Lost Place: old peatmoss mine /vana turbakaevandus
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English below!!! Aare asub Põdra turbarabas, mida kunagi kasutati turbakaevanduseks. Mida siit näha saab, on vanad turbakaevanduse väljad. Siin kaevandas umbes aastani 2015 turvast firma nimega AS Ket. Turbakaevandamine lõpetati, sest turba kvaliteet ei vastanud enam nõuetele ja turvas polnud enam nii puhas. AS Ket’i tehas asub aardest kirde suunal umbes 2 km kaugusel. Tehas on praeguseks maha jäetud, isegi osa vanast tehnikast on seal veel alles. Tehase kõrval on elumaja, kus tookord elasid mõned töötajad ja praegu elavad ikka veel osad endised töötajad. Endise tehase alal saab ringi kõndida, soovitan aga ettevaatlik olla ja mitte inimestele silma jääda. Google Maps’i satelliidipildi pealt on näha, kus tehas asus. Mu isa töötas selles turbakaevanduses päris palju aastaid. Tema kirjelduste põhjal seletan, kuidas turvast toodeti ja pakiti. Kõigepealt kaevandati soo peale kraavid, kus soost üleliigne vesi ära juhiti. Siis freesiti turbast üks kiht spetsiaalse freesiga lahti. Järgmisena segati lahtist turvast selleks, et ta ära kuivaks päikese käes. Järgmiseks lükati turvas vaaludesse, mis olid 5-7 cm kõrgused, ja siis hakkasid kogumismasinad turvast vaaludest punkritesse koguma ja soo äärde toimetama. Kuivatatud turvas oli suhteliselt kerge ning punkrite mahtu mõõdeti kantides (kuubikutes). Soo ääres aunatati spetsiaalse roomiktraktoriga turvas suurtesse vaaludesse, mis olid 8-10m kõrged. Sealt vaaludest hakati siis turvast suurte autodega tehasesse viima, kus turvas spetsiaalsetesse kottidesse pakendati. Pakendamine toimus nn. tsehhis. Pakendamise käigus sõeluti turvas vastava suurusega fraktsioonideks ja pakendati kottidesse. Pakendatud turvast viidi enamasti välisriikidesse, põhiliseks importijaks oli Holland. Soos kuivendatud turvas, mis üle jäi, viidi kolhoosidesse ja sovhoosidesse lautadesse loomadele alla panemiseks, sest turvas imes kogu virtsa väga hästi endasse. Tehases oli püsivalt 15-20 töötajat tööl, kõrghooaegadel isegi rohkem. Praegu on endisest kaevandusest näha aarde ümbruses vanad väljad, kus loodusel on vaja nüüd ennast taastada. Vaikselt hakkab mets peale kasvama ja osa endisest sooalast on isegi vee all. Erinevatest väljadest viivad läbi betoonplaatidest ehitatud teed, mis praeguseks on juba kohati paigast nihkunud ja seal autoga sõita ei soovita, sest kui ühel hetkel tee väga nihkunud peaks olema, siis keset teed ümber pöörata ei saa. Kuna vana turbakaevanduse ala on tume ja päikselisel ajal on seal väga soe, siis armastavad selliseid kohti ussid, k.a. rästikud. Kõndides peab väga ette vaatama, sest rästikuid on palju ja nad on mürgised. Soovitan kummikuid kanda. Tuleb ette vaadata, et rästikupesasse ei satu – ka neid on seal palju. Vana turbakaevanduse alal saab üldiselt ringi kõndida (soovitan betoonteedel püsida) ja seda sürreaalset loodust nautida. Parkimiseks soovitan lugeda parkimise infot, kus on erinevad soovituslikud koordinaadid ette antud. Kogu see info siin on minu isa käest saadud, kes töötas turbaväljadel ja tsehhis ka. ----------------------------------------------------------------- This treasure is located in an old peatmoss mine in Põdra village. What one can see from here, are the leftovers of the old mine. A company named AS Ket was mining peatmoss here until approximately year 2015. The mining stopped, because the quality of peatmoss did not fill the requirements any more and the peatmoss was not as clean as needed any more. The factory itself is located about 2km towards North-East. The factory is abandoned, even some of the old machinery used for mining has been left there. Next to the old factory is a living house, where at the time of the mining, some workers lived and they continue to do so until today. You can walk around in the factory area, but be careful and try to avoid muggles. You can find the location of the factory from the satellite photos of Google Maps. My father worked in this mining factory for many years. Based on his descriptions, I will now explain how the process of mining and packing the peatmoss worked. First of all, to dry the bog, people dug ditches into the bog, to lead the excess water away. Then a special tractor milled a layer of peatmoss loose from the ground. The peatmoss was mixed regularily in order for it to dry in the sun. As the next step, the dried peatmoss was pushed into small rows, with about 5-7cm height, and then special machines came and started to gather the peatmoss into bunkers and transport it to the side of the bog. Dried peatmoss was relatively small and the size of the bunkers was measure in cubes. Over there the peatmoss was pushed into bigger long hills, which were about 8-10m high. From those hills the peatmoss was then transported with big trucks into the factory, for it to be packed. Before the peatmoss was packed into plastic bags, it was divided by special machines into fractions based on the size of the pieces. The packed peatmoss was exported abroad, mostly to the west. The main importer was Netherlands. The dried peatmoss, that stayed over was brought into local big barns to put under the cows, because of its extreme absorbing abilities. There were usually 15-20 workers in the factory, during high season even more. By now you can see from the old factory and mine only the leftover fields where nature has to try to restore itself in a very long process. There will be forest growing on those fields slowly and parts of the old bog will even be under water. As the bog was divided into many fields, then between those fields were lain roads out of concrete plates, which by now have shifted a bit and it is not recommended to drive on those roads by car, because if the road has shifted too much, you can’t drive on and neither can you turn around. As the old peatmoss mine area is dark and during sunny periods gets rather warm, then such places are loved by snakes, especially vipers, who are venomous. Their bite can kill a person if the antidote is not administered fast enough. While walking, it is recommended to wear wellies and to be extremely careful not to step on any vipers or get close to their nests – those you can also find many over there. You can walk around in the old peatmoss mine (I recommend to stay on concrete roads) and enjoy this surreal nature. For parking I recommend to read information attached to two parking waypoints and park accordingly. All this information here has been told by my father who used to work on those fields and also in the factory.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Zõgyr xneov fvffr / Guvax vafvqr gur obk