Mountain Farm

Day Trip

Today we were with a group that met in Lucerne.......

......to visit mountain enterprises. That entailed riding in a very big bus up very small roads around curves that were made for horses. Of course I was on the downward side looking over the abyss. Who thinks these buses should go up mountains?

But we arrived alive.

The first stop was a farm that has a side business of making charcoal. This involves the stacking of sixty cubic meters of wood, covering it with conifer branches, then making it airtight with a layer of charcoal dust. It chars for over two weeks, then cools and is bagged in 1000 large paper sacks. This farm does two stacks per year. It is an ancient handcraft that some people are trying to keep from dying out, especially as huge commercial operations  take most of the market with manufactured briquettes.

The charcoal operation

A model of the stack - cut away view

Finished charcoal

A model of the finished stack with coating

The beginnings of a new stack

The farmer and his stack

We were served a dinner by the farm family of local pork steaks and produce.

Then we walked back up to the farmstead

And saw the new open stall barn. Tie stalls are illegal for animals now.

Then we traversed the mountain roads again to a little town overlooking grand vistas. Here we toured a village bakery/store – the only one in the town and area. We were able to sample the wares and bring home some, too.

A 200 year old building

The store part of the bakery

An old flour mill

Dessert

Before we left back to Lucerne, we saw some of the little town.

Lucerne

End of the day

NOTE! I am leaving for two and a half weeks, probably with little internet, so blog posts from me may be non-existent.