Off Grid Life: Explaining an old Nordic tradition 

Just found you, and decided to go back and watch from the beginning. I am 4th generation Swedish in the USA. Part of my family were reindeer herders, so some of my ancestors were from the North. This entire series makes me Feel really connected to my past. Thank you both for preserving this way of life. I am a person in the USA connecting to “old ways” too. So much appreciation. I am excited to continue to binge watch.

The old ways were so much more environmentally sound. Thank you for keeping history alive for us.

I just found you and I am so excited. I am watching them all on order!

As a Norwegian, I’m programmed to make fun of the Swedish... but this is just awesome! I wish I had half of your ability and courage... this is just so amazing! I’ll be binge watching you today!

These video are not only educational but simply outstanding!!! Thank you for not only educating us all but showing us all of beautiful a piece of your world. ❤️

I will be watching All your videos, like a wonderful series!!! And sharing with friends and family, nd on facebook. Thank you for making these videos and sharing your life.Blessing and total success to you and your projects, life and family always.

Love your channel enjoyed very much. Watching from Texas

In the North of Italy, in the Alpi mountains, we have cabins like that called malga. In the summer shepherds used to lead cows in high mountains and lived there until autumn making cheese

I’m so happy to discover your wonderful channel. Sweden looks a lot like Wisconsin in winter. Thank you for sharing!

Watching your old vids now, makes me appreciate even more how far you guys have come in filming quality. But you can already see how good the quality was going to become.

When watching your videos I find peace and quiet. Thanks for that!!

Very nice to go avisiting to see your locality. While we in UK do not often practice relocating ourselves from low to higher pastures there is a word in English to describe such stock moving:TRANSHUME (verb) and the practice of moving stock up and down is called transhumance (the noun). Some actual stock transfer goes on in Wales (and probably elsewhere in the UK) to use the moorland pastures and in beekeeping this is true too just to catch the flowering of specific plants. Often remote farmers here sell their stock to other farmers with better grassland for fattening before slaughter.

What a beautiful way of life. Why anyone would choose to live differently is beyond me. Thank u for sharing that with us. I think it’s a beautiful way to live. Hard work but it doesn’t get better than that🐮🐷🐰🐝🐔🐶🐱🐥🐑

Great. We have similar "institution" here in Balkans (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia). It 's some kind of sheppards hut we call it "katun" (from old italian cattone). Katun's are usally located in high mountain pasture, above 1500 meters from sea level. It's a semi-nomadic summer village. Can be near farm houses but also can be far away from village. Land in katun's usually don't belong to singular families, it's belong to clan (group of related families). Families spend summer in katun's usually from May 'till September. This tradition is slowly disappearing and is practiced almost exclusively by old village people.

Wow, thank you so much for showing us this history of farming!!! I´m very much impressed to learn how people used and preserved the nature in the northern climate over so many generations! Being half swiss and half german, I learned about the history of agriculture in the swiss alps (having farms in the valley and chalets in higher regions, the alps or alms, in order to have enough grass and hay for the cattle) and in northern germany. In northern germany (Schleswig-Holstein) farming is/was totally different. The farmers, like my grand granddad, just had one farm with enough fields around, so they could move their cattle from field to field, but all near the farm house. They had about 13 hektar of land. Thank you again for your time and effort!

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge ! So precious ..I try to restore a house in ruin in the middle of France in the forest too and my heart cherish this project ..Your place is a treasure.God bless you !

your fabod sounds like a Scottish shieling, used when taking animals up to the hills or mountains in the summer, alpine pastures

I subscribed some time ago but now I am watching this channel more and will binge watch to catch up. I am also Norwegian but I am also Swedish. I grew up in North Dakota and live now in Minnesota. The country side looks much the same as here. I think i will enjoy learning about your history as its my history too. My grandparents on my fathers side all immigrated to the United States in the early 1900's. In Minnesota a Fabod might be like a hunting cabin here but the difference is a hunting cabin is a play house for fall hunting and summer visits (like a cottage) and a Fabod is a way of life. thanks for vlogging.

