Krokar (TN: the raven) is one of those areas where man let nature run its own course. Not quite, is how the forester Tomaž Hartman, who in 2014 together with five photographers published a bilingual monograph about the old-growth forest, would correct me. Even protected areas cannot be protected against polluted air, acid rain and similar. Human stupidity knows no bounds! As Mr Hartman likes to point out, the primeval old-growth forest offers us an insight into the distant past. At the beginning of last year, he told me that “our perception of the world isn’t the only one that is correct or true”. And he is right.   

Primeval forests of Kočevska region

There are 6 remnants of primeval forest in Kočevska region, and thus it is something special, particularly for foresters. Krokar, a part of Borovška gora, extends over an area just over 74 hectares and gives shelter to bears, wolves, mountain eagles, peregrine falcons, black woodpeckers, wood grouses, lynxes, etc. And a plethora of small animals that are barely detectable with the naked eye. There an almost inaudible teeming pervades the decaying trunks, only because the reins are in nature’s hands.

What cannot resist the natural calamities, falls down and rots away. Yet those to overcome, thrive and dominate. And this area is predominantly covered with beech wood, which – according to the experts – has survived here during the Ice Age and has throughout the millennia spread across northern Europe. That is why, the Krokar primeval forest has been listed on the UNESCO’s Natural Heritage List since 2017. Bojan Kocjan, MSc, of the Kočevje Regional Unit of the Slovenia Forest Service, points out that “the entry is the result of long-standing 120-year efforts.”  

A thick dossier, covering five years of collecting materials, conducting inspections and checks, is proof of how Krokar attained importance on the global level. “It was only here that the beech tree could survive. Further north, there was only ice. As the ice began to recede, the beech tree spread from here,” is how Mr Kocjan explains the remarkable development of beech tree ecosystems that took place around 12,000 years ago. Along with the beech tree, other plants and animals have spread throughout the Europe as well. The list includes 63 areas of old-growth and primeval beech forests from ten countries. In addition to Krokar, the list also includes the Slovenian Snežnik–Ždrocle area.  

“The primeval forests retained their old-growth primeval character because someone decided to leave them be,” explains Bojan Kocjan, MSc. An important role was played by Leopold Hufnagel, who excluded the initial old-growth forest remnants by creating the first forest management plan. “Those two, that is sections 38 and 39, mentioned in his notes from 1892, are gone. They were cut down after World War II,” adds Mr Kocjan. Notes in literature record that there was a vast primeval forest which had existed on Borovška gora that was cut down after the war. “Krokar is a remnant of a wider area that was left untouched on Borovška gora.”

We do not enter into the primeval forest!

Let us not forget that the entry onto the Unesco’s Natural Heritage List brings with it responsibilities and obligations. That is why you should not walk along a well-beaten footpath that would mislead and lure a care-free hiker and lead him into the primeval forest! Visitors can reach the edge of Krokar from the direction of Cerk. However, entering the primeval forest that is marked in blue, is strictly forbidden. Only foresters are allowed to venture there to measure trees that are more than ten centimetres thick. And, as a forester from Kočevje adds, they enter it after the end of the growing season so that the development of primordial nature would be impaired as little as possible. 

Sources: 
– Tomaž, Hartman. 2014. Pragozd: pranarava Kočevske.
– Kocjan, Bojan, MSc. 2019. Interwiev with Petra Šolar.

Are you planing a visit to Kočevska region? Meet a famous local hero Peter Klepec!

The post A Bow to Nature: The Krokar Primeval Forest appeared first on Gottscheer blog.

With most of the others, the weather does not play an important role. The temperature inside them is always between 8 and 10 degrees Celsius and since the ceiling is water-proof, it doesn’t matter when you decide to explore them. These small hidden gems that are strewn across the entire Kočevska region, that is. Now they give shelter to animals, while in times of yore they also provided shelter to people. The karst floor in the Kočevska region is reminiscent of Emmentaler cheese or a sponge-like structure. 

