Koivisto praline

And other Aronia treats. The last berries are now in good use just before the first snow, which arrived yesterday. It's really pity, that this berry is at least in Finland so underestimated. Maybe this post will open the eyes. The aronia bushes are quite common in the gardens, because they are beautiful and they can manage in the cold atmosphere. Furthermore they are also healthy and tasty. We wrote already earlier in the post Delicacy from our garden and the forest about our aronia jam, which didn't quite fullfill the expectations. Afterwards we have been drying them and made juice out of it, which both worked well. But definitely the best creation was Tobi's aronia pralines, which we named Koivisto praline.
This is the leftover from the berries after we made juice out of them. We mixed them with sugar and dried them few weeks. First in the oven and then just in the room temperature. The berry plate was drying so long till it turned firm, but remained moist. We cut the plate in small square formed pieces and covered them with white and dark chocolate. The dark makes the taste of aronia even stronger, whereas the white makes it softer. The newest version of the pralines is with our dried aronia berries on top. They turned out tasty and also beautiful. Maybe we should start a delicacy shop at this farm! Despite the promises we are still keeping the renovation update to ourselves. We will show the updated situation very soon. We just thought, that these treats were more worth to see. And if you are around, come and taste the juice and the pralines before they run out. Probably the best sweets in this town!

Renovation news

We have been silent for a while, still we made some progress. Our bathroom has tiles on the walls, the future workshop space has a new ceiling and our technical room has a sink now. That means tomorrow our washing machine is moving away from the porch. That is the best news for a while. Some thanks are belonging to our plumber, who finally made it here. Now the basement is warm, because the floor heating is turned on. Luckily it has been the driest Autumn in a history with many sunny days. These sunny days have been keeping up the spirit here. Otherwise the motivation has been few and far between.
Susanna covered first the bathroom walls with this blue color, which protecs the walls from getting moisture damages. Tobi was working for a long time with tiles. That was this time the most enjoyable work here. Some of the tiles needed a little cutting, that they fitted perfect with the showers. We are going to have two showers, so the happiness will be twice as big, when they are working. Like often with the things we enjoy to do, the end result turned out pleasing. Two walls will be covered with these white matt tiles from Pukkila, but for the other walls we have made other things. We will reveal them for you later. Stay tuned! The electrician installed some of the cables, so we could work further with the ceiling. Susanna's father fixed the plaster boards and we finished the ceiling by covering the seems with filler and then by painting it. Our technical room is almost ready. On the photo above Tobi is finishing legs for a table, where our sink is placed. We wanted to have one part of this wall with tiles to protect it from water splashes. The tiles were leftovers like the board for the sink (a leftover from our kitchen board), but they suited really well together. Also the legs for the table we found here. We were happy how it turned out and how inexpensive the solution was. So this was a little update, how we are doing here. The main thing is, that the things are going further. We are trying to keep up the good spirit and make more progress. We promise to post new things soon. This week had a good start and already a lot happened.

All the life around us

The starting point for this post came from the Facebook challenge, which was going on couple of months ago. The idea was to photograph nature and its wonders seven days. Instead of the seven days, we have been photographing here almost every day since we started the renovation project. Sometimes we have seen beautiful, funny and even odd things happening around us. This post is dedicated to all the creatures, that are living with or around us.
Susanna likes to photograph insects. They are somehow interesting, maybe because they are so different from us. Because of the little details, that you are able to see only through the lense of the camera. Because of the life cycle, from larva to an adult insect. On this photo above is a cockchafer, also called May bug, which we at May. This one is a lady, because she has only six pieces on each antenna, whereas the male has seven.

We met hundreds of these flying insects at the end of May. They were flying in the same place and just going up and down and then up again. In one week they were gone. In German they are called Eintagsfliegen, one day flies, and this was the mating ritual. Some point they were taking a break and then it was possible to see them close and yes they were beautiful.
This spider was living under the garden table. She was a little bit shy, but she loved the sun and came out every now and then to bath in the June's warmth. We saw this spider so often, everytime we had lunch or dinner there, so we became attached to it.
This view was taken in July from the river, that are crossing the yard. It's a crab lying on a stone or more like what is left of it. The river is full also with the living ones. Maybe some bird or bigger animal had a nice lunch.
This photo was taken at the end of August, when the frogs were searching a place for their winter sleep. We had a deep hole dug in our garden for a water pipe. From this hole we found over ten frogs during couple of days. We needed to rescue them. All in all we have seen tens or almost hundreds of frogs this year. That's a happy sign. They are growing strong at least here at the countryside.
This little fellow was the first we got to know, when we moved in. Tobi named it Mika (as an inspiration was the famous Finnish formula driver Mika Häkkinen). Well maybe this is not Mika, but some of his friend. In September the squirrels were collecting the acorns and hiding them all over the place.
And last but not least, today we saw white-tailed deers on our field, a mother with two children or we assume so. We didn't dare to go near and decided to took some photos from our roof. For us the new thing was, that they have such a long tails! Usually we have seen them only in the dusk or dark, but today they were enjoying the last rays of the sun. The fact, that we are living so close to all living creatures, is one of the best things here.