Farming in Sätila

While I was researching the farming practices in Sweden I came across a scholarly article discussing a regional dialect from Västra Götaland (here beginning on page 9). The author had interviewed his parents who had both grown up and lived in the Sätila parish, as had his grandparents. The topic they chose to speak about was . . . you guessed it . . . farming!

But attempting to translate and decipher their historical narrative was complicated - to say the least. Not only was it written in Swedish, the story was told in a very specific dialect with near-ancient terminology. Luckily for me, my Swedish cousin, Arne, agreed to spend considerable time translating it as Google Translate seemed to give me more jibberish than anything.

Farming practices and procedures had remained the same for centuries - at least as long as my ancestors were living in Sätila, so to have this very specific narrative was, for me, a gold mine.

After they had stored the grain and picked up the potatoes, they began to plow. The plowing would be over by the end of October. A new field with many tree stumps that you wanted to plow up was first broken up using a "harv" or harrow. The harrow they used had sixteen crooked teeth and a rod at the back, so that you could lift it [if it got stuck]. 

Harrowing

Then they started plowing, using oxen to pull the plow. On a plow, the beam was made of wood, but the blade and the moldboard were made of iron.

When the oxen were young, a man had to go in front and steer them with a rope to make them go straight. The young oxen were tied together with a rope called a “middelkleven” which was tied to their horns. Another rope operated by the man, called a "ydd," was attached to the middle of the middelkleven.

When the oxen were to go to the left the man in front, while pulling the ydd, shouted “furi!” When they were to go to the right, he shouted “höjt!”

On a field with many tree stumps, they primarily used a hook because it pulled up the roots better than a blade. A blade cuts off the roots and hides them, so you would need to deal with them again, whereas a hook pulls up the roots to the surface where they dry and die. Such a hook was called an “ärjekrok” which was also used for planting and picking up potatoes.

Ärjekrok

Two oxen pulled the hook. The soil that was turned up was called the “plogskiva” and the furrow created by the plow was called “får.” When plowing, you start by laying up a plogskiva. Some people called the final furrow “vattenfår.” Finally, you plow the two ends of the field, where before the plow was turned to change direction. 

If they did not sow in the autumn the field was left in this condition through the winter. If the field was to be sown, they started by fertilizing the field using manure previously collected. Usually the men transported and distributed the manure, while the women helped to load it onto the carts. 

Pitchforks were used to work the manure. The teeth of the pitchforks were sheathed with iron.

The manure was transported in carts with wooden axles, which were lubricated with snails to avoid squeaking. The dung was tipped in piles out on the field, and then the farmer had to spread it out. When this was done, the soil and the manure were mixed together using a harrow, first with a harrow with teeth [to break up the soil and manure], and then with a plain harrow [which had discs to turn the soil]. 

The sowing was done by hand, using a straw basket to hold the grain. The basket hung on the chest in a strap around the neck. Those who managed to sow with both hands did so. The others sowed with one hand, using the other hand to hold the basket on the front side with a hook.

Wooden stakes were set up to mark which furrows had been sown. When you had crossed the field in one direction, you were said to have sowed a “fjärje.” When the sowing was finished, the soil was compacted using a roller [to improve the grain’s interaction with the soil and the soil’s capacity to hold water]. 

The old people sowed a lot of rye for autumn grain which they then roasted for coffee, but most of the sowing took place in the spring when the spring grain was sown. In springtime they sowed a lot of rye and oats, but not much wheat.

Before sowing, manure was put on the fields as in the autumn. This was done while there was still snow on the ground to allow sledges [sleds] to be used for transporting the manure. As in the autumn, a harrow was used to mix the soil and manure, and a roller was used to make the soil more compact.

[After the field was prepared] people sowed in the first days of May, in the ninth and eighth weeks. The twelfth week began in April, as the weeks were counted backwards from the week of midsummer. No one sowed after the fourth week. Bengt in Backa sowed barley on Midsummer's Eve, why then there was no week at all! [The week of Midsommer would have been week zero. Bengt was considered a fool to sow that late.]

On the days of Ture and Tyko you were supposed to sow "hör" [which might refer to hay]. [Each day was assigned a particular name. If you had that name, you had sort of a mini-birthday that day. Remnants of this tradition still exist but the names have changed. In those days Ture and Tyko were April 28th and 29th.] 

If someone had forgotten to sow a piece of land and a bare spot was created when the grain came up, it was said, "he has set aside a grave for himself."

Around the same time as spring [planting] or a little later, they started planting potatoes. Hooks were used to push them down. Sometimes the bromsar were troublesome, causing disorder among the oxen. [A “broms” is a nasty sort of insect which flourishes in high grass. They don’t like anyone trampling or cutting it down. If someone attempted to do that the broms could attack and the person would need to be on high alert as they have an outstanding performance in time of landing to time of stinging.] 

Broms

At midsummer time, foraging was initiated. The grass was cut with scythes, and the women used rakes to spread the grass out to dry for a while. After this initial drying, it was raked up in heaps. While cutting, a honing stick, a bowl of water and a whetstone was kept close at hand to sharpen the scythes as soon as the bite faltered.

Scythe

Rake

Finally the grass was raised in high piles supported by hazel sticks. These were called “sloar” or “risslor.”

When the hay was dry, carts were used to take it in. Alternatively, if the barn was nearby the hay was carried by hand. If carts were used, a rope was fed five times around the heap, which was then tumbled into the cart.

At the barn, the hay was shoveled inside with a pitchfork through an opening some distance above ground level. Later, valves were created in the mow to let the whole cart in underneath. Hay fences were not used in these times. These were in common use only 35 to 40 years ago.

When foraging was completed, there were a couple of lazy weeks. In the last days of August the grain was ripe, and harvesting could begin. People worked from five in the morning until nine or ten in the evening. There were no harvesting machines, so the work was performed by hand using scythes.

The harvesting scythe was called a “mej”. Earlier, sickles were used for this work, and for rye this practice continued for quite a long time as for this type of cereal cutting precision was essential.

When using a sickle you would grab a handful of grain, put the blade underneath and pull quickly. Then you collected four of five handfuls of the proceeds, creating a “nek.” This nek was much smaller than the one you got using a mej. A lot of people were needed for this work. Both men and women worked with sickles. However the scythe was handled by a man, while a couple of women followed behind to collect.

The small boys then used ribbons to make bundles. The bundles were stored in “trävar.” A full “träve” contained 24 bundles, whereas a half-träve contained 12. Another practice was to “ria” the grain. In this case you first set up a pole in the ground. Then you tied bundles to the pole along its entire length. You had to use a short ladder to reach the top. The bundle fastened to the top was called “toppnek.” The bundles at the bottom were called “underhukor.”

When the grain was dry, a drum cart was used to transport it to the barn.

The whole cart was brought inside the barn. In front of the grain storage there was a beam called “logbalk.” One man stood in the cart heaving the bundles over the logbalk into the storage, where other people picked them up and placed them in a particular way, creating what was called a “stabb.” When building a stabb you started in the middle of the storage floor, placing the bundles in a spiral going outwards and facing the grain inwards. This was continued layer after layer until the storage was full of grain.

Many of the illustrations  I included with the narrative were found here.

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