Don't wait for the snow to melt. In the Nordic home, the ancient ritual of 'forcing' birch and cherry branches brings the bright green hope of spring to your dining table weeks before the forest wakes up. A guide to harvesting your own Vårtecken (sign of spring).

There is a specific kind of silence that only exists in the late Nordic winter. It is the sound of a world tucked under a heavy blanket of frost, holding its breath. In Norway and Sweden, we call this feeling Vårlengsel, the intense longing for Spring.