H = Hälsingegårdar in Swedish and Hälsinge farms in English.

When I thought about what I'll write about the letter H, I thought directly at the Hälsingegårdar.
Do not ask me why.
Me  and Hälsingegårdar ...are in lifelong love.

I have read so much about these farms, studied their architecture, their work, read books about how these  poor but even wealthy farmers lived ..
It might live a Hälsignegårds girl in my soul.
Who knows.
I want write little about their history, their arkitekture. what they did and show you some picture.






History:

The inland ice disappeared from Hälsingland more than 9,000 years ago, and this was also when people first came to these parts. They lived on hunting, fishing and gathering.

Gradually they began to keep domestic cattle and eventually crop farming also came to our region.

Houses:
These houses were built in a time when most of what you needed in life was produced on your own farm. There was milk, meat, grain, potatoes, winter feed for the animals. There was flax and butter. All of them had to be sown and harvested, prepared, processed and stored. It was not just on the farm where buildings for people, animals, feed, tools and crops were needed. These were also needed by the summer pastures, the mowable bogs and the fishing spots by the sea and lakes. All in all, a farm in Hälsingland could consist of some thirty buildings, and sometimes as many as fifty.

Nowhere else are the traces of history as tangible as in old wooden carvings.

Over hundreds of years, thousands of hands have created an essence that only time can offer. In the farmhouses of Hälsingland the work would be of a high quality. 
The farmers would use the best wood from their own forests.

Forest:

The forest would prove to be the best source of profit. Throughout history it has offered grass and leaves for fodder, wood for heating, bog ore for iron, timber for buildings and birch bark for roofs.

But above all it was the sale of tracts of forest and felling rights that became a vital source of income in the mid 1800s, when cotton began to outcompete flax

Flax :

 

Flax played a central role in the province. It most likely made an essential contribution to the grand building tradition, as flax cultivation yielded a surplus that could be processed and sold.

The good quality and the extensive knowledge concerning flax processing became the characteristic of Hälsingland farmers early on. For this reason, they also started decorating their homes with textiles at an early stage.

Welcome to Sweden!