In the town of Agüero, dominated by its gigantic mallos, are the two raw materials necessary for the manufacture of lime: The limestone that comes off the walls and the bushes that grow spontaneously on the slopes. Hilario Artigas's old furnace, located on the slopes of the mountain, is going to be put into operation again to burn a batch of lime. The first job that Hilario has to do is prepare the 250 "fornigueros", 30 to 35 kilos each, that will be needed to burn the oven. The "fornigueros" are large bundles of branches of gorse, rosemary, boxwood and all kinds of shrubs that produce a lot of flame and little ash. In addition to serving as fuel for cooking, the preparation of the fornigueros supposes a very profitable cleaning of the slopes of the mountain so that the cattle can graze. Since the work is hard, from time to time, Hilario and his son Eugenio stop to smoke. "Like when I go to the vineyard to snack. 35 minutes of chopping that costs me a hill and 25 of rest to smoke. But of course, you light the cigarette and you finish it before completing the 25 minutes, because one of these cigarettes will last from 12 to 13 minutes, and at the time of itene then another cigarette, and so there are two, to come and go. At the blow of jada, a man usually makes from 10 to 12 fornigueros every day. After they are cut, the limes leave piled up the bushes, but with the gorse at the bottom, so that, when they are transported to the oven, the skewers do not stick in their backs. On the fornigueros, Hilario places some stones so that the wind does not lift the branches. " of pa firewood conform, so that it does not bear the cierzo air. "for a couple of months on the mountainside will be piled up the fornigueros until they have lost all moisture. While" fornigueros " They are drying in the sun, Hilario, helped by his son, goes to clean the oven and take out all the dirt that has fallen inside since it was last used. "It's still fine. A boquera is the worst. We will have to restore it a bit. The rest, being covered, has not been used." In the oven there are still traces of lime and ash from the last batch, which Hilario will have to remove before filtering the walls. In the masadero, this craftsman prepares a mixture of clay and water to cover the walls of the oven. The clay has to be of good quality, and for that reason, Hilario has to bring it with pottery from a field far from the kiln. And to rest, a good drink of wine before starting to embure. "If you know how good it is to me, how well I have liked it ..." Hilario knows the technique of obtaining lime well, since he began in this work during his youth. "At 12, at twelve, with my grandfather who was a bricklayer." While Hilario washes the walls, Miguel is handing him the clay pots. "Do you want another one? Yes, what did you think we were going to smoke or what? When I finish this one, then." As the walls of the kiln are made of porous clay, there is a risk of heat loss during firing. The layer of clay with which Hilario covers the walls, when the oven is turned on, will be cooked and will have the effect of a ceramic pot, better conserving heat. Limestone is found in abundance in Mount Agüero, coming from the stones of different sizes that are detached from the mallos. Hilario, helped by his grandson Antonio, little by little, carries with cauldrons the thousands of kilos of stone that he will need to fill the oven. "Well, I think that, approximately, 6 to 7,000 kilos. When cooked, it loses weight." The stone bowls that are further away are carried with the "cibiella", more comfortable and practical than the stews, because the weight is better distributed in it. It is time to fill the oven. With great skill and patience, Hilario must build a false vault, starting from the sideboard that divides the interior. In this job of "stopping" the kiln, the lime maker must fit the stones together. Each row of stones is slightly displaced inwards and, so that they do not fall, he is stepping on them with others from the back. "When you step on them from the back, then you have them." Little by little, by the approach of the courses, Hilario is shaping the false vault, moving with haste between the stones that are barely held together. "At the moment they are not very fat, because of the weight. Later, as they go up, you can put more fat, but for now, no, if they weigh a lot forwards they make the vault overcome." The narrowness of the hole prevents Hilario from moving between the stones and he runs the risk of throwing the work done. It is time to go outside to place the stones from above, leaning very carefully on the banks that are already more consolidated. Once the false vault is closed, the stones are held together and the risk of sinking the furnace disappears . When it reaches surface level, Hilario finishes filling from the oven. Now we will only have to wait for days of favorable weather to start the calcination. On a predictably peaceful day, Hilario turns on the oven at dawn, in order to have the whole day to control the fire and bring the cooking to its ideal point. At this point the most important and delicate part of the process begins , which will last three days and two nights: calcination. In the first hours, the stones give off all the moisture they carry inside, and it is precisely its evaporation that is the cause of the great smoke that forms. "You'll see now, how everything is mojau upstairs." With the "forcón" or wooden skewer, Hilario brings the dry "fornigueros" up to the mouth of the oven. To protect yourself from the spikes of the gorse, you cover your back and head with an old jacket. The feeding of the furnace must be continuous and uniform so that the temperature inside increases, therefore, the "fornigueros" are made of fine twigs and leaves that produce more flame than embers. "But when it is all hot to the top it comes out on fire, better than I smoke at the top. You will see." As the temperature increases, the stones inside change their color to a whiter shade. By midmorning, the water carried by the stones has already evaporated, and the smoke begins to come out blacker. But Hilario must continue to maintain the intensity of the flame. "Let him make a call. You have to continue, whenever you see a call. Good. Check that there is always a call." The work intensifies and Eugenio has come to help Hilario. Bring four wooden "pugones" that they will use to push the twig and stir the embers. Now Hilario can allow himself a short break to "take a bite", while Eugenio feeds and controls the fire. Both the residents of Agüero and the vultures that occupy the hollows of the mallos, are aware of this activity of the family of Hilario Artigas. The interior of the kiln has already reached 900 or 1,000 degrees ideal for calcining the stone and now all that remains is to maintain the temperature. While Antonio feeds the oven, Hilario and Eugenio bring the greatest number of "fornigueros" closer to the stove. Now the process is slow and