Eastern Europe

The summer of 2009, we visited Eastern Europe (Hungary, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria).  The agriculture in that area is still very subsistence and done by hand.  Ground is farmed by hand in small strip rows.  Hand weeded crops, hay cut by a scythe, raked into "hay on a stick" and then taken to the barn by horse drawn wagon.  No herds of cattle, but a few village groups, of each individual farmer's cow, that are herded daily to pasture.  Almost no fencing.  No lawns or lawn mowers around the homes, but gardens and corrals for the animals around each home.  Eastern Europe in less than 20 years without communist rule and they are still struggling with the restitution of their farm land because records were destroyed.

 

Western Colorado

In contrast, we also visited Crested Butte, Colorado where my family ranches in some breath-takingly beautiful country.

	The old man and the new puppy are already inseparable.