A Shepherd’s Life In The Carpathian Mountains, Romania

High up on the mountains of Bucovina stands a wooden hut used by sheep farmers to stay in during the lambing season. Inside the shepherd’s hut, the layout is quite simple: a kitchen, a dining room, a bedroom, and a sitting room, all combined into one.

There is a bed, a table, a long banquette with sheepskin throws, and a hearth or the fire pit where the shepherds cook their meal, make whey cheese, and gather to eat and socialize. Various old wooden tools that are used for cheesemaking are mounted or leaning against the wall. 

In the middle of the room, two large milk tubs are ready to be filled. In the back room, rows of cheeses as big as boulders are stacked on wooden shelves, and a series of other cheeses are tied to drain in line to the edge of the shelf. A slightly sweet and creamy aroma of milk mingled with a smoky scent creates a cozy feeling.

In the distance, we hear the joyful voices of shepherds. They are nearing with dogs all about them, their buckets full of milk.

They have been with the sheep all day and, once they are penned in their enclosure, they move to the cheese hut, where they will spend the next two hours preparing the cheese. 

“Each spring, we leave our lives behind and move up the mountains in Vama commune. We stay here from May to September”, says Mr. Popa Niculai, who is the chief of the farm.

“My wife is retired. She’s at home, keeping pigs. I send her whey to feed them. Back home, we keep a cow to provide us milk for our nephews”, he continues.

Although they spend quite a bit of time up here, they have to deal with day-to-day challenges.

Any time they venture into the wilderness, they can potentially meet a bear, or they can lose a sheep or a lamb.

“My daughters say: <- Why don’t you get some rest? You want to die up there? Don’t you think you can get sick?> <-No!>”

As the sun sets, the room slowly sinks into darkness, and the flames from the open fire slightly illuminate the shepherd’s figure. He is sitting by the two milk tubs, which are wrapped up in a woolen plaid to coagulate and keep milk warm. He is pensively looking into the distance, and his eyes reflect a cool tranquility. He does not see what is going on outside because he is thinking about his own secrets. The harsh life has left a deep imprint on his character.

“I’m 72 years old. I worked in the mines. Since I retired, I’ve been doing this. As a retired miner, I could have stayed home. Instead, I’m raising animals all through the year”, says the shepherd.

Outside, men are chit-chatting while doing chores like washing the buckets and barrels. The room is now filled with smoke. They bring in a large cauldron and set it on the open fire. 

It’s been thirty minutes since the rennet was added. Each shepherd takes a whisker and starts breaking the curds into small pieces. Then they are kneaded to squeeze out the whey, gathered in cheesecloth, and hung overnight in the back room.

It’s already nighttime, and the whey is now boiling in the large cauldron to make the whey cheese.

Outside, the crickets are chirping, while the shepherds still have some energy left to play the longhorn accompanied by their hauling dogs.

Flames from a fire create a cozy, fairytale-like atmosphere through their warm, shifting light and the crackling sounds.

As the curds begin to float to the top, they are gathered in cheesecloth and hung with the other cheeses.

After laboring through the night, the shepherds eat a snack and finish their daily chores before midnight. Every shepherd has their assigned role. Some wash the pots and pans, others clean the buckets and cauldrons, then they must go to rest for about four hours before beginning their daily work at around 4:00 am.

“We’re done for the day. Tomorrow, again. We got used to standing on this front line.”

Location: Village of Molid, Suceava County, Romania; Contact Popa Niculai: 004 0734 351 537

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