As the year has changed it’s time to pause, grab a cup of herbal tea, and look back at everything that happened over the past months. We looked back in our calendar and were amazed at how many things have happened — 2025 has truly been a busy and exciting year!
Winter Season
The beginning of the year is always lively, with tourists arriving to experience our beautiful area. This year we noticed big weather swings — warm days mixed with freezing cold ones. One week the temperatures were above zero, and within a few days it dropped to very cold.
Despite that, we made the most of it! Together with our guests we explored the snowy landscapes on snowshoes and skis, and even built our own quinzee for spending a night outdoors.
Travel by land: Kuusamo → Poland
After a long, cold season it was time for a break. Instead of flying, we decided to travel overland from Kuusamo to southern Poland. It was an unforgettable journey that you can read more about in our coming blog post.
We hope it inspires you to travel slower — not only for the climate, but also to really feel the journey: to reflect, enjoy the views, and appreciate the comfort of unhurried movement. In that post you’ll also find tips on tickets, stopovers, and our favourite hotels, motels, and restaurants.
Summer Projects & Community Initiatives
Back home, summer arrived — short but full of energy from the endless sunlight! In the north we must work fast to fit everything into the short summer season. Besides our private to-do list, we also joined several community projects:
Side-Roads Cleaning
Every spring our village Vasaraperä holds a clean-up to collect litter from roadsides and nearby areas. It’s a simple yet rewarding action that reminds us how easy it is to make a positive impact. The village association treats everyone to coffee, tea, juice for the kids, and of course sweet buns.
Maintaining Traditional Wooden Boats
Lake Kitka — Europe’s largest spring — once connected villages by wooden rowing boats. To preserve that heritage, the local Water Sports Club organised talkoot (communal work) to maintain them.
We learned how to make tar oil from start to finish, and of course enjoyed plenty of food, coffee, and sweets provided by the organizers.
Building Our Vegetable Garden
The dream finally came true! We built two large growing boxes and planted carrots, radishes, beans, peas, zucchinis, beetroots, and more. Watching the vegetables grow in our backyard, surrounded by the boreal forest, was pure joy.
The forest soil isn’t ideal, so we brought in soil and used our own compost. The harvest wasn’t huge (the climate is tough!), but enough for winter supplies and to serve during our wilderness lunches. We can’t wait for next summer!
Fun fact: In Finland someone even invented “forest potatoes” that grow in the forest!
Green Activities Certification
From the very beginning, we aimed to get certified for our sustainability work — not for marketing, but as real confirmation of our values. The process is demanding: each year we report the results of our development and choose new goals to pursue. It’s all about continuous improvement and finding more sustainable ways to operate.
We’re proud to announce that we were positively evaluated by Going Green Oy, keeping our certification valid for 2025–2026. Our next goals are already set and we’ll be working on them until June 2026.
With this certification, our guests can make conscious choices about the destinations and activities they support — and we can keep learning how to do things better for nature, wildlife, and our guests and the local community.
Interview for Maanpinnalla
Koillismaa – Finland’s Northeast, a local project sharing stories of people moving to our area, interviewed us about how we ended up in Kuusamo and started our business.
Check out the article (and their Instagram!) to discover more inspiring local stories.
Photo by: Eeva Mäkinen Photography
Open Doors Day for Locals
We live and work in Vasaraperä village near Ruka, Kuusamo and Posio — a special place with an active community. As a travel agency operating in our village, we value a good relation with the locals and find it important to keep everyone on track of how our business is developing.
During one of the village events, we opened our doors to introduce our business, share ideas, and of course enjoy coffee and sweets together. Meeting new neighbors and experiencing their support meant a lot to us — strong community ties make anything possible.
Pönttöbongaus – Birdhouse Check
Each June we inspect the nestings in the installed birdhouses and update our birdhouse map for our guests. This year we had a 25 % nesting success rate — Pied Flycatchers, Redstarts and Great Tits etc. nested happily in the houses!
