I feel like I'm being watched...

As you drive around a European farming region in winter, it all looks very empty. Eerily empty. You feel like something is missing but you can't quite put your finger on it. Until you remember that all the animals live inside in big barns during winter.

Which does lead to some amusing sights. Today we skied past some cows having a bit of R&R in the yard.

They must get pretty fed up with living inside in a barn for months. I reckon the farmer let these ones out just so he could prove a point... "See! I told you there was no grass out there Gertrude..."

When I lived at Zinting the back half of the house was full of animals: 12 cows, 3 pigs, 1 horse and an assortment of hens. It made for interesting times. One night when I was peeling potatoes and Elfriede was cooking dinner, Erhard called out for us to come into the barn. We raced through just in time to see the latest arrival - a baby calf - emerge into the world. Cool!

Erhard retired from farming about 10 years ago. He turned the back barn into a rumpus room for guests and opened 'Biwac' schnapps bar up the mountain. Compared to cows, schnapps = less work and more money. The way of our world.

But is it progress? Or is it a blip during prosperous times? With the way the ominous geopolitics in Europe are shaping up right now, I wonder.... Will the next generation rip out the rumpus room and turn it back into a barn for farming?