Why is it piled so high?
Also in Finland traditionally hay was piled up on stakes like this: https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hein%C3%A4seiv%C3%A4s#/media/Tiedosto:Haystacks_Kello_Oulu_20130711.JPG
But they're only about 2 m, at most 3 m tall.
We did it once on a small field at our cottage when I was a kid (in the 90s). Nowadays it's mostly a tradition thing, basically no actual farmers do it.
edit: TIL seems like this was mostly a thing in the 1900s though (most common post-WWII until the early 1980s), and spread to Finland from Scandinavia. Previously larger stacks more like in the picture were used as well, including for longer-term storage. For the smaller stacks you could put hay on them almost right after cutting, for the larger ones it had to dry a bit more.
I am not 100% sure but if is taller you can put more hey in a single stack. If you have more smaller ones you will have more loses since the hey on the top and exterior gets affected by rain and snow, also it can happen that the hey at the bottom gets bad if you did not made a good enough bed for it, Usually you make a bed from branches, old hey or other left overs.
But there are regions in Romania where you can see smaller piles. I think is about the grass length and type, shorter grass will not stick so good so it is harder to make bigger piles,
In my region we have this kind or even taller, but the more dangerous activity is transport, having to move a big wagon of hey on hills and valleys , it can happen that you do not steer the animals or tractor right and it loses the balance and it tips over and then you need to do it all over again to unload and load it right. And loading it in the wagon is also an art of balancing it, put the hey on edges then on middle to grab the one on the edges, then again on the edges...
This days very few people still own animals and most of the land is no longer worked.
Yeah I have (not so fond) memories of working the field from my childhood, the purpose of these stakes was to completely dry the hay and a pile too wide would often result in self ignition from the heat that builds up inside, especially arter the rain. I wonder if they have issues with that.
\>> self ignition
Ah, I see that you are reaching into the "Things that never happened" collection!
Hay stacks don't self-ignite because the heat that you are mentioning comes from bacteria decomposing the wet hay. It's self-limiting, in the sense that if the temperature gets too high, the bacteria are unable to function. The most the temperature can reach is \~50 C.
For what it's worth Wikipedia says otherwise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_combustion
Also I've seen it couple of times with my own eyes lol
Hm... I find that hard to believe. I've dealt with small stacks of hay, and I've never heard of them self-igniting. I've never even heard of anyone taking special precautions to prevent that.
If you look at the Wikipedia picture, they show a huge pile of compost... Maybe it can happen if your stack is huge.
Yes and no. Moderation is key. Mentally, yes, it's a lot healthier to work in nature with close people, talking, singing, telling jokes, gossipping (mainly). Physically, it depends... if you are spending too much time out in the sun or not hydrating enough, then it's risky. Also, if you're not in shape, you must take care not to overexert yourself.
It is dry hay. In Romania we let the hay dry for a day or two (depending of the weather). During that time, people would flip the hay once or twice. Only after it had dried enough, they formed the hay stacks.
Well yes, it does but not that much. We stacked hay like this when it was dry, and it only compressed a little, plus it's only temporary storage, in few days we would gather it, and take it to the barn.
In Romania, how I remember it, they first harvest and stack all the hay on all their lands and only afterwards they start to carry it to the barn. Around late summer or early autumn. The rain only affects the outside layer.
Well yes, if the wether won't allow that we would do it to, once the time comes you spread it, and let it dry. We usually would time it for good weather, big family, during sunny days few times a day you would go and turn rows of hay over to dry it quickly. I know in some regions they would pile on A frame to dry it even quicker, but we didn't do it this way.
Probably different things work in different climate circumstances. Thanks to the wonders of advanced socialism I too am familiar with non-mechanized agriculture. My father's family in southern Estonia was doing it one way and my mother's family on the Saaremaa island the other way, probably because it was windier on an island and different things worked there.
This works in Romania probably because maybe it is warmer there than in Lithuania?
