The Seven Croft Trail – a hike through Finnskogen in Hedmark and Värmland

Price: SEK 20

torsby.se From the mid-1300s until 1809, what is now Finland formed the eastern half of the kingdom of Sweden. The Savolax region in central Finland was inhabited by forest Finns practising slash-and-burn cultivation techniques. In the 1500s and 1600s, many of them migrated to the forest landscape in mid Sweden and parts of eastern Norway. The reasons for this included overpopulation and a lack of forest areas to cultivate. The State encouraged this method of culti- vation and offered several years’ tax exemption to stimulate settle- ment. Today, Finnskogen (literally, “Forest of the Finns”) is the name of the area on both sides of the Swedish/Norwegian border where many of these Finns settled. Seven crofts, two countries; the realm of the forest Finns The Seven Croft Trail is a 7.9 km long hiking trail in the border country between Sweden and Norway. Lekvattnet in Torsby municipality and Varaldskogen in Kongsvinger municipality meet here. As the name implies, the trail leads past seven crofts, all with forest Finn origins. Here you can find everything from the ruins of Valli croft to Ritamäki, which is perhaps the best preserved forest Finn croft in the whole of Finnskogen. The route takes you through a cross-section of Finnskogen’s natural and cultural land­ scapes. The trail generally follows old forest and wagon paths. There are two natural starting points for the Seven Croft Trail: On the Swedish side from the car park at Lomsen lake. You get here by taking the E16 to Lekvattnet, then follow the signs towards Ritamäki. After about 10 kilometres, you take a turning on the right and drive for a further kilometre to the car park. On the Norwegian side, the trail begins at Lebiko. You get here from the RV 200 between Masterud and Öiermoen. You can take three different roads to Lebiko: one from Femoen/Dragonmoen, one over Viker or one from Öierås immediately to the east of Öiermoen. All of these roads are private forest roads. Ready? Let’s go! GPS coordinates provided in Sweref 99 TM system. Start at Lomsen: 6669720, 364264

• Text: Åsmund Skasdammen 2010, revised 2013 • Cover: Colour image from Ritamäki, Lena Henriksson. Black-and-white image, Beda and Henning Jansson by their smokehouse. They lived at Ritamäki until 1964. Torsby Finnish Cultural Centre archive • Other photographs: Lars Sjöqvist – Värmland Museum, Björn Ehrenroth, Finnskogen Tourist Association, Lekvattnet Local History Society, Torsby Finnish Cultural Centre • Layout: Gertrud Rydén Lomstorp/ Lomsintorppa 6669331, 364240

From the car park at Lomsen, walk south a little way along the gravel road towards Lomstorp. Immediately before you come up to the croft, you will see a little grey hut on the left hand side. This hut is open and can be used for an overnight stay at no cost. Lomstorp is attractively situated with a view over the lake. People have lived here since the late 1700s. In the early 1900s, Harald Andersson lived and ran a small shop at Lomstorp. Since 1970 the croft has been a private second home. Until 1930, many forest Finn crofts had a smokehouse on their land – today these are nearly all gone. At Lomstorp, the smokehouse was north of the current building. At the top of the meadow, where the Seven Croft Trail goes out into the forest towards Svartbäcken, you can find the ruins of a smoke sauna. It was intact until late in the winter of 2009 when it burned down to the ground. Svartbäcken/ Mustaporro 6669832, 363205

Svartbäcken is situated on a small ridge facing Lomsen lake. Since 1995, major improvements on the buildings have been carried out and some of the forest around them has been cut down. Finnish folklore researcher Carl Axel Gottlund visited here in 1821, making careful notes about his trip. Gottlund writes that four generations lived in the same cottage. In 1900, a widow and her four daughters were registered as users of the croft. They had three cows and a horse on the farm. Today, the croft is a second home in private owner- ship and the family members are often here in the sum- mer, so please respect their privacy. The smokehouse, which Gottlund was able to visit, is partly what is today the main building, now completely rebuilt. We will carry on towards the northwest and Nor- way. When you cross the border, notice the wide border road. Mattes Jönsson Orainen from Svartbäcken, 1860-1945.

