Spring water, forest and a radical change of perspective

Let 1, you can safely leave it at that. The setting of the estate on the Prekowaberg, in the belly of which, according to legend, an underground lake is even suspected, is similar to the sound of the Himmelberg municipality's postal address. The Tibel (note: the body of water, the stream) "...could erupt and flood the entire Kesselthal of Himmelberg. There was also talk that Gnesau would sink one day, Himmelberg would drown and Feldkirchen would suffocate in the sand when the Himmelberg keeper would only have a single pair of oxen left." This is how dramatic the myth, which still thrives on Wikipedia, wants it to be. However, the young farmer on the beautifully landscaped balcony overlooking Central Carinthia is not in the mood for the end times.

Speaking of "Central Carinthia", the Zeilingers' natural estate, which is gently caressed by the morning sun, has something calming about it. Far away from through roads or densely populated ski slopes, it simply lies there and yet is still highly sought after internationally. Perhaps it is because of the five springs that spring from the bottom of the Natur Gut that industrious German hut village operators have persistently tried to develop this place for commercial purposes. But it did not come to its knees. The economic value should not be overestimated (even if two generations had "made ends meet", as the colloquial expression goes). No, the magic of neoliberalism is not working in Lassen. "I want to work," says Günter, "but sensibly and in line with my respective phase of life," he then calmly but confidently underpins his resistance to foreign investor money, however high it may have been. Only he knows that. Hats off, Chapaeu and whatever else you can say when you send the millionaire show away again.

"The springs. These are places where water is born"

Maybe it's the special aura that the fountains of Tiebel are able to create beneath me. For a fleeting moment, I feel more and more like Aragorn, heir to the throne of Arnor and Gondorr, in love with Arwen, the royal maiden and half-elf. But this is not Tolkien's world, which is a shame. Even if Himmelberg draws his appeal from a special, Garden of Eden-like composition. And as much as I would like to see it now, there is no trace of a half-elf, but rather a very carefully and sustainably managed agricultural area with a lot of feeling for nature and people, a desirable blueprint for an ecosocially exemplary area of activity. And: a temporary living space for nature-loving post-materialists who simply want to leave their accelerated everyday world behind them for a few days and show their children (and even more so themselves) a good life. Not as spectators or onlookers at the petting zoo. Being in the thick of it instead of just being there is the daily program here, as it is on many farms that open their farms, gates and hearts to those people for whom a four or five-star superior service treatment simply no longer warms the heart. All-inclusive.

Like Zeilinger himself, his guests are perhaps a little off the norm, wherever that may be and whoever claims to be able to define this state at all. Anyway. A few years ago (Günter has been in charge of things here for 20 years now), he received a request from a manager who simply wanted to spend a week in the forest doing woodwork with him. Perhaps to feel himself again. In between all the meetings and business talk that brings euros but no soul resonance. Where better to do this than with people who are rooted in their work with all their feet and even more mind and soul. This proves once again that Farm holidays are the most effective "digital detox" you can have for affordable money.

"There are guests who want to spend their twilight years with us"

Today, tourism is in the hands of international giants anyway. Booking.com, Google and AirBnB know where the journey is heading. It's nice that a farmer, whose main focus cannot be the travel business alone, calmly replies when asked about his visions for the future: "My guests are the better market researchers and management consultants anyway". Unlike paid optimization mercenaries, the guests at Natur Gut speak in the plural when they talk about their experiences and emotions at the farm. It's the "we" that counts here. Here, the share economy is already a living reality. And in Günter, the temporary visitors have found someone who can also listen. He has understood for himself that good interpersonal messages must go through the stomach, i.e. come from the kitchen. In Lassen, it has become a tradition for the children to cook and bake bread for their parents once a week, ideally on Fridays, i.e. on the last evening of their vacation. What happens then is sometimes great social theater. The little ones explain to the grown-ups how to bake bread. Watching kids who are not rooted up here break the home-baked bread in front of the astonished and sometimes irritated eyes of their parents is not only an archaic ritual with a profound effect, but also a pleasant confirmation that here at exactly 1,040 meters above sea level, it is about much more than just being a guest. Not a vacation, but home with friends. Driving away now even hurts somehow. Thank you for the beautiful pain.