Living Through the Coldest Winter | Daily Life in a Forest Village in Northern Sweden

I live here, in the middle of the forest in the northern parts of Sweden. Sometimes it feels almost unreal how lucky I am to call this place my home, far away from the noise of the world. A place where my ancestors have lived for more than 400 years. Anders Andersson Tärvainen, my 11th great-grandfather from Finland, was the first person to settle in this village in the year of 1639, together with his friend Paul Povel Henriksson Tenunen. I am now the 11th generation in a direct line living in this village. My mom Anita is the 10th generation, and my grandmother Iris and her brother, my great-uncle Tage, is the 9th generation, and his father Johannes the 8th. And so it goes on. The further away the generations go, the less I know about those people who lived here before me. But I do know that we have shared the same view for over 400 years, and we have been swimming in the same lake and picking berries in the same forests. The older I get, I feel it more and more, the wonder of living here. We've been here since 1639, and now it's my turn to walk this land, to breathe this air and to belong to this place. This perspective gives me goosebumps. My brain can't really take it in, but when it does for a small moment, I almost lose my breath to the vastness of time, and to the realization of how I also one day will just be a name in this line, how life just moves forward. But this perspective, it makes me cherish this life here, on this land, with a deeper gratitude than I ever knew before. And lately this has been on my heart a lot. Just this deeper understanding of what a gift it is to be alive. I have now lived here for 15 years, and in many ways it already feels like a lifetime. This new year means a lot to me. A lot has changed in my life lately, and it feels like I am slowly rebuilding myself, piece by piece, and creating a new version of my life that feels even more true to who I am and how I want to live. Even though we are in the midst of the coldest winter in many many years, I feel a warmth inside of me that is hard to express in words, and a deep gratitude that I get to share my journey with so many of you. And in this video I will share some moments from my life this past two weeks. The highs and the lows, the magic and the mundane. Moments of my everyday life. So, let's begin. In my previous video, I started a little renovation project upstairs to turn this beautiful room into my new art studio. And I continued with that up until the beginning of February, when it was finally all done. And I will show you the result later in this video. The day after my renovation project was done, I was visited by two very talented filmmakers that was here for two days to film for a documentary they are working on. A documentary that explores the role of darkness in our lives, which is a subject that I really find interesting, since the darkness is a big part of living here in the northern hemisphere. During these days, we also visited my great uncle Tage, so he will also be a little part of this documentary. And that makes me so happy. It was two very fun days, and the documentary will be finished sometimes in the end of this year or the beginning of next year. And I will of course let you know more when the time comes. So, the filmmakers went back home a while ago, and I decided to go out, because it is a beautiful day. It's like 2, 2.30 or something, and the sun is still very high on the sky. Or, not really, but it's... This is like the first day when I realized that the light is coming back. I think it's an amazing feeling. I have my sled here, and I think I'm just gonna take a little ride through the village, get some exercise, and get some sun on my face. And yeah, I can actually feel the warmth from the sun, and it is the first time that I can feel that after this winter. In a month, things will have changed a little bit, and I just want to take advantage and really enjoy this super winter feeling that it is now, because it's also really cold. Minus 25 or something right now. It's lovely. It's absolutely lovely. Good morning, everyone. It is minus 31 outside, and it is 5.40 in the morning. I am going to Sollefteå today, but I thought I'm gonna go up a little bit earlier to make a fire, because it's cold in here, obviously. Even though I have all the radiators on in here, it is still so freaking cold, and it doesn't help much when it's this cold, because the floors, the ground is not insulated. That's why it gets so cold in here. I'm gonna make a fire in this stove, because it lasts for a really long time. Since I'm gonna be away most of the day, it's good to have something that is lasting. It actually got even colder now. Now it's minus 33. Wow. But it's also something refreshing with it. It's so strugglesome, but it's beautiful as well, like the sky outside right now. I have this