House restoration, self-sufficiency and sustainable living on a smallholding in the pine forests of southwest Finland! My name's Daniel, and with my partner, Angela, and daughter, Juno, we've moved from Ireland to Finland, where we live off-grid on a homestead with 5 acres of land in the pine forests of Finland. We grow food, keep livestock, restore our house and barns, catch our own fish, forage for mushrooms and berries and try to live as simply and frugally as we can. Oh, and we have a crazy dog called Tuppence!
This spring has been strange. Very warm, sunny and humid. I have eaten cucumber from my greenhouse for a month and today I ate my first ripe pepper. That was a normal greenhouse plant, not those expensive ones which are sold in may with fruits in it. Normally I have had them ripen in late august. My blackcurrants are already ripening too, with a month ahead of schedule. I dug a huge hole for my greenhouse and put something like 6t of big rock in top of the insulation. I washed them well and poured a concrete slab on the top. I have a fan circulating the air through the rocks so I can cool the air in sunny days and get heat on nights.
I'm from Lapland and people have been farming for ages also. My parents have their own field on their back yard and also a greenhouse. They grow potatoes and other root vegetables, onions, cucumber, apples, strawberries... And the forests and swamps are great for berries and mushrooms. I'm not sure if you noticed, but many in Finland grow something on their yard, especially the older folk. There is just something about growing your own food.
We ended up with a pre-owned Chinese Tractor, combining the simple technology of historic tractors with a lot less tired structure. What I had been looking for was a small tractor around 1.5to and 35 HP, preferrably with a loader, what I got was a wee bit smaller (25hp) and no loader, but a number of attachments.
You are a very intelligent, broad minded and hard working man, gotta say I respect that very much. You try to count every possible scenario as the best as you can and listen feedback/critique very well and also try to address those as you do things. I have no doubt in my mind that your life here in Finland will be a successful one and undoubtedly a generational one. You also seem have to established good communications with your neighbors around you which is very important in Finland, especially if a disaster strikes like a storm or such. We have a good community of neighbors too around my summer cottage where life is quite hard without any modern pleasantries. Nobody has everything but everyone has something so we frequently loan equipment from each others, like a tractor. Before you decide to invest in a tractor, establish good connections with your neighbors and see if they are willing to lend one in exchange of something. Usually works very well in Finnish communities, just a hint! :) Keep up the good work! I enjoy your videos very much! ☺
Quote from an American outdoor magazine, field and stream: “Most experts agree that a whitetail could clear an 8-foot high-jump bar (or garden fence) from a standing start without too much difficulty. Give that same deer a running start, and you can add 25 to 50 percent to that height, making a 12-foot leap entirely possible” So I would advise a fence of at least 2.75 meters, since they will generally only jump higher if they feel threatened.
Welcome. You came to place that indeed has plenty of space, and hence cheap land. Resources that the land provides easily: water, space, wood, and safety. Resources you will need to work for: Heat, growing season, light during winter, and sometimes arable topsoil is scarce. I strongly recommend getting to know your neighbors. That can save you a lot of work and money sometimes.
There is a wry saying in Finnish which is not elegantly translatable to English: "Kesä Suomessa on lyhyt, mutta vähäluminen." "Summer in Finland is short, but (endowed) with little snow." PS: Greetings from another Turku resident.
Funny coincident, indeed, this video. Yesterday I was offered the possibility to get a mechanical splitter. Well, to be more precise "I" would not get it, but it would be bought to the summer cottage where I fell the trees and split all the firewood. I said no, because I enjoy splitting logs by hand. It's the best part of the whole process. I have tested mechanical splitters and they are slow and boring. Working with the axe, finding the best position and rhythm, it is so rewarding (I could compare it to yoga, I do that, too). And, of course, the sound when logs are splitted, it is like music. PS. I am tall. I split logs standing on my knees. It mimimizes all movements, makes everyhting so smooth. And also makes it really easy for my back, as standing means bending your back all the time. Standing on my knees, my back is straight all the time, all work is done by the legs. Just working through the pile of logs like that.
In Finland, we utilize four-wheel drive vehicles equipped with snow removal equipment. Additionally, the cost of replacement components is relatively economical.
I am no tractor expert by any measure but I would guess an old tractor would be fairly easy to repair, there were no complicated systems 50 years ago and farmers were expected to be able to repair it in the field by themselves. They were built tough the old machines
I'm not really into self sufficiency but I still find your channel interesting. I hope you will succeed and I will look forward to more updates on the progress. If you get homesick maybe you could grow some barley and hops and then brew yourself a proper Irish pint? I guess it's easier to buy the malt as the malting process seems a bit cumbersome but at least growing your own hops could be fun.
Old tractors hardly ever brake up too badly if only maintain with care and lucky for you, there is no sparkplugs either😂 Hook up with some dude who knows and look up some Massikka for you. Good luck.
Daniel, the last I remember of you, you were in Ireland complaining about the midges. You are in need of constructing a Walipini. They were invented to counter act the harsh cold conditions of the high Andes mountains. They are simply underground green houses.
You have such a nice voice. I listened through this cooking a meal and doing other chores and it was just delightful! You should make audio books or radio or something. Thanks a lot for the video, really enjoyed it.
