Mushrooms and berries

The last post was about hunting, so I guess it makes sense that the next should be about gathering. September was a month of beautiful sunshine and warmth. We spent much of our free time hiking through the wood in search of mushrooms and berries. These activities continued into October, but the outings became infrequent: the cold and rainy weather and the moose hunt put a damper on our forays into the woods (skogen).

Our first weekend in Sweden, we drove up to the top of the local mountain, Tosseberg, to check out the view. That is our white house between D and K and I in the picture. Because tourist season had passed, none of the buildings at the top were open, so we couldn't climb the tower. But we wandered around and had a look and searched for the launching spot the hang gliders we had seen earlier must have used. We eventually found that and the path that looked like it must head down our side of the mountain.

While K drove down and went to help J and Farfar (literally father's father) with the porch they were building, the boys and I hiked down. What normally takes about 25 minutes, took us over an hour as we stopped time and again to gather blue berries and lingon berries we couldn't pass by. They were literally everywhere: on the sparsely treed, rocky, lichen covered mountain top, and all the way down through the dense forest with its open understorey and knee-deep moss. We came back with a liter or so of berries, despite all we ate as we picked. That was our introduction to berry picking.

Once Hol and the kids returned from Canada, we met Farfar and Farmor (you guessed it - father's mother) at their stuga (cabin) and went for a wonderful fall hike up another mountain. As we hiked up, J's parents pointed out all the important things to see, including which were the edible mushrooms. Once at the top, we checked out a confidence course that had been set up and climbed the tower to take in a wonderful view. While at the summit we had a picnic which included smörgas (open faced sandwiches) and korv (hotdogs) roasted on a fire which we ate on the cute little half-size hotdog buns they have here. Toppings included ketchup, mustard and something called americansk sås which tastes like a combination of cheeze whiz, ketchup, mayo and relish. Apple cake followed and all was washed down with either water or milk. Quite a feast! When it was time to head down the grandparents took E back to the cars with them. They would drive back to the stuga, and we would walk back heading down the other side of the mountain.

Again, we gathered berries, although we were really only finding blueberries in the higher spots by then. The lingons were still everywhere, so we picked many of these. What was memorable about this trip was the introduction to mushrooming for the whole family. K has never been a big fan of picking berries - it just slows you down when hiking. Mushroom picking is different. Finding kantarells - the golden mushrooms you can eat - is like finding gold. You look and look and feel very lucky when you find any. If you find a whole bunch together in a fairy ring, it's like hitting the jackpot. The walk down the mountain and through the woods to the stuga was a giant mushroom hunt where we fanned out and hiked through the moss, lichen, trees, bushes, rocks and bog in search of svamp (mushrooms). It wasn't long before we stopped calling to Hol or J to see if we had the right kind or not. Even the boys were hooked! D became a quick expert finding many kanterells and also some blek tagsvamp which are the two kinds that we are able to recognize reliably.

While the weather remained agreeable and sometimes even when it wasn't, we spent many afternoons wandering through the woods close to home in search of berries or mushrooms to pick. This has been a great way to get to know this area where we are living.

Moose Hunting in Sweden

We have been fortunate enough to have a chance to go moose (Älg) hunting in Sweden. Dunc got to spend a day with his aunt Hol hunting with the local hunting group/team. M and K got to spend a day hunting with J's hunting party near J's school. Everyone heads out in the woods (skog) in the second week of October.

Hunting in Sweden is very different from hunting in Canada. First of all, you must be a land owner to hunt, or you must purchase the right to hunt from a landowner who choses not to hunt. Secondly, you must join a hunting team or club which controls/organizes the hunt in a particular area. Costs vary depending on the team you join, the size of the area, and the resources the group uses. The group leaders have a big meeting with some government representative to establish the bag limit for the area for the season. The area where we hunted had a bag limit of 17 moose with those being dry cows, 1st year calves, and spike bulls. Some areas are allowed one or two big bulls. Many parties will choose not to take big bulls as they are trying to improve the moose population by having better bulls. There was a big controversy this season as the hunting party in the area next to ours knowingly exceeded their quota of big bulls in spite of the agreement not to take big bulls. No repercussions other than much toungue wagging and shame brought upon that group.

Hunting is very structured within each hunting group. Each area has set "hunts" which area specific areas which have been mapped out within certain boudaries, each natural (eg lakes) , or man made (cut blocks, roads, houses, etc). The hunt for the morning might be an area about 3-5 sqkm where everyone is set at a "pass" or post around the perimeter. The passes are all numbered and ribboned and positioning for the morning hunt is established by drawing a card at the 7:00 AM prehunt meeting. The parties drive to their access point for that morning's hunt and are distributed at their posts by a that morning's group leader. The group leader has the farthest post from the access point, so he drops everyone off at their pass on the way to his pass. Everyone has a radio but only the group leaders report in when everyone has reached their pass. Of course any moose sightings are reported by radio. If anyone has an opportunity they may shoot an animal but of course they must not shoot towards their team members who are posted 100-200 metres away. Notice hunters are all dressed in flourescent hats, at least.

