The garden pt. 1

The garden was one of our most talked about ideas when we were planning for cabin life. The idea was to grow a 50/50 mix of herbs and vegetables to get a feel for gardening. It would be our first real project together! We agreed on the following criteria – we would grow vegetables, herbs and flowers that would last one year. We obviously had a tonne of questions but the main ones were:

How do we keep away hungry creatures from eating everything?
How often do we need to water the garden?
What about fertilising?
What do we need to get started?

Supplies were relatively easy to procure. Planks used for the herb garden were leftovers from a build project, rocks were collected from the beach and plastic pots were found at a nearby trash station. We had to find soil and plants. Soil was 99% horse poop from Jenny’s grandmother (tack Kickan!) who has a fantastic garden herself and we added some kelp fertiliser from our beach to the mix. We also ended up purchasing a few sacks of garden soil and mixed that in with the horse manure and kelp. As for water, we reserved a barrel of rainwater for the garden which was perfect.

The build was relatively straightforward and hastily done. The important thing was that it would hold its contents! We had thought about covering the box with netting to deter the animals from eating the plants but ultimately decided to leave it as is.

Alot of research was done on what plants we wanted to try growing and we decided to focus on a deer and rabbit resistant selection of herbs as well as flowers. One of the gardeners at the greenhouse gave us a bag of untreated sheep’s wool to try out as a deer deterrent and funnily enough, it worked…until late autumn when the parsley bush mysteriously dwindled in size overnight! We presume the wool has a very powerful smell that deters other animals. Whatever it does, it works and we will be using it next year again for sure.

The final selection of herbs included thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, parsley and mint. The flowers were a mix of colours and shapes and we even managed to transplant some wild strawberry plants and orpines.

Close ups of the flowers that we bought. They grew in bushes so we thought they’d look nice once they ‘fluffed’ up a bit.

Funnily enough, the day we built the garden was the same day that we had our first proper encounter with our garden’s biggest threat: the deer! Perhaps it was curious about the garden (and future food possibilities) or perhaps it was passing through the neighbourhood…either way, we had never seen it this close before and it didn’t appear to be very nervous with our presence. Lets see how it goes…

The eagles of the sea

The havsörn or ‘sea eagle’ (white tailed eagle) is one of the more fascinating birds out here. Its the largest eagle in north Europe and for me, the most fascinating. Having almost become extinct during the 1900’s, the eagles made an astonishing recovery thanks in part to humans banning the use of pesticides and actively aiding in repopulating efforts in the 1970s. As a kid, I never saw eagles out here yet these days it seems as though I get to see one fly past us daily. Incredible how fast some things can change in the ecosystem.

When I got back into photography I was more interested in capturing landscapes. It wasn’t until I purchased my 70-300mm telephoto lens that I could really try my hand at wildlife photography. I made the most out of my backyard and started taking photos of the local wildlife – mainly ducks, swans, snakes, insects and other birds. The eagles started appearing more often around 2 years ago which is when I started my project of photographing them.

In the springtime, the eagles were quite confident, flying low above the cabin. They were usually on the hunt for food and I could tell when they arrived by the way every single bird would start sounding off. Other telltale signs included unusual flight behaviour (herons flying erratically past the house, ducks fleeing in flocks). I became pretty good at recognising the signs and would often have my camera ready by the door with the settings dialed in for bird photography. Many lunches were interrupted as I heard the birdcalls and would dash outside for a 5 second window to see the eagle before it zoomed off.

These are some of the most exciting images taken in 2019 – watching eagles fight over a meal. The photos above were previously featured in another blog article ‘eagle safari with kayaks’ when we paddled out with the kayaks and followed the birds!

The early summer was a bit tricky for the eagles as they were often harassed by stressed parents doing their best to protect their young. Food was difficult to come by as the eider ducks (their primary food source) have dwindled in numbers the last few years and there are probably too many eagles occupying the same territories. Nature needs to strike a balance between the two species at some point.

