Kittila buying weed

__________________________

📍 Verified store!

📍 Guarantees! Quality! Reviews!

__________________________

▼▼ ▼▼ ▼▼ ▼▼ ▼▼ ▼▼ ▼▼

▲▲ ▲▲ ▲▲ ▲▲ ▲▲ ▲▲ ▲▲

Kittila buying weed

Finland is the northernmost country on the European continent. Its total area is , km2. Finland is called ''the land of a thousand lakes'' , but at last count there were , of them- within its borders. The Nordic countries are close to the North Pole. Compared to the situation in Greenland and Alaska, it is difficult to believe that one can actually grow vegetables, strawberries and several herbs even in the northern part of Finland. This is only possible because of the Gulf Stream, which brings temperate seawater from the Mexican gulf to the coast of North Scandinavia and Finland. The annual middle temperature is relatively high in the southwestern part of the country 5. The highest ever recorded temperature is The shorter vegetation periods, the low temperature sum in summer, the long and cold winter, as well as the mechanical injuries of snow and ice, all limit the range of cultivated species, and limit their biomass production. Growers may start sowing and planting in the open late April-early May in the southern part, but up in north the same start could be in late May or even in June. The number of farms in 59 and the arable land was 2. The average size of the farms was The production forest in the farms are 3 million ha. During the main acreage of grains was, 1 ha, forage plants ha, oil plants 69 ha, potato 23 ha. The total area of the outdoor horticultural crops was ha, of which vegetables were ha peas ha, carrot ha, onions ha. The total area of berries was ha strawberry ha, read and black courrant ha, raspberries ha, other berries ha , fruits ha. In greenhouse vegetables are cultivated in ha tomato ,cumumber and decorative plants in ha. The majority of the population lives in the southern regions. The Nordic sociogeography seems to be an important hindrance in evaluation of agricultural production, including herbs. The dispersed locations of the small farm units limit the concentrated cultivation in the northern parts of the region. Due to the sparse population, the long distances lead to expensive transport and logistics. The high cost of living in Finland results in high production costs generally in agriculture. Since herb production is relatively new, the herb consumption is quite low, the above mentioned factors together with the lack of herb production infrastructure education, research, advising, market, special machinery, etc. Due to the Nordic climatic conditions, Finland has never been a significant herb producing country. At the same time, a rapid change could be observed during the last 30 years, both in the production and consumption. This change is due to various reasons. Surpluses in traditional agricultural cultivation forced a search for new alternative crops. Due to intensive tourism from the s, Finnish society became more open to new tastes, new herbs, new types of foods, and the consumption of herbs started to increase. Due to the green movement, alternative production systems ecological cultivation and alternative medical treatments became better known and more popular. Realising the necessity of change, the state and different institutes have organised numerous courses, research and development projects for education on alternative crops including herbs. After some years, a few enterprises have started to organise market-oriented production of herbs and special crops. As a consequence of the different factors, the production of some herbs has activated. The cultivation area during has increased from ha to 16 ha. The most rapid changes occurred in the production of spice seeds caraway which is easily mechanised. Although the traditional indoor herb cultivation was quite well balanced, the production of fresh-cut herbs has increased quickly due to their popularity and all year round availability from 95, pots in l, 20 million pots in Herb production is situated mainly in the south and in the south-west parts of Finland, due to the more favourable climatic conditions and the higher population density consumption. Due to the high labour costs, the collection of wildflower medicinal plants has been of no significant importance until now. Current forms of production 1. Accurate data on the quantity of wildflower medicinal plants collected is quite difficult to obtain. Many of these plants are collected for personal consumption by thousands of families. Numerous small local herb farms produce dry tea mixtures or other products. Solidago, Filipendula, Taraxacum, Epilobium and Vaccinium myrtillus leaves between kg In addition to this amount, there is a special product, collected by the Oulu District of the Finnish 4H Association. During the last 15 years, kg of fresh sundew Drosera rotundifolia was collected from peatlands and marketed mainly for Switzerland and partly domestically. The most important herb is the biannual caraway , since its mechanization is easy. When state support for green manure crop cultivation started in , the growers began to grow spice seeds. The area reached a peak during At present some alternation can be observed due to several factors , but the good export possibilities for caraway keep the area between ha Figure 1. Finland is imported cc. At its peak in l the growing area was about ha, but due to price and climatic quality problems its cultivation has now nearly