The next evening was scheduled for
the big family fest. Ingvar and Gunilla headed to Bor to check up on their
flood-endangered house, and Wendy and I had extra time to spend before the
gathering of the clan. One of the cousins, Lars Torstensson, had arranged to
pick us up from the summer stuga in the morning and take us on a tour of his
farm.
Lars has over a thousand acres in the middle of prime Halland farmland. In the past he has raised pigs in a very modern `piggery' but currently leases that operation out. It is quite a sophisticated operation. Nearly 1,000 pigs are kept in groups of 10 in a large building. Pipes carry feed from a computer controlled mixing and distribution system. The computer is programmed to supply a volume of feed determined by the age of the pigs. After 3 or 4 months, the pigs are off to the bacon factory.
While cousin Candy Crites took Wendy
to shop for some locally made shoes that Wendy had her heart set on since we
arrived, Lars showed me around the area.
Some of his fields are planted with the rape seed plant (a relative of mustard), the seeds of which are used to produce oil for cooking and other purposes. There is also some land dedicated to forest.
We also visited another large farm that had formerly been leased by Lars and his brother, but is now leased by Lars' nephew. The old man who owns the land still lives (alone) in this big house that dates back to the 1600's. It takes a lot of expensive equipment to run these big farms, but the equipment makes it possible for a few men to work an area that required a small village of workers in the old days.
Before we completed the tour, Lars
showed me a granite quarry where they produce a unique color of this stone. It
is said that an expert can tell the exact source of granite by studying its
color. A little water splashed on the rock reveals the color of the stone.
Now it was time to get back to the summer stuga and get ready for the big party.
