The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: renee on January 07, 2013, 08:44:44 pm
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Renee here.
I have just wandered from Ravelry into your forum. I think I will be staying as you seem a very friendly bunch. Have done a lot of wandering in my life, Started in Yorkshire, a short stay in Scotland and France. A much longer stay in Denmark and now in Sweden.
The district I live in is sort of the Dales, the Moors and the Pennines all in one. My farm is about 1200 ft. above sea-level but the mountains go up to 5000. We have 5-6 months of snow and temperatures down to -40C though they are sticking between - 10 and -20 so far this winter .
I have just been checking facts. It seems that I live in the least populated council in all of Sweden! So that is why I have 70 miles to the bank and 130 to the slaughter house. There is about 1 person pr. square kilometer and that includes the towns. I have a smallholding of 60 hektare forest and rough grazing, 100 sheep and two horses.
I am looking forward to learning a lot from TAS. Thank you for listening , Renee
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Hi Renee, and welcome!
Your situation sounds great to me... The more space and fewer people the better!
(No, I'm not really antisocial... ;D )
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Hi Renee and welcome.
I'll look forward to hearing more about your life in Sweden. I think that Scotland should look more to its Scandanavian neighbours for hints and tips on how to do things better than perhaps our cousins across the pond. Just my personal opinion, of course.
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:wave: hello Renee
It will be interesting reading about the similarities and differences in smallholdings across the sea. I think I've seen you on Ravelry. Have you got Icelandic sheep?
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Spelsau, they are Norwegian and mine are the original breed but yes, they are "viking" sheep so closely related to Icelandic. Come to think of it, do Shetland have a short tail?
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:wave: Hi and welcome from Shropshire.
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God dag to you from Arbroath, which is almost in line with kristiansands I lived there as a child
Mojo
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Hi Renee :wave:
Where you live sounds wonderful :D
Yes, Shetlands have short tails and look very like Icelandics to me.
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Hi from the Isle of Mull :wave: .
Your place sounds fantastic, not sure I would do well with that cold ;D .
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Spelsau, they are Norwegian and mine are the original breed but yes, they are "viking" sheep so closely related to Icelandic. Come to think of it, do Shetland have a short tail?
Hi Renee from another Scottish member (I'm also new to ravelry but haven't said anything there yet)
There are various Northern Shorttailed sheep here - Hebridean, Shetland, Soay, North Ronaldsay, Boreray, Manx Loughtan, as well as Gotland and Icelandic, but I don't know of anyone who keeps Spelsau here, so it will be interesting to see some photos and learn more about your flock.
Are there wolves in your area?
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Hi Renee and welcome.
I'll look forward to hearing more about your life in Sweden. I think that Scotland should look more to its Scandanavian neighbours for hints and tips on how to do things better than perhaps our cousins across the pond. Just my personal opinion, of course.
Hello Rosemary, I am not sure. I am also very interested in how things are being done in other parts of the world.
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God dag to you from Arbroath, which is almost in line with kristiansands I lived there as a child
Mojo
Goddag til dig. Unfortunately I speak Danish but am trying to learn Swedish. To make matters worse, they have a very strong local dialect up her which is very close to Norwegian!
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Hi from the Isle of Mull :wave: .
Your place sounds fantastic, not sure I would do well with that cold ;D .
Ach, my life is hard work but I like it. Thought as much about Shetlands. In Sweden it is illegal to dock sheep's tails so it is easy to see if they are Nordic or European.
I was priveleged to be at the Viking museum in Denmark when the Sea Stallion embarked on its maiden voyage, (this time round, not 1000 years ago) To Dublin. (I was selling mutton to tourists :innocent:)
My friend had woven the sails from Spelsau guard wool. She has had permanent employment at the museum for years now.
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Hi from the Isle of Mull :wave: .
Your place sounds fantastic, not sure I would do well with that cold ;D .
Hello. The Isle of Mull has always fascinated me. The hamlet where I live is protected from almost all sides from the wind so there is scarcely any chill factor. The climate is dry, we have wooden barns from the 17th cent.
So I bet you are colder on Mull than I am.
On the photo, my main house is in the centre, main barn to the left and second house on the right. I also have a chalet from where the photo is taken. The photo is taken in April. We don't really have Spring, just rush into Summer. (https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mMtWXLQoksY/SyT92hQ665I/AAAAAAAAA3Y/iocmDygyNT4/s576/IMG_0105.JPG?gl=SE)
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Are there wolves in your area?
Thanks for the update on the sheep.
Again I am lucky as to wolves. THere are more and more problems in various regions but I live in a Sami area where the Sami graze there reindeer during the winter months, moving further North during the summer. As Wolves can really smash a flock of reindeer they have permission to shoot wolves. They are pros - they took a couple and a wolverine last week 5 miles from my home.
I have bears in the forest but there is plenty of wildlife for them.
The Sami who looks after my neighbours cows in the mountain summer pastures, said he once woke and the was a bear in the paddock, trying frantically to get out!
