A day in the life...

So people keep asking me what I’m actually doing here, so I thought I’d give a quick run down of typical working day. The idea of doing this has been shamelessly stolen from a fellow French workawayer but hey ho :D

(If we have people staying in the guesthouse)- 7am- I put the bread in the oven and prepare the breakfast for the guests, and for us!

8am: Breakfast. We meet and plan the day, and then travel to Kotiniemi, the horse and husky farm.

9am- Driving slowly in the shy Arctic dawn, we first check that none of the huskies or horses have escaped.... We try our best to make sure that they are all safely inside the pen, but accidents sometimes happen (a husky once escaped and killed nine reindeer before it was found!) and for the horses, sometimes the lure of hay is just too much......

One morning we arrived to this....

If the horses have decided to wait for us until they get hay, we begin to feed them. In the summer and autumn, the horses drink at the lake, but at the moment the lake has frozen so we make sure there is water in their water trough. We then light a fire underneath it- our average temperate is about -15 at the moment. Any water left outside is ice within minutes.

10am- Check on our pregnant husky, our mummy husky and her nine beautiful puppies! What an awful task.... ;)We feed and water them and clean up some poo, and make sure they are comfortable. The puppies are beginning to eat their mum's meat now as well! (something she is not too happy about!)

Sydan (meaning 'heart' in Finnish) enjoying a tasty bit of reindeer meat!

10.30am- Poo time! Sleds full of horse poo, chipping it away from the frozen ground (or covering with snow the particularly stubborn bits) Not the best job in the world, but very important!

11am- Time for the dogs! Better than the horse poo, there is not as much, and the dogs are just so happy to see you. Barking with excitement when you arrive, licking, jumping, hugging you, squealing with indignation when you pay another dog more attention....

11.30am- Time for dog sledding! We might have clients, or we might be training the dogs on a new track. First we select the teams and then put the harnesses on. We then connect the dogs to sleds, "Odota! Odota!" (Wait! Wait!), we try everything we can to calm the dogs down as they jump and squeal and try as hard as they can to run, now! This is a time full of energy and excitement, and just as you think you can't keep these dogs calm any longer, it's MENA MENA, GO GO GO! Jumping onto the sled, the first few seconds are full of thoughts about not falling off as we rush down the track at near to 40km/hr....

12.30pm- Lunchtime! We go to the Laavu, a traditional Sami tent to start a fire, grill some sausages and make a nice cup of tea :) We also feed the mummies and puppies again.

1.30pm- It's the horses turn! We might have a client, or we might take the afternoon to chop firewood or fix things around the farm, but on good days it's both horses and huskies. Some people go in the sleds, and some ride. I prefer to ride- much more interesting, and so much warmer!

2.30pm- Time to feed the dogs- a concoction of dog biscuits, reindeer meet and a broth made out of bones. Each dog must sit and wait until we give the command to eat ('Vappa!'). Not too difficult with the older dogs, but a nightmare with the younger ones!

3.30pm- Feed the horses and do a final poo run.

4pm- It is pitch black by now, and we pack up the car and head back to village. We then spend the evening ice skating, drinking tea, or (more usually now!) arguing about whose turn it is to cook dinner! If there's clients the next morning for breakfast I make the bread ready, and if it's a clear night we go aurora hunting, otherwise we chill out, or go down to the pub.....