This was one example of the imbalance in the ecosystem. This eagle had just attacked a merganser duck in the water. Having barely made it out of the water, the exhausted eagle landed on a nearby rock as the injured merganser tried to swim to safety. Unfortunately, it died moments after the attack and the eagle watched for a bit before flying off. Both birds lost something in the encounter: the merganser lost its life, and the eagle lost its meal. It must have been very desperate to attempt such a hunt as mergansers are larger and therefore heavier, meaning the risks would have been far greater for the eagle. Its not unheard of that an eagle drowns as its prey is too heavy to lift from the water.

The late summer was quiet but the eagles would surprise us with an occasional visit. They would usually fly far out at sea across the horizon at sunrise and maybe return before sunset. It was always exciting to recognise the birds through their ‘flight style’ – slow, powerful flaps of their massive wings.

In the autumn they were back more often but due to the lack of light in the usually stormy weather, photographing them became a bit difficult. It didn’t stop me from trying though! These birds are incredible to photograph and I can only look forward to 2020 and whatever moments I get to witness. One exciting project I’ve got in the works is a trip to the Åland islands where Peter, a friend of mine has been filming the eagles with his drone, should be interesting!

Tree felling

“People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results.”
Albert Einstein

Earlier this summer we found four pine trees that we could cut down for firewood. We waited until the weather got a bit colder as its more pleasant to work in a cooler temperature and we don’t have to worry about the bugs. Firewood is an important source of heat and comfort during the colder months in Finland so it shouldn’t be a surprise that we need a decent amount of it to stay warm, especially for the sauna! The problem is that its a long process…but a necessary one.

I decided to test the chainsaw on a smaller tree to see how sharp the chain is and to make sure the chainsaw was working properly. Two thumbs up for well maintained forest machinery!

First off, the tree has to come down. We need to keep an eye on wind direction as a tree is tall and if it is severed at the trunk, a gust of wind could make it fall in the wrong direction. We also need to plan in which direction to let the tree fall. To do that, we use a method with the chainsaw where you cut a wedge out of the trunk and then chainsaw from the other side. Once the tree begins to fall, it will naturally fall in the wedge’s direction. Thats the idea anyway!

Once the tree is down, branches need to be cut off before the trunk can be sawn into smaller logs for transport. The branches that are too small to use as firewood or kindling are put in a bonfire pile (‘kokko’) to burn later. The rest of the wood is repurposed as firewood.

The last step is to chop the firewoods into smaller pieces and rack them with the bark facing down so that they can dry. The chopping part is the best part because you get immediate results of your labour and theres a sense of accomplishment every time that axe splits a piece of wood!

We spent a few hours working before ending the day with sauna and ice cold beer. Tomorrow we will probably feel a bit sore as chopping down trees can be quite a workout! There is still work to be done and the wood needs to be in dry storage for the winter but we will do that another day.

Höststormarna är här och det går att kajaksurfa!

Det börjar kännas mer och mer som höst. Björklöven är fortfarande till stor del gröna och det är fortfarande varmt, men stormarna har börjat. Havet lever verkligen.

Jag gick länge omkring och tittade på hur vågorna betedde sig för jag ville så gärna kajaksurfa. Jag har sett potential till det förut och var ganska ivrig.

Jag tänkte att en udde skulle ge mig lite vindskydd, men jag hade fel. Eller det blev inte tillräckligt med vindskydd i alla fall. Jag kände på stormen i max 10 minuter, sen var jag helt slut.

Vinden mojnade, vågorna stannade kvar och jag lekte omkring bland dem. Det syns på många av bilderna att jag tyckte det var superkul.

Till sällskap hade jag många fåglar som chillar ganska hårt, fast stormen river i dem. Och Chris förstås som tog bilder och gjorde ”hang loose” tecken eller gav tummen upp när jag fick en våg.

Efter en storm är det alltid kul att gå längs stranden och se vilka strandfynd havet har hämtat åt en. Oftast är det tyvärr plastskräp man får plocka, men ibland kan man hitta någon fin bräda eller en lastpall som man kanske kan använda till något. Torka ved på om inte annat.

Rester av stormen ”Dorian” fortsätter ge oss vind och regn några dagar till. Vi väntar med spänning på att se hur havet reagerar.