Our two new hop plants, the old Swedish varieties Grimsarbo and Olarsbo, seem to be growing nicely. For the first year, I dont't expect them to make it all the way up their respective 6m high poles, or produce any amount of cones that will be worth harvesting.

This year's veggie garden is taking shape. Note the pole for birds of prey to sit on, which we raised in the hope for them to eat the voles that invaded last year.

In November a Ural owl visited our garden. This might not be very spectacular, after all they are not that rare in middle and northern Sweden. But I had never seen one before and was glad it stayed long enough for me to go get the camera.

It is commom knowledge here that Ural owls can get pissy during the spring when they have offspring. The Swedish name for them is slaguggla which literally means "the owl that hits you".

Nevertheless I just built a nesting box this morning, from some scrap material:

The cube of 30cm on all sides, plus a half roof, is meant to mimic a dead tree trunk that has rotted away on the inside, leaving a cavity. My little book on animal shelters says this is what Ural owls like to nest in. Now I only have to find a good spot in the forest and a way to put it up; it is quite a bit larger and heavier than it looks in the picture.