February Updates from the Estonian Homestead
No car, new cat, nudie in the greenhouse and Tenerife bound
A potpourri of updates from Tamme as we roll into the second half of our first year in Estonia.
As we are just past Imbolc– that halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox – there’s a seed of vernal energy and hope, that the literal darkest days of the year are past and spring is indeed somewhere around the corner.
But that said, we came up with an easier option to fast-forward to sunshine and warmth.
See update #4. 😉. Next post to be from a Spanish island off the west coast of Africa.
But first some updates:
1) Greenhouse installed
With our small, experimental first garden in Estonia last year, we quickly learned that despite all the sunlight here in the summer, we needed to boost the heat a bit to really get true tasting summer tomatoes and expand the growing season.
Enter our new greenhouse from EcoSlider, built here in Estonia. Around here greenhouses are more common than a garage (Prioritizing vegetables over cars? Talk about homeland security!), and you see ones just like ours in lots of back yards. The greenhouse was installed in late November, right before winter fully rolled in.
More to share on this new addition. In all our years of blooming gardens at Inn Serendipity in Wisconsin, we’ve never had a real greenhouse like this and look forward to learning and experimenting.
When the sun shines (granted, not that much here this time of year), this greenhouse starts to cook. On a recent full throttle sunny day, it was so toasty warm (about 60 F/15 C) that as you can see John decided to increase his Vitamin D absorption.
2) Car-less for Winter
Last June when we first arrived in Estonia, we bought the European Union version of our beloved Toyota Prius, the hybrid car we’ve been driving for years that also has electric plug-in capacity.
While we briefly looked into shipping our original Prius from the States as it was fairly new and in good shape, we quickly learned that the car safety, environmental and other requirements in the EU are much stricter and the cost of those upgrades plus the actual shipping cost made that option not cost effective, so we moved to Plan B and bought the car here.
By Estonia law, all cars need to have winter snow tires from Dec 1 through March 1 for good safety reasons: There can be lots of snow and ice. The Prius bought in June came with summer tires, so we would need to make that switch to winter.
But . . . John convinced me to that if we didn’t pay the 800+ Euros (right now as I write Euros and the US dollar are roughly comparable in value) for winter tires we could take that money and go to Tenerife (spoiler alert – see #4).
At first, just as with baking with fire, I admittedly wasn’t that open to the idea (do you see a pattern evolving here? Lisa needing to be more open to change? 😉). Well of course we need a car, I stammered to John. What about emergencies or groceries or fill in the blank?
But as we rolled closer to Dec. 1, I found answers and – with a warm bribe of sunshine and beaches – went along with and now fully embrace and love the no car in winter plan:
Emergency Services:
Yes, emergency medical services will always come to our house (for free – a governmental service.) Interesting and different than I was used to in the US, here emergency services coming in an ambulance can actually do basic medical procedures on-site, like if you have a cut that needs bandaging. Versus just transporting you to the hospital. I could check the safety box.
Groceries:
Estonia has a robust delivery system throughout the country, including groceries. Selver, one of the larger supermarket chains, in particular has nailed online delivery where an order of 35 Euros (or US dollars) is just 1.9 Euros to our Tamme in quite rural Estonia. That’s cheaper than petrol to drive to Pärnu to shop.
Another restaurant-supply store we really like that also does free delivery with a minimum 80 Euro order for business accounts is Promo Cash & Carry.
Public Transportation:
The cherry on the “we don’t need a car in the winter” sundae is the robust, inexpensive and incredibly reliable Estonian public transportation system.
Where we live in Häädemeeste, on a rural road, I can walk eight minutes to the bus station and take a county bus to Pärnu for 1.5 Euros, or a monthly unlimited resident transport pass of 15 Euros.
The ride to Pärnu is about 50 minutes (granted, closer to 30 if I drive) and the buses are really nice, complete with USB chargers. What I wasn’t expecting and absolutely love is how less stressful the whole experience is, not having to at all even think about the weather or that ice and snow and just roll onto the bus.
The other piece I’m finally getting used to is how reliable the Estonian bus service is. I know this sounds elementary but there’s a schedule and they show up on time. I guess I’m still working through my US public transportation history of not being able (or even have accessible) public transportation you can count on. Now I know, leave 8 minutes before the schedule says it will be there and it will! All the time!
3) Welcome Artie the Cat
Folks were asking about the sweet napping cat next to the woodstove in my last post. Welcome, Artie, the newest resident here at Tamme.
With all the lengthy to-do lists related to getting settled in Estonia, “adopt a cat” was not on that priority list. But . . sometimes sweet surprises and a dash of serendipity add up to a twist of fun fate.
While the strawbale walls are super-well insulated at Tamme, we are still in the country and – as we well know from 30+ years of farmhouse living – battling mice is a constant. While we have never seen a mouse in the house (yay!), we could hear them running through the rafters and knew a cat would help on that front.
But we needed someone to be able to care for a cat so the southern European jaunt (see #4) would work. Enter serendipity. We met a lovely new poet friend, Marilii Toots, last summer at a Janipäev gathering (Estonian’s midsummer) at Poli Talu and, as fate would have it, she is a cat person also open to a new setting and absorbing the space and natural beauty at Tamme for her creative work (check our her beautiful work on Facebook — FB should autotranslate for you — and online for her body and breathwork).
Then there was a sweet rescue cat that popped up in October on the Estonian shelter organization, CatsHelp, and the deal was sealed. Artie was originally found on the streets of Pärnu and, thanks to a loving year with her foster home, now found her “forever family” with us. She’s about two years old (a toddler – we keep reminding ourselves) and finding her way. Working on building trust for her to let us pick her up or go on laps, but she’s super affectionate for “tummy massages.” ❤️
And yes: the sounds of mice has gone down significantly. Just wait till spring when she goes outside!
4) Tenerife bound
We’ve been escaping to sunnier and warmer climates during winter for a while now. Between John’s Lyme and bodily repercussions of high school football injuries, winter (especially being indoors and lack of outdoor activity) took it’s toll on him. And no need to twist my arm to convince me to go on a warmer break!
For years before Covid, when I needed to still be stateside in case something happened with my elderly parents, we went to California – primarily San Diego where it was off-season and we could get an affordable rental on the beach.
Last year, with our first official warm weather jaunt since the pandemic, we landed on Madeira, a Portuguese island off the west coast of Africa that we absolutely fell in love with, from hiking, to sexy saxaphone players to — of course for me — pastries. And, as always, designing travel to be part of our business and entrepreneurial lifestyle.
This year we first looked at how far south we could get on a direct flight from Tallinn. Enter Tenerife, one of the seven Spanish Canary Islands and a popular winter destination for Estonian and European sun-seekers. I think age is kicking in as long travel days and the stress of flight connections are not for me – and I find most often, including our ticket now on AirBaltic, you can pretty much get at close to the same price if you play with dates and times.
The seven Canary Islands are each quite individually different with unique geographic features and micro-climates. Thanks to photographer John’s extensive research on photo opportunities – especially sunrises and sunsets along with overall good beach weather – Tenerife it is!
Keep you posted on the Spanish wanderings on Tenerife next post. Heading back to Tamme end of March.
Check out more photos (and ordering options) from John D. Ivanko on Alamy
Living the dream, love this for you both! 💞Welcome to Artie and I love the greenhouse. John sunbathing cracked me up! He’s aging well. 😂😘