Shortbread

Past summers we have had some kind of catastrophes in the house. Just to mention few: 

In summer 2023 I had 3 jobs because I wanted to change my job in the way that I finish all the courses with my students on the courses planned at the old and new places meanwhile I received and started the new job. It meant a lot of work.

In 2024 in our village started the sewer network renovation. It broke a drain that lead into our just few meters away. It meant we were not able to use our water in over 7 weeks except in washing (not your teeth)!!!! That was a long time and made us to hesitate the ideas for more sustainable garden with the ideas born during the local garden competition: to create our own source for the water.

In 2025 we were not able to continue with the project well because of Poor Pii and building the new fire wood shed. Poor Pii is now ok and happy dog. It all was worth of the trouble.

That's why I have been walking on tiptoe when the holiday season was about to start. I dropped my smart phone at a grocery when fetching a parcel. It was not the 1st time but definitely it was the last time. I was able to save most of the pictures, data etc. but still lost some because of failed back files. It really was not easy to set up my new smart phone because I could not confirm anything by my old phone. It took for about 4 days (!!!) to get everything on function. 

He told me to get Xcover because you can drop it down from 1,5 m and I am 1,59 m -so, that should be enough. I drop my phones quite a lot. The problem is that my hands are so small. When it's cold no one's fingers work proper. I can't have (= reach by my fingers) a proper crab of the phone. That's why they fall. Except last time I broke my smart phone by throwing a fresh and hot blueberry pie to it. Yep, the pie to the phone, not the phone to the pie. Gosh! Yep, it was messy. And nope, smart phones are not made to bear 200 Celsius degree hot pie. Why we even created smart phones because they are so weak!?

The time of the roses has arrived into my arctic garden and still no any huge catastrophe in the house, or outside. I still keep on walking my tiptoe and am not cheering up "Hello Holiday!" Hope the fate don't see me. 😅

This summer we have no changes to travel away. That's why we are going around local targets. Last weekend we drove to Pajala, Sweden. It is an old and historical location in Sweden Lapland. Every summer there is traditional Pajala Marknad. It is not Sámi markets or craft markets. It is more like traditional summer markets with all king of stalls. Definitely worth of visiting if you are around.

In Pajala Marknad we found a street food stall that sold only 100 % gluten free food. I was extremely happy to be able to have a proper lunch there!

Because we can't get away we have already had some visitors and more are about to arrive. That's why I have been baking gluten free. I bake apple pie, saskatoon pie and cocholate muffins. They all have the same basic idea:

Basic short bread

Mix well together:

200 g grease

2 dl sugar

Add and mix well one after another:

3 eggs

2 tea spoon baking powder

3 dl guten free flour mix 

Pour it into a baking tray. 

Pour over 3-5 dl fruits or berries or ½ dl 100 % cocoa powder.

Bake in 175 Celsius degrees for about ½ hour. 

Make sure it is well-done until you take it away.

Water

At late autumn 2023 we had some exciting moments in our garden. I ordered 4 concrete well rings (size 1 m diameter, á 420 kg) which were delivered on our driveway at late September. We had exciting moments because we feared the frost arrive before the digger. In that case the rings would have got frozen on our drive way and been there until the next summer. The digger arrived actually only few days before the frost in late October 2023.

I wanted the well to be built at the furthest corner in my garden, because when we moved in there was a tiny duck pond with real ducks. We filled it because wild ducks and hunting dogs are not very mindfulness combination in your garden. It's not relaxing to the ducks, dogs or me. The pond was natural and just 2 m2. It is the part of our property where used to be a swamp. So I knew there will be a proper source of the water. And that's why I wanted the well to be dig there. 

Because of Poor Pii we didn't do much in our garden last summer. This summer the project well has taken few steps forward. We did got water into it immediately but only now have started to decorate it. On the video you can see how to get the water up and how bright it is. If you drop the bucket upside down into well it gets filled up easier.

Our water it is not suitable for drinking. We use it to water our garden. Because of the climate change and sustainability we wanted to have the water source of our own and free access to it anytime. In our arctic garden we grow mainly plants for our food. We do have flowers too, but they all are planted with the idea to create habitat areas for pollinators from May to September (October), when they can fly. In a sustainable garden you need to provide all year around sanctuary for the creatures to make them stay.

Later I will show you how the decoration of the well turns out.

