The weather is nice today and has topped around 28C, which has been rare this summer, so we decided to get out of the house for a bit and take Smallsteps to work on a farm. One of the things I really like about living in Finland is in general, kids know where good food comes from, because pretty much, the entire country is a wild grocery store in the off-winter seasons.
And, there are plenty of places to get up close and personal with farm animals - like this calf.
We were aiming for strawberries but once we got to the farm, they said that there aren't many left and it takes a while to find enough. However, the raspberries are starting to come into season and they had a field that got a bit more sun than the rest that would be suitable. So, we collected a small box (as we didn't think we would be there that long) and after a bit of a walk, a farm worker assigned us a row we could pick from.
The cover image was the first in the box.
The first of many.
Because the raspberry bushes are taller, it is easier on the back and they have these handy little basket things to drag along next to you while picking, making it even easier.
Pretty good looking raspberries, hey?
About 70% of what we picked ended up in the box - the other 30% is in my belly. I even called 
In thirty minutes or so, we picked about 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds) of raspberries that ended up costing us 12 euros. In the store, which is about quarter of the price, or less.
And some random interlude shots while we head over to the strawberry fields - unfortunately, unlike the Beatles song, it wasn't strawberry fields forever.
The view from this farm is quite fantastic and it is a beautiful area in general and less than 30 kilometers from our home. We have been here most of the last years to pick or eat an ice cream in the cafe.
There is also a small lookout that covers the lake are and the fields.
It wasn't that there was nothing there to pick, but it was literally "slim pickings" and it would have taken ages to get enough to fill the box. But, our aim was to have Smallsteps have the experience still so, we spent 10 minutes grabbing a few and eating a few more.
The small of strawberries is fantastic here, even if it is coming from the rotting ones on the ground.
We weren't the only one struggling to find enough strawberries and some people had been there for hours already, picking through their line. We did this for a while with Smallsteps saying how she uses her mouse nose to sniff-out the ripe ones that haven't gone bad yet.
It was fun - but I mostly just ate the ones I got - and they are fantastic. I used to think that "strawberries are strawberries" before coming to Finland, but all those years in Australia I was eating strawberry flavored cow dung in comparison. These are bloody brilliant!
I wish we could have gone earlier and got more.
However, we then cheated...
They unfortunately didn't have any large boxes left to sell at the farm, so on the way home, we stopped at one of the supermarkets that have the farm stalls outside and picked up a 5 kilo box of strawberries for 35 euros. They are not quite as good as the ones we picked, but still great.
What do you do with five kilos of strawberries?
Freeze them of course!
Okay, we will keep some of them fresh for the next couple days to munch on, but the majority of them get cut up, thrown in a ziplock bag with some sugar and then into the chest freezer. This way, we can have them on pancakes or whatever in the winter, once fresh strawberries are no longer available.
Smallsteps quite enjoyed this part too - for the first half. She was taking the leaves off them before my wife was cutting and bagging them.
It is a bit like a cocaine production workshop.
And eventually, here they are, ready to freeze and eat over the next year or so.
So, now that the weather is decent, I am going to take Smallsteps down to the lakeside for a swim to wash off the grime from a hard day working on the farm. The weather should be good tomorrow also and then get cooler, so this might be the last chance for us to swim before the holidays end. The summer finishes up fast here most years, so it is advisable to take advantage of the moments the sun shines.
Damn. I am turning into a Finn.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]