Once upon a time, a romantic couple went to Norway on honeymoon, fell in love and never went back......

This may sound like a strange thing to do but, after many years of searching, Norway was the only place we felt we could live our dream of running a small farm. So here we are.

We bought our farm at Svoen just before Christmas 2009, and, after an agonizing wait to make sure nobody else who might have prior claim on the place wanted to take the farm (complicated Norwegian law), we moved in on Norway's national day, 17th May, 2010. And so the work began.

The farm had not been run for almost twenty years, but at least part of the barn was in good enough condition to allow us to buy 25 beautiful spælsau (old Norwegian breed of sheep) in the autumn of 2010. This autumn we plan to keep a number of their ewe lambs to increase our flock. They will, I am sure, feature regularly in this blog.

We feel very privileged to be able to build up this farm again and, despite the hard work, occasional disappointments and battles against the weather, we don't regret our decision for a moment and know that it will all be worth it!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Happy Christmas

Christmas is a time for traditions, and making a new life here in Norway has brought about our very own, new Yuletide traditions; a kind of "Norglish" Christmas.  Whilst we simply can't open our presents until Christmas day, we have embraced the Norwegian tradition of Advent candles, where a new one is lit each of the four Sundays in Advent, and Advent stars, hung in the windows to illuminate the depths of mid-winter.  Though mincepies and traditional Christmas cake are still a must, so too is the Norwegian riskrem and pepperkake (a rice pudding and cream dessert served with raspberry sauce, and gingerbread with black pepper added to the mix, respectively).  Cranberry sauce is replaced by lingonberry (tyttebær) sauce, and I'm really trying to like cloudberries.  Along with the essential roast potatoes we have also adopted the traditonal Norwegian vegetable accompaniments of kålrotstappe and rødkål.  This, coupled with being able to go out and cut one's own Christmas tree, a roaring log fire and real snow, in my opinion combine to create the perfect blending of traditions for the perfect Yule or jul!  I hope you enjoy your own traditions and have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  God jul og godt nytt år!
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