I can say that I really learned and was formed as a person living in that place, every day shared and every vivid experience I take with me wherever I go. It was and will be one of the best times of my life. Those 15 years have made me a great person.
Living on the farm teaches you character, from a very young age and above all it forces you to learn about almost anything. The "llanero" is considered a very industrious person who likes to work, likes to keep everything well ordered, they are not people who are going to stop and wait for something to happen, on the contrary, they resolve things and that was one of the things that I was taught from a very young age.
To be a good llanero you have to learn almost anything, from a very young age I had to learn to milk and although it may seem simple it takes practice to develop good technique, also working with cattle is not an easy task you have to know the animal well and know how to handle it, first of all animals and just like us human beings they also take good care of their offspring, that is why it is important not to mistreat the calf and know how to handle everything.
It does not take a long time to milk each cow, although some take a little longer than others, at least I take between 10 and 15 minutes to milk each animal, I am also including the time it takes me to look for the calf handler so that he is close to the cow and then give it to eat a little so that it can be milked calmly.
There are times when the animal is very brave or very delicate, on that occasion the cow must be tied well by the head and also secure its hind legs as these are also used by the animal as a form of defence and they hit very hard. "I recently heard from a farmer on another farm that for not securing a cow that was new to milking, he ended up hitting her in the chest with his head and almost killed her, luckily for him, the animal only felt that she was defending herself and did not attack" when carrying out a task such as milking you must be cautious because the animals only want to defend themselves and will do anything to do so.
Transporting milk in these days of May is not easy at all, after milking and having the containers with the milk ready, you have to go out in a canoe to be able to move the milk from one farm to another. Although I recently said that milking was not easy, imagine having to transport more than 400 litres of milk, each trip can only take 80 litres, which means that there are several trips to be able to deliver all that milk.
The "llanero" learns that the important thing is to achieve the objective, so however difficult it may seem, the "llanero" looks for a way to carry out what he has set out to do. If it is true that the plains get very wet in winter, the "llanero" also looks for a solution to be able to continue with his journey every day.
My older brothers and I always try to accomplish this task, although sometimes it becomes more difficult than it should be because it starts to rain and makes everything much more complicated. Or it also happens that everything catches a lot of water and we have to wait for the current to go down before we can go out to carry the cargo.
My grandmother, on the other hand, takes care of the hens and collects all the eggs every day. La doña, as she is nicknamed, her daily routine is to take care of her animals, every day when she gets up very early the first thing she looks for is corn to take to the hens and she starts calling by a very unique name "pico, pico, pico" the animals associate the sound with food and arrive quickly, of course this works because the animals are very intelligent and after several days doing the same thing, they already know.
My grandmother impresses me, I still remember when she started raising chickens, she only started with a few, now she has around 100 hens, it's incredible the difference and all thanks to taking good care of her and feeding her every day. The best thing is the benefit she gets from them.
In this photo she captures the most opportune moment of the day, she was feeding her animals and even on the side she had the eggs, all of which she had collected at that very moment.
Sometimes I think that what fills my grandmother with life every day is being able to get up and go out to look after her animals. And in part I think it's fantastic that she can distract herself and avoid falling into thinking.
The potato crop, my family is also characterised by planting almost anything, mostly large quantities of potatoes, this harvest yielded approximately more than 5,000 kg, although it seems like a lot it is not much, on other occasions we have achieved almost 20,000, a big difference.
According to my uncles and aunts, who are the main growers, it is all due to the change in the climate, the lack of rain at planting time and also the plague. Potatoes are very delicate.
Experience has marked a before and after in this whole system of sowing, what we have learned dictates how things should be done if we want to get the most out of it. The family lives from sowing, as well as from milk, which is why we are mainly involved in these two areas.
In my family you are either a milker or a sower, we have to choose which path to follow and that is where our life starts. Over the years we become in charge of our own business and those who were in charge go into retirement.
As such, no one owns anything, we all own everything. Because we understood that it is easier if there is nothing to envy.
The maize, although it is not in the photo, is also grown a lot here, we get a lot of food from maize and we also use it for different purposes. We grow chilli, although it is a bit delicate and expensive, we also make the most of it.
The plum is a fruit that usually ripens in April, this fruit brings together many different varieties.
It is highly sought after for its taste, but it also has a profitable commercial use and is used to make sweets. My family has more than 400 plum trees and sells 80% of the fruit every year in order to make some money.
My grandparents are teaching us which path to follow. Many times we are tempted by wealth and end up lost and alone. It happened to my cousin Luis that he had to sell a corn crop, my grandfather gave him that task, when he sold the crop my grandfather asked him, "What do we do now? My cousin answered, we are going to drink beer. And at that moment he lost faith in my grandfather.
Then my grandfather says that what happened with Luis is nothing out of the ordinary, they are people that when they see money, the first thing they do is spend it. He also says that if he gives that person any money, he will spend it badly.
The times in the plain are not the same as in the city, they are lived and managed differently. Cultures change according to the upbringing we are taught.
Let us be good sowers and cultivate values and self-respect. Later on we will have our best harvest.
After a busy day in the scorching heat, we all ended up sitting under a big mango tree. Looking at the beautiful view of the plain, there is nothing more beautiful than the nature itself. It represents freedom and its maximum expression of colours and its own brilliance. If you want to rest one day, you are invited to Venezuela. Contact us and learn a little more about our customs and culture. Here you live tasty because there is nothing better than living in nature far away from sonic and environmental pollution. Only pure air and the singing of the aces.
