Fäboden – the Summer Pasture Farm

In the densely forested northern parts of Sweden where summer pasture farms were used, there was less fertile arable land than in southern Sweden. In order for the animals to survive the winter, the grass that was harvested around the farm had to be saved. However, the animals also had to eat during the summer. This problem was solved by taking the animals to summer pastures in the forest, some distance from the village. 

The village’s farms came together to create summer pasture communities, and employed dairy maids to look after the animals in the mountain pastures. In June, the cows, goats and sheep were herded together up to the pastures. Walking together was important – no one was allowed to arrive at the summer pasture before the others! 

Life as a summer pasture maid, cheesemaking and traditional herding calls 

The morning began early for summer pasture maids. First, the animals had to be milked and the milk churns had to be washed. After that, the animals were gathered together and taken into the forest to graze all day. Several maids were often employed on a summer pasture farm. They took it in turns to look after the animals and make butter, cheese, whey cheese and soft whey cheese.  

Thes dairy maids were often young, but they had a great responsibility to ensure that the animals did not go astray or get captured by forest predators. However, managing on the farm by themselves was also a form of freedom. In order to communicate across long distances, the maids blew birch-bark horns or used herding calls. These herding calls involved using a singing voice to attract the animals. As the calls could be heard at the next summer pasture, the maids used them to send each other messages.  

Folklore and underground creatures at the summer pasture farms 

According to folklore, various creatures lived in the forest and in the mountain pastures. It was believed that these mysterious beings lived at the pasture farms during the winter, but moved away in the summer. They were thought to live underground, and were said to be harmless as long as no one annoyed them. 

Fäboden’s buildings

There were different types of summer pasture farms, but the most common – the long pasture farm – could be located between a few kilometres and several dozen kilometres from the home farm. Summer pasture farming reached its peak in the 19th century. Skansen’s summer pasture farm recreates life at a long pasture farm in the 1910s. By this time, the number of summer pasture farms had declined and larger dairies had taken over the market for cheese and butter production.  

A summer pasture farm consisted of several buildings with different functions. There were cattle sheds for the animals and barns where the hay was stored. In the brewhouse, the farm maids slept on simple wooden bunks with spruce twigs as mattresses. There was also a fireplace where the milk was heated for cheesemaking. Next to the brewhouse was the dairy, where the milk products were stored. The dairy’s earth floor was lowered to make it cooler.  

Timbered buildings and earth floors 

Skansen’s summer pasture farm consists of two brewhouses, a dairy, a leaf-drying barn and six small cattle sheds in a row. The buildings came from Älvros Parish in Dalarna and the Ovansiljan area. The farm buildings are timbered and unpainted, the roofs are made of double rows of boards and the floors are earth. The old-fashioned brewhouse from Dovsbodarna has the date 1659 carved into a log by the door. Between the brewhouse and the dairy is a protruding roof, where the ground is covered with flat stones to form a floor. 

Until 1938, there was another mountain pasture at Skansen. It was built in 1892 by carpenters from Jämtland.