big ladder in the car that I rented from a place in Sollefteå, because I'm gonna leave it back again today. I have had it for a week. All right, now I gotta drive. I have an hour ahead of me, and I think it's gonna be a really beautiful drive. I see you in Sollefteå. I left the ladder, and now I parked the car, and I'm walking to our shop and our workshop. Here, eat some fruit. Oh, thank you. Fruta fruta. Lovely, lovely. You can't film someone eating a banana. No. It's so wrong. The quiet area. The serious business area. The shop, it's not open yet. Now we're gonna have a little meeting. Now I'm just gonna pick up some groceries and buy some food for the birds, and then I'm gonna drive home. It's soon four in the afternoon, and it's still bright outside. Food for the birds. So, I just got home now, and it's pretty cold in here. I actually don't know how cold it is. I need to buy some kind of a temperature measure thing. I have one in the window, but by the window, it's super, super cold. Sometimes minus degrees, so I want to know the temperature in the room. Anyway, I'm home now, and before I unpack all the groceries and everything, I'm actually gonna take my car down to the garage where I have all the wood, because now when the car is warm, I thought it would be so nice to just fill up the whole car with bags of wood, because it's gonna be really cold for many days ahead, and I need a lot of wood, and it's really nice to do it that way, so I don't have to carry it all the way up. Yeah, so that's what I'm gonna do now. So it's gonna feel so nice to come in later and just relax. Good. It is minus 30 outside now, by the way. It's really cold in my nose. Now let's go in and make some food. Minus 30.9. Good morning, everyone. It is minus 35.9 outside this morning. It is really, really cold, and it's 7.20 in the morning, and I'm just about to make some fires, and I have shoes on because the floors are so cold. Are you sitting on the table because the floors are so cold? Is that why you're not allowed to sit there? But I will let you for now, because when it is almost minus 36 degrees outside, anything is allowed. I'm just gonna go out and feed the birds. I have already fed the deers. I did that in the evening yesterday, so I was sure that they have food if they come in the night and eat. I really wonder how they are doing. All the animals in the forest, they are incredible. I have to admit, I kind of got a kick out of this. Like, I'm alive! I get to experience minus 36. I mean, I have experienced minus 38 as most, so it's not like the coldest I've ever had, but it still feels pretty special. Just being out for like five minutes, it makes it a little bit hard to blink, and your nose is like shrinking. This makes me feel extra grateful to have my house, to have this warm nest, even though it's not that warm, but it's much warmer than outside. So what do we have for the birds today? We have a little mix, some fat and some seeds. Now the birds are finally waking up. It was so quiet here just a couple of minutes ago, but now when I put out the food, I hear them singing a little bit. It's crazy too, how they survive in this cold, with their little feet. I don't get it really. I'm now gonna go inside and make some breakfast, and make a hot cup of coffee before I start the day. Wow, I felt like I got so much energy from going out this morning, and just feeling the cold on my face. I'm feeling alive. I don't know what it is. It's some kind of fresh feeling to it. One last look of this beautiful cold morning. All right, let's go inside. Look who's here. Oh, what a nice guest I have here. So I get to have Harry for a little while now, because my older brother Isaac, he has a summer house here in the village, and the pipes have frozen there. They light the pipes for the heating system, because of the extreme cold. So my parents are there now to try to fix it, and while they are trying to fix it, I get to take care of this. This cutie. Hey Harry. What? What are you saying? Yes, what a cutie we are going to have. It is actually six o'clock in the evening now, and I have spent all this day keeping the fires in the stoves, trying to heat up the rooms again, and I've been wrapped in blankets in the couch, working on my computer. I feel like there was no other way really to spend this cold day, but I got some work done in the couch, and the house is much warmer now, so that's good. Now I'm gonna make some dinner. What? What are you saying? What are you complaining about? Oh, I know. I know what it is. It's the cat food. He wants to eat it. Sorry Harry. Hello. Now I'm walking home with Harry to my parents again. I've had him for a couple of hours. It's snowing now. It is minus 21 degrees right now, so it is a little bit warmer. That's good. Okay, I just gathered a bag of some more wood. It is like 10.30 in the evening, and I actually think I'm gonna call it a day now and go to bed. Good