30.09.2026 Our herbal smudges

Each year, we forage and harvest plants and botanicals from our garden at Fäviken in Jämtland. Rooted in bygone practices of gathering and botanical curiosity, our herbal smudges are an act of preservation — a way of holding onto a fleeting season, when forests and gardens are at their most abundant.

Gathered at Fäviken and bound by hand - juniper, birch, hissop and other plants - each bundle preserves a fragment of the landscape through scent.

“Being here at the farm gives me a sense of presence. I find myself paying attention to the seasons. There is something very instinctive about walking through the fields, noticing what is in bloom and what needs a little more time.

At Fäviken, we have many ways of preserving what the land gives us. One is gathering flowers and herbs at their most abundant, binding them together, and leaving them to dry. In this way, their scents can linger long after the fields have faded. It’s a simple way of holding on to a little piece of summer at its fullest.

I also love crafting something from nature and making it useful. Something picked, harvested and bound by hand that you can keep. In our historical research, we came across the Nordic word Lövjeri, from the Old Norse lyf, meaning remedy. Lövjeri described a craft worked through material things, herbs and objects made by hand, that was often given as a gift. There is something very comforting to me in the idea that these traditional ways of making things can still feel meaningful today.”