stopped. The third most important herb is the popular leaf dill. In it was cultivated on ha outdoors and 8. Nearly all dill is used in fresh form for direct sales or in the food industry. Only a few tons are dried in Finland. Parsley is the fourth most important herb. It is cultivated outdoors 6 ha and indoors 8 ha , mainly for fresh consumption. During the last years, the cultivation of garlic has increased to 16 ha. Production is widely distributed and on a small scale. About 10 different herbs, including some medicinal plants e. The harvested raw materials are dried, frozen or extracted. About 20 different herb and medicinal plant species St. The special part of the indoor herb cultivation is the production of fresh-cut herbs by hydroponic techniques Table 1. During the last 10 years a rapid increase in the production of lettuce for fresh-cut use was observed. At present 70 million fresh-cut lettuces are produced annually. The market seems to be saturated. At the same time, the production and consumption of fresh-cut herbs are increasing continuously, reaching nearly 20 million pots during The most popular fresh-cut herbs are the traditional dill, parsley and as a new favorite, different basils. Types of herb farms. According to the statistical data, about farms engaged in herb production in some extent. Depending on many factors, the herb farms can be grouped as follows:. Small herb farms for local consumption. The area of herbs is less than 0. They grow different species for fresh and dry consumption. Marketing is on the local market, to local institutional kitchens, where they produce their own tea and spice mixtures. Small contract growers produce leaf herbs for health food stores or the food industry. The share of contract cultivation is quite low. The contract growers produce mainly dill, parsley or some medicinal plants Echinacea , Rhodiola. They make contracts with marketing firms for the domestic market and for exports. The whole cultivation chain is mechanized using grain production machinery. Fresh-cut herb producers grow herb pots for fresh-cut consumption all year round in a hydroponic growing system. Nearly the whole production process is aed. Due to the high capital investment required for this growing method, production is very concentrated. There are about several specialized herb farms in Finland, which cover all aspects of herb production: they educate growers and consumers, process a wide range of herb products, producing their own raw materials and making contracts for buying raw materials, supplying seeds, seedlings and advising on production, eg. Farm size and yield level: The general features of Finnish herb farms are the dispersed location all around the country and the small size. The average size of the caraway farms is ranging between ha in average in The average outdoor and indoor dill cultivation area is about 0. Due to the small quantities, the income of the farmers from herb production generally is not determined, it remains only on the additional income level. No accurate cost analyses and economic calculations are available due to the small sizes and quantities except of caraway Karhula , Degree of mechanisation: Generally, the level of mechanization of herb production is quite low. Only the spice seed production is fully mechanized, since the growers use grain machinery. Separation of caraway seed is performed by skilled farmers with sophisticated cleaning machinery. There is a lack of small, affordably priced leaf herb harvesters and root diggers. The traditional dryers are suitable for herb drying, but there are big differences in the energy consumption of the different types of dryers. With no special machinery for the post-harvest processing the level of manual labour is quite high in the small herb producers and the cost is high as well. The growers use machinery developed and constructed by themselves. At present there are some small projects in machinery development. Organic production: Organic production is being expanded continuously in Finland. In the total organic area under control by the authorities was , ha. Since the health drug stores require organically grown raw materials, all medicinal plants are grown organically. Finnish consumers prefer herbicide-free products. Since weed control is not easy to mechanize in organic production, the production units and quantities produced remain small. Organic herb production is very small, it is about ha, mainly caraway. Herb production is distributed quite unequally over the country. The most important outdoor growing areas are situated in the south and south-west parts of the country due to the favorable climatic conditions. Indoor cultivation is concentrated in areas where the population density is highest, suitable for the marketing and consumption of fresh herbs. West coast areas have significant dill and parsley greenhouse cultivation. In the northern parts of the country the growing areas are naturally smaller, with the focus on the collection and utilization of natural medicinal plants. At present there is only some organization for herb collectors and growers in Finland. The Arctic Flavours Association is a nation-wide natural products industry association specializing on wild berries, mushrooms, herbs and special natural products. The aims of the Association are to promote the gathering, processing and use of natural products as well as to improve their quality. The caraway production has its own market-oriented