The bridges connecting the small islands to reach the ferry have been completed, but the rocky islands themselves are rocky and will require a lot of work before it's possible to drive a carriage to the ferry, but since the ferry to Orusingen has been completed it is now possible to walk or ride to Orusingen. So with a little fanfare and toasting, the ferry is named 'Puddle Jumper' and we make a crossing and back as the inauguration trip. The nameplate have both the Norse translation and the English original, and I admit to Jane it's taken from a ship type from the series Star Gate Atlantis. I was thinking about using Needle Threader, as it is a rope ferry, but I talked about my suggestions to Iselin and Ciara, and they decided. Bodil was happy to carve the sign, and Bodil, Iselin, Ciara and Jane liked the silly name, while Kari disapprove. She's become suspicious of my other ship names, as Jane also finds Millennium Eagle funny. So I promise they're all from certain types of Midgård sagas, and the Eagle is based on a famous ship called Millennium Falcon in Midgård stories, and is also a humorous combination of my name, and the ship now being about a thousand years ahead of its time. Kari still doesn't understand why Jane thinks it's funny, and since Kari insist on being told that saga tonight, she doesn't truly believe my explanation.

As planned, we will combine looking at land with an overnight stay in Kari's Orusingen longhouse mansion where we also will test radios because it is good field practice. We will spend the afternoon and tomorrow morning to ride around to look at land south of Kari's property that some couples and families offer to exchange for land on the mainland, and a couple who want to outright sell the land.

As we talk with people I take the opportunity to pay a man and his son to fish in the big lake that is the north border of Kari's property, and the goal is to try to catch undamaged fish, which they then can transport to my island via ordinary 32 liter barrels and add to the lake and ponds on Small Ackerek. The goal is 15-20 fish in the two smaller ponds, and at least 40 in the larger lake by the village. Hopefully the fish will help keep the small ponds open and healthier, and I hope there will be a healthy fish population in all of them, which can occasionally give more food variety even though freshwater fish contain less iodine. I'm not particularly fond of certain fish such as pike that I don't want them to transport, and predatory fish will only reduce the amount of fish for us. Of course, the big lake will be the village's drinking water, but there already are fish in that lake and fish isn't bad. The drinking water is also taken from wells some distance from the lake, so the water have filtered through the ground. However, eventually there will be a tall wind-pumped water tower with probably sand filtration.

Most of the land we look at is mountainous forests while we ride around on narrow paths, and since it is arable land that is the really important thing and only thing that counts in mantal, the total land area becomes very big in mountainous nature like this. If I add all the lands up, it goes all the way down to the coast and is bounded by a small stream on the east side, and mostly low mountains about 1.5km west along the coast, then northwest up to a small lake and then more northeast to Kari's land. Most of the arable land is along the coast, and in the forest between the mountains and valleys there are only the a couple of small farms with a few small fields and mostly chicken, pigs, goats and sheep. It's really harsh land to be a farmer on. If I actually do buy-trade for all of this, it will be one large mostly rectangular area, with a chunk missing on the east side where there is a farm that doesn't want to sell or trade, which is the reason why the land around is being sold or traded because everyone is feed up with that couple and have been in a 'feud' with them for the last decade. There seems to have been sabotaged fences, the occasional killed animal and such. Obviously no proof, and the man has a reputation as a good with weapons and having killed a man in a duel. By selling to me and moving to hopefully better land, everyone will leave their unpleasant neighbours behind and sort of win against them, because with me as the new big landowner who owns everything around them, the couple will have be friendlier even to those who stay behind to cultivate the land for me. No one wants to annoy me, and a duel against me or my guards is a whole other thing. That Kari is the neighbouring big landowner is another issue. That couple might also have wanted to sell, but they have loudly and for years declared that they will stay there and farm the land their ancestors farmed no matter what, so they can't sell or move without losing even more in reputation.

Three families will stay and continue to farm the arable land but pay rent to me, where the silver for their land will be used to buy more animals and other things. A wolf or fox killing a dozen chickens and a couple of goats is an economic catastrophe for those that don't have much, and pretty much seen as a sign from the gods that they should find luck elsewhere. I honestly feel bad about gaining from others misfortune, but loaning money is problematic. With land change and trading for animals and such, a loan can be hidden as an investment or pay for services. It is also a mixture of already leased land from before and where the landowner wants to move and the farmers are basically serfs, and old people who will stay for their life but who have no children to inherit and do not like their relatives who would otherwise inherit.

