Bauer (Farm) Museum

We have always been interested in the differences between here and our experiences in the States.  Since this land has been densely inhabited for centuries, farming has evolved into a specific system.  The farm yards (bauerhofs) are centrally located, often in little villages, leaving the arable lands free from houses.  At home each farmstead is on its own land and often spread out over quite an area.  Here they cannot afford that much space.  All the farm buildings are in one tightly packed unit around a small yard or hof.  We went to a museum featuring a farmstead in use for centuries until about 1950 when the last owner died. 

 Think of a square with buildings around the four sides.  One is the home, the white one,  but connected right to the barn for some animals.  The other buildings are farm storage, grain or wheat, etc.  This place also had quite an industry of making cheeses and other farm products for sale.

Looking at the entry to the house on one side while standing in the barn part of the building.

This is the barn part opposite the view above.  the main entry to the home had this date from one of the house restorations but the museum showed genealogy from this one family dating from the 1700's.

As we were leaving the area we happened to pass a new, or recently refurbished bauerhof which is currently in production so, yes, this style is still in use.  Here is the big farm seen from the road with the entry to the equipment and other storage on the left.  Below you can see the hof or yard surrounded by buildings.  The living home is in the rear and the pink building is their shop where they sell farm products and have a little restaurant.  They are all connected making the hof.





The traditional woman's dress in the area is called a drindle.  The museum had several old ones on display.  People still wear them for special days like Hofer Slappentag celebrating the one time in the year when the town of Hof brews a special beer and parties all night.  We have no pictures of that. 

I bought a drindle, on the right below but I haven't figured out a special day to wear it.  We even saw a woman in town yesterday wearing one while riding her bike to go shopping.