As a young person growing up in Norway, my dream was to emigrate and become a homesteader somewhere in the North American wilderness. The problem...
Growth of the soil | Homesteading in the Norwegian mountains
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Norwegian to English dictionary | The best for genealogists?
In North America and other parts of the world, there are millions of descendants of the nearly 1 million Norwegians who emigrated in the 1800s and...
Norwegian baking through the seasons
"Nevada Berg takes readers back into her Norwegian kitchen, offering a year’s worth of new baking recipes in this seasonally focused, gorgeously...
Norwegian wood | The art of chopping, stacking, and drying firewood
In addition to writing bestseller historical novels and more, Norwegian writer Lars Mytting has penned a fascinating non-fiction book about the art...
The old Norwegian farm | Farmhands could only leave twice a year
Summer and winter Today, the Norwegians think of the year in terms of 4 main seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. But the old Norwegian...
Norwegian Buhund | Herding dog and keeper of ancient traditions
A Buhund is not necessarily equal to a buhund When we talk about a Norwegian buhund, we must distinguish between: The spitz dog type and its place...
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Norwegian railway history | The pioneer era 1851-1868
Preparing for progress For thousands of years, the Norwegians relied on boats, horses, reindeer, and their own two feet to transport both goods and...
Norwegian wood | The art of chopping, stacking, and drying firewood
In addition to writing bestseller historical novels and more, Norwegian writer Lars Mytting has penned a fascinating non-fiction book about the art...
Ljå | Means scythe in Norwegian
Pronunciation Ljå The grammar noun | masculine | the indefinite form: en ljå (a ljå) | the definite form: ljåen (the ljå) | comes from the Old Norse...
The Norwegian Fjord Horse | Almost as old as the mountains
Locked in by the landscape The Norwegian Fjord Horse, with its ancient features and markings, has roots that stretch back thousands of years. Its...
Norwegian history timeline | From the ice ages until today
Norwegian historians divide the thousands of years between then and today into sub-periods, characterised by how people lived and the cultures that...
Uff da! | What does the Norwegian expression mean?
Pronunciation Uff da! Variations Uff da! is usually said in a deep voice, and in a drawn-out and comforting way. But the response can also be quick...
The Norwegian summer pasture farm | Preserving milk in a bog
Bogmilk The Norwegian word myrmelk is composed of two words: myr + melk = myrmelk. Myr means peat bog or wetland - and melk means milk, so in...
The old Norwegian farm | Moving into the barn during summer
A peculiar custom Every summer in the early 1900s, when spending the summer months with his grandparents, a young Norwegian boy experienced a...
Where is Norway?
To the east, Norway shares a long inland border with Sweden - and to the north-east, Norway borders sections of Finland and Russia. Norway stretches...
The Kingdom of Norway
For most of our planet’s history, there were no countries, no borders. Mother Nature was one entity, where plants and animals moved freely, always...
The old Norwegian farm | How machinery changed the landscape
A patchwork of fields When we travel through today's Norwegian agricultural landscape, we often see large and undulating fields with well-sifted...
Childhood Christmas memories from northern Norway
This post is based on the childhood memories of Othilie Johnsen, born 1894 in Kiby, Finnmark, Thomas Johansen, born 1883 in Kvalnes, Nordland, and...
A Norwegian emigrant and his sweetheart | Norway AD 1895
In 1868, a 22-year-old poor young man from a small cotter’s holding - husmannsplass - under a farm in Romerike, Norway, emigrated to America. The...
Skoklefallsdagen | The old Norway’s last day of spring
Pronunciation Skoklefallsdagen No sowing after this day Skoklefallsdagen was the day in the spring that the farmers had to have all the cultivated...
Kantslått | Means cut grass in Norwegian
Pronunciation Kantslått The grammar A compound word made up of: kant + slått | noun | masculine | the indefinite form: en kantslått (a kantslått) |...
The old Norwegian farm | Memories from Langfjordbotn in Finnmark
We find the small community of Langfjordbotn in the municipality of Alta, in the region of Finnmark. Tourists sometimes make a stop here on their...
The global seed vault | An Arctic Noah’s ark
A global backup facility The majestic Svalbard archipelago – part of the Kingdom of Norway – rises like a frozen oasis from the Arctic Ocean, midway...
Practical farming in Norway in 1815 | The month of March
Lorentz Diderich Klüwer: In 1815, Norwegian farmer and army officer Lorentz Diderich Klüwer published a pamphlet on practical farming. In this post,...
The old Norwegian farm | The cotter’s holding | Husmannsplass
Let us start with the beginning In English, a Norwegian husmann is often referred to as a cotter, and his home as a cotter's holding - a...
The old Norwegians needed no money
Picture this; the year is AD 1478. A family lives on a small farm in a mountainous part of Norway. The holding consists of a few simple buildings,...
The old Norwegian farm | The Sæterhaugen farm saga
«Heimar i Surnadal - band I» - author Hans Hyldbakk - copyright Surnadal kommune | Sæterhaugen - gårdsnummer 10 - bruksnummer 3 - the municipality...
Norway’s 5 largest lakes
A land full of water Norway is a land full of water; and whether you are walking through an open, mountainous landscape - or find yourself deep...
Norwegian railway history | The pioneer era 1851-1868
Preparing for progress For thousands of years, the Norwegians relied on boats, horses, reindeer, and their own two feet to transport both goods and...
The old Norwegian farm | Its land and surroundings
A land of plenty With her elongated shape and her position on the world map, Norway has a great many variations in landscape, tradition and...
Norwegian landscapes | On the coastal path along the Oslofjord
The landscape in this very particular part of Norway is relatively flat and was once below sea level. As the enormous amounts of heavy ice melted...
Norwegian ski history | Hunting in deep snow
Rock carvings found at Rødøy In 1933, ethnographer Gutorm Gjessing discovered the above rock carving on the island of Rødøy, in the Norwegian region...
Fridtjof Nansen and his Arctic mission impossible
No land mass under the ice Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) was a Norwegian zoologist, Arctic explorer, great humanitarian, diplomat, and Nobel Peace...
Norwegian baking through the seasons
"Nevada Berg takes readers back into her Norwegian kitchen, offering a year’s worth of new baking...