YCGL - Tuesday, September 19, 2023 - At Fremmermoen, Scattering Ashes and Being With the Family

​We’re here in Vingelen, Norway.  We are with Sally’s family and it couldn’t feel more at home than if we were next door with good friends.  

But I don’t have Wi-Fi nor the time right now. Today, we are going to the church, the old school, the cemetery and the museum in town and and then out to the pasture where we will scatter some of Sally’s and Sandy’s ashes.  It will be a full day.  It is cool, 53° and rainy, maybe appropriate for the day, but it feels just right. 

Off we go.  Tenker om oss og Sally.  Think about us and Sally. 

😘😊👍🏼

It is 1:30 on Wednesday morning.  It has been a great day, emotional, familial, historical and deeply personal. 

And very tiring.  Goodnight   

______________________________________

I had set the schedule above several months ago, so with the weather, we inverted the day and it was a good move.  

We left for the pasture about 10:30.  It is about five kilometers west of Fremmermoen and you go up into the hills.  The pasture looks like 

and the milk barn stood at the green patch in the golden area just right of center.  We gathered there and I started.  I had prepared a little eulogy in both English and Norwegian.  I had written it a month before the trip and rehearsed it every night.  I had it well memorized until I got there.  And so I read it, not well.  But it was ok.  (Jaye recorded a lot of video today, many of which I was going to show here.  However, Blogger has put a limitation on the size of the files so I can't down load any of them, so I'll take snapshots from them.)

After I had said it in Norwegian, I said "Now I will repeat it in English so the Norwegians can understand what I said:"

Then we (me, Erik, Liz, Jaye and Jere)  scattered Sally ashes. 

Then Jere, Jaye and Arthur scattered some of Sandy's ashes.

Einar presented a wreath the family had made to go on the area.  

Then he played a song for them.  

It struck me (kind of hard) while he was playing how much both Sandy and Sally would have enjoyed that.  It was just so special and fit the time and place.  Then we took a group photo of us all.

Liz  Erik  Thom  Einar  Kikki   Marit  Tore  Arthur  Jere Tyler  Jaye Lyndon

Next, we went to the lake just to the west of the pasture to the cabin that used to be here.  

 The view from the porch.

It is cute on the inside and they have added a lot of cute things to make it homey.  

The plaque says:

Live

every minute,

every hour you are up

Have joy in your

Heart

let it appear in your

Smile

Much is lost

and changes over time

Life

is now, not then

It was a good message for the day.  

Friends and family come throughout the year for fishing and skiing.  Einar says its a nice place to come, get away and just relax.

Then we went to the summer farm, the Sæter, named Movollen.  They bring their cattle up here during the summer to eat the grass up here so they can have the maximum crops down at Fremmermoen during the winter.  There was a national TV competition for remodeling Sæters like Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines.  They won and the interior was extensively remodeled this past year, including solar panels so they have electricity up here off the grid, a new kitchen and new fireplace (which worked really well!).  

It has the traditional sod roof.  The roof slats are covered with birch bark as waterproofing and then the sod is placed on that.  The roofs can last 30-60 years before they need to be reworked.   

And... there was a surprise inside, sadly, so great that my photographer didn't take any pictures.  Inside were Einar's mother Olov, and uncles Jon (and Ann) and Magna (and Liv).  And they had prepared lunch for us.  It was truly wonderful to see and be with them after the morning.  And a good time was had by all!

Because the cattle come up here for the summer, there is a milking barn.  The original section was built in 1803 and expanded several times.  Because the milk is collected, it is outfitted with all stainless steel equipment.  It seems incongruous, but the barn is kept as clean as can be.  

Each cow has her own, named stall.  The milk cows are down at Fremmermoen now, but the heifers are still here until the snow comes.  

The red cows are Norwegian Reds and will become the milkers in the future,  The black cows are a new experiment for them.  The mothers are Norwegian Reds but the bulls are Waygu.  Over time, they hope to develop a Waygu herd that they can sell for high quality beef production.  While we were there, Tore was in Trondheim talking to a restaurant  about future contracts.  

The slanted slat fences are common in Norway.  It makes the fence sturdier against wind and snow.

There were several other outbuildings for pigs, sheep and chickens.  Kikki used to have a summer class for city children to come to the farm for a week and learn about traditional agriculture.  She had a class going when we were there in 2018.  

As you can tell, these aren't your every day farmers.  They are progressive, enthusiastic and very willing to try new things to make their farm better.  I am very proud for them.

