The Rural Voice - August, 2019

August 2019

Rural Voice

The

THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE ... $2.50 PM 40037593

CROP DISCOVERIES Ladybird larvae, “poopy” cereal leaf beetles and swede midge are investigated on Bruce Crop tour

CONTOURED DRAINAGE Controlled tiles installed at drainage demo manage water on contours and slopes

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Contents The

Rural Voice THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE

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Published monthly by: The Rural Voice, Box 429, Blyth, Ontario, N0M 1H0 Telephone: 519-523-4311 Fax: 519-523-9140 e-mail: info@northhuron.on.ca Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Lisa B. Pot rveditorlisa@northhuron.on.ca

16 Columns Lisa B. Pot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Keith Roulston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Kate Procter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Jeffrey Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Mabel’s Grill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Gardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 Woodlots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Agrilaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Departments Ruralite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Business Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Newsletters National Farmers Union . . . . . . . . 4 Perth County Federation . . . . . . 83 Grey County Federation . . . . . . 84 Perth County Pork . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Bruce County Federation . . . . . . 86 Huron County Federation . . . . . . 88

32 AUGUST 2019 • Cover Photo Peter Johnson and Harry Biermans. Photo by Lisa B. Pot.

• Deadlines: Sept. Issue –August 21 October Issue – Sept. 18

16 Fascinated by Earthworms Earthworms do far more for farm fields than burrowing in the dirt.

22 Controlled Drainage Contoured drainage demonstration near Clinton includes valves for stop and go.

26 Grass Fed Chickens Gerald Poechman raises chickens in a German-designed cage-free aviary system.

32 Processing proAction Veterinarians support farmers finishing the biosecurity module of the dairy proAction program.

Contributing writers: Keith Roulston, Kate Procter, Jeffrey Carter, Rhea Hamilton Seeger, Arnold Mathers, Steve Bowers, Melissa Luymes, Anne Mann, Nancy Fisher, Dorothy Henderson, Bonnie Sitter, Gary Kenny, Jeff Tribe, Bob Reid and Geoff Dale Mailed by: McLaren Press Graphics, Bracebridge, ON Sales representative: Shelley Kroes rvads@northhuron.on.ca Production co-ordinator & Telemarketing: Joan Caldwell Advertising & editorial production: Dianne Josling PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40037593 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 429 BLYTH ON N0M 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca Subscriptions: $20 (12 issues) $35 (24 issues), includes HST Back copies $2.75 each U.S. rates, $65.00

39 Butchering on the Move Towing a refrigerated trailer, Aaron Wall butchers on the farm.

47 Creating Furniture out of Pallets Pallet wood “speaks” to Pamela Patterson, aka The Pallet Witch.

All manuscripts submitted for consideration should be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs, although both are welcome. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. Editorial content may be reproduced only by permission of the publisher.

The Rural Voice makes every effort to see that advertising copy is correct. However, should an error occur, please notify The Rural Voice office within 30 days of invoicing in order to obtain a billing adjustment.

Changes of address, orders for subscriptions and undeliverable copies (return postage guaranteed) are to be sent to The Rural Voice at the address listed above.

A division of North Huron Publishing Company Inc.

NH

ORTH URON

PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.

Feedback Letters to the Editor may be sent to The Rural Voice, P.O. Box 429, Blyth, On N0M 1H0

Kentucky Coffee tree planted in more sites The Editor, In regards to Rhea Hamilton Seeger’s column on Kentucky Coffee Trees (July 2019 issue of The Rural Voice): I was also given Kentucky Coffee tree seeds by John Hazlitt about three or four years ago. I did the scarification on a number of seeds and planted into beer cups, probably three seeds per cup.

Germination happened, and I transferred the seedlings to large pots and last summer transferred them to my garden. This fall, I will likely move the bigger (24" to 30" high seedlings) to their final spot which will be a river-flat area. Hopefully the rest of the trees will be moved in the fall of 2020.

There are web pages regarding these trees and if my memory is correct, there are 20 natural sites in southwestern Ontario where the Kentucky Coffee tree can be found.

Looks like Rhea and I will have sites number 21 and 22.

Good luck Rhea. ◊ – Pete Rowntree Hill & Hill Farms Ltd.

James Herriot fan relives good memories The Editor, As a reader of James Herriot for many years, I’m envious of Lisa B. Pot’s trip. I blame Herriot for luring me into farming from a career in the chemical industry. As a sheep farmer with knowledge of replacing prolapsed uteruses, (thank God only 2 The Rural Voice

sheep although I had cow/calf prolapse at one point) the Herriot books are a joy.

I’m an ex-Brit from 50 years back so the scenery word-pictures bring back many memories which are a comfort on cold nights in the lambing barn. I will do the trip one day in combination with visiting relatives.

