a little resting place at domäne mechtildshausen.
this post will include two different occasions i experienced with my ex-boyfriend, one involving a stroll around the farm of domäne mechthildshausen and another stroll around eberbach abbey.
domäne mechtildshausen is an agricultural farming establishment with a focus on growing organic produce and species-appropriate livestock breeding. the demesne is an ancient relict of medieval times ( even though i'm pretty positive that the buildings are not of that era in our current timeline ), approximately existing since the 12th century. it's situated near the erbenheim district, very close to an american military zone including the clay barracks. even though the whole place is really lovely and offers a lot of insight into organic agricultural work i rarely make my way there, as it is not around the corner for me, but if it was in my vicinity i'd probably make it there more often, especially for the organic produce they sell. everything they produce they offer in a market hall, a bakery/cheese dairy and a butcher shop, which is of course a good concept, because you know exactly where the food you are buying is coming from and can support them directly. the demesne also has a cafe and a restaurant, and even a tiny hotel where people can spend some off-time in and experience the life on a farm on a daily base. so, actually, a visit to this farm is pretty much worth it, not only because of the open plan locality that you can roam about anytime you want to and get access to learning valuable knowledge about organic farming, but also for all the animals you will encounter. their stock of chickens, horses, cattle and other typical farm animals focusses on species that are of ancient origin and robust. they also support the keeping of rare animals and trying to preserve them for future generations. another thing they diligently work on is to give young people a second chance at getting a completed training in various agricultural jobs, if they weren't lucky to score one on the first job market.
the intention of this agricultural hub is a pretty good one, right? unfortunately it's been in the news lately for more negative reasons, mainly because of mismanagement on the conduct level. apparently money isn't properly used for operational purposes and the people who work there allegedly had to do without proper payment. which is pretty damning considering that the farm is managed by a nonprofit municipal association of wiesbaden and various important figures of our political elite have a part in managing the whole company. i think it would take a whole day to paint a picture of the misconduct, and it would still come to no conclusion. the whole story is pretty intransparent and shadowy and reeks of some kind of corruption issue. i hope the problem will be solved eventually, but meanwhile the image and the reputation of the organic farm is getting dragged through the mud and is probably not very beneficial for the project. which is sad, because people tend to stay away from things when they hear that what they are supporting is a huge pool of distrust and shady mechanisms. and the people who have to endure the consequences are always the ones who are on site, the sales persons, the apprentices, the people who work on the farm with the animals and on the fields.
well, now that you read this very unfortunate bit of information about the farm, i hope that you still will enjoy these pictures, because after all, the work that's being done here is still valuable and important and it should stay that way for the future.
around the time the dude and i made this walk we had a conversation about emotions and opening up about them ( i don't remember if it was pre-stroll or after-stroll ), which was a very stirring experience for me because it involved my anxiety about him eventually meeting my parents ( or his parents ) and the stupid fears connected to that. it resulted in me opening up fully about my low self-esteem and how much i want to push away thinking about myself and forgetting this sense of self. that by opting to not talking about it, i am able to let go of my own self-hate, or of the distrust of the human species i also constantly feel. it was very emotional for me, i cried a lot and really had a hard time conveying about how i felt about it. but i did it, because i thought i owed him, i thought that it would help him understanding me better and that i wasn't so cool as i sometimes appeared. and i thought that this conversation was a crucial part for us, that by being so vulnerable in that moment we had managed to understand each other better and to clear the strange thick air between us that hung over us after our first struggles. there's the saying that to truly be in a relationship where there's mutual understanding, you have to let the other partner learn you, the real you, with all the good and especially the bad traits you possibly carry around, and if that doesn't scare them away, but lets them love you even harder, then you hit the 'checkpot'. or better you have found a common ground that you can build on. i am aware that relationships are hard work, that everybody has to be willing to put effort into an interaction of two people who hardly knew each other before they hooked up, but are eager to make it work, and learning about each other along the way. of course you are not forced to agree with everything your partner says or does, but it's important to talk about it and to understand where they are coming from, showing compassion about their struggles and maybe offering possible solutions to overcome it. i understand that it is a struggle that everybody deals with, and that it is not easy. i never claimed that it should be easy. but i thought that these struggles would appear much later on in our 'relationship' ( i still struggle calling it that, because it felt so short and brief - like a blink of an eye ). that it happened so early on and would eventually contribute to his break-up was probably a good thing, but i also feel like there was never a real effort made to circumnavigate these discrepancies that i deemed as maneuverable, but he apparently found too big to work on. in the aftermath, i feel like my effort was not met on an equal level, despite having talked about being open about what we are going through and that it was important to both of us, even if it hurt a fucking lot.