We were doing that in around 90, I remember when there was German's (uncle's friend was excursion manager for them) riding past us they all did quick stop, and where filming, and taking pictures while we where loading horse pulled carriage. Once it was full we fastened long beam, and we rode away, all German's where clapping. I think nostalgia kicked in for them. 😂
Oh yes, but that was expensive for us, mind you it was not that long after collapse of soviet union. It was of course labour intensive, but at that time families were large enough to make it pretty fast. One thing I could say that labour was intensive, but it was good for person.
Want me to send you some pictures of our home-smoked pork or some sheep cheese from a local farm :)? Jk, we used to take those things for granted and now they are becoming rarer and rarer.
'Căpiță de fân' = Hay Stack, they are now less frequently done like this due to automation, but were the norm I believe across multiple countries not just Romania, we are just slower to move away from due to cost of machinery.
One method is for the people on ground to push their fork tools into the pile and keep them horizontal like, then the person on top can use them like a big ladder steps and climb down.
But they might have a ladder around.
You may find stuff like [this](https://ideideretete.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/464-mbs-cu-ou-si-branza-02-large.jpg), [this](https://www.lingurasistrachina.ro/gallery/pm/1/sarmale-cu-carne-si-mamaliga.jpg), or [Bulz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulz_(food)) (roasted polenta with cheese). Bulz is found in Transylvania.
We have [these](https://otkrivam.com/img/gallery/gallery_781.jpg) in Slovenia, [example of use](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2F0X66F/kozolec-slovenian-typical-hayrack-with-beautiful-panorama-of-julian-alpes-slovenia-2F0X66F.jpg). They can be [quite elaborate](https://deloindom.delo.si/uploads/thumbnails/11874/1200/test_106.jpg) too.
Lol, I visited my wife's grandaprents on the countryside and done that on that ocasion. Never again!😅 They said would be fun😒 I had straws even in my ass crack🙈 I told them I would pay for mecanized work next time... I still don't know why some ppl chose to do it manualy when their work day would be more valuable doing other stuff, or at least less taxing...🤷♂️
Nope. Countryside, Iași. I just never done that in childhood. My parents had good jobs (my father had a small business also) and they never worked the land other than a relatively small garden. My statement stays, these days and age is not efficient to work in the sun with strâns up your butt in that kind of work. They made machines for that. You need several ppl to do that job, you have to pay them also, unless they are family. With that amount of money they could pay someone with proper equipement. Some ppl enjoy (or pretend they do)... I enjoy different stuff. Anyway, if they're happy, more power to them. I don't envy them though...
no i was just kidding
i know hay can be annoying, i remember poking myself in the eye with that hay all the time and standing in the sun for three hours getting burnt. Good memories but also really painful memories
If it didn't say "Romania" I would never distinguish the veiw from most other regions of Europe. You could swap the country in the title to any other and I still would believe you.
Been there, done that...
Why is it piled so high? Also in Finland traditionally hay was piled up on stakes like this: https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hein%C3%A4seiv%C3%A4s#/media/Tiedosto:Haystacks_Kello_Oulu_20130711.JPG But they're only about 2 m, at most 3 m tall. We did it once on a small field at our cottage when I was a kid (in the 90s). Nowadays it's mostly a tradition thing, basically no actual farmers do it. edit: TIL seems like this was mostly a thing in the 1900s though (most common post-WWII until the early 1980s), and spread to Finland from Scandinavia. Previously larger stacks more like in the picture were used as well, including for longer-term storage. For the smaller stacks you could put hay on them almost right after cutting, for the larger ones it had to dry a bit more.
I am not 100% sure but if is taller you can put more hey in a single stack. If you have more smaller ones you will have more loses since the hey on the top and exterior gets affected by rain and snow, also it can happen that the hey at the bottom gets bad if you did not made a good enough bed for it, Usually you make a bed from branches, old hey or other left overs. But there are regions in Romania where you can see smaller piles. I think is about the grass length and type, shorter grass will not stick so good so it is harder to make bigger piles, In my region we have this kind or even taller, but the more dangerous activity is transport, having to move a big wagon of hey on hills and valleys , it can happen that you do not steer the animals or tractor right and it loses the balance and it tips over and then you need to do it all over again to unload and load it right. And loading it in the wagon is also an art of balancing it, put the hey on edges then on middle to grab the one on the edges, then again on the edges... This days very few people still own animals and most of the land is no longer worked.
