The Barn under the Stars

We introduce you to Cosmina Mariș, the initiator of the project “The Barn under the Stars” – Longing & Straw · Under the Apuseni Stars, a place that was there in her childhood and that she misses. However, her love for the mountains and the simple life of yesteryear remains in her soul.

Cosmina tells us that there is a place in the Apuseni Mountains where time has never rushed.

A small barn, with a thatched roof, over a hundred years old, nestled on a hill in Alunei, Mogoș, near the forest. It has no utilities, no fences, and no constructions around. Only silence, wind, and the smell of mown grass.

For many, it would just be an old barn.

For Cosmina, it is her childhood.

When she was little, she would bring food for Grandpa Niculae, her grandfather. He would leave to mow before sunrise, and Grandma would carefully prepare the provisions. The journey to the barn, the simple meals, and the rest in the cool wood remained deeply etched in her soul.

She remembers the shade there that protected her from the summer heat and that tranquility that made you feel safe. The barn seemed to guard her. The forest kept her close.

There, without knowing it, she learned what it means to care for people, respect for nature, and the joy of simple things.

Years passed, and the place remained. Silent. Waiting to be revived. Cosmina felt she couldn’t let it become just a memory.

Together with the energy of this group of women, the dream of “The Barn under the Stars” came alive and took a tangible form! Now, it is more than an idea; it is action. The barn is not seen merely as a business, but as a continuation of a family story.

A small space, in the midst of nature, where people can slow down, breathe, and feel the joy of simple things again. A place where they can write new pages or recall stories.

Cosmina wishes that people who come there experience at least a little of what she felt as a child. That families come to sit on blankets in the grass, enjoying simple picnics. To sleep under the starry sky. To cook balmoș and dishes from Mogoș together, as they used to. To light a fire in the evening and tell stories. To have small, intimate weddings where nature is the main decor, and a place where children see what real mountain life looks like.

She doesn’t want to change the place. She just wants to let it speak again.

The project will be built within the family, step by step, with hard work, patience, and a deep longing for the Apuseni Mountains.

The Romanian village does not need to be reinvented. It just needs to be listened to.

These old barns are part of the vernacular heritage of the Apuseni Mountains and preserve the traces of a simple world, built in connection with the land, people, and the rhythm of nature.

Through this project, she hopes the barn will once again be full of life, people, and stories.