until that happened, the thing going on between us had been mostly magical for me, i can only reiterate this again and again. we had so many wonderful moments and experiences. and yes, despite the hard stuff going on i still think back to that time and think of it as a dream-like, marvellous time. it showed me that i was capable of loving and letting someone in, even if it ended up not being successful. it showed me that there was something different in me, a love that i was able to extent to others, despite always feeling unloved before. and it showed me that spending time together with someone you love can widen your perspective in ways that are sometimes hard to understand, but are really exciting and creators of wonderful memories. like it was always so nice to stroll around with him in all kinds of places, experiencing them fully and being present in the moment. the world felt wide open and embracing back then, something that escapes out of my sight quite often in the everyday struggle. i made it my goal to continue walking with awe through the landscapes of this earth, and that is another lesson i took with me, a gift that our encounter brought me.
now onto the picturrrrres.
one of the horse stables.
they also keep goats and sell fresh goat dairy at the farm.
every day, more and more, the progress of autumn reveals my favourite colours, the warm and fiery hues of the turning of the leaves and the fruit that grow only in this time of the year.
this close-up of a hen surprised me, making me realize how beautiful this bird's eye was ( and how autumnal as well :) ).
some more chickens in the golden evening light. we visited the farm in the late afternoon and everything was tinted in a golden glow! loved it.
the farm's greenhouse.
they keep charolais cattle on the farm. aren't they the fluffiest? also, they made a lot of cheeky faces ;P
enjoying a munch of good old-fashioned hay.
such soft creatures they were. i even stroked some of their noses from time to time ❤<3 p="">
inside one of the freestalls. that light in there was uh-mazing!
i don't have a lot of clue when it comes to agricultural equipment, but this shit looked cool af. probably used to create sowing lines in the soil, i suppose. or to loosen it up. what made this scenery even more special was simply the perfect evening light. aaaaaaah, october light, you have me at your will.
some huge haystacks in the fields behind the demesne. this picture feels absolutely ethereal to me. it was breath-taking.
this tower you can find in hochheim, which is also not very far from the demesne ( airline about 5 kilometers? ). it is a 'simple' housing complex and there's not much info about it online. now that i see it again i am reminded of the fact that i've never been to hochheim, despite often thinking about checking it out. guess i need to write it on my to do list ;)
the sun was in the process of setting and let me tell you, that sunset was one of many absolutely mind-blowing sunsets that happened in the time we got to know each other. looking at these now makes me so nostalgic, haha. what is it about sunsets and romance?
glow, glow, glow!
the last picture of the day was of the industrial landscape far, far, faaaar away somewhere near mainz-kostheim. ( i'm assuming it's the paper producing company essity - it would make sense ). i do like this picture because it feels like straight out of a post-apocalyptic scene in the future, where there is no clear sunlight anymore and only a red glow illuminating our world.
the next part of this post leads us to the vineyards and woods around eberbach abbey, an abbey of international renown close to eltville. it's situated in the little wine-growing district of the rheingau region, nestled quite idyllically into the foothills of the taunus mountains. our main goal wasn't the abbey itself, though, we just wanted to stroll around the woods for a bit, leaving it open whether we wanted to end up at the abbey or not. and strolling around we did, meandering off the paths and back to them, discovering tiny abandoned huts, encountering grazeing llamas and diverting a hidden sunlit high seat usually reserved for hunters into a love nest 🙈🙉🙊
these fields are very close to the steinberg vineyard, which is probably the oldest vineyard of eberbach abbey. the walls in the back are basically enclosing it, but i hear that it is not closed off entirely, you can explore it leisurely and check out a geological nature trail. we basked a little in the sunshine, which was glorious that day, illuminating everything again in my most favourite light.
