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January 31, 2023

10 edible plants in food shortages

tilldaling Nutrition & Training

[B]EAT inflation

As always, if you prefer watching this as a video, it’s linked at the bottom of the page.

It has always been useful to know your natural environment. But now, in times of potential food shortages and higher prices, it could be vital to know which plants you can eat and which ones you should better leave where they are.

So today, we’re going to work our way through ten edibles that not only keep you full and healthy but also from spending half your salary on spinach and avocado.

Useful Rules

Always make sure to be 100% sure to identify correctly before eating any wild plants.
If it’s your first try, only consume one species at a time. That way you can rule out food allergies and see which plants have a future in your meal plan.

Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria)

We are starting with one of the most abundant plants around. Ground Elder. If you ever walked along the woodland border, parks, or pretty much every somewhat natural garden, the chances are high that you came across the extensive ground-covering green plant with white, elder-like flowers.

Ground elder grows in clusters and has serrated leaves that are light green when young and turn dark as they age (see above).

More often than not, you find it in places where you don’t want it. Growing at a speed that makes weeding nearly impossible. Though you can still surrender and make use of the abundant food source.

The leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds are edible but I have been sticking to only the younger leaves which are high in Vit C, much more palatable, and easy to integrate into a variety of meals.

With a parsley-like, lemon-ish taste when consumed raw and spinach similarities when cooked you can use ground elder in pretty much every dish from omelet and frittata to soups and salads.

The growth of this plant is so fast that it is hard ever to run out! You can harvest it all the way from early spring to autumn.

PS: I have not yet found out if it’s possible to preserve it frozen.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Number two is dandelion. This garden regular is another, barely used source of food. In fact, people tend to hate it for its vast reproduction rate.

The shoots of long, toothy leaves and flower stem with the characteristic yellow flower buds appear early in the year and are one of the first food sources in spring.

You can eat the leaves, stem, and flowers, and even make a coffee-like beverage if you roast the roots. In terms of palatability, it’s a harder nut to crack. Done right, it’s a valuable source of magnesium and potassium as the deep roots are especially capable of extracting it from the soil.

The leaves, even the young ones are god damn bitter and it’s quite hard to consume it in larger quantities raw. Well, you can stadd a few of the youngest leaves to salads. If you would like to get rid of the bitterness in the larger leaves, boil them in salt water for a few minutes. After that, they should be ready to be used in similar ways as spinach.

Bush Vetch (Vicia Sepium)

With the bush vetch, we are leaving parts of the known territory. Nonetheless, walking past natural fields, you will find a large abundance of this plant using grass and other fast growers as a ladder to sunlight.

The bush vetch comes with leaves that are parted in 4–8 smaller pairs of leaflets and clusters of 2–6 purple-ish flowers.

Technically, you can eat the freshest leaf shoots, the flowers, and young peas but I wouldn’t recommend eating the peas unless you are 100% of your identification with how to treat these seeds once harvested to render them edible.

Yet, the youngest leaves are rather tasty and come quite close to eating peas. Small amounts of that together with the flowers can upgrade one or other salad through the season. As long as you make sure not to eat it in bulk, you should be on the safe side!

Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)

Moving to larger plants, Japanese knotweed is always a good idea for a snack! The bamboo-like invasive species is growing with immense speed and is often blacklisted as a thread for native fauna. Nevertheless, it’s growing in your garden or in places you are sure of no herbicide use, it is quite delicious once you get used to it.

Japanese Knotweed is growing very tall and with its bamboo-like stem and shovel-shaped leaves is one of the easier plants to identify.

The young shoots, up until 30 cm in length and the last 10 cm of the growing plant are tender enough to be consumed raw and had a rhubarb-lemony-like taste, and can be used in pretty much every way you would use rhubarb in cakes.

As the knotweed contains a fair amount of oxalic acid, it could be wise not to go all out on it despite the abundance of usable plants.

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

Our plant number five is one you may remember from childhood, Red Clover. These flowers are rather popular due to their sweet nectar.

The trifoliate leaves with the characteristic white crescent set the clover apart from many plants. And in addition, the purple, pink or creamy white flowers are very hard to overlook.

Although the leaves on their own do only slightly taste like peas, they can still be used in salads as a filler.The flower on the contrary with all its nectar is rather pleasant in taste and will not only culinary but also visually enhance many meals. They and the leaves can be eaten raw without further worries.

In emergencies, the flowers can be dried and ground into a flour-like substance.

Greater Plantain (Plantago major)

Whenever walking along a tractor road or just your ordinary pavements, you may have noticed endless flower spikes (also called rat tails) of persistent thick-leaved plants. These guys are called plantains and as long as you are sure that they were not treated with any herbi- or pesticides, they are edible.

Young leave are to be preferred as the older they get the bitterness level rises and they tend to get stringy. Greater plantains come with similar features as dandelion and in my opinion, should be treated similarly to reduce bitterness. Either by short cooking or sauteing. Once the bitterness is gone, you find yourself another spinach substitute.

