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HOW THE OLD SORAK MILL WAS "REVIVED" ON THE RAKITNICA RIVER

Na vodotoku Rakitnice, dugom dvadesetak kilometara, nekada je bilo više od 30 mlinova, a sada radi samo jedan i to zahvaljujući Dragoslavu Soraku iz rogatičkog sela Guždelji koji je obnovio pradjedovu vodenicu i stogodišnju porodičnu tradiciju.

HOW THE OLD SORAK MILL WAS "REVIVED" ON THE RAKITNICA RIVER
PHOTO: TO Rogatica
HOW THE OLD SORAK MILL WAS "REVIVED" ON THE RAKITNICA RIVER
HOW THE OLD SORAK MILL WAS "REVIVED" ON THE RAKITNICA RIVER

It has always been said that those who own a mill will never go hungry. After even the smallest amount of grain is ground, there is enough flour left for a bigger or smaller loaf of bread, and as the saying goes, those who are hungry, hunger for bread. This belief likely guided a young Radovan Sorak from the village of Guždelji over 100 years ago when he traded ten dunums of his most fertile land and who knows how much cash for a small piece of land by the Rakitnica River, where an old, dilapidated mill already stood.

Radovan restored the mill and took up milling, which, according to his descendants, including his great-grandson Dragoslav, contributed to his good health and a long life of 81 years, during which he never regretted spending a valuable piece of land and a small fortune on purchasing the mill.

On the contrary, grandfather Radovan, as everyone called him, was proud of his mill with four pairs of millstones, where he loved to spend both days and nights while his sons, Todor - Tošo and Gojko, took care of other tasks at home and on the farm. After their father's death, the sons divided the mill, each receiving his part with two pairs of millstones - Dragoslav explains.

Countless tons of barley, corn, oats, and even wheat, which was a "new" grain in these parts, as it was less commonly grown by the farmers from Romanija and Devetaci, especially in the period between the two world wars, have been ground on the millstones of our mill, Dragoslav shares.

Since there were over 30 smaller and larger mills from the source of the Rakitnica in the village of the same name to its confluence with the Prača River near Mesići, there was a "competition" for customers.

The millers who worked around the clock had the advantage, and the Sorak mill was one of them. This required certain "comforts" in and around the mill. There needed to be a special room for the millers to rest and for those who brought their grain, often on packhorses, or in summer on carts and winter on sledges.

Since people often came to the mill "when they wanted and left when the grain was ground," they sometimes stayed for days, usually with their horses. Therefore, every "stronger" watermill had to have at least an improvised stable with some hay for the horses.

Since the miller was constantly engaged in overseeing the grinding, auxiliary buildings were also built for raising pigs, chickens, ducks, and turkeys, so that when needed, they were readily available for a meal for the miller and his friends, who gathered over a glass of homemade rakija, which was always plentiful along the banks of the Rakitnica - Dragoslav recounts the stories passed down by his elders, including his father Drago, who entrusted his son with the role of the new owner responsible for the mill.