BYGGLAND FARM (NEAR BREKKE):

"It's as if I have an evil stepmother while my own mother still lives," Birgit told Sweet Siri at Byggland. "Olav took over the father role after Far died, and that old kjerring he married thinks she's the queen of the realm."

"Can't your mother do anything? It's her household!"

"She's still weak, and Olav's wife runs right over her. Especially in the kitchen. Living under the same roof, they're not such good friends anymore. They hardly speak to each other." Birgit huffed in exasperation. "The old kjerring won't let me watch her make flatbread because she knows it would free me from Olav's control."

"I'd ask my father to pay you a small amount to do our baking next week," Sweet Siri said, "but he says he doesn't have two coins to clink together, not after the trader yesterday refused to lower his ridiculous prices."

"I'll help anyway, for free. I can use the practice."

"And the trader only offered half the amount we usually get for our good wool cloth. He says city factories make it cheap now, so why should he overpay us?" Sweet Siri shook her head. "Well, we'll use up all the woolens ourselves. Can't afford to pay for cotton cloth now." She put a hand on Birgit's arm. "I'm sorry to ramble so. We're all upset. We'll appreciate your help with the baking. Thousand thanks for the offer!"

A few days later, when Byggland's spring harvest of barley and rye came back from the flour mill, Sweet Siri sent for Birgit. Out in the farmyard the menfolk were chopping a stack of well-seasoned spruce to keep the baking fire going all day. Jon from Homme joined his father's cousins and Birgit's brother Sveinung at the axe-work. She gave him a wave before stepping into the cookhouse -- which roiled with smoke.

"I think there's a jackdaw nest blocking the airway," Sweet Siri said as she probed up the chimney with a long pole. She had already put out the first fire she'd lit.

A mass of twigs dropped onto the embers and fanned up a choking cloud of ashes.

Coughing and giggling, the young women dashed outside and dusted off their skirts.

"Just look at the ash-maids," Jon teased as he whomped away at his round of spruce log. "Sprung straight out of a fairy tale!"

"Ja, sure," Sweet Siri answered. "Are you the handsome prince who will sweep in and save us from the villainous jackdaw?"

"Handsome, maybe," Birgit said, nudging her friend and grinning. "But prince? Of what realm?"

"If you'd climb to the top of Homme's Crest with me," Jon said, "you'd see how wide a kingdom I rule!"

The young women chuckled and went back inside, flapping their aprons to drive the smoke out the windows. Sweet Siri's mother and two aunts came over from the main house carrying mixing bowls and other utensils for the day-long baking event. By the time they were all set up at the work table, Sweet Siri had a new fire going, drawing well up the chimney.

"With six of us, we'll be able to work in shifts," Siri's mother said. "You know, don't you, Birgit, that if you manage to find work as a baker-wife you'll not have a moment's rest all day?"

Birgit grinned. "I'm not afraid of hard work!"

"Six of us?" Sweet Siri asked. "Anne's only twelve years old. Can she keep up with us?"

At the doorway, her little sister stuck her tongue out.

"She can take a turn," her mother said. "Only way to learn."

"You can work with me," Birgit told young Anne. "I'm not very quick yet, either."

.

scene to be continued...

^ My ancestors came from these four farms in Kviteseid parish ^

Dalen, Åe, Homme, Brekke

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BEHIND THE SCENES

This scene mentions Sweet Siri, a young woman at Byggland farm. Her grandmother was half-sister to Torjus at Homme farm, father of 24-year-old Jon of Homme who is also mentioned here. This whole saga began with Torjus' mother, Liv Steinarsdotter, back in 1730.  See the tangled web of relationships below, from  the chapter set in 1799.

By 1827, Birgit's brother Sveinung of Brekke was farming at Byggland, though his name doesn't appear in lists of owners and leaseholders. Four of his children were born here, from 1827 through 1834.

The current owner of Byggland was also named Sveinung, but he was the son of Liv's oldest daughter Sigrid. He was the namesake of his great-great-grandfather, the travelling merchant who decided to buy Homme where he had often stayed overnight. (See the section for 1756.)