Autumn in Lapland 20th September 2008

Rain first thing and then sunny, 11 degrees.

Went for a row and fished early this morning. Didn't catch anything but the views were beautiful.

We cooked drop scones and entertained ourselves trying to make faces from them..........a bear?

I washed some clothes


I went to help a neighbour put out fishing nets in the lake and was invited to Ingvar and Anki's for a bbq.

Ingvar gave me a Reindeer antler to make things from (the results will come later in the trip).

I spent the afternoon fishing and then baked a blueberry oat cake before returning to Ingvar and Anki's for the evening to learn more Swedish.

Birds included; Fieldfare, a male Crossbill singing at the cabin, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Golden Eagle flying over the forest and 2 Snipe flying around calling at dusk.

Autumn in Lapland 17th September 2008

Cloudy today with a maximum temperature of 9 degrees. There is light on the horizon at 4am and at 9pm.



Up at 06:30 this morning to make the most of the daylight. I cleaned the stove and then went for a row on the lake.

When I returned Liam and Phoebe were up and so we cooked breakfast and then filtered some water. While Liam and Phoebe went fishing I went for a walk in the forest.

Phoebe caught a Pike (infact the only fish caught during the whole trip!) Liam gutted it and then we baked it for lunch.

After lunch Liam and Phoebe sawed logs and I painted a couple of windows (though unfortunately the frames were very wet).

Birds seen today were; 15 Waxwings feeding on Rowan berries, Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, Siskin, Reed Bunting, 4 mallard, Raven, Redpoll, 1 female Goldeneye, Robin, and 2 Siberian Tits in a Willow Tit party.

Making a feather fishing float

I found this swans flight feather yesterday so decided to make a fishing float, using the feather, a piece of flint and a piece of Stinging Nettle stem.

First the feather needs to be trimmed to leave just the quill. There are two methods of doing this; One method is to cut them off with a piece of flint

and the other is to start at the top of the feather and pull removing a thin strip of membrane along the edge of the quill

When you are left with just the quill decide one the length of float you require and then this down the quill by scraping or cutting it with the piece of flint.

Then fold the quill at the point where you have thinned it

I used a piece of nettle stem as a lashing to hold the two pieces together (the nettle should be waterproofed with resin or something similar).

The float is now completed

and ready to use

Lime Bark Cordage

Having processed the Lime bark I have now been making some cordage. Lime bark has long been used for cordage and rope. The latin name of Small-leaved Lime is Tilia cordata (cordata meaning cord).

The cord in the picture below demonstrates different sizes of cords for a variety of uses; starting with a fine cord suitable for sewing and progresses through various sized cords, terminating with a piece of rope.


This cord has been made using the twisting method. Here is a closeup


This fishing line I am making is platted however.


Here in this closeup you can see the three strand platting

Sweet tin smoker

I decided to cook my family Salmon for dinner this Christmas, but rather than baking it in an oven, I utilised an empty sweet tin to make a simple hot smoker.

I drilled a series of small holes each side, through which I inserted thin metal rods (cut from an old oven shelf) as a shelf for the fish to rest on. I also drilled a hole in the lid to allow the smoke out.

I cut a small branch from a Wild Plum tree and shaved with my knife. The shavings I then placed in the bottom of the tin as flavouring for the fish.


The fish had to be cut into four pieces and smoked individually. I used tyme and garlic butter to add flavour.

I ignited some charcoal in a metal tray, placed the lid loosely on the tin and then placed the tin one the charcoal. As the shavings in the tin were heated by the charcoal, they gave off smoke which was absorbed by the fish and the heat generated also cooked the fish.

After only 15 minutes the piece of Salmon was cooked perfectly and had a fruity smoked flavour.

Netting and smoking fish

When I was last in Lapland I was able to catch fish using nets for the first time. We put out 100m of nets and caught over 60 fish.

The majority of fish caught were White Fish and there were also a few Perch and Pike. To preserve the catch, we were going to smoke them, but before this they had to be gutted and their scales removed.

The picture below is of my smoker.


There are two chambers in the box; the lower is where you make a fire and in the top half of the box you first put items to create the smoke and help flavour the fish (I used Alder shavings and Juniper), then on a tray above this the fish are placed and the lid is then closed.

Ideally the fish are put into salt for a few hours prior to smoking to help remove moisture, but we had no slat available to do this.

After about 40 minutes the fish were completed.

If you are not fortunate enough to have a smoker, a biscuit tin can be utilised to create a smoker for use on a campfire.