From the forest to the gardens to the sea

Robert Harper

They say the Finns have only recently come out of the forest and at every opportunity they go back into it. What is lovely about Soukka is that there are clearings in the forest, and in those clearings are allotments where people grow their own food.

There is a profusion of vegitation with hundreds of different plants growing, and many nationalities bring their own cultivation methods. They also grow plants that they miss from their homeland, and they use inovative methods to be able to grow them, bearing in mind this is Finland.

They tend to grow things that are expensive in the shops. Special salads Mizuma, Tatsoi, Choy sum, Corriander, Mint, Ruccola.

I grow potatoes bearing in mind the wisdom of a certain Mr Smith I met 30 years ago who said. "You can't eat flowers in the winter"

But flowers also have their place and as that fomous Scotsman John Muir said.

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul.”

The gardens at Soukka are just that.

Photo for Utata Guidebook

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