There seem to be indices of anti-inflammatory properties and chewed leaves can have soothing effects on skin irritations like mosquito bites and rashes. Well, if you prefer to drink your benefits, you could dry the leaves, grind them and use them as tea.

Consumed in large amounts plantains can lead to bowel irritations, so go easy on them.

Cleavers (Galium aparine)

If you had access to the seaside and had some sense of humor as a child, you will know cleavers. The sticky plant is more than just fun to be thrown around! It can be used for all sorts of dishes and is so abundant that I would call it the dandelion of the beach.

The square stem, upward pointing leaves, and cover with fine hair are easy identifiers. If the plant you found sticks to your clothing, you are on the right path!

Leaves and stem can be used as food, although the fine hair can be irritating to some. Especially the youngest parts doing very well in salads.

To be honest here, these guys aren’t my favorite but boiled or blended in soups they are doable! It all depends on how hungry you are.

Spear-leaved Orache (Atriplex prostrata prostratra)

We stay at the beach and have a look at a plant that often grows within cleavers or at least is never far away spear-leafed oraches. A plant is also more on the exotic end of the usage scale.

Spear-leafed oraches like beaches and often grow on rotting seaweed. The red-tinted stem and spear-shaped leaves are helpful features for identification.

Young stems and leaves are edible and come with a unique sweet and salty taste you can sparely add to salads. However, they become more palatable if you boil them, discard the water and then treat them like spinach or other members of the kale family.

Like Japanese knotweed, oraches contain oxalic acid and if harvested close to fertilized field high amount of nitrate. Less is more of this one.

Curly dock (Rumex crispus)

Let’s stick with the oxalic acid and have a lock at another, very tasty wild edible, curly dock also known as yellow dock.

Hairless, veiny leaves are common to all varieties in the dock family. Yet, the ruffled, curly edges of the specimen make it much easier to identify. Curly dock can grow quite tall but you should better stick to the younger leaves that taste somewhere between rhubarb and spinach as the older ones are rather bitter.

We already clarified that this plant is for sporadic use only but if it’s time for a curly dock meal, stir-frying or adding them to an omelet is a great idea.

There are rumors that the roots could be potato substitutes but I’m not having any experience with that.

Spruce (Picea abies)

The last and tenth candidate is also our first tree, the Norway spruce. The evergreen, not to be confused with pines and firs comes with a variety of uses and is even referred to as nordic rosemary.

When it comes to some substantial food, spring is the only time to make use of it. Young shoots are bright green, abundant, and fully edible. The taste is sour forest and it takes a while to get used to it. When there are very young cones, try roasting them in the oven, the inner parts are edible.

Yet they are very high in vitamin C! If you, for any reason missed the spring, no worries. The spruce keeps on giving year-round. You can still use the needles to make great tea.

Video

January 31, 2023

Save your attention span

tilldaling Norway

It’s pathetic what the average attention span evolved to be. Prolonged focus and reaching a flow state is a relict of the past. It feels like living with an impaired brain thinking back to intellectual highlights where “focus” was a thing. If we continue down this road, we better wave goodbye to feeling at ease with ourselves and work. In an attempt to tackle some of the issues, I spent Four days in a remote cabin to realign my thoughts.

Being without the internet, communication, or even your computer makes you wonder what to do with your time. You end up pondering things. It’s the stuff that happens while munching oatmeal and staring at the fire for four hours. Then there is the discomfort of the digital void. A pretentious feeling of “disconnection” despite insignificantly less contact with real humans. And finally, there is calm. Calm in chores and discomfort. Clearly defined tasks, uninterrupted work, and alignment with the pace of nature make a difference between day and night.

The latter isn’t necessarily feasible in the race our societies have come. But taking yourself away from distractions is no utopian idea, at least for a few days every month. The other option is living in cognitive misery. What a choice…

I made a video about it with more of the experience. If you want a challenge, try watching it whole in one go and count the time you would like to cop out to check something else. 42 minutes can be a long time.

January 31, 2023

How to buy a cabin or farm in Norway

tilldaling Norway

Or at least get the chance to buy one

We moved to Norway in 2020. Living in the family cabin was delightful but felt like a burden. In October of the same year, the hunt for a cabin with large property or a small farm began.

PS: You will find two detailed videos with real-life experiences in the end.

The housing market in Norway

Before you start thinking about moving to Norway and buying yourself a neat place, you have to understand/know a few things.

The main property market is on Finn.no, a listing page like craigslist that is used by real estate agents.

If you’re up for a cabin or farm, you search for “hytte” or “småbruk”. There are a few more websites to buy a farm, but the main action is on Finn.

Bidding Rounds, here we come

Nearly every object ends up being auctioned. No fixed prices if there is more than one person interested. The bids aren’t confidential either.

If you check the Finn ad for your property, you will find the house showing date. People attend, make themselves a picture, and go home. By signing up for the showing, you’re often simultaneously signing up for the bidding round.

In Norway, everything is connected to your birth number. That’s what you sign up with. You also state your telephone number as the bidding works via SMS. It continues on until the highest price is reached. That is emotional.