Once everyone is posted the dog handler(s) release their moose hunds to work the area. (It is illegal to hunt moose without dogs in Sweden) The dog we hunted with was equiped with a GPS/SAT phone which allowed the owner to phone the dog to locate his position. The dogs are trained to bark continuously after they have cornered a moose. Which way the dogs will work the area has already been established but it may change depending on what is reported back on the radios. The hunt lasts from 2-3 hours depending on the size of the area and the number of dogs working the area. Lunch is usually in a rustic shelter around a fire where hunters roast sausages/weiners (korv) and drink coffee.


This form of hunting is almost military in its' planning and deployment, but it is also very social. It is also very effective as we shot two calves that day; one on the morning hunt and one on the afternoon hunt (different areas). Different subgroups take turns field dressing the moose and transporting them back to the slaktbod (butcher/slaughter house) usually in a utility trailer behind a Volvo. The group has about 40 members and they had 13 moose of the 17 at the end of moose hunting week. The season continues on weekends, but only the die hard hunters continue on into November.





There is quite a social element to the whole hunting process as all of the locals get together for the hunt and butchering of the moose. As mentioned earlier the moose is hauled back to the butcher house or slaktbod. Each hunting team has their own slaktbod where they skin, hang, butcher, and distribute moose meat. These are super efficient and organized buildings with winches and tools of the trade for butchering moose quickly and easily. Very impressive process from trailer to hanging in a clean, cool slaktbod. Meat is distributed in a mysterious process where land owners, both hunting and non-hunting, show up to get their share and other hunters get theirs as well. Meat is in a pile or lump and it is up to the recipient to bring a bag or bucket to the slaktbod to transport their meat home.

The next step is to discern what cut of meat you have recieved and to process it accordingly. This is one area where the traditional Swedish efficiency and precision seemed to be lacking. However, I only saw two hunting groups and I may not have understood exactly what process was taking place in the slaktbod.





The local (Stöpafors) hunting group have a big party at the hall on top of the nearby mountain, Tosseberg Klätten. This mountain is a huge local landmark as it has a restaurant, observation tower and it is the highest point in Varmland (our province). The party is a great chance to meet the locals and to have some fun. Hol, J, H, and I had an interesting bus ride up the mountain, some drinks, a tasty traditional Swedish meal,awards, and a live band all in a beautiful log building. The local moose hunters celebrate and let loose after a successful season.

Early Impressions

Sept 15/06


I am sitting in the Helmia Arena parking lot waiting while Kirk meets with Johan P. The arena sits right next to the Fryxellskaskolan where Mitch is at his first day of school. Duncan is at his second day of school in Stöpafors. The schools here are incredible. Mitch’s school is 2 years old and is designed to be a healthy school. There is no plastic used in its construction to ensure good air quality. It is made of mostly wood and concrete. Some floors have a rubber surface. The window blinds go up and down automatically to control the temperature and amount of light in the rooms. The school has no gym, but is next to the arena mentioned earlier, a recreation complex containing a gym and an indoor soccer field and, outside, a fabulous track and field facility. Top notch facilities for this small community. When we drove in, we noticed small groups of four kids on their bicycles leaving the school grounds on their bicycles on some sort of assignment. No adult supervision along, just 4 kids on some sort of a mission. Pretty neat.

One interesting thing about the schools is the amount of space designed for each class. For example, Duncan’s class of 20 kids (all the grade 5 and 6 kids) in a school out in the country has a room a little larger than the average Canadian classroom, plus a cloak room and another small room with computers, books and a couple of round tables in the middle. There is a cushioned seating area at the back with room for 8 to sit comfortably. There are 4 such rooms in this school: one for the preschoolers/kindergarten kids, a grade1/2 room and a grade 2/3 room. There also was a space for special needs students where two students were working when we went through. This school, containing maybe 80 students, also has a kitchen where lunch is made for all the kids. The kids help with this too. In the gym, which is about the same size as the one in Duncan’s school back home, the walls have wood boards on the walls with 1” spaces between – this must help to absorb some sound. The ceiling was very high. The kids are required to shower after PE and there is a Sauna in the change room. In the school yard is an area with 2 hockey nets that will obviously be a rink in the winter. Duncan’s teacher, Bibbi, had time to meet us and show us around Wednesday afternoon since all the kids are bussed to Sunne Wed. afternoons for skills training such as needlework, woodwork etc.

Mitch’s class also has its own area in the school. There are 2 classrooms: one larger and one smaller. There is also an alcove with their large lockers - maybe 30 of them - with plenty of space. There where also a number of other small rooms of various sizes, a teachers work room that puts anything I’ve seen in Canada to shame, and a couple of washrooms. This was all in its own little wing of the school on the second floor with a similar area underneath. We also saw the art room, the biology room and the chemistry room in this middle school – all fully equipped. There never seemed to be great throngs of kids clogging the halls – no sardine cans for Swedish kids! There was also a noticeably different tone to the school – much more positive and laid back. The students seem more cooperative and involved, less insular.


