Day 34 - Talu Life

​Today we made our way to Argo’s farm house. When I was told about this place I was told the name Antsla, as in this was the town it is in. Mum wanted to go to the super market before we went there so naturally I looked up a super market in Antsla. We went there, got what we needed to get, then I clicked on the link for google maps we had been given. We then discovered we were to drive to another town, no where near Antsla, and so off we went, for another 20 minute drive. We arrived at Argo’s house, which was built back in 1935 and really looks like an old farm house. The old Talu’s are built like little villages. They have the main house, a barn, a sauna, an out house (still functional), a tiik (dam for washing) and an ice house. Argo shared with us that back in the day they would collect ice form the dam and put it in the nice house, covering it with saw dust. It would stay frozen until the summer and remain frozen, which they would use to keep their food and things cold. He gave us a little tour, and we met his 3 chickens. His daughters wanted them but he has to look after them. They were all excited about the chickens but once they got them, they lost interest. He showed us the out house, which is, you guessed it, the toilet for the house. The door does face the road and we suggested when he does renovations that he makes it face the other way. We then came inside and it felt really old. I had heard stories of this place being haunted but I wanted to not think about it but when we were having our lunch, Argo shared some stories. I tried really hard to not engage with it to much but he shared a story of a child speaking with someone in a picture that was hanging above the door. Once we had some food, we got ourselves settled in. ​Mum and I were sharing a really big room with some actual comfortable beds. The one thing that got me about this place, was not the drop toilet, but the lack of shower. Argo did forget to mention this to us before we arrived and I hadn’t washed my hair at the previous place we were at. This would have made for an interesting adventure, washing my hair in the old ways.

​We met and spent some time with Argo’s daughters, Nora and Jasmin. They were so sweet and Nora spoke very good English to me. We had a good time communicating with each other. What struck me about Nora was how cheerful and happy she is. I decided to give them their gifts, a kangaroo and koala, as well as some t-shirts. They really liked their gifts and the girls put on their shirts straight away, and I don’t think they have taken them off since we have been with them. After lunch we went to the Pesapuu in Rõuge and had a walk around there in day light. It was really nice seeing it but it was a bit windy so the top of it was moving around a little. Mum and I were glad we did not go up the top, because the floor of it was see through and it would have been really scary! We then walked down and around to the swing and mum actually got on it. There was another family there but they were happy with us being on the swing with them. I was surprised with mum going on it, she just started to get on it without any warning. We then walked to a suspension bridge that was in ‘Nightingale Valley’. It was really beautiful looking at the streams and hearing the sounds of the birds singing. It was so peaceful and it looked almost like a little rain forest. Well that is what Nora was calling it. Jasmin had the Kangaroo we gave her earlier, and she was not letting it go. I was hoping she would not drop it down in the river so I took it from her, just for that little bit. Then we continued on to the next little bit of the area which was these beautiful little huts built as a project by Tartu and Tallinn University as a way of living in a historically accurate way. They built this village using old world technology, including mud roofs to keep the warmth in. What I found interesting was the doorways were built higher and the doors were all the way to the ground. This stopped the draft coming in. It is such an ingenious idea, I don’t know why we don’t do it these days. This little village was historically accurate and there was a few nights in winter a few years ago where some students lived the did back in the Viking days. They reported it was minus 30 degrees outside but they managed to keep themselves warm enough. We then headed to the little stage area where Nora and Jasmin decided to sing to us and do some dancing. The acoustics on this stage meant they did not need microphones, it was done really well. They were singing abundance of Estonian songs and it was really amazing to watch these two girls just performing without a care in the world. It reminded me of Danae and I. They also started dancing Kaerajaan and made us sing the music to it. I showed Nora some of my Estonian Folk Dancing videos and she was impressed, wanted to learn how to do some dancing, so I told her I could teach her, yet it has not happened.

​When we were driving to the Pesapuu we saw a trout farm, so we took a little side trip to this place. When we got there we had a little fish and caught ourselves a trout. We didn’t get them to smoke it, as Argo was going to do this in his wood fire back at the Talu. Naturally, we all went to use the flush toilet. When we caught the fish though, Argo used his line and Nora had to collect it in the basket. We didn’t watch when the owner of the farm killed the fish. It was a beautiful little place and as we were about to leave, mum reminded me I had been there before, as a kid when I was 11 but I did not remember it. She remembered the water pump from the spring and Tiiu called it a witches well. This was the thing mum was looking for and wanted to see again. The girls filled up a bottle of water from the spring, it was so cold and tasted so good!

​After we left this area, we went to Rõuge lake. It is the deepest lake in Estonia at 38m and was the one my Grandpa Alan used to swim in, as a kid. It was really lovely being there, knowing he used to go to this place in the summer with his family and swim in the same place we were swimming. The water was somewhat cold, but I kind of really wanted a shower/wash so I didn’t really have a choice. It was fun watching Nora jump in, Jasmin was not to fond of the water as it was a bit to cold for her. But we swam around a little then we got out and headed for ice cream. This is a tradition for them, swim then ice cream. Before we got there, we saw another little käsitöö shop. It was a little treasure, the vööd were cheaper than I had seen before but I did refrain from buying them. Although there is some low key regret there with one of them and I might go get one. They also had a room up stairs that had two beautiful looms set up. They were amazing and I had a good look at them, seeing how they function and work. After this little detour we went to the super market and got ice cream. Jasmin had already got herself an ice cream before the detour, and had already eaten half of it. When she saw we were all getting a different one to her, she wanted a new one so she gave Argo her old one and got a new one. This made me giggle and is totally something I would have done and dad would have just accepted it.

We then headed back to the Talu where we had a lovely dinner of some bread, cheeses and Argo had made a hapukapsas soup! It was so damn good, it had barley in it. I was not expecting it but I really liked it. We had some lovely conversations, and of course they drank, but it was an early night for me.
Until the next story,
Marissa xx