Thank you for the background and history. I'm glad I began with your first vlogs, even though I discovered your channel four years later. Very interesting.

You could literally translate this word into German. It would be: Vieh-bude, cattle-hut. But the actual term that is exactly the same type of house is found in the Alps of Southern Germany and Switzerland. It is called: Almhütte. The Alm is the spring or summer pasture of the cattle up in the mountains, there is a litte hut (Hütte) where the milk maids keeping the cattle live in the summer. Thats why it is an Almhütte. It is pretty much the same concept just in a world of valleys and mountains.

thank you ....love to know different cultures

Thank you for sharing this with us! Your respect for this tradition honors those who came before. Your content and your filmmaking is excellent.

Today, I discovered your channel for the first time and very happy I did. I was born in the United States. On my fathers side of the family I’m Scandinavian (Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish) and German. I’m trying to watch all your videos today, please keep making more. Thank you

Amazing! Thanks for share your culture with us!

Just bumped into your channel ; very interesting indeed. All the best !

In switserland it was called: Alm. A wooden mountain cabin at High attitudes in summer. In the winter cattle decent into the valley: Tal. Also relics of the past before machines and modernity bulldozed it.

Beautiful 💕 In Slovenia we have similar tradition. Places like that are called plašarija. They are placed in the mountains and mountain valleys and cow or sheep shepherds lived there with their herds during the warmer times of the year and made different milk products 😊 Your place looks amazing!

Beautiful photography, just stunning!!!

As far as what we call it in English goes? The Norwegian for this sort of summer dairy-farm is 'seter', isn't it? And my norsk ordbok says simply 'summer dairy farm' and calls the practice summer dairying, which all sounds a bit artificial and it seems we have no native English word for them. But I daresay they have a similar practice in the Scottish Highlands. If you get people viewing from that area, maybe they will tell us what they call it in Scotland. I wouldn't be surprised if they use an old Gaelic word. If they have the same practice there, it will have been established long before the English language invaded those parts. Thank you for your beautiful videos and wonderful commitment to your project. Jeg kann litt norsk og forsta litt, nar Dere snakker pa svensk. Peter.

Beautiful scenery & time lapse Very interesting history thanks for sharing

I'm not sure how easy it would be for someone like me to endure your winters, but much love and respect to you guys! Love your Vlogs!

OMG 2:18 - 2:21 THAT IS SO BEAUTIFUL! took my breath away, thank you. GREAT JOB

A dream you got there. I came on your channel today and can not get enough. Bless you guy's .

Incredible. Thank you for bring us closer to your world.

I seen one of your videos when you lived in a small cabin. Then I lost track and just ran into your videos. I have been power watching to catch up. Love your lifestyle and it’s so important to have these skills in the coming years we are facing. Thank you

Thank you for allowing us to witness something we would never have a chance to see otherwise living in the built up locations we do

I appreciate being able to watch you build your home, and to see the clean natural land you live on. It's a sort of mix of old and new. I admire your video skills very much.

That was fascinating to learn about! Look forward to watching and learning more.

As a cameraman & a film editor myself permit me to say yo are a good cameraman and a good editor with superb time lapse .as for the Nordic the explanation is very good

In Virginia USA its called a hunting lodge or hunting cabin. Not necessarily for hunting but mostly a seasonal house.

wow ! i'm impressed ! Very instructive and beautiful. hope your project come a life !

Started watching them over again and loved this episode explaining what a Fäbod is. You've both come so far since this aired 💚

Excellent , educational and beautiful

More than anything, it's good to remember a way of life that worked for the people of that time and in that environment. I know that some of my much older relatives would sometimes move to "winter camps" if there was work available to cut trees for lumber. They could farm during the other seasons. This was in NW Minnesota. 🌲🌲🌲

The wood joinery you were working on that looked like the letter "T" where the vertical post fits into a slot in the horizontal is called a "mortise and tenon" joint. The mortise in the female connection, the tenon the male shape.

