Norway's best medicine

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So much of Norwegian culture is revolved around the outdoors. Generally speaking, the Norwegians are very outdoors-y people as they like to gå på tur (go on a hike), visit the coast, go camping in their hytte up in the mountains and of course, skiing. I think it is common for foreigners to kindly make fun of Norway and its regard to "curing" oneself with time in nature, or if you really want to get crazy, take a paracet and gå på tur. ;-)

Norway's best medicine comes from the great outdoors - which it has a lot to offer as it's a very "wild" country. There's plenty of forests, cool, crisp, fresh air, mountains, nearly everyone takes advantage of good weather days and soaks up the sun, and the beaches are amazing in summer months - all the more reason to eat lots of ice cream in the summer!

For me and part of my "feeling better" plan, I've been trying to do as the Norwegians do and spend some time with good ole Mother Nature. Evidence shows that spending time in nature is beneficial to health and wellness, so why not try it? I rarely go hiking here, there and everywhere as the nordmenn do, but I have taken up gardening as a hobby and I absolutely love it. It's calming, relaxing and it's a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to know I'm growing my own food.

Unfortunately, slugs have eaten some of my vegetables, but I'm still learning and after asking some family for advice I feel like I'm prepared to deal with slugs for next year's garden. I already have ideas to extend my garden next year as there's one side of our yard I haven't even thought of using until recently, which means more veggies and berry bushes next year! :-)

Cherries! 

Strawberries.

I have various berry plants.
Maybe next year I can make some
black berry cobbler from this! :-) 

I couldn't forget about my cat and planted
her some catnip. :-) 

Onions in a raised garden.

Tomatoes with eggshells added to the garden bed
to deter slugs - YUCK! 

And I did plant some flowers just for
decoration. 






 Source: Phillips, A. (2011, July 1). A Walk in the Woods. American Scientist, 301-301.

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