Backpackers find a rural Finnish log house for their home base: “We received a dry toilet as a wedding gift”

The Luukkala family bought the house with its furnishings, so it still contains some original pieces. In the living room, attention is drawn to a colorful painting by Petu’s childhood friend, artist Juhani Perälä, that depicts the beloved Finnish film character Uuno Turhapuro. Helga is petting Tyyne.

Katariina loves upcycling old objects into something new. She turned an old CRT television into a cat bed that Keke also enjoys. The globe can be used to see where they might travel next.

The scent of a flower field drifts into the cottage. Petu Luukkala has just picked a box of tomatoes and basil from the greenhouse, which he’ll soon take with him for his restaurant’s evening shift. His spouse Katariina Luukkala has come home from her workshop and continues sketching jewelry designs on her computer. Later this evening, it’ll be her turn to heat the sauna. From outside, you can hear the cheerful laughter of the couple’s 7-year-old Helga.

The Luukkala family ended up living in this hundred-year-old cottage in the Finnish countryside through a winding series of events. In 2007, Petu, then a bachelor, went backpacking around the world and spent the winter in Australia’s warmth. During a summer visit home, his path crossed again with Katariina, whom he already knew.

“Because we wanted to keep enjoying the Finnish summer months, we started looking for a place we could always return to,” Katariina recalls.

“The house had to be cheap, tucked away in the middle of the woods, and close to a lake.”

A real estate listing brought the couple trudging through the overgrown yard of the old log house. The property had been neglected for years, and its condition was concerning. When a friend working in restoration poked the log frame thoroughly with a knife and realized it wasn’t as far gone as they feared, Katariina and Petu decided to make an offer.

The house is heated with wood, and there’s a fireplace in every room. In winter, the schedule revolves around keeping the fires burning. They could source firewood from their own forest, but they usually buy from neighbors. If needed, a delivery arrives in about 15 minutes. Tyyne the cat also enjoys the warmth.

A worksite cabin as the renovation home

During the first summer, in 2016, the couple focused on clearing the garden. As winter approached, they once again flew to Australia. A few months later, Katariina was pregnant. Their summer home needed to become a permanent one in short order, so the small family could settle down—for a while, at least.

That following spring, Katariina and Petu began a renovation that honored traditional methods, preserving as much of the old as possible. In the meantime, they lived in a worksite cabin brought into the yard and in the small room of the yard sauna.

After the renovation, Katariina furnished the rooms with the original furniture left behind in the house, along with flea-market finds and gifted treasures. Petu, who is a professional chef, got new countertops and appliances in the kitchen. Two weeks before the due date, the home was ready to welcome the new family member.

The outdoor privy was built around a round window found at a flea market. The family finds it more pleasant than the indoor toilet during summer. “It’s mostly a matter of what you’re used to,” Petu says.

A toilet as a wedding gift

Around seven in the evening, Katariina begins her sauna-lighting ritual. She goes to the woodshed with an IKEA bag and gathers enough logs for the stove. If the hot-water tank is empty, she opens the faucet on the hose from the well and builds a second fire.

For Katariina, these moments are meditative. She sits in the cold sauna and waits to see if the fire catches on the first try. The sauna is on their minds even during forest walks: whenever someone finds bits of birch bark, they collect them for kindling. Helga is good at peeling bark from birch logs for the fire.

“Sometimes, when it’s really cold, dark, or the weather is awful, it bugs me to go carry wood to the sauna. But that feeling quickly fades when the reward is a lovely steam,” Katariina says.

Besides the outdoor sauna, there is also a toilet in the yard. None of the previous owners had added the plumbing for an indoor toilet, and Katariina and Petu didn’t want to change that.

“During our travels in Australia, we spent lots of time in campgrounds and free parking sites. In dry spells, water was carefully rationed, and nobody flushed away precious water. That made us question our familiar habits. Why have a flush toilet when there are other possibilities?” Petu ponders.

Initially, the family only had an outdoor privy, which came with the composting dry toilet they’d requested as a wedding gift. As Helga grew up, they decided to install a separating dry toilet upstairs in the house.