Awesome! I learned some stuff today. Will have to re-watch to make sure I caught everything. Thank you. 😊

Love the humble beginning! bear trap skis, hand ax and felling trees in the winter are the way things used to be done. Contemporary tools do not preclude that level of care and diligence, but is encourages haste. Keep the faith!

I’m watching backwards... this is my favorite because I learned so much! Thank you so much!

Wonderful, gifted story telling. All your efforts are appreciated and words cannot always express this.

Thanks for posting and sharing. Very nice to see the old cow house. It looks like it was a cozy place for the milk maids.

Great history lesson! Very informative :)

I just discovered your channel, I am loving all your videos. Thank you for sharing your life!

Ni borde verkligen fortsätta med detta! Det är lite av en dröm för mig att kunna leva så där också. off the grid här i sverige alltså.

Thanks for sharing some of your cultural heritage. I enjoyed this very much.

Thank you for sharing all the beauty! I am so happy I found you, I love this kind of life. You people are very lucky!

Fascinating! I am so glad to find your channel. I am going back to the beginning and watching all your vlogs in order. 🙂

Wow! Just wow!

I am an older artist living in Puebla, Mexico and would like to say how very gifted and talented you all are at making extraordinary videos The beginning , the music, and you have a very “good eye “. As I said before, A Beautiful Life ! Best for the New Year !

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing this.

I just found your channel! I wish I could do what y’all have done but, I’m so much older & disabled! Where was this when I was a kid? ❤️❤️❤️

I've had to come back to the beginning of your series to ensure that I don't miss an episode. I can't remember where I started following, without a subscription. :(

In Germany the Fabod is called an Alm, I believe. Same concept- a place to graze animals in the spring and summer to give the pastures closer to the villages a time to rest and regenerate.

I really enjoyed this video very different than Canada

Great video, you guys did a very nice and informative video, love it thank you for sharing

So fascinating to hear about historical botany and land use. We forget to let the land rest and allow the wonderful bees and butterflies thrive 🦋

In the UK we might call what your referring to as a porch (A place to take your shoes off and hang your coat).

Amazing video. Beautiful to watch and I learned so much. I'm so glad that I found your channel.

Sweden is so beautiful. I love the snow. My great grandparents are from the south in Malmo. (Which sadly I hear has changed for the worse) I want to visit or live in Scandinavia. Very interesting history.

Im Bündnerland (Davos)sagt man Maiensäss . Änlich für Chalet in der Westschweiz (Fribourg) Hoffe ihr könnt es lesen. Gruss Dani aus der Schweiz (Swiss)

sending much love to you from germany! your videos mean a lot to me... thank you

I just started watching your channel. I am going back to the beginning. This video is very educational. Thanks so much for your explanation of the buildings and how they were used.

Very interesting history; thank you for sharing that with us. It will be a lot of work to restore it, but I can't wait to see it when it's done!

I appreciate a lot all the time that you use to make the videos.

it is wonderful..your channel..great work..

Beautiful information & footage: thank you so much! Blessings from Oregon, USA.

That was so interesting. Thank you so much for making this video. I wish you all the best in restoring the area to its former glory.

Oh, I enjoyed this so much! Thank you for explaining that very amazing way of seasonal homesteading. Good for the environment! Sad to see it end. What an amazing goal you have. I wish you success.

Chicken coop, hen house, rabbit hutch, cow and horse barn.

very beautiful thank you so much

I learned so much and loved learning about this way of life. I also really loved the beautiful tIme lapse. Thank you

So great to learn something that I didn't learn when I was actually IN Sweden... We visited something that might have also been a Fäbod, but I was 15 years old at the time so I was probably too lazy to read the information about the site we visited, and so I'm not sure now that it was actually a Fäbod. It was a great thing nonetheless to visit Sweden, so beautiful. Now it's great to be able to see some bits of Sweden again through your videos. Greetings from the Netherlands!

OMG! That wooden bowl and spoon set Matgias made was beautiful! You can make a set one at a time and sell it in your channel. It will sell for sure to nostalgic Swedish Americans from states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc.

I just came across your channel and it's wonderful to see the land and your way of living in the area where my dad's side of the family is from. They emigrated from Jamtland to Alberta, Canada in 1905. Subscribed!

