Monday, October 8, 2012

A family of farmers.

First of all I must thank you all for your responses to my last post about locating Card stock. I found it. Or rather I found something that was like it but even better, as well as some notebooks I had been needing and a few other paper related products. I found them at the "paper store."

Papirus.  A place full school supplies, the fun ones like all kinds of paints and all kinds of paper, and glitter (is that really a school supply?), and glue, etc. and none of the boring stuff like protractors, which we all used twice and then turned into some sort of weapon.

I still wish they had all of these wonderful things in many different price ranges in one place. I do, because this makes things easier. I could pretend that I think it's romantic to open up all these large doors and find a quaint little shop on the other side. Maybe it would be if I didn't have four kids in tow that somehow, by the time we get out the the door, all have to go to the bathroom while being ravenously starving and in need of naps. I choose the kids over the romantic paper stores. Luckily this store is run by the nicest lady and her daughter, the owner is well over 35 and yet still quite amiable and chipper and her daughter is equally as obliging. Lovely ladies, just down the street from my favorite Starocie and next door to....

....a huge book store that sells everything you could possibly need for homeschooling! It was great. We bought the paper and  a couple other little notebooks from Papirus, hopped next door and bought Hejjo his "Klasa 1" complete set and headed home. These stores are all set quite conveniently in Plac Centralny/Reagan Square in the heart of Nowa Huta, which is also a plus because I love that area. All birds, one stone.

In short: found what I needed, discovered some new shops and toured a little of Nowa Huta. A good time was had.

Now, on to the farming part of this post.

This past Sunday we decided to visit Martin's family. The farming side. Well, they're not all farmers. But they come from a farming background. A couple of his uncles are still farming, one of them is indeed a full fledged farmer who subsistence farms, as well as sells his goods, and at the same time serves as Mayor of his little village. This man works from dawn until dark and then some, 7 days a week (Less work is surely done on Sunday, but cows gotta be milked, ya know). I, of course, as mentioned several times already, have a dream of having a small farm. This dream will no be realized any time in the near or distant foreseeable future, I know that now. Not because of me, but because of life, and the way life turns out. Not bad, just different. You know, life is like that, one day you just wake up and find... snore... Snore...SNORE...

skip to the end...

...and so I says to him, I says to this farming uncle and his brother, "I would like to raise some chickens, for eggs." Martin said this, I sat and eagerly nodded and quietly mumbled "kury" lubie" "jajka" "tak" "prosze pomoc" and smiled real big, like this...





And wouldn't you know it? They were impressed and excited that we wanted to raise some chickens. They were full of suggestions and advice. They suggested starting with 12 so we would have some eggs in the winter enough to make a meal or two. On uncle is going to buy the chickens already at a young age, raise them through the first winter, while we build a coop in our backyard, and, as he says, "you'll have more eggs than you know what to do with by the end of February."

So, ladies and gentleman, as Martin so happily and a bit patronizingly put it, "all your (Olivia) dreams are coming true!"  In the process of these discussions both the uncles were adamant that we should also raise rabbits, for meat, at the same time along with at least one rooster, for more, future, egg laying chickens. We declined. One animal at time, friends, one animal (or 12) at a time.

What I don't have is photo evidence of any of these discussions or conclusions taking place. What I do have is our young brood's first attempt at feeding grains to birds. Already in training...



small motor skills, caring for nature, home economics (what with the sewing ) 

I promise we don't force them to do these fun, artsy projects, regardless of their facial expressions.


"Function over form"

9 comments:

  1. Grate to hear it !
    BTW almost 90 days! congrats :-)

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  2. I, too, had a farmer's dream. We bought our farm house (plus barn, pig stye and hen house) on a hectare of land with a small orchard about 8 years ago. After that I learned something...I am not a farmer! But I am learning. Root vegetables are easy-peasy, pumpkins too. I have learned to love the mole hills and sprinkle each new mole hill with a mix of grass and meadow flower seeds. I have given up on the idea of having a nice lawn and have newly classified it as a meadow.

    One hectare is not a large farm but it is a big garden. I have help from a neighbor who is a farmer and who is always willing to give me some advice if I ask. Having your own hens is great. One thing I can say about having hens is that they attract rodents. Almost all of our neighbors have "outside" cats so the rodent population is under control. If none of your neighbors have roaming felines, you may want to think about getting one.

    My neighbor raises partridges along with his chickens - "just to look at" he says.

    Good luck with your farming dreams :)

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    Replies
    1. Well, you never know until you try! And kudos to you for trying. I think, for me, it would be enough to try out a few things and just settle with what I'm comfortable with. I don't have to have a working farm, or even half a farm. A working vegetable garden would be fine at this point! I am excited to get started, and I really want the children to take part in where our food comes from, aside from the grocery store, of course.

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    2. Rodents, huh? I don't mind rodents but I realize they may not be the best to have around. Cat, huh? Hejjo is allergic to cats but maybe if they were kept outside... I know exactly what Martin will say... "NO!" Oh my goodness the kids would die of happiness of we got a cat or two, even feral ones.

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  3. We've got our first square foot garden going. Addictive! Waiting till Spring for chickens.

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    Replies
    1. Wonderful! I will want to hear more about your chickens, I gather you know what you're doing, right? Because we don't.

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  4. I assume the heartfelt advice came from Romek and Piotrek? And the suggestion of rabbits from the latter?
    MJD

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  5. Yes! Although I do think Romek was the one suggesting the rabbits. Piotrek was saying they would be too much work. I concur, at least for now.

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