YIP Newsletter December 2015 – Into the New Year

Silence has settled on Ytterjärna as the Yippies lift off to various destinations for the Winter break, and readying themselves for the internship journeys that lay beyond.  It has been a wild ride these last few weeks and months with so much going on both inwardly and outwardly that it is hard to believe that it has come to a close.  …

YIP Newsletter November 2015 – Internships and Initiative

The first stinted winter temperatures have arrived in Ytterjärna, coupled with the first collective experience of a sub-zero climate.  Peppered within this collective are a few first-timers pulling scarves closer to chins and learning the practical language of layers and the consoling comforts provided by wool.  Already forever changed in their interpretations of Winter and Cold, the pervasive thought of …

YIP Newsletter October 2015 – Sequence Initiated

Fall is here.  It arrived in quiet explosions of gold and yellow, brisk gusts of wind that brought down finished leaves and the swoosh-swoosh-swoosh sound of children’s boots walking along the forest paths.  Although it has been particularly dry and spectacularly sunny, jumps in the fjord are becoming less frequent and on most mornings a thickening frost covers each glassy …

YIP Newsletter September 2015 – Settling In

As fall descends on Ytterjärna in crisp gusts, leaves begin to yellow and the day has decided to share equal time with the night, even if just for a moment.  The buzzing energy of arrival and the excitement of unexplored territory has gently receded in a comfortable exhale of growing familiarity.  The common room in Tallevana is filled with people …

YIP Newsletter August 2015 – The New Chapter

Although the summer holidays have drawn to a close with children back at school and the YIP office again buzzing with life, the Swedish summer is still in full swing.  The gardens are overflowing with vegetables and flowers of all kinds, the apples are growing bigger on their tree branches and hay is collected from the fields, stored away for …

YIP Newsletter July 2015 – The Closing of a Chapter

Almost silence.  It came like the moment after a warm thunderstorm passes over and the birds come out from cover.  It fell upon the place like a stealthy blanket, somewhat bewildering, but graceful and soothing.  Before it arrived, a wave of nearly overwhelming energy walked beside the awareness that a culmination was approaching and stayed with everyone until the end.  …

YIP Newsletter June 2015 – The Finale in Brief

It certainly hasn’t been the warmest of springs here in Sweden.  Quite the contrary in fact with some sources saying that it’s the coldest May since 1962 and the rainiest it has been in Sweden at this time of year in two centuries!  That being said, the spring buds have still blossomed and the shoots of grass that have been …

YIP Newsletter May 2015 – Financing the Future

As the sun gets steadily warmer, stays later and becomes ever more brilliant in our little haven at the water’s edge, spring has exploded in a wave of green, yellow and purple.  Memories of times past bubble to the present, like early morning plunges into the icy fjord, campfires in the forest, or the simple things, like being comfortable outdoors …

YIP Newsletter April 2015 – Internships and Initiative

It has been a quiet time here in Ytterjärna for those of us who have remained behind.  But slowly those beating hearts have trickled back into this mysterious place that we have all come to know as ‘home’.  The quietness of the weeks that have passed has most certainly not meant stillness in planning and scheduling, conversation and design, in …

YIP Newsletter March 2015 – Working in the World

Has spring already sprung in Järna…?  Perhaps it should not be said aloud for fear that winter might feel overlooked!  Yet a warm sun shines from blue skies today, with all the hints and smells of spring.  And despite the frosty nights, little Eranthis flowers have poked through the composted ground, strong and full of promise.  Perhaps they just needed …