In Norway there are early finds of hemp and flax pollen from the inner Oslo Fjord area, about 350 BC–450 AD (considerably more hemp than flax pollen was found¹). Pollen and hemp seeds were found in a settlement in Hamar from around 400 AD². There are finds of hemp pollen from around 650 and 800 AD, from the inland of Åseral in Vest-Agder³ and both hemp and flax seeds were found in the famous Viking burial mound, the Oseberg ship in Vestfold county from around 800 AD^4,5,6   

Between 1650 and 1850 flax was grown, carded, spun and woven into white fabric and thread which was used to make and decorate traditional Norwegian costume items called bunads as well as other items of clothing and household linens such as mats, curtains and bedspreads.

Livsreise is pleased to welcome Andrea Myklebust to speak about this ancient process. She is a shepherd, hand spinner and weaver . An interest in immigration-era Scandinavian textile tools, which are plentiful in the upper Midwest, led her to begin growing textile flax and learning the steps of raising, hand processing, spinning and weaving handmade linen. She is presently working under a USDA SARE grant to explore small-scale linen production in Wisconsin and Minnesota. She lives with her family near the village of Stockholm, Wisconsin on the Mississippi River.