the story

hi!

i heard this story from my grandma a few years ago.
it took place in shumadija region of today central serbia, once part of yugoslavia.

in an attempt to mechanize and modernize the agriculture, people, suppo by the state, were buying tractors and other mechanized equipment. this had been going on for a few decades, working animals were becoming a very rare sight, with the exception of a few entusiants, and oxen in the mountains.

in the ’80s, the shift on mechanization was complete, with everyone in the village having tractors, and tractor equipment.

everyone, but a certain man.

he had a couple of beautiful black working horses. when he would drive through the street, the neighbours would tease him: “C’mon, buy a tractor, get modern!” but he wouldn’t. he stuck to his horses.

and then the ’90s came, and with them the wars between the former federative countries. serbia was put under sanctions, and the fuel import was stopped.
now all the people having tractors didn’t smile anymore, because they didn’t have fuel to plow their fields.
they had to ask (beg?) the man who had horses to plow their fields!
which he did….for a fee!:D

something once considered natural, sure and reliable commodity suddenly disapeared, and people were left to fend for themselves. this can happen to all of us, maybe not in the exact way as above, but there are many ways in which a modern, highly specialized and technology dependent way of life can prove very vaunerable.
that’s why i like land, and self-sufficiency!