The farms life in spring
Welcome to our page
(28), springtime in the farms
Dear readers, in
our last article we have been telling you, how isolated and boring my young
life was in the farm in winter times in the farms; but even in these harsh
situations sometimes there is a little bit of hope for better times, if we look
for it and appreciate it when it comes, even if this something that we are
looking for is not very important to other people that may live in towns; but
for the farm people it is, because they are exposed to it directly and they
experience it in full. So, let us see what could be better than usual in those
farms, where we lived such a boring and hard life most of the time.
As we all know,
after winter comes spring and we could say that spring is the season of hope
and dreams for a better life for a lot of people in the world; but nobody would
or could experience this feeling of hope and dreams for a better life more than
the farm people, because everything is happening right in front of their eyes.
Therefore, while I
am telling you the story of my life in the farm, in this article I am also
going to describe to you how the spring season affects the farm people; so let
me start by saying that from the farmers’ point of view, spring could be said
that is a better and happier season than most of the other seasons especially
winter, even though one could say that the farm life is usually the same even
in spring time, because first and foremost you have to look after the farm
animal, since the farm animals could be said that are (or were) the backbone in
farming in those days; you see, up to the time when I was young everything was
done by using these animals strength to plough the fields, to carry heavy
weights around, and to pull the cart, because, when I was young there were not
that many tractor around yet, they were coming out but they were too expensive
to buy, so we had still to rely on the farm animals to do the jobs that needed
to be done, in the small farms of those days. Now, here I would like to point
out that since then several farm machineries have come out and have helped
farming a lot in every way, so, today farming is a lot easier than it was in
those old times. Of course, any changes that happen, bring good things and
causalities, and I was one of the causalities.
But, just to compare
what I have just said above, we would like to show our readers the great
difference that these new farming machines have made in the price of farming
especially in wheat farming, between those by gone days and these days; and
also the great benefit that the farmers have received and also the entire
community has received form this modern way of wheat farming. Here is a link to
one of our own hubs where we compare some of this great difference; Farming today compared to the old way
Anyhow, here we
would like to talk about the farm life in spring of those bygone days, just to
continue our life story as well in a chronological way; now, I don’t want to
winch too much here, because spring is a much better season than winter, you
know that from what I have already written in our previous hubs. However, we
still need to explain how we look after the farm animals in spring, if we want
to inform our readers how life was in the farms then even in spring.
So, now let me
describe the changes that spring time brings in the country of the town that I
have come from, above all let us see what changes spring brings to the farmers
and to the farms’ animals. You see in the temperate zone, like the temperate
zone of this Southern Italy town, there are big changes in temperature, because
of these changes in temperature, every season brings a new way of life and
spring brings very big changes as well.
Now, as we have
said previously, we were hand feeding all farm animals during the winter, which
was a very boring job, day in day out, therefore, the spring season is/was very
welcome. I am saying this because, in springtime the way of looking after the
farm’s animals changes a lot, because in spring time all the animal that are
grass eater will start eating grass in the paddock, at the beginning for only a
few hours a day, and then it will reach a stage when most of the farm’s animals
will be feeding on grass and nothing else, and most of them will be grazing in
the paddock during daytime, at night most of us small farmers would still bring
them inside the farm stables for security reasons, so let us describe how
generally this was done.
As we have said,
during the winter and perhaps most of the year, the large farm animals have
been hand fed in the stable with straws, oats and hay, but now gradually they
will be let loose to graze in the paddocks. So, as soon as the grass in the
paddock grows enough in early spring, the cows are let loose in the paddock for
a few hours each day to begin with, and then as the grass starts growing faster
they will graze in the paddocks all day long. The next on line to graze in the
paddocks are the pregnant mares, followed by the rest of the animals: So that
in mid spring all the animals that are grass eater will be feeding only on
grass; that is during the day in the paddocks and at night with fresh harvested
grass, which has been purposely grown and cut from the farmers.
As you can see the
farmers are still busy to look after the farm animals, but now it is not as
hard as in winter times and the weather is usually fine, and every day that go
past it becomes warmer, so a more relaxed way of life can be enjoyed, we have
to say more about the farm animals later on, because now I would like to change
on a happier human subject, for the time being just to try to find some
happiness, in the middle of so much hard and boring life.
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What relief could spring bring?
