Mr. Farmer's Buffet for Animals

About the Book

Mr. Farmer’s Buffet for Animals can help a child find the happiness in helping another who is less fortunate. This is a book that every parent should share with his or her child. Hopefully it will bring a message home that will inspire children to enjoy happiness by giving to others. It is great family reading that easily leads to discussions about how one person can make a change—whether it is for his or her own kind or just a hungry little squirrel. One is never too young or too old to learn to care for others.

About the Author

Thomas Farmer was adopted when he was six months old. When he could not help himself, he was taken in and helped by two very loving people. In return he, hopefully, filled a void in their lives as well. As a young boy, Thomas loved to visit his uncle’s farm, where he was introduced to Rex, the cattle dog, and Frankie, the work horse. Rex and Frankie became his best animal friends. In the hours before daylight, his uncle Edd would lift Thomas onto Frankie, and together, with Rex at their side, they would travel to the lower pasture to drive the cows back to the barn for milking. After eating Aunt Myrtle’s delicious breakfast, they would return the cows to their pasture. During these visits, it was not all work but also a fun time to learn from Uncle Edd. On the way back from the lower pasture, he and Uncle Edd would walk into the woods, where he taught Thomas about the different trees and how to recognize them by the bark and the leaves. At times, he and Uncle Edd would sit very quietly and watch the animal life, and Uncle Edd would explain each animal’s habits and what they liked to eat. Thomas can still remember starting for home on the little dirt road and looking back to see Frankie and Rex, who watched him until he walked out of their sight. His friends knew from experience that he would be back in the morning or the next weekend, depending on school. So it was at the very young age of six that Thomas first came to love nature and all of its inhabitants. His parents had helped a little boy with no home, so Thomas began to try to pass on the love and care he had received, whether it was directed toward a trapped animal, a little bird with a broken leg, or a mother’s newly hatched bird that had fallen from the nest and had to be put back to survive. Today Thomas Farmer is retired and lives on forty-one wooded acres, which he shares with his many animal friends. Each week he goes to town and buys feed for the animals, hoping not to miss one who is hungry. And at every chance, he encourages his neighbors to do the same. He wrote Mr. Farmer’s Buffet for Animals hoping that it might teach even one child or adolescent to find happiness in helping another who is less fortunate.