organizations. Three commercial companies Arctic Taste Ltd www. Universities This is the largest field of research activities concerning herbs and medicinal plants in Finland. The universities are taking part in both local and national research and development projects. The plants in the research programmes are generally subjects of dissertations. The profiles of the different departments determine the type of research: agronomy, analytics, etc. At present some universities are taking part in major long-term development projects. University of Helsinki : The University of Helsinki has played an important role in starting herb research in Finland. Ojala , Kerrola University of East-Finland, Joensuu : Research projects have been carried out on the chemical properties of fermented herbal teas, originated in the Finnish nature, and a large research project was carried out on the biochemical evaluation of Salix myrcinifolia Julkunen-Tiitto and Meier Extensive and long-term agronomical research activity was carried out in the Agricultural Research Centre of Finland, presently The Natural Resources Institute Finland www. Several research projects were carried out during mainly led by the Ecological Production, Mikkeli. The projects have covered different aspects of herb production: cultivation techniques of herbs suitable for the Finnish climate Galambosi a , introduction and acclimatization of new medicinal plants Galambolsi b, Galambosi et al. Large projects were carried out at the North Ostrobothnia Research Station on cultivation and distillation techniques for mint and caraway in cooperation with the University of Oulu Aflatuni et al. The Institute of Horticulture, situated in the southernmost part of the country, has taken part in latitudinal herb research, mainly with basil and tarragon Pessala et al. Presently the research have been focused on different questions of caraway cultivation in a project: Superior Caraway Chain. Education on MAPs. Due to the minor economical importance of herbs and medicinal plant, the education of herb cultivation is a part of other horticultural education. The University of Helsinki has regular lectures on herb cultivation at academic level and irregular courses are organized by other universities. According to the Finnish National Board of Education in the vocational training schools herb cultivation and processing cover several week education periods. The first herb cultivation manual published in during presently is under revision and enlarging Galambosi, The company TransFarm Ltd organizes for his contract caraway growers training courses every spring, where the most actual research results and technological intentions are presented. Due to the interest of the people, tremendous herb courses are organized for the public by local cultural and municipal organizations all over the country. Despite the positive changes, the international competitiveness of the Finnish herb farms is not very good. This is mainly due to the production being widely dispersed over a large country. The herb farms are small, and there is a contract organisation only for caraway cultivation and for some medicinal plants for herbal extracts. The production is not sufficiently mechanised except for spice seeds. The herb-production culture is still young. There are many beginners among the farmers and their yield and quality is variable. The herb production is expensive and marketed mainly domestically. Only caraway, sundew collected in swamps and some herb extracts are exported. There is no active central organisation for the herb growers. Industry and the growers make contracts directly. Herb research financed by the state and EU makes continuous efforts to develop this special new production culture in Finland. At present, herb production can only provide additional income for the growers. Construction and experiments of standing oil distillery. In: Salo,R. Publications of Agric. Centre of Finland. Serie A ,No. Chernetsova, E,S. Laakso, I. Characterization of volatile and semivolatile compounds in green and fermented leaves of Bergenia crassifolia L. Mass Spectrom. Acta Horticulturae No. Galambosi, B. Aquilo Ser. Mauste- ja rohdosyrttien luonnonmukainen viljely. The use of black plastic mulch and ridges in the introduction of herbicide free herbs. Acta Horticulturae Case Studies, Part 1, pp. Cultivation of Rhodiola rosea in Europe. University of Helsinki. Publications No. Helsinki in Finnish with English summary. Flower Yield and Antioxidant properties of Arnica montana L. Drogenreport Jg. The effect of artificial feeding on growth, yield and quality of Drosera species grown indoor. Growth, yield and secondary metabolite production of Drosera species cultivated in peat beds in Finland. Suo 51 2 Hupila, I. Publications of the Agricultural Research Centre of Finland. Series A Jokioinen: Agricultural Research Centre of Finland. Culinary Herbs and Spices of Finland. In: Craker, L. Jancsik, cs. Caraway — a model example of an integrated supply chain. Finnish agriculture and rural industries Planta Medica 58 pp. Karhula, T. Competitiveness to Finland from caraway. Academic dissertation. University of Turku. Kosman, V. Shikov, A. Variation of chemical composition of Epilobium angustifolium during fermentation. Planta Medica, PJ DOI: Final raport. Drogenreport Jg 9 Heft Salminen, J-P. Effect of Bergenia crassifolia L. Thursday, October Jahorina, October , Bosnia and Herzegovina. Friday, Saturday, Sunday,

