Itä-Suomen Koulu Nordskills eco-club Joensuu
Eco-club in Joensuu is organized in collaboration with the School of Eastern Finland (Itä-Suomen koulu) and project partners MSL Cultural Association Joensuu and the University of Eastern Finland.
The eco-club activities have been initiated in autumn 2025 with first eco-club meetings taking place in November 2025. Since then the eco-club has been meeting on a regular basis. The eco-club meetings in Joensuu are integrated in the school schedule yet as an extra activity in addition to the basic school curriculum.
The Nordskills eco-club in Joensuu has started including 22 pupils from grades 5 and 6 and is intended to continue thoughout the project with the same group to achieve a long-term self-sufficiency learning experience and outcomes.
The eco-club engages in various different self-sufficiency skills, with food (wild & farmed) being a key component of its activities. Farming is carried out at Sinkkola urban farm in Joensuu and the eco-club garden is also publicly accessible and presents a showcase to the several thousand visitors that come to Sinkkola each year.
Below you find short stories about some of the Joensuu Nordskills eco-club activities:
Winter camping February 2026
Winter camping February 2026
In February 2026 Nordskills eco-club Joensuu went on a trip on the topic of outdoor food preparation and winter camping. Task was to prepare food only from raw, unprocessed materials outdoors as well as to prepare a winter proof campsite. At up to – 17C kids were spending hours outside cooing and frying their various foods using Trangia cooking stoves and camp fires. At night children took turns firing the tent ovens to assure suitable sleeping temperature in the tents. During the trip the children were able to use all the skills learned and tested in their previous eco-club meetings such as save and correct use of knives, fire making and food preparations.
Farming in Sinkkola
Farming in Sinkkola
Joensuu eco-club key component for long-term self-sufficicency learning is farming and farm-to-fork processes. This included eco-club activities related to: learning about nutrition values of vegetables and other plants – planning own “growth strategy” (what to plant) – clearing the ground for farming activities and building growing boxes out of recycled material – planting – caring for the garden over the summer holidays – harvesting (hopefully) – processing and eating of plants. The later part will be seen in the autumn how it works out.
The Joensuu eco-club garden is located at Sinkkola urban farm and will also act as a publicly accessible showcase for the work of the pupils. In addition to caring for their own plants eco-club participants have the opportunity to engage in caring also for the Sinkkola farm animals during summer.
Fish processing
Fish processing
In January 2026, the NORDSKILLS eco-club in Joensuu collaborated with the Martta Association on local fish knowledge and skills. Students learned about local fish species, fishing gear, fishing safety, ethical fishing, and fishing regulations. After this, they took part in hands-on learning, where they worked in small groups to handle locally caught perch. They practiced using a knife and learned how to prepare perch for cooking. Finally, with guidance from the Martta Association, students cooked and tasted the perch.
