at the lake & in the woods

i love the shades of pink in late summer evenings' light at the cottage. this evening here, the lake was surprisingly calm.














on my last visit at the cottage, this mallard brought her ducklings to visit us.







she stood on the rock whilst the young ones fooled around in the long grass.







after a while mama mallard called the ducklings who dutyfully followed her.







but yesterday evening, as i was going to take some more pics of the pink moments, the mallards had come back for the night.







didn't have my tripod along...sadly mama mallard seems to have lost a duckling.







they didn't seem to mind me getting quite close (3 meters)







not sure if it's only due to the fact that i've started looking at clouds...but sometimes there are strange formations.







from the water to the woods, or, actually, a small swampy pond up on a hill not too far from the cottage.







swampy areas have cloudberries, tiny one here. i guess i'm supposed to say they are delicious, but have yet to learn to like them. it's not that the taste is somehow off or outright bad, there is a sort of tartness to it that i just don't enjoy. but don't let me stop you from trying if you ever get a chance.







i do like this place, but...in the winter there usually is just way too much snow, in the summer you won't believe the amount of bugs, and autumn just might be even worse for bugs because the moose flies. little over a week ago when i went there (semi-hiking with mom) it had just rained (fresh, cool air), there was a slight wind (no mosquitoes) and most importantly, no moose flies yet!







eew! i just don't like moose flies! but these lingonberries are looking good, few more weeks and they'll be ripe to be picked







wild raspberries are abundant! hmm, little did i know, these are not just wild raspberries, but arctic raspberries...







mom's been picking them like crazy, there are still places you can pick a handful after handful, and have a handy snack along a hike.







and blueberries, there's plenty of them, too. whether you choose to call these wild blueberries or bilberries, to me, they are the true blueberries.







another tasty snack...







this, however, is not a blueberry, but a northern bilberry. who knew berries could be so confusing!?







though, there is nothing confusing about these, wild strawberries

juice de cassis

not as fancy as the title sounds...plain old black currant juice made with a steamer. my late grandmother bought me this juicer/steamer, i bet most homes in finland will have one, if not in use, at least gathering dust in the basement.

when i was making juice last year i noticed that the hob couldn't manage boiling the tall kettle contraption for hours, that's why i bought a separate hotplate for the task







washed bottles, sugar, atamon (preservative) and black currants (25 kgs)







the berries were a bit dusty, they needed a quick wash first







the base kettle where the boiling water makes steam that...







...that is consentrated in this funnel type part with an opening for...







...plastic hose that takes the steamed juice to another kettle







this part is then filled with berries and placed on top the funnel-type part







oop, i only washed the berries here...







it is very important to clean and disinfect the bottle well before pouring in the juice







i add atamon (sodium benzoate and benzoic acid) into the water where i dip the bottles. i keep this water boiling while...







i bring the steamed juice (with added sugar) to a boil...







these thongs have a good grip on the hot bottles







a funnel make this part a lot neater (this juice is particularly hard to remove from carpet...)







filling the bottles almost to the top







this year i got 16 litres of juice from the 25 kg of berries







i almost went and bought another 10 kg of currants but we will run out of storage. the juice needs to be refridgereted, or at least in a very cool place, and this fridge needs to hold my apple sauce as well

trail mix

trail mix but not the kind you buy at the store but as one you pick as you go, namely berries.

during my week at the cottage i went hiking (if you can call a brisk walk in the forest a hike, that is) every other day. the walk took about an hour, if i didn't stop snacking...these wild strawberries/fraises des bois grow all a long the final strech of road to the cottage







gulping them by fistfulls







see, so many of them!







in the woods then, blueberries. or rather bilberries as their proper scientific name is, see link fo details. but excuse me, i will call them blueberries, always have, always will







that's mom picking blueberries, this picker comes handy







there is plenty to pick. however, not sure when mom will stop picking, she thinks it's a shame to leave them be (never mind the fact that every freezer is bursting with berries...)







this here is how you clean the berries. the picker/rake collects leaves and such with the berries, the slits are narrow enough to keep the berries on the tray, but wide enough for leaves (and such) to fall thru







now, what will i have with these?







best to keep it simple, strawberries and milk







another day, another walk. mom spotted these chanterelles, that were in desperate need of water. maybe mom will go back after it has rained...







these were taken out of the bursting freezer to make room for this year's crop. i love the ruby-red of these cranberries







the cranberries were hidden in this cranberry vanilla coffeecake (that my mom seems to like very much, she has me bake a few almost on every visit to the cottage)







i've made this cake about umphteen times and wish there will one day be a perfect cake. there always seems to be something that i'm not entirely happy with, like with this cake, it's a tad bit too dark for my taste (but it didn't collapse in the middle!)...i will quit baking them once i manage to bake the perfect cake (or when mom's freezer runs out of cranberries)







meanwhile back to the shack...this week i've been taking the dog for morning walks, this route also involves going thru some forested area. for the first few times the dog didn't seem to understand why i was stopping mid-walk to pick these...now he stops and takes the opportunity to eat something as well, his chosen treat is grass...







i have to say, raspberries are my absolute favourite. don't get me wrong, any fresh berry is fine, but raspberries win, no other berry is so sweet, juicy and mellow. now, if i were to think an ultimate yummy treat, it would be raspberries with whipped, sweetened and vanilla flavoured cream. i'll leave you dreaming about it...