Foraging wild herbs in Finland

Kittila buying weed

Out in the Nature. Foraging wild herbs is a forgotten skill, which is now very much in trend in Finland. Many restaurants use wild herbs in their dishes and consumers are starting to value the health, taste and quality aspects of the organic and local food that nature has to offer. Wild herbs have traditionally been used in Finland also for medicinal purposes or folk magic. The folk medicine tradition in Finland is exceptionally rich, mainly based on sauna, massages, cupping, bone settling, and medicinal wild herbs. He gathered information about plants and published it under the title Flora Fennica in The nutritional and medicinal values of wild plants, berries, and mushrooms are a much researched subject of interest still today. Folk magic refers to other than medicinal beliefs that people had about the power of plants. For example, people believed that by putting nettle tea in bath water or floor washing water, it removed any bad spells. Scattering nettle leaves inside or outside the home was another way to remove all negativity and drive the evil spirits away. Good luck was created by burying dandelions in the northwest corner of the yard. The scent of juniper was once believed to protect, heal and cleanse everything around. One of the easiest and most versatile ingredient growing wild in the Finnish nature is the stinging nettle. It has a variety of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, and polyphenols, many of which also act as antioxidants. It is especially rich in calcium, which is useful for a vegetarian diet. Stinging nettle might lower blood pressure, raise blood antioxidant levels, and reduce inflammation. It has been used to remove mucus. Nettle has also been thought to have curative effects on prostate enlargement as it increases the need to urinate. The best time to gather young leaves of the nettle is spring or early summer, before flowering. Be careful when handling fresh stinging nettle leaves, as their hair-like barbs can harm your skin and cause painful rashes. I wear gloves when collecting the nettles. I remove the stems and blanche them and then use them in cooking, or dry the leaves to powder for later use. Other common ways to use the nettle are in sauces, stews, soups, pies, or breads. Dried nettle powder works extremely well in green smoothies. Is there anything better than foraging your own smoothie ingredients from the nature? Please note that nettle is not suitable for pregnant women, under one-year-old babies, or those, who are allergic to histamine or have kidney problems. Nettle might also absorb toxins from the soil, and excessive use can be problematic with diabetes or antihypertensive medication. Nettles should be collected far away from yards and fields as they also absorb nitrate from the soil. Some nitrates can convert to nitrosamines in our bodies, and they can cause cancer. The nitrate levels in nettles can be reduced by blanching. Many people think dandelion is a weed, which is not welcome in a garden or yard. But dandelion is, in fact, rich in carotene, which is beneficial to health, as well as vitamins B, C and D. Dandelion leaves contain about three times the amount of nutrients compared to other lettuce plants. Another good thing is, that it contains less nitrates than regular lettuce. According to some studies, dandelion also has a curative effect on various inflammations and it lowers blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Dandelion has been known also as Herba Urinaria. Young dandelion leaves from early summer, and preferable from shadowy place, are typically used in salads, but dried dandelion root has also been used as a coffee substitute. Even flowers and buds could be used blanched, but Dandelion has some bitterness, which limits the use. Dandelion is common in many grass areas, but I would recommend to avoid foraging the leaves from parks or pathways, where animals such as Doggy Urinaria might wonder. Juniper berries are believed to increase the secretion