Every farmer has his land and with good housekeeping he meets the needs of his kratur from these by cutting hay and sowing and harvesting oats and barley. Then there is a very good old principle that nature must be kept in good condition - an overgrown paddy field is an abomination, likewise overgrown paths and bushy ditches and roadsides.
On our farm, Kåra, we used, in addition to the properties around the farm, small fields - outbuildings - as far away as halfway to Klacken, but also small open areas in the forest such as LillNyland, two small fields near the Hultmans smithy as well as the Lappmyran and Jog up along Grindstens-vägen. With most of the small farmers in the neighborhood deceased, it became necessary for Dad and us to see to it that their outbuildings were also kept open and in good condition. It didn't give many lengths of hay, but we kept the forest away from cleared land.
We also had a beach field in Säljesta, just inside the coastal road, where we harvested hay in two small fields and also reeds as far out into the water as we could possibly go. It was always a pleasant excursion to drive out there in the morning with a wheelbarrow with hedging wood and implements, scribble around the edges and then in a row cut the hay as early as possible in the morning so that it would dry enough to be hewed in the afternoon. Mother probably had her chores at home in the morning but came by bicycle with dinner on the handlebars. There were always nice picnics out there, but when I drove past the place a few years ago - about 40 years after the last mowing at Säljestanget - you couldn't tell where the properties had been. Sly and bush everywhere.
Kåra Lars-Erik
PS by Micke
There at Säljesta beach meadows, we, the Jonas Björs (the younger) family, had our bathing paradise on the beach near the isthmus at the mouth of the estuary. There you could be left alone and there it was lovely sand and so shallow that you could walk across almost the entire river.
The beach itself has in recent years almost grown again, because a community has its sheep there. I had plans to have the beach cleared, and obtained permission from the community but could not find a suitable machine for the purpose!
And I have noted that the Anders Björs family often swam on the beach next door :)
Micke Björs
