Section through the inhabitable haystack at 1:30
It is through Ana-Maria, and her grandparents Maria and Ion David that I was introduced to the area of the Romanian countryside, south of the Carpathian Mountains in the valley of the river Luncavăț . A few summers ago, we had gone up to their La Cumpana prune orchard and started imagining building a fânar-like cabin. This project is an attempt at etching out this desire to make with hay and to envisage something for La Cumpana - to work with those who know the hills and to create something to encourage those who do not know, to come contemplate and learn.
Portrait of Maria by Ana-Maria
Portrait of Ion by Ana-Maria
Hay meadows are considered one of Europe’s most valuable semi-natural ecosystems. In most European Union member states, they are managed almost exclusively for their conservation value, while in Eastern Europe their biodiversity is only a “side-effect” of their long-term traditional management. The places where the Romanian villagers usually go to make hay are useful as they supply the fodder required for wintertime; at the same time, they are also part of a landscape modified, influenced and maintained in its own essence (biodiversity) through human action. One can argue that this landscape is therefore a cultural one. In some mountainous regions of Romania, the haystacks have an important aesthetical role for the community. A perfectly built haystack shows not only that the owner is a hardworking member of the community, but also that he is a very skilled farmer. The start of the decline of traditional hay-making can be dated back to the introduction of silage, from either permanent silos or round bales, during the 20th century which increased the farmers’ flexibility in coping with uncertainty associated with environmental factors. In addition, mechanisation and decreasing livestock production as a result of the declining price of milk led traditional hay-making structures to disappear from most of the regions of Europe. Hay-making “by hand” can thus be considered an intangible cultural heritage, to which traditional ecological knowledge and local bio-cultural values are tied.
Site location within Romania
Site location within the Oteșani region
Site location withint the valley of the river Luncavăț
Site location withint the village of Cârstănești
Section through the valley and the prune orchard
As hay has not been made in Maria and Ion’s prune orchard in the past three years, and both Maria and Ion feel a loss in rural traditions as the village population is ageing and decreasing in numbers, this temporary hay shelter aims to provide a shaded space within the orchard in order for the youngest and oldest members of the village to rest (as the summer temperatures are rising) while men and woman gather prunes or re-learn to make hay. In addition, this project aims at gathering people and generations back around hay-making - the inhabitable haystack would be made collectively as children would gather the hay cut by adults, all under the overseeing of the elderly.
Through and thanks to Ana-Maria’s gathering and translation, I was able to exchange with Maria and Ion and learn more about the village’s haymaking practices, the weather calendar that they follow, the history of the orchard and how they perceive the future of the countryside and its haymaking tradition.
* In addition to the information gathered thanks to Maria and Ion, two published sources were used as well as some of their illustrations and images. 1. The museum of the Romanian Peasant Anthropology Journal, Martor’s 21st issue from 2016 titled A Place for Hay. And 2. Past Present and Future of Hay-making Structures in Europe published in Sustainability in 2019.
Isometric view of single inhabitable haystacks' construction
Foraging and placing of the vertical branches – they need to be of around 5m long and placed in a circle of around 3m diameter
Smaller branches are gathered and attached horizontally, spaced out of around 30cm every time – these can be attached using nails or soft stringy branches from the nearby willow tree.
Finally, dried hay handfuls are laid onto the ‘rack’ like horizontal structure, starting from the bottom, to slowly cover the structure. A tapering of the thickness of hay is recommended, and it is important to start from the base and work upwards, so that the hay is laid in a way to let the water run off (similarly to the layering of roof tiles).
Front elevation of the inhabitable haystack at 1:30