The Schwarzwaldhöfe – the Black Forest farms
Everything is just perfect: Homes and landscape, form and function, the architectural style and the materials employed. The farms are built of wood from the Black Forest itself. From the foundational beams to the shingled roof, floors and walls are made from wooden boards and the finished house is pleasantly tanned by the sun as the farms nestle on the hillsides.
From the hillside, an elevated entrance leads to the barn. The barn floor is situated over the hay storage and the stable. This is cleverly and practically done. Valuable time and energy is saved in bringing the feed down to the stall whose ceiling is isolated with hay. People, animals and feed all fit underneath the steep roof. The living rooms have a view to the valley, facing the sun which shines through the windows.
Living in the old shingle roofed Black Forest farms was not luxurious at all. Running water for people and animals, for washing, cooking and drinking could only be drawn from the wells in front of the farms.
The farmers worked in soot-filled kitchens with little light and lots of smoke, and without a chimney the smoke soaked into the woodwork. It was also common for the stables with their terrible smell to be situated closely to the living quarters. Around 1922, Hemmingway mockingly commented on the chickens and how they would scratch and leave manure piles in front of the window in the garden of the Black Forest guesthouse he stayed – a scene that now belongs only to the past. Today, the farms have been completely modernised, with built-in kitchens and modern toilets, and many farms are available for rent as holiday homes.
The living room located in the middle of the house symbolises the centre of the family and its farm. With its low wooden ceiling, wood panelled walls, tiled stove – a unique piece of art – and its stone bank warmly heated by the stove, the living room of a Black Forest farm is even more cosy and delightful today. In the window filled corner which is situated diagonally across from the tiled stove is the place of God: This corner is called Hergottswinkel and features a small altar, including a hand-carved crucifix and a little Madonna statue.
In the Black Forest, the saints most worshipped are those that protect against the danger of fire and animal diseases, such as saints Sebastian, Florian and Agatha. Chapels honouring holy Saint Wendelin, the patron saint of shepherds and animals are very common. Other chapels honouring Saint Antonius, the saint of pigs and also known as “Sautoni” (pig Toni) are abundant in this area. If you come and visit us, you can see how the people of the Black Forest are religious without being overly pious.
The farm names are relics of older times. For larger families, the farm was their homeland. Inheritance allowed the farms and the families a continuous existence. The youngest inherited the entire farm and money was then divided and shared among the siblings who were also given the right to stay on the farms as servants. After handing down the farm the parents could grow old untroubled, surrounded by their family.
The economy, the shape of the landscape, the inheritance practices, all were maintained by the typical Black Forest farms, the independent farms with straw holdings and the valley inhabitants. The name of the farms can be traced back to 1700, even if the owners of the farms have changed since then.
All farm houses have their own individual features. Even the farmers possess their very own unique characters and forms of obstinacy! The shapes of the farms vary from region to region. You can observe all of the different types of farm houses, from the inside and out, at the open air museum, the Vogtsbauernhöfe, in Gutach…