Past my kitchen window fly the Barnacle geese. It is an annual event. They come in the thousands, 100,000 in fact according to our bird watching neighbor. They honk and squawk and the sound is a magestic cacophony as they every once in a while all take flight at the same moment, circling overhead and then landing once again just one field over. They are gathering before they start migrating and once they leave the countryside becomes almost a bit too quiet. So I’m enjoying the noise, it means that we can still enjoy autumn.
Every time the kitchen window or the door in our dining area is opened we can hear the geese. They become a part of our lives for a week or two. And everytime I feel like I need to run to the fields to try capture them with my camera and on video. Sometimes the light is just right and other times I have been a bit unpatient and the photos come out unclear.
Last time I promised to share a Latvian inspired recipe. Since I’m seriously sensitive to caffeine I often opt for tea and quite often for herbal teas. While in Latvia, I often was served a tea made with fresh herbs. Once I realized this, I would often request such a tea and they would use what they had on hand in their kithchen. I decided to use the last of the black currants and the leaves of the black currant bush to make my own version at home. Earlier this summer I had received a lovely gift card to Marimekko and after some thought, I decided on a few Sukat Makkaralla glasses. All of our glassware are of the everyday kind from Ikea and really are quite perfect for a family full of children. But sometimes it is nice to set the table with the nicer dishes. These glasses will be for those special moments or everyday moments meant to be made special. And I just love them.
Black currant herbal tea
Gather a handful of black currant leaves. Wash and pat dry. Roughly chop them and place into a tea pot. Place a small handful of berries on top of the leaves and pour over a half liter or a pint of nearly boiling water. Allow to steep for 10 to 15 minutes and sweeten as desired.
This post is a part of the In My Kitchen series hosted by the lovely Sherry from Sherry’s pickings. Happy fall!
tableofcolors 
Beautiful photos and a beautiful concept for tea…I have that same teapot (with a pattern) and love it so much 😊
I just love the tea pot. It is a forever favorite ❤
Those geese look splendid! Where on the planet are you? Norway?
wondering!
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.om
We are in Finland! And the geese are magnificent 😊 thanks for stopping by Mae!
I love that white tea pot. very cute. how lovely to have a blackcurrant bush. is it in your garden? I used to grow herbs till the bush turkeys moved in! so now it’s just best not to grow anything. What with fruitbats, turkeys and possums, it’s hard to keep produce growing:) What a marvellous sight and sound- to have all those geese flying over. I love that you can tell the seasons by when various birds and animals come around. Our possums have been thundering over the roof at night before they have their summer babies. Thanks so much for joining in IMK this month. Lovely to have you. Cheers Sherry x
I can’t imagine trying to keep a garden going with the turkeys, fruitbat and possums foraging and competing for the produce! We have the wild hare that try to attack the apple trees and the birds try to get our strawberries and currants, but we have put a net around the berries to save us a few. The teapot is Marimekko and a favorite of mine as it goes with any table setting. And I love the fact it has the sieve on the inside. Makes things convenient! Thanks for stopping by Sherry!
I can’t imagine the horrendous din from 100,000 barnacle geese, but smile as I mentally picture their aerobatics when the flocks lift off. Our farmlands in nearby Skagit Valley will soon welcome the 50,000 migrating snow geese and 10,000 trumpeter and tundra swans which overwinter here annually, late Fall through early Spring. Your photos prompt SO many vivid memories.
Oh, I can just imagine all of the action the snow geese and trumpeter create! Are they group animals in that if one becomes hysterical and flies off they all follow suit, only to settle done and land again a few minutes later. Last weekend we drove to an old lake basin 30 min away and there was 300,000 migrating geese. It was an epic experience. Larger than life!
How wonderful are the geese, Laila!! Thank you for sharing them with us!! xx
Yes, I enjoy them every year! Now everything is quiet again but last weekend we drove to place not far away that had 300,000 geese! It was quite the spectacle! Thanks for stopping by ❤
Your Sukat Makkaralla glasses are very beautiful, and just perfect for a herbal tea. I love blackcurrants I have a bush in my garden which provides a good supply. The Barnacle Geese must be an amazing sight.
Aren’t they just cute! 🙂 Do you know what sukat makkaralla mean? It is a Finnish saying expressing that your socks are rolled into bunches around your ankles…and the glasses do remind of this phenomenon or what? 🙂
That is such a cute saying. And, yes, perfect for the glasses.
Laila, your post was absolutely lyrical… thank you for such lovely thoughts and photos. I agree, sometimes you need to treat yourself to “grown up” things in a family full of children. Enjoy those glasses and your home-brewed black currant tea — and the geese. What a wonder!
Oh thank you, Kim! Glad you enjoyed ❤ Yes, sometimes we need something special…like the ice cream stash I have in my freezer. Of course there is ice cream for the kids, but the gourmet version in the small package is just for the over 18+ 😀
The geese sound majestic Laila and you’ve shared some great shots. It would be quite a scene to see so many in one are before migration. x
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It was spectacular, especially when since we visited another location 30 min from our house and the old lake basin was filled with 300,000 geese. I can’t really put it into words. Hope some of my photos turned out so I’ll be able to share later. Thanks for stopping by!
I remember hearing the geese fly over our home in New Hampshire. I can’t imagine a sky filled with thousands…what a sight that must. be.
Hi Karen, last weekend we visited an old lake basin with 300,000! It was crazy epic! I have some photos and videos of it on my instagram (they can also be found bellow the comments) and I’m hoping that at least some of my shots turned out. They are quite challenging to shoot. Thanks for stopping by!