Maybe Lisa would like to follow up with the Hanna Hauxell books of Winter in the Dales. She is an author of lesser fame but nevertheless her books are a tribute to the dour toughness of those people. Thank you Lisa. ◊ – John Henstock, Amaranth, ON

It’s a carbon-free and lightweight wonder!

The Editor, I just wanted to thank you for bringing scything to my attention (The Rural Voice, October 2018) in your editorial.

I have had a good European scythe for a few weeks now and I am gobsmacked. It is a carbonless weed wacker! This is nothing like the experience in my younger years with ill-fitted, dull, heavy devices that dared to call themselves a scythe.

Great work with The Rural Voice in general. The journalistic quality of writing and subject matter has never been better.

Cheers! ◊ – Chris Lee, Walton, ON

ago – advice to us and control of their land not ours.

For example, the Gilmore’s lost their house last fall to the Conservation Authorities (CA) over a building permit on their own deeded land – and worse, the CA was awarded costs of over $350,000 and the family is now broke.

The old issue – who watches the watchers?

It is not simply an issue of the public purse – it is an issue of control, and with ever-increasing staff numbers they seek more regulations and “control”.

Regards. ◊ – Kevin Doyle, RR 4, Tara, ON Deadline for the September issue of The Rural Voice is August 21, 2019

Please note A revision to the fair date calendar printed in the July Rural Voice

Chatsworth Fair is a month earlier this year on

August 17th

~ In support of our community ~ Dungannon, ON • www.wwmic.com 519-529-7921

Who watches the watchers?

The Editor, I’ve farmed in the area for over 40 years and while some of what Kate Procter says in her column (July 2019 issue of The Rural Voice) about the conservation authorities is true, it is not complete by far.

Part of the funding cutbacks are due to agricultural organizations pushing to have their mandate pushed back to what it was 30 years

The Rural Voice office is closed for holidays July 31

Reopening August 12 at 9:00 am

Lisa B. Pot Lisa B. Pot is editor of The Rural Voice and farms in Huron County

Savage agronomy As “back-to-school” items start filling the shelves of our local stores (already!) and thoughts of being stuck in a classroom cause children to sigh, I can’t help but think how much I learned at a recent crop day in Bruce County.

Called the Soil Showdown, the annual event is a mystery car crop tour put on by the Bruce County Crop and Soil Improvement Association. We started the day with a tour of a wheat and rye field, then travelled to Tara to see a canola field before visiting two bean fields: one planted into a really thick cover crop and the other planted really late into an aggressively tilled, organic field.

As landowners stated their seeding rates, crop rotations and fertilizer/pesticide applications, visiting farmers were inspecting plants and discovering potential insect and fungal threats.

Blue eyes twinkling from under his outback hat, Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson was the person with the brain full of agronomy facts who had the answers for the curio\sity sparked by being IN nature, versus separated from it in a classroom.

Certainly there is a place for indoor learning but being outside, engages not just our visual (spatial) and aural (auditory-musical) learning styles, but directly enlists our physical self for kinesthetic learning while encouraging logical extrapolations through interpersonal (social) learning.

It is the kind of “school” everyone can learn in.

For instance, Wheat Pete shared that generally he comes out of a grain field with brown spots on his pants, courtesy of the cereal leaf beetle. The adult beetle is quite colourful with

dark blue wing covers and red legs. found a fly on a leaf tip with the So are the bright yellow eggs which fluffy white fungal spores in clear they lay on the underside of leaves evidence on the dead fly’s body.

These hatch into white or yellow Wild! Nature, even at the insect larvae. Their defence mechanism is level, is unbelievably fierce, complex to smear excrement and savage. When on their bodies to we get to see it and mask their vibrant are able to identify colour. the creatures we Hence the brown share the planet smears. with, it’s not only This sent farmers exciting, but it on a hunt, and there gives us a sense of it was! A little, how connected brown, poopy larvae everything is. This that everyone could increases our see. awareness and This year, Peter understanding and says he is leaving makes us better wheat fields with caretakers of our “alligator” larvae on land.

A Ladybird larvae (above) his pants. These I could have ladybird beetles scurries for cover while, (below) followed this group larvae are uncom- a dead fly reveals by its fluffy all day, seeing, monly prevalent in white spores and spread wings touching and wheat fields this year that it is a victim of the fungus absorbing facts I because of an aphid Entomophthora muscae. never learned from infestation. Though my classroom the aphid threshold chair. Given my isn’t worrisome, fascination, I’m these sap suckers can wondering if I cause the spread of should have studied the barley yellow agronomy back in dwarf virus which is the day. a very big concern.