Normally, the bidding starts the day after the showing.

If you made the highest bid, the seller still has to accept it. If he/she does, congratulations, you bought a home.

Cabin or farm

Cabins generally have a small plot and are often situated within designated cabin fields. You can find examples with more land attached, but the average is around 500–2000 m2.

Småbruks (Small farms) often have more land attached. If the previous buyer wasn’t a big farmer that stripped it from its property, the range goes from 15.000–500.000 m2.

In both cases, city distance is exponentially related to price. The higher north you go in Norway, the cheaper (and colder/darker) it gets.

The main difference is that there are more cabins than are demanded while it’s the opposite for small farms.

On a note, the great farms are given on or sold to family/friends. The rest goes to Finn. If you want a pearl, you better start networking. Everything you can get your hands on off the public market will make your life better.

Frustration

We’ve been on it for two years now and had barely a chance with a limited budget. But we learned a lot. So here are two videos with much deeper insights into the buying process.

January 31, 2023

Dopamine detox is a lie

tilldaling Life Lessons

A story about how you lost your drive and how to get it back.

As always, if you prefer watching this as a video, it’s linked at the bottom of the page.

Is your life good enough to be as passive as you are?

Or is it too comfortable? Crawling from one distraction to the next, lulled by one dopamine hit (we get back to that later) after another. Like proper addicts, we watch a story here and a YouTube video there. Then one coffee, and another one. Music on demand, and to round up the day, three episodes of a series so well-produced that it can actually keep our demolished attention span on track for hours.

It’s fucking cozy, isn’t it? Our lives burst of opportunities for, what I call, effortless rewards. They are available for everyone. No need to be rich to afford caffeine and a Netflix subscription. Even if that twenty bucks a month are too much, there is still a free endless content stream from news and social media. If you follow YouTube trends, you might get the impression that social media and friends trigger dopamine hits, and that you need fast for a little while to increase reward sensitivity. But that won’t turn your life around.

Biology is never that simple, and dopamine is more than a reward-indicating hormone. Recent research indicates a major role in driving the search for rewards. It makes you want to do things in order to get rewards. In the sense of causing a strong innate desire for creation and exerting effort. The restless excitement to get going you felt the last time you were bored. Probably years ago. In your childhood.

In the absence of reward, the drive to seek it, strengthens.

Living among easy pleasures (for years) has consequences. It‘s no surprise that the people that spend the most time in reward-rich environments discover a sense of purposelessness. Burned-out SoMe managers and once highly productive YouTubers all fall into a creative hole over the course of time. A decline in desire and drive seems industry standard.

Our unlimited access to immediate, effortless rewards prevents dopamine from taking charge to make us do things to feel good. There is no need for desire if pleasure comes easy. Why go to the gym if you can watch fitness content on TikTok to feel nearly as good?

Effortless pleasures are probably the reason why a whole generation chooses Netflix and chill (literally, not the euphemism) over creation and effort.

We lost our drive, and that’s exactly what makes us feel uneasy, in lack of control.

There is no short-term fix, you lazy ass.

This alone is bonkers, but the fact that people made the exact same video, with a similar thumbnail to get a chunk of the fame shows we lost originality along our work capacity.

One adverse effect of our consumption community is that dopamine detox videos pop up like dandelions in spring to capitalize on a public issue without delivering a solution. These videos at least confirm that there is an issue of broad concern.

The problem is that fighting symptoms with short-term solutions will be as successful as soup diets.

It’s not even the right wording as there is no actual detoxification. Getting getting rid of dopamine means depression. Instead we want to make it work by avoiding external, easy-to-get rewards and re-establish that everything worthwhile demands drive and time.

The temporary effort is a good initiative but once effortless rewards are available again, despair returns. We need to fix it for good.

Leaving it all behind

My type of escape, I ain’t anything better than every other struggling individual. We are in this boat together.

This is a hypothesis, but I assume that the subconscious desperation, and feeling lost, drives our brains to glorify rural, simple living (or even any escape-associated life) with clearly defined tasks to re-establish a healthy relationship between drive and reward.

The desire to move to the woods might be as well a desire to bring balance to our reward systems.

Welcome van life, the cabin in the wood, and a farm in the countryside. If the popularity of simple living did not rise with SoMe itself (The graph starts from the release of Instagram in 2010), then it at least spiked during the pandemic with all its frustration and financial pressures added to an imbalanced reward system.

“Simple Living” search volume since to establishment of Instagram.

As much as I like the idea of all of us moving back to a cabin or farm in tune with the environment, it would bare existential complications in our societies. Urbanization took place for valid reasons.

Fleeing to the woods might still be valid for people that feel lost in bigger cities with a strong desire for physical work and nature (like me) but that way of life comes with other struggles. Struggles that won’t be much less drastic than what we deal with right now.

Especially in the the financially deprived countryside, it is easy to fall back on SoMe as a means of income. Once that happens, you’re back at ground zero. But with a calmer environment.

