We ate dinner one night while in Ivalo at a local family’s home. This family was a native Finnish family. Jana, the husband, made us dinner. Paula, his wife, got a PhD in Helsinki in something like molecular biology. They moved up to the far north woods for the lifestyle. Today, she has a job with the local government as a health inspector. They love where they live. They have a nice chunk of land which is rather isolated. This family seemed to me to be extremely happy and comfortable with their lives.

You can see Paula with Vicky in the first photo. Jana and Paula built their own house which you can see in the first two photos. I liked their house. It seemed extremely solid and comfortable. It was not fancy but was a really livable space. Jana does some guiding work in both summer and winter for fishing, sledding, etc. I’m not sure where they learned about construction but they didn’t make it sound like much of a big deal to have built their own home.

The back of their house is in the third photo. The garden beds were just planted with vegetables. They have a river just down the bank. But the big thing here is that they told us that they heat mostly with wood but they buy their firewood. I asked them why they buy firewood with all the trees on their property. They said that these trees are over 200 years old. They are so far above the Arctic Circle that trees grow extremely slowly up there and they wanted to preserve their own trees as a sort of legacy or investment for their daughter. I understand their position but it was hard to believe that those trees were over 200 years old.

Noora, their daughter, is in the fourth photo. Noora is three years old, going on 25. She can’t wait to grow up according to her parents. After dinner, we were served tea, piping hot. Noora also got a mug of hot water and a tea bag and she handled it like she was already 25. She was a very impressive and independent three-year old.

Jana and Paula hunt and fish all year long. They supply all their own meat and fish. They forage for wild berries, mushrooms, and all sorts of food. They also raise vegetables. Jana made dinner and it was largely home grown and processed. We had smoked reindeer soup with mushrooms and cheese. Our main plate (last photo) was moose stew over potatoes with beets, pickles, and lingonberries. Dessert was chocolate cake with fresh cream and wild blueberry jam. Everything was very good.