Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1991, Blaðsíða 141

FAROESE SPADE-CULTIVATION
145
Fig. 2. Fields in Gásadalur 1986 showing the teigar field pattern of reinavelta. Photo by Jóan Pauli Joensen.
Fig.3. Reinavelting. Upper row: Loosening of the first row of top-turves of a teigur. Middle row: Digging of the
’block’ of soil under the first removed turf. Bottom: Preparation of the drainage furrow, integrated into the reina-
velta system. Drawn by J. Jonsson.
his visits to the Faroes (1781-82), and, in the
form of illustrations, in the margin of C.L.U.
Born’s »Map of Suðuroy« (1791). These ear-
ly sources all describe what seems to be a
similar practice to the one recorded in
Gásadalur recently.
Detailed professional descriptions of
reinavelta are, however, rather rare, though
the practice is mentioned in many books on
the Faroes, e.g. by J. Landt (1800) H.J.J.
Sørensen (1859), R.C. Effersø (1886), K. Wil-
liamson (1948), R. Rasmussen (1949), J.
Dalsgaard (1956), H.J. Jacobsen (1958) and
J. Patursson (1966). Two descriptions must
also be mentioned because of their precision
and rich detail: being those of Jóhannes av
Skardi (1971) and Jóan Pauli Joensen (1980).
Apart from a few details, the practices
shown in fig.3 are similar to those recorded
by the two authors. As an example, Joen-
sen’s sketch shows a different loosening of
the first strip of top turves than the one ob-
served during filming, but most of the other
sketches are about the same. However,
whereas the resulting teigar look similar,
(mainly varying according to local drainage
conditions), the procedures involved to work
them seem to show quite a variation, both
locally and individually.
The practices are best understood by look-
ing at the illustration (or the film ’Kornvelt-
ing í Gásadali’). In a first stage, the edge of
the teigur is cut with the haki, and the grassy
rim is turned over. Next the turf of the upper
margin of the teigur is cut through by verti-
cal slitting parallel to the edge, then separat-