There has to be a fundamental change rather than short-term “detox” or escaping modern life altogether.

The harsh truth

This is a concept for now. I won’t claim to have figured out life. That’s for the more pretentious YouTubers. But let’s have a look at a strategy that seems to work continuously by altering the source of misery.

How would you think your life would feel if you remove all effortless rewards? Stripping it naked from artificial happiness, naked from all pleasure you have not earned. Or at least make it scarce and valuable.

I assume the life you call acceptable right would not feel this way any longer. Once you can’t numb the worries with pleasures, you are forced to act. Dream ends and true feelings will come to the surface.

You might discover that you are financially unsatisfied (something simple living tries to cover up). Maybe you realize that your job is only bearable with intermediate effortless rewards (SoMe and coffee) and it’s time to quit or even leave the country for a different life. But let’s not forget the bright side. It could very well be, that without all FOMO and impression, you actually start to appreciate how things are and unveil happiness you could not find in the blur of the past.

All I’m saying is that we can’t judge life satisfaction while being high on the pleasures of effortless rewards.

As long as you don’t know where you want to go in a sober state of mind, you will feel like something is missing.

Actional advice

If someone tells you that they have figured out life, they are probably lying (either to you or themselves). I’m even having doubts that greek philosophers walked the walk all the time.

Having a two-week detox is like having a break from drug abuse and jumping right back into the environment that made you feel bad in the first place. Brilliant! But there is something to the approach. It has been there for ages.

Seeking enlightenment as a monk is pretty similar. The “Dopamine detox”, for good and commit to a life without desires and with loads of physical work. No social media, porn, or pleasure substances. If nothing comes easy things start to make sense. We keep it a little less drastic and more practical.

Perfection is an illusion, but being content with one’s way through life is achievable. The following is the best possible method I came up with the get sober from effortless rewards.

Monk Mode (light)

I said actionable, right? That means it has to be feasible as well. And we can’t all be monks or the like.

But we can get as close as possible, removing one effortless pleasure after another.

We are all different! Less addictive personalities or not, with different upbringing and struggles. So I won’t even pretend to tell you exactly how to change your behavior, but we can set the goals together.

Effortless rewards 1: Substance abuse

Let’s take hard drugs and steroids out of the equation and assume they are all detrimental in the long run.

But then there is the sneaky stuff. Caffeine. Nicotine. Sugar. Widely accepted and the biggest enemy in feeling what you truly feel. After years of battling caffeine usage and its proponents in research, I personally concluded *opinion* that no beverage that’s altering your mood and bowel movements should be consumed regularly.

How you get rid of them is up to you. It’s hard. If willpower isn’t enough (which it rarely is), maybe contact an expert in drug cessation. But even they have a hard time identifying successful methods.

What helped me with the caffeine was dissatisfaction with my life and mental state as well as physically getting rid of it. Gone for good.

Effortless rewards 2: Digital distractions

Controlling the giant ain’t easy. I don’t think willpower is doing anything at all. So I found a way to make it a one-time decision without a way back.

It’s been a few years of trying to block myself from apps and web pages until I came across freedom.to a service that offers an application for both mac/pc and iPhone/android.

It worked wonders on the mac. But the iOS ecosystem was not providing enough access for the app to run without backdoors of turning it off altogether. By turning off the VPN client, the application was useless.

So there were two options for me to get my phone usage under control. Either getting rid of the smartphone altogether. Or getting an android phone that could be restricted with no way around it.

I have an android phone now. And freedom finally does the job.

Here is the exact method I use, to restrict SoMe and time wasters for good.

Blocklist 1 — Phone:

SoMe (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok) and news are blocked for good by having them restricted from 8:00 pm to 7:45 pm, that way you have an emergency window to access them. It is set to our dinner time so most days it passes without notice.

Apart from the web domains you also have to block the individual apps.

Blocking the news section does work with accessing the actual news pages but still allowed you to see the headlines in the google news pages (browser). It may sound weird, but even with this, you can keep your brain occupied.

So the browser got blocked as well, same time schedule.

Now there is the issue that you could uninstall the freedom app via settings (despite admin control). The only way to prevent that is by adding the settings app to the blocklist (only available on android).

But we are done! The phone is set up. Your android phone transformed into a SoMe-free device while still being a pretty smart phone.

Blocklist 2— Mac/Pc:

We go a bit easier on the mac! SoMe have its value and place. That shall be respected.

Depending on your demands this may change. But I blocked SoMe and news (excl. YouTube) from 8:00 pm to 7:45, and YouTube from 8:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

In that way, there is still time for uploads if necessary.

On Sundays, all SoMe are unblocked from 2:00 pm to 8:00 to upload and share the week’s work.

Effortless rewards 3: (Music & Entertainment)

I’m not sure about the individual issues here, but blocking streaming services (series) and music platforms can receive the same treatment via the freedom app as long as it runs on your mac/pc or phone.

For me, these two have never been as problematic. I keep music available for workouts to reinforce the positive association the physical activity. Once scarce, music hits differently!

