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.
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.
