Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here. Here on Sisu Homemaker, you’ll find me sharing a lot of Finnish & Nordic recipes, as well as fermented foods.
When I was 15, I was blessed to be able to spend two weeks in Finland & Sweden with my grandparents and two cousins. That trip sparked a lifelong love of travel and a strong attachment to the cuisine, culture, and people of my ancestral homeland, Finland. Six years later, I once again spent just shy of a month touring the Nordic region with some friends.
Eventually, Sisu Homemaker was born out of my love for Finland and for cooking & baking! Sometimes, the recipes I share are very authentically Finnish; sometimes they’re merely inspired by a Finnish ingredient or dish.
My husband Dylan and I are born, raised and are now raising our own four kids in Minnesota. Originally, our dream was to build a brand new home, and we even bought land and had plans drawn up. Ultimately it wasn’t what God had in store for us! Now we are the second owners of a cute yellow ranch-style house built in 1960. Before we bought our house we hadn’t considered ourselves DIYers, but we dove right in and learned quickly (sometimes by trial and error). Our goal was and is to make the home our own while respecting the character of the original design.
A few of our early DIY projects have made their way onto the blog, but now most of the house stuff is relegated to my newsletter and sometimes Instagram. If you’re interested in that piece of the Sisu Homemaker world, follow on IG @sisuhomemaker and sign up for my monthly email newsletter below! It’s a great way to make sure you don’t miss a single recipe, too.
If you have questions or comments, I’d absolutely love to hear from you: email me at carol@sisuhomemaker.com!
A few fun facts
- My first international trip was to Finland and Sweden, when I was 15. My grandparents travelled there semi-regularly and brought myself and two cousins along that year. It was a wonderful trip and the beginning of a lifelong love of travel (though I really don’t mind that travel has taken a backseat in this season of raising young kids).
- I got my Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI. I still work very part-time in nursing administration.
- I’ve never been able to wink with my right eye. I’m convinced something about that eye’s anatomy makes it impossible
- I have trypophobia
- My third and fourth babies are twins, and they were born at home in a planned homebirth, after two prior hospital births. It was amazing, and if we have more babies they’ll be born at home too, God willing.
- I’m a Hufflepuff.
