Side hill Haying

[ultrarunner]

I could adjust to the lifestyle easily...

More time for family/friends and less stress.

Almost all the people I know there built their own homes or have rebuilt homes handed down... seems everyone has a personal connections with the trades and they barter work... or get the in-laws over for bigger projects.

The hardest thing for me was adjusting to shorter shopping hours... no such thing as going to Home Depot on Sunday or late at night... many business also close for lunch.

Didn't know many wealthy people unless you include the land they own... thing is most would NEVER sell the homestead so even people with land worth many millions of dollars simply don't think that way... it's more of a custodial relationship for the next generation... speaking for country people.

Plenty of physical work to go around and plenty of beer and schops too!

All the trades have at least one beer at lunch... and many more afterwork!

One thing in abundance is pride and respect for tradition... no one wants to be the generation that lost the farm or gave up...

Some of those mountain pastures are just a steep as they look...

Grass is very much in demand and even grass from the medians is often used to feed the livestock...

Once read that the small alpine family farms are some of the most productive in the world based on size and short grow seasons...

The biggest current crisis is the large number of refugees coming in... it is having a profound effect on everything from schools, hospitals to church holidays...

 

[ultrarunner]

Here is one on economics of farming... (english)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PheMlyPfGeg


Here's couple of more on dairy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM5YEyjrJE8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i7Ulz0jDxQ

Extreme side hill haying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_drjTw14cTg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8DMb1yK5Uw

Bringing home the firewood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7Jcw2hfUFk

 

[motownbrowne]

The firewood one is great: I'd love a little rig like that. 4wd, cabover, nice big bed. Apparently once it's decorated with flowers it has the potential to draw in young women with dessert who will help with the wood duties.

This really is a strange and wonderful land we are glimpsing here. :thumbsup:

 

[Leejohn]

You said you did see many wealthy people there. I think you missed something, lack of money doesn't mean you aren't wealthy, just being happy is alot more then money.

 

[ultrarunner]

Earnings are on the low side... at least compared with the United States.

If someone tells you how much they earn... they always give the Net... the amount after taxes.

Here someone most likely will give you the gross by saying I make 60k a year... yet, that is not the amount they have to spend.

Property tax is low, health insurance and social security is covered... so stashing away a pile of money for retirement or catastrophic illness is less of a priority...

Land is very expensive... so owning land opens the door to the good life...

Most farm families impose deed restrictions on selling... if one child takes over the farm... that child has a free hand except when it comes to selling the land... if land is sold the proceeds most likely will need to be evenly split with all siblings... it really works as an incentive not to sell.

I think the first video states 87% of the land is in farming or forestry...

Every region has at least one living history open air museum... kind of like a Greenfield Village in Michigan where the old handcrafts are kept alive... the one I go to has homes/farms from different periods...

 

[stuckmotor]

The alpine farms sound like a paradise, ---------- if they don't have fire ants.

 

[ultrarunner]

Fire ants are something I have never come across even in discussion.

It's not total paradise for sure... and things are much better now.

Not all that long ago it was very hard to break into a trade unless you had connections... even opening a flower shop requires becoming a florist through study and exams...

Most every farmer studies farming... just like someone that is a baker etc...

For years the deck was stacked against women career wise... not like that anymore.

Drinking can be a problem...

Most everyone I know there is happy to live there... all of the students I have hosted always return back to Austria... outward immigration is almost nil...

Being a small landlocked country with mountains has it's advantages...

The real challenge to the way of life is the influx of refugees and the changes this brings.

One thing I really like there and miss here is heating with wood... they have it to a science there and here, in the SF Bay Area it is just about outlawed...

Nothing better than coming home to a warm house in the middle of winter with quiet radiant heat... even the mountain cabins have a lot of thought when it comes to heating...

 

[stuckmotor]

I wonder how well the Landwirt mowers would work for mantaining the banks of overpasses and trestles in the USA?

 

[Ed of all trades]

I wonder how well the Landwirt mowers would work for mantaining the banks of overpasses and trestles in the USA?

Looks like they would do well. Might be a $$$$$$ maker. Ed

 

[stuckmotor]

Looks like they would do well. Might be a $$$$$$ maker. Ed

There's an overpass near my house that appears to be mowed. I've often wondered how they mow it without flipping over.