Skalanes is a private conservation site where the emphasis is on studying and preserving the area's nature and cultural heritage. It sits on a hill facing the ocean, mountains and cliffs behind, black sand beach with huge windswept rocks, waterfalls and the evil yet beautiful lupina plant with its blue blossoms. The farmhouse itself is almost quaint. It has a large sunroom for sitting and reading. It has a small room with a huge driftwood mantle over a couch facing a fireplace. There are fossils, animal pelts, skulls and bones, strange rocks, smooth driftwood and old bottles displayed everywhere. In addition to volunteers and naturalists that come out here to study, they also have a small tourist trade. It is no frills but the natural beauty alone is worth the exorbitant cost of staying. Fortunately we were volunteers workers so food and bunk was provided.
Our work at Skalanes started with cleaning the rocky beaches. The beaches are cleaned once per year so there was a minimal amount of trash. We mostly picked up discarded fishing equipment like ropes, styrofoam and small plastics. There are small gorges where the water from the ocean crashes against the cliffs and sea birds nest. The volcanic rock is black and slick against the bright green of the grasses. The air is wet with mist and fog and lends a most mysterious aura to this secluded place.
Our host guided us on a short walk to the cliffs and gave us a lesson in soil erosion and how the land is changing. Our next task here would be planting trees. He is very passionate and committed to his land. He doesn't do it for money but rather for love of the area.
The second day we started our work planting small tree seedlings on a steep hillside. Our host, Olli, has a long term vision where the trees will mature and protect the mountain soil against erosion and volcanic eruptions. We spent a few days in pairs planting our baby trees and walking through knee high grasses, sitting on spongy moss against a craggy rock to eat a snack and look out at waterfalls tumbling past us. To attempt to describe the natural magic of this place that seduced me is almost impossible. It didn't matter that we were working in the rain and wind. It was a beauty that inspired serenity. I worked with Rudolfs and we talked about so many things. Conversations about cultures, his passion for his country, prejudice, life's path and we laughed a lot. I heard a lot of "we have a saying in Latvia"... It's amazing how many times I had an equivalent from the US. It made me laugh every time he said it.
Our last task was building a duck house- or as we preferred to name it- the Duck Motel. Skalanes has a very active bird community. They have eider ducks that nest and then they gather the down to make blankets to sell for additional income. I slept under one of these down comforters all week. I might as well have been lying under a cloud it was so fluffy. So they needed some good nesting boxes for these guys and we were put on the task. We all got to put our hands to good use using hammers, nails and other manly tools to build this thing. I had no idea how much I loved to whack stuff with a hammer. It didn't hurt that it was a bright sunny day on the edge of a cliff looking at the ocean either.
I realized sometime during the week that I was no longer afraid to walk to the edge of these cliffs and admire the view. Somehow, standing on the precipice of epiphany I realized fear of heights or getting too close to the edge had receded so far back that it was a fuzzy memory. I walked outside late one night- almost midnight- when the light was so dim and I would've sworn I was standing on the edge of the world. There were no sounds but nature.
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