Johannes is one of three. The older sister lives and works as a teacher in England. The younger brother is a foreman. And Josef also found his way to his parents' farm via necessary detours. The trained agricultural machinery mechanic worked as a petrol station attendant and milled asphalt throughout Austria. You could say that mountain farmer Gritzner has a penchant for jobs that require a lot of physical effort. It's not exactly the case that candidates for farm takeovers are queuing up all over Austria. Many farms have to be closed down when the venerable old people can no longer cope and the young pursue other lifestyles. This is not only happening in the mountain farming milieu, but across the whole country, even away from alpine locations such as Maltaberg. "You have to be the type for it, otherwise you don't do it," says Johannes, speaking plainly about the job description of a miner, which will probably never be advertised through the employment service. Mining is much more an attitude to life, a set of values, than a traditional job that aims to make a big profit. The work is tough and demands a lot from the whole family. "Those down in the valley don't understand why we do all this up here anyway," says Gritzner about the understandable opinion of some of her colleagues on the flatter valley floor.
A fulfilling life without distractions
His childhood was characterized by simplicity, it was never boring. Johannes was almost always outside and went to help in the fields after school without being asked. "That used to be a matter of course and you grew into the farm from an early age. Nowadays, it can happen that the children mock when they are asked for help," he says, describing a change in the attitude of young people when it comes to helping out. In his childhood, of course, there weren't too many distractions to occupy young people's attention. Today, however, WhatsApp and Instagram are penetrating the last (alpine) corners of our society and bringing the world to the farm and mountain. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing, provided that digital natives know how much smartphone use is socially acceptable.
Children's eyes widen when white comes out of the cow
There is also a very special guest loyalty at the Wegscheiderhof in the Malta Valley. Many families return with their offspring to the place that made their own children's eyes light up back then. "Everlasting memories" is not the title of an advertising campaign, but happens where people meet and a sense of community blossoms. Johannes remembers what he calls a "guest boom" in the 1980s, a numerically successful period in Carinthia's tourism history. "Our guests are becoming more and more curious, asking questions and are often more interested than they used to be," says the farmer, describing the types of vacationers at the mountain farm who are not only looking for relaxation, but also want to quench their thirst for education. "And especially the men," he adds with a grin.
For me, vacation means stress
Johannes' roots run deep in the Carinthian Tauern mountains. "If my wife thinks it's time to go away again, that's fine, but I don't really need to," he reveals his affinity for staying at home. Strange, why doesn't the hard-working man treat himself to a well-deserved break away from strenuous farm work? Once you hear his explanation, the arguments sound immediately understandable. "Vacation means that I have to make preparations, so there's more to do in the short term, and then maybe I can take a week's rest somewhere. On my return, I then have to do some follow-up work, so all in all, it's more stress just for the sake of the vacation," says Gritzner, explaining his theory of a kind of imbalance that doesn't occur if you don't go away in the first place. Johannes is basically an extremely obliging host due to his love of his homeland and his love of the farm, because he wouldn't want to swap the Maltaberg for Lignano, Caorle & Co. He doesn't have to. We would do the same.
Stefan Heinisch
contentkumpanei.com, 34 Article(s)
