Signs of Winter 2011, part #2: Ensilumi

Three nights ago it was time for "the first snow". There is still plenty of it on the ground, but most likely it will still melt away (many times) before the real winter starts.

Signs of Winter 2011, part #1: Ruska

Trees are changing color - turning yellow, orange, red.. Nights are getting colder and longer (it's already getting dark at 7PM).. Autumn is in progress..

Traktorikynnön SM-kilpailut 2010 @ Saari

The next event from last weekend (September) was "Tractor Plowing National Championships". This year it was arranged at Saari, Mäntsälä.

It is very interesting that they do really arrange this kind event for World Champion level too.. Maybe it's just that I still feel like a city grown boy, and I'm not that into country lifestyle to get excited about the art of plowing..

Seriously, I don't mean to offend the skillful farmers who can actually drive a tractor and are doing it for living - they're growing the food also for my table.

Torpparihulinat

The last weekend of September was full of activity offerings.

First, a brief visual report from Sälinkään Torpparihulinat, an annual event that has been arranged since 1996. It turned out nice and even seemed to introduce a few original ideas - such as rope-pulling competition - compared to the traditional "country markets" that are mostly just about, well, selling stuff.

Rye bread from the Sälinkää Mill was really tasty (as locally produced food usually tends to be).