Currently, there are 12,589 caves registered in Slovenia, but according to the online cave database additional 300 are discovered each year.

The speleologists recorded the Koblarska cave, known also as the Long cave (cat. No. 949), in 1927, while the first cave sketch was drawn by M. Bukovec two years later. The cave was (re-)discovered in the 19^thcentury when K. Moser dug out bones of eight individuals. After him, many people have explored it, and in 1995 a systematic research was conducted by the following four individuals: Pavel Jamnik. Petra Leben-Seljak, Janez Bizjak and Brane Horvat. We can say it was re-discovered since remains of bones of 13 persons and a heap of shards of crockery, whose origin dates back to the Bronze Age, were found in it. According to the author of the article that was published seventeen years ago in the Archaeology Journal, the Koblarska jama cave that branches out in four sections, was a prehistoric cult place and a burial ground. That is, a place discovered by the people already in the times of the Neolithic, if not sooner. They buried their dead in rocky niches. According to the authors, man chose it as a burial ground exactly for its niches that could evoke the notions of the return to Mother Earth.

According to ancient people’s belief, the caves and their entrances were symbolically reminiscent of the womb, the vulva. The cave that is located near a forest road and therefore easily accessible is not classified among the longest, neither among the deepest, but – in right weather – it certainly is among the most beautiful. It is distinguished by dripstone pillars, the above-mentioned interplay of water and the floor offering a magnificent show when the lighting is right.

Not far away from the Koblarska jama cave lies the Black cave (cat. No. 2934). It is one of six Slovenian caves bearing this name. A vast, mostly horizontal cave, whose entrance is secured with an iron grate conceals black stalagmites, stalactites and pillars. Unfortunately, many of them are covered with inscriptions or broken. The recognisable colour stretches all the way until the end of the 258-metre long “tunnel”. Towards the end of the 19^thcentury, inscriptions were found on the walls, and that is why they assume that it served as a shelter for people.

The geologists attempted to prove the source of the dark layers using different methods, i.e. by researching lumps of calcareous sinter, insoluble remains and polished grindings. The analysis has shown that the sample from the Black cave near Kočevje contains organic matter. However, black layers are most likely the consequence of cave visits, perhaps already from prehistoric times onwards. Otherwise, the geologists don’t rule out the possibility of forest fires, charcoal burning activity in the vicinity, humic materials from the ground, activity of the micro-organisms and/or air pollution that can under certain climatic conditions penetrate far into the interior of the cave.

The exploration of caves requires appropriate footwear, a torch and company. However, the Underground Cave Protection Act stipulates that the caves must be protected and that we should not damage them (i.e. never break dripstones or leave inscriptions on them), and should preserve the cave living world and therefore handle them in such a way that the cave and the cave world are in no way compromised. 

Sources:
– Jamnik. P, Leben-Seljak P., Bizjak J., Horvat B: The Koblarska jama cave in the Kočevska region – a prehistoric burial ground and cult place, anthropological analysis of skeletal remains with an adjoining description of burial gifts; Archaeological Journal (Arh. vest.) 53, 2002, pp. 31-49
– 4. Slovenski geološki kongres, Ankaran, 8.-10. oktober 2014.

More interesting facts about Kočevska (Gottschee) region in our other posts i.e.: https://www.kocevskibrlog.com/kocevje-little-bombs/

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Water and fire. The force of the former could be curbed only partly: through a lifted or half lifted flap it rushed in the channel and after a few metres under the wheel that powered almost everything in his smithy including the “sledgehammer”. However, when from under the Bilparska stena crag, where according to the oral tradition the Devil himself once held his abode, after several kilometres of flowing underground the brownish coloured unwieldy Bilpa charged up and blended with the high-water Kolpa River, he could nothing else but flee. The smithy was flooded. Before the torrential rains came, he had suspended everything he could, in particular heavy tools, under the ceiling using winches and had taken the rest home. Water always had the final say. In the spring and autumn it came window-high…

