Feb 17, 2022
Imagine deep forests, small lakes and classic red cottages - we are in the middle of idyllic Småland. Here you can have a thoroughly climate-positive experience in Ödevata, outside Emmaboda.
Ödevata Gårdshotell and FiskeKamp is a forerunner in sustainable lifestyle and tourism, which is constantly developing its climate-positive concept.
The latest project is a comprehensive renovation of a dilapidated old barrack house which is being transformed step by step into holiday apartments for families longing for nature. In these apartments the Ödevata team has chosen to install Orbital Showers.
Malin and Magnus Axelsson is a couple who are passionate about change. 16 years ago, they got the chance to buy a then completely dilapidated object consisting of a set of properties that were basically empty shells. Since then, a farm hotel has been built step by step from scratch with focus on beautiful accommodation of high quality. Ödevata Gårdshotell strives to become the most sustainable tourist facility in Sweden, if not the entire world. Not just for the experience, but to inspire others to make better choices as well.
Ödevata Gårdshotell is today a full-fledged tourist facility, but at the same time it is home and a real life project for the host family. On the farm there is also a small animal husbandry and a lot of crops.
From the beginning, there were three large and more or less dilapidated buildings on Ödevata. One house has been turned into an orangery and another house was rebuilt into what is today the family's climate-smart home. The third is "Axelsson's green lawn" which is now being converted into a holiday home in the true spirit of recycling.
Axelsson's green house will be residential building no. 2 at Ödevata Gårdhotell. It will accommodate three family apartments of approx. 50 m2 each. All apartments will have two bedrooms with private bathrooms and that's where the Orbital Shower comes into play.
- Orbital Systems showers are what we consider to be the most sustainable and innovative product for saving water and energy right now on the residential market. We want to be involved in showing and spreading this further, says Malin Axelsson.
Axelsson's gröna länga is an old barracks building that housed inmates in what was then the penitentiary until 1997. The house has not been used since then. A perfect object for the Axelsson couple to start a true recycling project, keeping the body of the house and starting from scratch - rebuilding, replacing in a true environmentally friendly fashion.
- It is a venture that we would not have dared to make a few years ago. But now we know that our guests will understand because they have followed us for many years. We now choose completely different materials and construction techniques than during our earliest construction projects. We want to put the environment first and we know that the market is ready for a different and unique accommodation, say Malin and Magnus.
What then defines a recycled house?
Magnus and Malin explain how they work:
• We renovate an existing building.
• We use as little new material as possible. Magnus buys the material from recycling/building care stores and second hand.
• If we have to buy new, it must be sustainable and/or local.
• We reuse materials that are already on the farm and in our surroundings.
• The house is built to stand for many decades.
• Energy consumption must be as low as possible
New environmental projects are constantly being launched at Ödevata farm - and central to many of the projects is biocoal. Biochar can function both as a soil improver, filter for sewage and water treatment, animal feed supplement, carbon dioxide sink, urban tree savior and football surface. At Ödevata, they have among other things, green roofs grown in biochar and water purification by aquaponics using biochar. It is also used as a feed supplement and litter for chickens, to bind nutrients in compost bins and as a soil improver in farms.
Another development project is what is called the "Orangery of the future". It is a large glass house with so-called aquaponic cultivation. Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system that combines fish and plant farming. Here, the biochar is used as a filter system for fish farming, and at the same time, cultivation is done directly in the nutrient-rich biochar. After a lot of experimentation, they have now succeeded in growing passion fruit, bananas and lots of tomatoes.
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