Grohot Mountain Pasture over Time: Work, Kinship Relations, and Ownership

Abstract

Mountain pastures are high-altitude grazing areas where farmers move their cattle in the warmer months of the year. This practice facilitates a more efficient agricultural activity as well as the preservation of local traditions, ways of knowing, and landscapes. Whereas most mountain pastures in Slovenia are communal, the overwhelming majority of alpine grazing lands in the Solčava area are under individual ownership. A special place among them belongs to the Grohot common mountain pasture, which is also the only shepherd’s settlement in the area under discussion. The article draws on ethnographic research and is thematically divided into three segments: farm chores, the significance of kinship relations, and ownership. Grohot was once a dairy cow mountain pasture, where women dairy farmers took care of milk production, whereas today hired herders tend to the grazing cattle. Kinship structures, which enable the transmission of knowledge and resources, are of utmost importance for the preservation and functioning of the high-altitude grazing land. The history of Grohot reflects broader changes in ownership and agricultural policy during the twentieth century, ranging from grazing rights, nationalization, and denationalization to Slovenia’s integration into the European Union, which points to the blending of local practices with national and European influences.