This is not my first blog and it will probably not be my last. It is, however, the first one that I have started with some sort of intent and organization. Blame it on the quarantine.

A little more than 10 years ago, we moved into a very typical example of a postwar Finnish farmhouse. It came complete with a barn, farmland, wells, and a greenhouse. While this was exactly the sort of place I’d always dreamed of living in, neither of us had the experience or background to know what to do with it. So for the next several years, everything was pretty much allowed to run wild. Save for some rudimentary lawnmowing, and we were just happy to get a bonus crop of fruit every year from our trees.

Then, lockdown came. I started looking out the kitchen window and actually had time to consider all the things I could do out there. And then, even more surprisingly, I actually started doing it. So this blog is about that process.