A farm is an area of land, devoted agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops. The name is used for specialised units such as arable farms, vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy and poultry farms, land used for the production of natural fibres and other commodities, it includes ranches, orchards and estates, smallholdings and hobby farms, includes the farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as the land. In modern times the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or sea. Farming originated independently in different parts of the world, as hunter gatherer societies transitioned to food production rather than, food capture, it may have started about 12,000 years ago with the domestication of livestock in the Fertile Crescent in western Asia, soon to be followed by the cultivation of crops. Modern units tend to specialise in the crops or livestock best suited to the region, with their finished products being sold for the retail market or for further processing, with farm products being traded around the world.

Modern farms in developed countries are mechanized. In the United States, livestock may be raised on rangeland and finished in feedlots and the mechanization of crop production has brought about a great decrease in the number of agricultural workers needed. In Europe, traditional family farms are giving way to larger production units. In Australia, some farms are large because the land is unable to support a high stocking density of livestock because of climatic conditions. In less developed countries, small farms are the norm, the majority of rural residents are subsistence farmers, feeding their families and selling any surplus products in the local market; the word in the sense of an agricultural land-holding derives from the verb "to farm" a revenue source, whether taxes, rents of a group of manors or to hold an individual manor by the feudal land tenure of "fee farm". The word is from the medieval Latin noun firma the source of the French word ferme, meaning a fixed agreement, from the classical Latin adjective firmus meaning strong, firm.

As in the medieval age all manors were engaged in the business of agriculture, their principal revenue source, so to hold a manor by the tenure of "fee farm" became synonymous with the practice of agriculture itself. Farming has been innovated at multiple different places in human history; the transition from hunter-gatherer to settled, agricultural societies is called the Neolithic Revolution and first began around 12,000 years ago, near the beginning of the geological epoch of the Holocene around 12,000 years ago. It was the world's first verifiable revolution in agriculture. Subsequent step-changes in human farming practices were provoked by the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century, the Green Revolution of the second half of the 20th century. Farming spread from the Middle East to Europe and by 4,000 BC people that lived in the central part of Europe were using oxen to pull plows and wagons. A farm may be owned and operated by a single individual, community, corporation or a company, may produce one or many types of produce, can be a holding of any size from a fraction of a hectare to several thousand hectares.

A farm may operate under a monoculture system or with a variety of cereal or arable crops, which may be separate from or combined with raising livestock. Specialist farms are denoted as such, thus a dairy farm, fish farm, poultry farm or mink farm; some farms may not use the word at all, hence vineyard, market garden or "truck farm". Some farms may be denoted by their topographical location, such as a hill farm, while large estates growing cash crops such as cotton or coffee may be called plantations. Many other terms are used to describe farms to denote their methods of production, as in collective, intensive, organic or vertical. Other farms may exist for research or education, such as an ant farm, since farming is synonymous with mass production, the word "farm" may be used to describe wind power generation or puppy farm. Dairy farming is a class of agriculture, where female cattle, goats, or other mammals are raised for their milk, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy for processing and eventual retail sale There are many breeds of cattle that can be milked some of the best producing ones include Holstein, Norwegian Red, Brown Swiss, more.

In most Western countries, a centralized dairy facility processes milk and dairy products, such as cream and cheese. In the United States, these dairies are local companies, while in the southern hemisphere facilities may be run by large nationwide or trans-national corporations. Dairy farms sell male calves for veal meat, as dairy breeds are not satisfactory for commercial beef production. Many dairy farms grow their own feed including corn and hay; this is stored as silage for use during the winter season. Additional dietary supplements are added to the feed to improve milk production. Poultry farms are devoted to raising chickens, turkeys and other fowl for meat or eggs. A pig farm is one that specializes in raising pigs or hogs for bacon and other pork products and may be free range, intensive, or both. Farm control and ownership has traditionally been a key indicator of status and power in Medieval European agrarian so

Stewart Prestley Blake, known as S. Prestley Blake, is an American businessman, he is a co-founder of the Friendly Ice Cream Corporation. Blake was born in Jersey City in 1914 to Herbert Prestley Blake, his wife, Ethel Stewart Blake, he attended Trinity College, Hartford. He and his younger brother, Curtis L. Blake founded the Friendly's national restaurant chain during the Great Depression, in 1935. By the 1970s, the brothers began to fight over the direction of the business; the company was sold to Hershey Foods in 1979 for $164 million, again for $375 million in 1988 to entrepreneur Donald Smith. He was chairman of the company until 1979. In 1980, Blake earned a PhD at Western New England College, one in 1982 at Springfield College, he holds honorary PhD degrees from Bay Path College, Quinnipiac College, Elms College. In 2006 he was minority shareholder in Friendly's. On May 1, 2011, Brigantine Media published Blake's autobiography, A Friendly Life, which describes the early years of Friendly Ice Cream Company as well as Blake's shareholder suit.

Blake had one daughter and one son with her. He married Helen Davis in 1982 He turned 100 in November 2014; the S. Prestley Blake Law Center is the home of Western New England University's School of Law; the Blake Student Center at Northfield Mount Hermon School is named after him. In 2006 he donated $2 million to Springfield College and had Wilbraham Hall renamed as Herbert P. Blake Hall in honor of his father

Ginger Pye is a book by Eleanor Estes about a dog named Ginger Pye. The book was published in 1951, it won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1952; this book is about a puppy named Ginger. Jerry Pye, a resident in Cranbury, Connecticut in 1919, bought a puppy he wanted from Ms. Speedy for a hard-earned dollar he made while dusting the pews in the church for Sam Doody. Jerry was headed home. On the way home and his sister Rachel heard footsteps behind them; when they turned back, they did not see anything. Jerry decided that if anyone was following them that follower was after his dog. After a few days, Jerry remembered that he hadn't given his puppy a name! He asked his mother and his mother said Ginger because he is the color of ginger and has a gingery temperament. So they called him Ginger Pye. Ginger was a smart dog, he located the school that Jerry goes to. All his neighbors and friends knew Ginger. Ginger Pye went missing on Thanksgiving Day. Jerry and his sister Rachel could not find him.

