The Joy of Family Farming!
Farming is hard work and for my grandparents and parents it was part of everyday life. I remember the joy I felt when my Deda Strelieve carved and built me a small wood hay rake so I could help. They had a cow and grew grass and corn and I would go and help rake it up after the tractor came. In areas the tractor could not get to, it was scythed. We never wasted anything. To dry the hay a pole was placed onto the ground and the hay would be lifted over it fork by fork until you had a tall conical pile of hay with the pole poking out at the top. It would stay there in the field to dry until put away for winter feed or bedding especially if there was no room left in the hay loft or barn. I loved to jump in the hay, smell the hay, ride in the hay wagon…all those joys a child who grows up on a farm remembers!
Here is a video that describes how to do this. Look for more videos on youtube on how to use a scythe and to sharpen it. A little more environmentally friendly than using a tool dependent upon fossil fuel. Baba Sookavieff taught me how to use the scythe when I was an adult and she was in her sixties as she still scythed the hillside by her home.
Baba Strelieve taught me how to sit, tie the tail to the stall, and milk a cow in the barn. Then after straining it we put it into a milk separator. I especially liked to wash the separator. One favourite treat was to sit around the round wood table with my siblings, with bowls of smetana and sukhary. The Russian version of a Rusk is called sukhar, leftover bread cut into cubes and is twice baked at a very low temperature in the oven which sweetens it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smetana_(dairy_ product)
Today, to have pasture land, a small barn and some goats a family of six can easily be fed, One of my favorite drinks is goats kefir for each morning. Having raised Saanen goats in the past and here at Oliver Creek Farm, having a blackberry problem of them overtaking the lower pasture, a couple goats should take care of the bushes.
My two grandchildren will enjoy nature walks with the goats. Goats especially like to eat mushrooms and walk with you throughout the property. Saanen goats are very playful, loving and calm.
Learning how to take care of our two farm pets, Shila the Australian Cattle Dog and Akio, our orange tabby, already became one of the grand children’s chores when they were visiting. It is easy and fun!
Being outside early in the morning and having a daily, seasonal routine is a farmer’s way of life. Watering as needed, weeding, seeding, harvesting, and visiting the garden daily gives one a feeling of hope and nourishment that as we take care of the earth, the earth takes care of us.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/how-to-be-a-goat-farmer-zbcz1402