Fifteen years in a childhood paradise

in those big milk cans of about 20 litres. These are then carted into a cellar on the other side of the yard. That place is cooled in summer by ice."

"Where do you get ice from in this village?" "I thought you would ask that. It comes from our lake." Then I explained how each winter, when the ice was about 20 cm to 30 cm thick, our workers had to go on the lake with axes, picks and hooks and had to cut slabs of ice while they were standing on the edge. This was quite a tricky job, as it was very slippery, and they had to be careful not to slip into the ice cold water. The ice was then pulled out of the water with hooks, loaded onto carts, taken to a place near the factory, and stacked high, making a mound with a radius of about 15 meters and about five meters high. When the mound was finished, it was covered with water and left to freeze over night into a solid block, before it was covered with lots of layers of straw and earth. That heap provided the ice in summer for cooling the milk, a slab at a time.

"It sounds very complicated to me," said Helmut. "Maybe, but what else can we do. And you know what? For special birthdays, particularly Opa's on the 29th of July, this ice is used to make the most delicious ice cream you can imagine. Usually strawberry or raspberry with real cream and fresh fruit. Yum. So you see, it's not all wasted on just cooling the milk."

"How can you make ice cream with ice from the lake?" "There is a special machine. You place the ice cream mixture into a metal container which has a mixer attached to it. This container is then placed into what looks like a wooden bucket with plenty of space on all sides. A handle on the outside turns the mixer in the ice cream mix. Then you crush the ice from that heap into small pieces and place it around into the space between the container and the bucket and sprinkle occasionally salt into it."

"Why salt?" "It melts the ice slowly, and as it melts it gives off cold. This helps to freeze the ice cream mixture."

"How long would it take to freeze the ice cream?" "We need someone with a lot of patience and energy to turn the handle, as it takes more than one hour, usually two. But I tell you the ice cream that comes out is one of the most delicious things you can eat. Just out of this world!"

"You reckon it is better than the one we can buy in the ice cream parlour in Posen?"

"Much, much better. But let's come back to our milk here. The evening milk needs the cooling, not the morning milk, as that is put straight onto the milk-cart. We have a special driver with two horses, who goes every day to the milk factory in Posen. It takes him about three hours one way. The fresh milk you buy in the shops probably comes from us here."

"I never thought of where it might come from."

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