[2] Skalbe was born in Vecpiebalga Parish, in the heart of Vidzeme, symbolically the same year that one of the other greats of Latvian literature, the poet Auseklis (Miķelis Krogzemis), died in exile.

She found strength in her faith; she was an active member of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, participating in meetings and services, and reportedly an excellent singer.

Her religiosity was a strong influence on the young Skalbe—later to capture this period of his childhood in his poem Gurstot (Wearied), part of his collection Cietumnieka sapņi (Prisoner's Dreams).

Skalbe's first encounter with poetry, however, was not at school but during his four summers as a shepherd, where in his bed under the hay mattress he found a long mislaid book of poems by Pēteris Ceriņš, a lyric poet active in the 1860s and 70's.

Skalbe furthered his religious studies, was schooled in essay writing, and was exposed to and deeply influenced by the novels of Turgenev and Dostoyevsky.

His most memorable experience in all of this was his initial trip to Rīga, captured later in his memoir Mans Ziemassvētku brauciens (My Christmas Ride, 1933).