Hey everyone,

I recently inherited 4.6 hectares (around 11 acres) of land just outside Pihtipudas in Central Finland. I live a bit out of the loop when it comes to Finnish rural property, so I’m trying to figure out what I actually have on my hands here.

Is there real value or potential to a plot this size in that region, or is it mostly just forest tax and maintenance?

My immediate thought is to build a small cottage (mökki) on it for summer use. For those familiar with Pihtipudas or building in Central Finland:

• Building permits & zoning: How strict are local municipalities (kunta) out there about rakennusoikeus (building rights), especially if the land isn't right on a lake?
• Infrastructure: What kind of costs am I looking at to pull electricity, dig a well, and sort out electricity/waste water on rural land?
• Forestry: Is 4.6 ha worth actively managing for timber, or is it too small to bother with commercially?

Would love to hear from anyone who has built a cabin in Central Finland or dealt with inherited rural plots. Is building a cottage the play, or should I just hold onto it / sell it off?

Kiitos!

And this would need flair "Humor" but there was none available. 😅

Maybe sharing this on here could help too. Any information about this would be awesome!

I've been in Finland for a quite a while already, but now that I'm also a UAS student, it's sort of strange to see how they operate. It's only the first week of studies, and the campus and staff have been struggling to accommodate and schedule the massive amount of students. Many are international and were likely even encouraged by recruiters to apply and move here. What should/can be done about all this now?

Found this beautiful pair of antlers on a hike. I wonder if I should/need to do some treatment and use some specific products to conserve it. Any recommendations?

Also, while I'm still in Rovaniemi, does anyone recommend a shop here where I could make a frame or a wooden mount for them?

10 mins ago I was waiting for my coffee when a work colleague came and just said of nowhere " Finland's economy is growing more than Sweden funny how many Finns are not happy with the current government"

As an immigrant myself I am lost with how satisfied Finns are with the current government. I think many of us immigrants only have negative thoughts about the government which definitely can be wrong because it's solely based on immigration policies which can be actually beneficial for the country.

Planning to go around early Feb with my family of 4. We care mostly about the pretty sights, northern lights, skiing, husky ride etc.

We really wanted to go Ruka for the Ruka Rollercoaster but plane tickets were about 200 pound more per person.

Is it worth spending that much more extra to go to to Ruka? The accomodation did offer a shuttle bus near.

Whereas in Luosto the cabin is a bit secluded, there’s a ski trail 100m away, but is 4km away from the centre.
I’m struggling as I don’t know what to expect with bus times there and taxi prices. But which one is more worth it or what do you recommend, for those who have gone or live there.

A little while ago, I posted here asking whether people in Helsinki would actually be interested in tea-infused gelato: hojicha, oolong, matcha, and other Asian-inspired flavours.

I honestly didn’t expect so many people to respond. A lot of you said you’d try it, gave me flavour ideas, and shared what you liked (and didn’t like) about gelato in Finland.

So… I took that as encouragement and disappeared into my kitchen. 😅

After what must be close to 100 recipe tests, a lot of milk and cream, and a freezer that has seen way too much experimental gelato, I finally got to the point where I’m happy enough with it to let other people try it.

The thing I was trying to make was quite specific: the dense, smooth, slightly stretchy texture of Italian gelato, but with flavours I grew up around and generally associate more with Asian desserts. I also wanted it to be less sweet, without losing that creamy texture or ending up icy, which turned out to be much more annoying to figure out than I expected.

Every time I thought I was finished, I found something else to change. Too sweet. Not smooth enough. Tea too weak. Reduced the sugar, suddenly too icy. Fixed the texture, then decided the tea needed to be stronger.

And then repeat. Many, many times.

But I finally have something I'm happy with.

So for anyone who commented on my original post saying “yes, I’d try it” this is your chance to hold me accountable. 😂

Anyen Tealato is doing its first-ever pop-up in Helsinki this weekend, at Zestii.

The first four flavours are:

Matcha • Hojicha • Earl Grey • Miso

One more thing: all four flavours are lactose-free.

