Accidental Shepherd
How a California Girl Rescued an Ancient Mountain Farm in Norway
In May 1972, twenty-year-old Liese Greensfelder arrived in a small Norwegian town prepared for her first summer farmhand job, only to learn the startling news that she’d need to singlehandedly watch over the centuries-old farm while its owner recovered from a stroke. Confronted with dangers and obstacles for which she was utterly unprepared, she tells a story of remarkable resilience and records the fascinating but rapidly vanishing traditions of the community that took her in.
Liese Greensfelder's exciting and unexpected adventure in Norway moved a whole nation when she first shared her story in 1975. Now a new generation will be inspired to take a journey that might change their lives forever. I loved Accidental Shepherd—I laughed, I cried, and I will carry this young woman’s heroic tale with me always.
Camilla Flaatten, travel journalist, Aftenposten, Oslo
In May 1972, Liese Greensfelder arrived in the small Norwegian town of Øystese to startling news: Johannes, the farmer who hired her for the summer, had just been hospitalized after a stroke. Could she please watch over his place for a month or so, until he got back on his feet? Twenty years old and with no farming experience, Liese was dropped off the next day at a centuries-old mountain farm at the end of a dirt road high above the magnificent Hardanger Fjord—with 115 sheep, two cows, one calf, a draft horse, and a Norwegian herding dog to care for.
Armed with a command of Danish that enabled rudimentary communication, Liese began learning from neighbors who spoke an ancient Norwegian dialect—how to feed the animals, milk by hand, and supervise her first lambing. The farm was run in the old way: horses and wagons instead of tractors, haymaking in the rain, and hikes into the mountains to check on the sheep that ranged free over those wild peaks all summer. And, Liese was quick to discover, the farm was on the brink of ruin, for the owner Johannes was a heartless man who had abused his animals and neglected his buildings and equipment for decades.
Although her employer had alienated his neighbors, they immediately welcomed the American newcomer and offered her help. As “a month or so” stretched to a year and Liese struggled for the survival of the farm, she joined this tight-knit enclave of farmers, learning their stories and history, adopting their dialect, and growing intimately familiar with the grass-based farming practices that had sustained them for generations.
From moments of levity, such as sampling a neighbor’s fruit wines, Christmas parties, and skiing; to soul-battering challenges, including sending sheep to slaughter, rotten silage, vicious weather, and terrifying accidents; to the romantic yearnings of a young woman, Accidental Shepherd is a candid account of Liese’s year living alone in a remote Norwegian farmhouse. Confronted with dangers and obstacles for which she was utterly unprepared, she tells a story of remarkable resilience and records the fascinating but rapidly vanishing traditions of the community that took her in.
Liese Greensfelder's exciting and unexpected adventure in Norway moved a whole nation when she first shared her story in 1975. Now a new generation will be inspired to take a journey that might change their lives forever. I loved Accidental Shepherd—I laughed, I cried, and I will carry this young woman’s heroic tale with me always.
Camilla Flaatten, travel journalist, Aftenposten, Oslo
Accidental Shepherd keeps an open, smart, frank tone, and Liese Greensfelder's good humor shines as she works through problems. The farm animals are wonderfully depicted—especially the sheep and difficult lamb birth. She offers a good balance of light and dark with lots of enlightening detail.
Gary Snyder, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet, author, and essayist
Finally the real, rural Norway, with language lessons to boot. Liese Greensfelder creates a cast of characters—and animals—that show how Nordic life has persevered over the centuries. My wife wanted to give up everything to lead a bucolic life as sheepherders in Norway for three months. Now we can just read this charming book instead—thank you Liese! Her stories of farm life along the fjord make her a Norwegian James Herriot.
Eric Dregni, author of For the Love of Cod: A Father and Son's Search for Norwegian Happiness
Liese Greensfelder’s vivid writing transported me into the heart of a community still relying on sustainable, grass-based farming practices handed down through generations. Her story of the triumphs, catastrophes, elation, and heartbreak she experienced there will keep you reading to the end.
Craig McNamara, farmer and author of Because Our Fathers Lied: A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today