However, he could impact the other element that also provided for his livelihood. When the flame dwindled, he bellowed the embers and loaded charcoal. He turned from the anvil holding enormous tongs for unwrought metal in hand and pushed them into white-hot embers, and pressed the flap with his foot, fanning the bellows. I often watched him from the opposite corner. Observing my grandfather, whom I used to call father since I know, was a lot of fun. He brought a tree-stump for me, put it under the hand-operated wood drill, lifted me up and said: “Sa pa bo” (This will do it.) and laughed. I was not allowed to go near the fire. When the iron edges turned red, purple and orange, he once again took the tongs in his hands, turned around, put goggles on his nose and took the hammer in his other hand. Then he struck. It clanged. If he put the red-hot iron under the “sledgehammer”, a 90-kilogram water-powered hammer, a dull clangour was heard at a steady rhythm: tup, tup, tup, etc. 

Rudi Verderber learned the blacksmith’s craft from his father Matija and at the school in Celje. Only a few meters away from Bilpa, the stream that flows into the Kolpa River just after 200 meters, Rudi’s father built a blacksmith’s workshop when he was 43 years old. He bought the cement at a hardware store in Lokvica, which was located very far away. First he crossed the river with a wooden boat, and then he had to overcome a hill. In 1930, the closest store offering this merchandise was in the vicinity of the Croatian settlement Brod Moravice, and from there the cement bags had to be carried to Kolpa Valley that lay 300 metres lower. Because the Kolpa River is so narrow in this part (the Gorenja Žaga–Dol section), the geographers gave it the appellation the Kolpa Canyon.

Matija, my great-grandfather, was a self-taught artisan. He built the smithy by himself, and also crafted everything else that can be found in it. He himself prepared “voganca” (a charcoal pile). His father Jure, who earned the money overseas to purchase the house in Spodnja Bilpa with neighbouring fields, was not a blacksmith by profession. The former Štajdohar estate became Verderber’s and my great-great-grandfather, who originally lived in “Gorenja” Bilpa took on farming. After serving in the 1^stWorld War, his son added a new craft to this and livestock husbandry. The great-grandfather also went to America at one point, but he returned quickly. Supposedly, he did not like it there, he fell sick and after a happy homecoming he built a chapel on the hill. 

At the blacksmith’s workshop in Spodnja Bilpa they mostly forged hoes and other tools for tilling the fields. People from Bela krajina, the Kočevska (Gottschee) region, Poljanska Valley and the Upper Kolpa Valley would visit them. Later, when they built a gravel road and Rudi bought a car, he also drove around selling hoes. He was the only blacksmith far and wide.

Along the Kolpa River, once thick with mills, there was no other blacksmith before the village Mirtoviči. Jože Gorše also learned the craft from his father. However, at Gorše’s blacksmith workshop they also shooed the horses, something that was not done in Bilpa. In addition to the hammers of all sizes, they forged a variety of tools vital for livelihood: ploughs, parts for carts, hammers, chains, locks, scrapers for vineyards, etc. In her diploma paper, Maja Štimec states that in 1890 the first smithies in the Osilnica Valley were Urh in Črni Potok and Kovač in Zamost. However, neither Verderber’s nor Gorše’s blacksmith workshop is not operating anymore. 

Sources:
– Štimec, Maja. 2016. Skrb za kulturno dediščino v deželi Petra Klepca na primeru Petruvo. Diplomsko delo. Dostopno tukaj.
– Marija Verderber, Rudi Verderber’s wife

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In the mid 1950s, Slavko Batis came up with a dessert in his oblong building in the centre of Kočevje that was immediately accepted among the fellow inhabitants and is considered as one of the most recognisable culinary products of Kočevska region. He also taught Adica, Francka, Marjanca and Angelca how to make a three-layered Kočevje little bomb. For decades they were preparing delicious parachute parcels, chocolate coated marshmallow treats (“indijančki”, Indian boys), cream slices, punch cakes, Kočevje star- and kiss-shaped desserts.