You're such a positive, fun, wholesome dude that I can't help but yell "YAAY! I LOVE YOU!" whenever you end a scene. I'm a straight guy by the way, thought I'd put that out there, but your attitude is positively lovely!!!
You certainly have a good crop of lupins Daniel. I garden in Connaught . It's really cold and wet one day and really warm and dry another day, very variable. We have a big bed of strawberries in a walled garden at the moment, really sweet. I am using unheated old greenhouses and 🥒 cucumbers, tomatoes 🍅 are growing well. Potatoes are outside.The apple trees are cut well back and I am planting a pear. IKEA is useful,I like the mustard with dill sauce as well 😊 Good luck, perhaps a cat would be useful 😺
Hi, You can use electric fence to keep the wildlife out of the garden nicely. The one's that are meant for horses or sheep are fine, though in the winter you need to use fence with both ground and live wires, if you need to keep the deer from eating the small planted trees. I think the cheapest ones cost around 200 euros and you can get the roll of wire fairly cheap if you do the posts yourself. Also small tractors are quite reliable, though in the winter it might be hard to get diesel tractors running, if you don't have a heated garage for it. Most of them are also very easy to repair and internet is full of advice for the most common models. Some Honda ATV might be easier to keep running though and petrol vehicles start easily even in the coldest conditions if you keep the battery in a warm place.
I don't know why youtube decided to recommend me a crazy Irishman last year but I'm glad it did. Been a pleasure to watch your journey through the winter and I'm absolutely delighted to see you in your first summer here in Finland. Thank you for sharing your journey and being an inspiration to us all!
Sounds like your mechanical skills may be about the same as mine! We have a 1959 Fordson Dexta that does most of what we need it to, we did have a “proper” 110hp tractor but it had electrical problems that cost me £6k and still didn’t work! I would recommend looking into parts availability in Finland and buying a vintage model with no electronics. Massey Ferguson tractors from the ‘70’s are very easy to get most parts for in the U.K. and as with my tractor, if you have an ounce of common sense you can diagnose problems fairly easily and replace parts. These also hold their value much better than modern options. Good luck, I’m enjoying seeing your adventures unfold!
i think a lot of people have "tractor" grass clippers. i think they're somewhat reliable as i haven't heard my parrents or grand parrents complaining about theirs as much as they do about other things :D they usually have a pulling tab and they're basically just smaller (and newer) versions of those 100 year old tractors used before all those new modern john deer style tractors... it might be worth to ask arround your neigbours if any of them are accomplished mechanics. my grandmother who owns a lot of land has her neigbours fix some of her stuff, though she might have a bit more close neigbours than you, as you seem to live further away from "civilization", so to say! ether way, keep doing what you do. you live the life i sometimes immagine i might. when i was searching for homes, i wished we'd find a good house with a yard just so we could grow potatoes 🤤
Hi. You asked about investing in a tractor. I grow in finland some potatoes and courgette outside plus chillies in a small greenhouse. My handiest machine is a 2wheel tractor, or "sarvitraktori" in finnish. It's very simple and quite cheap. It can till my beds in summer and blow snow in the winter. Many also use it to tow a small trailer, they are rather nimble in small spaces. It might be also used for plowing snow if the area isn't particularly snowy and/or big. We get a lot of snow so I use a quad bike for plowing.
Yes you have to be a home mechanic as a farmer, unless you're a large one. Old valmets are quite easy to work on and everything is mechanical. A MIG welder is a must though.
Hello, Daniel. You may remember me contacting you when you were selling Mossy Bottom in Sligo (Amanda Culpan - a patron of your channel). I was the person who wondered if we could get a static down the lane. Well, I thought you'd be interested to learn that we found 3.5 acres with a house AND a derelict cottage in County Donegal. We'll be moving shortly to begin our new "good life". I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you... for years, you inspired us to find a way to live our dream, and we wouldn't have thought of Ireland if not for you. I'll be filming our journey (I only have a few practice videos right now) but we'd love you to subscribe and offer any tips if you see us doing something wrong. Please also pass on our best to Angela - her blogs are very entertaining. I'm looking forward to trying to catch up with you in the new smallholding. 😊
Amazing progress and keeping out critters in your veggies is a challenge that most of us have even our little backyard gardens. I look forward to your update(s).
This year has been a strange one, Daniel. Even here in Ireland we had a night frost on the 3rd of June. Difficult to gauge anything long-term from the conditions these past 12 months
You have to be a jack of all trades to survive out in the wilderness. Winter is a great time to learn new skills. A small tractor is a great idea (something we’re looking at, albeit I have no maintenance worries) or maybe a community tractor is a way forward? Skills / labour can be bartered. The grow lights are an essential game changer in our climate / lattitude, been doing it a few years now.
I'm in the north-west of England, which has a similar climate to your previous Ireland abode. It's one and a half acres of sloping clay hillside above the town. I researched tractors endlessly before buying a 1954 Ferguson TEF20. Excellent, basic and simple and would probably suit your needs. However, the holy grail, with the advantage of being able to start in cold temperatures, is 3 cylinder Perkins MF35.
Congratulations on the plums! Make sure to preserve some by drying them so you can make kissel out of them during the winter. It's great with rice porridge especially. It was my grandmother's favorite Yule time dish. <3
