch-bark tar. So we found a method on the internet and collected some old birch-bark, (important that it's not from a living tree). I won't explain the method here, but basically you want to burn the birch-bark with little/no oxygen and so you end up with a thick black sticky pudding which you must cook to evaporate (and not inside because it's poisonous). This ends up like a puddy which you can use to bind and seal things. Next boat, no epoxy... hmm... worth a try.
Here there is much to do on the farm. I'm not involved with the agriculture portion, more the vegetable production and sale through weekly deliveries as well as a market stand every friday at the Waldorf school in Würzburg. The only Waldorf schools I have ever seen have all been small and very alternative. It's interesting to see a huge full-out school with some of the same ideas. I have't heard alot from it but I took a walk around after failing at selling cheese and vegetables (very bad with money math in my head). There were some neet workshops with wood, metal, and even stone carving. The windows look out over the city and you can see the castle on the next hill over.
Here a castle, there a schloss, they're everywhere. And what's great is that locals know and appreciate how beautiful these old buildings are. It doesn't just become background. I remember on the drive back from Dresden, seeing all the tiny little villages, red roofs cropping out the hills striped with wine rows, and a castle or old tower perched on every hilltop. What's more, on barn rooves and housetops amidst this pictureque scene, are solar panels. Everywhere solar panels. I think you're hopping onto a good band-wagon Mom and Dad.
Here neer Weikersheim, there's not a whole lot of wine. But lots of agriculture. Today we went with our bikes first to Burg Neuhaus and then the Tierpark neer Bad-Margetheim. We took the bike/agriculture paths south between the hills and then up to the Burg. The castle used to be the store-place for a large amount of money and valuables. Some of the ruins still stand, but much of the old stone was taken to rebuild what has become a large stable for horses. Seems like a dream job waking up in a beautiful fachwerk house high up on the hill to feed the horses that graze within the castle walls. We went further along the hill. The path cut through canola fields beginning to turn yellow and was lined with now bluming fruit trees. You could see far on all sides. Truelly a hot day, with hanggliders and birds dotting the sky.
I'm trying to paint a bit of a picture for you seeing as I have no camera with me, but I'll see if I can't borrow one soon.
There is one thing I've marked here that stands out for some reason, more than stinging nettles in soccer fields, or cottage cheese and Bärlauch, or digging up the ingredients for the Demeter preperate hiding in deer bladders and cow skulls. More than the first time driving a tiny little tractor with wagon of wood and some ripped jeans. More than the voice of the donkies and the roosters in the early morning. It's the call for dinner. Different places I've been have different ways of calling people together to eat. A sea conch in Quebec, a bull's horn in Nova Scotia, Oma's little dinner gong... and here, when the children are playing outside around supper, we ring the monestary bell up in the tower. The different sounds from different lands, of different people with different ideas, and it all seems to get tied together by the sound of people coming together to do the most basic of all essential things... eat. Wow, it always seems to go back to food with me.
Anyway, I'm not exactly sure where the next piece of this life will get sewed on to this quilt, but I'll let you know. I think it should involve some pretty sweet hiking as Matthias may be heading across the pond in the next month.
Anyhow, I'll head out for now... some advise for anyone that doesn't know where things will take them...in the words of one of the workers here, just befure he's going to split some cake or chocolate for a break...
Pas auf! Jetz gets los!
(Watch out! Here it comes!)