looduskalender.ee

 

 

Talking in Valdor’s present home at Välja

 

Valdor, what animals did you meet in the forest in your shepherd days?

 

In the old days there were really lots of roe deer. In the autumn they came to the sprouting grain fields in Palupõhja, 40-50 in a flock. There were quite a lot of hedgehogs and hares, and plenty of foxes too. Fox skin was expensive then. It is said to have cost 70-80 Estonian krooni, which was nearly 2 months’ wages. At that time a farm hand got 40 krooni and maybe not even that if he wasn’t a good worker. Otter skin is said to have been more than 100 krooni. There were particularly many otters at Pedja. When I was a little boy Mother and Father went to collect burls (see note at end) from trees in the clearing near the Meleski glass factory. The otter flock was there somewhere in the hayfield and when we were coming they jumped into the water plop and plop and disappeared. Seven, eight of them and sometimes even more.

 

In the old days there were a lot of frogs too. The water was simply thick around the frog colony during spawning. You couldn’t keep talking in the boat because you couldn’t hear each other. The plopping and quacking was so loud. When you looked there were just white breasts so closely packed they were there. There are much fewer frogs now.

 

But did it happen that a wild animal attacked the herd?

 

Well, wolves were pursued quite hard in the old days. If there were any around, hunts were set up and they were put down. It was seldom heard that a sheep was lost somewhere. And bears were not even mentioned. Just the same with boars, there weren’t any. Nobody rooted around in the potato fields. Beavers did not even exist. About lynxes I cannot remember that anyone had seen any tracks. 

 

You haven’t talked about elks at all. Were there elks in the old days?

 

I was about 10 years old when I saw an elk for the first time. It was sometime in the 30es. There were so few elks. During the World War an awful lot of them were killed. And when the war ended the number of elks was very small. It didn’t increase so fast either. Poachers were busy all the time.

 

The cows were in the fallow field in these days. We had a cattle dog that used to chase all animals. Went for roe deer and hares until he saw. The dog barked and a scary big creature came out from the forest. I asked Mother, what animal is this? Mother said that it was an elk.

 

Alam-Pedja is the land of eagles. What about eagles and owls in the old days?

 

There were eagles but nobody counted them. Older men talked about golden eagles and lesser spotted eagles. There were no white-tailed eagles. There were plenty of goshawks, hens were snatched all the time. Particularly in the autumn. There were a lot more buzzards than now. The buzzards’ problem is that they can’t get at food before the hay is cut. In the old days a buzzard sat all the time on top of the haystack, he was sitting there watching and when he got a chance caught the mouse at once. And there were all kinds of owls. People didn’t really make any difference between the kinds. It was an owl and that was all.

 

And what other birds were there?

 

There were grouses and grouse displays. In the old days hunters always talked of how they were out hunting grouse. There were a lot of capercaillies too. For many years I counted ptarmigans. There from the round bog edge, towards Karussaare, a loud sizzling sound came. When you looked from a distance the bog was black and moved. There could be a hundred or more capercaillie cocks together.

 

And when I walked the Kõrgepalu route at least 5-6 ptarmigan pairs were in the display places along that round. The ptarmigan jumps up and you see it from far away. Then it is as if it laughs – kok-kok-kok-kok. They were in all parts of the bog and everywhere.

 

There are hazel grouse today too. And then too. They like living in young broadleaf and mixed forests. The village pastures were full of lapwings and there were many ducks. Besides mallards there were small ducks: called “mud quacks”. Probably teals, they rather keep to mud.

 

Do you remember the Emajõe sääsamaja fish traps?

 

I saw two of them. Down from Palupõhja there was one and another a little upwards from Ringkoolde. The sites are filled with mud now, the water doesn’t flow through any longer. In the old days we called them sääsemaja traps.

