Sušilnica
Drying house
Sušilnica je objekt kmetskega gospodarstva za sušenje in to za sušenje z ognjem - za razliko od koruznjaka ali kozolca na primer, ki sušita s pomočjo sonca. Pred davnimi leti, v predzgodovini, so tudi žito sušili v kamnitih sušilnicah, ampak v mokri Angliji, v Devonu. V Rusiji so znani objekti, kjer so žito sušili nad ognjem (Aleksandrova 1967). Leseni objekti so večnadstropni in zaradi ognja precej nevarni. Zato so ognjišče prestavili v zemljo, lesen objekt pa je stal ob njem in nad njim, da je bil varen in da je ogenj s svojo toploto sušil zrnje (Juvanec,B 2007:18). V Sloveniji poznamo le sušilnice za lan in za sadje. Lan so sušili za izdelavo preje, iz katere so predice predle laneno platno. Sveže sadje je užitno le omejen čas, sušeno dlje, pri čemer obdrži tako okus kot druge vrednosti. Obe arhitekturi sta precej podobni. Ponekod je zgradba ista za oba namena. To je zidan objekt z vzdolžno, dvokapno streho. Slovenija je pretežno gorata, tak je tudi teren in zato je kurišče običajno dosegljivo s spodnje strani, medtem ko z zadnje strani dosežemo notranjost osrednjega dela. Prostor kurišča je preprost in dobiva tako kurjavo kot zrak s sprednje strani, kjer gospodar kontrolira ogenj s pločevinastim pokrovom. Pri tem imamo dva tipa: ko sušimo na dimu ali le s toploto. Če gre za sušenje na dimu, ima sadje tudi okus po njem, predvsem pa vonj. To je nekaterim všeč. Ne vsem, zato obstajajo bolj zahtevne sušilnice s sistemom odvoda dima, ki kroži okrog sušilne celice. Ta sistem je mogoče bolj kontrolirati, saj ogenj z dimom bolj greje spodaj in zgoraj bolj dimi. Sploh je temperatura zelo pomembna. Hkrati ne moremo sušiti vsega sadja, saj so slive bolj sočne in hruške na primer mnogo trše. Jug Slovenije pozna sušilnice z več sušilnimi komorami, pa tudi take z več kurišči. Predvsem pa stojijo kurišča posebej, nekoliko odmaknjena od sušilne komore, da je lahko toplota dima bolj kontrolirana. Lan ali sadje ležita na lesenih pladnjih, ki imajo dno iz prepleta, pozneje iz letev. Pladnji se vrstijo po višini in jih je treba pri sušenju menjavati, zato imajo mehanizem za izvlek, kakor predali. Zaradi tega je glavna odprtina tako velika kot prostor v prerezu, medtem ko so kuriščna vratca precej manjša, lahko pa imajo ločene dovode za zrak, ponekod tudi kontrolirane odvode dima, s katerimi kontrolirajo vlek in s tem temperaturo. Posebno pomemben je tudi vhodni del v sušilnico, ki je vedno pokrit, da je človek zavarovan pri oskrbovanju tudi v slabem vremenu. Tako ima telo sušilnice nekako preddverje ali trem. Slamnato streho so zaradi varnosti že zgodaj zamenjali z glineno ali vsaj z leseno, tako da slamnatih sušilnic skorajda ne najdemo več (izjema je na primer Baška grapa). Žal so sušilnice le še spomin in jih marsikje ‘krasijo’ z etnološkimi objekti, tudi ko ti nanje ne sodijo.
A drying house is an object of the farm economy for drying, using fire, in contrast to a cornhouse or kozolec, for example, which dry using the sun. Long ago, in prehistory, cereals were even dried in stone driers but in damp England, in Devon. Objects can be found in Russia in which wheat was dried over a fire (Aleksandrova 1967). The wooden objects are multi-storey and fairly dangerous because of fire. So the hearth was set into the earth and the wooden object stood beside and above it: in order to be safe and for the heat of the fire to dry the grain (Juvanec,B 2007:18). Only drying houses for flax and for fruit can be found in Slovenia. Flax was dried for the production of yarn, from which linen cloth was woven. Fresh fruit can only be enjoyed for a limited time, dried fruit for longer, whereby it retains both its taste and other values. The two structures are fairly similar: in some places, the same building is used for both purposes. This is a masonry object with a longitudinal gable roof. Slovenia is predominantly mountainous and so is the terrain, so the hearth is normally accessible from the lower side, while the interior of the central part is reached from the rear. The space of the hearth is simple and obtains both fuel and air from the front, where the master controls the fire with a sheet metal cover. There are two types: when the drying is done in smoke and when there is only heat. If the drying is done in smoke, the fruit also retains the taste and, above all, the smell. Some people like this. Not everyone, though, so a more demanding drying house exists with a system of drawing off the smoke, which circles round the drying cell. This system is easier to control, since the fire with smoke goes more below and the smoke more above. The temperature is very important: not all fruit can be dried at the same time, since plums are juicy and pears, for example, much harder. The flax or fruit sits on wooden trays, which formerly had a wicker bottom but later from slats. The trays are ranked by height and have to be changed during drying, so there is a mechanism for extracting them, like drawers. Because of this, the main opening is as large in cross-section as the space itself, while the door to the hearth is considerably smaller. There can be a separate conduit for air, sometimes also a controlled outlet for the smoke, by which the draw and thus the temperature is controlled. The entrance to the drying house is also very important. It is always covered, to protect the person tending the fire in bad weather. The body of the drying house has a sort of entrance porch. Because of the hazard, thatched roofs were already changed early on for tiles or at least wood, so that thatched drying houses are almost never found now (an exception is an example in Baška grapa). Unfortunately, drying houses are only a memory today and in many places are ‘decorated’ with ethnological objects even when these do not belong there.
152
AS4_1del_rezerva.indd 152
27.10.2011 20:31:44