Playground and Activities to Engage in
All parents are preoccupied whether their children will have what to do during their holidays. We assure you that for as long as the homestead exists we have never met a single child who would be bored. Further afield, but in a clearly visible place, we have set up a space for children’s play. An outdoor kitchenette with real cooking utensils, crockery and cutlery, a sandbox, swings, a running barrel, a rotating round log, a hammock, a tightrope, and a forest cabin – children will be very busy and engaged.
Our homestead is full of offerings such as volleyball, duels with sacks, tug-of-war, archaic games, badminton, sack race, gathering of herbs, tea-cooking in a genuine witch’s cauldron, and many more diverse educational programmes furnished by us.
All cabins are packed with tabletop games of very different variety, the abundance of which we are continuously expanding.
Fishing
Our homestead has 3 ponds on its territory. One pond, which is 17 a. in area, is stocked with fish, and here one can not only catch the magic fish (a carp, a tench, a grass carp or a pike, as we call it), but also to take a nice dip.
The pond has a spring debouching into it, which makes its water always cool and clean. Don’t forget your fishing rod!
Archaic Household Chores
It is a pleasure to engage in what is not a routine. We will narrate about the everyday life and daily chores of the old-time village dwellers, as well as about children’s duties and pastimes of those times. Do you know why, in the old times, children, when going to school, used to take two quills: a hen quill and a goose quill? Why were they supposed to hide behind the wood-burning stove when a guest stepped into their home? Did you know that it was not only girls but also boys who used to wear kerchiefs on their heads? We will show you and teach you the chores that were a daily routine to our grandparents and great-grandparents. It is a delight to watch with what great enthusiasm children are gathering soap plants in the meadows and subsequently making soap out of them, are doing the laundry using a washboard, are hanging up the laundry on the clothesline with clothes pegs, and subsequently are “ironing” the laundry with a fluted mangle board and a rolling pin. Children try their hands at butter churning and yarn twisting. For those who have escaped from the urban concrete jungle, even weeding in a vegetable garden is a thrilling diversion.
Mushrooms and Berries
Perhaps no questions arise as to what one can do in the forest in summer or in autumn? Especially as the homestead is situated amidst one of the largest Lithuanian woodlands. We will give you a wicker basket, not forgetting to show you where the most bountiful spots lie. And, of course, once you come back, we will rate your success and the sharpness of your eyes in the light of your basket’s weight.
Heart-Shaped Waffles
We are glad that our heart-shaped waffles baked on our homestead’s wood-burning cooking stove are so well appreciated!!!
In 2017, our homestead – “Gervių giesmė” (The Song of Cranes) – made it to the top ten of the most delicious Lithuanian rural tourism homesteads namely because of these roundish beauties. Maybe you would like to try and bake a plateful of heart-shaped waffles by yourself? We will give you a few tips, we will be there for you for helping, and we assure you that upon having tasted the waffles it will be not only the smallest ones who will smack and lick their lips. Bon Appetit!
According to the team of “Skonių kelias” (The Trail of Tastes), the Lithuanians of the Lithuania Minor Region began baking heart-shaped waffles, following suit of the Germans, and, more than a hundred years ago, referred to them as vofeliai (Waffeln in German ). Written sources say that this dish originated in the Rhine River Region in the Middle Ages after there emerged special baking pans with a heart-shaped ornamental pattern resembling a honeycomb. Lithuanians of Lithuania Minor used to bake heart-shaped waffles for light afternoon meal or for supper, used to serve them with confiture, and washed them down with kafija (coffee) or tija (tea). Presently, heart-shaped waffles are spread all across Lithuania and are called čirviniai blynai (literally heart pancakes).
Rabbits
A village without pets is not a village. Clever people nowadays say that stroking and feeding pets is a curative therapy, and we can only add that it is an extremely joyful and lovely diversion. Children willingly help to take care of the pets, and look after them with great enthusiasm throughout their stay at the homestead. The pets are truly loved, pampered and are always awaiting for the little fellows, as well as for carrots, of course.
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