Week 2 - And into the wild we went!

Time flies by so fast here in Shipka...

Although we have been here for two weeks now, it still feels like we had only just arrived yesterday.

Our second week was filled with color and activities and looking back at all the photos we took, it's really hard to believe we have only been here for fourteen days now. 

The thing that most of us perceived as probably the biggest challenge when setting out on this adventure, was the fact that we would have to spend full six months living and working with people we have never seen before. 

Now, after two weeks, it seems that we complement each other really well and get along very well. What will make our group dynamic successful and productive even in the future, is the diversity of our colorful and diverse personalities, different talents and skills, interests, and being open to learning.

Week two was full of adventures!

For me, the highlight of the week was our walk in the wild, where we foraged for wild medicinal herbs and flowers. 

We even found a beautiful, cold stream to cool ourselves down after the heat of the sun became heavy to bear. 

It was here, by this very stream, where we found the most fragrant wild mint of all. We collected some, enough but not too much,  and let the rest grow bigger and wilder.

Upon returning home we put the freshly foraged herbs and plants to dry. We will use most of them in the next few weeks when we will be making beautiful herbal ointments and flavorful, healing tea mixes.

 

The herbs we have picked. all have amazing healing properties.

We made an infused oil from the beautifully fragrant chamomile just a few days after picking it and drying it. The hot summer weather really makes the drying process fast and allows for fairly fast production of dried-herb products. 

I really encourage you to give an infused oil a try :D

It's so so easy to make it and you can use it for all sorts of things and products.

All you need to do, to make an infused oil, is :

1. Buy or forage your herbs;

2. Dry them (and make sure they really are dry)

3. Buy or reuse a mason jar

4. Fill it with dry herbs

5. Cover it with oil of your choice and make sure they are all covered if possible (make sure it is cold-pressed and of high quality)

6. Put the jar on a sunny windowsill

7. Turn and shake the jar, every day for a few weeks, and voila :)

Here is a more precise recipe that you can use: How to Safely Make Infused Oils (psu.edu)

We did the same also with dry yarrow flowers and in the coming weeks, we will make a lemon balm infused oil as well :D

Infused oils weren't the only things many of us have been making for the first time ever. 

We also made our first homemade jam, and it turned out to be the tastiest cherry jam any of us ever had.

We first washed the cherries that we collected from our and Sophie's garden.

Then, we de-pitted them, but it looked more like we *butchered* them. 

See, I told you :D

And then we cooked them and made them into a jam.

Here is the recipe: Easy cherry jam recipe | BBC Good Food

I encourage you to give it a try :D

Oh and I almost forgot...

From cherries, we didn't just make the most amazing jam ever...

 We also made some sweet compote, that will serve as a fresh drink on a hot summer day.

Just the process of making it made us drool!

Week two was full of goodies! 

Ruhsar, our beautiful lady from the Netherlands (originally Turkey), made some homemade yogurt from the milk we bought from a local farmer :D

Look at this !!!

Beautiful, right!?

But the food wasn't all we did in our week two.

We also made it our mission, to clean some of the nature paths from plastic and trash.

All in all, week two was my favorite week by far. I know... we've only been here for two weeks, but the truth is that a week like this will for sure stay in our memories. 

We tried out so many new things and had so many opportunities to really bond for the first time. We cooperated and helped each other, and we were creative together. 

Let's see what week three will bring :D

Stay tuned for more adventures, 

and don't forget that you can be a part of an adventure like this one as well. 

Find the right adventure for yourself here: About | European Youth Portal (Europa.EU)

Brought to you by Tara from Slovenia, 

Cheers <3