Today, I had some time to spare after work and went to one of my favourite cafés, the
"Mühlenhof" - museum in Breckerfeld. It´s situated on a hillside overlooking the rolling green hills of the Sauerland, and there is a mill from 1846. There are also many artifacts from that time, and the best thing is,
you can drink your coffee while sitting in a chair from that time. Mr. Thorschmidt, the owner and landlord, is a craftsman himself. He makes bread according to ancient recipes, the infamous regional speciality bread "pumpernickel, a very dark rug bread that takes two days to bake, at a very low temperature, making for a very smoky and somewhat sweet flavor. Nowadays, Pumpernickel is often additionally sweetened with molasses. Mr. Thorschmidt still makes it the old way, one heavy chunk of hard, nourishing bread. It is delicious with another regional speciality, juniper smoked bacon, and a crucial ingredient of the "Bergische Kaffetafel", more of an event than a meal that takes the afternoon into the evening.There always are several pots of strong, brewed coffee from the tin can (the "Dröppelminna" = dripping ?how do you translate "Minna"? it´s a woman´s name alright, and not entirely free of sexist connotations, since it also regionally applies to a dishwasher or washing machine, Minna it is), loads of wafers with hot cherries, cream, and sometimes vanilla ice, rice cooked in milk, cakes, parsnips with three kinds of bread (pumpernickel, grey rug bread, white bread), raisin white bread and sausage and bacon and cheese and schnapps, with double-bread to take home.
I really like those buildings, and this peaceful atmosphere. There´s a herbal garden, too, and a little store where you can get no mead, but Mettwürst(Hej!;-)), bacon, all kinds of extremely heavy bread, liver paté sausage and fresh eggs and cheese from local farms, all handmade and tasty to boot.
That´s the ancient mill, still functional, and that´s a sight to behold, when the millblades are turning, if you ask me.
Those beeshives are inhabited. Unfortunately by wasps, which can be a bit of a bummer in summer;-) when you sit outside and just want to have a piece of delicious cake and the wasps share your opinion on cake;-).
Now that´s a sleeping chamber, eh? Bushcraft in your own home. That box to the right is a bed.
Cozy...;-)
An old cart. Sorry for the pics being less than ideal;-) was some strange lighting in there, quite dark, but bright, when the sun came in.
Going upstairs. Mind your head, though, it´s kind of shallow;-). I was fond of the railing, which was cleft out of greenwood by axe and adze. You can still see the marks.
A hacksaw and farming implements.
Old and fusty, just like you were looking into your grandfather´s garden shed. I am sorry for the tools, but it adds to the atmosphere.
Smith´s tools. I try to talk Mr. Thorschmidt out of them for years now, but he won´t let loose. Stubborn sodbuster that he is;-).
A device for breaking flax and straw. Up front a more contemporary milling machine.
Farming tools. And a carved yoke for storing heaves.
I then went to the café and had a really BIG piece of cheese cake with a load of cream and a BIG mug of coffee and dreams of peace while specks of dust were dancing in the sun´s beams and the twilight. I felt very balanced there. Sometimes I just have to do some simple things like this to calm down a bit...
Been ranting enough...;-)
