Most obvious signs of the changing season from winter to spring is the warmth and the running water.

When the sun is melting the snow and ice, there is the inevitable drip… drip… of water.  Water dripping from the melting snow and ice from the roof of the buildings and puddles of water along the roads and pathways.

The traditional log cabins use to have conventional style materials for the roof, they initially used peat and later on used wood shingles.  Peat was readily available from the many swamps that are common in the Nordic area, it provided protection from rain and the snow, and also was useful as an insulation material to keep the warmth of the fire inside the log cabins.  peat was piled on top of a wooden frame, that supported the weight of the peat, and the weight of the rain/ snow and ice.

Autumn rains and the thaw of springtime would have caused some water leaks into the traditional households.

A leaking roof during the spring season would have also prompted spring cleaning and the re-orientation of furniture and storage.  Bears also are often forced to move out of their caves when there is the warming of weather and the snow starts to melt and often flooding the winter nest of a bear family (bear cubs are born during the winter hibernation, and find their own way to the nutritional source of their parent).

Traditional water wells in the Nordic region of Finland for practical reasons they were manually dug into the ground within a short walking distance from the farmhouse.

Depending on the landscape, it could be 5-10 m deep.  A round hole straight down until it reached the water ground level, if the ground was sandy, then there was clean natural filtered water available as required.  The top of the well was covered by a good platform and a lid cover, or it could be built upwards to stop animals or people falling into it during the dark.  The method of drawing water from a well as by lowering a wooden bucket by a rope.  Once the bucket sank and was filled by water, then it would be drawn up either manually by hand, or by turning a drum hoist to bring the bucket up to the surface.

Pictures of a traditional well and s wood shingle roof, click on the link below.

Wikipedia.