Soglio

POETIC CHESTNUTS

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Dear you,

105 years ago, in July, the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke arrived in Soglio, a Swiss mountain village. His creativity was numbed after World War I, he was distressed and depressed. He needed a change of scenery, and longed for a return to poetry. Nested in deep chestnut forests, in the tiny village of Soglio, he found his first place of rest. Each night he wandered the narrow streets between the – at the time – 30 houses, all made of rock. He spent two months here, and was grateful, wishing for the summer to last even longer. But he moved on, and for another two years he lived in different places, before finally settling at Chateau de Muzot, in a medieval tower. He then finished his famous Dueno Elegies, mystical, religious poems. 

I have been traveling, too, with my family. We first visited my dear friend Athena in Baiardo, in the Italian mountains, and then drove off to Soglio. Paradise on Earth, it has been called (but Baiardo is equally beautiful, if not more. I have written about it in another newsletter). We had chestnut pasta and chestnut beer, we strolled the streets in the evening like Rilke, we saw the same views as he did. We found the mountains as poetic and mysterious as the Dueno Elegies themselves. “To be present in landscapes of such beauty, I must open myself,” my husband said, “That is the only way to understand it.” Beauty is a heart opener, poetry its language.

Husband, son and dog in Soglio

HEART AND SOIL ACTIVISM

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Landscapes are inspiring, and so is the beauty of some people’s actions.

I have met a person, who is a firm rock in her consequent actions for a better future. For my book, an almanac featuring stories of 12 different people, one per month, I have written about Sandra Villumsen from Farendløse Mosteri near Ringsted, Denmark. The chapter about her is the month of July. She lives with her partner and their children in a tiny house on the premises, and she produces vegetables, especially heirloom tomatoes. 40 different types of them! During the autumn, she makes cider. Other families live at Farendløse Mosteri, too, and have different types of productions going on. It is a whole community on this property, which they also share financially.

Initially, Sandra studied medicine. She wanted to make a difference in the world, being raised by her inspiring parents, a nurse and a doctor. However, it wasn’t the right path for her. Instead of rescuing sick bodies, she wanted to build a healthier society, a healthier soil and ecosphere, and healthier bodies. Years later, she found the answers she was looking for in regenerative farming.

I first learnt about this type of farming from watching the documentary Kiss the Ground some years ago. The principles include no-till, which keeps CO2 in the ground and doesn’t ruin the mykorrhiza. It includes animal grazing, composting, cover cropping and much more. You focus on the microbial life of the soil to make it healthy and resilient.

A couple of years ago, Sandra and Sarah Hellebek founded Den Regenerative Jordbrugsskole, the one and only school for regenerative farming in Denmark. Now in its third season, the school teaches young adults the regenerative principles and gives them skills to set up their own production.

What struck me when visiting Sandra, was her description of her sensorial being with the land and its gifts, and how she perceives time and seasons so differently from me. She inspires me by being an example of the change she longs for - embodying the change by doing it and sharing her experiences, rather than engaging in tiresome debates with opponents or pointing fingers at others. Her take on what a good and rich life is, having a small income, yet living a healthy life and missing nothing, is radical in a capitalist society where we’re constantly being told that we’re lacking something and ought to go buy it. I learnt much from listening to her unfolding her calling, stewarding the land while contributing to a movement and – in my opinion - becoming a great ancestor to future generations.

Listen to a great interview with Sandra here, or read an interview with her in the great and newly published book, Lysbønder, by Sille Skovgaard and Sofie Isager Ahl. My book will come out later this year.

Enjoy your summer!

With love,

Birgitte