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Renee - great photo and thanks for the insight into your life their and the challenges you have. The winters sound long and challenging and I guess that you spend the better months preparing for them - cutting wood and fodder for the animals etc.
Can you tell us what animals/birds survive the long cold winters there?
Last year I worried that we would loose our chickens,muscovey ducks and rabbits in the severe cold. The pigs stayed inside under straw for most of the 3 weeks when it was abot -20. We live in central France ( population density of 22/km in our department and at over a 1000 feet. Hot in the summer but coldish in winer.
Keep warm !
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Welcome from Worcestershire - Looks beautiful there :) Lucky you
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Gott nytt år välkomna or happy new year and welcome as we say round here!
Sounds a bit chilly, be interesting to hear how you cope with extremes, wet warm and miserable today in North Yorkshire.
All the best
mandy :pig:
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Welcome! I'm in Kent now but we lived in Stockholm for four years before wandering on to Switzerland for five. Clearly not quite the same but we did travel quite a bit around Scandanavia while we were there (pre children) including Jämtland. We walked part of the Kungsleden up in Norrland and it was amazing to think you could be three days walk from the nearest road, house, anything. And that the pass we could see ahead was still two days walk away - just a whole different scale with amazing air quality.
One of my Stockholm friends now lives in Sundsvall which is not far from you by Swedish standards. I had another friend who lived in Jokkmokk who always posted the most amazing photos of life up there (although she's now back home in Cairns which is the sublime to the ridiculous). I'm not sure I envy you being soooo isolated - it is beautiful and we had some amazing holidays but I'm not sure I could cope with driving so far every time I forgot the milk or something. How far are your nearest neighbours?
Looking forward to hearing more about your life!
H
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Wow, Renee. That's just breathtaking. So different from here ;D . I'll look forward to hearing more from you over the coming months.
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The winters sound long and challenging and I guess that you spend the better months preparing for them - cutting wood and fodder for the animals etc.
Can you tell us what animals/birds survive the long cold winters there?
Bonjour en France. True, I cut a lot of wood in the summer months . I also have a little café and am amazed that tourists actually find the farm-It is open all year but very quiet in the winter. If I get any customers now they come through the forest on their snow scooters. As to animals, crops et., it is best to ask the natives, then just experiment slowly and carefully with new varieties.
Here is one of my neighbours working with wood.(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ZN8vgfltfCA/TzQbBfVEd4I/AAAAAAAAJRA/Vejw_6cTAkU/s576/IMG_5498.JPG?gl=SE)
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Sounds a bit chilly, be interesting to hear how you cope with extremes, wet warm and miserable today in North Yorkshire.
Oh I think I am warmer than you are on Fowgill Farm. I remember last time I was over in the Vale of Pickering in November I was "Starved ti deeath"
THis summer has been a stinker though. As most places, the clamate has been weird. I think we have had about 10 days where it didn't rain. We had snow on the tops until the end of July. Normally most "normal " vegetables can be grown as we have 3 summer months where the sun doesn't go down. But this year it was just too cold so greens are expensive now. I buy haylage but this year it is so wet that it is frozen solid. I have to use a pick axe to seperate it. You should see my biceps . Rambo can pack up and go home.
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One of my Stockholm friends now lives in Sundsvall which is not far from you by Swedish standards. I had another friend who lived in Jokkmokk who always posted the most amazing photos of life up there (although she's now back home in Cairns which is the sublime to the ridiculous). I'm not sure I envy you being soooo isolated - it is beautiful and we had some amazing holidays but I'm not sure I could cope with driving so far every time I forgot the milk or something. How far are your nearest neighbours?
Looking forward to hearing more about your life!
Thank you Hester.
Yes , the air is just so special, so is the silence. It lays a blanket of security and peace over you.
Sundsvall is 3 hours away by car. People go there to IKEA and the other mega stores
I would love to visit the winter market in Jokkmokk. It is in February, the Sami gathere and sell their traditional handicrafts. It is called the festival of light as it is to celebrate the return of the sun , though , still being dark 24 hours, the town is lit artificially.
There is also a similar market in Norway, about 100 miles from my home. Hundreds of travellers come with horses and sledges and all the old stables are opened to accomodate them. 6 sleighs go each year from our district. I will try to get photos this time.
As to isolation, I have very good neighbours. There are about 10 houses ocupied in the village whilst 10 others are used as summer houses. The final third are empty and some have been so for 50 years.
It is worse in the other to hamlets. 3 people still live in Brynglehögen and 1 in Klaxsåsen.
My worst problem is going to the bank,70 miles away and the slaughter house, 130 miles away.
Here is a collage I made of some of the empty houses in the village(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rVanN6HsEWA/S46-Upsol6I/AAAAAAAAB_Y/IygrYBBSD3k/s576/2009_12_211.jpg?gl=SE)
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My son recently was interviewed for a job in Tromso, Norway which I have just seen on the map is much, much further north than you. He didn't get the job and I'm thinking it's just as well seeing what your winters are like.