Where Have All The Meadows Gone?

Nary a cow to be seen, even in our rural paradise.

With all that rain we've been having, a lot of fields are water logged and some of the young crops are floating away. Sad for the farmers, but as someone told me the other day, in a way they are to blame as they have not left any place for the water to go because of over planting.

In the days of yore, the farmers didn't have Google, but they knew how to deal with water. Nowadays, driving through most villages, you can see crop fields everywhere but mere pastures with cows grazing on them, are extremely rare. Sad really as there is nothing more homely than walking passed a meadow with a cow ruminating on it.

Cows are extremely rare in our area and a lot of our little farming villages don't even have cows anymore! In the olden days, cows were a necessity and of course dairy farmers needed to feed the cows and have many pastures for grazing. And those pastures were a natural water sponge, that dealt with a prolonged rainy season. The farmers were clever back then...

Wouldn't it be a super idea for our village to have a few communal cows? A few crop fields converted into pastures and a mini herd of cows on them. Imagine how cute that would be, seeing the calves growing into a pretty Daisy or Moo!

What an advertisement it would be if we had that proverbial and communal cow grazing happily on a meadow covered with wild flowers, weeds and green grass? Children could have a holiday helping out milking, feeding or just conversing with our cow. When we say that we are going out for a pint of milk, all we'd need to take would be a little pail, a footstool and a few soothing words for old Daisy...

In a strange way, once we realize how much work goes into a liter of milk, we would appreciate it much more and not waste so much. Who hasn't thrown away milk, yoghurt or cheese that has gone off?

I can see our logo now...

Eisenberg, where we have the best vintages of wine and milk...
Eisenberg, the village that lets you try your hand at offline farming...

Biggi