Candles

Since January 2024 I've been saving candle ends. This time also from the memorial candles which we've taken to the graves of our love ones. I've been collecting them into a shoe box. It's not the best possible storage because during the time the candle wax gets absorbed to the card board material and I needed to put it into a plastic bag. For the future purposes I will need a plastic box to storage candle ends through which the wax/oil can't get through.

Nuka thought it all smell so good greasy food that I really needed to keep my eye on her that she would not try to eat anything. At the end it is oil and fat that's used in the candles. If you do this and have pets, make sure they don't eat it.

I had difficulties to find candle wick yarn. I finally found one pack of 6 ready made wicks. Later I found a small ball of candle wick yarn. I bought also that. The 6 ready made were not long enough to have any extra so I needed to figure out how to make them stand up right. I used small wooden cocktail sticks and masking tape. Not very professional looking but worked well enough. 

I used also recycled memorial candles made of glass which I had taken home from the family graves. The shades of the candles come from the different shades of candle ends. I had white, bright red and tarry ones. The white on the bottom of the candles are the old remaining which I didn't even try to get out. Instead I poured the new candle wax over them.

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Visiting the cemeteries and taking the candles to the graves is an old cultural & pagan tradition in Finland. As Forest Sámi we may bring there also something else than candles. That might be a pine cone, feather, a special looking branch etc. Food is not allowed because of the church rules but candles and flowers are very common. Visiting a cemetery is a common habit and it doesn't need to be any special day for that. You can even go for a walk in there to reach peace. If you do so on your visit in Finland, do it silent, with respect and small 1-3 person groups.

HandleTheDoor

We live in Kemi, Lapland, Finland. Few are the days every year when we want to keep the doors open to my arctic garden. That's why, when needed, we have always just placed something to keep the door open. During all these years we have found out it is quite unpractical because the wind from the Baltic Sea hits straight to my garden after speeding up all the way from Denmark to here. We often hear the wind to bang the door closed. On that moment, if being in the garden and hearing the bang, you wish you unlocked it just in case.

That's why we have set our brains to active creative mode to figure out an simple and budget way to keep the door open. We wanted the result to be easy to use. Here you can see the result. It matches with the brush sweater. I love these "here lives artisans" signals.💘

I maid the handle band by plaiting 3 different shades of rug weft. This tricot weft is flexible so the plaited handle band stretches gently with the movement of the door the wind causes. Brilliant, isn't it! You can easily plait yours by up-cycling your old T-shirt if you don't have any weft. See how to cut your own weft in Rag -tutorial post.

CottageLife

In my previous post I told you how Lapland shows you different things on summer season than winter. But after Summer Solstice, at least on the begin of July the whole Finland seems to close up all its public services and people seem to vanish somewhere.

Lapland's population is approx. 176 000 persons. People mostly don't go away to foreign countries for a longer than 1-2 week holiday in June-August, so they mostly stay in Lapland. But where? Mostly at cottages or at homes. But what is this cottage culture of Finland?

It is "mökki" = the cottage. But why it is there? Why this culture appears so strong all over Finland and also among those persons who already have a house of their own and live even rural? Why they have "mökki"?

First of all it is important to understand that it echoes from old traditional culture from different point of views all over Finland with the same result: summer cottages. When Sámi people lived full traditional life style according to the cycle of the nature they had to travel around like a circle or fort and back, depending on their livelihood. They started to put up permanent small dwellings because it made life a bit more easier. Later when the laws changed because of colonialism they started to have the permanent house where they were forced to stay but still had these dwellings here and there because of their livelihood and surviving. These dwellings still provided shelter when herding, hunting and fishing. Similar culture elsewhere in Finland made people to build dwellings too. All these small cottages were called by different names according to their purposes and geographical location: summer cottages, boat houses, church cottages, meadow shelters etc.

When telling the history of the cottages in Finland it is often connected to the wealthy southern people who started to build up villas by the waters in late 1800 and early 1900. But it is important to understand that the folk had it already and with a long tradition. These cottages had provided even sanctuary during the previous wars and provided it also in 1900 wars. They were the places local people escaped to and hide in  to stay alive over the restless times. Only after the wars in 1900, which means at 50´s-60´s the cottage culture changed closer to it what it is today. People started to maintain only one cottage and they put their money and effort on it. First they re-built their houses in 1945-1950, which were destroyed in the wars, then they kept on building the cottages. And from that the modern culture of the cottages of Finland was born. And because of the wars it is difficult to find older cottages than that in Lapland, where almost everything was burnt in the middle on 40's.

