Sjöbrånen

Further south we find another croft but this time in ruins. An apple tree, a lilac bush, a fireplace and a stone cellar. It takes a few man-years for nature to reclaim the place where generations have spent their days. Sjöbrånen is mentioned for the first time in the 1830s. At that time, the sickly Peter Håkansson lived here with his Anna. Despite several children and a small cottage, there was still room for a lodger; the widow Lena Håkansdotter with her three children. In the latter part of the 19th century, Peter Johansson moved here with his family. Peter was the municipality's first employment officer. He accompanied girls and boys who were interested in working in Germany and assigned them places.

In the dry summer of 1914, a violent forest fire broke out and Peter had to flee headlong onto Lake Grimmansmåla. Miraculously, the cottage survived and he lived there until his death a few years later. But the fire did not always have to be evil, as the name Sjöbrånen suggests. It was our brothers in the east who taught us the technique of slash-and-burn agriculture, burning down the forest in an orderly fashion to grow rye and turnips in the ashes. But our luck was short-lived. After three or four years of large harvests, the soil became depleted, the grass made its appearance and could be used for winter fodder before the forest took over again.