Farms are fun

European Commission Agriculture and Rural Development

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More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2010 ISBN 978-92-79-13637-5 doi:10.2762/11339 European Union, 2010 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged Illustrations : Vronique Hariga - www.hariga.be Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

Farms are fun

Nicholas sits in the train watching the fields and trees pass by. It is early spring and, through the bare trees, he can sometimes see the river in the valley. Nicholas and his parents are on their way to visit his aunt and uncle and his cousin Emma on their farm. Its the first time since he was small. He doesnt remember much from his last visit. But he does recognise Emma and his aunt and uncle who meet them at the village railway station. The two families greet each other. Its great to see you again. Were so glad you could all come, say the grown-ups. Nicholas and Emma look at each other shyly.

The shyness doesnt last. By the time they arrive at the farmhouse, they are talking about toys, schools, friends and pets. I dont have a pet, says Emma, getting out of the car. We have a dog, Floss, but she isnt a pet. She is a working dog. She helps look after the sheep. If one gets lost, she finds it and brings it back. And, anyway, there are lots of animals on the farm. Floss, who had been sitting in the farmyard, comes forward for a closer look. She sniffs the newcomers, then wags her tail. She even lets Nicholas pat her.

I am sure youre hungry after your journey, Aunt Molly says to Nicholas. Eat an apple now. Well have eggs, milk, cheese and bread shortly. All the food comes from the farm. As they eat, Nicholas hears the wind outside getting stronger. It is now dark. There is going to be a storm tonight, says Uncle Frank, and maybe even snow. There are some sheep still waiting to have their lambs. If the lambs are born tonight, they may need help.

An hour later, the wind has become a gale. Uncle Frank and Nicholas' dad put on big boots and heavy coats. They set off to visit the sheep with a tractor and trailer. Nicholas and Emma are allowed to stay up until their fathers come back. They see the tractor lights as it stops outside the barn. They put on coats and scarves and run across. By this time, the two men have put a mother sheep and two tiny lambs into a pen with lots of dry straw. Floss found the sheep and the twin lambs in the corner of a field, Uncle Frank told the children. The lambs were so small and weak, they would have died if she had not seen them. They can rest in the warm, dry barn until they are strong enough to go back to the field.

The next morning is bright and sunny. The storm has passed. Nicholas goes outside. He sees hens in the nearby field. Emma and her mother are carrying a pail of grain to feed them. Our hens live outside, says Emma. We dont keep them in a barn. They are happy to be in the open. Ours only go inside at night or to lay theireggs.

Uncle Frank is in the vegetable field. He is planting rows of carrots, beans, lettuce, cucumbers, cauliflower, celery, peppers, spinach, radishes, leeks and onions. Can we help? the children ask. Soon they are busy. Uncle Frank makes holes in the soft dark earth. Emma pops a seed into each hole and Nicholas fills the holes with fresh earth and presses it down. If you come back on your next school holidays, youll be able to eat many of the things you planted today, Uncle Frank tells Nicholas. I would like that very much, says Nicholas. I will ask my mum and dad when we can come back.

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Next day is a busy one for Nicholas and Emma. It is the day Nicholas and his parents return to their home in the city. But first there is much to do. They get up early to help bring in the cows from the field to be milked. The milk is collected by a truck which takes it to the dairy. At the dairy, says Uncle Frank, The milk is put in bottles and cartons and sent to shops and supermarkets, for people to buy. Some milk is delivered to schools for the children to drink, he says. And Aunt Molly keeps some to make ice-cream, cheese and yoghurt.

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Then the children go to the barn. The lambs have fed on their mothers milk and look stronger. Emma and Nicholas stroke them. It is time for them and their mother to go back to the field with the other sheep, says Uncle Frank. Can I come? asks Nicholas. You dont have time, says his father. We need to go to the station for the train. Tell you what, says Uncle Frank. I will take a photo of Emma putting the lambs back in their field and send it to you on the internet. It will be waiting for you when you get home. Although we live in the country, we now have internet too, just like families who live in the town. And we have internet and computers at our school, says Emma, with lots of learning games.

It is summer. The school holidays have arrived. Nicholas is excited. It is time to visit Emma and her parents again. When they get off the train, they come face-to-face with the farmers market. Uncle Frank tells Nicholas about it. Although we supply shops and restaurants in towns, we also sell things in our own market. Lots of people come to buy.

