A working farm, not a show

Reindeer herding here follows the year, not a timetable. Through the summer the herd is free in the forest, feeding on their own. When the snow settles, usually around mid-November, we gather them to the home enclosures — and that is when visitors can come and meet them.

We keep groups small on purpose. You will be inside the enclosure with the reindeer, hand feeding them lichen, hearing how they are marked, how they are herded, and what the year looks like for a herding family. Afterwards there is coffee and something warm by the fire in the kota.

Nothing here is scripted. Some days it is minus thirty and blue with snow light; some days it snows sideways. That is part of it.

Kinisjärvi, Kittilä, Finland