Kozolec

I went for a walk again today and I took a photo of this marvelous "kozolec". Those of you, who have never been to Slovenia, have probably never seen one of these before, so let me explain what it is.

The only (and official) name for this structure is "kozolec" and it's a wooden structure used by the farmers to dry hay on. As you can see, it has vertical and horizontal poles (which are quite thick - so the structure is not as fragile as it looks) and a mini-roof. The hay is stacked between the horizontal poles (beams, I think, would be a much better expression) and left to dry in the sun. The tradition of "kozolci" (=the plural of the word) is quite an old one. Every meadow in Slovenia has at least one.

The one you can see here is a so-called single "kozolec", and it's quite a long one, too. Usually, they are shorter. You see, the size and the length of the "kozolec" depends on the size of the farm - the bigger the farm, the longer the "kozolec". There is another kind - the double one - which is called "toplar". I'll take a photo of a "toplar", too, and post it on my blog so that you can compare the two.