Life on the Meyer family farm: selling milk, running a small inn, teaching middle schoolers to chop wood

During a trip to Germany in 2016 to study agriculture, I came into contact with quite a few farmers and agriculture-related organizations, but most of these contacts took the form of visits. The Maier family farm (Fam. Maier) was the exception - I lived with the Maier family for two days.

It is not only Taiwanese farming families that do not speak English - most Bavarian farmers speak only German

When I was arranging accommodation at the outset, because I wanted to learn more about farm family life, I decided to look for a farm that offered lodging; and since I do not speak German, I had no choice but to seek a farming family that could communicate in English. With the help of a German friend who searched online, I found the Maier family farm, which also runs a bed and breakfast. More importantly, Marietta Maier, who manages the bed and breakfast, speaks English, and all this information was laid out in detail on the Maier family farm's website.

Most of the farmers I met in Bavaria did not speak English, but she spoke fluent English. After marrying Ludwig Maier, who farms, she quit her job and began devoting herself to family farming. Besides the language factor, the Maier family farm had another feature that attracted me: they run the farm in an ecologically diverse way, so it became the place where I stayed for my first two days after arriving in Germany.

The Maier family farm is located in Marktl, a small town just over ten kilometers from Austria, with a population of more than 2,700. Although it is a small town, it is quite well known because it is the hometown of Pope Benedict XVI (Benedikt XVI).