lake loppin on another overcast morning.
after our big tour the day prior we 'stayed in' the next day, meaning that we went for a little hike in our loppin surroundings. as i have written before, loppin has some extensive woodland area in the west and the south, which belong to the protected landscape of the nossentiner/schwinzer heide. the heart of this landscape is basically an outwash plain formed by a glacier from the ice age. this plain is mainly covered with pine tree woods these days, though the protectors are at work to change these woods into a more diverse one. the glacier that once formed this landscape washed out channels over time and when it receded completely left the landscape dotted with lakes and marshes that are now home to rare plant and animal communities that enjoy and thrive on the nutrient-rich waters. the area is also an important cultural-historical one, formed by 5.000 years of anthropogenic cultivation. as the nossentiner & schwinzer heide are sparsely populated, a region could develop that charms with long stretches of woods devoid of any human beings, providing silence and calm and opening up your eyes for the beauty of nature around you, but also generating interest for the cultural landscapes and their history, which sometimes makes you feel like you are travelling back in time. many villages and cities have maintained an old world charm that is fascinating and alluring ( though of course we know, that past times were not as glorious as we often imagine them to have been ).
our morning walk lead us from loppin to jabel, the prinicipal town of the jabel township ( loppin is a district village of it ), and back again. i think we needed about 4 hours for this 'little' hike, but that's because our hikes are often full of stops and rests 😅 in general i think it can be estimated that this hike can be done in around 2 and a half hours, probably even less. we included a little sightseeing tour around jabel, so that of course lengthened the time aspect.
some tiny ponds between loppin and jabel. when you look closer...
... you are able to detect some ducks camouflaging themselves into the pond environment.
capturing all the autumnal details that, at the end of september, are more apparent each and every day, as we progress into the fall season.
as mentioned before, there's a youth camp in the woods between the two villages that has a big focus on nature education. we stumbled upon a little parcours that taught you some interesting things about ants!
they put up some info signs along the parcours that were super twee, with illustrations that looked like they had been drawn by a kid! here you can see the children's nurse taking care of the wee baby ants inside the care ward and also the servant nourishing the majesty!
a sign on the nuptial flight of the ants. i didn't know that this wedding ends tragically in the death of the groom! also, only very few ant queens get accepted into an existing ant populace, most will end up creating their own. many ants on their nuptial flight are also victims of birds who welcome this happening with gusto and feast on the many winged insects that soar up from the grounds in summer!
this sign was definitely not drawn by a kid 😂 it shows a blue tit sitting down on an ant nest and getting sprayed against mite infestations. such a cool symbiosis!
an artfully constructed tree hut out of logs.
time and time again already drying fruit of the rowan tree crossed our paths. they are, amongst other things in autumn, symbolic to me for the season! their fruit can be used for a wide variety of things, but mainly need to be cooked ( or in some cases freezed ) before it can be used as edible components ( they are even less bitter after the frost went over them ). rowan berries can be used in jelly, in alcoholic beverages and even as a coffee bean substitute! i always thought these berries are toxic as hell for humans ( they are toxic in raw condition and when eaten in huge amounts ), so learning that they indeed could be used for jellies and other kinds of food surprised me and made me develop an appreciation for this tree. before that, i had only just liked the tree because its berries looked so gorgeous in autumn light, but knowing now that it has so many more uses and is also considered as an important mythological tree in folklore, i have a completely different perspective on it!
juniper tree fruit in various states of ripening. did you know that the berries are actually cones? they are also widely used for gin production and as a spice. the wood of the juniper tree has a very pleasant smell when it is burned, so it is used also for fumigating processes.
found a bright red little leaf embedded in some mossy soil! i think the leaf is part of the stinking storkbill. when you rub the fresh leaves betweent your fingers it is said to smell like burning tires. i haven't tried it out, but will look out for it in the future to prove the theory!
we also found a very soft and fuzzy mushroom! it is a wooly milkcap, which can only be eaten after a special treatment ( soaked overnight, cooked in fresh water for 5 minutes and then pickled in salt or vinegar ). i dont't know what it tastes like, but it is said that after the special treatment the toxic bitterns are removed and therefore create an edible product with a peppery taste. i'd rather look at it and enjoy its fuzziness, i think there's too much risk to experience painful gastrointestinal symptoms 😅
oh, the tiny details of autumnal nature ❤
a typical landscape of the nossentiner / schwinzer heide. heide is the german word for heath, which is a plant that is also fairly common around here. the landscape itself is also called heath, known to be fallow land that has low-growing vegetation. the landscape here wasn't created naturally, it is a product of agricultural management, mostly silvopasture practices in which the cattles of cows or flocks of sheep repressed the growth of possible tree populations and created a landscape that only allowed low-growing plants to survive. the common heather is another plant you can find here.
