Emilie has already posted some awesome pictures from both events, here and here, so I've decided to take you behind the scenes of the cafe at magical Mabon a couple of weeks ago. I get a lot of questions about how it really is doing this kinds of pop-ups, especially in the forest, and its safe to say that it is as wonderful as it is exhausting, and often full of the unexpected.. This is the story of the days and hours leading up to the event. A messy story, with a very happy ending!
Getting to Mabon - The hours leading up to the event
After all, the more time we spend prepping in advance, the more time we have to play and have fun, both in the cafe and on the dance floor!
After 10hours of intense cooking, we got picked up by @xtetrahedron who were going to drive us and the cafe over to the event in the forests around Oslo. It had been a public warning that a storm were heading towards the area, but we were still optimistic and ready to set everything up. It turned out to be a long and wet night, with barely any openings in the pouring rain, and no real chance to set up more simple covers..
When I woke up the following in the morning I was soaking wet, and realized that I would need something dry, and obviously waterproof to wear, so at the first glimpse of some sun I wandered of to find the closest bus stop. I will spare you the details, but its safe to say that I quickly got terribly lost. It became a long and (again) wet walk, as the rain quickly returned. I was starting to lose hope, both for myself and the whole weekend, when I suddenly found a farmer who were kind enough to give me a lift to the closest bus stop. My faith in the project was restored, and I decided for myself that no matter what happens, this is going to be one hell of an awesome gathering!
While I was running around getting lost, the remaining crew had to overcome the hurdles of building the cafe and area around in a mild case of Storm with a big S. On top of this, because of the public warning of the storm, several crew members, including the responsible of Art and Deco, didn't dare to come at all that day (in hindsight, a very reasonable choice). Luckily the remaining crew had been clever enough to bring the appropriate clothes for the occasion and did an absolutely amazing job, despite the rough conditions. I am beyond grateful to be working with such creative and resourceful people!
Down in the city after finding waterproof practically everything, I teamed up with Kaja to get a hold of the last missing pieces. We still needed things that is best completely fresh, like salads, and also huuuge kettle for the chai and cacao. Nothing is better than a warm cup of chai when the night is getting colder on the dance floor, and when we make it, we make a lot!
But on the way back into the forest we managed to get lost, again.
At this point all I could do was laugh(with some desperate tears in between), and so we laughed our way through bushes and branches, and after a while we were walking in complete darkness. Since it was raining so much, it took us a while to realize that we for quite some time actually had been walking in a creek(!!), instead of the path we had been picturing..
When we finally after around 3 - 4 hours found the location (which should be a walk of around 30 minutes), we looked something like this :
We were of course awfully late, but because of the storm very few guests had showed up for the first night, so we had the pleasure of being welcomed with brave smiles, big hugs, and warm tea. After two long days, we were all reunited, and could finally focus on what we really came for. Love, laughter, cooking and awesome music.
Despite all the hurdles on the way, it actually turned out to be a wonderful weekend. The following day the skies cleared up, and the trolls and ferries of the Norwegian forests finally dared to come out of their cosy caves to play with us. And we finally got the pleasure of serving them warming food, energizing cakes and healing home brewed teas in a cozy and dry cafe.
We are 'Ambrosia ~ vegan food and herbal healing.'
A small group of passionate beings with a burning desire to both share and gain more wisdom about nature, our bodies, and how they connect.
With our traveling vegan cafe, we are looking to accomplish many things, you can read more about our vision in our introduction post.
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