Felipe was the first to appear for his portrait. He does not live in the village, but is in charge of maintaining the family home. He lived up to the reputation of the people of these lands. A hospitable man, he gave us a box of sweet butter, typical of the province, which was the delight of our palates and waistlines for the next few days.
We talked about everything, but mainly about the industrial model of the area. He explained to us that for some time now they have started to recover an old trade in the nearby mountain, “the bleeding of the resin pine”, for the extraction of turpentine or resin, as sticky as it is necessary for the elaboration of glues, waterproofing agents or solvents, among others.
According to what he explained to us, there were 4 or 5 licences to exploit the forest and each licence had the right to 4 hectares of exploitation. A lot of work. We were very impressed when we walked through the pine forest where the trees, carefully “wounded” by wise hands, let their “blood” of sticky glass flow into black containers, which at some point in the year would be collected.
This recovery of an ancient trade contrasts with the closure, during the last decades, of the great majority of furniture industries in Almazán, a small town of reference from which Tejerizas is 4 kilometres away. In fact, he himself suffered the cessation of activity in the factory where he worked.
Today, he tells us, he works in a paper recycling company in Almazán and, since the pandemic, they receive more orders than ever, good news for the local industry and its inhabitants.