another interesting plant - the black nightshade. the entire plant is quite toxic, even though there are some people claiming that when the berries are fully ripe, you can eat them - even making jelly out of them, or eating the leaves cooked like spinach. i think i won't ever test it out, too deep is my fear that this plant might make me sick 😂 eating the unripe berries can actually cause even more damage, fatal cases have been reported. i find these plants incredibly beautiful - but i have some serious respect for its dangerous beauty.
some ripe nightshade berries. they look delicious, but... no, sirs and madames, this is not for me to try! i'd rather live my life without abdominal pains, vomit and diarrhea. and no one telling me that it tastes like licquorice and melon will ever persuade me to try it out!
when we arrived in jabel, a black witchy cat greeted us!
jabel is known for a 300 year old yew, a gnarly and massive ogre of a tree, with a circumference of about 4,75 m. i have never in my life seen such a big yew tree ( and i grew up with one - my parents have one in their garden, which my dad continuously trims into a weird shape that resembles bert of sesame street 😂 ).
to follow the red thread of the day - getting to know nature a little closer and learning about what kind of plants surround us - the yew tree is another example of a toxic plant and this one can be really hard on human beings, pretty often leading to certain death. that's why humans mostly only used the wood of the yew tree, as it is said to have extraordinary density and hardiness. because of the elasticity of the wood it was made into spears and arches, but also into objects of utility like spoons, plates, bowls and wooden needles. of course, people probably used it for lower stuff too, probably motivated by hatred and vengeance - as a poison. it was used in poison darts most often, but also generally as a toxic tincture. with so much toxicity in its wake it does not surprise that in mythology the tree is often synonymous with death, but also, resurrection or immortality! that's because they can grow very, very old, even up to 1.500 years old! definitely a tree that might split people up over it.
a gorgeous parsonage building with adjacent barn and forge was in close vicinity to the yew tree ( it is part of the property ). the house was built in 1824. one of germany's most well-known low-german writers, fritz reuter, resided here for one year in 1841. his uncle was a pastor in jabel and therefore could provide a shelter for the shunned reuter, who had lived a pretty boozy life thus far and, after being incarcarated for a few years for high treason, being part of a fraternity and lèse-majesty, was sent to a far-away destination away from the worldly allurements to repent for his sins. in the end, a lot of characters being part of his tellings and books were inspired by some of the personalities he encountered during his time in jabel.
the aforementioned barn and forge are on the right side ( next to some equally mindblowing and overtowering old beech trees ). in the back you see jabel's village church, which was built in 1868, on the remnants of a former medieval church that burnt down in 1859.
nothing beats a rustic-looking old barn building and a beech tree that also seems to have a few hundred years on the clock!
the neo-gothic bell tower of the church. it is situated directly on a graveyard, which is quite common in small villages in the country!
we then made our way back to loppin, but not without stopping to look at pretty little flowers, like these purple lungwort blossoms...
... and saying hi to a tiny herd of sheep that grazed closely to loppin lake.
for the afternoon we drove a bit further up north, stopping at an architectural nugget that seemed a little forgotten and forlorn ( that might've been because of the rainy weather - maybe it's not the case when the weather is more friendly 😅 ).
i am talking about blücherhof estate - which is comprised of a manor house from 1902, several farm buildings that also were built around 1900 and a dendrological garden that is actually widely acclaimed as significant because of its exotic trees and shrubs and over 600 years old oak trees! our visit was very brief here, the intensifying rain was kind of a setback for further exploration. the manor is owned privately and can't be visited, but the park around it is open for the public. while we were there i found the air around the manor kind of peculiar, i did question some of the decorational elements as out of place and a little odd, fake ivy was hanging from the beautiful art nouveau awning and a tiny glance inside the foyer also revealed lots more fake flowers and plants. of course i felt like an intruder, so i didn't look into it any further and didn't dare to take more close-up pictures. however, the manor is still very lovely to look at, though compared to a photo from 1921, it lost its gorgeous vaulted facade elements and the side wings were altered and extented - making it a little less elegant and more chunky.
