We are part of the nature that surrounds us. Sheep grazing has been practiced in the Tatras for centuries. Today, seven senior shepherds graze 1200 sheep on 140 hectares spread across 29 mountain pastures. Polish sheepdogs assists the shepherds and guard the property. Their huts (bacówki) are furnished with traditional paraphernalia used to produce various cheeses: bundz, bryndza, oscypek, redykolka, polka and zetyca. Grazing time starts around April 23rd and in the Tatras ends on 15th of October or earlier – everything depends on the weather. Flocks are driven onto the pastures when the vegetation is at least 8 cm tall. Sheep grazing preserves rich cultural heritage, and also helps promote biological diversity.
X-Pro3 & XF35mmF1.4 R
X-Pro3 & XF35mmF1.4 R
One of this 7 shepherds is Stanislaw Rychtarczyk. He started working with the sheeps when he was 6 years. He was helping his uncle near the Morskie Oko area at Tatra Mountains. When he was going to school all vacations times (2 months) he was spending there. After finishing school he was near his uncle all the time. Now when he is 67 years old, for around 37 years he grazes them at Rusinowa Polana from which you have amazing view at Tatra Mountains. Stanisław (juhas), who is now 69 years old, helps him with this. He started his journey with sheep grazing 51 years ago. Like he says: „I’ve started my journey in 1968 when invasion czechoslovakia taken place”. Each their day is the same for almost half of the year. Getting up at four in the morning, despite the weather conditions. Grazing sheeps, milking them, preparing everything for the next day and much more. Like Staniław Rychtarczyk says: „You have to love this job. This is a calling.”
X-Pro3 & XF35mmF1.4 R
X-Pro3 & XF35mmF1.4 R
X-Pro3 & XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro
