Ever wondered something, seemingly insignificant enough to temporarily forget about, and later discovered the answer, the reason????
While reading Heiney's The Practical Homestead which of course allows for further dreaming of the chickens that really should be residing in our backyard, I uncovered a much earlier curiosity of phallus-shaped haystacks dotting Slovakian fields.
An "excerpt" from Eastern European backpacking memoirs...
THURS JULY 12, 2001 Later, on train to Krakow
The Polish side of the Tatras is much more dramatic than the
Slovakian. Patchwork fields in a
variety of shades of green quilt the rolling hills. Seven foot high hay phalluses are symmetrically rowed in pastures beside triangular wooden
homes (many with barns attached right to their house). Buildings on the hills (as opposed to the
town-laden valleys of Slovakian territory since Tatras on that side of the
border were more severe and mountainous).
5 zloty from the border to Zakopane (about 20 km) and 10 zloty ($4) to
Krakow (107 km, supposedly two and a half hours to our destination).
Today
Aha! There is
a reason for these hay penises! Paul
Heiney’s The Practical Homestead (London: DK, 2010) enlightens me as to
hay tripods, officially known as “haycocks”.
In unfathomably unpredictable weather these 6 foot tall reproductive-organ-looking
towers prove miraculous. Air circulates
through the virtually-empty core and after about two days the arid hay is ready. Or, for the busy farmer with little time to
spare, the hay can even remain on these structures, left in the fields, until
winter.Oh, and now, thanks to Heiney, my future fancies for entanglement with animal husbandry include not only poultry but also a pig. Because what better recommendation is there to prepare soil for a zealous garden plot than a summer of a pig's rooting and pooping? Somehow I'm not sure neighbours would be too keen on an oinking backyard lodger? Though perhaps if they were gifted a nice, fat chunk of ham at season's end?
The Secret Pig Caper?
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