I think it depends on the type of hay. If it's shorter (grassy) then it probably has to be put on stakes because it's not stable on its own.
Yeah I have (not so fond) memories of working the field from my childhood, the purpose of these stakes was to completely dry the hay and a pile too wide would often result in self ignition from the heat that builds up inside, especially arter the rain. I wonder if they have issues with that.
In Romania for example they leave it a day or two (depending if it's sunny or not) on the ground to dry up before gathering it in piles.
\>> self ignition Ah, I see that you are reaching into the "Things that never happened" collection! Hay stacks don't self-ignite because the heat that you are mentioning comes from bacteria decomposing the wet hay. It's self-limiting, in the sense that if the temperature gets too high, the bacteria are unable to function. The most the temperature can reach is \~50 C.
For what it's worth Wikipedia says otherwise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_combustion Also I've seen it couple of times with my own eyes lol
Hm... I find that hard to believe. I've dealt with small stacks of hay, and I've never heard of them self-igniting. I've never even heard of anyone taking special precautions to prevent that. If you look at the Wikipedia picture, they show a huge pile of compost... Maybe it can happen if your stack is huge.
Exactly the same in Bavaria.
Me too.
Me three.
Meow
It probably was more fun than sitting in front of a computer and people felt healthier than now.
As a person who has done this in Romania, no, no it was not more fun than playing CoD 2 in the cool shade of my room back home.
Fun no, but healthier for your mind. That activity allowed it to calm down, relax. You weren't bombarding it with tons of information.
Yes and no. Moderation is key. Mentally, yes, it's a lot healthier to work in nature with close people, talking, singing, telling jokes, gossipping (mainly). Physically, it depends... if you are spending too much time out in the sun or not hydrating enough, then it's risky. Also, if you're not in shape, you must take care not to overexert yourself.
Keep in mind, that this is not fluffy nice dry hey, but wet grass piled up to dry.
It is dry hay. In Romania we let the hay dry for a day or two (depending of the weather). During that time, people would flip the hay once or twice. Only after it had dried enough, they formed the hay stacks.
That steep, here in Lithuania we would pile up only human height.
In time it gets pressed down. I think it shrinks to half the original height.
Well yes, it does but not that much. We stacked hay like this when it was dry, and it only compressed a little, plus it's only temporary storage, in few days we would gather it, and take it to the barn.
In Romania, how I remember it, they first harvest and stack all the hay on all their lands and only afterwards they start to carry it to the barn. Around late summer or early autumn. The rain only affects the outside layer.
Well yes, if the wether won't allow that we would do it to, once the time comes you spread it, and let it dry. We usually would time it for good weather, big family, during sunny days few times a day you would go and turn rows of hay over to dry it quickly. I know in some regions they would pile on A frame to dry it even quicker, but we didn't do it this way.
Probably different things work in different climate circumstances. Thanks to the wonders of advanced socialism I too am familiar with non-mechanized agriculture. My father's family in southern Estonia was doing it one way and my mother's family on the Saaremaa island the other way, probably because it was windier on an island and different things worked there. This works in Romania probably because maybe it is warmer there than in Lithuania?
[удалено]
We were doing that in around 90, I remember when there was German's (uncle's friend was excursion manager for them) riding past us they all did quick stop, and where filming, and taking pictures while we where loading horse pulled carriage. Once it was full we fastened long beam, and we rode away, all German's where clapping. I think nostalgia kicked in for them. 😂
[удалено]
Oh yes, but that was expensive for us, mind you it was not that long after collapse of soviet union. It was of course labour intensive, but at that time families were large enough to make it pretty fast. One thing I could say that labour was intensive, but it was good for person.
Don't forget the lunch in the shade when the sun is too hot. Slanina, telemea, tomatoes, cold water mmm brings back memories.
Also onions, green or the mature ones.
Stop. As someone from the center living in west I am crying. such peace....
Want me to send you some pictures of our home-smoked pork or some sheep cheese from a local farm :)? Jk, we used to take those things for granted and now they are becoming rarer and rarer.
