FarmingNils Johan Grundström in Ammarnäs was a farmer all his life. Long into the autumn nights he chopped and tore away roots and branches from the willow grove near Gautsträskstranden. The work was carried out in the glow of the burning brushwood.
The farmers’ strenuous toil in and around Vindelfjällen was so considerable that today it is difficult to imagine what it was like. Natural meadows, mires and grazing areas were vital for the survival of those who colonized and settled in Västerbotten’s inland and mountain regions. On the alluvial meadows of the Hemavan and Ammarnäs Deltas, and at Marsivagge, Rödingnäset, Aitenjas and Örnbo there are still clear indications of early farming. The alluvial meadows in Ammarnäs are now part of a restoration project involving free-range cattle grazing – ‘Vindelälvens naturbete’.
The conditions for farming natural mountain pastures were favourable. Alluvial meadows, mires and wetlands, as well as great expanses of outfields for grazing were available to the colonizing farmer from the eastern forests, or to the Sámi who had left the nomadic lifestyle behind him. |
