BYE BYE GARDEN

This summer I haven't really had any vacation. It's been a lot about work (which I will get into here soon), but most of the time that I've had off I have spent watering plants and taking care of the garden. And anyone who has been stopping by here this summer or follows me at instagram know that  I have actually managed to grow things this year.
I had a really nice garden.
Had.


Until the lambs decided their, I don't know, three square kilometres or so of grass was not enough to roam but decided to start hanging out in our garden instead. And as they tend to do, they ate EVERYTHING. Even my palm tree from inside that I had outdoors for some sun-therapy.  And most flowers and all the berries bushes and my god damn growing boxes of kale and salad and peas and aaargh.

But I think there was a Chinese proverb saying that nothing in life is more important than to attend to your garden. And even that is not so important.

GARDEN LIFE vol.2

Small sunny summer moments in the garden between all the cold and rain (can't get over that, sorry!) between and all my work. (I've probably spent half my summer in the car driving back and forth to town, there are a lot of things going on the work front.)

 Peonies.

 Back porch breakfast.

On the first day of his vacation Eddi built this garden chair, inspired by chairs my great-grandfather made in the 1930's for the summer house out in the archipelago.


All green things inside my growing boxes have grown huuuuge. My coriander (cilantro) is about 1m. Whoah.

 Dag got a haircut.

Brothers chilling in the swing.

And then chasing bubbles.


PS. if you see a pop-up window here it is for a Finnish blog survey for Indiedays (it is not for me and noup, it is not an ad). If you don't know Finnish or don't want to answer it just close it. If you do answer you can also choose to give your info and be part of a drawing for three 100€ gift cards or beauty product packages. If you want to answer it separately/the pop-up not showing you can do so here.

GARDEN LIFE vol.1

(flower photo alert)

As summer comes we spend pretty much all free time at the farm and we let the back door stay open to extend living out to the garden. Everyday life elsewhere, perhaps but here only for those short sweet summer months.

I stocked up on flowers and pots at the start of the season as usual.


Hello hanging strawberries-to-be!

 So beautiful, aren't they?


And things that I have planted, as well as others generations before me have, pop up one by one. So many colours, so many prety flowers.

 I had Eddi build me these growing boxes. I planted herbs, salads and other greens in them.

And the cats tried their best to sabotage it all, by hopping in and out of the boxes and making a mess.
Let's just say the order I put the seeds in are no more.


Cauliflowers waitinig to be planted outside. I hade some sunflowers coming up too. But they fried in the mini greenhouse when it got real sunny outsisde. Ooops.

 I also have a set of tomatoes and chilis sitting on a bench by a sunny wall.

 It's a goddamn water circus every day (not to forget all my indoor plants) and I dread going away as I know no one else will remember to water them. But I like having a lot of plants around there and every now and then get to enjoy a home grown tomato too.


We had Dag's three year birthday outside party in the garden as well.

This was a few weeks ago now already, when it was still cold(er), but we were lucky enough to manage the party right on the only day it was warm and sunny during those weeks.

The pram park. I actually don't have so many friends with kids so this was an unusual sight. People have been busy the past year!

Dag's favourite colour is red. Preferably everything he wears has to be red.

Evenings are for barbecue, and as usual the guys are at it with their burgers and sauces.


And come night time, my solar lit fairy lights go on.

But it is still so light they are merely there just for the fun of it. But come August with it's warm (hopefully) and dark evenings they get to shine to their full potential. I might hang up a few more still...

AND SO IT WAS SUMMER

Summer had suitable started while I was away so I arrived home to apple blossoms and happy cowns out again after the winter.  Goodbye May and Hello June!

(It also turned out to be the first June in over 50 years when the temperature two weeks in had still not reached over +20 (and even sadly stayed way under), so it has been more jackets and less sumer sandals still..)

Brought my stuff over to the farm and had a couple of days off together with my little soon-to-be-three-years-old-fella.

I made him (oven baked) pancake the first day. That is his absolute favourite. And that little kid can eat pancake I tell you. Several plates!

Picked rhubarb with my eager little helper.


Made, among other things, rhubarb punch. When you make it by soaking and not by cooking you end upwith a beautiful strong pink liquid. I just let unpeeled bits of rhubarbs soak for three days with lemon and a little sugar, then strain and heat up the juice with some more sugar and bring it to a boil (so that the recently added sugar dissolves) and then bottle it.

Summer is so easy! You jsut go out and pick up things from the ground to eat. I made a salad of ground eldre, chives and dandelion leaves from the garden.

And here are some more pictures of the now already faded apple blossom just because.

And an apple tree cat to end this one:

EASTER IMPROVISATIONS

Easter came and went and I had lots of chocolate, pasha and red wine!

As usual I did not really decorate at home other than with last-minute flowers.

And pussy willow branches.

A lot of them; Eddi went out and got a bunch for the kids- which they need for the Easter witch tour - and got a little too many (add " and ") so I filled all the vases we have, both big and small, with branches all around the house. Instant Easter-feel.

Pussy willow branches are a part of the tradition here, where kids go around houses begging for candy and in return hand over a decorated branch, wishing the receiver good luck for the year to come by saying a rhyme. It is a mix of Eastern (Russian Orthodox) tradition and a more western  (the coastal areas of Finland as well as a Swedish tradition) pagan custom about witches flying to Blåkulla (Blockula or Kyöpelinvuori) during this time.

The branches the children hang out are decorated with feather and crepe paper etc. I don't know how I've managed to not do anything about this previous years, but the same morning I realised we had no feathers or other suitable material to pimp the branches with. I had to get a little creative and improvise decorations; I had a set of glitter gift wrapping ribbons left from Christmas which did the trick.

They turned out rather decent. In the back you can see the ones we received that were "properly" done.  Here in the more western parts of Finland kids go on Saturday, whereas in the city we used to (and they still do) go on Sunday. Sunday is the orthodox tradition for good luck and Saturday is the day of the witches. You can read more about it here for example.)

The Easter witch is most commonly pictured flyhing on a broom with a kettle and a black cat. While most kids dress up as witches you can see bunnies and cats too . It is very much like Halloween in that sense, without the tricks.

I had a face painting kit waiting for the kids to make great faces for the walk but I had forgot it at home in the city. More improvising ahead... my make up bag; lipstick, white and black kohl pencil as well as my eyebrow color had to do.

Meoww!
And it turned out pretty good too! Dag's older brother had the bunny hood I made for him some years back which he always wears. I had promised to make Dag a lion ("an Easter lion" - not that it has anything to do with anything at this time of year, but hey, the kid loves lions!) and we had his lion hat and all but as I did not have the brushes or the colours he got to be the witche's cat instead. Which he was happy with in the end. I did some yet more improvising, this time with a muesli box, a black marker and tape and made hime a pair of ears.

Apart from chocolare and the pasha my mother makes mämmi (memma) is a must for Easter. It's actually a rather healthy treat.  Not that all people see it as a treat... I don't have mine the traditional way with cream and sugar but like to have it with something more fresh. This year I had it for breakfast (yes some people think I'm crazy but hey, it's filling and full with fibres and the organic version has no added sugar) together with fresh pineapple and mango and it worked!
I dare any other Finns to try.