Kočevje bakery and confectionery was famous for its products far and wide – Batis was also known as the manufacturer of excellent candy. “The businessmen from Ljubljana wanted to buy a recipe for Kočevje little bombs. However, the father did not agree to this,” tells Roman Batis. At the time, besides the confectioners and sellers, the bakery and confectionery also employed bakers, and together with the management and office staff it provided livelihood for around twelve people. 

The Kočevje rum bomb was created intentionally.  The late Slavko Batis used to tell his family that after one of the exhibitions the debate touched upon a subject that the town located by Rinža certainly needs a famous dessert, such as the Zagreb cream cake and Sacher cake. The assignment was entrusted to Slavko Batis who got his specialisation in confectionery and candymaking. The interwoven layers and flavours – bittersweet – was what convinced customers. “For lovers, he also prepared coconut kiss-shaped desserts,« reminisces Roman Batis, and his father also supposedly came up with Kočevje star-shaped desserts (“kočevske zvezdice”). Or as one of the former sellers who wishes to remain unnamed tells us: “He had nimble fingers, he made all sorts of things.«  

The confectioners filled the bags with sponge cake mass and pressed out circles on the trays.  The ovens were in the back of the building. If cakes, i.e. baked circles were not uniform in shape they used special models to trim them. They spread cream, which among other ingredients included sugar, butter, rum and the remainder of the crushed pastry on the essence-moistened baked dough, and on it they dabbed cap-shaped whipped cream. And as the final touch, they added the sprinkled ground coffee. Mr Batis gave the original recipe to women who worked there as confectioners. Since not all of them were professionally qualified, they had to take an exam; and in those days they had to bring own recipes to class.  According to testimony of Mr Roman Batis, the family no longer holds the original recipe. However, the families whose mothers used to work as confectioners, have their own recipes that they keep as the biggest secret. In decades following the closure of the bakery – there is an optics shop taking up part of the building now, while in the other part is a store Zakladi Kočevske (Treasures of Gottschee) – several variants of the story sprung up and were circulated among the passionate bakers.   

Bakers started their work at night, and the confectioners early in the morning. In the early 1980s, people were waiting for bread in long lines that wound from the bakery to the sidewalk. The customers could enjoy their desserts in the other part of the bakery and confectionery where a few chairs and tables were set up. Despite the lack of ingredients and equipment – Mr Batis ordered candy models with the local craftsmen – the Kočevje bakery and confectionery had long before offered five sorts of ice-cream, truffle chocolates, decorations for Christmas trees and a myriad of treats for gourmets, while Batis cakes, which were bought even by people from Ljubljana, won awards at the catering and confectionery fairs. 

Today, the City Café (Mestna kavarna) and the store Zakladi Kočevske (Treasures of Gottschee) are the only places where you can buy Kočevje little bombs.

Sources: interview with Roman Batis, son of Slavko Batis / interview with one of the saleswomen (she wishes to remain unnamed)

Kočevje little bombs recipe:

Sponge cake:
4 eggs
4 tbs of cold water
150 g sugar
150 g flour
a pinch of salt
1/2 baking powder
2 tbs of oil

Cream:
100 g butter,
50 g powdered sugar
3 tbs of rum
2 tbs of chocolate powder
6–10 tbs of water
remainder of the sponge cake

Beat the egg whites until stiff and add 4 tablespoons of cold water. Slowly mix in sugar, yolks, flour with baking powder, salt and oil. Put in a large baking tray and bake for 20 minutes at 180 to 200 degrees Celsius.
When the sponge cake is baked, cut out the circles. Crush the remainder of the sponge cake, add 100 g of butter, 50 g of powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons of rum, 2 tablespoons of chocolate powder and 6 to 10 tablespoons of water. Mix to get a smooth punch cream.
Spread cream on sponge cake cut-outs, decorate them with whipped sweet cream and sprinkle with coffee.

Recipe by: Jana Primčič

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