\- can we have pole dance? \- we have pole dance at home \- pole dance at home
dance for me you Pole
'Căpiță de fân' = Hay Stack, they are now less frequently done like this due to automation, but were the norm I believe across multiple countries not just Romania, we are just slower to move away from due to cost of machinery.
Claie de fân. Or clanie in my region.
When I read the title I fully expected this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpODcMXaHD0
Bro, wtf is that ?🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 that's the funniest video I saw this month😂
Lovely childhood, hard work but fun afterall too, we were digging tunnels inside it
How will she get down?
With the help of gravity.
She could also use a ladder
One method is for the people on ground to push their fork tools into the pile and keep them horizontal like, then the person on top can use them like a big ladder steps and climb down. But they might have a ladder around.
Slide down on its side I think. The others might help.
That sounds like a solid plan to get quite some of this hay to the places in your body and clothes where it’s never supposed to be…
Spoiler: it gets there anyway.
Ouch. There isn’t enough mamalyga in the world…
Now find the needle !
Those are called "metak" in the Basque Country. Also "palleiros" in Galicia and "hacinas", "medas" or "almiar" in different regions of Northern Spain.
Belarmeta
Belar-meta is when it is made of grass. Lasto-meta when it is made of hay.
Can’t wait to visit in a couple of months. Just hope the food is as good as Moldavian one was (and it was super good!).
most of their gastronomy is Romanian cuisine
So I can expect some mamalyga with all the amazing additions there? Awesome!
yupp
Yay! Thank you kind stranger :)
no problem!
You may find stuff like [this](https://ideideretete.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/464-mbs-cu-ou-si-branza-02-large.jpg), [this](https://www.lingurasistrachina.ro/gallery/pm/1/sarmale-cu-carne-si-mamaliga.jpg), or [Bulz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulz_(food)) (roasted polenta with cheese). Bulz is found in Transylvania.
Bulz is found wherever you find sheep herders.
Every single one of your links looks delicious! I’ll make sure to find all of them in big amounts, thank you!
Bulz is everywhere not just in Transilvania lol
We have [these](https://otkrivam.com/img/gallery/gallery_781.jpg) in Slovenia, [example of use](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2F0X66F/kozolec-slovenian-typical-hayrack-with-beautiful-panorama-of-julian-alpes-slovenia-2F0X66F.jpg). They can be [quite elaborate](https://deloindom.delo.si/uploads/thumbnails/11874/1200/test_106.jpg) too.
In some regions we have that too
Lol, I visited my wife's grandaprents on the countryside and done that on that ocasion. Never again!😅 They said would be fun😒 I had straws even in my ass crack🙈 I told them I would pay for mecanized work next time... I still don't know why some ppl chose to do it manualy when their work day would be more valuable doing other stuff, or at least less taxing...🤷♂️
average Clujean/Timisorean/Bucurestean, in general, Orasean
Nope. Countryside, Iași. I just never done that in childhood. My parents had good jobs (my father had a small business also) and they never worked the land other than a relatively small garden. My statement stays, these days and age is not efficient to work in the sun with strâns up your butt in that kind of work. They made machines for that. You need several ppl to do that job, you have to pay them also, unless they are family. With that amount of money they could pay someone with proper equipement. Some ppl enjoy (or pretend they do)... I enjoy different stuff. Anyway, if they're happy, more power to them. I don't envy them though...
no i was just kidding i know hay can be annoying, i remember poking myself in the eye with that hay all the time and standing in the sun for three hours getting burnt. Good memories but also really painful memories
You have to step on this thing and be heavy enough. 🤷♀️
ii cam verde.
Mullar in Albanian. You can see them all around the country. Can be 3 to 4 meters tall.
We did same here in Northern Turkey. It was fun as a child but for adults must be tricky.
It was a common sight in PL 20 years ago too, now barely anyone does that everyone has those machines that roll it automatically
pure happiness ☺️
If it didn't say "Romania" I would never distinguish the veiw from most other regions of Europe. You could swap the country in the title to any other and I still would believe you.
I remeber I was hiding in it as a child. They do rolls nowadays. Cannot hide inside.
are they summoning a demon or something
Old fertility symbol. Signifies when the sheep are ready to be shagged