Hej, we are Pelle and Lotta from Germany and Oriane from France. We are doing our volunteering at the Kalø Landbrussgkole, an organic farm/school in Rønde.
Due to the corona virus we couldn’t really leave the farm this year so the three of us thought about having a big meal with our global organic farmer colleagues from all over the world at the end of our voluntary year. But we wanted to make all the food we eat and show the students how to do it. So we start to do little workshops…
The Fish
Pelle did a fishing course with 5 students. He made bait with them and went fishing regularly. The target fish was the danish sea trout, which is very difficult to catch.
In December, He started to ask around at the school who would like to take part in a workshop to
go fishing together and learn to prepare everything to get local eco-friendly food. 5 people decided to join and they started tying flies because they are particularly good bait to catch a sea trout. For this we used wool from our sheep and fur from the cattle.
After a week in the cold winter, Luis from Portugal and Pelle caught the first sea trout. It was 18 inches tall and above the Danish average, so they took it and ate it right away! Anyway, we needed a bigger trout to eat with all the people and it was a first success for the group after days of standing around and waiting at Ebeltoft for a fish.
The Pig
At the agricultural school, we also have pigs. One of our slaughter pigs injured his leg in the cold winter. We tried to help him but it was visibly in pain, so our boss decided to slaughter it. We were interested in the process of getting our own meat, so we were allowed to help butcher the pig called Little Foot and eat him together at our dinner.
The day after, Pelle and two other workers cut it up into pieces.
At the end, Lotta made skewers marinated in homemade garlic oil and put it to grill.
The Cheese
Oriane learnt how to make different cheese (farm cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, cream cheese and feta) with a worker from Hungary every Tuesday during 4 months. She started to learn the manufacturing process (all the steps to make the cheese, put in the brine, turn the cheese) and the different bacteria cultures and enzymes which will « make » the cheese. After some lessons, she could make it by herself. But making cheese doesn’t happen overnight! She also learnt how to milk the cows (because yes the cheese is made with our own milk !). We are milking 15 Jersey cows and use 120 L per weeks for the cheese, butter and yoghurt.
All this process made it possible to taste the cheese during our meal.
The Ice Cream
In the end of our volunteering it was pretty warm weather, we decided to make our own ice cream. The recipe was made with eggs (the hens are raised not far from the school), cream (we are still using the milk from our farm) and sugar. And after, we added different flavours : strawberry and white chocolate, vanilla and white chocolate and blueberry yogurt.
We prepared the ice cream together the day before the meal. So it was a really fresh ice cream !
The Vegetables
In Kalø we also produce a lot of different vegetables. Over the past year we learned a lot about that because on the farm we grow everything ourselves.
We start in winter with seeding all the different kinds of plants. As soon as it gets warmer, we can plant them on the field or into the greenhouse. It doesn’t take long until we can harvest the first vegetables. While they grow, we have to weed a lot and make sure the plants can grow nicely. It’s really a job for a team!
To conclude, we had a great time together around the bonfire and eating all these good products from the farm. It was also a good occasion to consolidate our friendship.
ESC Solidarity Projects 