• 29Aug

    I am fascinated by the Swedish fäbod.

    fab17

    The best translation for a fäbod that I know is a summer pasture…

    fab05

    …but it’s more than just a pasture.

    fab06

    In the province of Dalarna, where Anna Lena came from, it wasn’t easy to eek out a living on the small farms.

    fab02

    Most of the farms were near small villages in the valleys.

    mel1

    In the summer, you couldn’t turn your animals out into the fields around the farm because you needed the grass to grow up so you could cut it for hay.  That way you’d have something to feed the animals in the winter.

    fab11

    So in the summer, the animals were taken high up into the forest to forage.

    fab12

    Each farm had grazing rights in certain areas of the forest.

    fab10

    Small cabins and barns were built and the old grandmas and young women would spend the summers there, tending to the cows and goats.

    fab09

    It was a big day in the spring when nearly the entire village would drive the animals up to the summer pastures.

    fab01

    The men helped ready things, then left the women there for the summer.

    fab04

    The work was hard, beginning at 4:00 in the morning.  The women milked the cows then let then out into the forests.  While the animals grazed, the women made cheese and butter.

    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

    In the evening they would bring the cows back in from the forest.  It was a big responsibility, and many things could go wrong.

    fab15

    My grandma always told me that her mother, Anna Lena, left Sweden because she didn’t like taking care of the cows.  The first time I visited relatives there in 1981, I told this story and they told me about the fäbods. Perhaps it was life at the fäbod that Anna Lena didn’t like.

    fab19

    The fäbod system died out decades ago, but some of the old buildings still exist in some areas.

    fab07

    This summer we were lucky enough to visit one near the village of Äppelbo.

    fab16

    Our host, John, told us that many of the old buildings were taken down in the 1930’s and the logs were sent to Stockholm to be used as firewood!

    fab20

     

    We fed the calves hard bread!  Who knew calves liked hard bread!?!

    fab21

     

    We also took turns blowing the horn to call the cows.

    fab22

     

    No cows came, but we all got some sound out of the horn!

    fab23

     

    It was a wonderful day.

    Tags:

2 Responses

WP_Floristica