Quite by chance, I found a small article dated last year, which simply describes the stories of Agafya Lykova about her life. Some of the facts we are already familiar with, some of them are not, but it seemed interesting to me.
It turns out that the first meeting of the hermits took place many years ago, not with people, but with ... dogs. Agafya remembers that after she had finished her prayer, she looked out of the window and saw some small animals running around the hut. Whether sable, or not sable, is unclear. As it turned out later, they were dogs. And only then did the geologists come.
The usual day of Agafya begins with a prayer. Taking into account the fact that prayers can last for 5 hours, the hermit eats very late. Nazarov also wrote that the first meal at the Lykovs can be about 4 hours in the afternoon, because first you need to heat the oven and prepare a "brew". After the meal, the prayer again, and then the household chores. With such a "schedule", in my opinion, there is no time at all to eat, cook, or do gardening, or fish.
Therefore, Agafya's food is unpretentious. I already wrote once what her "brew" consists of, and Agafya bakes bread from only three ingredients: flour, water and salt. (By the way, I have a similar recipe for many years, only I add more yeast and sugar 😉 ). The hermit starts the sauerkraut, and then, when the dough rises, leaves it for a while longer and only then bakes it. Such bread, according to Lykova, does not spoil at all, just turns into a cracker, but you can store it for a whole week. For a change, Agafya sometimes adds carrots or potatoes, turnips, bran or boiled grain to the dough.
The hermit dries and salts the caught fish (before the meeting with the geologists, the fish was only dried). From berries collected in the taiga, he makes jam, but not on sugar, but on honey. The honey was brought to her from Tashtagol by the son of Yerofey Sedov, Nikolai, and, according to Agafya, he bought it "from Christians". It is also funny to hear the phrase that "somehow sent from the mother country" (previously, the colonies called the suzerain country 😉 ).
Lykova spends a lot of time taking care of the goats. Last year, there were six of them. According to the hermit, it is difficult with them: "they do not eat, they do not eat, and there is no place to graze them." In the summer, Agafya cuts their branches, in the winter, feeds them with hay and lapnik. Funny phrase again: "For 30 years, there were many goats, some died, some were sent back." (How is that? Like, you didn't get along?? 🤣 And how were they taken out, again by helicopter? 🤣 )
In winter, in frosts, during the night the hut freezes completely, and the water freezes with the dishes. Agafya gets up in the morning, makes a fire, lights the stove and goes back to bed, taking any cat with her, warms her hands on it. In order to heat the hut in such frosts, the bundle of firewood that the hermit brings is enough for only a day. And to bring a new one, you need to climb 70 steps. A few years ago, Lykova had problems with her left leg and had to carry firewood by hobbling on one right leg.
Photo In.Costume
Photo In.Costume
Here it is, the life of a hermit-simple and difficult at the same time. Subscribe to my channel, I will definitely tell you a lot more interesting things.
Other articles about the hermit's life can be read here:
Agafya Lykova. About salty pears and the purity of the water in the Bath
About the bath, soap, and other readers ' questions
Svetets, tinder mushroom and other details of everyday life