Hiking With The Cows

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Right now in Austria, Switzerland, and in the South of Germany, you will see cows high up in the Alps, hiking on the trails, over bridges and steep hills up to the alpine pastures, where they will be staying all summer long.

Cows Don’t Give Milk

A father used to say to his children when they were young when you all reach the age of twelve I will tell you the secret of life. One day when the oldest turned 12, he anxiously asked his father about the secret of life. The father replied that he was going to tell him, but that he should not reveal it to his brothers.

My Summer in the Alps

Sometimes, very seldom, I feel something like homesickness, even though it’s not for a home or family, but rather for a tradition and or perhaps rituals I remember so vividly. Right about now, at the beginning of summer, I was always called back home to our farm in Austria. I got an extra week of vacation, like so many of us farm-children who had to help.

Wordless Wednesday

Dressed up Cows~!

Today is the first day of autumn and like every year I think back about my childhood. The first day off fall was always a special Holiday in the region where I lived, when I was a child. It was the day when the cows came back to our farm, after they had spent the summer high up in the mountains.

Cows and chickens everywhere~!

I was raised on a farm in Austria, right on the boarder to Italy in a beautiful, idyllic mountain village. We had some cows, sheep’s and pigs and chickens everywhere. A farmers day starts early in the morning and doesn’t end before late at night. Everybody is needed -no exceptions, there is always something to do. We had acres of fruits trees and fields with potatoes and corn. Grass had to be mowed, fences had to be repaired and fruits had to be picked. The farms were not in calling distance; we had to drive to our neighbor’s house.