As nervous as I am about writing in English, this was long overdue.
I decided to switch languages to challenge myself (as I feel I’m more eloquent in Spanish) and as a way to connect with my new environment and community which now involves a lot of English and Finnish. But my border girl spanglish remains, so expect a bit of that too, hence the “chismesito” part, also known as gossip or updates.

But without further ado, let’s jump into today’s topic: Yesterday’s blueberry picking.

In Mexico I wasn’t a huge fan of summer, but I gotta say love it here! Most of the time, hehe. Summer in Finland can be both amazing and deceiving, depending on what you’re used to. It has loooong days, nightless nights, and if you’re lucky enough, nice weather too. Plus, people seem happier, and the city feels lively! But it also comes with rain, thunders, and tons of mosquitos. The summer rain is new to me, as back home my summers were mostly dry and hot, but I gotta say it’s nice to have warm weather (20°-25°) and be able to go on a walk at 11pm to watch the sunset and not being pitch dark afterwards.

Finnish summer deserves it’s own post but that’s for another day. Today I wanna tell you about one of my favorite things to do during this season: go to the forrest and collect blueberries.

I don’t know if you’ve heard this before, but berries in Finland are DELICIOUS. And thanks to the Everyman’s Right you can basically go pick wild berries yourself almost anywhere (with its own restrictions, of course). When I learned that was possible I couldn’t wait for the moment to come!

Blueberry season is around mid July – early September, and yesterday was my second time adventuring to it!

First step: find a forrest to go. You can ask a local for some guidance, just beware: Finns gate keep with their soul their berry picking place, but if you get lucky (or adventure looking for one yourself), you’ll get a location!

Second: You can totally pick them by hand, however, if you want to do it faster, get yourself a blueberry picker, a bucket and a cleaning rack (this last one will save you hours of cleaning!).

Important note: If you have long hair, make sure you cover it or comb it afterwards, as there are some moose flies that might like you as a host, bite you and stay as guests. Hasn’t happened to me, but I surely don’t want it to! Also, wear long sleeves, comfy shoes and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.

As you see in the photos, blueberries are actually blue! It’s after you pick them that they change color to a dark blue/purple, as they become a bit wet (and consequently stain your fingers as well).

This time it took us around 3 hours to collect around 8 liters! (Between Juhis, my husband and me). But with views like these, time flies! Also this year’s we got lucky, as there were blueberries everywhere! 🫐💗

For me it’s an exciting experience, because you have to walk around looking for good spots and start collecting! But as fun as it is, it’s also exhausting! After doing it once, you understand why they tend to be so expensive… Today my lower back keeps reminding me that I’m not that young anymore, haha. But it was worth it.

Once you get home comes a not so fun part: the cleaning. If you hand-picked them, they’re most likely already clean, but if you use the picker, it’s time to separate the leaves, branches, the occasional bug and some lingonberries that might have tagged along. When you have the rack it gets to much easier, though! Yesterday it took us less than an hour to clean 8 liters, whereas last year it took us four hours to clean 2.5L, by hand! So, yes, I do recommend getting one, hehe.

Now, for the ultimate the Finnish experience, I recommend baking a mustikkapiirakka aka Blueberry pie!

With the freshly picked blueberries, my husband baked this beauty and I was so excited that I made a little photoshoot for it.
After one year, this was my return to food photography. Even though it was very improvised and the results were not my favorite, I’m very proud for just starting! Just like this blog post today.

I can’t keep waiting for everything to be perfect, I just have to start.

So here I am, sharing with you the lovely day I had yesterday, practicing my English writing, and dreaming of the blueberry pie waiting for me in the fridge.

Happy Sunday!

Hugs,

Sara