These videos were filmed about 100 miles north of where my parents come
from, so I took a special interest.  These films pertain to the ‘mountain
people’ in a village about an hour or two west of Cortina.  My folks worked
the plains and the foothills south of this area, but the culture is
same-same but different.


Working on milling flour, but first fettling the grindstone
https://youtu.be/QcWNHVVUn2I


Preparing the dough for the hard dry bread (think gigantic dry thick
crackers) from South Tyrol area.  These are stored in the attic and used
over the whole year.  Yup, bake it once a year then store it.
https://youtu.be/PgmP6-7Jebg


These are as hard as a rock, as you can imagine, so you need to break these
mega-crackers up safely (a regular knife would be dangerous)
So you make a “bread cutter” (mounted blade)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR3fmIJ_gNc
Anyone else bothered by that wobbly bench?  Remember though, this guy is a
farmer, not a cabinet maker or mill stone operator or baker.  Actually he
is all of those things and more (it’s the same farmer in all the three
previous videos).  I wonder if they have more videos of this guy?


When haying, getting ready for winter, you need to scythe a lot of stony
land, so you’ll need a dengelstock to peen out your scythe before stoning
it, otherwise you’d loose waaaay too much blade.   So peen out all the
dents In your blade first, then stone it with your handy pocket sandstone
that you carry over your butt in a water filled sheath (to keep the swarf
under control).  Your wife will join you on the south facing slope to help
with the hay harvest.  She’ll use the chopped up hunks of carraway rye
bread in water or some broth to make a carb-rich zuppa for lunch.
https://youtu.be/Uul7LRkBlY8
Not many people were overweight back then...

Cheers
Claudio