Water for the house comes from the well in the yard and is heated by a boiler. There are water points in the kitchen and on the second-floor toilet. Modern conveniences also include a washing machine. Katariina sometimes dreams of having a dishwasher, but then forgets about it. If dirty dishes pile up too high, Petu may just put them in boxes in the trunk and run them through the dishwasher at his restaurant.

The separating dry toilet uses no water and only minimal electricity for a fan that directs odors out. Liquids go into the sewer, and solid waste amounts to about one bucket per month.

The soothing steam of the outdoor sauna is a worthy reward for the effort of heating it. The family picks up kindling during forest walks, too.

Community and a garden offer security

Katariina believes that attitudes toward self-sufficiency, the countryside, and traditional methods have become more positive in recent years. She and Petu have found many like-minded people through social media.

They’ve also found a sense of community in their small village, which is one of the great assets of rural living.

“We’re pretty much on our own here, especially in the winter. The lake is about 100 meters (328 ft) away. I fish there, and we swim there together. In winter, we take the snowmobile out on the ice,” Petu says.

All the essential services are within a reasonable distance. The school bus takes Helga to Koijärvi School, where she’s been since preschool, with the same teachers and friends. There’s no traffic, so commuting is easy.

Country life does have its challenges. The family needs two cars so both adults can get to work. They spent a long time finding a reliable internet connection so they could work from home. The power lines in the region are still overhead, leading to frequent outages.

“The first time it happened, we were taken aback; by the second time, we were ready. We keep extra fuses, fully charged headlamps and flashlights, various power banks, candles, instant noodles, and animal feed on hand. Our internet works via a power bank, so we can stay connected,” Katariina says.

They’ve also increased their self-sufficiency by diving into gardening. Next in line is building an earth cellar to preserve the harvest even more effectively through winter.

“We both grew up in the countryside, and my parents spent their entire careers involved in farming. Maybe our biggest inspiration was our Australian landlord, who was a tireless and enthusiastic homegrower,” Katariina says.

In the spacious greenhouse, tomatoes, chilies, herbs, and zucchini thrive. The sandy soil is ideal for potatoes, carrots, strawberries, and peas. Each year, the garden grows a bit bigger. Petu uses the homegrown herbs and vegetables in his restaurant, too. Fall has become one of the family’s favorite seasons, because that’s when they become complete mushroom-hunting fanatics. They also gather berries on their outings. Much of this forest bounty ends up on the restaurant’s plates.

It works both ways. Petu brings the restaurant’s compost back home, so the family’s chickens enjoy top-notch scraps. The dogs stay healthy and keep a shiny coat thanks to the eggs from their own hens.

Helga’s cool playhouse was customized from an old travel trailer. She can play on the covered patio too. “We’ve borrowed some Brazilian beach-bar flair, complete with seashells. The palm trees are plastic, though,” Katariina says with a laugh.

Community and a garden offer security

Petu and Katariina have created a day-to-day life here in which they call the shots. As entrepreneurs, they appreciate the freedom to set their schedules. Living this close to nature has taught them the value of basics, like keeping the house warm and having running water from the well. They’ve also learned to be patient—things can stay unfinished for a while.

At the same time, the family loves to travel the world and enjoy the bustle of city life when the moment is right. Helga is already an experienced traveler: she learned to walk in Brazil, to swim in Thailand, and started surfing in Australia. They still don’t enjoy the freezing Finnish winter, so they work hard for part of the year and take a long holiday early in the year.

Friends from around the world come to the Forssa countryside to marvel at the Finnish summer.

Visitors vie for their turn to chop wood and heat the sauna.

“In ten years, we’ll probably return to our old rhythm, meaning we won’t be in Finland at all during the winter,” Petu predicts.

“But this house isn’t going anywhere, and we’ll keep coming back with the migratory birds. Summers in Finland are just unbeatable.”

Oskar the rooster and his hens ensure there are always fresh eggs for breakfast. The flock members are rescues and come from other chicken hobbyists. Their outdoor run makes life more comfortable.