Truth is, I really Peter’s descripliked school when I tion of these was young. Words, alligators sent the paper and writing group on another are all up my alley search and there it which is no was! A little, black, surprise, given my alligator-shaped profession. As I got larvae! Seeing it older, I was less connects all the dots in a inclined to sit long hours in a wheat/pest/viral connection that will classroom. I longed to be outside and not be forgotten. if I needed to know something, I Another curiosity discovered on preferred researching in a book or the crop tour was the fungus (now) computer to grasp what I did Entomophthora muscae which not know. creates “summit disease” in flies.

Later still, I found interviewing Once inside a fly, the fungus grows people to be the BEST way to learn. into the fly’s brain, causing it to Questions and answers ignite a crawl as high as possible on the synergetic learning process. branch, flower, stem or leaf it is on.

I saw this same synergy generated The fly then secures itself to the on the crop tour. Kudos to the county surface and as it is dying from the Soil and Crop Improvement fungus, it spreads out its legs and Associations who host these wings whereby the fungus releases interactive events for a its spores to infect new hosts. comprehensive approach to learning.

It wasn’t long before someone It’s a day well spent! ◊ August 2019 3

National Farmers Union – Ontario NEWSLETTER Strong Communities.

Sound Policies.

Sustainable Farms.

Phone: 1-888-832-9638 E-mail: office@nfuontario.ca Website: www.nfuontario.ca

The future of Business Risk Management Programs: Agri-Resilience Canadian farmers are feeling vulnerable to the increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather, and current business risk management (BRM) programs are not robust enough to provide the protection that is needed. The following are two areas that the NFU-O would like to see BRM programs be expanded to include.

We Need an Agri-Resilience Program This year’s chaotic spring weather has farmers on edge about this year’s crop yields and planning for next spring.

Farmers who use AgriInsurance will never qualify for AgriStability unless they are unable to plant anything. Farmers are also concerned about whether there are enough funds in crop insurance to pay out the claims for this year. As the weather becomes more chaotic, farmers need a BRM program that supports their efforts to mitigate climate change on their farms.

Creating a fully-funded AgriResilience BRM program would increase farm diversity through extended crop rotations, planned grazing of livestock, reduced inputs, soil-building, wetland conservation, and on-farm processing. Its climate adaptation benefits will stabilize farm incomes and reduce insurance payouts, as well as provide incentives and support for land stewardship practices which build soil carbon and on-farm biodiversity that maintain

the land’s productivity for the long term.

Small Holders and BRM Programs Many small holders, small scale farms that are often diverse and direct-market their products, are at a loss with programs such as production insurance or AgriInvest.

In a 2016 NFU-O survey, over 63 per cent of respondents did at least some direct to consumer sales, but only 26 per cent had participated in a risk management program. Members noted, “Many of these programs are aimed at large farms and small are disadvantaged” and “None of them applied to my small-sized market garden.” The current BRM programs don’t address the reality of farmers’ markets or CSA sales methods and the risks these producers can face.

Yet, research from other regions suggests that direct marketers could be substantial contributors to rural economies and that money spent at local farms circulates better in the rural economy. The National Farmers’ Market Impact Study 2009 Report by Farmers’ Market Canada found that “total farmers’ market direct sales across Canada in 2008 are estimated to be approximately $1.03 billion” and that “the combined national economic impact of farmers’ markets in Canada is estimated in a range between $1.55 billion and $3.09 billion.”

Given the significant economic

It is with sadness that we pass along the news that Local 362 Associate Member Frank Poulin has passed away.

A passionately committed volunteer, Frank spent many hours organizing events and staffing booths representing the NFU, and was always ready with a laugh and a story about his bees.

We would like to express our condolences to his partner, Karen Markle.

Frank will be sorely missed.

contribution that small scale, direct market producers provide, the NFU-O would like to see these BRM programs address the needs of smallscale producers who market their products directly to consumers.

Thoughts?

We want to hear from you. Are you a direct marketer who is interested in developing a business risk management model that would work for you? What type of funding would best support you under AgriResilience? Please email office@nfuontario.ca or call 1-888832-9638 with your suggestions.

Coming Events Local 330 Renfrew– Next meeting is Wednesday, August 7, 7:30 p.m. via conference call. To participate contact Connie Tabbert at rcnfu330@gmail.com or 613-6467753.

Local 340 Waterloo Wellington – Join us August 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Nith Valley Apiaries in New Hamburg (1041 Christner Rd.). There will be a farm tour from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Pfenning’s Organic Farm next door, and tours of the apiary will start at 1:30 p.m. and run every 20 minutes. The pig roast runs from noon until 2:00 p.m. and we will have Mapleton’s ice cream for dessert.

The entire event is free. Members and non-members are welcome.

Outdoor Farm Show – Stop by our booth at the Outdoor Farm Show September 10-12. If you’re interested in volunteering at the booth, contact Sarah Bakker at office@nfuontario.ca

A subscription to The Rural Voice is one of the benefits of being an NFU-O member 4 The Rural Voice

“

Ruralite The most incredible experiences

”

in my life have been traveling to places where I wasn’t normal.