Flowers in Finnskogen, from left Heath Spotted Orchid and Marsh Grass-of- Parnassus. Österby/ Autiomäki 6670302, 362230

Before we walk the last 300 metres from the Norwegian/ Swedish border to Österby, look to the left immediately after the border. Here a fine old wagon path – also an important cul- tural monument – runs diago- nally up towards the border. Österby was cleared in around 1730 by Ole Larsen Passio, and was quite a large farm in the context of the Finnskogen. The current habitation was built in the interwar period. The barn is also of later date. The smokehouse built here has been moved to Glomdal Museum in Elverum. The property was run as a working farm until the 1970s. Österby is now in private ownership. The Finnish name for Österby is Autiomäki which means Lonely Hill Farm or Lonely Mountain Farm. Now we have about a kilometre to walk north to Lebiko; first across Österby’s lands, then through open pine forest before we see the old fields open up around Lebiko. Lebiko 6670994, 361927

Lebiko was one of the last Fin- nish crofts built in Finnskogen. There was no habitation here when Gottlund passed this way, but the farm was included in the large-scale agricultural census carried out in 1865. Lebiko was probably inhabited from 1840, and is a typical croft from that period. Crofts were small and many, which made people seek for new places to live. A Swedish interpretation is that the word “Lebiko” means Alhult, or Alder grove. “Lebi” is a corruption of “leppi”, which is the Finnish word for the alder tree. The suffix “-ko” is Finnish, and means small woodland or grove. Today, Statskog (the Norwegian state forestry organisation) owns Lebiko, as well as the majority of the Varald Forest. The last people to live on the farm were Ole and Lina Lebiko, who moved to Varaldgrenda in 1969. Lebiko is today run by the Finnskogen Tourist Association. The Association tries to keep the lands in cultivation by hay making every year in early Au- gust. A Lebiko festival is arranged at the same time, with an open house, and food is served. Sometimes Lebiko is also open at the weekends, with simple food and drink, a shop and the opportunity to obtain information about the tourist association and Finnskogen. You can stay at Lebiko, but you need a key; contact Torsby Tourist Office or Finnskogen Tourist Association.

Fire lilies still bloom in Finnskogen even though the people have left. Meadows full of oxeye daisies. The border The journey continues clockwise. The trail leads to the north and the Norwegian/Swe- dish border for a second time. You pass the highest point of the trail a few hundred metres after Lebiko. When you leave Nor- way and pass the border, stop for a moment and remember that just here around 1000 refugees crossed the border and achieved freedom during the Second World War. The refugees were transferred across by the local population to Kissalamp on the Swedish side, where they were welcomed by the Mattsson family.

Slash-and-burn cultivation The forest Finns carried out slash-and-burn culti- vation. They grew rye in the ashes after they had cut down and burned the forest. The special tufted rye produced very large harvests, sometimes up to one thousand times the amount of seed sown. Kissalamp 6671532, 363030

Kissalamp was a relatively large farm for the Finnskogen region. The remains of the sauna and barn can be clearly seen, and the stone-built root cellar remains. If you need water, there is a well behind the house. Here, you can get under cover in bad weather, both in the house (which is open) and in the brewhouse. Kissalamp was originally settled in the second half of the 1780s by two brothers from Norway. In 1964, the last resident moved out. The property is in private hands. Kissalamp was an important farm during the Second World War. Many refu- gees passed through here. A couple of times a day, a Norwegian with a horse and cart would bring more refugees. They were taken care of at Kissalamp before they were passed on to a military camp. Hjalmar Mattson Orainen (1905-1980) lived here during that period, and he was later awarded King Haakon’s peace medal for his efforts during the war. Hjalmar’s son Gun- nar tells how the fire-balls from the bombings on the Norwegian side of the border could be seen at night from the Kissalamp ridge, while during clear weather Konsvinger fortress was visible. The name of the farm means Cat Pond. The last syllable, “lamp” or “lampi” means “pond”, and “Kissa” means “cat”. Kissalamp pond lies a few hundred metres to the north. We will turn south and carry on. Note the small sunken building on the right hand side when you go down the hill from the farm. This is a smoke sauna, the forest Finns’ version of a sauna; a small, timber building with a stone- built oven. Like the smokehouse, the smoke sauna has no chimney. Field Gentians bloom along the Seven Croft Trail. Valli 6671008, 363132

