CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES AND OTHER HOUSEHOLD FEATURES

Today I’ll tell you about our hero’s way of life and give some interesting facts and figures.

On the latest open day I asked Sapog some questions about consumption of resources on his farm.

Food. Paul has a meal one time and a half every day. Why one and a half? He has a full meal for dinner and in the morning he eats leftovers. For dinner he usualy has some pottage. He has no lunch so that not to waste time on cooking and save products. For pottage and dessert Paul has three handfuls of grain, wheat or peas (about 150-180 g), one onion and one head of garlic, a pinch of salt (about 1 teaspoon), a handful of dried apples (about 80 g), a large spoon of honey. In addition he uses about 450 g of flour a week. These are resources that Pavel has from the start of the project. Besides he eats eggs, mushrooms and so on, but I have no information about it.

Water. Water is spent on cooking, hygiene, laundry, bath and cattle. Usually Paul spends three buckets a day. He has a wooden bucket of about 8 liters. So he spends only 24 liters of water. If he has a bath or laundry, the amount doubles.

Firewood. When it is cold, Pavel spends two armfuls of finely chopped wood and an armful of brushwood. It takes quite little birch bark for kindling. Pavel often uses the remnants of burnt lamp wicks. An oiled piece of wick provides a steady source of flame, sufficient for kindling. Pavel doesn’t spend candles and uses them mainly to transfer flame.

Spending this amount of wood it is possible to keep a stable above-zero temperature of about 18C. Before going to bed Pavel increases temperature to 28C. For lighting with oil lamps Pavel spends about 75 g of oil a night.

So, Pavel spends his scarce resources very carefully. And here is a story. Recently Pavel’s goats managed to penetratate into the house, ate the last remaining apples, scattered a jug with compote and turned over a conteiner with fresh-milled flour. For this devastation the goat-troublemaker hardly escaped death penalty. In October Pavel had already slaughtered and eaten a negligent goat. But this time Pavel kept his composure and only beaten the goat slightly.

The moral of this story — do not steal or spoil the farmer’s resources, it’s dangerous for life!