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The market is a mix of colours, smells and noise. There are all kinds of vegetables: red, yellow, brown, black, green, pink and white. How many of them do you know the names of? asks Uncle Frank. Eggs are piled up in little pyramids. Cheeses sit alongside yoghurt, butter and cream. Sunflower oil and olive oil are being sold in bottles and jugs. Sweet-smelling lavender and other herbs hang from the stall covers. Some farmers who keep bees are selling pots of honey.

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At the farm, Emma shows Nicholas the vegetables he helped plant on his last visit. The plants are full of ripe vegetables. The cauliflowers come nearly to Nicholas' waist. We eat a lot of vegetables, Emma says. Everybody should. They are good for you. Emma plucks two tomatoes for Nicholas. They are bigger than tennis balls. Mmm, they are so sweet, cries Nicholas.

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The children visit the sheep. Emma tells Nicholas that all the lambs were sold to another farmer. They see Floss, hard at work. She is bringing the sheep one by one to the gate. There they are having all their wool cut off.

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Their wool is used to make clothes and carpets, says Uncle Frank. The sheep are bald without their wool They are cooler like that and less bothered by insects. And it grows back in time to keep them warm in winter.

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Back at the farm, dark-blue swallows dart in and out of the barn. They make nests inside with mud from the river bank. The swallows are catching insects to feed to their young, Nicholas' father tells him. On the roof of the barn is another nest a much bigger one. It is a bundle of branches and twigs and belongs to a family of storks. They say that if storks nest on your roof, it brings you luck, says Emma. You see, says Nicholas' father, the countryside is shared by everyone. Farmers and their families tend the animals and grow our food. But there are also the birds who live here like the swallows and storks. Then people like us from the town visit the countryside for holidays, or walks or picnics.

The next morning, Uncle Frank sets off early on his combine harvester with some farm workers on tractors and trailers. Its the most important time of the year when the main crops are harvested. They will be working every day until after dark to gather in all the grain from the fields.

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It rains a little, just a short summer shower. When it stops, a rainbow with many colours makes an arch across the sky. My friends at school told me that there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, says Nicholas. But its hard to reach. Lets try to find it, says Emma. We can go on bikes. She fetches two bikes from the garage and they set off in the direction of the rainbow. Floss runs along beside them. She barks with fun. What shall we do with the gold if we find it? asks Nicholas. They cycle for some time. But the rainbow seems to get further away, not nearer. They come to the field where Uncle Frank and the men are busy. Where are you going? he asks. We are trying to reach the end of the rainbow to get the pot of gold, Nicholas tells him.

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Uncle Frank smiles a big smile. Rainbows are made by the sun shining on the raindrops. They disappear when you get close to them, says Uncle Frank. If there is no rainbow when you get there, there is no gold either. But look at your rainbow over there. It seems to end in the middle of that field of golden wheat. That is your gold at rainbows end, Uncle Frank says with a laugh.

He leans out of his combine and explains. Although wheat is not precious like gold, it is still valuable, he says. We make bread with it, says Nicholas. And pasta too, cries Emma.

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The holiday is over. It is time to go. Nicholas carries a box of fruit and vegetables to take home. He cant see where he is going. Dont walk there, cries Emma. It is too late. Nicholas has stepped on an egg laid by a hen near the car. He slips and sits on it too. The hens are supposed to lay their eggs inside. But sometimes they forget, says Emma. Everybody laughs. Nicholas gets clean trousers and off they all go to the station. Nicholas asks Emma to send him all the news from the farm after he has gone back to the town.

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A few weeks later, Nicholas gets an email message from Emma and her parents with some photos. She has lots of news. Dad has harvested all our crops. He has ploughed some of our fields ready to sow the seeds for next year. Now he is busy with the jobs he cant do at other times. Today he is mending a stone wall which has fallen down. Tomorrow he is going to clean a ditch beside the road. When winter comes, he will feed our animals and make plans for next year. He says he will turn one of the old farm buildings into a brand-new holiday home. You can be the first to stay in it when its ready next summer.

European Commission Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union 2010 22 pp. 21 cm x 21 cm ISBN 978-92-79-13637-5 doi:10.2762/11339

The text of this publication is for information purposes only and is not legally binding.

KF-30-09-193-EN-C

Nicholas sits in the train watching the fields and trees pass by. It is early spring and, through the bare trees, he can sometimes see the river in the valley. Nicholas and his parents are on their way to visit his aunt and uncle and his cousin Emma on their farm...

European Commission Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/
ISBN 978-92-79-13637-5 doi:10.2762/11339