A decision for a better life

One might argue that this is removing all joy from life. But I would strongly argue against it. A finished project is more valuable than a coffee. Meeting a friend trumps seeing their life on a screen. And remove effortless pleasure creates hours (one average of 4/day) for sports, adventure, and true leisure that were once spent sedentary in the dim light of your devices.

This will in the long run reestablish work ethic and drive. Fueled by Dopamine.

It may well be that was all you were missing.

January 31, 2023

How much does it cost to live in Norway? (Countryside/Cabin)

tilldaling Norway

The dream of a life off the grid

As always, if you prefer to see the video version of this article, click here or scroll to the end.

We’ve been living in Norway for over a year! But now, after moving into our first own place (before that, we stayed at the family cabin of my girlfriend), financial reality hits differently. So today, we are going to have a look at how much it actually costs to live in a small house in Norway’s countryside. I’ve made a little list here so let’s go through it all the way from renting to going to the gym and having pets.

Housing

At the moment, we are renting a small house right by the sea. It has three small bedrooms, a big living area, and kitchen as well as a decent bathroom.

Rent

The rent for this 900$.

It differs a lot from the city and I would say that this is pretty much as cheap as it gets (except you go much further north). You need insurance here as well, so there is another 15$ adding to that.

Subtotal: 915$

Electricity/Water

Winters are cold here and electricity bills come outside the rent. We haven’t received our first one yet but it is most likely around 60$ if we are somewhat aligned with the average.

In terms of water, we are connected to a well. So no charges for that. Wastewater as well regular waste service is included in the rent.

Trash is a bit different here tho. We collect it outside for a while until we make a trip to a container every once in a while which is about a kilometer down the road.

Subtotal: 975$

Transportation

Having a car is inevitable. Distances are long in Norway!

And without owning it, work, groceries, and gym trips would be nearly impossible. Or at least they would take ages.

So we bought one in the very beginning. The search started back in Denmark. The 2014 Toyota Proace we bought with 100K mileage was 9400$. Let’s assume that it holds for 6 years. Which makes a monthly total of 130$.

To that, we need to add insurance, 115$ and fuel, 96$.

We are not done yet tho. Depending on where you go, there are some ferries to take and some toll roads to pay. Maybe just as an average add around 50$ if you are not commuting.

At least it’s not too complicated. You have this little device in the car called autopass. It’s a sensor for all toll stations, so everything is deducted automatically.

Then there is changing from summer to winter tires and if you drive as much as we do, either a small or big service every other year, maybe with some new breaks after all these hills. Adding another 85$ to the bill. This lets us end up with 476$ per month, for us two.

Subtotal: 1451$

Food

Assuming you are also in for a pretty decent diet, things are getting expensive.

Our current food bill is around 720$ for two.

That includes a good amount of chocolate tho.

Jokes aside, we are looking quite close at prices and are eating seasonal and pretty much whatever is on offer. So in terms of proper eating with a decent amount of calories, we should be pretty close to as cheap as it gets.

Subtotal: 2171$

Gym

I thought the gym would have been cheaper in the countryside but for two we end up paying a whopping 108$ every month

Subtotal: 2279$

Internet/Phone

Assuming you think about working somewhat remotely here, then there is also the internet bill. 60 mbs unlimited usage wifi is around 60$ and mobile providers with unlimited data are 65$ per phone.

We are lucky to still be able to use the danish contracts so our current bill is 65$ for two. We use our phones as mobile hotpot and therefore don’t have any cable-based wifi.

Subtotal: 2344$

Pets

Then there is one extra which might be interesting.

Countryside means space and more people than in the city have pets. Assuming you would like to have a dog. With getting a yearly checkup and some vaccines as well as food, and the initial price of a pure breed dog with a life expectancy of 10 years, that would be another 65$ per month.

Total

Our monthly expenses for two end up being around

2409$

1405$/person

It’s easy to see that Norway is one of the richest countries on the planet.

But it is still very much worth living here!

Overview

January 31, 2023

Top 5 little-known hikes in Norway

tilldaling Norway

An inspirational list for adventures off the beaten path.

In two years of week-long road trips through Norway, you see a lot. Things you like and things you don’t like.

What I personally don’t like are tourist queues. No magic view can withstand the destructive force of hundreds of smartphones longing for attention-grabbing Instagram stories.

If you come to Norway for guided tours up Galdhøpiggen and other mountains, fair enough! You will have to deal with other tourists. If you’re just up for amazing views, you definitely don’t have to stand on Trolltunga like a herd of sheep waiting to be shorn just to take a picture that millions have taken before.

Source: https://www.storytrender.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/0_CATERS_lining_for_the_fjords_01.jpg

Over time we have been hiking many alternatives with no less stunning views that could help you in planning your next Norway trip a bit around the hoards of tourists that flood the country every year.

It happens to be that I filmed five hikes from start to end so you know upfront what you can expect.

