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Category: Artic Living | Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:01 pm

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Okay we have a farm but the only thing animal wise is one very spoiled Rottweiler. We don't have animals on the farm now,, but at one time there was.

My husband, Kolbjørn, I think has had a mid-life crisis. I was told by a fellow Stewer that most guys buy a little red car and try for the younger chicks. Well Kolbjørn has all the horses minus the metal, no chicks but he does have a few piglets. lol. But anyways he was a carpenter at the museum, but during winter there wasn't enough to do so he got layed off, but just for a week,,lol. The Chief from the Viking museum asked him if he was intrested in training horses. He thought about it and said yes, 3 seconds later. (he thought real hard there) He has experience with horses so it was natural for him to accept the job. I on the other hand, had doubts. Besides the horses there is also the cows, boars and sheep. My first thought was "ohhh no, thats going to stink" then I thought "Awww I can take pictures of the cute little babies" Then I found out, this is a working farm just like how the Vikings did it. Survival. Food. Panic on my part. Ready to demonstate. Ready to throw Kolbjørn into the barn here on our farm.

Well he loves his new job, comes home tired but with a smile, and talks about what he did that day. To me thats all that matters, is he is happy, and also he has enough sense to take his work close off in the entry hall and not in the house! Good man!

So lets see how the Vikings raised their animals and what kind of breeds were from way back then.

The first picture is of the boars. Since here in Norway its against the law to own pure boars these ones are mixed with pigs. But you get the idea.

Daddy boar


Baby boars, there are actually 5 of them, and yes in 4 months they will be slaughtered for food.


Next is the cows, but only one pic I will show. This is the Nordland Cow. Specific to this area and the same kind as the Vikings used. The Nordland cows are black and while and have longer hair than the other domesticated cows here in Norway. She is a beauty.


Next is the sheep. These sheep are also Nordland sheep and are very small. They look like goats but they are sheep. Half the flock is pregnant. Yep you guessed it, but none has given birth yet,,, thank goodness. The first pic is some of the ladies, and the second one has the ram in it. His horns are spectactular. They just curl all around the side of his head.




Now we come to the horses. These also are the Nordland breed of horses that are indigenous to these parts of the country.
I don't know her name, but she is beautiful.


This is Big Wolf, and he is so bad,,lol. This horse knows how to open his stall hinges and get out. Or he just jumps the door and goes. But i love him.


Here we have most of the horses gathered around the hay feeder eating and enjoying the sunny day.


Next is Mjølner, he is one of my favorite horses there, and is left with the long hair in the Viking style. The Vikings used to braid and put shells or bits of metal to show their wealth or too dress up their horses. His hair was left long in that style.


Next is a horse I call Elmer. His is named also after a Norse god the same as most of the others are. But i have a hard time saying his name and remembering how to spell it. Now this horse used to be a terror. Seriously, he bit, kicked and would just chase anyone or any animal down. Then he was,,um,,clipped. Now he is so gentle. Elmer doesn't have a stall, but he doesn't need one either. He's spoiled and has the run of the farm. He has his bed out in the aisle and comes and goes as he pleases. Meet my baby, Elmer.


So Ol' McSelnes doesn't have his own animal farm, but he loves his job on the farm. Taking care of the animals the old Viking way, training them in the the Viking style. Yes my husband the farmer is smiling everyday now from the satisfaction he gets working the land and the animals, and in true form the Norwegian Viking charm is magical and has made its way home.


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Droopy wrote on Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:08 pm:

Awww, isn't it great when your man's happy! I would be too with those sweet piglets, the cows, sheep and horses. Thanks for sharing them, they're lovely.

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toni wrote on Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:13 pm:

Beautiful animals, but where is the picture of KB in his Viking farmer attire?

The cow is a beauty, her face is very different from the cows you see around here.
I love the long main on Mjolner, it reminds me of one of the 'goth' type characters on South Park :)

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dooley wrote on Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:27 pm:

Great farm pictures, Biita. I was raised on a farm until I was about nine or ten. It was a lot of work but I think we had fun, too. Isn't it gardening on a large scale? We get some animals in our gardens that we wish would just stay away. dooley

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Biita wrote on Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:31 pm:

Yeah he is happy, so that makes me happy too. He's doing what he wants to do, and i get to tag along at times and pet the animals,,lol.

Toni, I'm going this weekend with him to work. He took all those pics with his cell phone for me. But I will be there this weekend, so Farmer Kolbjørn will be caught on camera,,lol.

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eileen wrote on Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:48 pm:

It sounds as though Farmer Kolbjørn and his wife are BOTH enjoying life to the full Biita!! I love your photographs, especially the horses, and wish I could be there with you when you next go to visit them. Looking forward to seeing many, many more piccies of the animals and of your husband.

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Sjoerd wrote on Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:40 pm:

Biita...ths is a very good posting. The pics and story with explanations are just supurb. I think that this blog entry just sorta swept us all up into it.
I thought the fotos were pretty darn good quality considering they were from a cellfone.
The horses and all were of course nice and they were charming, but my favourite was the cow. I like cows anyway, for some reason...I suppose it harkens back to my youth and my grandparent's farm.

You know, I noticed that you used the term "Nordland" before a number of animals...I wonder why Norwegians aren't called "Nordlanders" actually? heh heh heh.
Our word here for Norwegian is "Noor" (a person) and "Noorse" (an adjective).
Just a bit of polder trivia there.

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Netty wrote on Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:38 am:

Life is good when you love your work! Do you think he will still love it when it is slaughter time? Can't wait to see Kolbjorn in his viking attire!

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glendann wrote on Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:41 am:

I love all the animal pictures and I'm glad he is very happy to be tending all of them and it does give you some great pictures.

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Biita wrote on Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:24 am:

Thank you all. Yes we are both happy! I don't think he will have a problem with it since he used to help do the slaughtering here on this farm. He was the one who had to seperate the boars from the piglets for weaning and getting them ready. He has to make sure the piglets are eating and drinking. So he knows what to expect.

The term Nordland is the area of Norway that i live in. The North Land. the people are called the Norsk or older term, Norse. Nordland covers from the Artic circle in the Salt mountains to i think just below Trømso. Above that is called Finnmark. All Norwegians are Norsk or Norse. By birth i'm Svensk...lol.

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woodlandfey wrote on Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:05 pm:

This is fantastic! I'm so jealous! How wonderful for you. I'm sure it may be a little scarey but you'll kick butt!!!!!! Congrats to you and your hubby!

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tschnath wrote on Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:34 pm:

I've always wanted to work on a farm. Not sure I'd want to work on one that was raising just to slaughter though. I'm not a vegetarian or anything, but I try not to think about how it got that way before I put it on the table. I love animals and I think it's neat to just watch them interact with each other and humans.

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SongofJoy57 wrote on Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:29 pm:

Great pictures and blog, Biita. I read it with my fiancee and son. We greatly enjoyed it. We love hearing about other places, and history . . . your world is very interesting, and the animals are amazing. Robb thought maybe "Elmer" was named after Elmer's glue . . . horses =glue . . . I said that would not only be incorrect, but morbid. Both guys winced when I read your account of why Elmer was turned into a gentle giant. Thank you for sharing your world!

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