Sunday 23 March 2014

Down on the Farm

French Definitive c1962

Cock-a.-doodle-doo, it must be time to get up, down on the farm
1992: 120th Anniversary of the Royal Guernsey Agricultural and Horticultural Society
because there are cows to be milked. If the cows are Guernsey ones like these the milk will be golden and very rich in cream which makes a deep yellow butter and is also perfect for ice cream. The cancel incorporates a traditional Guernsey milk can.
2009: Sheep Gathering
Time to bring in the sheep down from the fells.
Icelandic sheep have high quality wool and the herder is wearing the iconic Icelandic sweater.  The Icelandic name for the circular yoke sweater is "lopapeysa." ("Lopi" is the name of the yarn traditionally used in its making, and "peysa" means sweater.)
1976: Students and Country Life
The daffodils are out and lambs are in the fields here, it must be spring
Agricultural Student Testing Wheat
and the summer in front of us which will determine the quality of the wheat.
Agriculture "History of Maltese Industry" definitives c1981   





"Cotton"
Well, time to gather our produce together, wait at the bus stop, and take it to the farmers market

As I am away for next week's Sunday Stamps I couldn't miss out on buses so here are some old Maltese ones.  The only ones of these that survive are Malta's best known buses (shown in the background and bottom right). Loved by tourists, like me, who have visited the island in the past, The Maggie (a Magirus-Deutz with locally built bodywork) which were withdrawn in 2003 but some have been preserved and are now in the care of Heritage Malta.

An entry to Viridian Postcards's Sunday Stamps theme of Farms and Farm Animals and in anticipation of next weeks theme of Buses.

8 comments:

Bob Scotney said...

The Iceland stamps are something special.
Thanks for including the buses.

VioletSky said...

I was thinking more of fashion than animals while looking at these - the 2nd Iceland one could be in a magazine advertising sweaters, and the Maltese women are dressed in pretty colourful clothing for working the farm.
But thank you for showing the sheep (a favourite animal of mine)
Nice segue to the buses, btw!

viridian said...

Thank you for sharing so many stamps and telling a story too. I like the Iceland stamps very much. It's great to see such a variety of stamps this week.

Mail Adventures said...

Very beautiful stamps indeed. The agriculture student is a great theme I had never seen on a stamp.

luvlinens said...

NICE GROUP.

Little Nell said...

The quality of the images on the Icelandic ones is exceptional; you feel you could reach out and stroke the sheep!

Lisa B said...

Lovely choices, and I'm glad you posted the buses too, it would've been a shame to miss them.

♥ Willa @ Postage Journal♥ said...

Those stamps from Island are my fav but the buss is nice too.

My Sunday Stamps