Kovács Zsuzsa: Göcsej Village Museum. Exhibition Guide (Zalaegerszeg, 2008)

Playpen Its previous owner made this two-wheeled playpen in the room in 1932 for his child when he was learning to walk. The child could move around with the wheeled construction more confidently and with the help of the frame he could get up if he fell. As the children were growing they became more selfsufficient and as soon as they could walk properly they began to make themselves useful in the household. The smaller ones looked after the geese and the older ones were given tasks with more responsibility. Next to the room there is a chimney-less so-called smoky kitchen where the kitchen stove let off the smoke for a long time after it had been lit. The kitchen door had two parts that could open separately and the rising smoke was let out through the open upper part of the door so that people could walk under the smoke if they bent over. The main activities in the kitchen were cooking and baking for the peasants' daily diet, which included two hot meals. They had a one-course hot meal at noon and another in the evening: these could be thick soups, porridge or pasta with or without meat. During harvest or any other period spent with hard physical work they had a richer one-course dish. In the process of producing food for the family one of the most tiring works was the bread making done every other week. According to the exhibition,,, the housewife is just about to start making bread. She has prepared the trough to knead the dough in, and the so-called 'kovâszfa' ('sourdough-board') which she puts on top of the basket with the bread left in it to rise, in order to prevent the covering cloth touching the bread. Trough To make the dough for a big family many kilograms of flour were needed and kneading and working it out was very hard work for a woman. After kneading and raising the dough, she made loaves and baked them in the oven. Troughs, just like other tools in a peasant-household, were used for different purposes, trough could be used to store the crop or as a cradle for a baby because it could be rocked on it's convex back.