Sunday (söndag den 17 september 2006)

Woke this morning when Jan called to say he had just shot a buck and did the boys want to come and see it and help him clean it? In the rushing around we realized we had 2 moose out under our apple trees having their breakfast. What excitement! Get the camera! Shhhh! We took some pictures and then the men rushed off to check out the action next door. I may go over too as I am restless here after all the excitement. I must say I am ambivalent about the whole hunting thing.


Wednesday 20 september

Boys to school – Mitch by bus, Dunc by bike. H and K hang out, work on svenska, vacuum, walk to Holly and Jan’s. Hol is not home from Canada yet. Get home and pick black currants. K rides to meet Dunc's late bus from Sunne – D is sewing a moose in Slöjd (crafts). K drives into Sunne to coach hockey B team with Mitch – still unclear how it all works. Hol calls at 5 pm They are home at last - H and D go to see. Hol has brought things – herbs, maple syrup. Peach jam Canada pins, etc. K and D drop in on way home – quick visit then home to dinner. Weird hotdogs – too soft and mushy. Hol and Erik come for a visit later – some translation of school handouts for us – more later.

We travel to Sweden

It's been a while! Took us longer than expected to get an internet connection here. We could have had access earlier, but our computer would not recognize the Swedish dial tone. Where to start...

We flew from TO to London Sept 11. The trip went like clockwork. No problems in the TO airport - security was not too crazy. We couldn't get the duty free booze we were hoping to bring for the Swedes, but that was just the way it was with the tighter security dictating no liquids or gels in carry-on bags. We had a lovely overnight flight across the Atlantic on British Airways with no major turbulence, great service and fairly spacious seating. K and D managed a little sleep. M was too excited and H was up all night with him. We crossed the ocean in record time and then queued up to land in London. After circling interminably, we finally were allowed to land. We had 80 minutes to get from one terminal to another (by bus) and go through security again. It was hot and sticky and people were anxious, but after getting through the long line (the only extra security measures beyond Canada's was the need to take off shoes and belts), we rushed on to our gate and then were again loaded on a bus and to wind our way for a second time through the convoluted bowels of Heathrow to our plane to Sweden. Suddenly, we were surrounded by Swedes and the Swedish language. This was the beginning of the real adventure!

The flight across the channel was scenic as it was daytime and relatively cloud free. We were impressed to see a wind farm in Denmark (?) visible from 36,000 ft. The trip computer was also telling us it was -57 derees C which the boys thought was pretty impressive. Soon we were flying over Sweden and tracing our route closer and closer to our destination. We saw the big lake we would be living north of (Vanern), and then we were heading down to the Arlanda airport. We went through customs smoothly, picked up our waiting luggage, and then went on to the train platform which is downstairs in the airport.

We had minutes to catch the next train or wait another 3 hours for the next one. We tried the computerized ticket booth, but couldn't understand why it wouldn't seem to register the fact that we had 2 children as well as 2 adults so Kirk rushed off to find someone to answer a few questions. (turns out kids with adults travel free on this train and for very little on others.) We managed to get on the train with our 7 pieces of luggage with seconds to spare. After packing our stuff wherever it would fit, we settled down for the half hour trip into Stockholm. Another rush to get on the next train ensued. Once again we managed to squeak on the train with seconds to spare after 20 minutes trying to figure out where to go and how to buy tickets. Thank goodness Hol had printed out a couple of train schedules for us before leaving Kelowna. We knew which train we were trying to catch and when it would leave, so it was just a question of getting tickets and getting on the right train.

Once again we packed our luggage in somewhere and then settled down to watch the lovely Swedish country side pass by for the next 3 hours as we headed to Karlstad. An hour in Karlstad passed rapidly as we found a pay phone to call JC (10 SEK or about $1.50 for 30 seconds) and some icecreams. Then we were on the train to Sunne, our final destination. This commuter train stopped at all sorts of little stations on the way and when we finally crawled off the train an hour later in Sunne, bleary eyed form travel and lack of sleep, we were overjoyed to see JC's smiling face. He had a colleague with him to help ferry our luggage home and two of the biggest pizzas we had ever seen in the front seat. A twenty minute drive further north took us to our home for the next 6 months in Stopafors. We were met by Eva and Bo who were there doing last bits and pieces to make sure the house was ready for us. We are lucky to have these wonderful people as neighbours and liason with our landlord. They stayed long enough to get us settled, and then were gone. We had very interesting kebab pizza and pizza salad with JC. Then he ran down to the little store at the junction of the highway and our road for some basic food supplies for us before saying good night.

In all, we left Uxbridge at 9:30 am central time and made it to our destineation in Stopafors at 6 pm Swedish time which would be a total of 27.5 hours of travel. Time to sleep.