Seeing happy guests and hearing more bird songs each year keeps us motivated to continue. Interested in joining? Come build a birdhouse or help maintain them in winter during our ski trips!
New Website & Winter Offer
Yes – it finally happened! We launched our new website with an expanded year-round offer including winter trips.
Togehter with the amazing Minna Kulmala from Puska Creative we reinvented the website: Tessa wrote all the text and provided photos while Minna handled the design and SEO. The result went live in June — have a look and see what’s new!
Hossa National Park & Oulanka National Park with Sisutrek
This was our second year working with Sisutrek and our good friend Ruben Claus, whom we met during the International Wilderness Guiding course in Kuru.
Ruben leads week-long wilderness trips, while we cook on fire for guests. They hike, paddle, and even build birdhouses with Tessa.
It’s wonderful to see people unwind in nature — and even better to work with friends. Maybe we’ll meet by the campfire someday, sharing food from the same pot.
Journalists from the UK and Japan
In co-operation with Ruka-Kuusamo Tourism Association and Naturpolis Oy, we hosted media groups from abroad to experience our area.
🇬🇧 From the UK
Cycling journalists explored local gravel-bike routes and stopped by our beach for lunch by the fire: sultsina with fireweed, poached egg with paprika pesto, wild herbs, and yogurt with berries. We’re excited to see their article soon!
🇯🇵 From Japan
A cheerful group of Japanese journalists joined us for birdhouse building and a cozy lunch in the village kota: beetroot risotto with peas and chanterelles, followed by flambéed leipäjuusto with spruce-shoot caramel and fresh berries.
Despite the rain, spirits were high — proof that working together for a positive impact followed by good food, charms visitors from every corner of the world.
Kota Talkoot & Regenerative Tourism
Let’s explain a few words:
- Kota – a traditional hut with a fireplace, perfect for shelter, food and stories around the fire.
- Talkoot – community work where neighbors help each other and share coffee and food.
- Regenerative tourism – travel that leaves places better than before.
We connected all three! Organizing our nature experiences supports the local community. This year we renovated and painted our village kota together with the village community. In the future, we plan to maintain a nearby nature trail built 20 years ago.
Follow our instagram for updates!
SAS – Slow Adventure Society
Together with our colleagues we founded the Slow Adventure Society — a network of small companies promoting authentic, slow-travel experiences. The goal: to bring together small local businesses that creates sustainable nature experiences with passion – easily available for conscious travelers seeking an authentic experience.
We’re proud to be part of this initiative from the very beginning!
IWG Meeting
Almost six years ago we joined the International Wilderness Guiding course in Kuru — where our guiding journey began. Since 1998, over 400 guides have graduated from the program, learning everything from safety and first aid to nature, culture, and survival skills (70 % of the time outdoors!).
Sadly, due to financial cuts, the school is now closing. We gathered one last time in Ylläs to hear our amazing teacher Henkka’s farewell lecture and a poem he wrote. It was an emotional gathering, and we feel honored to be part of such a strong community of true nature lovers.
Business Forum Ruka
In November we had the honor to be invited to give the opening speech of Business Forum Ruka – a yearly seminar gathering people and speakers from around the country to share experiences and new ideas. Tessa told the story of her personal journey from the busy life in the capital and her life changing move to the north – where ideas and experiences came together to be everything Wild Out is today.
Photo by: Toni Jylhä / JylhäMedia
Christmas Food With a Twist
In December Wild Out was asked to create a Christmas Menu for the local newspaper. The idea was to inspire readers to try out Finnish Christmas dishes with a twist: a hint of Polish Christmas vibes! The article turned out very funny with many inventive recipes!
The year of 2025 has been a year of community – cherishing the local one but also putting effort to create a sense of community with our lovely guests! Because strengthening the community and making a positive impact locally brings hope and togetherness for today and tomorrow! Thank you to everyone who’s been part of our story of 2025!
Thank you for reading and we wish you all a bird-rich and fun year of 2026!
