Down on the Farm

We spent a day of my stay in Latvia visiting some friends who own smallholdings.  This is a natural way of life for many but does not mean that they are wealthy, simply ordinary people finding a way to provide for the needs of their family.  The first farm we went to had the most amazing view over a lake – something that would increase the cost of a property in the UK.

 

They were very friendly people showing us around their property.  Inside the huge barn there were rabbits, hens and a goat.  Outside there were a number of turkeys – made me think of Christmas!  They also had a number of goats outside and their milk was used to make goat’s cheese.  The other animals were reared as a way of making some money.  My friends took a melon as a small gift and were in turn given 10 eggs – really free range with not a cage in sight.

They were very welcoming and insisted we stay for something to eat.  The lady made fresh pizza (yes, it has reached Latvia) with a topping of tomatoes, fresh from the greenhouse and various herbs and topped with some goat’s cheese.  Yummy!

Later in the day we visited another family.  The mother had been a vet and so loved her animals.  Their barn housed even more animals – 4 cows, 3 pigs, hens, rabbits, goats and a number of sheep outside in the field.  They get up to 80 litres of milk a day from the cows and sell some milk and also make cheese to sell.  Again the various animals are sold for meat.  In shops the main meat to buy is pork but from the farmers there is quite a variety – turkey, chicken, rabbit, goat. 

While we were there, the mother milked one of the cows and gave the milk to two of the calves.  After the calves had finished what was in the buckets she told us to watch as they then approached each other and each started to lick the other’s face so as not to waste any milk that may have caught in a place that could not be reached by the calf’s own tongue.  It just looked as thought they were kissing each other.  It was quite funny to watch.  She said that they always do that.

The 'kissing' calves

I met some lovely friendly people who were so pleased to see us – people with no airs and graces or expectations – just genuinely good people who made me very welcome.