Today these cottages provide sanctuary especially for mental stress of modern work-life pressure for many people living in Finland. We don't have a cottage of our own. We used to go to one shared cottage in Levi. Since covid-19 we have not been there because it was sold. Since that we have been renting one when feeling or needing so. Every now and then we have been invited to visit ones cottages but this summer we actually have accepted few invitations. These pictures on this post are from one private cottage by a big lake in central Lapland area.

If you are invited to visit someone's cottage in Finland they usually say literally: "Come some day for a visit." When a person living in Finland invites you for a visit in their home it means you really are invited and you can pick up the date. In the modern world you are expected to announce the date and the time for the visit ones home. Simply because people are working somewhere else than at home. 

When you are invited to visit the cottage you need to ask the wished date and time for the visit. It means also finding out for how long visit you are invited to: few hours or few nights. When you go, don't expect free room service. You are invited to work there like part of the family, not just hang around like a guest. Don't let yourself to be served. They probably say "no no, you don't need to help, you are our guest" but make sure you are self-initiated and helping also the others. If you are invited over the night bring your own lining or sleeping back and towels. You can get them from the super markets, even disposable, just ask if you can't find. Just use your brains and think how you would like your guests to act if it would be your cottage and your holiday there when your friends are visiting. Like always: live room for the physical space and remember the sauna manners.

The cottages can be very modern with all the facilities. There might be the electricity and sewerage but also no electricity nor indoor toilet. When visiting someone's cottages it is a habit to bring a gift. Practical things are valued, not decorations. Practical gifts can be something that comes to the hygiene or sanitary, disposable kitchen ware, coffee & tea or for example a gift card to ironware store. Also, ask if you can bring something from the grocery. Usually there is no grocery anywhere nearby the cottage so they might have run out of something.

I have wanted to make my own house Green Lady feel like a holiday and cottage. In the way that we don't necessary need to go away to get the holiday mood. If I some day have a cottage of my own I want it to have these beautiful timber walls. Everything else is out of the question. I love these old coffee grinders which are on display at the cottage we visited in June, and will be visiting again in the future. Although I don't drink coffee, I love its aroma. These items reminds me of my childhood.

At the cottages of local people you can see and experience part of the culture history. In Finland you can rent many kind of cottages, also the ones made only for the tourism. They are great too but miss the authentic part.

What is the hook on the wall? Folk calls it "keksin pää". If you use translator for that you get the translation "cookie head" which is actually funny. 😂 It is actually part of the timber rafting tradition. It is like the hook of the pike pole but in log rafting much bigger and stronger. 

When boating with my Forest Sámi grandpa I was his deckhand. On that time children's' life jackets were unpractical, even dangerous if not needed for the saving your life in the water. That's why when carrying out deckhand's duties on his boat for him I was not using the life jacket. Our safety rules were the fact that I needed to be able to dive, swim for 5 minutes in the river / sea, scream aloud and wear a loose-neck shirt. He never allowed me on board before checking my shirt. Why? 

Diving: If I fell off the deck into the water I needed to be able to hold my breath and dive. You fall actually at first into the water. You get up when you just kick by you legs. The surface is always there where is more light. 

Swimming for 5 minutes: It was the time my grandpa evaluated he need for to rescue me.

Screaming aloud: At least that made him to notice I fell off.

Loose-neck shirt: He picked me up from that by the hook of his log rifting pike pole back on the deck. Wow! 

Sounds rough but that's how the life was back then. He had worked also in log rifting so he knew how to do and handle it. But with me he never needed those skills to save a kid. 😅

The cabin we visited has an interesting project going on. There lives bats which you spot in Finland quite rarely. Usually people fear bats and don't want them nearby. At this cottage they have put up even few bat houses after spotting one that needed human help. In Finland I have never seen a bat. Travelling in Greece I saw one at once. 💛

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Water safety rules: Learn to swim. Teach your kids to swim. If the water is a strange element to you, take a course for this and practice your skills. Never go into the natural waters if you can't swim. There might be surprises under the water even it looks shallow. In Finland you can have fatal hypothermia even in low waters during the summer months!