Page 14 - Guide_EN

At around 7am it was time for breakfast which consisted of milk or the fresh “Schott” which was made into a type of soup. Coffee was unobtainable – after the Second World War “Malzkaffee”, a coffee substitute made from barley malt was a favourite drink. After breakfast came the daily duties. These varied with the seasons. In the summer oats, barley, wheat, rye and potatoes were grown. In the winter, forest work and general house and farm maintenance was undertaken. The cut hay which had been stored in other barns was collected and transported to the farm on the sledges. This was not only physically challenging work but also very dangerous. These sledges are on display in the barn. The fields were mown with a scythe and the hay then raked and brought into the barn. If the fields were very steep, “if the chickens needed crampons“, the hay was bound in bales and carried on the farmers head from the field into the barn. It was often necessary that the women helped with the haymaking so it was an opportunity for the men to show off their strength to impress them. The children led the horses which was not a pleasant job when the horseflies attacked! At 9am a substantial snack of bread, cured bacon or ham and cheese was eaten, as well as Sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) in the winter. At midday, flour-based meals were the norm. The farmer’s wives had the difficult task of creating as many different meals as possible with the basic ingredients of milk, eggs, flour and pig fat. There was another snack at 4pm of skimmed milk and bread and butter. Later on the barley coffee substitute was enjoyed. At around 7pm, when the farm work had been completed it was time for the evening meal. In the summer this was often dumplings in various forms, in the winter usually potatoes. Fatty carbohydrate foods provided the energy needed to carry out all the physical farm work. 12