The virgin of Varanger

This stone is called the Virgin of Varanger. We visited her one day. Me and her soulsister. The old Saami story is that the Virgin was frightened by Stallo (an evil kind of Saami troll). She jumped into the fjord, tried to swim, but drowned halfway, floated away to the other shore, and turned into stone by Stallo.
Anyway, she`s really pretty.

Smoking at a high level

This is the old, traditional way of smoking a salmon.
At first it is salted for a couple of days. Then dried one day out in the air. Then smoked.

The principle is to have a a long pipe between the oven and the smokehouse, so that the smoke gets cold when it reaches the fish.
Then it was party again. Down at the seaside. Scrambled eggs. Wild herbs. Beer. Smoked salmon. And pleasure.

Our first salmon!

I felt like a child. The first salmon is caugt. After a lot of struggle. Bad weather. People helping having a busy time.
But finally. The net was out. And the next day, already one salmon was caught. With a good help from Geir.




Maybe you have been eaten "Norwegian Salmon". But that is most likely raised salmon. What I got, is the real stuff. Wild salmon caught on it`s way to the river.
This is the first one, since we moved to the farm. So, the day was historical. And the fish had to lie as a cup in the garden.


Then made into fillet. Some ready to be smoked.
Some made by Geir into salmon soup.
With chive from our field.

Then the excellent soup.

And now some updates.
19.7.,
2. day:

Two salmons, 3 and 5 kg. Fried salmon for dinner, one ready to be smoked.

20.7.,
3. day:

Not so much. A small "russian salmon" (a different kind, mostly living in Russia), a cod and a fish I dont know the English name on (in Norwegian; "rognkjeks". Looks something like the moonfish). The only thing to eat on it, is the fish eggs.
We put the salmon in the freezer, had boiled cod for dinner, with fried fish eggs.

23.7.
4. day:

Late at night. We just managed to put out the net after the weekend (when we`re not allowed to use it). Just a few minutes. Then a splash. And a new, bloodfresh specy.

24.7.:
5. day:

Now we`re talking! 10 salmons! One at 10 kilo.

25.7.:

Two guyes from Liberia joined. it was the first time for them in a small boat out at the sea. And 6 new salmons.

26.7.:
2

27.7.:
2... and a big bird...


And the rest of the season:
1 each day.
All in all a good catch.

Midsummer Night

It`s been awhile since this happened. But on the Midsummer Night. When the midnight sun is at the highest. We celebrate by having a huge fire at the sea. Lots of people meeting. Lots of food and drinks. Music and party. And happy people.

Mysteries of Knut Hamsun, old, German barbed wire and Death with horns

I have started this huge work of clearing the forest, a piece of our land.
It brings up some very old history.
At the same time I need to spend time to study. Which means that I need to read the book Mysteries of the famous Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun.
So I downloaded the book from the internet, and loaded it into the mobile phone (the same phone that made these pictures).
I started working, while listening to the book on the earphones.
I pulled up some old, iron waste. Nagel from the book saved "The minute" from being humiliated at the pub.
Some iron fence had been lying for such a long time, that it found its way in a small three.
A stone fence was lying under the grass. Nagel became very emotional when walking in the forest.
I pulled up several meters of German barbed wire. Used in the Second World War. And later used by the local farmer because he had nothing else to use, to keep his animals inside his land (and after all, Hamsun has something in common with this German barbed wire).
Nagel continued to change his personality. Making confusion at the small town.
Then I found the head of a cow. A very dead one.
God knows how old this scull is.
It was all too much. The Germal barbed wire. Nagel. Hamsun. The cow. I turned off the book from my mobile phone. And I ended the work and went home.

Teddy needs to come along

It all happened one morning on our way to work. Two adults and a four year old in the car. All tired. And stressed because of the danger of not getting to work soon enough.
Suddenly there was a scream from the backseat. The four year old had forgotten Teddy. He was lying back at the sofa. Alone. Had been promised to come along to the kindergarden.
It was nothing else to do. But taking a quick turn. Going back. And then onward. Even more delayed for work.
But it didnt matter. Cause now Teddy was joining. Very pleased and calm on the lap of the four year old.

Boat and fish

We have borrowed a boat from Lars. A very fine one made by wood. From the first journey, we tried to catch some fish.
Not much of a catch. Two small rosefishes.
But they taste good. They were grilled in the garden. Filled with nettle, which is a very fine herb. And some wild chive found in our field.
Everything eaten at our porch. So good.