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Traditional farmers are disappearing from many Swiss villages.  For the last five years I have been photographing Herr and Frau Straub, farmers from Stachen, in eastern Switzerland. They are people who have been practicing self sufficiency, recycling and organic farming long before these concepts were fashionable. Each day he milks Flecki, his only cow, and tends his fruit trees. Last year he had a fall but refuses a mobility walker, choosing his bicycle for support instead.

The tractor was a wedding gift, received over fifty years ago, and like the Straubs it is still working. Wearing his traditional Swiss farmer’s outfit, Herr Straub is proud of the Linden tree his father planted to commemorate the end of World War I. He picks the Linden blossoms to make a health-giving tea. They have few visitors, so enjoy sharing their stories and the fruits of their farm whenever I come to visit.