They discover Ginger tied up in a shed, uncover the identity of the thief: Wally Bullwinkle. The book closes with Ginger home safe to a happy family. Pinky Pye is a 1958 book by the sequel to Ginger Pye. In this book, the eponymous black kitten is adopted by the Pyes during their summer vacation on Fire Island

Let's Buy Happiness were a British alternative rock music group. The group consisted of James Hall, Graeme Martin, Mark Brown and James King, they began playing local shows in England. Their first EP No Hot Ashes received national success. Following this came singles Six Wolves, Fast Fast and Dirty Lakes; the band have twice been invited to the Maida Vale Studios for both BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 1. Dirty Lakes has been included on Spotify's Songs of 2011 list, their tour manager was Alex King, the brother of former drummer, James King - their father is Hairy Biker Simon King. Within a year of playing their debut show in a small Newcastle pub, the band played at the Glastonbury Festival 2010 on the John Peel stage alongside Foals and the Machine, The xx and Mumford and Sons; as well as supporting Primal Scream at Electric Brixton for a one-off show, Let's Buy Happiness toured the UK twice in 2011 with the indie-pop band Frankie and The Heartstrings and We Were Promised Jetpacks. The band has supported Idlewild, The Temper Trap, Vivian Girls, Sky Larkin and The Futureheads.

In 2012 the band returned to the studio to produce new material themselves quoting "With this new EP in the New Year, everyone’s going to see what we’re about. It’s a fresh start." Let's Buy Happiness announced their split in April 2014, playing a final show at The Cluny on 18 July. Letsbuyhappiness.com Letsbuyhappiness.org.uk

Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, son of Marcus Fabius Ambustus, of the patrician Fabii of ancient Rome, was five times consul and a hero of the Samnite Wars. He was brother to Marcus Fabius Ambustus, his first appearance in surviving records is as magister equitum in 325 BC, when he won a daring victory against the Samnites at Imbrinium. However, he had acted without the authority of the dictator Lucius Papirius Cursor, angry and demanded that the Senate punish Fabius for disobeying orders. Livy describes a tense scene where Papirius stood nearly alone against the Senate and people, who supported Fabius because of his victory, but who did not wish to undercut the absolute authority they had given Papirius. Fabius became consul for the first time in 322 BC, he appears next as a dictator himself in 315 BC besieging Saticula and less fighting at Lautulae. As consul in 310 BC, Fabius fought the Etruscans at Sutrium followed them when they fled into the Ciminian Forest and defeated them again. Consul again in 308 BC, he defeated Nuceria Alfaterna.

He served as censor beginning in 304 BC. Fabius was consul for the fourth time in 297 BC, defeating the Samnites at Tifernum by sending part of his line around the hills behind the enemy, in 295 BC he was elected unanimously for a fifth term, where he won lasting fame for defeating a coalition of Etruscans and Gauls in the epic battle of Sentinum. Rullianus' son was Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges, his grandson or great-grandson the Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, surnamed "Cunctator", of the Second Punic War. Although Rullianus' fame is undoubted, the main source of his life is Livy, who in turn worked from annals by Fabius Pictor and others, many of the details are suspiciously similar to stories of the Cunctator; the agnomen "Rullus" appears to mean "uncultivated, boorish" or "beggar". Livy Diodorus Siculus Valerius Maximus Frontinus

Juste Chevillet was a French engraver. He is known for his engravings for the Histoire Naturelle of Comte de Buffon. Juste Chevillet was born in 1729 in Frankfurt an der Oder, he studied engraving in Berlin under George Frederic Schmidt. He moved to Paris to complete his studies with Johann Georg Wille, who became his brother-in-law, he reached Paris no earlier than 1750. The Livre de Principes de Fleurs, an undated compilation of engravings of flowers by Chevillet after drawings by Louis Tessier was published some time after 1755, it was used as a source of decorations for the marquetry of Jean Henri Riesener. Other cabinet makers used the engravings for marquetry including Jean-Pierre Latz, Jean-François Oeben, Roger Vandercruse Lacroix, Abraham Roentgen and his son David Roentgen; the earliest dated example of such marquetry is a 1769 roll-top desk for King Louis XV of France by Riesener and Oeben. Chevillet made an engraving of an oil painting of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Duplessis, used on a two-dollar note issued around 1828 by the Chemical Bank of New York City.

The engraving was made in 1778 from the original owned by Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, who had hosted Franklin at the Hôtel Valentinois in Passy. He made an engraving of George Washington after a design by Michel Honoré Bounieu. Chevillet was living in Paris in 1795, he died in Paris around 1800 or 1802. Other works by Chevillet include: Chardin, French painter. Bust after a self-portrait Diderot. Bust after a drawing by Bounieu of a bust by M. Houdon Louis-Philippe, duc d'Orleans. Bust engraved by Chevillet. Hannetaire. Portrait of the actress as a young sultaness, after Le Gendre Jordan, businessman. 1762 Lenoir, lieutenant de police. 1778. Bust Sartine, comte d'Alby, lieutentent general de police Chevillet made the engravings for several volumes of Buffon's great Histoire naturelle