there were lots of fruit trees on this patch of land, some bearing the tastiest looking apples.
speaking of them apples: here they are.
after a little while of walking we nearly passed by this hut in the woods, but i discovered it and we went to check it out a little more thoroughly.
there wasn't much to discover though, everything was gutted.
but looking outside the hut from within revealed some jungle views!
an opening into the wild.
while the hut didn't have anything exciting to offer, we still spend a little time taking in some details.
we moved on to a clearing where there were some llamas randomly grazeing the field. it was a wonderful sight to behold, especially with that big yellow tree being part of the picture. the llamas belong to a farm close nearby, which offers llama trekking and walks. probably worth to check this out if you like llamas ( which i absolutely do ).
the sceneries were beyond gorgeous, everywhere colourful trees!
and lots and lots of tiny autumn fruit ( hawthorn to be exact ).
this tree was quite an eye-catcher, i'm sure you agree with me here :) i love the colour gradient from green to yellow to orange to bright red at the top!
contrast! very good colour combo.
this pathway lead us to the hidden high seat spot.
the sight of this makes me revel in sweet dreamy memories, conjuring up images of intimacy and comfort ( and excitementtttt ).
bloody red, hearty red, love-crazed red.
but death is never far away, and skeletons can be found everywhere.
my view was absolutely sharpened after our little extented stay at the high seat. i discovered all kinds of wonderful things, like this intricate spider web in the sunlight.
and curious mushrooms, like this magpie fungus. it is not an edible mushroom and can easily be confused with the shaggy ink cap.
i don't know what kind of tree mushrooms these were, but they were real leathery.
and these fuzzy cutiepies were a species i've never seen before. i also couldn't find it anywhere on the relevant mushroom sites i frequent constantly. an alien form?
we reached the first abbey walls, where the sunlight threw beautiful shadowplays on them.
i thought it whimsical that two identical cars parked right next to each other, only differing in colour. these are fiat 600s, and i think they're pretty cute :3
and here's one up close.
slowly getting closer to the abbey.
we eventually reached the little pond in front of the abbey.
it was so peaceful there.
this reminds me of monet paintings!
i think this pond is not a natural one, but was built artificially for fishing purposes. in many abbeys the monks built fish ponds so they could cover their own fish supply for food. my guess is that they did the same here, as one little streamlet called erbbach provides a possible water supply.
i didn't take lots of photos of the actual abbey, but focused more on the gardens around it. i think i have a more thorough report on eberbach abbey uploaded on this site somewhere, as i have visited it a few times already. but maybe this is also a sign that i should actually go on a guided tour again and refresh my knowledge about it.
eberbach abbey was first mentioned in 1136, making it one of the oldest still existing abbeys in germany. it was very important for the local history, mainly for the viniculture, but also when it comes to building history as it showcases romanesque and early gothic influences in a spectacular way. it also was a pretty powerful abbey, ruling possessions all over south hessia, rhineland-palatinate and wuerttemberg. another fun fact you should know about this abbey? the location was used for the movie 'the name of the rose' with sean connery, albeit they did not use the exterior but mainly the interiors. they are still pretty damn proud of that fact.
beautiful glimpse of a fiery tree.
seriously. i. love. autumn.
there were still lots of flowers blooming, as last year's early october still offered a lot of warm and sunny days.
ricinus plants are super cool when it comes to their looks, but beware, they are poisonous ( especially the seeds ).
some white roses for your pleasure.
in the garden they also keep some sheep that are extremely cuddly and we spent quite some time hanging around them and giving them some love before we returned home again. it was such a lovely ending to this remarkable day. it was just one of those days you don't ever want to forget and that now feels completely unreal.
coming up are some more little adventures and one big one! my parents and i had booked vacations in the czech republic later in the month and that will be a huge component of the upcoming posts. stay tuned 💓
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