Swedish shielings, or “Fäbodvall” in Swedish is a pretty rare sight nowadays unfortunately.

Our shieling cabin

Swedish shielings were commonly used to herd cows for summer pastures and making milk, cheese and butter in small huts. Shielings in Sweden date back all the way to the middle ages and have been up and running ever since, but they are decreasing rapidly. People would gather at these shielings/small villages in the summer months, herding the cows through woods and narrow paths just to get there.

The herding were mostly done by women and children over the age of five, five being the magic number to be able to walk the sometimes treacherous forest trails. The cows could easily find their own way through the forest just by memory and instinct, but the women and children did not just keep an eye out for the cows, but also they fended off bears, wolves and other predators. They usually had some kind of bell to makes loud noises with to scare the other predators.

So, why am I writing this?

Well, last weekend I visited our family shieling in Hälsingland, one of the few Swedish shielings that actually have people come stay during the summers, although there are no animals there anymore, people still come to tend their houses and keep it nice and cozy there. I spent many summers at our little house and grew up learning how to go on with daily life without running water or electricity. Me, my two brothers and our cousins used to spend a week now and then at the shieling with our grandparents.

When we were young, the farm was actually producing milk, butter and cheese, but it has stopped in later years.

Moss has grown on the fences.

This trip, me, my girlfriend, mother and grandmother went there for the first time this year. My grandparents always used to visit the cabin in May of every year, just to check up on it and rakes some old dried grass, fix broken things that the snow destroyed during the winter, and to relax. My grandfather suddenly passed away about a month ago, so this was the first time after his passing that my grandmother went to their cabin. Many memories came up.

I took some pictures and shot som video when we where there, just to show you the peacefulness and serenity we got to experience. Please watch them and let me know if you have ever visited Swedish shielings, or any shieling what so ever. There are actually some shielings in Sweden that are open to tourists in the summer, so if you are planning on visiting one… do it!

Shieling in Swedish is called “Fäbod”, “Fäbodvall” or “Vall”, and for more information you can visit the Wikipedia page for shielings, although it’s only in Swedish.

A birch trumpet is a type of natural trumpet made of spruce covered with birch bark, used to intimidate predators, frighten supernatural enemies, and convene council meetings.

More moss on the fences

There’s actually a really exciting story about this stone involving trolls, that my grandmother told us kids. I will write a post about that some other day!

A signpost with distance to other nearby shielings

Edit: The videos blow don’t seem to be working as they should, will try to fix that asap!

Don’t forget to read my other posts in the blog!

Collecting random stuff have alway been my vice!

But even tho the “random” stuff have been pretty innocent and “normal”, like old comic books, beard products, nice rocks etc, I think my last find takes the prize. Collecting random stuff really hits the spot when we recently moved to a bigger place, and with that came a few extra boxes that I had stored in my mothers garage since I was a kid. Going through those boxes really brought back memories, but also a lot of laughs, thinking to myself – “Why the hell did I save this!?”.

Most things was normal childhood savings, like old lyrics, cheat sheets for video games, comic books, rocks, hockey cards and Magic the Gathering cards for example. Nothing weird here, because thats normal, right!?

The next thing I found really made me smile at my childhood me, and somewhat began to question what my thoughts was back then. In a moving box, in a small “slime” container shaped as a ghost I saw it. Those small brown rice shaped things. What where they doing in a empty toy slime container? Upon close inspection I found some writing on the side, it said (in Swedish) “Barr från julgranen -96”, which mean “Spruce needles from the Christmas tree -96″….. Yes, you read that right, I saved Spruce needles from our Christmas tree in 1996. Who does that?

I opened the can, and you should’ve seen my facial expression.. the needles smelled wonderful, they really smelled like a Christmas tree. How is it that the container, air tight but still, could preserve the smell for 21 one years?! Wow, I was amazed. I just found 21 year old Spruce needles in a air tight toy slime container, and the smell was as fresh as the day we cut that tree down. I don’t need to explain that I took a trip down memory lane that day, seeing how life has passed and changed. Family lost along the way, me growing up and starting my own family and so on. My eye got a bit watery.

I plan on saving this container, hopefully for another 21 years…

Do you have any weird stuff you collected through the years?

Oh, on a side note, I found another container from 1997, also from the Christmas tree that year, but hey, who wants 20 year old spruce needles when you have 21 year olds… right?! 😀

Check out the other posts in the blog here!