This Post is for my Melbourne friends who torture me with photos of food and wine. In particular the photos sent from Tipo 00 that gave me my only bout of homesickness. How I would have loved to be with them. I enjoy the food here and am fascinated by the Schwabische cuisine but I do miss Melbourne restaurants. Especially when something like this is sent.
I adore green food and risotto is always a favoutite, the flavours usually being so intense.
They have a brilliant wine list.
However, Hausen, yes Hausen, has a culinary delight to match any. A smoked trout, straight out of the Lauchert, and sold on site once a month. If I could organise myself to buy a great wine here it would be a worthy accompaniment on the balcony. I will not give you a plated photo. I cannot match what I have received and would do the trout a disservice. But enjoy scenes of it birthplace. Both literally and culinary wise.
Our Summer Solstice was June 21 at 6.34. Earlier (17/3) I wrote of the animals coming out of hibernation, most notably the TRACTOR. Well, the tractor seemed to ease off for a while but once again he is running around busy to get a job done. The fields up here are now all being cut for hay.
We are in the middle of a week of hot weather, late 20s, so they are are all coming out of their stables early in the morning and then busy, busy all day till close to dark.
Up here in the mountains the "Tractor" is a slightly different genus. He is a bit older, a bit scraggier looking and a bit smaller. But like his lowland relatives he lives in the towns and is a very productive worker.
Due to the dictates of the landscape and history I guess, the farming up here is less "industrial". There are fewer large barns housing dairies so the need for local bulk feed is not so important. Down below, hay and silage is stored loose and moved with a bucket/grab. Here they turn the grass into mostly square bales. There is still a lot of maize growing but it is still some time away from harvest.
But like Lampertsweiler and environs the crops and the work involved are up close and personal. You see it happening around you.
I will meet tractors on the road every time I drive. I see them parked in villages and of course I see them in the fields every time I go out in the car.
I was going through some photos and Bear came up to look. It was soon clear by the tone of his snorts that we had a different view of what is "newsworthy"! So to placate his sensibilities I came up with this video of what he thinks is worth doing..... Sorry about the music being so loud. Just pour yourselves a stein of beer and imagine you are at the Oktoberfest. That is the source of the music! One of the hazards of using disparate sources of free editing is that fixing a problem is too much of a pain in the neck. Sorry again.
Way back when, March 17,I started to speak of the nature of the work/life of the Wandering Shepherd in Germany. I would like to add now to the little I have spoken of already. Tendingis a difficult concept for most Australians, Americans and British (where I am happily lead to believe I have readers👍). It is a foreign concept to us. We just do not manage our stock this way. We might see elements of it at different times and places but as an established, historical sheep feeding system we just do not have it. The only caveat I would put on this is that I am speaking now as a person of the Schwabische Alb. I have hardly been out of the Alb since I arrived(!) so I cannot talk about the effects different landscapes around Germany have on sheep and dog. The Working Space Well this is fascinating and of course very particular to the Alb. I cannot stress enough the impact of these mountains. And the skill required to navigate them while feeding sheep.
This "field" behind Hausen and just below the slopes we graze has three different allotments
Georg here is working in the the Magerkingen and Hausen areas. There are other shepherds about and I occasionally see them as I drive about. The areas Georg can graze are defined by agreements he has made with Magerkingen and Hausen. That is, he has chosen the public lands he wishes to graze, made a contract and has permanent access to these lands so long as the contract is in place. He has access to private lands but that tends to be on an ad hoc basis.
Just look at the variations of land use in this photo. The grass was cut for silage that day.
A very hot day and we needed to be near the shade come mid afternoon
A vegetable patch and a crop!
A farmer will decide that he would like his land grazed and will contact Georg or perhaps some farmers have a standing agreement that Georg goes on to their land after the crop has been harvested. For me this is still confusing BUT as an example yesterday we were grazing close to the main highway here and a car pulled up, a man spoke to Georg. It turned out he asked Georg to graze a nearby plot of land. So Georg re arranged in his mind the planned movement for the day and we diverted to a sloping piece of land near the road. At one stage Christmas trees had been grown on it I believe, but as an Australian I have to say I was surprised that such a piece of land would be used agriculturally.
The sheep were no problem with the road. Naturally I stood with Bear on a lead!
