Before and after the storm, it’s fair weather — at least in Impiö, it seems. On Friday the 12th of June, the rain came down in sheets and the wind was something else entirely. No chance of getting the lawn mowed, even though it would have been very timely. Now, as I’m writing this blog post on Sunday the 14th of June, I’m listening to thunder rumbling hard enough to shake the house and to the not-so-gentle lashing of rain against the windowpanes. And I watch the reindeer wading knee-deep through puddles in the yard. (Well, I made that part up myself, but I’m sure you get the idea of how much rain we’ve had.) So, this is the perfect moment to throw the last red currants from last year into the juice steamer and sink into the sofa, soaking in the memory of yesterday — a day filled with everything I had hoped for from village life in Impiö when I moved here last year.

On Saturday, June 13th, Open Villages Day was celebrated across the country, with all sorts of nice things happening around Finland. The same went for Impiö. The Impiö–Nikkilä village association organized a cycling event, and at the refueling stop by the Impiönkangas wilderness hut, pancakes were sizzling away for cyclists and other passersby. The sun shone all day, with fair-weather clouds drifting across the sky without too often covering it. The temperature was probably just about perfect for cycling, just under twenty degrees.

A fresh breeze kept the mosquitoes and other tiny pests away from Mattila’s open yard, where I hosted the very first yard flea market in Mattila’s history. Over the course of the day, around fifty people came by—getting to know the flea market offerings, Mattilan talo itself, and especially each other. Quite something.

A couple of weeks earlier, I had started clearing out the attic. I knew there were treasures up there: clothes from Grandma Aune and Grandpa Matti, and from my aunts and uncles all the way back to the 1950s. On top of that, I found clothes that had been packed away for “a while”—which is to say, a few decades—from later years. The idea of hosting a yard flea market at some point during the summer began to take shape, and when I noticed Open Villages Day and knew people would be out and about in the villages, I decided to go for it and set the whole thing up. Well in advance, of course—about a week before the event. That’s plenty of time when you just get a move on and keep the washing machine running.

I spread the word about the flea market in the village association’s WhatsApp group, on Mattilan talo’s Instagram, and in the Ranua buy/sell group on Facebook. I posted photos and stories on social media throughout the week. When Saturday morning dawned sunny and rain-free, I grabbed the lawn mower first thing and set off to trim the edges of the yard, so no one would have to wade through tall grass.

Right — people. I had no idea whether anyone would actually come to Mattila. I set up tables and racks in the yard, carried out the furniture and various technical gadgets for sale near the door in the barn. On a whim, I decided to put on some coffee and offer impiöläiset* as well in Pirtti. In case someone did actually happen to wander in and might want to take a look inside Mattilan talo as well. I calmed myself by thinking that at least I’d washed and sorted through the vintage clothes in the attic and cleared out a good pile of stuff to let go of.

At ten o’clock, a car pulled into the yard. A customer! And the flea market doesn’t even open until eleven! But it turned out to be Sakari, the chair of the village association, who stopped by to say hello before heading off to the wilderness hut. The yard went quiet again, and I carried on setting things up. I figured that, being the devoted coffee drinker that I am, I’d have no trouble finishing the pot myself over the course of the day—so it certainly wouldn’t go to waste.

But then the clock started creeping closer to eleven. People began arriving in the yard—on bikes, by car, on foot. Former and current villagers from just across the road and farther away, summer cottage owners, visitors who had made the trip from other villages just for this. The yard of Mattilan talo and the Pirtti filled with cheerful, wonderful people. In the Pirtti, people reminisced about the times when the place used to operate as a store of co-op Suur-Lappi. Some wandered upstairs to take a look at the guest rooms, and the stories just kept coming. Many of them hadn’t been to Mattila for decades and the memories came bubbling back as their eyes landed on the familiar paneling on the porch and in the stairway, on the photograph of my great-grandparents on the wall of the Peräkamari, on the spot where the village’s first television once stood in Toinen kamari, on the old photos of Mattilan talo hanging on the walls of the Pirtti.

If I’d had any idea, I would have recorded the stories on video or at least as audio files. Such an incredible amount of Mattila’s history. As it was, I was so swept up in the wonderful bustle that I didn’t even remember to take photos to capture the moment. I did, however, manage to film a short little clip of the yard.

After the flea market, I cleared the tables from the yard, carried the unsold items back up to the attic, and set the old sauna to heat. I lit the fire in the sauna stove ("kiuas" in Finnish) and under the wood-fired water tank in the livestock barn kitchen. Then I hopped back onto the ride-on mower and finished what I had started in the morning. When the work was done, I consciously slowed my pace. I took in the early summer landscape around Mattila, glowing in every shade of green, and listened to the birdsong. I watched the swallows in flight and listened to the hum of bumblebees in the flowering bushes and meadow blooms. I took a deep breath and let my heartbeat settle.

In the gentle heat of the sauna, and dipping into Impiönjärvi in between, there was time to let my thoughts wander. To let my heart fill with gratitude. For all the wonderful people I met over the course of the day. For the stories I heard—stories that tell of my history and my roots. That add detail to the picture of Mattilan talo, sharpening it and widening the perspective. And that give my roots an ever firmer hold in this soil.

Over the course of the day, I heard from visitors that the yard flea market was lovely—and that it would be nice to have another one later in the summer. One where other villagers and summer residents could also come and sell their own things, whether from a trailer, a car trunk, or their own table. Well, that’s easy enough to arrange! So now, at the very latest, it’s time to follow Mattilan talo Instagram so the next events don’t slip past completely unnoticed.

And those stories that went unrecorded gave me an idea as well… I’ll tell you more about that later.

*A quick clarification for readers who aren’t familiar with the village: in this context, served with coffee, impiöläiset are quite as much the village residents as French fries served with a hamburger are French citizens.

- Tintti