Juni 2023

Completely unsuspecting, I trotted out of the stables the other day and had to rub my eyes … what on earth was that!?!?! There was our boss with Nena … um, or Nena with the boss, it was hard to tell … walking up and down the meadow in front of the garden, and Nena was pulling some strange contraption behind her. And no, it definitely wasn’t a carriage – I know what those look like, and nobody could sit on this thing.

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Curious as ever, I trotted over to our boss: “Hey Paul, what are you doing there?” – “Ah, hello Netti! Come and give us a hand? We’re planting potatoes. In autumn we’ll have freshly harvested organic potatoes!” – “Ah, okay (?) But do potatoes actually grow here? Up here on the sunny plateau of Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis I’ve only ever seen meadows for hay so far.”

“Yes, not much is grown here anymore. These days it’s easier to buy potatoes and bread at the supermarket. But in the old days, people basically grew everything themselves. Grain, especially rye, oats and barley. Today, especially in organic farming, people are returning to old varieties. The Fiss Imperial barley is one of those hardy old varieties. It’s less susceptible to disease and very resilient when it comes to the weather.”

“Oh, I had no idea there were differences. I thought barley was just barley. And what do you do with barley? I get oats – they’re yummy, and we horses like them best of all! But barley???”

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“You won’t believe it, Netti, but Fiss barley is mainly used to make beer and whisky.” – “Yuck, I don’t like that at all, that’s not for little plush horses like me!”

“But you can also make a really good traditional barley soup with it. And I’m sure you’d like that! Next time Romana makes one, you’ll have to drop by and try a big bowl.”

“Okay, soup with grains in it … I can totally picture that! But why potatoes? Doesn’t winter come here before they’re ripe?”

“Oh no, Netti! Thanks to our southern exposure, we have such a great climate here on our sunny plateau that almost everything grows well. In the past, in addition to grain and potatoes, lots of flax used to be grown here.”

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“Flax, and what’s that good for again? Can you eat it???”

“Well, yes, you could eat it too, but flax was mainly used to make linen for clothing. The long stalks were dried, then broken and brushed over and over again until they became very fine fibres that could be spun into yarn. Where the hotel in the village now stands, flax used to be dried. That’s where the name ‘Darre’ comes from, it was the drying place. So that’s how our Darrehof got its name from the flax drying. So, Netti, what do you say – are you going to help us or not?”

Ah … Nena’s got it covered, she’s much bigger than me anyway … so I’d better make a quick getaway!