This is our family
Before we show you around our farm, we'd like to introduce ourselves first. I'm Vreni and this is my brother Nils! Together with our parents, farmer Johanna and farmer Franz, and our little brother Casimir, we experience lots of adventures on the farm every day. Mom and Dad are busy on the farm all day. For example, Mom has to milk the cows and feed the chickens very early every morning. The fresh milk always tastes especially good! Sometimes we help Mom with that too, but most of the time we want to sleep a little longer. Mom also takes care of the vegetable garden and makes sure we children don't get into too much mischief and always have something proper to eat. Dad Franz cleans out the stalls every day, looks after the animals and then drives the tractor out into the field to check on the grain, harvest potatoes and corn or bring in the hay. Nils would love to drive the tractor with Dad all day long! I prefer to look after our donkey. When we're not driving the tractor or helping our parents, we like to romp around in the hayloft and watch the animals through the boards. We also love playing with the rabbits Mimi and Hoppel and our dog Lucky. Now, let's go on our little farm tour!
Our little farm
Every farm of course has a barn for the animals. Ours is really lovely — big and bright and with roomy, well-kept stalls so our cow with her calf, the sheep, pigs and our donkey feel comfortable. We always leave the big barn gate and barn door open in good weather, after all our animals are curious and want to know what's going on outside on the farm. Usually our chickens strut around there, clucking importantly and searching for grains and especially fat earthworms. … Phew! Quite a lot of animals, right? Just behind the barn gate a ladder leads up to the hayloft, the favorite playground of us kids and our friends. It's never really boring up here — we play hide-and-seek, have cozy picnics and are sometimes even allowed to sleep in the hay overnight! That is Nils and me; Casimir is of course still too small for that. But the ladder is not the only way up to the hayloft. On the outside of the barn there is a cable winch that pulls the hay up. When it's time, everyone always has to help!
Our house with the farmhouse garden
We live in a cozy little farmhouse. Mom Johanna makes sure everything is tidy inside and out. She has decorated the walls with pictures and bunches of herbs and lets a rose bush grow around the front door. Can you smell that too? Mom Johanna has cooked lunch! I wonder what it will be today? Now Nils and I have to hurry! We eat together every day at our big table, and often we do crafts and painting there too. Today there's soup for lunch made with vegetables from our own garden. For dessert Mom has whipped up waffles with strawberries. Hmmmmmm! There's also a ladder here up to the attic. We play up there when the weather is too bad to go outside. Sometimes Dad takes an afternoon nap here too, but you mustn't tell Mom! By the way, our dog Lucky also has his own little house! His doghouse is his pride and joy and is fiercely defended against curious chickens and rabbits that would love to peek inside. Right next to our house is the farmhouse garden. There's almost always something tasty to harvest there: carrots, for example, radishes or lettuce. Our cheeky chickens have noticed that too.
Like a big adventure playground
In the afternoons after kindergarten or during the holidays our friends often come to visit. "Your place is like a big adventure playground with a petting zoo," my two best friends Lilli and Mali always say. I think they'd love to live on a farm with so much space and such great animals. But they have me and can always visit. Then we play with the sweet little piglets, spoil the rabbits with carrots and lettuce leaves or cuddle with the sheep. And every evening we fall into bed tired and already look forward to the next day on our little farm.