There is a wonderful creativity about the grazing that I had not expected. There can be no certain pattern. Not only because the shepherd is reliant on nature growing the grass to define the length of his stay, or the weather to dictate the areas that are better for grazing and housing the sheep but there is also the wildcard of access to parcels of land. It is of little use to ask Georg where he will settle the sheep for the night too early in the day! He literally does not always know till mid afternoon. The local knowledge Georg has is superb. The location of the fields, their quality, the best access to them, the local farmers and their fields etc For those of us involved in our Canine Associations' C Course we are used to a 4 sided Graze. And in the annual German National competition they always have a 4 sided Graze. But here I have not yet seen one. We go from one to three. There is always some bush/forest forming a border. (This is also why Georg has some goats. The locality wants bushes grazed.)
Of course the sheep will wander into these forests and the dog will need to go and bring them out.
The "borders" are a constant mixture of asphalt road, dirt road, tyre tracks, obvious crop/grass changes, very minor grass changes and where the shepherd decides for himself when he is managing the grazing pattern of the sheep. The dog has to understand the nature of his work, not just relate specifically to a marked line which he follows. This threw Bear at first, he had no experience outside of well marked tracks but I am thrilled to say that he now understands the nature of his work and the variability of the "border".
The sheep are in a long line along this hillside so we have bushes, clear space and then the forest as the "border" at the top. Earlier we had a "fenced" field. For horses! As they graze the sheep start to pressure the dog to come over the top so in this case it was a long line for the dog to monitor. Unfortunately I did not video Bear going into the forest.
Same line as the video, but earlier in the grazing
I believe the Alb grazing is very challenging to the dog. And it is always critical that the dog can hold his line and his nerve as there is always land next door the sheep cannot enter.
LOVE this photo. Yukon(the Enforcer), Dana(the Gracious Queen), Bear(the Hoon), Zora(the Young Gun), Eugen (a friend of Georg's) and just the ears of his dog(unknown, but seems very Polite).
Also, Georg does not let the sheep graze randomly. He keeps them reasonably well together so that they do not pick and choose at will to eat only the choicest bits! So he is never passive.He is always managing the sheep and the dogs. The sheep must never stray too far into the forest or he runs the risk of losing them. And he has had to watch for lambing sheep, sheep who need to have their feet looked at (they can pick up thorns) and any other concerns with the flock. One thing that is clear as you spend long hours in variable backgrounds is that a large flock of sheep is always moving. Sheep move to graze and, I suspect, to find something with which to amuse themselves at your expense!!! So, if you are not watchful, you are only a few seconds from ovine disaster!! And do not forget the goats!!! And because these plots of land are small the sheep are moved several times a day. Three, four, five is typical. Again, there is always something going on that needs to be managed. We work in a wonderfully attractive, quiet, peaceful landscape but if you are not watchful things would quickly go pear shaped. Tschuss
We put up some fencing for the road and I stood at its corner. This was taken as we were getting ready to leave. Hence the sheep in the background.
****I will be writing more about the Wandering Shepherd and will cover such topics as penning, moving the sheep about, looking after stock, young lambs, water, feet etc
We have just had a string of lovely, very warm days and the country I am working in is looking lovely. I am much more familiar with the "office". I can find my way around reasonably well and I am developing a clearer picture of the Shepherd's work life. It is so different to my experiences in Australia. I find it fascinating to reflect on the influence of the landscape and the past social histories of this part of the world that has lead to this style of stock management. And Bear too is thriving. He has "got it". He no longer worries about all the different sheep cafes. He is now looking for permission to go and get the sheep out of the woods and bushes (Dana's job). And he can handle my sometimes weird and wonderful instructions. Although I have to admit that if he is in the middle of something he thinks is important he does not appreciate being asked (told) to go and do something else!! The thing he does have trouble with is the sheep moving away from him (see further below). Herr Control Freak does not like to stand by. But that, I am sure, will come. So, here is a snapshot of the last couple of weeks.
Yep. This is where the snow shots of Bear were taken.(Working in the Mountains 8/5) A few warm days and I have almost forgotten the bitter cold.
"Now, here is a dirty trick to play on a fellow. They go on the road and I have to go off it??"
"Order restored. Or partly. At least I get some of the road back."
This was a magic day. Our first real hot, not overcast day. A lovely spot. Bear worked well. We all had fun. Dana is Bear's companion.
"I can do this. Do not know why though!"
"This I hate. I do not want to do it. It upsets me."
As you can see in the middle photo, as the sheep move and are closer Bear becomes distressed. He is desperate to move and get away to the front. He finds this very difficult. And saving the best till last;
Zora (who earlier had given Bear a Serve) is standing, Dana is resting and Yukon is unseen the other side of Georg