Iselin, Alith and Bodil have told us that in the mountainous regions they grew up, the land is always inherited by someone, and it is difficult to sell to outsiders. According to law, the land can not be divided and it is law that selling it can only happen if no relative have been willing to buy the land during three Tings. Then outsiders get a chance to buy the land at a price determined by a third party. It is rare that land is sold, and it is difficult to buy or make your own farm. Many younger brothers or sisters have no option but work on their older siblings farm. I get it's a practical way to preserve land so it's enough for a family to live on, and arable land is scarce in many places in Norway. If the land is split up too much, no one can live on it, but that makes it difficult to get a farm and life of your own, because there is no land to buy. It makes it a little more understandable why so many in 'western Norway' want to go on Viking raids compared to western or southern Sweden where there is less discussion about it. Because in western and southern Sweden there is forest to cut down and turn into arable land in the inland, but even there the lands fertility is limited and it is a huge amount of work. They don't really understand fertilization, and certainly not crop rotation, but that's understandable because most want to focus on more useful crops on the land each time, not limit themselves to a third or fourth to get overall more from the land. Starting to clear a forest in the middle of nowhere and create arable land is a huge project that takes several years, and many people need to focus on coping with daily life. So even there it's more that new properties are slowly being created from nearby farms, where someone can travel an hour or so away and work on creating a field and fencing when there is time, and repeat this for a few years, then build a house and move there. Starting in the middle of nowhere is worse, often requiring financial support or is the only option for those with no choice. And in the wilderness, there is a greater risk of unpleasantness such as animal theft or worse happening.

There is a larger farm down by the coast that has a lot of arable land, more than the others combined, and this is really the only real discussion. It is an 'elderly' couple who owns the farm, and they have two twin sons who are to inherit and who do not get along, and no one knows who was born first, and there is also a younger daughter of marriageable age. If nothing happens, the parents will continue to live on the farm for the rest of their lives, which is probably no more than ten years, and together with their workers and slaves will cultivate the land on my behalf, because someone has to do it. The elderly couple are motivated to sort out the inheritance issue between the children before they die and give the children the opportunity to create a future for themselves. So the plan is for their sons to move after winter to the R-mansion where the feast was a day trip south of Borgarsandr, and get an equal amount of animals although they might get a few more each after they check the land down there, which is what really lubricated the likely deal, as they probably will get slightly less arable land, and certainly less forest and also no access to the sea coast. Animals are so important, but honestly a small cost for me, and I'd rather trade animals for land. I get why people think my priorities are strange and excentric. I'm willing to trade silver and animals for forest covered mountains with lakes and steep mountain streams. I must really like to hunt.

The R-mansions land consists of many older farms that have been merged into one large estate, so it is already divided and I can exchange some of the land, and from what I have found out, the R-mansion land is easier to distribute evenly, but many of the outer parts are already leased. I only have a description of the mantal and the distribution, and have not seen the land or know the borders, so of course a visit before final decision is a must. The land becomes new for the twin brothers with a clear demarcation decided before, so the sibling feud over the farm disappears, and the farm and land here becomes mine. The brothers agree to split the R-mansion in two, but how it will be done is yet to be decided. I have been able to sketch and describe approximately what it is like, but that is all. The method that will be used is that they jointly decide how it should be divided, and after that which part will be theirs is decided by flipping a coin, so the brothers will be fair. The daughter gets a small part of the land on the R-mansion as her dowry, because it was immediately obvious to them that I wouldn't be interested in marrying their daughter or taking her as a concubine, even though the daughter certainly hoped so. We recognise the daughter as a friend of Ida's who visited the islands, the mansion and Ida more than once, and Kari is not alone in suspecting that the daughter has heard stories and fantasized. We also believe the daughter is the one that suggested the trade, and it is quite likely that their parents old farm here will see substantial upgrades over the next few years.

I'm not interested in using or visiting the R-mansion, but even after trading I will still have a lot of land down there, so maybe there will be a simpler new mansion built, and I can let others use or lease the land until a future decision. It's kind of a good idea to have a place to spend the night during travels, and it's halfway between Borgarsandr and the far larger estate Forsheim. Which I still haven't visited.

Everyone have come to preliminary agreements, but we'll take a trip down there later this winter to inspect and decide, and probably right after the Northmen Ting in late winter, and if nothing change, I'll be the owner of a lot of land this spring directly south from Kari's land. About 7 km² of mostly forest and mountains, which I will pay for at the next Tosra Ting this spring. Large agreements and land trades mostly happen during the local Ting so that everyone can witness and know about it, and all land trades are also informed about during the next Stor Ting. Who owns the land is very important business. Still, I'm free to hunt on the land this winter, because everyone sees that as free meat.

Kari and Iselin are happy with the preliminary agreements so I guess all is well. I don't want to think about future problems with my own inheritance, dowry and bride price for any daughters. If that time ever comes, I might have land on other continents. Thank the Gods that is at least 17 to 19 years away and there's a pretty good chance I won't be alive to deal with it. I'm such a coward. But if I am alive, any suitors for my daughters will respect them and treat them well, otherwise they should expect thunder. Maybe I should build more cannons. Or grenade launchers. A flame-thrower?

At dusk we see rabbits, deer and elks, and there seem to be surprisingly much elk here in Alfheimr, although is shouldn't be that surprising since modern Sweden have plenty of elks and about a hundred thousand are shot each year to keep the population in check since. It is quite logical there is plenty of elk if they rarely hunt elk, and here there is no large free ways with wildlife fences containing the populations. We also ride around slowly and quite quietly, so it gives a lot more time to look at nature instead of the road and horses also doesn't scare the elks away, plus we deliberately ride into the winds or crosswinds to try to see the wildlife. Most of the animals are too far away with trees in between, but the elks hardly even seem wary as long as we keep our distance. We're not here to hunt, but if we ride home at dawn and take it slow and careful, we might see something we can shoot. More fresh meat no matter what animal would be nice.