I was recently the paznic at my host family's watermelon field. They have about 10 acres of watermelon and cantaloupes planted. The paznic is a guard/watchman who's job is to merely sit and watch the watermelons to make sure that no one sneaks up and goes home with a few in the trunk of their car or in their horse buggy. Their is a paznic at the field 24/7 during the summer months until all of the watermelons and cantaloupes have ripened and been picked to sell at the local market. After sitting out in the Moldovan countryside for 10 hours alone, I learned that there's not much to do except to enjoy the slow pace of time....Monday, August 30, 2010
Guarding watermelons
I was recently the paznic at my host family's watermelon field. They have about 10 acres of watermelon and cantaloupes planted. The paznic is a guard/watchman who's job is to merely sit and watch the watermelons to make sure that no one sneaks up and goes home with a few in the trunk of their car or in their horse buggy. Their is a paznic at the field 24/7 during the summer months until all of the watermelons and cantaloupes have ripened and been picked to sell at the local market. After sitting out in the Moldovan countryside for 10 hours alone, I learned that there's not much to do except to enjoy the slow pace of time....
Monday, August 2, 2010
The Family Cow
Most of the families in my village have either a goat, sheep, or cow to produce enough milk for the entire household. From the fresh milk they also make cheese, buttermilk, and sour cream on a daily basis. This requires that a member of the family walk the animal out to different places in the village and leave the animal tied to a stake with a leash and collar so that it can graze on the grass all day. They go every evening and retrieve the animal because it must be milked daily and kept at their home overnight.
For the cow owners, there is a collective system in the village supported by public land owned by the local mayor's office. If the family chooses to participate in the collective system, each morning they walk the cow out to the head of the road, and from there the shepherds assume their duties to walk all of the cows to the field and watch them while they graze all day. For every cow you have in the collective system, you have to be shepherd one day in turn. Since there are about 70 cows in this system in our village, a family must send someone to be shepherd every 70th day. There is a schedule (not sure if it's verbal or written) that everyone knows about so they know when their day to be shepherd is coming up.
In the evenings the shepherds will walk the cows out of the fields and back to the head of the roads for the families to meet them. It's a daily routine for the cows, so they know their way home every evening and will walk unassisted into their gate and wait to be milked.
For the cow owners, there is a collective system in the village supported by public land owned by the local mayor's office. If the family chooses to participate in the collective system, each morning they walk the cow out to the head of the road, and from there the shepherds assume their duties to walk all of the cows to the field and watch them while they graze all day. For every cow you have in the collective system, you have to be shepherd one day in turn. Since there are about 70 cows in this system in our village, a family must send someone to be shepherd every 70th day. There is a schedule (not sure if it's verbal or written) that everyone knows about so they know when their day to be shepherd is coming up.
In the evenings the shepherds will walk the cows out of the fields and back to the head of the roads for the families to meet them. It's a daily routine for the cows, so they know their way home every evening and will walk unassisted into their gate and wait to be milked.
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