In Norway, this term applies primarily to farms deserted due to the Black Death in 1349 and 1350.
The term ødegård is also used in Denmark, where starting in the 1950's, Copenhagen residents began looking for abandoned and deserted small farms in Sweden that they could buy or rent and use for the summer.
In order to support and house the continually increasing number of people, the deserted farms started being used again.
There were conflicts over the ownership of the deserted farms, with questions about who actually owned them after they had sat abandoned for 200 years.
Then competition for resources began again, creating the basis for a new underclass of crofters.