Village People

Only few days to Christmas, so high time to remember the last big gathering together in our village. It was June and the event Open Villages.

Like all big events we had the guardians, August and Cecilia in the picture taken in front of the main house year 1904. There weren't so many visitors but if I can count our reliable nice neighbours who came twice, we got 15 guests! And we did not count ourselves...

We decided to take part in the Open Villages -event by opening our farm, showing the traditional way to renovate and offer vegetarian lunch & café.

Soup and Salvation!

The visitors got a ready dose of information - about materials and technics, hints and inspiration.

The big living-room could be presented as "a before" example...

And veranda as "after"...

In the laundry-sauna cottage you could mostly see the former stages and surfaces that will be then hidden behind paper and panelling.

I have already for some time wanted to arrange something during the winter season, too. A glögg-afternoon, X-mas decoration work-shop? Grand-mother Anita has told us how in the old days people of our village used visit each other especially during the Christmas days, today here, tomorrow at the neighbours - a nice tradition to take up again..?

Rumar with Open Arms

Chocolate cake baked with jam from our own cherries, my mother's Kentucky cake, buns and the vege soup with archipelago bread, that was on the menu... A week ago we opened our doors and welcomed everyone to Café Cecilia and to learn about traditional way of renovating houses. The best were the visitors! Eager renovators, curious city-people, friends from the island, foreigners wondering if we really live like this.

August who built our house in early 1870s and his wife Cecilia

Our home is usually full of children, books, news papers, dogs on the floor but for this one day we wanted to show our shiny side...

We had gathered magazines, articles and books from our home library to study

The most lovely china

Paints and brushes we like to use

The main living-room, now a painter's work shop

Veranda waiting for the eager readers

In the new sauna-laundry cottage still log and some of the windows waiting

Linen, putty, old-fashioned nails...

Next year again.. This was fun!

One Week to go!

Week full of preparations for the next Saturday and Wellcome-to-our-village Day!

Päivät ovat olleet täynnä mukavaa touhua, kun ensi lauantain Avoimet kylät -tapahtuma lähestyy!

If the weather doesn't allow us to sit in the garden with our coffee&cake the veranda is a nice place to sit and listen to the rain drops.

Vanhaan saunaankin pääsee kurkistamaan. Ruusu, piharatamo ja kehäkukka hellivät kesävarpaita.

Have a look at the old sauna, too! Bath of rose leaves, calendula and broadleaf plantain for the feet.

Aili Kalela, mother of my mother-in-law and her wedding monograms now decorating sauna curtains...

We are gathering materials, paints, books to see, drawing before and after -signs, wandering how many litres to cook soup.. We are glad to show how it is to live here and how it is to renovate with traditional methods. And most of of to meet people in summer-mood!

Kylttejä, opastelehtiä, kirjallisuuspöytä. Keräämme esille maaleja, pellavaa, työvälineitä, piirrämme ennen ja jälkeen -tauluja, mietimme, kuinka monta litraa soppaa keitämme... On hauskaa päästä esittelemään miten täällä eletään ja miten vanhaa kunnostetaan vanhoilla menetelmillä. Ja on hauska tavata kesäihmisiä!

http://avoimetkylat.fi/

http://www.vskylat.fi/avoimet-kylat/

The Grand Opening!

Today arrived the ice-cream! And the same friendly old driver with Valio lorry, had begun his route at mid-night and before 9 a.m. he was at Rumar Mountain by the small summer-café that we have rented again for next summer.

Our Grand Opening of the ice-cream season will be on next Saturday, on 26th April, when we shall - as the only village from our whole municipality of Parainen - take part in Village Happening "Open Villages" - Avoimet kylät! Hopefully next year more village will join!

From 10 am to 6 pm you can climb to the Rumar Tower, have a cup of coffee by the cliff and perhaps see a sea-eagle. And we'll be there to tell you how it is to live in the most beautiful archipelago of the world.

Tomorrow I'll fetch some sweets to sell from Kaarina, where is one of the newest and smallest sweet factories in Finland, Karkkimaailma, The Candy World... http://www.karkkimaailma.fi/ - it has sympathetic products and I like the idea of local and small against the big brands. All the lemonades we sell will come from Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas, http://laitilan.com/, another local and interesting firm producing with wind power!

 We are so new at the business that choosing products - ice-cream catalogue... - is fun, trying to make the place look like a one we would ourselves love on a summer-trip - local, personal, organic... I hope this thrilling feeling will stay and it will be a good season for us - I'm sure, another exciting summer anyway!

http://www.onnikutsuukylaan.fi/uutiset/varsinais-suomi - ps. Honour and Glory in a competition: http://www.onnikutsuukylaan.fi/uutiset/satakunta/avoimet-kylat-paivalle-kunniaa-kuntamarkkinoinnin-sm-kisassa