This is our family
Before we show you around the farm, we should introduce ourselves. I'm Vreni and this is my brother Nils! Together with our parents, farmer Johanna and farmer Franz, and our little brother Casimir, we have all sorts of adventures on the farm every day. Mum and Dad are busy on the farm all day long. For example, Mum has to milk the cows very early every morning and feed the chickens. The fresh milk always tastes especially good! Sometimes we help Mum with that, but most of the time we'd rather sleep a little longer. Mum also looks after the vegetable patch and makes sure we children don't get up to too much mischief and always have something proper to eat. Dad Franz cleans out the stables every day, looks after the animals and then drives the tractor out to the fields to check on the crops, harvest potatoes and maize, or bring in the hay. Nils would love to ride the tractor with Dad all day! I prefer to look after our donkey. When we're not driving the tractor or helping our parents, we like to romp about in the hayloft and watch the animals through the boards. We also love playing with the rabbits Mimi and Hoppel and our dog Lucky. Right, now let's go on our little farm tour!
Our little farm
Of course every farm has a barn for the animals. Ours is really lovely – big and bright, with roomy, well kept stalls so our cow and her calf, the sheep, the pigs and our donkey are comfortable. We usually leave the big barn gate and the stable door open in good weather, because our animals are curious and want to see what's going on outside in the farmyard. Our hens usually strut about there, clucking important-sounding noises as they peck for grain and especially fat earthworms. … Phew! Quite a lot of animals, aren't there? Right behind the barn gate a ladder leads up to the hayloft, the favourite playground for us children and our friends. It's never boring up there – we play hide-and-seek, have cosy picnics and sometimes we're even allowed to sleep in the hay! Well, Nils and I are allowed – Casimir is still too small, of course. But the ladder isn't the only way up to the hayloft. On the outside of the barn there's a rope winch used to haul the hay up. When it's time, everyone has to help!
Our farmhouse with kitchen garden
We live in a cosy little farmhouse. Mum Johanna makes sure everything is tidy both 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 it too? Mum Johanna has cooked lunch! I wonder what it will be today? Now Nils and I have to hurry! We all eat together at our big table every day, and often do crafts and paint there too. Today there is soup for lunch made with vegetables from our own garden. For dessert Mum has conjured up waffles with strawberries. Mmmmmmm! There's also a ladder up to the loft. We play up there when the weather is too bad to go outside. Sometimes Dad has a nap there too, but don't tell Mum! By the way, our dog Lucky also has his very own little house! His doghouse is his pride and is fiercely defended against curious hens and rabbits that would love to peek inside. Right next to our house is the kitchen garden. There's almost always something tasty to harvest there: carrots, for example, radishes or lettuce. Our cheeky hens have noticed that too.
Like a big adventure playground
In the afternoons after nursery or during the holidays our friends often come to visit. "It's like you're on 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've got me and can always come to visit. Then we play with the cute little piglets, spoil the rabbits with carrots and lettuce leaves or cuddle the sheep. And every evening we fall into bed tired and already look forward to the next day on our little farm.
