Life favored a particularly deep silence this winter. I feel like it was a heavenly preparation for the upcoming fiery Year of the Horse. I feel with every cell of my body that this year will be one of especially vigorous creation.
And although winter felt very peaceful compared to the rest of the year, I haven’t exactly been sitting idle (and luckily so :)).
For example, we’ve been doing some forestry work. Until now, the forest has been quite a thicket and an adventure trail that we’ve had to crawl through, under, and over. In the autumn, a wonderful friend named Jaak created a marvelous fairy trail there. At the end of winter, led by a local man named Raimo, we brought more light to one part of the forest. Let’s just say I haven’t dared to let anyone into that forest with a saw until now. I’ve let it stand until I feel a sense of trust regarding the forestry work. I’m a fan of continuous cover forestry and I welcome more men and women with a similar outlook into my life!
The Tea House has been blessed and is now in a wonderful phase of furnishing and finishing. Local master Neeme is currently building a kitchenette there using 100+ year-old floorboards from the farmhouse and other exciting local materials. He also created the magnificent fireplace there with its little “elf chambers.” :’)
An international sauna school, led by sauna master Helen Moppel, has visited the smoke sauna. The good, spacious sauna has been excellent for larger whisking workshops and has kindly hosted sauna-goers from all over the world.
I’ve also been preparing camps and events for the new season here. For the first year, Vana-Kaasiku has cozy sleeping quarters under the roofs of the tea house and smoke sauna, meaning we can now offer comfortable overnight stays. I’m very excited—more about the summer gatherings soon!
We are creating a website for Vana-Kaasiku. Oh, it’s such a great creative project that I took on together with some talented web designers. You can’t imagine how beautiful it’s going to be!! My aim is for a virtual visit to Vana-Kaasiku via the website to give a similar feeling to actually landing here in person.
And since the winter solstice, we’ve also had a dog! A little American Shepherd. His name is Viski, he turned five in January, and he is one big, big friend! When you come to visit next time, be ready for his warm welcome.
Oh, and surely much more, but let’s leave something for next time to talk about over tea or by the bonfire.
I’m attaching a few pictures of the past winter to this letter.
