About the Author

About the Author

Bela Sharma Bratch

Bela lives on a farm in Carlisle, Ontario with her husband and three children. They are surrounded by nature and by their adventurous pets. After the birth of their daughter Kaya, Bela would regale Kaya with stories of their pets’ adventures while living on “Kaya’s Farm”. There were many stories to tell. Bela, wanting to share these stories, began writing a series about her family and their pets living on “Kaya’s Farm”. What makes these stories extra special is that they are real. The people and animals exist, the events have truly occurred, and the animals’ experiences are interpreted through Bela’s eyes.

Book Backgrounder

Q&A

Most frequent questions and answers

I am grateful every day to be living on our farm surrounded by nature. I have also always been passionate about animals and wildlife.

In the early years living on the farm, we often had drop-in visits with various descendants of the original family who lived on the farm. They shared their heartfelt stories, describing the love of the farm and surrounding property. The farm was sold by the family after having lived on the property 100 plus years.

Before Paven and I moved to the farm property, we met the lovely family that had purchased the farm and met their beautiful dog, Emily. The family were moving into the city. We purchased the farm from them and adopted Emily. The family loved Emily and were sad to say good-bye to her, but they knew that she belonged on the farm where she was used to running free through the rolling fields and not confined to a house in the city. They were correct, as Emily loved running through the fields. She became an integral part of our family. Over the years, we added many more pets to our household. I would share stories of our pets, and other animals and wildlife that crossed our paths, with our family and friends. I would create stories, occasionally weaving in narratives shared by the original family members. To make the stories more adventurous, I would often add what I envisioned the animals were thinking. The stories were always fun and were received warmly by everyone. Eventually, I started writing these stories in a journal, with the purpose of sharing them with our own children. Kaya being our oldest child was the first recipient of these stories and it naturally became stories about Kaya and Kaya’s Farm. Niam and Avaani transitioned seamlessly into characters within the stories. There are many varied stories and different timelines. I used Kaya’s age as a reference point at the beginning of each story to help clarify the timeline of each story.

I wanted to share the stories of our farm and show the love and adventure our animals and family experience almost on a daily basis.I loved sharing the stories with my children and our family and friends. The stories were always welcomed positively with multiple requests for more. I thought that it would be wonderful to write about our adventures so that the stories could reach a wider audience.

I would love the readers to feel the love and respect we share for our animals and for the nature that surrounds us. I would love the readers to be mindful of their own surroundings and embrace nature. And, I would love the readers to create and share stories of their own adventures with their own family and pets.