Barns in Scandinavia have steeply-pitched roofs, to deal with heavy snow loads. A steeply-pitched roof also provides useful space for a hayloft or grain storage area. Stored well above ground level, there's no danger of the hay or grain being ruined by flooding, and the aboveground air circulation helps the materials dry faster.

But second-story storage creates a physical challenge. Hay bales and grain are heavy. Getting these things up and down from the loft consumes two of a farmer's precious resources: Calories, and time. In rural Norway, farmers devised a clever solution to cut down on both by creating earthen ramps. While these require investing extra labor up front, their addition provides a daily labor savings that make their construction worth it.

This is the most elaborate I've seen:

Farmer Lars Petter Olsen spent seven years building the one above, hauling the stone there himself using both a piece of cowhide and later, a sledge he built. Note the cellar built into the left side. I also love that he built a tunnel through it for convenience of access.

All of these shot are by photographer Oddleiv Apneseth, and are part of the book Norges Låver ("Norway's Barns") written by journalist Eva Røyrane. The 564-page book contains over 1,000 photos.

If you're interested, there's a short interview with Røyrane here. When asked why she chose to document barns, she said:

"Because this is a very important and dominant house in the Norwegian cultural landscape. Now so many barns have been out of use for so long that they are about to disappear."

"Many are torn down, others are on their way back to nature. It is about getting [people to see] these houses before it is too late."

"The barn represents a rich architectural heritage and this house tells important agricultural history. We think this all-purpose house for the farmer has received far too little attention, that the large and stately barns and the small and strange sheds deserve to be lifted up and forward."