Nestled In

It’s been cold and raining non-stop for a couple of days now. While the world looks grey outside, inside of our home there are bright colors that cheer me up. I bought a big bag of tomatoes yesterday - they taste so good and bring a great splash of color into the kitchen. And they are in season now so they are very inexpensive, too. I always try to buy Finnish vegetables and fruit as much as possible so I really enjoy the summer season when there is more to choose from and the prices are down. I feel so guilty if I buy produce that’s been transported from another country, but obviously sometimes it’s unavoidable if we don’t want to stop eating grapes and bananas and such alltogether. But I try to balance it out with buying Finnish produce when ever possible.

Our minitomato plants on the windowsill are doing great. Lots of little yellow flowers on them. We are eagerly waiting if we’ll be so lucky as to actually see a minitomato or two this summer. We’ve been talking about moving to a rowhouse apartment in the future and my only hesitation with the plan is that most of them have such small yards. I’d love to be able to fit a small vegetable garden on our yard. I love it how gardening makes you feel so much more connected to the earth and the changing seasons. And I love the idea of tending a garden that then provides food on your plate, even if it’s just a few carrots or tomatoes. I always think there’s such an element of love in gardening, whether it’s tending a garden of vegetables or flowers.

We’re dreaming of having a house with a little yard so we could garden but before that’s possible we enjoy our little herb garden on the kitchen windowsill. All the Minitomatoes, Sage and Lemon balm we planted earlier are growing nicely. Above is a picture of Watercress, our latest addition to the garden.

This cute little Succulent plant is our latest plant purchase. I can’t believe that just a few months ago we didn’t have any plants in the apartment, now we have so many and they bring me such joy. And I even remember to water them! Below is a picture of our dining area that also functions as my office space. Lots of plants in the kitchen as you can see.

There’s nothing like fresh flowers! They instantly make the whole apartment look so much nicer and my mood so much better. We bought these beautiful fair trade Carnations while grocery shopping yesterday and now I’m thinking we might have to make a habit of it: Friday flowers! I think it’s the perfect way to start the weekend.

A few pictures from our home. I’m buying fruits and plants, trying to fight the blues that come from the awfully grey and cold weather outside. Where is the sun? And all the green in nature? It might be grey and depressing outside but at least it’s nice and green inside our home. Herbs and plants are slowly growing so summer must be closer, even if it doesn’t feel like it today.