As you know, here
we are talking about me, as a very young boy living in the farm and looking for
some relief. So, let us see what relief or happy things spring time could bring
to us young would be farmers; apart from what we have said in our last hub and
how dreadful life was in the farms in winter times, spring puts an end to those
very dreadful times as it brings some relief; so, let us talk about springtime
in the farms, and we believe that just thinking about springtime in the
farmers’ world, it would bring a smile to the farmers faces, because this new
season brings hope to everyone, but that is not all, because we are sure that
just about every one of us human likes springtime, and if you are in the farm
this feeling is felt even more, as we would be very close to Mother Nature, it
is our human nature and because the farmers are closer to Mother Nature they
can feel this perhaps more than the rest of the community.
Here we have to say
also that all other living animals love springtime, because spring seems to
bring a new beginning to everything, it brings new hope and it brings new life
and we humans are all waiting for the good things that will come during the
year, you see spring is completely different from what we have been talking
about in one of our last hubs, where we have been telling you beside other
things what we did in the farm in a winter day and it was very boring, as we
had to do all those repetitive chores day in day out, here is the link if you
want to check it out what we said there, My farm life continues, therefore now, we have better news
to tell you, because we are going to talk about spring time in the farms, which
marks the beginning of many new things.
From a young would
be farmer point of view, the very first thing that one notice in spring is that
the temperature is becoming milder, everything around you are becoming nice and
green; wherever you turn you can see this happening right in front of your eyes,
and that is a wonderful thing to see all these plants and grasses growing, as
they seem to wake up from that dormant stage that they were in in winter time.
So, dear readers,
we hope that this article will make you forgive us for telling you all that boring
farm stuff in our previous hubs, as we have been talking to you and telling you
what happens in the farm during the year, we know that farm life is boring but
it is a life that some of us happen to have lived, and if we want to be true to
ourselves we have to tell it just the way that we have lived it. But even in
the farm sometimes life brings good things to say about, so let us hope that
you would enjoy this present article a bit more than the last one.
We can surely say
that the only time that one can say that living in the farm for a short period
could be better or more interesting than living in town was and is at spring
time, because those things that make life interesting in the farms happen one
after another, you see one can observe Mother Nature wonders as they occur at
very close range; and springtime is the time when most of those wonders occur
one after another. Therefore, life in the farm becomes more interesting and
wonderful after a cold winter when finally, spring comes, for a start the warm
sun makes just everybody feel happy to be alive, after those cold winter days
that never seemed to end.
But let us say what
we did and how we felt in those farms. For us farmers early in spring when the
weather is fine it is nice and warm to stay outside doing odd jobs, like
preparing the soil in the kitchen garden and planting some seeds that will soon
grow, while we would be doing that we would just imagine how these new plants
will grow and bear fruit in summer; you see in the temperate zone as the days
grow longer and the temperature rises the plants start growing very quickly,
this fact of life even by itself seems to bring some joy after the cold winter
days, not only because we could see the new plants growing quickly, but also
because we would be thinking what the good season would bring to us, when the
time would come to harvest whatever we had planted or we would plant now in
early spring, I know that this seems like dreaming good things, but that is a
way of life that all farmers use to do; they need to dream good things to come,
in order to continue to do their farming; but anyhow let us see what other good
things spring brings with it. At least let us try to describe the beauty of the
spring season that us young farmer would see happening right in front of our
eyes.
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Wonderful spring is here
Wonderful spring is
here, so let us dream for a better life
Flowers everywhere www.types-of-flowers.org/spring-flowers.html
During early spring
it would be wonderful, if one could be able to forget all worries in the world,
and look at the work of Mother Nature at its best. You see, today you look at
one tree and you wonder whether it is alive or dead, because its twigs seem
really lifeless; but in a few days, when you look at that same tree again you
can see a few flowers and some small leaves on its twigs, and in a few more
days the whole tree will be in flower, and also its leaves will be growing on
its twigs very rapidly, all the trees start flowering and growing quickly at
springtime after a cold winter, also all grass and seedlings grow faster and
everything is greener and full of life, also the birds that throughout the
winter seemed timid and sad, now start to sing and they sound very happy. In
the country there is a change in the air in springtime and everything and
everybody feels happier in spring, there are lots of sunny and mild days in
spring, so the sunshine and the mild days tell you that the dreadful winter is
past, so, better times are ahead for the farm people and for the farm animals
as well and this brings a sort of happiness to everybody and everything.