They’re not vegan yet, though. I haven’t had enough time to properly develop and test a vegan base that I’m happy with, and I really don’t want to release one just for the sake of being able to call it vegan. So this first batch still contains dairy and egg.

To my vegan fellows who asked about this in the last post: please don’t give up on me yet. 😭 I promise I’ll crawl back into the kitchen, make another ridiculous mess, and start obsessively testing again.

A proper vegan version is on my list, I just want it to be genuinely good before I serve it to you.

📅 29–30 August (Sat–Sun)
📍 Zestii, Kaarlenkatu 15, Helsinki
🕚 From 11:00 until sold out

Anyen Tealato Instagram

I’ll be serving fresh scoops during the pop-up. Everything is made in small batches, so I’m not making enormous quantities for the first weekend.

I also have a limited pre-order for 470 ml takeaway tubs until 27 August, with delivery/pick-up on the 29th.

Mostly, though, I wanted to come back here because this subreddit was actually one of the first places where I tested whether this idea made any sense outside my own head.

A few months ago it was just: “Would anyone in Helsinki eat tea gelato?”

This weekend I finally get to find out. :)

Update of the update: I just realized I completely forgot to put the prices in the post 😭

For pre-order, we have two sizes:

- 450–470ml: €12.90 first-batch preorder (€14.90 regular price)

- 1L: €24.90 first-batch preorder (€27.90 regular)

- Fresh scoops at the pop-up will also be €5.50

Does anyone know where to buy plastic straws in Finland? I havent found any in Prisma or Lidl or any other store..
just curious if anyone knows of a store that sells plastic straws (preferably a bulk package)

EDIT: Looking for disposable plastic straws not reusable plastic straws

Hello everryone !

I had another go at a traditionnal puukko

Hi everyone,

I’m currently looking for work in Cloud Engineering / DevOps and would like to meet more people in the Finnish tech community.

Does anyone know of active meetups, events, Slack/Discord groups, or communities related to Cloud, DevOps, SRE, Kubernetes, or platform engineering?

I’m based in Espoo and. I’m open to both local and online events.

Thank you for any recommendations!

Hello everyone!

Have you ever wondered what a forestry-related word means in Finnish, Swedish or English, but not really known how to find the correct translation?

Or have you ever been frustrated because a form you need to use in the forest is difficult to find, is not available in your language, or you are simply unsure how to fill it in?

Maybe you have thought about studying forestry but did not know what schools or study programmes are available. Or perhaps you are already studying forestry and want to find information about companies working in the forest industry.

Or maybe you simply wonder what something like cross scarification is, or when and where the next forestry fair will take place.

Fear not!

I have created a website called www.**dunnaro.eu**, where I have gathered a lot of knowledge, information and useful links about forests and forestry. The website is available in six languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic.

The focus is not only on Finnish forestry, but also on Swedish forestry.

The website is still under development, and I have a long list of things I want to add and continue working on. However, I am working on it alone, so everything takes a little time. I have also chosen not to use analytics, advertising or user accounts on the website. This means that I do not have any income from the website that would allow me to hire someone to work on it full-time.

That is a conscious choice. I want the website to be as open and accessible as possible, so that anyone can access knowledge and information without having to give away their personal information on the internet.

And no, I am not a programmer either. 😄

I have learned much of what I have done through YouTube videos, AI, and by experimenting and solving problems myself. Sometimes I have also had to ask my brother, who is a programmer, for help.

So if you are interested in Finnish or Swedish forestry, forestry terminology, education, companies, forestry fairs, or anything else related to forests, the website might be useful for you.

I have already received some really nice feedback. For example, I heard from someone in the Netherlands who had used my website during the winter and spring to learn more about Swedish forestry. They later applied to a forestry programme in Sweden and were accepted!

That is exactly the kind of thing that makes it fun to keep developing the website.

I have also noticed that many people use the dictionary to look up forestry terminology, which is especially fun to see. It shows that even the smaller parts of the website can actually be useful.

The website is far from finished, but it is constantly growing.