Katthammaren:

Eikesdalvatnet, Katthammaren

The peak is 1270 moh. (feels like more if the backpack is heavy).
You will find free parking even in the high season. Google maps coordinates for one of the parking lots are: 62.50996483486725, 8.170869083505032
Views 10/10, you can oversee all of Eikesdalvatnet.
Duration is 3.5 H up, 3 H down. You better start early and take the whole day.

This trip is for experienced hikers and is only to be done in good weather conditions. Try to avoid any rain as the steep parts will get dangerous. At points, you will have to hold on to chains and bands to pull yourself up along the wall.

Not without reason, the path is called the base jumpers path. Pretty much everyone you will pass on the way up won’t walk down, they jump.

Dønnamannen:

Dønnamannen, The man from Dønna

The peak is 858 moh. 50% easy 50% steep
Arrival: Take the ferry from Sandnessjøen to Dønna (within the week it drives pretty frequently). Some rides make take a little longer as you’re stopping by a neighbor island along the way.
Google maps for parking lot: (66.0461250, 12.3977206)
Free parking. Free Camping along the beach. You will even have access to a public toilet. Prepare for a good amount of wind.
Duration 2.5 H (one way)
Views: 10/10 all from the seven sisters to Lovund!

The parking spot is magical. If you are into it, there are great fishing opportunities so you won’t have to bring dinner.

Prepare for a good amount of Norwegians as the hike rose in popularity within the country in the past years.

Dønnamannen is for semi-experienced mountain hikers but doable for most without any experience if the weather is warm and dry. Otherwise, it can get a bit slippery.

One thing upfront, the weather around Dønna changes rapidly, if you can see the peak, you better run for it!

Ånderdalen Nationalpark:

Ånderdalen Nationalpark, Åndervatnet, Senja

There are many peaks in the national park but you most likely won’t aim for a specific one. This should be an overnight adventure.
There is a parking spot right at the entrance of the national park. On google maps, it’s called Trailhead Åndervatnet. The coordinates are 69.199039, 17.456935
Duration to Åndervatnet 1.5–2 H(one way)
Views depend on if you choose to head for the peaks afterward, I went to Ryphaugen and liked it quite a bit 8.5/10

Along the entrance of Åndervatnet, you will find a cabin with four sleeping spots that are free to use for everybody. Gas is available. So is firewood.

In the case it’s full already, you can stick to the left of the path for 20 minutes to reach a traditional Gamme (House with a grass roof) with another three sleeping spots. But well, always good to have a tent, right?

Be prepared for hoards of mosquitoes and blackflies on warm summer days!

PS: If you like fishing, up there is a great area to catch some big trout. Instructions for fishing cards can be found at the park entrance.

Lyngsdalen:

Lyngsdalen, Lyngseidet

Hike number two without aiming for a specific peak. Here you aim for the cabin in Lyngsdalen. This could be an overnight adventure.
There is a parking spot right at the community house in Furuflaten. It’s paid and damn expensive. The locals are upset about it too! One day is 30$ but I could not find an alternative place to stand. Here are the coordinates: 69.439725, 20.154705
Duration to Lyngsdalen 2–2.5 H (one way)

I did not plan to hike Lyngsdalen. My destination in Troms was Blåisvatnet near Tromsø.

In talks with locals on the day before the hike, I got to know that is one of those places that got flooded with tourists in the past years.

Later, Lyngsdalen was mentioned as a similarly beautiful alternative and it was! After walking a few hours to the cabin, you can choose to go onward to three different glaciers.

The best thing is that the cabin is even free to use. If you have a key. Ask for it in the community house!

Segla:

Segla in Senja

The peak is 639 moh. The hike is easy.
It’s said to say but this is the second very expensive parking spot. One day will cost you 25$ but if you’re just going up and down, you won’t need that long.
Google maps for parking lot: 69.504451, 17.626064.
Duration: 2H one way.
Views: If you have them (which is rare) 9/10

Senja is Norway’s second biggest Island and Segla is located in the north of it not too far from Senjahopen. There isn’t too much infrastructure, so be prepared for that.

We have been sleeping in the van close to Senjahopen and made our way down to Segla in the early morning. Already halfway you have a nice view with fjords to both sides.

For me, this was on the brink of being too touristy. And we were there at the end of the season.

January 30, 2023

Simple life in Norway is not what you think it is!

tilldaling Norway

You better prepare for these struggles.

If you want to have an even deeper insight into the Norwegian housing market and prefer to watch instead of reading, there is a video attached if you scroll down.

Golden sunsets, frosty winters, mountains, and fjords come to mind if anybody mentions Norway. And that is surprisingly exactly what it is. There is a lot of rain too. But however I twist it, Norway is one of the most beautiful countries to call home. The wide-open fields, steep mountain formations, and lush green, mossy forests emanate a sense of calm you can hardly find anywhere else.

Low population density has its charm. Looking at the YouTube and Google search statistics, city folks realize that a calm life in the countryside ain’t that bad. In the online space, Norway manifests itself as the holy grail for silence hungry overworked caffeine, and social media addicts (welcome to the club, eh). A tiny cabin or a small farm is a retreat of choice.
As a creator that has moved here two years ago, I can tell you finding the right place, or barely anything to start your dream is not that simple.

