[MAK]

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 !   

[darkbrowneggs]

Welcome from Worcestershire  - Looks beautiful there      Lucky you

[Fowgill Farm]

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

[HesterF]

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

[Rosemary]

Wow, Renee. That's just breathtaking. So different from here  . I'll look forward to hearing more from you over the coming months.

[renee]

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.

[renee]

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.

[renee]

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

[Lesley Silvester]

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.