The Farm Book by Boyd Smith is a public domain title that tells of life on a farm through the seasons.
Published by Houghton Mifflin in 1910, this colorfully illustrated book tells of Bob and Betty’s visit to Uncle John. During their visit they learn about the following farm topics:
- Plowing.
- Sowing.
- Chickens.
- Milking.
- Harvesting.
- Going to market.
- Woodcutting.
The farmer was soon at work sowing his field. With a long stately stride he paced up and down, back and forth, scattering the seed with a broad sweeping swing of his arm. When the seed was sown, Sam and Ned were hitched to the brush harrow. This was made of four or five small cedar trees firmly attached to a crosspiece. The harrow was slowly dragged over every part of the field, mixing the seed and earth together, and pressing it well into the ground. And so the planting was completed.
And now the seed, lying in the dark, in the warm moist ground, would slowly germinate, and strike down roots into the soil, and push up green shoots through the earth into the air, and in good time become a field of ripe waving oats, all ready for the harvester’s scythe.
You also learn what farmers might do (or might have done a century ago) during the rainy days and on days of rest.
A beautifully detailed and complete story of farming in an older era! And free!
Free eBook
Suggestions
Have your students do one or more of the following:
- There are 12 chapters. Read one chapter each week.
- After reading each chapter have your child narrate orally what is happening in that chapter. Older children can provide a written narration.
- Make a flow chart showing the process of making bread.
- How does the farm make butter? List the steps.
- Describe market day.
- Read The Little Red Hen.
Additional Resources
Activity: Explore the Farm
Suggestions and resources for exploring the farm ~ virtually or from the comfort of home. To bring the story up to date!
Free Nature Studies: Our Daily Bread (Wheat)
The planting of a grain of wheat, to growth, harvest, milling, and a loaf of bread. Unit resources.
Free Science Studies: Cyrus McCormick & the Reaper
Cyrus McCormick was a businessman and inventor best known for his invention of the mechanical reaper that revolutionized farming.
The Sower
Painting by Millet similar to the illustration in the book!
Keep Reading
Bread: A Unit Study
On July 7, 1928, the first sliced bread was sold. Unit study resources.
Understood Betsy ~ Free eBook & Go-Alongs
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher is a delight to read for the young and the old alike!
The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder ~ Review
The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder ~ Review — The locations and landscapes encountered and detailed in the Little House books.