Living without electricity in Sweden

The electrification of Sweden took time. The farther from any major population centre you lived, the later you got electricity.

We lived in the dark forests of Småland, one of the last places to see electricity. It came 1948.

I never saw any challenges living without electric power, because I didn’t know any different, growing up as a kid on a small Swedish farm in the 40s.

• We carried our water in after having lifted the bucket up out of the well.
• Light was by kerosene lights indoors, carbide lamps outdoors.

• The privy was next to the chicken coop, 50 m from the main building and - 25 C in the winter. No light. You could bring a flashlight if you promised ONLY to use it to find the newspaper that was there for wiping your a..s.
• The radio was powered by two large batteries (1.5 V and 90 V) and only allowed on for 15 minutes for the mid-day news and 15 min for the 7 pm news.

• Philips 1935 model. (My photo.)
• We had no refrigerator but the food was kept in the cellar in the summer and in a cool room in the winter.
• We separated the milk and cream with an Alfa Laval separator. You must keep the speed high enough that the centre-mounted bell didn’t ding.

• All firewood came from the forest. The wood was cut and left to dry for at least one year before brought in for the stove and the big heater in the living room. The degree of coldness in any room depended on the distance from the fires.
• We baked in a stone oven. It was heated early in the morning for bread and ended up making the cookies when it had cooled down a little by mid-day.
• We made cream for butter and cheese by churning the cream maker for hours. Hard work.
• The mail came once a week by the postman, He used a motorcycle. Our farm was at the end of his run. He would stop for a late lunch, reinforced by Absolut renat brännvin, the cheapest liquor you could buy (Sold all around the world as Absolut Vodka these days…!)
  
  He would return on his light motorcycle well reinforced. I saw him miss the first turn down the road more than once. We would go down, help lift the motorcycle up and aim him in the right direction. (TRUE)

Father’s photo 1947

• Sea fish, herring and cod, that we could not catch in the lake, would come with the fish-car once a week.
• It was 4 km to school, uphill and against the wind both ways. (Only “4 km” true)
  
  I went to a two room school. It had no lights, and no privy, it was outside and always at the ambient temperature.
  
  Only the school rooms were heated and my lunch milk froze on the hangers in the corridor more than once.

• We milked the three cows by hand and drank the milk unpasteurized. (Oh terror.)
• The thresher was powered by a 1922 kerosene powered motor on a skid.
• Our own sawmill for what planks and wood needed on ours and the neighbouring farm was powered by an ancient steam engine. It had a safety valve that would blow a lot.
• The plowing was by one horse, but two were put together for clearing the road in the winter.

Father’s photo winter 1947–48.

• BEST TIME OF MY LIFE.

Read for yourself here:

Old love never fades.