morning. I just wanted to say hello really quick before I drive. It was a little while ago now. I don't know how many days since I last filmed, but I'm going into Sollefteå today. We are gonna have like a cleaning day in the workshop, in the webshop area, so that's nice. A real big cleanse in the office and the packing area and everything. It is snowy. It's been snowing tonight. It's time to drive. I see you in Sollefteå. That would fry my brain so much, because I like automatically go to the drawers. Let's say having to know where is the arm cuffs. Maybe on one of the arm cuffs here. You know, also my fingers are itching because I want to unpack the things that are here. Cleaning day today. We're gonna clean the whole webshop. New fresh energy. I always film you when you clean, Lovisa. Yeah, because I love it. Hello. I am now on my way home. Really good day in the workshop. We've been cleaning up all day and it's such nice and clean energy in there now. So I'm really, really happy for this day and everything that we achieved. Now it's gonna be really nice to come home. I have, as always, been picking up groceries and I've been getting food for the deers and yeah, all those stuff that always do when I'm in the city. So I've been eating and now it's time for me to go out and plow. It has come a lot of snow today. I'd rather do it this evening than to do it tomorrow morning. I actually don't really know where this vlog is heading right now, because it's been a couple of days between the filming. Maybe there's not that much exciting happening right now. Just my daily life. That's how it is. Working and plowing and keeping the fires alive. But it's nice. I actually love that my life is quite boring right now, or what you would say. I don't want a lot to happen right now. I just want to take care of my little home and myself. Find some kind of rhythm. And to be honest, just doing the daily tasks, it's a lot. It's a lot this winter. It's the coldest winter in so many years and it's also a lot of snow. I'm just trying to put the cable away so I don't drive over it with my quad. Good morning, everyone! Even though it's like minus 10 degrees outside, it feels so warm today, because the sun is so high up in the sky. I get such strong spring vibes when I'm outside. Even though it's still far far away until spring, it's easy to be tricked when it's a sunny day like this. But just this feeling of sitting outside in the sun, this is like the first time in the winter that I'm sitting outside like this. And it feels so good. In a little while, my mom is coming here and we're going to have a little meeting every year during January, February and March. We are spending a lot of time on sketching and drawing and making new jewelry designs for the year. So we can have a little jewelry meeting now and continue digging into our soul to find out what is inspiring us this year, what is moving inside of us. Because it's always very interesting how different each year can be. What feels important and what kind of shapes or themes we want to work with. Yeah, it's always exciting, this creative work, when we get to create something that is not existing yet. So I look forward to start this process now. This time of the year is really when things start to shape. Because I always feel like December and January, I feel usually very empty inside and I still feel a bit empty. I don't really know the direction I'm going towards yet in anything really. But then it's like something starts to awake if you're just taking some time to be in that quiet place, or how to say. I've really learned that throughout the years, that pushing creativity is not so good. It comes and goes and cycles. And there's always a time when I'm super creative and have so much visions and ideas. And then there comes a time when there's nothing and I have to recharge again. And it's a beautiful process if you can just allow yourself to be in that rhythm. But it's also hard not to feel the pressure of everything around you. Hi! Me and my mom Anita started making jewelry in 2009. And we started our very first business together that same year. And that is 17 years ago now, since we began that journey. Back then, we were sitting by the kitchen table, working on our very first designs, without any idea where it would lead. And it fills me with the deepest wonder and gratitude that today, we still get to do the same thing. Sitting by the kitchen table, creating things from our hearts, but in a way we could never have imagined in our wildest dreams back in 2009. That we get to create jewelry that are worn by people all around the world. And this is the most fun part of it all, when we work on new designs and share our ideas and let our imagination run free. Because we have a tendency of hyping each other up, like blowing air into a balloon and suddenly we are somewhere high up in the clouds with our visions. And everything feels