 

I didn’t fish with that thing. Fish going downstream were caught with it. Basically it was a large net bag and from the bottom end a string went to the hut. In the hut a stick stood upright and on it was a little bell. When a fish got into the net bag and pulled then the bell jingled. The net had to be raised quickly before the fish got out. But bream didn’t have to stay in. They caught bream like this: a white board was put on the river bed. And then you kept watching: when the breams passed across the board the net with the fish was quickly taken up. So breams too were caught. Breams won’t go into a fish trap, if the trap touches them anywhere. There must be a completely free entry.

 

There is said to be a tale here that pikes came indoors?

 

The fishermen who lived in the floodplain all had the freshet water indoors in spring. When you went to someone to look for fish then you went by boat straight up to the doorstep, chained the boat there. Downside Tartu too, the people who lived there had the same problem. The floor was usually set on sand, it wasn’t fastened with nails.

One fisherman told too that no fire could be lit in the oven, there was water in it. Only in the kitchen range there was no water, it could be heated. The sauna fireplace was all in water. And so it happened sometimes that a small pike was swimming indoors.

 

Have you been a great fisherman yourself? And what kinds of fish have you caught?

 

I have been a fisherman officially for 3 years, unofficially for the rest of it. I have caught all kinds of fish that there have ever been in the Emajõgi. Even asp and chub. There were a lot of chubs in the old days and they were caught in autumn. Trotlines were thrown in, with baited hooks, and they were there in the morning. The favourite food of the chub is said to be mouse flesh. I haven’t tested mouse. We caught perch, roach and bleak too with hooks. In the old days there were a lot of bleaks. In good weather the water surface was full of them. You won’t see this any more. When I was a small boy we had a cat who wasn’t afraid of water. It was very clever at catching bleaks.

 

Burbots were caught too, with trotlines in autumn in the Emajõgi. My largest ever burbot was somewhere around 9 kilos. I haven’t caught a catfish, haven’t even seen one. The largest fish that I ever caught was a pike – over 16 kilos. Caught it with a spinning rod.

 

Did you go picking cranberries? In this corner it seems mandatory.

 

I certainly did go picking cranberries. This season I did so too. I was out there for three hours and picked 5 litres. More cranberries got picked in the old days. We had children. I went picking 2-3 times and picked half a rucksack full and more every time.

 

In Karussaare the women who were picking berries had their cranberry stores. They were there in the old house. They couldn’t have any heating except by filling an old kettle with stones. It was heated on a fire outside and brought indoors. The kettle then gave off some heat. They had their food supply there in the cattle barn – grains and salt lined up in a row. The cranberry harvest was brought out by boat by the large ditch to Pedja. Then it wasn’t necessary to carry it on the back.

 

The Naela oak wood, do you have any memories of that?

 

I haven’t but it has been said that it was the wintering place once for the troops of Lembitu of Lehola, and there has been some digging there too it seems. The oak stand was  meant to have protection already during Estonia’s first independence. It seems as if it has been an old sacred grove. But I don’t have any more exact information about these things unfortunately. It is said too that the treasure of Viljandi town would be buried under an oak there. Well, gold then or something. But where that oak is, nobody knows.

 

***

 

When we were leaving the generous gentleman told us on escorting us out of the door that he could really talk more. Everything doesn’t come to mind at once. And he handed us a large jar with fresh maple sap to take with us.

Be it as it may with the treasure of Viljandi town hidden in the Naela oak wood... The greatest treasure is still Alam-Pedja itself. And a part of this treasure are those few people who have grown up and been living here in harmony with nature.

 

Collective potato picking at the that-time tenant of Mikako farm, Jüri. The photo was taken before 1915. Later Valdor’s grandfather bought the farm for himself. Photographer August Pooli.

 

Building of the Lõhmuse jetty. Only Valdor is still alive of the bridgebuilding masters; we see him on the right.

 

 

Note: Burl: outgrowth or bump on tree trunks, often birches. Because of the intricate grain pattern of the wood it is sought after  for woodcarving. 

 

The Alam-Pedja tales in Looduskalender are supported by Keskkonnainvesteeringute Keskus (Environmantal Investments Centre).