We´ve had snow on the ground for almost two weeks now but today settled the case, rain and above zero –temperatures that we´ve had for a few days melted the rest of it. Even the lakes, excluding the bigger ones, were frozen already but they´re ice-free now. Winter is just behind the corner one could…
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Picking berries and cooking with mushrooms
In Finland, late July and August are very busy months if you are into picking berries and cooking with mushrooms for example. It´s simply great that one can just head out there and harvest and preserve all the tasty wild foods of the season! This is the time when first mushrooms can be found here…
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Local summer activities in Hossa
The last few days here in Hossa have included making bath whisks for sauna and other local summer activities taking place this time of year. A bath whisk is simply a bunch of leafy, fragrant branches of Silver Birch that is used to gently beat oneself in a sauna. This has a relaxing effect on…
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Catching northern pike and brown trout
It is the beginning of the summer fishing season, it was early during the spring when I started to wait for the moment when I can go and fish northern pike and brown trout by spin casting so last week me and a friend of mine decided to head to the rivers and lakes of…
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Local communities and urbanization
Urbanization is accelerating as is the abandonment of the countryside, this post is a short article about my thoughts concerning local communities and urbanization. At this very moment, every month seven million of us human beings move to live their lives in the urban environment. Living in the middle of concrete, under high pressure sodium…
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Wild foods
I feel fortunate to be able to cook from ingredients I picked myself last summer and autumn, enjoying wild foods at times of midwinter is one of the privileges of living in the north! In addition, spending a nice mid-summer day wandering in the forest and harvesting the delicacies of the wild and remembering the…
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Rest in the forest
From time to time, everyone should be exposed to the natural environment and rest in the forest. When constant outer stimuli and man-made sounds are being turned off, your heart rate and stress hormone levels drop as your general mood improves. Nature has a mysterious ability to calm you down and make you become aware…
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