“I Grow Food and Raise Animals, and I Know What I Eat Is Healthy”: Building a More Self-Sufficient Life in the Countryside

At 18, Arnau Moldero left Barcelona and moved to a small mountain village of about 100 people. He wanted a life closer to animals and further from the stress of the city, an ambition he had held since childhood.

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Since I was 3, I imagined myself living with animals on a farm, even with a bed between a cow, a pig and a goat. I had a great passion for animals when I was little.

“Since I was 3, I imagined myself living with animals on a farm, even with a bed between a cow, a pig and a goat,” he told La Vanguardia. His childhood summers were spent around his uncles’ animals in the village, memories he recalls with “a lot of affection and happiness.”

Moldero studied organic agriculture and livestock farming before moving to the countryside when he became an adult. His parents initially disagreed with the decision, but he eventually persuaded them. To remain financially stable, he began working at a rural guesthouse while developing a rabbit-breeding project.

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I was very used to being at my parents’ home. I came here alone and had to do everything: buy food, pay for the car’s fuel and invest money in the animal-breeding project.

The first project failed. Moldero said he invested everything he earned in it, but after two years he had to abandon the plan and give away the animals. He then changed direction and began raising domestic rabbits for people in cities who wanted carefully cared-for pets. He also keeps goats, chickens and ducks, most of which he raises for his own consumption. His daily routine begins at the farm, where he lets the goats run in the mountains, checks the rabbits and monitors the nests and young animals.

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I started intensely, investing everything I earned in the project, and the truth is that I did not get good results. After two years, I had to decide to leave everything behind and give away the animals.