easy. You simply have to tend and maintain the fire. "When the flame goes down then, do not miss a flame inside the oven." Air days delay the cooking process because they prevent the fire from following its normal course. "What revoked, the heat comes out to be, or that bad. And on top envelops you smoke and everything. You see what the air revoke called for here, I had to suck it up. If lime no hurry up, Hilario has always preferred the mild days of spring or autumn to make the batches. "Hello, then wait for the weather to be good for the comfort that the weather does not impede you, nor that it is cold or very hot. If it is very hot, bad and if it is cold, bad too, at night. The best time, the month of April and the middle of September and October. " " If this Antonio is there to cast, we will go up from there, which costs less, but we have to prepare thirty-something for tonight. " Before finishing During the day, these caleros must have prepared, next to the stove, enough fornigueros to feed the oven throughout the night, thus avoiding moving around the forest in the dark. At dusk, Eugenio replaces Hilario. As in the daytime, it is necessary to continue pouring wads of ramilla on the stove. When there is a lot of coal, Eugenio proceeds to "sobrasar" with "punchón" work this one that involves removing and spread the coals at the bottom, to better consume and remain more capacity. a day next, with the retractor, Hilario removes the embers and ashes that have accumulated during the night. In this way, there is more space inside to continue putting furriers. This second day has been cloudy and with the risk of spring storms. " What a cloud is there , threatening us. " The storm has broken, but the process cannot be stopped. The rain, if it is not very intense, with the heat given off, evaporates before reaching the interior of the oven. The storm has passed. Hilario and Eugenio continue to feed the oven. Each time a bundle of twig is thrown in, the fire comes out quickly from the top, indicating that the cooking is on a normal course. The whole day has passed between carrying "fornigueros" to the stove and keeping the flame. As the fire increases its intensity, the afternoon fades to make way for the second night. Eugenio stays again just to keep burning through another long and lonely night . The ember has been piling up and you must clean the interior to make room. The process is well advanced. The stones that occupy the highest part of the oven have become red-hot surrounded by fire. On the third day, the lime is almost cooked. With the altarpiece, Hilario and Eugenio remove the ashes from the stove. As the process progresses, this operation must be repeated more frequently, as the amount of embers and ashes that accumulate is greater. The need to continually feed the oven forces Hilario and his family to cook meals in the surroundings of the "calera" during the three days of the calcination. The stones are already white and apparently cooked. Although the days have been cold and untimely, few storms have arrived and the process is unfolding on schedule. "Because of the cold, yes, it burns well, but if it rains it doesn't look good, and you have to give it time because if it doesn't, the wood will not burn. It takes longer and fewer calories than it does from wet wood." The three days and two nights that Hilario had planned to calcine the volume of stone in the kiln have now passed . Due to the whitish color and the experience he has in firing lime kilns, at dusk, Hilario considered the process finished. With a plate and earth, close the mouth of the stove, leaving a small opening for the stone to anneal. "We are going to cover it a little with dirt, leaving that opening at the top, and it still seems very large, but anyway, I think about an inch or so." For about a week, the oven will remain almost closed, slowly losing its heat. Ten days have passed and the oven has already cooled down. A good sign that the lime is cooked is that the stone vault has collapsed. "Good, good. Well, it is a sign that it is well cooked." Our friend the lime maker begins to remove the lime from the top of the oven. His grandson Antonio has come to help him transport the lime stones and store them in metal containers until they are to be used. "70% of lime has been removed. The one that is well cooked weighs much less, loses at least 30 or 40% of weight." The stones are light and break easily, which is an indication that the lime has cooked well. However, the interior of some stones that were at the top of the furnace has not been burned and "chalks" have come out. "This piece is cooked, the rest has fallen off, and this is the piece of chalk that remains. For example, this is all cooked and you can see the heart that has not finished cooking. Kill a little, let's see what so cooked it is. " "Killing lime" is called the reaction that occurs when quicklime is wetted with water. In this violent process, the lime absorbs the water and releases a great deal of heat. "When it kills it burns at more than 200 degrees. It is very dead. When it kills in particular, you have to be very careful because it splashes, and there are those who have lost their eyes, like a man from Ayerbe, who was left one-eyed with a drop of lime that fell on him. " "I have been testing. It has been disposed of well and it is ready to put more water in it, and save it to bleach. Always covered with water, always covered with water, to bleach, if it is for the work, in powder, that it discards itself. " When collecting the stones, Hilario selects them one by one for their quality, leaving the "chalks" on one side and the small pieces and dust on the other. "Come change this one Antonio." Antonio collects the stones in the hermetic drums to avoid their contact with the humidity of the environment. They will be stored there until they have to be used in any of its multiple applications. One of the uses that Hilario is going to give lime is to whiten the walls of the garden shed. In the past, the lime reserved for bleaching was killed in large rafts with water, and a pasty and homogeneous mass with a greasy touch was formed. There it was kept until use, with a layer of water on top. With two parts of earth for one of lime, Hilario prepares the mortar, which will be used to render the mud walls of the house, which have suffered the damage typical of the passage of time. Hilario takes advantage of the caustic and disinfectant power of lime to prevent insects from climbing fruit trees. "Whitening trees for disinfestation, which is better than sulfate." Hilario Artigas had not cooked a batch of lime for many years. At the initiative of the PREPIRINEO CIDER Association, this veteran lime maker has re-lit the oven once more, hoping that this old job will not be forgotten. The simple tools are waiting for someone to take over, if only to make an annual demonstration of this production process that, in other times, was very useful in all rural communities.
