Directory

Hongola Gård, owned by the Furuhjelm family, is an organic livestock farm in Urjala. The farm has reared cattle for over 300 years on the estate’s forest pastures, and still today the cows are permitted to move around these areas freely between spring and autumn. In 2017 the family introduced Black Angus cows, a Scottish breed, which are fed only naturally grown field grass. That means that the meat is formally classified as “grass-fed beef”. The farmhouse itself dates back to the 1600s, and is said to have inspired the Under the North Star trilogy by Väinö Linna, whose mother worked in the house. Hongola Gård hosts an annual harvest festival with local artisans and producers open for visitors.

Salohiili is a charcoal, biochar, and firewood producer based in Pielavesi, founded in 1990 and run by Aimo Lipponen. Their barbecue and forge charcoal is made from Finnish birch and packed without plastic. The charcoal is produced using machinery designed and built in-house, developed specifically for this purpose. Where the process once relied on a kiln, today the birch is dried in a boiler with very limited oxygen, resulting in a clean, consistent charcoal well suited for cooking over fire.