Vilm in the course of the year 2009
Yellow pears and swans
There is a poem of the German Friedrich Hölderlin who lived from 1770 to 1843 and which can come to one’s mind these days on Vilm. It is called “Half of life”. It describes a piece of land “hanging” into the lake with hanging ripe pears, and swans dunking their heads into the holy water, drunken of kisses.
At the moment, the last pears are hanging on the tree, and whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) are around the island, having a rest of several weeks before they continue their journey. And the windless, foggy days give a special atmosphere to the water of the lagoon…
Summer fruits
We on Vilm know: There is a fruit garden on the island. (The droppings of the animals tell us that they also know!) Right now we can observe a nice aspect of the biological diversity there: Fruits in all colors! Mirabelles, for example, can be either purple, red or yellow, did you know?
Through a project for the reestablishment of the old kitchen garden of Vilm, 20 seedlings of old varieties of apple were planted. The fruits are not ripe yet, but you can already see that they are of various kinds. These varieties had been widely spread in the region but are prone to extinction nowadays. They are not common anymore because they are not so suitable to the modern forms of plantation, processing and marketing, they often do not fulfil the respective norms. Many times, these kinds have characteristics which the few ones we can buy in the stores do not have. This can be an especially high or low acidity, an early or late ripening – or a higher resistence against vermin which may infect the widely planted kinds in the future. Some of the old kinds may also be better adapted to the consequences of global warming in this region. So it’s a good idea to preserve these kinds. Who knows for what they will be good for? And they will surely taste good – hopefully they ripe soon.
Spring, brides and the Ovoo
The season of new beginnings this time came sneaking up slowly and then suddenly was there. The time we longed for the first leaves is over, the time there was a thick, green, flowered carpet on the forest floor and the tree walls were transparent have passed. Now the cherry, apple and pear trees as well as many shrubs are brimming with white blossoms and look like adorned brides embedded in the light green landscape. We need some rain though, as the flowers do not have much nectar at the moment, thus few of the Vilm bees are visiting them and so, we might not get so many fruits or honey… (Our seminar guests like to buy this honey!)
A German-Mongolian group which worked on Vilm also brought something new: an Ovoo. If you travel in Mongolia you will see these stone piles with a stick and blue scarves attached to it at the highest elevation of travel routes and important places. People get off the horse (or the car) when they pass, take a stone from the ground, walk three times around the Ovoo (clockwise!), put the stone on the pile and make a good wish. Now you can do this on Vilm, too!
P. S. referring to the winter text: It did not!
Will it or will it not?
…Freeze up?
Every winter since the branch office of the BfN on Vilm exists, the water of the “bodden” between the isles of Rügen and Vilm turns to ice. Every winter except in the last two years! Thus the big question, how it will be this winter.
Vilm is located in the “Greifswalder Bodden”, which is a very shallow part of the Baltic Sea where the sea current is weak. So, it can freeze up relatively easy. There has already been smaller ice floes, crunching ice water and a thin, crackling ice layer – but will it or will it not? …
The freezing up of the bodden has consequences both for humans and animals on Vilm. The staff and visitors of the island would have to take the “icebreaker” boat instead of the normal one. For the animals, there would be a possibility to walk to Rügen (after two years!) – for some this could be a welcomed opportunity to visit relatives, look for a partner or to move.
