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In springtime everything is growing quickly, so, it is interesting to look at the progress of whatever you are growing, look at this green field of wheat or barley in late spring, if you look closely, you can see the ear of wheat or barley coming out of the stems. Here I would like to point out that barley was used to be cut at this stage, to feed the animals at night during springtime.
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Welcome to our article,
Dear readers, in our last article we were telling you, how boring was in wintertime in the farms. Anyhow, after winter comes spring, and spring is the season of hope and dreams; but nobody can experience this feeling of hope and dreams more than the farm people, because everything is happening right in front of their eyes.
Therefore, from the
farmers’ point of view, spring is a happier season than winter, even though we can say that the farm life is the
same even in springtime, because first and foremost you have to look after the
farm animal, since the farm animals 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 tractors, they were coming
out but they were too expensive to buy, so, we had to rely on the farm animals
to do the jobs that needed to be done. Now, I want to point out that since then
several farm machineries have come out and have helped farming a lot, so, today
farming is easier than it was then. But changes can bring
good things and causalities, and I became one of the causalities.
To understand the
benefit that the farmers and the entire community has received form this modern
way of wheat farming. See this article, Farming today compared to the old way.
Anyhow, here we want to talk about the farm life in spring of those bygone days. So, let me describe the changes that springtime brings to the farmers and to the farms’ animals. You see, in the temperate zone of these Southern Italy towns, every season brings a new way of life and spring brings big changes.
Now, during the
winter, we were hand feeding all farm animals, which was a boring job, day in
day out. In spring the way of looking after the farm’s animals changes, because
in springtime 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 bring them inside the farm stables for
security reasons.
As we have said,
during the winter, the large farm animals have been hand fed in the stable with
straws, oats and hay, but in spring they will be grazing 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; during the day in the paddocks and at
night with fresh harvested grass, purposely grown and cut from the farmers.
So, 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 fine, and every day that go past it becomes
warmer, so, a more relaxed way of life can be enjoyed.
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What relief spring brings to us farmers?
In the farms, springtime brings a smile to
the farmers faces, because this new season brings hope to everyone, and if you
are in the farm this feeling is felt even more, it is our human nature and
because the farmers are closer to Mother Nature they can feel this more than
the rest of the community.
Here we must say
that all the living animals love springtime too, because spring 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 wintertime.
From a young would
be farmer point of view, the very first thing that we notice in spring is that
the temperature is becoming milder, everything around you are becoming greener;
wherever you turn you can see this happening right in front of your eyes, and
that is a wonderful thing to see.
We can say that the
only time that living in the farm for a short period can be more interesting
than living in town is at spring time, because those things that make life
interesting in the farms happen one after another, you see, we can observe
Mother Nature wonders as they occur at close range; and springtime is the time
when most of those wonders occur one after another.
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 are doing that we 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, so, we are thinking about harvest time whatever we are planting. I
know that this seems like dreaming good things, but that is a way of life
farmers live; they need to dream good things to come, to continue to do their
farming. Now, let us describe the spring season that we young farmer would see
happening right in front of our eyes.
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Wonderful spring is here.
During early spring
it is wonderful, if we can forget all worries in the world, and look at the
work of Mother Nature at its best; flowers are everywhere, and everything is
alive. You see, today you look at one tree and you wonder whether it is alive
or dead, because its twigs seem 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, the trees grow quickly at
springtime after a cold winter, also all grass and seedlings grow faster and
everything is greener and full of life; the birds that throughout the winter
seemed timid and sad, now start to sing and they sound happy. In the country
there is a change in the air in springtime and everything and everybody feels
happier, because there are lots of sunny mild days in spring, so, the sunshine
and the mild days tell you that the dreadful winter is past, so, this brings
happiness to everybody and everything.
Of course, we must
look after the farm animals, because that is a chore that never ends, but now
it is easier 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 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; the farmers go around
and hope to harvest plenty of everything, when they are ready to be harvested.
But even in this
happy season there can be problems; because the farmer’s life is not an easy
life; so, while the farmer is dreaming about the good harvest that can be
coming, at the same time they are worried; they fear bad weather that can ruin
their crops. These natural facts, that nature can unleash is a real problem
when stormy weather approaches, because the work that the framers have done
during the year can be ruined in a few minutes. So, hope and heartbreak go hand
in hand, and even in this season that is better that the rest, it is not easy
being a farmer. 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.
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The farm animals.
Now let us talk
about the farm animals, and what happens in springtime. If we observe,
we must admit that the ways that Mother Nature has set up for reproducing 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 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 according to their specie.
Anyhow, most of the
farm animals are born early in spring, so that they can grow big and strong
during the spring and summer, so, when the cold weather comes back they are
able to cope with it easily, this is how Mother Nature wants it to be, you see,
everything is set in a way that all living things will get the most benefit
that they can get, while they can in the good and warm season, and that is the
way that Mother Nature wants it to be. But we humans sometimes interfere with
Mother Nature.
Now there is
something that I hate to say, but I must say it anyhow, you should understand
that farmers to run their farms properly, they are pushed to do things that are
cruel. You see, we people sometimes do things that seems against Mother Nature,
because we need to control everything around us for our own benefit, one of
those things is that we take away the veal from mother cow, after we have done
that, then we can happily milk the cow.
We milk the cows
and what we do with it is dairy products, dairy products are a wide range of
products, of many shapes and forms, starting from plain milk that can be of
various sorts and many sorts of cheeses and other things; but here in these
articles we are only mentioning, what we did with the milk that we took from
the cows and other farm animals, at the time when I was young.
You see, we used
that milk to make cheese; some of the reasons for making cheese was that in
those times, 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. Anyhow, in our next article
we will be talking about, how we made cheese the old way when I was young. Of
course, 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,
To see more click on this link, Springtime in the farms.
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