Sea buckthorn is a plant that gives us natural goodness. Finland as a country matches that definition. It is sad that often when we travel it is time pressured. Fly in; visit a location; dip a toe in the water of experience and before any of that allows real appreciation its time to fly home again. So going to Finland for a two day conference is unlikely to allow any seepage of understanding the inner character of people and country. But again sea buckthorn has bought me to a culture and a people who are warm, welcoming, live and work within an environment that they value and appreciate. I can only comment upon what I saw, but farming blends into the vastness of nature. Roads are smaller. House are embedded into their surroundings. Towns are green. The conference site was coastal, but the opportunity to travel by train from Turku to Helsinki provided a top deck view of a double deck carriage to the view the inland landscape. Forest blending with small well managed fields; interspersed with a scattering of houses – but the difference between our rural landscape and that of Finland is our’s has become 100% managed, the Finns are blended into theirs’. Whether the woodland is planted or not, or whether the climate dictates land management, the impact is one of man within a landscape – not a landscape managed by man.
Before I mention the conference I have to tell of my last day in Turku.
The day one travels is always tentative. Not enough time to do anything, but too much time to do nothing.
So I wandered from the Cumulus Hotel down to the river, with an intention of crossing by one bridge – a stroll along the river and back across two bridges down to the hotel. On the other side was the Waino Aaltosen Museum. It opened at ten o’clock and I had an hour so it was a good choice. As a museum its content could be archaeological judging by sculpture outside, but I could not have been more wrong.
I am not a great lover of modern art – although my family has two artists in it. My first ten minutes I gazed at giant leaves, and mouldings of what was seemingly half sections of birch trees. The next exhibit was entitled The Sea was empty. I had better explain that this was made from folded old clothes. I smiled because the title revealed some of the character of the artist. The next exhibit – a huge floor to ceiling artwork made from 20m, or so lengths of paper constructing a visual shape of half a hull of a ship. The lighting through and round it created some interesting effects. This might sound a ramble but the next two galleries I was not prepared for. Each piece of work was made from old clothes. Each piece had a title that was so poignant that it gave me an intense and heartfelt understanding of how you can take a simple visual subject and inject raw emotion into the viewer. A sofa – simple in itself, with part of one side worn down providing the impression of where a person might have sat. A simple second hand sofa – but then entitled “too far from home”. An instant impression of the loss of a loved one, or just missing someone – both emotions that touch parents when children leave home, or family’s are temporarily split. Another image of a beautiful child’s dress, hanging and gently floating providing an instant carefree vision of innocence and happiness. Combine the image with a title of “Don’t leave me” and that innocence becomes fragile either as a child reaches out for a parent in a simple sense, or an adult sees the reality of life becoming a burden. These pieces went on and on, each with their own personality, and option to take or leave an interpretation of a deeper reflection of how we all live our lives.
As I wandered away from the Museum – having been there for an hour and a half, it made be wonder whether living in the natural environment that I saw as characterising Finland – whether it also provided a different perspective of appreciating life. The artist – Karina Kaikkonen, gave me a different view of Finland. A Finland of deeper thinking, of a thinking culture.
The introductory presentation at the conference – and the final workshop exposed a common tie between all people interested in sea buckthorn. All believe in what they are doing. A deep belief that this plant with its complex nutrient profile; the appreciation of its capacity to provide health benefit; its long history of use; its global distribution and wide species/sub specie variation – all these provide something very special. But taming the plant, bringing the goodness to a wider market comes with real challenges. Challenges that gradually over recent decades have started to peel away and solutions become more possible. Challenges come at a cost, but the belief that cost will be worthwhile is true, which is why each year growers, processors, manufacturers, researchers, academics, come to different locations to explore where we have reached and how to surmount each problem.
This year, the meeting at Herrankukkaro on the west coast of Finland has been no exception. These events bring together people who may well be commercial rivals. Together they bring real experience that growing sea buckthorn is not easy. Processing to the right quality requires investment. Supply and demand of fruit, product and market need to be understood. Different countries all have different viewpoints. Research continues, revealing more need for more research. But underlying this year were some far reaching concepts.
I feel this blog is long enough – so tomorrow I’ll pull together what I believe was a very special Euroworks. One that will have started some progressive discussions to drive the sea buckthorn industry forward.
