Andreas

I met a young farmer earlier in the week. Andreas Norlin from Hammarby Gård in Haninge. He was sitting in the combine harvester on a wheat field in Österhaninge. He noticed me as I took some photos. A few minutes later as I was still shooting he turned the engine off and waved me over for a chat. We talked a bit about farming. He even made me taste the wheat.I told him that I had previously met and photographed his dad. That was six years ago now. Time sure flies.

The Tractor Girls

Two teenage girls from the agricultural college at Berga out ploughing a field at Stav in Tungelsta.

Campus Life

The agricultural school at Berga opened in 1921. Back then it had only male students. Today that has changed quite a bit, especially considering the very popular horse programme. If you walk around the 700 hectare big property you will find many different buildings. Both modern and old farm buildings. They have everything you would find on a modern farm. And there is also a 300 year old mansion (you can see part of it in yesterdays post), or here from my 2007 visit, and a little museum with many objects from the old days. The school is self sufficient when it comes to heating, via a modern pellet heating system. As I have already told you there are many animals at the farm and all livestock feed needed are produced locally, like oat and corn.The building you see here was built for when the school opened in 1921. Back then it had class rooms, campus eateries and student apartments. Today there are newer smaller apartment buildings here and my flickr friend Jim has a fine photo of those apartments. Both Jim and myself have flickr sets with more photos. Here is a link to Jim's photos. And my set is over here.

Spring is around the corner

This was the scene in Västerhaninge yesterday. A farmer ploughing a field using his John Deere tractor. Must be some kind of record, normally this time of the year you should be able to ski over this field. Six months earlier I photographed the harvest here. Bigger photo.

Berga Mansion

The mansion at Berga is around 300 years old. Today it's part of the college, and I believe that a few of the former principals used to live here. The college opened in 1922. The college founder Helge Axelson Johnson, also built himself a castle down by the bay, these days the military owns that land. I don't have photo of the castle but it looks like this:

www.haninge.se/upload/10660/berga1.jpg

From my visit to the open-house weekend at the agricultural college at Berga.

Sheep Shearer

Bigger photo.

A sheep shearer in action. Every year in the early summer the Agricultural College at Berga in Haninge has an open-house weekend. As a kid I used to come here with my parents. As it was a warm and sunny day I took the bike over to Berga on Saturday. The place was absolutely crowded. Long queues for everything that you could eat, but as I had anticipated that, (visited just after breakfast), I had a great time looking at all the animals, pigs, cows, horses and more. Also saw lots of tractors, farming equipment, machines and farming buildings. Then I cooled off with a visit to the museum. The farm here dates back over 800 years. The college is not that old, it opened in 1922. Many students live here year round. There's a castle down by the bay built by Helge Axelson Johnson. Today the military owns that part of the estate. I will be uploading a few photos from my visit over the next day. You can see them HERE. Did I buy anything? As a matter of fact I did. One big jar of cloudberry jam, so I will be eating a lot of waffles now...