My Very Own Winter Forest︱Daily life, Work & Fire Rituals

Well, well. Hello, my sweet angel cakes. How are you all doing today? I am taking a little walk in the forest behind my art studio, which is actually my own, my very own little forest. When I bought this property for the art studio, I got, yeah, a little bit of land. And this is my forest. I love this forest because it contains all kinds of trees, but most fir trees and pine trees, which I love, and also a lot of birches. And all the trees, or many of the trees are very, very old, like they're huge. And then I have all these babies coming here. It's not a lot of forest. It's just like a little bit up above the art studio, but it's definitely enough for me. Throughout my whole life, I have had a pattern that comes all the time, which is that wherever I live, someone is cutting down the trees around the property where I live. And of course, that's always because I never owned the forest around the property. So either it's a forest company that cuts down the trees, or it's a neighbor, or it's always someone cutting down the trees around the house. And of course, I understand that sometimes you got to do it to use for wood example, but I have always dreamt about having this house that is like surrounded by trees to create this very safe and cozy oasis. And this art studio, it's the very first house that I have, where I own the forest around it. And that makes me feel so good, because I have been crying my heart out so many times during my life, when I was a child, when I was a teenager, when I was an adult, because of my trees or my forest have been cut down. So one of the first things that I did when I was the owner of the property on the papers, was to go into this forest and go to some of these really, really old trees, and tell them that they can relax now. I won't cut them down in case I absolutely not need to. I will take care of this little forest of mine. I really love it. It's like my favorite forest, because it's really, really good energy here in this forest above the art studio, which absolutely is not the same for the property at home, where I've told you before about the creepy forest. I don't even want to put my foot into the forest there. And I still don't know why. But here I feel so safe. But unfortunately, there is some really, really high and huge fir trees that is really close to the barn in the house. That is a huge risk. If they fall down in a storm, they would crash the house in the barn. And I'm so sad about that, because I know I gotta take the decision to take them down eventually. Especially one pine tree is really like risky. It's like the angle of the tree is like... We actually had a storm now in the end of January, where two huge pine trees fell down over the road up to my art studio. And I was really grateful that they didn't fall on the barn. And they were really big. And usually when trees fell down because of a storm, they are a bit dangerous to cut yourself if you're not used to it. Like they can fall back up. You gotta be careful with these things. So I'm really glad I found a local, really professional guy. And he came here and took it away really quick. First I was really sad because two huge pine trees fell down that I wished would have been there. Even though those were actually not on my own land, that were on the forest company's land, but they are very close to my property. I actually had a very strange dream about these pine trees that fell down. Before I went to sleep one night when those trees were laying right across the path to my art studio. So I couldn't get out with the car or anything for a few days. I was just thinking to myself, like, is there any meaning with these trees falling down across the road, the path? Is there anything good coming out of this? Yeah, I do that sometimes. I ask about things out loud sometimes to ask if there is some kind of meaning behind it that I can't see. Even in things that are maybe not that good, which I think it is. There's always something good coming out of any challenge or whatever, if we are talking about life. This was just a small thing, but I was just thinking about it. Like, is there any kind of meaning? Please let me know. And then I had this really special dream. I woke up in the middle of the night and it was like I was still awake a little bit, but I was feeling a message so strong. I saw like a bundle of pine needles and they were bundled together with like a natural thread. And then I just felt this really strong message saying that these pine trees fell down so that I could make a lot of pine needle tea from all the pine needles that I now could reach so very easily. Because pine needle tea calms down your nervous system. That's the message that I got and to me that just felt so real and so logical. It really made sense because I also had been so very mentally stressed during the whole January, really. So early in the morning when I woke up, I went down to these huge pines and I started collecting pine needles. And ever since then, I've been making pine needle tea every day. And even though the trees are cut down now, I still have so much pine needles that I can use and they will be fresh and good for a long time ahead. So for the rest of this winter, I can just go out and pick pine needles so easily. I don't have to go into the forest and try to reach for them. Because usually pines, they only have a lot of pine needles very high up, so you don't reach them. So you have to go to really baby trees to get them. But now I have from these really old ancient trees. I counted the circles, so they are 80 years old. So they are not ancient, of course. But to me, it's like, wow, they have been here throughout my whole life and my parents' life, my grandmother and grandfather's life. It's so cool to be able to drink pine needle tea from this old tree. Instead of feeling sad that they fell down, I just feel so grateful for this amazing tea that I get to drink every day. And it smells so good. It's so good, really. I wish I could invite you all for a cup of pine needle tea. I think it's really healing. And of course, I have no idea if this was just my own head making up things. But I like to be very aware of signs and messages coming through in different ways, in dreams. And yeah, I think we can get a lot of signs if we are just open to it. And to me, it feels really true. And also that pine needle tea has helped so much. Yeah, so