Context

My girlfriend and I moved here in 2020 amidst the corona chaos. Living in Denmark at that point, we had just canceled our rental agreement, ready long for South America travels. Despite the travel ban, we did not want to stay any longer homeless in Copenhagen. So our only options were to return to one of our home countries. With no desire for the crowded Germany, we chose the family cabin in mid-Norway. The most peaceful place I had ever been to at that point.

Long story short, we stayed there for a bit over a year. At one point borrowing a home stops feeling right, and you start looking for your own place.
So we decided, not willing to rent in the long term, to search for a small farm (Småbruk). A place surrounded by nature where we could transform into a space where people can reunite with nature.

How to buy a cabin/farm in Norway

There are just two options you stand a chance to buy any property in Norway. Either you have strong social connections and get news that somebody you are already acquainted with would like to sell their property, or you get lucky on Finn.no.

Finn (More often called Finn.no) is an equivalent of the many different digital marketspaces from other countries. Think about craigslist and ramp up trustworthiness and security.

Bolig til salgs | FINN Eiendom
Du finner 26485 boliger til salgs på FINN Eiendom. Søk og sammenlikn pris blant alle hus og leiligheter i hele Norge!www.finn.no

The first option is rather unsuitable for immigrants and young people. If you are in your mid-twenties, you probably don’t know too many property owners and even less that would like to sell.

You can still go and knock on doors but Norwegians are often more skeptical towards novelty than you would expect. So, Finn is your only chance.

Buying Property on Finn.no

Once you find a cabin or farm you would like to buy, it’s time to take up the fight with the rest of Norway.

Typically, the selling process consists of an official showing and a bidding (normally starting the next workday after the showing). As long as there is more than one interest buyer, the sale automatically shifts to continuous bidding for the highest price.

You do that via your birth number and liquidity proof from your bank via SMS within the system of the real estate agent.

The bidding round is what kills dreams. Incomes in Norway are high and hard to keep up with when it turns to the bidding. So here is example which is not uncommon in the current market.

The cozy pink glasses

This wonderful property was priced at 89.000$. It has 40 hectares of land (mainly forest) and is nicely sheltered with direct access to a river and mountains. Our dream property.

But do not let this scam you here are some of the costs you have to work with.

Making it liveable:

Roof asbestos, broken frame 20.000$
Foundation wet, new drainage 20.000$
Chimney broken — 3000$
New pipes — 8.000$
New bathroom — 20.000$

Making it nice:

Barn rotten, roof is asbestos and broken, the foundation is eroded by the rain river. Worth 0$ either tear down or complete restoration. If you do that yourself to keep the costs down — 50.000$-75.000$
New outside facade — 10.000$
Leveling the rooms (30 cm height difference due to the age and rotting wood) — 15.000$
Repairing the shed (with bedroom) 10.000$

That’s all fair enough. The costs will be spread over many and all in all it would be a fair price for having your dream home in Norway. 160.000$ to make it liveable, 110.000$ to make it nice. These prices assume that you do everything you can do by yourself and only use contractors if necessary.

If you are not willing to do that, you can add another 100.000$ on top.

Well, 270.000$ to get our dream home sounded doable for us. But now the bidding round came in.

The property went for 260.000$ buying price instead of 89.000$.

This system is broken.

In total with renovation, you would have to spend 520.000$ for the property now.

If you ever think about selling again, the commune estimated that it would be worth 300.000 after all repairs are done.

Whoever bought will lose money if they ever sell it again.

Don’t give up the dream

All the information should not play down any of the charms of living in Norway. It’s still amazing despite all the hassle!

But I want to warn you. Getting something nice is hard. Getting something nice for a fair price is nearly impossible!

Till

October 26, 2022

How to sell your photo prints online (Full Tutorial)

tilldaling Creator Life selling prints

Let’s start with a sad fact. Modern-day photography work centers around marketing and social media, not around creating memorable long-lasting visuals.

It’s easier to make money through brand deals and advertising or digital products than by creating something tangible, physical, and artistic.

Selling physical prints seems like so much more work in comparison.

Yet thinking that my work could provide real-life value for friends and subscribers made me add the print business to my otherwise digital work.

In the beginning, I thought taking care of the whole production chain seemed romantic. Yet after some research, there was too much financial risk attached to dipping my feet into a new market.

Living in the countryside in a small cabin in Norway would not have made logistics all too easy. Here we do not have local producers, and being two hours away from the next bigger city doesn’t make shipping easier.

To my surprise, 30 minutes on google gave up several online solutions.

It has been over a year since going for the most visually appealing *opinion* option and setting up my own print store using Pic-Time.

I’ve been quite happy with the service but it can be complicated to get everything right. That’s why you will find a full tutorial on how you can do the same (with Pic-Time, I don’t know too much about alternatives) and make your photography business a bit more real-life and a bit less digital.

As a sneak peek, that is the product page of my shop, just imagine your photos instead.

