The garden in the smallholding in Sandalstrand was not only meant to provide the growing family with sustenance. It also provided motifs for Astrup’s art. The steep hill was unproductive and a challenge to cultivate, and apple trees were particularly difficult to get to grow, due to the hares that continuously ate them. In this painting, however, the garden is depicted in all its glory, nearly as Astrup describes it in a letter from 1920: “... you wouldn’t believe how surprised we were upon our return from Förde. Everything was transformed during those two days; the forest had taken on that cool-green fresh colour that is gets in the spring here, when the warm weather arrives. The two days have done wonders; the apple trees (the blossoms) were nearly all budding, and the cherry and plum trees were in full bloom. The Rhubarb leaves had grown to nearly twice their size during the two days – there were motifs everywhere, so that I didn’t know what I should begin to paint.”