Aimo's treehouse has a tree trunk running through it: “This pine practically begged for a treehouse in its branches”

When Aimo Taljavirta was still a little boy, his neighbor Väinö told him a story about lightning striking the middle of a tree. Despite the lightning strike, the pine kept growing. The tree stood near Aimo’s childhood home in Manamansalo-island by Lake Oulujärvi in North-East Finland, and he remembers marveling at its unusual appearance even as a child.

After the strike, the trunk developed a dry, hollow core that later housed a nesting box for goldeneyes.

Now Aimo stands in the garden by his cottage, admiring the pine—estimated to be around 300 years old—that supports the treehouse he built in its branches.

“This pine practically begged for a treehouse in its branches,” Aimo laughs.

In this multi-purpose treehouse, adults and children alike enjoy spending time. In the summer, they get to read, have coffee, daydream, or admire the lake view. Aimo says he particularly likes it in the stormy weather when he can watch the storm raging over the lake. That's also when the wind causes the pine to sway and the structure to creak.

“I trust the tree will hold, just as it has for hundreds of years, and I hope it will stand for hundreds more,” Aimo says.

Aimo’s childhood family moved to Manamansalo from Kuhmo, in North-East Finland, in the 1950s. At the time, there was a suitable homestead available on the island.

“As much as a road to the property didn't exist, and building materials were taken by boat to the shore. Our relatives in Kuhmo wondered why we were moving way out into the wild,” Aimo laughs.

Fortunately for Aimo’s wife Aini and their children and grandchildren, the family did move, because now, alongside the treehouse, an 86-square-meter cabin built by Aimo and a split-log barn treated with iron oxide stand on the shore of Lake Oulujärvi. The cabin project began in 2006.

Having built houses for a living, Aimo spent his summers building a year-round vacation home for his family using standard lumber. The task took three summers, during which the family stayed in a travel trailer on the property. A local electrician, plumber, stove mason, and carpenter helped, but otherwise Aimo did everything himself from start to finish.

“The cabin has all the comforts and is always kept at a base temperature. My wife and I both worked in physical jobs, so we wanted a place that would be all ready for us after the long drive from Järvenpää,” Aimo explains.

A treehouse had been in the couple’s plans from the start, but actual construction only began about three years ago. Most of the materials came from leftover lumber used for the cabin. The boards were originally part of a barn built in the 1950s.

“I want to use reclaimed materials as much as possible. My sister’s husband dismantled the barn on my family’s land, and I saved the beautifully weathered boards. They stayed in storage until they became part of our treehouse walls, continuing our cabin’s weathered-wood look,” Aimo says.

Aimo says Manamansalo felt like home even when he was little. His nearby childhood house is still in use and jointly owned by his siblings. The siblings also own some shoreline plots in the area.

“I still have vivid memories of the lake, the sand, and the reeds. Even though my work led me to the Helsinki metropolitan area, because of all my good memories, I also wanted my own family to have a cabin here in the landscape of my childhood.”

Aimo’s wife Aini is also from nearby, a place called Vuolijoki, about 25 kilometers away. It turns out Väinö, the man who told the young Aimo about the lightning-struck pine, was married to Aini’s aunt.

Aini says that when they come here, they meet relatives from both sides of the family. Loving their home region is important to them.

“Our cabin also provides us peace after living in the city.”

They also have time to enjoy the forest’s bounty: nearby woods offer blueberries, lingonberries, and cloudberries, and in the fall, porcini mushrooms and funnel chanterelles.