Of course we in the
farm would be still busy to look after the farm animals, because that is a
chore that never ends, but now it seems not as hard as in winter times and the
weather is usually fine, in spring times every day that go past the weather
becomes warmer, so, a more relaxed way of life can be enjoyed and there are
also other happy happenings, you see, spring is the season of hope and in
spring we start to harvest many things, there are plenty of vegetables in
spring as everything grows pretty fast, also in the fields things grow fast,
there are plenty of fresh peas, green beans, broad beans just to name a few,
the farmers go around with great hope in their hearts, they hope to harvest
plenty of everything, when they are ready to be harvested.
But even in this
happy season so to speak there could be problems; because the farmer’s life is
not an easy life, so, while the farmer is dreaming about the good harvest that
he may see coming, at the same time the farmers always look at the sky, as they
fear bad weather that can ruin their crops. These natural facts, that nature
could unleash is a real problem when stormy weather approaches, as all the work
that the framers have done during the year can be ruined or destroyed in a few
minutes. So, hope and heartbreak go hand in hand in the farms and they are
there ever present, so, even in this season that we think is better that the
rest, it is not an easy life being a farmer, I can tell you that, because I
have been there. Here I have to say that this was one of the reasons why I left
farming and migrated to Australia when I was still young, hoping for a better
and easier life in Australia which I did. But now let us go back to talk about
the farm animals, as they were and are a very important part of farming all
year around, therefore what happens during spring is interesting to know, so
let us talk about the farm’s animals and what happens to them during spring
times.
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The farm animals
Let us talk about
the farm animals and what happens to them in spring
Dear readers, this
sub-article here is about the way of life that we the farm people together with
the farm animals live in the farms at springtime; now, because spring brings
happy things to the farmers in general, I would like to keep this part here as
happy and positive as I can; so I am going to say only those things that could
sound happy, therefore anything that might be sad and we are leaving behind, we
are going to say it another time; so, let us see what happens in the farms in
spring time.
First of all, if we
observe what is happening in spring and we think about it, we have to admit
that the ways that Mother Nature has set up for the reproduction of the species
is incredible, and the way of how most natural things happen in the animals
world is almost faultless, for a start most of the farm animals give birth to
their offspring when there is plenty of food to go around, and when mild and
fine weather is usually expected, it is for this reason that in springtime most
of the animals offspring are born, starting from the cows that usually calf
once every year and they make plenty of milk especially when there is plenty of
green food for them to eat, also other animals have their offspring in spring,
the sheep have their lambs, the mares have their foals, and other animals have
also their young’s whatever it is according to their specie.
By observing what
we have just said above, we have reasons to believe that the farm animals are
born usually early in spring, so that they can grow big and strong during the
spring and summer, so that when the cold weather comes back they would be able
to cope with it easily, this is really how Mother Nature wants it to be, you
see everything is set in a way that all living things would get the most
benefit that they can get, while they can in the good and warm season,
therefore that is a very good thing because it happens like that, and that is
the way that Mother Nature wants it to be. But we humans sometimes interfere
with Mother Nature, as you will see in our next article, where we will explain
what we do, when we use Mother Nature and the animals to the extreme for our
own benefit.
Today we are not
going to say everything that happens in the farms, so, we are only explaining
that in spring the cows usually make plenty of milk, in fact I could say that
their calf’s need only half the milk that they make, so the farmers milks the
rest of the milk from the cows, and uses this milk to make dairy products.
About milking the cows and other animals we will talk about in our next hub,
where we are going to explain other things that we have tried to avoid in this
article.
Now that we have
explained what we could do with some animals’ milk, let us see what else is
left to talk about as good news; you see today we take plenty of milk from the
cows and what we do with it is dairy products, dairy products could be a wide
range of products, of many shapes and forms, starting from just plain milk that
can be of various sorts and many sorts of cheeses and other things; but here in
this article we would like to talk about, what we did with most of the milk
that we took from the cows and other farm animals, at the time when I was young
in the farm, and in the past?
We used that milk
to make cheese of course; some of the reasons for making cheese was that in
those times when I was young, there wasn’t a real milk market that you could
sell the milk to, so we had to do something with the milk that we had. You see
farming is mostly based in waste not want not, so nothing should go to waste,
therefore we made our own cheese from the milk that we had. So, in our next hub
we will be talking about, how we made cheese the old way when I was young. Of
course, there is not much to learn there for the modern generation, because things
have changed a lot since then, but nevertheless it was a way of life that we
used to live, so, let us tell it just the way it was happening then, in our
next article.
See you soon in our
hub, Cheese making
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