A sustainable #närhetsliv

Without education or experience, Magnus and Åsa took the step and bought a farm. Here they conduct meat production on a small scale with focus on the environment and the animals’ best interests.

Barely a a few miles before Harads we find the village Havsträsk next to the Lule River. Here is Strömnäsgården, which Magnus Eriksson and Åsa Lindmo bought three years ago. For two seasons they have raised cows and lamb on a small scale and this autumn the first “meat boxes” with lamb will be sold. This summer, a successful experiment with chickens was also made.

– It is never fun to slaughter but to produce your own food is fantastic, knowing that we will not buy chicken this year. We have chosen to eat meat so we do everything we can to make these animals feel good, says Åsa.

The children Felicia, 9, and Sam, 7, think that the best thing about the animals is that they are so cute, but at the same time they are well aware of the animals becoming food. When Sam’s favorite lamb was to be slaughtered last autumn, it was important to him that it was the family that would eat him, no one else.

– Now we take care of these animals as best we can and we eat some of them. When we do that, we send a thought of respect to the animal, says Magnus. The couple is passionate about relationship food and wants to reconnect between producer and consumer. If you want to buy meat here, you are welcome to come here and drink coffee, pet the cows and get to know the family. But you also get a chance to eat happy animals, as Åsa puts it.

– It is our responsibility to prioritize the animals before ourselves. This meat should probably taste better than the anonymous piece of meat you pick up in a store, which may come from some sad old cow who has been grinning all her life in a barn, says Magnus.

The dream of farming life

It all started with Magnus’ great interest in diet and nutrition.

– It got so far that I started asking myself; if this is healthy food, how do you produce it in a way that does not destroy nature? I read a lot on the subject and finally got to the point where I wanted to try to do it myself, he says.

Without education or experience, Magnus and Åsa took the step and bought a farm. Here they conduct meat production on a small scale with a focus on the environment and the animals’ best interests.

Sambon Åsa did not agree with the idea from the beginning, but she agreed to buy the farm if he was responsible for the work. But then something happened. This spring, Åsa also expressed the dream loudly for the first time and now they have a common goal.

– We thrive very well, we want to be farmers full time.

The road towards the goal

Next summer, they will raise around 2,000 chickens to sell to individuals and restaurants in the area. Within a few years, it should provide an income that allows one of them to be at home full time. Åsa now works as a leisure educator and Magnus as a personal assistant.

What attracts with the farming profession is the freedom that self-employment entails, but also the proximity to the animals, nature and not having to leave the farm.

– It’s nice to work with the body, it gives a heavenly peace. If you are stressed, you can go out into the pasture and then all that is gone, says Åsa.

Today they have some cows and calves, 14 ewes and about 20 lambs. The idea is to increase the number of animals gradually.

Beyond organic

Here, most things are done differently than on a traditional farm, but the biggest difference is that the animals graze in small pastures that are moved every day. The idea is that the vegetation should have a chance to recover so that you do not have to plow and so on.

– In this way, you keep a grazing area alive for any length of time. If you do not have to plow, it’s just fine. When the soil is laid bare, the carbon in the soil reacts with the oxygen in the air and emits carbon dioxide. In addition, you kill most of the micro-life, says Magnus. Here, neither fertilizer nor pesticides are used, instead the micro-organisms in the soil takes care of the work. All animals on the farm benefit the ecosystem by stimulating and fertilizing.

– We want to leave the land in a better condition than when we got it, says Åsa.

@stromnasgarden