Valli is our next stop. Here there are two points of interest: a fine root cellar and the remains of a smokehouse. The usual inter- pretation of the name “Valli” is that it may be a Finnish version of the Swedish “vall”, or “mea- dow”. The property was settled in around 1800, but hard times meant that its history was a short one. As early as 1905 it was empty. Of the six families who lived on the farm during the period, three emigrated to the USA. Two families were also severely afflicted by illness, losing three children each, one set to dysentery, the other to diphtheria. Sigfrid and Maria lost their children Henrik, Johan and Sigfrid during one single week in the autumn of 1857. To the east of the path is a large cairn marked by a post. These are the visible remains of the smokehouse and its oven. To the west of the path is the root cellar. Take the time to go into this won- derful stone-built cellar vault and see how well the stones hold up the whole cellar despite the fact that several tree roots have grown through the roof! Continue a short distance past the remains of the smokehouse and you get a fantastic view east towards Kronhalla farm. When people from Valli set off for Lekvattnet, for example to go to church, they went via Kronhalla, which marked the half-way point. Our journey takes us on to Ritamäki. Ritamäki Norra: 6670765, 363342 Södra: 6670454, 363621

Take your time to stop where the path passes through the fence. The open spaces are pro- bably the same that you would have seen 150 years ago. Hear the mooing of the cows and the clanging of their bells, smell the scent of newly cut hay... The whole of the farm and its surroundings are today protected – and classified as a heritage building and nature reserve. The farm is owned by Lekvattnet Local History Association, which takes care of the buildings and land. Ritamäki is open and provides simple food and drink in the summer. What does the name “Ritamäki” mean? On the maps, the names “Ritaberg” or “Ritamakk” are sometimes used. The last syllable, “maki”, means “moun- tain”, but what about “Rita”? We can look for the answer in the Finnish “riita”, which means “conflict” or “dispute”. Written sources tell us that this was a hill over which there were ownership disputes. The western part of the main house is an intact smokehouse. In the eastern part is the kitchen, a fireplace with a chimney and a small bedroom. Here you can see how the smoke oven was constructed. The oven stored the heat and provided a comfortable temperature in the rooms throughout the day. It was only necessary to light a fire once per day, even if it was really cold outside. Olof Jansson Uotinen lived a hard life at Rita­ mäki. He lost his four children and his wife Annika between August 17 and September 12, 1857 to dysentery. This was the same fate that afflicted the family at Valli. Olof Jansson had a new family and was grandfather to the siblings Beda and Henning who lived at Ritamäki until 1964. We now have a kilometre to walk on the wagon path down the hill to the car park at Lomsen. To find out more about Finnskogen: • Lekvattnet Local History Association www.lekvattnet.nu • Torsby Finnish Cultural Centre www.varmlandsmuseum.se • The Finnskog Trail www.finnskogleden.com • Finnskogen Tourist Association www.finnskogen-turistforening.no • Norwegian Forest Finn Museum www.skogfinskmuseum.no • Solør-Värmland Finnish Cultural Association www.finnkultur.nu • Finnsam www.finnsam.org Further reading: To find out more about Finnskogen: • “Försvunna rökstugor”, Smokehouse. The forest Finn family’s home Lars-Olof Herou and Nils often consisted of a single room. Heating was Holmdahl. Pictures of provided by a smoke oven; a fireplace without smokehouses at Lomstorp chimney. The smoke collected beneath the roof, and Svartbäcken. where there was a hatch through which the • “Dagbok över mina smoke could be released. vandringar på Wermlands The Finnskog Trail. Part of the Seven Croft Trail och Solörs finnskogar overlaps with the Finnskog Trail. This is 240 1821”, Carl Axel Gottlund. kilometres long, with one end in Eda (Sweden) In this diary, Gottlund tells and the other in Söre Osen (Norway). You can the story of his travels to find more information in the Finnskogleden gui- several of the crofts. de, or via the Finnskogen Tourist Association. • “I flyktingenes spor”, Refugee Route. During the Second World War, a leaflet published by Norwegian refugees were transported over the the Finnskogen Tourist border. The trails used were called “flyktningru- Association about the te” (refugee route) in Norwegian. Examples of Norwegian refugees’ jour- such routes are Vingersruta, running from Oslo neys across the border to via Kongsvinger and up to Kissalamp, which is Sweden. one of the seven crofts that we pass. • “Möte med Finnskogar”, Carl Axel Gottlund. A Finnish folklore resear- Florence Oppenheim and cher and author who was interested in the forest Daniel Svensson. On forest Finn culture. As a student, Gottlund undertook Finn-related destinations study trips, in 1817 to the areas of Dalarna that in central Scandinavia. had been settled by Finns, and in 1821 to the Norwegian/Swedish Finnskogen. During these trips, he made careful notes and collected infor- mation about traditions and family names. © 7 L L I- a Ö e n - b s t m t i t © ä k N e

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