Jabber, that sounds idyllic, the way you explain it. A bit like living with "The Waltons." But large farms DO take a lot of work to manage, and your family might have even had some "non-live-in" farm hands, too, for all I know.

I don't konw a lot about farming or ranching, but I do like to watch "The Pioneer Woman" cooking show on HGTV. She lives on a large cattle ranch in Oklahoma, and her in-laws seem to also live on the property. And the food she cooks often gets hauled out into the fields where not only her FIL, husband and kids are working, but also ranch hands.

For awhile during the Depression my father and his parents lived with my grandmother's parents. But I don't think that was a happy time. I've always believed that experience is why my father has always been one to live in the nicest house he can afford, even if it means skimping on "non-essentials" like vacations, eating out, movies, clothes.