Northern Husbandry

Women here wear a hood made of grey homespun as a protection against bad weather; it has black ribbons at the front. People ride about with knapsacks on their backs.

Arrived in VASA in the evening.

23rd. Went to the church in Vasa, looked at the castle in the south-west part of the town, looked at the school etc.; a small and quite pretty town. Seat of the provincial governor.

South-east of the town but right by the town-gates, they had started to mine for copper but given up at a depth of 30 to 35 feet. The ore was mica-like and graphite-coloured, the sand alongside was loose mica and as if decomposed. I do not believe that it contains copper or any other metal, which is why the mine was soon deserted.

The farmers here put their trust in 3 doctors: Dr Beaver Castor, Dr Bear Gall and Dr Schnaps.

The girls always go to church bare-headed. Their hair is plaited in long ovals, and they have a headband, wide at the front but with no coloured ribbons hanging down.

24th. A different kind of plough was used between New Karleby and Vasa. It was always drawn by a horse, rarely by an ox. If an ox was used, it pulled like a horse and used the same harness; no belly-band. On its back, however, there was a girth like a saddle-girth resting against the withers so that the harness would not slide forward on the ox. This was not used on horses.

The shoes used here are rather like short boots but the foot part is different, the sole being untanned leather and hairy. The upper is calfskin, tanned and laced.

‘Hypericum’ [Imperforate St John’s Wort], ‘Scrophularia’ [Common Figwort], ‘Bidens’ [Trifid Bur Marigold] (and 3 abundant species of currant) appeared today for the first time.

Victuals: Almost everyone, except the poor, fishes for Baltic herring to supply their own household needs. Those who can spare time from other things in spring and autumn catch fish to sell to other people. The herring starts spawning from roughly 18th May to 16th June and is caught in nets. It then moves in among the inlets where it is caught in seine nets until the Feast of St Peter on 29th June – this is called the Great Herring Fishing (the former is called the Spring Fishing and they have not tried it yet in Torneå). Then, from St Peter’s Day until after St Bartholomew’s, they fish once again with nets in the usual fishing places. Herring have roe and milt the whole summer here, however.

1 barrel of fermented herring goes a long way and it is valued at as much as 2 barrels of any other kind. For a household of 12 people, a farmer will take 1/2 barrel of salt herring, from which he makes herring and turnip soup, but for the same household he takes 1 3/4 barrels of fermented herring and eats it as it is. He will not allow it to be boiled or fried since it does not go so far then. Herring intended for fermenting lies packed together for 3 or 4 hours before it is gutted, then it is washed just a little in a sieve so that there is some blood left. (Salt herring is well-washed as it will ferment if there is the smallest drop of blood left.) The fermented herring is then salted with 29 pounds of rock salt to each barrel of herring (for salt herring it is 1/4 barrel of salt to 1 barrel of herring). Layer upon layer of salt and herring are laid down and, as each layer is put in, it is stirred and worked with the hands until a sort of foam forms on it. When salt herring is being salted, however, they make a brine so saturated that the herring floats when it is put in the tub. Since the herring need to be stirred they do not put too many herring in the tub at once. If any fish stick up above the brine, a little salt is scattered on them and then they are left to stand for 24 hours. They are then gutted as follows: 10 or 12 fish are held belly up in the left hand and, using the right hand, the head is snapped back from the chest, thus pulling out the guts without using a knife. The herring are then quickly placed in rush baskets and salted as before. After being salted in this way for 2 days, they are put into fresh baskets for the brine to drain off and then they are placed in small new barrels without any more salt. A hole is bored above the bottom hoop so that brine can run off for, however many times the container is changed, brine still appears and if it is allowed to remain the herring will ferment. Fermented herring, on the other hand, is left in its brine. Fermented herring is best around the Feast of St James.

In summer they eat three meals a day as well as breakfast. They always eat fermented herring in the morning and again at midday by putting the herring (often boned) between pieces of bread and eating bits of it that way. Afterwards they drink sourmilk without cream and sometimes have a slice of cheese or piece of bread and butter. They do not eat meat with it. Among their foodstuffs are cabbage, peas and turnips; cabbage mostly on Sundays; peas once a week, or twice when cabbage is in short supply; turnips almost every morning along with salt herring, which is put in towards the end of the cooking time so that it does not boil to pieces. A little flour is added to it and sourmilk drunk with it. In the evening, barley bree. In the morning when they are going out, bread and butter or, more commonly, bread and cheese. They eat a 1/4 loaf of mixed bread per meal – they never get a taste of good bread as that is kept for visitors or major festivals. This mixed bread is thin as paper and eaten 4 or 6 layers at a time. There is always beer in the cellar when visitors call but otherwise they drink small beer. In summer they drink jumo-milk all the time.

Their food contains very little meat and, what there is of it, is mostly broken-up fatty bones; they get to keep a little of the leg, a couple of pieces of shoulder or brisket, very little mutton, all the rest being sold. The heads and feet of small animals, goats, pigs and sheep are dried and boiled; they taste good with peas if they have been salted first.

They boil the legs chopped off at the knee but with the foot still attached, and they collect the fat that floats to the top and keep it in horns and other vessels. This is used as an excellent grease for greasing …[illegible word]… like laces and coats. They do not, however, eat the bones and feet. Calves’ feet and heads are made into brawn.

Birch is used for firewood; there are no candles nor torches indoors since those in use among the Finns and Finnish Lapps only smoulder smokily. They cut the hay with a scythe as in Uppland. Treat the corn as in Småland; in dry years it dries better on stands, in wet years on frames. Hay is spread out and turned, then brought in, without being stacked, on a large waggon.

Hops sufficient to their own needs; a few people, however, sell a couple of pounds.