The Coolidge examiner., 1936-09-18

ter and tending the huge iron cal
dronS in which milk is slowly SIM
mered to make rich cheese. She
sets off to the upland pastures riding
a pony which is loaded with empty
tubs as well as with her few belong
ings. Later, when a brother visits
her hut to bring supplies, he will
collect the tubs filed with butter
and cheeSes and carry them back
to the homestead.
The cattle are small brindly
beasts with spreading brass-tipped
horns. They have not been bred for
quantity milk production. Little at
tention seems to be paid to breed
ing. Often a cow will give only a
quart or so at milking. If you Won
der why such a cow is tolerated,
you may receive such an eXplana-
tion as this: ia, but she is small,
and does not eat much, either, that
cow" In land where every spear
of hay has value, this is an argu-
ment of great weight.
Food Mostly HOMEGROWN
Aside from the fine white cake
flour, which is imported from Amer
lea, most of the family food is pro-
duced at home. Barley, rye and
oats are milled locally, the miller
getting a share of the meal and
flour for his work. The garden
yields stores of cabbages, potatoes,
and root vegetables for the winter.
Potatoes too are an important crop,
for they are on the family's daily
menu and, along with birch twigs,
form a staple item in the winter
diet of the cattle.
Nature is lavish here with a large
number of berries, both wild and
tame. Masses of wild strawberries
grow along the roadsideS. There are
currants from which to make sweet
wine; wild cherries, the juice Of
which is bottled to make soup and
puddingS; the little wild mountain
cranberries, which make delicious
jam to serve with pork or roast
ptarmigan; and, best of all, the
arctic cloudberry, growing in the
mountain top sloughs. This last,
when stored in great crooks, keeps
through the winter, without cooking
or other preservation.
Only with such variety of pro-
visions can the Norwegian family
continue the alienation of work,
rest, and eating which is farm
routine First thing in the morning,
coffee and cakes are brought to the
family in bed. AS soon as they are
dressed, there is large breakfast
with more coffee, bread and butter,
and all sorts of picked fish and
sausage and goat s-milk cheese to
put on it. At II O. clock work pauSes
for another snack, which is break
fast all over again.
There is a heavy dinner about
one-thirty and then a siesta. Yes,
you may be surprised, but this "old
Spanish custom" is firmly en-
trenched in the rural sections Of
this energetic northern climate. At
ter the nap there are more coffee
and cakes before the work of the
afternoon is begun.
The last real meal of the day is
the evening porridge, at about 8 or
9 O'Clock. This meal is unvarying
except just after a slaughtering,
when blood pudding is substituted
for the usual dish. This porridge is
a thick, leathery cruel made Of
parched barley meal.
All Put In The Stabbur
The yearly harvests of cereals,
the cheeses, cured meats, bread,
and cakes are stored in the stabbur.
The stabbur, or storehouse, is
typical feature of the Norwegian
landscape. It is built of logs on high
mushroom-shaped stills as pro-
lection against marauding insects
and rats. Elaborately carved, it is
guarded against the weather by a
coat of wood tar. The front porch Of
the structure is reached by flight
of plank steps separated from the
building by a sort of moat of air
across which thieving animals
would find it difficult to leap.
The wrought-iron key, which fits
a wooden lock in the heavy carved
door, takes two hands to turn. The
door opens into a small dark room
with heavy log walls unbroken by
windows. There are large bins Of
various kinds of meal and flour.
each with brightly painted wooden
scoop hanging above it. On shelves
are stacked cheeses of many kinds.
There are gay wooden boxes full Of
cakes which had been baked in the
spring when the cream was rich.
In one corner on a low platform,
sheets of rye and barley flatbread
with crinkly edges, temptingly
brown, are piled almost to the cell
ing. 1t has been made of stiff unleav-
ened dough rolled into round paper
thin sheets and Drowned on the
bakehouse stove.