possible. And that creative energy feels so amazing. And that has been like an engine in a lot of things that we have done. It's soon getting dark. And I feel so inspired now, because it was a wonderful meeting with my mom now. As usual, we have so many ideas, so it's almost hard to know where to start. But I feel very, very happy about the things we have started now working on. And I just wanted to show you something else I've been working on for the past two weeks. Because in my latest video, I shared with you when I started this little renovation project upstairs in this room, where I'm gonna have my creative space and my art studio. And it is now finished. This is the most beautiful creative space that I've ever had in my entire life. And as I said, the first time I saw this room, I knew that this would be the perfect art studio. And it really is. It is double the space that I had in the house that I've renovated. It's just something with the light and the energy. Now it's dark outside, so you can't see that well. But I filmed some scenes during the day today, so you could see it in daylight. Welcome to my 1564th art studio space. And hopefully it will be, well, not my last one, but hopefully I will be here for some time. Because I love this space more than I can describe in words. Ta-da! Do you see how cozy it is and how big it is? I have all of my painting equipment and everything I need, and still there is so much space in here. And obviously I'm not 100% done yet. I still have a lot of stuff that I want to hang on the walls and make it even more cozy. But it's, I would say, 95% done. So every morning when I wake up and I go down to the kitchen, I go through this space and it feels like I walk through a dream. In my previous video I saw that a lot of you were very impressed with this fireplace that I have here. And yeah, it's like quite a piece, a fireplace. It almost looks like a bit royal, I would say. And to be honest, I am not sure that it works. I've heard that it might have been that they clogged the pipe, or how to say, they did that back in the days that put, I can't even find the words, at least they put like this stone mass in the pipes, so that it would not leak any cold air when they didn't need to use them, because electricity was so cheap back in the days. So I'm not sure about this one actually, because when I looked up in the pipe I couldn't see anything. So maybe it works, I'm not sure. But if it doesn't work, I'm sure that there is a way to make it work, or how to say. It's just that it rarely needs to be heated up here. Upstairs is like so much warmer than downstairs, because the heat goes up. So I have never really felt the need to use a fireplace here, but nevertheless it's beautiful to have it here. It's very special. Now I'm gonna go out and shovel some more snow that I didn't have time to do yesterday, in front of the garage. Let's do it! Hello! It's snowing, and it's minus 16 degrees outside. And I am going to the gym. I'm gonna move my body. I have a little house here in the garden. That is like a little gym, with just some stuff, some weights and some machines. And it was a really long time ago that I exercised now, but recently I started, yeah, started exercising a little bit. And it feels so good. I try to do that a couple of times every week. My little gym is not really properly heated. I have a little radiator in there, but it's not like on max, and it's not that good insulated in there. And also the electricity here in Sweden right now are horribly expensive. I got a shock when I got the bill. It is crazy expensive right now. So many families are suffering from this, because you need it to heat your house, you know. I am happy that I get to have fires in my house, but it's not enough, obviously. You need radiators. But anyway, I have a little radiator out here, but it's still really, really cold. Now though, it's minus 16 outside, so it's going to be cold in there. But it was way worse when it was like minus 36 the other week. Then it was minus degrees in the gym. So I had to work out with jackets and everything. But I mean, that's good, because then I have to start moving to get warm. I don't think you have ever seen my gym. I think this might be the very first time I show you. It's very cute. I feel like it's very luxury. And there's no way you can tell that it's a gym when you look from the outside. I'm going to show you. Here's the gym in the middle of the forest. You have to squeeze yourself in here. I have to shower here someday. I have been lazy. It's getting worse and worse. Okay. Ta-da! What's it like? Hello. That was a nice workout. I feel warm and alive. Now I'm gonna go home and call it a day. It's been a really, really good day today. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for watching this video and for following my journey. It means more than I can put into words. Take care and I will see you soon again.