The employees of the Finnish Forestry Administration are pleasantly perplexed - over the past few weeks they have received about eleven thousand applications from citizens of different countries of the world with a request to accept them for temporary work in Lapland farmlands.

It is noteworthy that temporary work will take place as part of farm tourism, which has recently been actively developing in Finland. Visitors pay about 350-500 euros for the opportunity to look after Finnish cows, sheep or goats on farms for a whole week, drive them out to pastures and provide them with food.

Sometimes, tourists come with their families to spend a week in an ecologically clean and picturesque corner of Finland, devoting their days to caring for pets. Silence and peace are placed here above the achievements of progress, therefore, in most cases, tourists are forced to dispense water from a well a kilometer from the farm and kerosene lamps instead of modern diode or energy-saving lamps - water and electricity in most of these places are considered an unprecedented luxury.

For the most part, tourists come to look after Finnish cattle far from the first time and do not need to be clarified, but for beginners there is a thorough briefing. The money that foreigners pay for being “temporary shepherds” goes to the needs of Finnish nature reserves. Responsibility for goats, cows and sheep, which are in the care of tourists, lies with the owners of farms.