Preserving

Hello dear ones !
So following my berries' post here the natural sequel, PRESERVING !!!
I grew up in Rome and my mom didn't enjoy cooking so in my childhood I don't have memories of jam making or canning or anything like that. When I became a mother I took my own path and trying to leave off the land has become a dream of mine. Even if I'm in no way close to make this dream come true, in the last 10 years I have always had a vegetables garden and when picking and harvesting wild fruits, berries and nuts in the nature. So preserving and canning the goodies I was so kindly provided for has become a real priority and a lot of fun for me. I'm kinda of addicted :) ! I'm passing the knowledge to my doughters ( I'm not sure if they're enjoying it as much as I do eheheheh ) so we work alongside most of the time. Here some pictures of the current preserving season ( almost at its end here in the far north ).

Milla and Gaia cleaning and sorting the berries

Cooking the fruit according to what I am doing ( syrups or jams )

And then here we are straining the cooked fruit before adding sugar or pectine or whatever it is needed. As you see I always try to be rather thrifty, so only bought this straining cloth ( I couldn't find the right fabric at home ) but not the strainer and I invented my own method. It worked very well !

And here a part of my production !! Lovely isn't it ? Some of them will be sold, some will be stored and some will be lovely gifts. 

I'm so so grateful for this earth hosting us little humans. We should treat her better because sure she is is providing us with a top quality service.

Please if you want to share you canning journey leave a link in the comment or if you might enjoy to know more about mine don't esitate to ask.

Gifts from the forest

As much as I feel I don't fit finnish society at all, I truly and deeply enjoy the wild nature and the strong connection that here human beings have with it.
Here almost everybody grows vegetables ( those who live in the cities usually have family country houses ) and picking berries and mushrooms is the 'national sport' during the summer and the early autumn. In the four year I have been living here I have learned a lot about wild berries, something that was totally unknown to me, as I grew up in Rome to move later in my life little south from Rome. No forest of course, eventually something more similar to the desert :).
So here I am, to show you the bountiful harvest we had this year from the generous forest, I'd say in total we picked something like 12kg of berries in different day\places.

I already talked about strawberries. I can't really say how many we picked, but for a month we ate plenty of them every single day and still we have a frozen bag for smoothies and such.

 

Blueberries ...

 

Red currant, 1,5 kg ! and black currant (unfortunately no picture of it ) 500gr

 

Cherries, two kilos !

 

again blueberries ( I didn't check the weight )

 

Gooseberries, red and white 5kg !!!

Amazing isn't it ? I feel grateful and provided for. And the beauty of it all it's incredible !

Such a huge blessing !

In the next days I will show the use I have done with my beloved berries.

Have a nice week!

A stroll in the garden

Hello dear friends, so here I am to finally update you about my garden. I have to say that the garden has been producing so much and the forest has given us so much berries that picking and processing it all, took most of my time ( of course I'm not complaining ... just the opposite ! ) and together with getting ready for restaurant day ( which we had last sunday ) and the house openings ( next weekend ) I didn't have much time to come here on my poor neglected blog :). But let's put on our gardening shoes, grab your basket or bucket and let's head outside to pick something !!

Onions have been a great success, here you can see their bed before picking them, now they're drying, all the four kilos !!!! And I already used few of them, so it was more ! 

Here my tomatoes plants, unfortunately the summer here in Finland started only one week ago ... so now I have rather big plants, but only flowers and few tiny green tomatoes ( which probaly will never become ripe, but still a satisfaction )

 

And here peppers (too cold, not even the flowers) and cucumbers.

Cucumbers just like tomatoes have started growing just lately, but since they need lower temperatures we already have few of them almost ready and few more growing.

Here my spring onions, words can't describe how much I love them in salads !! I'm using them all the time !

 

 

Here few of our peas, very good harvest !

 

And here a look of some mixed goodies picked for some day's lunch, onion, garlic leaves, carrots and baby spinach.

And strawberries !! We had plenty of big sweet strawberries ! Unfortunately today we picked the last two, but I still have a frozen bag that I use for smoothies and vegan ice cream ( If you might like some recipe, just drop me a note )

And again carrots and greenbeans 

... and the most lovely carrots ever ! When I picked them I couldn't believe my eyes and came in calling all the family to show my sweet treasure !

I have no idea how this happens :)

In the next days I will show you some of the berries we have been picking in the nearby forrest and the ways I'm using them :)

If you might like please visit my older 'stroll in the garden', just check the archives.

Hopefully you enjoyed this visit. 

Have a great week everybody !

Here I am

So here I am. I must confess that we came back two weeks ago, but I started using my computer again only two days ago. For me is always rather traumatic coming back. Unfortunately it seems that I can't really fit in the finnish society, like there's no room for me, but you know nothing triggers these feelings more than visiting your country. The funny thing is that I always felt I didn't belong to Italy. I never felt really 'italian' or better I never cared anything. But after four years here in the north I can say that at least I am a southern soul, made for places and people full of strong feelings, temperatures and contradictions. So when I come back I try to postpone my routines as much as possible, maybe as a way to deny that here I am, again, for another terribly long year. Of course at some point it becomes too silly to avoid everything that brings me fully back and finally I start my ''here'' life again. And this year there is an additional bad news, my camera died during the trip back :( . I dreamed this camera for years, I bought it 8 years ago, and during the trip I let it fall from my closet while we were traveling in the caravan. I'm sad beyond words since I don't have the money to fix it or buy a new one. Luckily the pictures taken are still readable, so today I will show you few ( well not really few ... ) pictures from the trip, but from now on only cell-phone-low-quality-pics. and yes I keep telling myself that it's only an object and that memories are stored in the heart, but still ...
So let's start :)

  

Swans in the sea in the south of Sweden

Sharing is caring :)

Highway fun in Germany

  

First day in Tuscany ! Lovely cafeteria in the woods.

Fist time on the slide !

 Wild boars hanging out in town !

In Rome visiting my mother. my aches only looking at those pics. Fun in the amusement park, a simple meal in a little restaurant ... fun fun fun like we can only dream of here ...

San Candido, on the Alpes ( Dolomites )

On the boarder, leaving Italy.

Birthday party on the road for my husband

 

 Playmobil Fun Park in Germany.

Hopefully you enjoyed the pics.

 In the next days updates from the garden, from my crocheting and cooking.

How was your summer ?