As always, if you prefer watching this as a video, it’s linked at the bottom of the page.

Making your own online print store (as a creator)

You saw it coming! Pic-Time is a subscription-based online gallery that offers you a web presence together with the necessary store infrastructure.

You can compare it with the Squarespace model. By being a customer, you receive your own domain as well as different customizable galleries and store templates to choose from.

If you (like me) only want to offer your work to followers and subscribers, an art gallery is the way to go.

Pic-Time also offers client galleries, but they are directed to existing interactions with customers from photo shoots like weddings.

Imagine art galleries as their own online store. You can basically offer everything from calendars to huge metal prints. The advantage here is that everything, from the order confirmation to the production and shipment, is taken over by Pic-Time or their suppliers. Hassle-free.

Pricing

We have to start with the uncomfortable stuff. You give some, you get some.

Obviously, Pic-Time time is not a free service. I have to say that I’m kind of glad that we are living in a world where quality products are supposed to cost money. People that are hiring photographers tend to forget that at times.

Setting up an Art gallery, or a store like the one I’d linked to earlier will throw you back by either 10 or 17 USD a month (15% commission or no commission).

*whisper* I’ve been working with the guys for a bit and have an affiliate code if you’re on a tight budget (it’ll be on the end of the article).

Pic-Time has special offers quite regularly, so if you wait a little bit you might be able to get a dollar or two off on both subscription models.

There is also a 30-day free trial for you to see if this is something you can generate income with or not.

You might need some hours to set everything up tho! Time is money too, so see it as an investment.

The print store/gallery setup

Once you decide to go for the trial, this outlay is what you got. On the left side, you have the navigation panel, in the middle is the analytics part and the workflow is on the right.

Head to the art galleries part and then use the new gallery icon to get going.

Name and Cover

There are a few things that we have to go through. To start, name your first gallery and upload a cover photo that will be the thumbnail displayed in the overall art gallery later.

You can choose the focal point option to decide on the visual center of your picture. That ensures that it will be displayed well on the main page.

Photo (Print) upload

It’s great if you, at this point, have already prepared the photos you’re planning to use in that gallery so that you can bulk upload and edit them. It will save you a lot of time.

The upload itself can take some minutes, so keep in mind that you do not have to wait till the end of all the high-res photo uploads to continue setting up your gallery.

Gallery Setup

Here you have a few things that will take a bit more time to get done.

First, you can decide if you like to have your photos watermarked or not (I personally never saw the point in it).

Then there’s the SEO description that can help to rank your store in search engines. It could be something as simple as:

hi, this is the official print store of till daling

The description is maximally simplified! But hey, SEO optimization is a bit much for this, you can get into it later.

The price lists and email packages are more complex.

But if you head over to the default price list, things are easier to understand.

Price List

In the default price list, you can see all the products that can be displayed in the shop. Products with a checkmark are available for purchase.

By default that is everything. It is most likely not what you want.

After some back and forth, I stuck to only wood-framed and metal prints.

If you choose individual products, you get more options to adjust.

The default for the metal prints is, for example, high gloss, mid-gloss, and satin. Again, everything is checked by default. It is your turn to identify the specifications you would like to sell and select a print laboratory for fulfillment.

Now you also have to decide on the actual store price. The production cost is on the left, and the profit is on the right.
Depending on where you are in your career and what profit margins you need, you can either increase or decrease the sales price.

Email packages

Now that you’ve updated your default price list, you can set the email packages to default and change them in the settings of the navigation panel.

Pic-Time made it pretty simple for art galleries to mark everything relevant with a red dot. As long as you check these boxes, you should be good to go.

Adding the products

To finally get your products into the store, head over to the art gallery tab and click “add products”. My personal recommendation is to plan upfront and always go for the batch-adding process.

Choose photos

This should be self-explaining.

2. Product variants

You can now choose which of the products you set up in the price list should be available from the photos you selected.

3. Descriptions

The name and item description should be self-explaining.

4. Product Variant Review

In this last step, you can change the product variant name (I left it to default), the way you want to display it (product image or actual photo) extra description, and the individual product price.

The latter can be helpful if you’d like the price to differ from the default catalog.

If you click “done” you will automatically add all product variants to the store.

Store outlay

In the store, you can make visual adjustments by hovering over “style”. Choosing a different grid will affect the arrangement of the individual products. If you would like to put more emphasis on a certain picture, hover over it and then drag the handlebars to adjust the size. The size adjustment only works in the “special” grid.

To rearrange the photographs within the grid drag and drop them to the place where you prefer them to be.

You can also add a cover photo or cover video by editing the title area. Everything you write in the text box will appear as a description right below the title and next to your cover photo or cover video.

Set the gallery as online

Make sure to set the status of the individual gallery from offline to online, and you should be good to go.

Finished store

When you have set up a few different art galleries, your main store page will look somewhat like this.

Embed into your own website

Through the share button on the main art page, you can also integrate the store into your personal website. Click integrate and choose your option. For WordPress, you can copy the code and paste it into a plain text module.