the manor is reachable via a drive and a perron. my personal favourite detail of the manor is definitely the awning, as mentioned before, it is a gorgeous art nouveau creation.
we explored a bit of the park and passed by a little pond! there are more ponds on the property, but this one was the only one we encountered - the hofteich.
i enjoyed a little moment here, standing in the rain, umbrella in hand and watching the raindrops create splashes in the water. can you spot the water bird? ( i don't know the water bird 😅 - i think it was a young swan, judging from its long neck )
these pretty parapets were another detail i absolutely adored. the whole park had a jungle-like air - a bit overgrown, a bit secret garden-like. i would've loved it to explore a little further, but we ended up taking the wrong path, one that led away from the park and to the other estate buildings. and since the rain got stronger and stronger, we eventually decided to call it quits.
spotted a bedraggled-looking greenhouse, but the decrepit stage made it super romantic 😍 there were roses growing out of the broken glass covers and other shrubs and bushes.
another abandoned building on the property. it's formerly been a wheelwright's workshop.
my parents checking out a huge giant puffball, the size of a football! i didn't know that yet when i shot the photo, though ^^; i just loved the motive, big tree stump, fall leaf covered path and my parents ❤
i caught up with them and let out an excited hoot upon seeing this monster mushroom. it had been nibbled on by slugs already ( as the presence of one specimen might suggest ;D ), but it looked very pretty still! a little bit further down, my dad discovered another one and that one he 'stole' for dinner preparations later 😅 you can make very delicious schnitzel out of these, that kind of taste like actual schnitzel made from pork or veal and that's what we ended up eating that evening.
also part of the whole estate were some farm buildings, such as this gem, which served as a horse stable. it was built in 1909.
the whole estate was one of the most modern agricultural estates in mecklenburg at the time it was built, even automatic drinking troughs were installed inside the stables for the horses and other animals and, to store crops and harvests inside the granaries, lifts and crabs were used to heave them up the upper storeys. the owner of the estate, one alexander koenig, son of a wealthy sugar trader, who himself was a zoologist, set high values on proper representation according to his status and therefore had all the buildings on the property built in a rich and luxurious manner. blücherhof estate is one of the most pompous estates in the mecklenburg lakelands and through its dendrological garden also one of the most remarkable ones. as a zoologist mister koenig was very interested in exotic things, including collecting and planting groves full of special shrubberies and trees for his own pleasure on his property.
another view of the horse stable.
i loved the dressed stone facade!
another stable building, built earlier in 1905. an avant-corps is quite noticeable here, giving the building a very stately appearance. also seen behind the stable is a granary building and the small house on the right side is a former pigeonry (1900), now a little cafe.
the pigeonry was quite cute, i would probably converse it into a tiny house, if it was my proprietary 😂
but it surely is a very cute cafe location. it was not open while we were there, they opened it up only on weekends and holidays during autumn season.
this building was also built for agricultural purposes, though it is now used as a hostel / inn - they rent out vacation homes that were installed inside it, but also it can be booked for festivities and exhibitions.
the former cattle stable charmed you entirely with brightly red vines crawling up the facade ❤ unfortunately the rain got so intense then, that we stopped exploring the estate and returned back to our car, which was situated...
... near these fantasic iron-wrought gates!
showcasing some details.
if it hadn't started raining so heavily we would have definitely stayed a bit longer, especially since the park of the estate looked so very promising. maybe... in the future, when we will be able to move more freely again, i will return to this place ( and i will definitely return to the region, it completely charmed me and i definitely want to explore some more! ).
to end this post i have some random photos that i shot on a very quick stop in klink, in front of the castle there, on another super foggy morning. these photos did not really fit into one of the other upcoming posts, so i decided to include them here. i did not want to let them go to waste in the depths of computer storage, i love them quite a lot!
an old statue overgrown with lichen, a spider web covering the woman's face like a veil - the combination really struck an aesthetic core within me!
she also wore some very delicate snail ornaments!
in conclusion: i love her ❤
next we'll be visiting malchow, an utterly charming little town that we would end up visiting again for our summer vacation in 2020, which we could attend as corona regulations and restrictions were a lot less strict than they are now.
so, stay tuned and curious!
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