Spring and German Farmhouses - 04/08/14 05:31 PM
Spring has really arrived in Germany, even though there hasn't really been much of a winter this year, so the farmers are out and about.
This is a typical farmhouse that is still in existence in many areas of the country. This one comes from the 17th century, and then, as now in some cases, the cattle overwintered on the ground floor, their heat warmed the living quarters above them while in the roof hay was stored for winter supplies, which also kept out the cold.
The farmhouses were beautifully insulated from the bitterly cold and snowy German winters.
It not only made life easier, ecologically it was a perfect solution. Only of course they didn't know about 'ecology' in those days, they just knew from experience what worked.