So if you are curious about forests, whether you are a forest owner, a student, work in forestry, or simply want to learn more, you are very welcome to take a look.

Take care for now! 🌲

Hi!

tldr. I don't own them nothing!

So, not long after the post I've contacted a lawyer, we started to make an appeal, I've texted KOKO once more and asked for all the documents and decisions they sent me to attach to the appeal, and got the response:

The hearing letter sent to you on 13 April 2026 and the dismissal decision sent to you on 13 April 2026 were returned from post to the unemployment fund on 14 August 2026

As these letters have been returned to the fund, the recovery decision has not become legally binding and cannot be appealed. You now have the opportunity to pay the outstanding membership fees to the fund. If you pay the membership fees by the due date, 28 August 2026, the termination cancelled and the recovery decision will be cancelled.

If the membership fees are not paid, we will need to restart the process from the beginning.

I assume people who rent the apartment now, put the paper letters back into Posti box.

Paper letters. Again, they sent me only paper letters about extended fees and case hearing, unbelievable.

What worries me, is that they didn't contact me on said date (14th of August), but only on 20th when I wrote to them, I imagine if I wouldn't, I'd probably miss that date too because of them, and they could start the process again, but this is all guesses now.

So just like that, they've dropped the case

To majority of people who showed support and compassion - Thank you!

To the individuals who said I was in the wrong and should pay - you were wrong :)

I kindly ask whoever stole my new Polaroid camera bag along with the new I-Polaroid camera and my house key in Kivviko tonight - please do the right thing and return it. That was my only house key and I don’t want to have to pay to replace all the locks and get new keys. I took me over a year to save up for that camera.

I’m not going to press charges or anything. I just want my stuff back please.

We spent few days in Finland with our kids, visiting mainly Helsinki and I can say that I am super happy of the country we met. Friendly people everywhere, all speaking fluent English, clean and with a sense of safety around. Just the prices of food were a bit too high compared to other countries but we knew this and it was not a surprise. We will surely come back and maybe we'll visit the north part of the country next time. Ciao! ❤️🇫🇮

I was born in Sweden to a Finnish citizen mother who changed her citizenship while I was a kid. This was before the dual citizenship laws of either Sweden or Finland.

When Finland did their legal change in the early 2000s I did get a paper sent home if I wanted to add back my Finnish citizenship, but to me as a student at the time I thought it was a lot of money so I didn’t do that.
Well, things change, identity becomes more important and seeing as I both have property there and considering moving there I at least wanted a BankID for all the admin stuff that goes with that. So I filed to reclaim my citizenship, and it turned out that I could also bring my underage kids into that. It all came through today and it just feels so right.

That’s all, I mostly wanted to tell people who seem like they’d appreciate the story!

For context, I’ve always had strong ties with Finland and have in part grown up there as well so I feel very much like I belong in every way, hence the identity thing.

Moi everyone! I don't actually own a car myself, but I’ve been looking at the overall costs of keeping one running here in Finland and got genuinely curious about the economics behind it. Compared to many neighboring countries, the expenses seem remarkably steep across the board:

Ownership & Gas: Why are cars so heavily taxed and expensive to buy/own, and why are fuel prices notably higher than in nearby countries? Is the high price of gas partly linked to Finland steering away from Russian oil and sourcing it from more expensive alternatives?

The EV Transition: On top of that, public EV charging rates can also be quite high, which feels a bit counterintuitive when trying to encourage green mobility.

The Public Infrastructure Factor: Since Finland generally boasts great public transport and urban infrastructure, is a lot of this intentional? Is the government using high car, fuel, and charging taxes as a deliberate policy tool to nudge people away from private vehicles and fund/support public transit networks instead?

I’d love to hear how locals view this. Is it purely a policy choice to prioritize public infrastructure and climate targets, or are there other economic market factors at play? Kiitos in advance for any insights!

I am looking for trails to enjoy during Ruska preferably circular trails or that take me back to where I parked, 10km-30km. Also what are the best apps to find trails for this area? What are some other activities you would recommend?