A Closing and a New Beginning Omavaraniemi is now Kylmäniemi

It has been quiet on this channel for a long time. This blog has always been an important part of this project for me, and after this challenging time, I finally want to give it the attention it deserves.

Many of you already know that since the beginning of this year, I have been running this project here in Finland on my own. I want to share with you what has happened since then and how the project will continue. The last few months, and also the last few years, have been a very intense, educational and often challenging time.

When you go through such a big change and suddenly become responsible for a project like this on your own, some things simply have to be adjusted to the resources you have. Otherwise, it is very easy to burn out, both physically and mentally.

Already in February, I started a company that will now be responsible for this project.

Luckily, there are different organisations in Finland that support young companies in rural areas. This can be through free advice or financial support for starting and investing in the business. I am very grateful for this support.

But the biggest challenge is still finding the right balance between work and rest. I think everyone who is self-employed knows how difficult this can be. Especially when there are already certain daily structures that have to be followed, while important projects are waiting to be finished. Until the middle of April, my two dogs, Najuk and Wilma, were still here on the farm before they also travelled to Switzerland. I really enjoyed having the dogs around, but they also required a lot of time.

At the same time, I wanted to finish Mökki Riihiniemi as quickly as possible so that it could be rented out during the summer. I also had to cut trees, take care of the animals, set up the bookkeeping and prepare for the summer season.

And on top of all that, I still needed time to process everything that had happened, eat well and do sports. I had to learn again to say no and remind myself that I am now allowed to decide how I use my own energy.

Mökki Riihiniemi was listed on Airbnb at the beginning of June and has been available for holiday guests since this summer. I had to make a few compromises to get it ready, but these are now being improved step by step.

Analysis and Adaptation

Unlike in previous years, I did not have any helpers from Workaway this year.

Even though it can be nice to have people staying here, you never really know how helpful they will be. You often have to set boundaries and defend them, especially because Workawayers have been a very strong part of the farm family in the past.

This can be very tiring. Only a few people were able to contact me at short notice when they happened to be nearby. And even then, they could usually only stay for a short time.

Luckily, I had friends visiting this summer who helped me a lot and were mostly able to work independently. This kind of independence will also be very important when I welcome Workawayers in the future.

When my goat Zara had babies this April and shortly afterwards had to be put down because of a serious illness, I made the difficult decision to stop keeping goats for the time being. The group and the grazing situation would not have worked without making bigger changes to the fences and other structures. I tried to make it work, but my buck Tamezon clearly showed me where my limits and the limits of my fences were.

Luckily, I found a good home for all of the goats.

I also reduced the number of ducks from 19 to 7 because selling the duck eggs takes a lot of time and hardly covers the cost of feeding them. From now on, I will only sell hatching eggs and, if possible, young ducks from natural hatching.

The sheep are still an important part of this farm. Luckily, I found a great person who will take care of the sheep shearing for me.

The bees are also an important part of the farm and I will continue to build up the number of colonies. Unfortunately, the summer was very bad this year, and the little honey I harvested had too much water to be sold or stored for a longer time.

But I was able to double the number of bee colonies, and I now have six strong colonies.

I hope that next year I will be able to provide you with some fine Finnish honey.

Another change concerns the garden of the "new" permaculture project.

To protect my time this year, I only planted the greenhouse next to the potato field.

In the future, the garden will slowly be expanded and changed so that it is better suited to my back and easier to manage.

I am really looking forward to this project, and I think you can look forward to seeing how it develops.

But the biggest change will happen somewhere else.

Over the last few years, I have already gained experience with producing and processing my own wood. This year, I not only cut and processed more wood than usual, but I am also creating a space where I can work with this wood during the winter with warm feet.

There, I want to create beautiful and unique wooden products for you.

And this is only the beginning. You can also look forward to some bigger wood projects in the future.

A Hard but Important Decision

One hard but important decision brought this period of change to an end.

Because of serious security problems, I decided to create a new Instagram profile. At the same time, I also created a new Facebook profile with the same name.

Since I had already been thinking about changing the name for some time, I decided to give the new profile, and therefore the project itself, a new name as well.

Near Valtimo there is Omavaraopisto, a "school" for self-sufficiency run by a non-profit organisation. Unfortunately, we did not know about this when we chose the original name.

Because the name Omavaraniemi has repeatedly caused confusion or misunderstandings, I decided to give the project a new name.

Kylmäniemi is not only the name of this place, but also the name of the road next to it. In Finland, local place names are very important, and when I tell someone where I live, everyone knows where Kylmäniemi is.

There is another reason for the change. Self-sufficiency is not the main goal of this project.

For me, it is much more about living in a sustainable way and making use of existing and renewable resources. It is also important to me to support plants and animals that can handle the climate and conditions of this place.

Kylmäniemi is not the same place it was a year ago. It is more real, more grounded, quieter and much more in tune with what this place and I need.

I am looking forward to taking you with me over the coming months, sharing the progress and slowly bringing this new chapter to life.

Thank you for being part of it.