of urine, sweat, stomach and intestinal fluids, and lower blood pressure. It can potentially increase the secretion of glands in the bronchi, trigger various cramps, reduce flatulence, treat wounds, and reduce the growth of bacteria, viruses, and molds. Juniper has also been found to have invigorating effects. It potentially lowers blood sugar levels, increases superficial blood circulation, and may also relieve rheumatism problems. A person with with kidney problems should not use juniper. From juniper second-year-old berries are typically used dried, and young shoots are good fresh for herbal teas, or dried as a spice. I like to use dried juniper berries in a venison stew, and juniper branches are good when smoking fish. Delicate heather flowers have been traditionally used as an herbal tea to try to treat insomnia and reduce the number of bacteria and viruses. Heather may also relieve rheumatism, urinary stones and digestion. Heather flowers bloom in August. Mixing some heather flowers with wild raspberry leaves makes a tasty evening tea, which can help for example during period pain. A good rule of thumb for the use of wild raspberries is, that the leaves are best during the first year of growth, and berries can be picked on the second year from the same location. Goutweed is a ground elder, which was formerly used to treat gout. Goutweed is one of the first wild herbs that can be foraged in spring. It can also be frozen or dried. The leaves contain iron and vitamin C. Goutweed should not be mix with Aethusa cynapium, Conium maculatum , and Cicuta virosa , which are all very poisonous. Goutweed remsembles most Angelica sylvestris , which is harmless. Best way to identify goutweed is to follow it during the first year until it blooms, and forage the young leaves on the next year when the plant has been previously identified. Moments before the leaves start growing, birch trees provide birch sap, which moves inside the tree. If you are ever in any Finnish survival show in the spring, remember that the birch is like a coconut during about one month a year. Birch sap collection is done by drilling a hole into the tree trunk and leading the sap into a container by some tube. Birch effectively removes excess fluid and swelling from the body and it is therefore well suited for those with unnecessarily high blood pressure. Birch has also been used for kidney and urinary infections and for the treatment of gout and rheumatism. Birch also contains an essential oil that prevents inflammation, and buds in particular are stronger than leaves but the resin they contain can irritate the kidneys. Birch sugar, also known as xylitol, is made from birch and used in many candies in Finland. Xylitol and Stevia are both low GI natural sugar substitutes, low in calories. Xylitol, unlike Stevia, has proven health benefits, thus making it far superior to all other natural sugar alternatives. Xylitol is, however, extremely dangerous for dogs, so never allow pets to eat any xylitol candy or chewing gum. Small newly opened birch leaves in spring are edible and can be used in herbal teas, salads, sandwiches, or soups, sauces and stews similar to any fresh herbs. The birch leaves contain plenty of vitamin C. Due to the herbal effect, you should consume birch only in moderation. People with low blood pressure and diabetics should be careful with birch. Externally birch leaves are used in the sauna to whip yourself to improve blood circulation and stimulate the skin. The aroma of the wet birch leaves is part of the Finnish sauna experience. Birch is also good ingredient in shampoos. Have you ever tried any wild herbs? Which one do you like the most and would recommend for others to try? Your email address will not be published. Out in the Nature Explore the nature of Finland. Share on Facebook. What is the difference between true morels and false morels? Haltiala nature trail is at the heart of Helsinki central park. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Leave this field empty.

Kittila buying weed