After lunch, we went back into Vingelen to visit the church, the old school and the museum.  The "new" church was built in 1880.  The old stavkirke was built in 1653 and torn down in 1882.  There is one picture of the two churches together.  The new church is on the right, the old church is tall and narrow on the left and the old school is behind it with only one floor.  In the 1860's, the Norwegian government declared that all churches had to be big enough to hold one-third of the parish's adult population.  Therefore, many of the churches in Norway are built on the same model and at the same time.  By the end of the middle ages, there were over 1000 stavkirkes.  By 1800, there were 274.  Some burned naturally (There is a problem with candles lighting wooden churches.) but most were torn down soon after the new church was built.  Today, there are only 28 left in the whole country.  

The new church is beautiful.  

Workers had just been working on the roof of the bell tower, so we were able to climb up.  

But it's the inside that is the stunner.  

I did a nice spread on the church on my powerpoint I did for our 2018 trip to Norway.  I'm going to copy those pages in here.  I would really suggest looking at these in full screen. Just click on the picture. (Fair warning, there is a picture of Sally on the last sheet.  She was only here in spirit with us this year.)

This is a model of the old church.

We visited the graveyard where many generations of the family are buried.  From Sally and Sandy's side, these are their father Sigvald Solien's Great Grandparents, Hilmar Olsen Kystadtrøen Moen and Kjersti Lonåsen Moen.  Kjersti actually inherited the farm and married Hilmar who was working there.  They both died in 1866.

Their eldest son was Eston Hilmarsen Moen who was married to Anne Oldsdatter Lien.  

Esten died in 1899 and Anne came to Minnesota in 1903 with seven children, including Sigvald's mother, Kirsti Estendatter Moen.  (Kirsti was the grandmother that talked about the field.)  Therefore, Esten was the last of his line to be buried in Norway.  Esten was sickly throughout his life and it was decided that he should not take over the farm.  He was good with numbers and became an accountant for the Vingelen Merchant's Association and started a general store.  The store became a post office and he was the first postmaster in Vingelen.  I have never seen a death record for him, but my guess is that he died from tuberculosis as there was an epidemic in the second half of the 1800's in Norway.  Also, his son Ole developed TB, had a leg amputated below the knee and could not come to the United States with the rest of the family.  

Therefore, his next younger brother, Karl Hilmarsen Moen took over the farm.  There was a cultural shift in Norway in naming conventions.  When babies were born, they were given a first name, usually of a grandparent or great uncle or aunt.  The babies second name was the father's name with an ending denoting the child's sex.  The third name was the farm they lived on at the time.  If you moved to a different farm, your third name would change to that farm.  However, in the 1860s or 70s, it was required to fix your last name.  As there are a number of Moens around the area, Karl elected to use his middle name (of his father) as his last name.  So, he became Karl Hilmarsen and the Hilmarsen name has continued down to the present day.  

Karl was a progressive farm and prosperous but died when he was 57.  His wife Mali died in 1953 when she was 90 years old.  Their oldest son, Hilmar took over the farm, but he died six years later with no living children, so the farm passed to Hilmar's next living brother, Einar Karlsen Hilmarsen.  

Einar and his wife Astrid had the farm for the next 50 years until he died in 1976.  Their oldest son was Kolbjøn Hilmarsen who was married to Olov Enget.  Kolbjørn had been taking over the farm from his father which occured in 1976, but died in a construction accident in 1979.  

Kolbjøn's brothers are Jon and Magna.  Kolbjørn and Olov's oldest son is Einar who took over the farm when he was 16 with his mother.   So, Einar and Kikki have owned the farm since 1981.  One day, Einar will transition the farm over to Tore.  Olov still lives on the farm in a house that was built for two of Karl and Mali's daughters, who were teachers in the area.  

Finally, Einar and Sally were 3rd cousins.  Tore is her third cousin once removed.  Kilbjrøn was Sally's second cousin once removed.  

Next, we visited the old school and the museum.  Both are very interesting, but I'll just show a picture of a painting showing the old school, the new church and the old church.  From this perspective, Fremmermoen would be located between the old and new churches.  

That evening, Einar and Kikki's oldest daughter came over with her two sons, Erik and Oskar.  Sadly, wee didn't get a picture of Silja, but here is grandma and the two boys.

Kikki, Oskar and Erik

It was time for milking, and all the younger boys wanted to help.  

Tyler feeding...

And cleaning an udder, milking the teats and attaching the milking machine. 

You can see the little puddles of milk.  You have to clean the teats before you can start milking.  My Erik and Arthur had their chances also.  In fact, Erik went out the next morning for the early milking.  Everyone wants to be a farmer at heart.  I got my chance the next day.  I had done it long ago, however, when I was 13 and working(?) on my Uncle Ray's farm.  

Silja's Erik and Oskar wanted their chances also!

It was an emotional, sad, happy, and joyful day  There was a lot of love being shared that day.  Thank you!

YCGL - Thursday, Sept 21, 2023 - Fremmermoen, Vingelen

YCGL - Monday, Sept 18, 2023 - Oslo to Fremmermoen, an Introduction - Finished