A Special Veggie Gram for our Grandchildren

While traveling through Sweden, Grandma Sally and PaPa Bill stopped at Stormy Mountain Farm for a visit. The farm is owned by Farmer Gunnar and his wife Caroline. They let us stay in the old cook house, which has a huge oven that was once used to bake bread. What a large pizza we could bake in there! To get to our bed, we had to climb a ladder to a loft located above the oven. Come take a walk with us around the farm.

Grazing the Milk Cows

All day long these healthy, happy cows graze in the fields eating grass. There are no giant feed lots in Norway. At 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon, Caroline gathers the cows and herds them toward the barn for milking. She gets help from their sheep dog, Pelle, who barks excitedly and chases the cows like a champion.

Each cow has one calf a year. These four calves are eating supper while watching the mother cows giving milk. Some of the calves will grow up to become milk cows (girls) themselves and some will become bulls (boys).

It's Milking Time

Inside the barn, each cow finds her favorite stall where she will be fed while being milked. Here they are all lined up and ready to give milk. There's Bessie, Clara, Josie, Camille, Patsy and Kate. Caroline gives them their vitamins along with the hay.

Farmer Gunnar cleans the udders and attaches the milk machine. Milk is pumped from the cow, through a pipe, and into a huge vat where the warm milk is then chilled. The chilled milk is trucked to a factory where it is put in cartons to sell at the store.

The cows stay in the barn overnight and are milked again at 6:00 o'clock in morning. Then, it's out to the pasture to spend another lazy day in the sun grazing on the grass. Farmer Gunnar has only 20 cows, just enough for one small family farm.

Bessie the Queen Cow

Bessie is 16 and the oldest cow on Caroline and Gunnar's farm. And, even though she is the smallest cow, she produces a lot of milk. All of their cows are very healthy. Their shiny coats show how healthy they are.

The cows at this farm are smart and like to read. They all have library cards. (Just kidding.) We took this picture at the children's library in town. Hey, we think our granddaughter in Miami has that book!

Let's Check Out the Other Animals

The pigs on the farm squealed and snorted and rolled around in the mud when they saw us. Albert dug a deep hole and sat down! He loves to wallow in the mud.

The hens live near Caroline's kitchen in a large chicken coop. Caroline feeds them hen scratch and vegetables from her garden. They lay delicious eggs for the family to eat.

There are about 20 sheep on the farm. They live in their own pasture near the creek. They were very curious about us. They seem to be saying, "Hey there what are you guys doing hanging around our farm!" Farmer Gunnar sells the wool to a local weaver who uses it to make warm sweaters for their cold Swedish winters.

Our favorite animals were the horses. We could see that these animals were well cared for. Grandma Sally picked out the dapple gray one for our oldest granddaughter. Isn't it beautiful? It was wearing a special fringed head piece to help keep the flies away.

We Could Be Farmers Too

Even though we stayed in the old cook house while at the farm, we could have slept in the family teepee. It would make a great play house for our youngest granddaughter in Alaska. To get inside, lift the flap. Bring your dolls.

While we were there, we pretended that we were farmers and had lots of chores to do. Grandma Sally said, "I'll drive the tractor, Papa Bill. You fix the milking machine." He headed off to the large shed to get some tools.

But mostly rather than do chores, we had fun watching Farmer Gunnar and Caroline run their farm. We really enjoyed learning what it was like to live on a small family farm. And as guests at their farm, their warm hospitality made us feel very much at home.