After
a 1.5 hour plane ride and a 3 hour bus ride we got to the region of Telemark in
Southern Norway. The scenery here is
absolutely gorgeous and in an entirely different way then Northern Norway. It seems like Canadian wilderness, lots of
trees and similar vegetation to our boreal forests; the nature here reminds me
of northern Ontario. Audun picked us up
and we head over to an old wooden church.
It was absolutely gorgeous. I
dont remember the specifics but it was built around the viking times and is one
of the oldest of its kind in all of Norway.
After lunch and taking in some more scenery we drove to his farm near
Seljord, Telemark.
I
had never really spent time on a farm before aside from a few hours here and
there picking fruit or veggies. I wasnt
really sure what to expect but was pleasantly suprised. The farm itself is nestled in a valley and at
the foot of a treed mountain. His
parents spoke decent english that they had learned and not really used since
they were in school so the communication was a bit rough at times but they were
such wonderful proud people. We had told
Audun that we wanted to be put to work on this farm to soak in a true Norsk
farming experience. We ended up cleaning
cow "drit" (shit), feeding cows hay, pellets and old bread
loaves. We picked up eggs from the
chickens, pet the horses and went on a tour of the farm and its equipment. He gave us some old farm clothes so we looked
like true farm girls despite the three of us being from the city. Later that evening, we went for a walk around
the property and ended up climbing a nice tall tree.
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The
cows had been in the stable all winter and were put out in the fields for the
first time this year. I thought they
would be happy but after about an hour they wanted to go back inside the
stable. It takes a while to habituate
them. The calves have to be taught about
the electric fences so they were brought out into a small "practice"
pen with a small shock to learn not to go near the fence. Then they are brought to a bigger
"intermediate" course and finally they "graduate" to the
big fields with the adults. It was a
really neat process to be a part of. To
ensure that they were herded to the proper place we stood along the path waving
our hands if they go to close to us to encourage them to go the proper
direction.
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