that was a long story about the trees that fell down. Now I'm going to go up there, because up there in the middle of the forest, there is like an open space, like a little field among the trees. And it's really beautiful. In the summers, I love to go up there and just sit by myself because it's sunny. It's like in the forest, but still, you get sunlight. And it is like that because back in the days, maybe 50 years ago, they had that as the potato land, where they had like a garden for potatoes. So still, there is not that much trees growing there. I don't know, for a long time now, I've had this idea that I would love to make like a special place up there. I would love to make like a fireplace and have like this kettle where I can boil tea or soup or... I don't know. Just like a nice space where I easily can make a fire and sit there in the night, look at the stars or go up and make some pine needle tea or whatever. Just like a nice space to relax. I wanted to have a place like that for many years, but I've never really felt that there was a good place for that in our garden at home. But up here in the middle of the forest, among all these pine trees and fir trees, I feel like it's so perfect for that. That's why I'm walking with a shovel, because I thought about digging out a little space and at least prepare. I'm just going to search for the best space with the best energy, with the best view. By the way, do you see that I have a little microphone here? I hope the sound is good. I've never tried having a microphone before, but I've heard that that's good to have for better sound. But it feels like I have a little, I don't know, a little baby bird here. I have to be careful of it. This spot will be perfect, because I have fir trees here in the back and then I can have a fireplace here, not too close to the trees. And then there's like open space here behind you. This is gonna be great, I think so. It already feels so cozy to have like a ring of snow surrounding me. I'm down to the ground now. I would love to have some rocks here, but everything is covered under snow, so I don't know if I can find any rocks. But I don't need any rocks in the winter, because the fire will not spread. This is nice, I like it. It's really cozy in here. It's almost like a little home. I can't wait to get one of these kettles set up. Imagine sitting here in the night looking at the stars and having a fire and having some tea. And it's so close. It takes me one minute to walk up here in the winter. In the summer it takes me 30 seconds. Hey, he's running. Hey, Nano. Maybe it's better to just get him over here. There we go, there we go. I'm doing this. You're getting ---- done? Yes. Good, continue with that. Thank you. You're doing good today? Yes. In here is our future store. You will not see a lot of it yet. Oh, she was a bit of a pain in the ass, wasn't she? The kings hit their sons. She was blown away by all the congratulations and flowers and everything. I sell everything from bark to stone plates. It's a bit of construction over it. Put these together. Yeah. You can see when they line up perfectly. Oh, really good. It's good, isn't it? Yeah. It's a really beautiful sky tonight with a lot of stars. So I'm going to make a little time lapse. It's so sunny outside. One last glimpse of the sun, even though the days are still very, very short. It's still a big difference from how it was in December. They are getting longer and longer now and that's so nice. I'm carrying a big bag of wood because I am on my way to the little fireplace that I started preparing the other day. I just got the urge to go up there now and just make a little fire. It's so heavy to go in the snow. It's hard for me to put into words why I wanted to do this fireplace. You can make a fire everywhere, but I want this special place to have something very close so it's not a big project to go out and have a fire. It just takes one minute to go up here. I can bring some wood and then I have a fire. So there's no excuses. I have this thing that I often do with fire and that is that I write up something on a paper. It can be something I wish or hope for, a prayer of some sort. So I write it down on a piece of paper and then I put it in the fire and then I imagine that the smoke of this wish or prayer goes up into the sky and up to the universe and then it's getting worked on. Yeah, it's something I've done for many, many years. No matter if you believe in things like that or not, I think it's a beautiful way to send out a beautiful intention. That's what I did now. And since this is the very first time that I'm lighting a fire here at my special fireplace and I do it with you guys, I share this moment with you. I just got this idea that I think it would be so beautiful if any of you out there feel called to do this. Then in the comment section write down something you wish for or hope for or a prayer for yourself or your loved ones or the world. Whatever it is. Something that comes from your heart. Write it down in a comment and then I will copy these texts and print out and cut them into little pieces and bring them with me here to this fireplace and put them in the fire. I would love to do that. I feel like it would be almost like a ritual that we have together, even if you can't be here in real person. I can still bring your wishes or your hopes or your prayers to the fire and have the smoke come up in the sky here. I don't know, it just feels like a really beautiful way to kind of gather around the fire, no matter the distance. But of course you can also do this thing on your own, by your own fire. It's not about what you do, it's about the intention when you do something. Because I really believe in the energy that we send out through our thoughts and our feelings. It's getting dark so quick now. This is so cozy. The fire is soon burning out now. I didn't bring that much wood, but I mean I can go down and gather some more very easily. But I'm gonna go back to Nanook. He couldn't join, even though it's very close. It's so deep snow to walk up here and he would not be able to do that. So I'm gonna go back to him now and give him some dinner. It's Friday when I record this and I think I'm gonna spend my evening to start editing this video. Thank you so much for spending your precious time watching my video and for joining me here around the fire. Wherever you are in the world, I'm sending you my love and I will be back soon. Bye-bye!