We slept until 8 as we were so tired! Oh dear! It was yet another lovely fine day. We didn’t really feel like doing too much, so we walked with Ingrid to Uncle Otto’s to get some potatoes. He runs a small organic farm, which doesn’t earn very much money but provides an interesting lifestyle. His paid employment gives him as much in two to three months as he gets from the farm in a whole year.
We went into the barn to see the livestock - a pen of zebu-cross steers, and two pens of Simmental bulls (two different age-groups). Another part housed German large white pigs. The boar was huge! The piglets are weaned at six weeks, then sold on for fatterning another six weeks later. The cattle were due to be turned out shortly having spent many months indoors. They are fed a lot of silage when housed, which is quite time-consuming. Someone had had fun carving a log to look like a pig!
Outside again, we started chatting with Otto's wife. It was interesting to hear that their eldest daughter had actually spent eleven months in NZ and Australia, so they were very happy to meet some real Kiwis.
During the afternoon we just read books before going out for a walk around and about Horgenzell before tea. Photos: Kapell church; Typical countryside; "be careful" bear in Horgenzell; memorial near Festewegen.
In this part of Germany there are many small villages (3-400 inhabitants). Many of the houses are surrounded by a small block of land of just a few hectares in size.
Between the villages is farmland, much of it planted our with apple trees, closely spaced and hard-pruned. You can see some in the photograph of Horgenzell below. Each village has one or two businesses, but many people have a job in town to supplement the meagre income from the land. Everyone knows which village to go to if they want a blacksmith, and which one you go to if you want your tractor repairing!
Photos: Horgenzell in the distance; an old timbered house near Uncle Otto's, the Meschenmosers' house.
The houses are quite distinctive, often having three to four floors with a huge roof with eaves that almost touch the ground. The size can be a little illusory as part of the lower floor is often a stable or barn for cattle or other livestock.
Many people are closely related – Bernhard’s relatives mostly live in Horgenzell or in the nearby villages, but Ingrid’s family lives a little further afield.
As it was such a lovely warm day, reaching 22 deg after a cool 4 deg start, we decided to have a barbecue. Bernhard had the job of getting the fire ready, and Ingrid and I had fun making damper - hers from a yeast dough and mine from a scone-type mix, which they really liked. The tripod frame used to be used for stooking hay! The neighbour's Norwegian Fiord ponies were quite interested in the proceedings at times.
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