With Max at the Malenger Mill

Summer 2010

ALPE Alpe di Siusi Magazin

CASTELROTTO · SIUSI ALLO SCILIAR · ALPE DI SIUSI · FIÈ ALLO SCILIAR

Flower paradise The Alpe di Siusi in floral splendour

A royal view The big Laranzer Round

Max in the mill Old types of grain updated

www.alpedisiusi.info

With Max at the Malenger Mill Close by the ancient church of S. Vigilio, the Malenger farm runs an old mill on the Rio Freddo stream. Max Plunger, the farmer, is passionate about his original types of grain.

» Text: Barbara Pichler Photo: Helmuth Rier

12 ALPE | Summer

M

ax Plunger, the farmer at the Malenger mill, is normally a calm, reserved type. But get him talking about his mill and the production of grain and he is hard to stop. His passion is this historic mill and the growing of old, original types of grain. For years he has been concerned about – and has warned against – the effects of genetically altered grain. He cannot understand why farmers would want to grow grain that germinates just once. The types of grain he cultivates, Otterbacher

rye and wheat, were introduced to him by his fa­ ther: they are not hybrids, but rather the original grain. “Yields are less, but the grain is much more disease-resistant. Those with allergies can also tol­ erate it better. I am repeatedly asked for my flour because so many people have seen that they can tolerate it better”, says Max proudly. This confirms his view that he is doing something right.

A cultural and historical jewel. The mill, along with a love for grain cultivation, were inherited »

The old waterwheel at the “Rio Freddo” stream is still in service.

Summer | ALPE 13

14 ALPE | Summer

Where time stands still: the Malenger mill is in function for 500 years now.

Miller with heart and soul: Max Plunger masters his craft.

by Max from his father, who also told his son how to grind the grain and how the mill operates. His mission is to preserve and maintain this cultural and historical jewel in S. Vigilio, located below Siusi allo Sciliar. He is energetically assisted by his three daughters, Manuela, Sieglinde and Martina and his son-in-law, Raimund. They help him with the grain and the mill. The farm today only pro­ duces grain for their own use, but Max’s concern is to preserve the old types. These must in no case be lost, as Max distrusts genetic engineering. “You never know where it all might lead with genetically altered species”, says this well-informed farmer.

Max knows all there is to know about his mill: he is familiar with every cog and sprocket and can tell whether everything is in order from the sounds it produces. When he has time, he will relate all he knows about the craft of the miller and the grow­ ing of grain. Rye, wheat, spelt, barley and buck­ wheat are still sown on small fields on his farm.

In high summer, the “Kornschaber”, figures made of corn, can be seen in the fields. This is particu­ larly interesting as there are few corn fields left in the area. Nor can many people nowadays tell the difference between rye and wheat, or barley and buckwheat, but Max certainly can. In front of the mill he has made a display of the various corn ears and grains. This is perhaps the first time that many people will have seen what spelt grain looks like or how a mill operates. Each visitor can thus imagine how flour was made for bread in former times.

The craft of the miller. The inside of the mill, with its wooden gear wheels, its bolts and millstones, is a showpiece of the old miller’s craft. Some days Max sets the mill working to show interested visi­ tors how the complicated drive system works as the flour is being milled. The old mill is powered by water from the Rio Freddo stream. Water runs via a wooden channel from the stream to the larch waterwheel. Above the farm, by the hay barn, there is also a water wheel to drive the threshing ma­ chine, which separates the chaff from the grain.

The straw is fed to the animals, while the grain is made into flour.

Max has also collected old documents about the mill, for example from the museum in Innsbruck, proving that the Malenger mill was functioning as long ago as 1525. The farm was documented be­ fore, in 1448. There were once 15 mills along the Rio Freddo, of which only the Malenger mill is still working today. Even fifty years ago mills and grain production both played a significant role in the lives of the rural communities around the Sciliar.

Grain was grown primarily for the farmers’ own use, while the miller would also grind grain for the surrounding farms. Bread was baked at least four times a year on the farms, with rye, wheat and sometimes spelt grown for this purpose. Buck­ wheat, which is not actually a grain but a form of knot-grass, was used for “buckwheat mash”, a po­ pular dietary mainstay. «

Summer | ALPE 15