Amaizing chanel , you learn so much !!! :) keep the good work

That was interesting. I didn't know that this was also a "thing" in regions where there aren't high mountains! Here in Switzerland (and in all Alpine countries, I guess), its done similarly and the tradition exists to this day. The animals are taken from the valley to the "Vorsäss" or "Maiensäss" in spring, which is located halfway up the mountain. In July they go up to the "Hochsäss" for two months, before they go back to the "Vorsäss" again. In September or October, animals and herdsmen (herdsmen are called "Sennen" in Switzerland) go back to the valley and stay there for the winter. I think the reason for that tradition here is quite the same as in Sweden. During summer, the pastures near the villages can grow back while the animals are away in the mountains. Plus, the grass and herbs in the mountains are so much better and the milk and cheese are just delicious during this time! (It's called "Alpkäse"/alp cheese and it's in great demand everywhere!) The word you were looking for as the Swiss equivalent to the Swedish Fäbod is an "Alphütte" or "Sennhütte" in Switzerland (alp hut). The word "chalet" rather describes the type of building, which is a simple hut built from wood with a stone foundation. So an alp hut usually is built in form of a chalet, but not every chalet is an alp hut. My husband and I live in a chalet, for example, but it's not on a mountain, but in a quite big village. So I think "Sennhütte/Alphütte" (for the building) or "Alp" (for the whole set of buildings and the whole place) would be the better equivalent.

Hi, I'm from Chile and it's 1 at night and before I went to bed I saw a video of you. It catches my attention... I think I'm looking for a change with my wife... I'll see her videos if I find inspiration... Greetings.

my cousin from California moved to Sweden after getting married and raised both her girls there. It is a very beautiful country. I would really love to visit

English for this is barn. Here in Yorkshire all the old ones are made from stone with big thick stone slate roofs..

summer cottage often at a lake for fishing and recreation on a cattle ranch called a line shack for someone to live alone and ride the fence lines and keep them repaired during the winter.

Wonderful and love Both Your Energy and Dreams!

Well, that didn't start a new paragraph! My grandparents (fathers side) were from the Bastja(?) Sweden area. Petrus Perrson(?) came to the USA in the early 1900's. Had changed his name to Peter Westman before boarding the ship to the USA. Mailed for his fiancee to join him in mid 19teens. And married Anna Oden in the USA. I've recently learned that the family homestead near Bastja Sweden has been continuously family owned since mid 1500's! So I feel a slight connection to your beautiful homeland. The add-on room to your newer cabin would be known as an entry room, mud room or porch by most USA citizens. The Fabod would be known as a 'cow camp' or 'line-shack', in Wyoming, USA.

The fabod reminds of a barn. In Kentucky you would have a different barn for tobacco, wheat or straw and animals. In certain parts of the US, your friends, neighbors, community would come together and help build the barn which was called a barn raising. I love that way of life, I don't live that way but I love to.......

How I wish I had Marie Hamsun's books on the Langerudkinderen (Dutch)... Thank goodness the libraries open up again this week 😊

what an amazing and wonderful video... and your project is going to be so interesting to watch ... thano you so much for sharing your history with us ♡

Greetings from Canada! I just found your channel, loving your videos. My great grandparents were from southern Sweden, I was lucky enough to visit their homeland in 2019.

Hi Folk's, Thank's for the info. Another day of learning for me, as we all learn from one-another. I value your knowledge & your culture. I appreciate you taking your time from a very busy schedule. I have signed up as a patreon, as I believe in you (2) & wish for your success. Have a great day! Illinois, U.S.A.

Almost sounds like a Summer vs Winter home in the U.S. Some people who live in a cold area will leave for the winter and go south. No really related to cattle but modern. Usually we just move cattle from plot to plot.

In Serbia we call it "katun" shepherds stayed from beginig of spring whit livestock in the mountains until the first snows where cheeses are made

Det översättning som jag har stött på är Mountain pasture :)

Thankyou for sharing and your explanation, another great and enjoyable video put together. Thankyou. Gary