Ahlerstedt, about five miles from Harsefeld, was founded more than 900 years ago. It used to be primarily a farming village, but nowadays only two farms are left. One of them is Borghost, Ahlerstedt's oldest farm, and the ancestral home of the Tibke family.
My mother grew up in Hamburg, but she and her siblings have many good memories of their visits to Borghorst. Here we met Gunther and Brigitte Tibke, the current owners, and their three children; Hilde, Frieda and Anneliese, my mother's cousins; Hans, Frieda's husband, and their daughter . The ladies made us an AMAZING lunch: beef stew with tiny mushrooms, new potatoes, red cabbage, and spaetzle. For dessert, a vanilla custard topped with tart raspberry sauce.
After lunch we took a tour of the farm. Gunther and Brigitte have 200 cows. The cows are milked twice a day, 40 cows at a time. The cows amble into the milking barn, line up and reverse into the milking bays. Each cow has a microchip; the chip transmits the cow's ID number to the milking terminal. While the machine milks the cow, a flow meter measures the volume of milk produced, and transmits this information to a computer. This way the farmers can track the output of each cow. When the milking is done, the cows amble back to their barn, and the next shift ambles in. It was so interesting! But it must really be a lot of work tending to so many animals twice a day, every day of the week. So say thanks to the dairy farmer the next time you pour milk on your cereal!
When we came back to the house, another feast - this time kaffee und kuchen. Oh, but what kuchen! I couldn't believe my eyes. The only problem - my stomach is too small!
We sat and drank coffee, and listened to the cousins tell stories. I took a German class in the spring, in the hopes that I would understand a little bit on this trip. When my mother, or Marianne, Jurgen and Inge spoke, I could follow along, at least with the subject if not the details. But when the others spoke I couldn't even catch a word. I thought, Is it because my mother and the others are throwing English words in sometimes? Or is my German really zero? I found out later that the Ahlerstedters were speaking Plattdeutsch - even my mother couldn't understand it!
When I was little, people would always say Oh! Your mother is the German lady! I didn't understand how they knew, because I couldn't hear her accent. Much later, when I came home after several years away, I could hear that, yes, she really does sound German. During today's visit, so many things felt so familiar and right - the way the table was set, the table cloth, the food, the unhurried, easy conversation over coffee. For the first time I perceived my own German accent. Although Germany isn't my home, it still feels like a homecoming. And it's only day two!
Some photos:
Marianne and Jurgen in front of the tile stove
Anneliese's house
Gunther
Unhooking the cows
They were very curious
Here comes the next shift
Rush hour
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