Farming in Stockholm

In Sweden, we can lease a small "plot" in Koloni in the area, where you reside. Same is true in Stockholm as well. I have added some FAQ below and some pictures from our farm followed by.

Is there any price? Yes, there is a price.
One-time price: Registration amount, usually 400 SEK or 500 SEK depends on Koloni association.
Annual-rent: One-time paymnet per year, rent amount varies from plot to plot depends on the size.
For e.g. we are paying 850 (next year it will be 1000 SEK) for our plot, size 110 square meter.

How to apply for it?
Every area has their own Koloni. Visit Stockholm Koloni website, click on "Våra föreningar" (Our Associations), there is a drop down menu and select your area. Then, area-wise colonies will be displayed with either email id or web site name or contact number. You can send them your personal number and address to join the queue.

What about water?
Water connection is usually provided for each plot in colony but there are specified periods, which can be found from respective website.

Are there any rules to be followed?
Yes, no pesticides are allowed to be used. Must use plot for culitivation to continue to be leased to you. Else, it will be handed over to another person in queue.

What are the benefits?
We as a family enjoyed a lot, starting from seeding till harvest. We loved every moment of it. We have grown variety of vegetables: Spinach, Fenugreek (Methi), Mint, Gongura, Capsicum, Zuchni (Squash), Cucumber, Potato, Tomato, Onion, Garlic and Pumpkin. Then flowers such as Marigold, Roses and local native Swedish flowers. Best part of is: berries (black berries, raspberries, strawberries) and cherries. Kids enjoyed them a lot.

Last but not least, we could share them with friends and felt so happy in doing it.

When is the farming period? It’s usually 5 - 6 months, from April till Sep/Oct depends on how the weather is. Each year, there is a variation in temperatures and rain conditions. However, you can do seeding at home or in a green house starting from Feb/March so that you can plant them in plot when seeds turn into saplings and can tolerate weather outside.

What are the other costs? One time cost for tools such as water pipe, sprinkler, shovel and simple tools for cutting and digging. Recurring Costs: soil, seeds and cow dung. This depends on how the plot was when you leased. Most of the times, soil quality is good but you may need it for some top layer increase the height and then cow dung for healthy growing. You can visit Plantagen, Hornbach, Bauhaus for buying any of these items. Ööb, Lidl and Ica shops also sell seedas, saplings and soil at appropriate times.

Some pictures from our farm.

Sweden Driving Licence Knowledge Test - How to crack it?

I had a car when I was in India but didn't drive at all from the time I moved to Sweden. Recently, due to Corona, to avoid public transport, I wanted to take Sweden Driving licence.

Many of my friends already have driving licence, hence I thought it would be easy for me as well but I realized their struggle only when I started my journey :-)

I was surprised to know and also understood that I would need time, money and so much commitment to get the driving licence in hand!

In this blog, I am going to share my experience with Theory or Knowledge Test and how I cleared it!

First Attempt

I started with Driving licence theory book, borrowed from my friend. 
Practiced questions from "Mitt Körkort" and Körkort Online.se

I had mastered 90% of the questions and was able to clear most of the mock attempts with 59 to 62 and even 64 out of 65. Hence, I was very confident to clear the real exam but I scored only 48 marks.

Second Attempt

I was very disappointed but below factors helped me to think constructively :-)

Average general percentage of theory tests in Sweden is around 40%, which means most of the people pass the exam in second or susbsequest attempt but not in first attempt!

Failed in first attempt doesn't mean that I didn't know driving but rather I didn't understand concepts in a right way.

How I prepared:

In general, there are 70 questions in Knowledge test.
5 questions and their answers are not considered from these 70.
Hence, 65 questions and their answers are only considered for final scoring.
52 is passing score out of 65 questions, which is 80%, a quite a bit of high passing standard!

Questions are divided into following topics:

1. Vehicle Knowledge & Manoeuvring -  7 Marks
2. Environment                                      -   5 Marks
3. Traffic Safety                                     - 16 Marks
4. Traffic Regulations                            - 32 Marks
5. People Behavior                                -   5 Marks

When I checked my first attempt results, I scored low in 1 & 2 topics but scored very well in remaining topics. Hence, I concentrated on these topics and took help of my friends to see different parts of the car like lighting, dashboards, tyres and car bonnet parts in real time.

For topic 2: Environment: EcoDriving concepts are very important to understand. I felt good to know how Sweden really cares for environment and why the air quality in Sweden is far better than other countries. I spent time to understand how Catalyc Converter works, exhaust fumes and impact of them. Why Engine braking is important? How it works in reality for an automated car, which I am planning to take. Why do we need to maitain consistent speed to save fuel?

I continued to practice at least 3 final mock tests per day, then wrote detailed notes on topics, where I was not scoring and why I was not scoring and tried to understand concepts wholeheartedly instead of just by hearting them :-)

Elevcentralen.se questions helped me to think differently for each topic.

I also spent quite a bit of time to read, understand and remember each sign in Sign book and how they work in combination of symbols and in traffic situations. After going to central city, I have astonished myself to see how many symbols we have along the road everywhere, which I never observed earlier even though I was going by same route daily to office before Corona times!

I tried my second attempt after 10 days of first attempt, this time I passed with 57 marks :-)

Resources

Here, I have listed the resources I have used. Hope they will be helpful to you.
Kortkort Online för Theory guidelines and mock tests
Elevcentralen for mock tests
Transportstyrelsen Publications - Check for English PDFs and videos. They are very useful and easy to understand
Traffikverket Youtube Channel

Traffic Symbols from STR

Complete Overview of Driving Licence in Sweden

Summary & Tips

* Understand all concepts instead of by hearting them
* Symbols are quite important, go to City Central, big roads, round abouts to understand 
* Ask friends for help, don't hesitate to ask silly or simple questions
* Practice Final Tests as many as possible 
* Accept the fact that it's important to gain knowledge rather than doing it for formality
* Buy and read only latest theory book because some topics are updated in newer versions. For e.g. Car inspection months are not based on car registration number any more. Accident statistics are little different in old books.
* Use common sense in reality instead of going by rules 100% because many questions use "Most appropriate" or "Obligations" words instead of "what's right" or the "rights as a driver".

I will write another post with topics and tricky items in the topics to concentrate based on my experience. Hope that will help you :-)

Wish you all the best