~ Mel Luymes writing about diversity, inclusion and making space for people to BE.

•

Biosecurity “I keep three sets of boots, disinfect them when I get home, and wear a clean set when I go into fields.” ~ Meghan Moran, Field Crops and Edible Bean Specialist with OMAFRA on the importance of wearing clean footwear into fields to prevent the spread of pests and disease

Tiny yellow blooms Radiate with potential: The canola crop ~Lisa B. Pot

For the Lexophiles: • I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me!

• Energizer Bunny arrested. Charged with battery.

• PRESBYTERIAN: When you arrange the letters: BEST IN PRAYER. Gardening Hacks • Got a bunch of bugs, like squash bugs on the underside of plant leaves and don’t want to spray or pick them off with your fingers? Wrap a strip of duct tape, sticky side out, around your fingers, press them to the leaf, and capture them all at once!

AUGUS T INSPIRATION “Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. ~Kent Nerburn

{ •

Why do tug boats push their barges?

} •

August 2019 5

Keith Roulston Keith is former publisher of The Rural Voice.

He lives near Blyth, ON.

DON’T MISS THE ANNUAL

2019 BRUCE COUNTY PLOWING MATCH Friday, August 30 Host John Husk 4388 Highway 9, Kincardine (west of Kinloss)

Call 519-395-5248 for details BEEF BBQ $20.00 FRIDAY AT NOON (Call 519-395-5248 for Advance Tickets)

Plowing starts at 10 am Plowing Classes including Horses, Junior, Antique, IPM Plowers, Reversible Plows, Queen of the Furrow Competition

Queen of the Furrow Registration by August 15th Call John Gillespie 519-395-5248 to register AGRICULTURAL DEMOS & DISPLAYS Contacts: Pres. Byron Monk 519-363-3153 Sec./Treas. John Gillespie 519-395-5248 or jgilles@hurontel.on.ca

2019 Sponsors County of Bruce • Municipality of Kincardine • Ontario Plowmen’s Association • Bruce County Women’s Institute • Wark Milk Transport • Connect Equipment Corp.

• Bruce County Federation of Agriculture • Enbridge Community Grant • FCC • Paisley Vet Clinic • TD Bank • Teeswater Concrete

www.brucecountyplowmen.ca

6 The Rural Voice

Soon I’ll be able to get a Canadian pickle again This isn’t the column I originally planned to write for this month.

Good news can make you change course like that.

The column I’d intended to write for August was prompted by looking at the back of a pickle jar a few months ago and seeing that the pickles had been imported from India. It seemed like one of the ludicrous examples of globalization and it reminded me of my own small role in the pickle business many, many years ago.

Things were tough in farming in the 1950s when my pickle adventure occurred. During World War II farmers had geared up to feed Britain but after the war Britain was broke and couldn’t afford to buy Canadian farm products any more. Both demand and prices in Canada went bust. It’s no coincidence that many of the collective marketing measures adopted by Canadian farmers such as the Ontario Pork Producers’ Marketing Board originated in the post-war era.

For returning soldiers who wanted to be farmers like my father, times were even tougher. He wasn’t coming home to take over the family farm like many other returning veterans. He was starting from scratch, and serving your nation in the armed forces wasn’t a way to have saved a good nest egg to get you through the start-up years. Cash was always scarce and I remember tension building every fall as the adults wondered where the money would come from to pay the property tax.

My bachelor uncle had his own farm but he lived with us. One spring he heard about the opportunity to grow cucumbers for the Bick’s pickle

company. It sounded like a way to maximize the returns from an acre of the farm so he signed the contract.

My uncle had a job working in the local Co-op’s fertilizer blending plant in the spring and that spring he badly injured his back and spent the summer in a striker bed in a city hospital. My father already had taken an off-farm job that involved shiftwork so many days he wasn’t available for pickle duty. It was left to my mother, who had one artificial leg, me, at nine or 10, and my brother who was four years younger, to weed and pick the cucumbers. I remember it as the summer from hell. I’m sure it was worse for my mother, who had the responsibility for the job while still looking after two kids.

As if picking an acre of cucumbers wasn’t bad enough, the company needed them small, so put a premium on smaller sizes. It meant it took far more cucumbers to fill a sack and that if you missed a cucumber today – and with kids picking that would be almost a certainty – it would grow too large and be virtually worthless a couple of days later.

When the picking was completed, we’d drive to Teeswater where Bick’s had a receiving depot and we’d watch as the sacks of cucumbers were dumped and graded.

I never heard the financial results but I’m sure it wasn’t worth the effort. It probably worked better for neighbours down the road when they signed up. A Dutch immigrant family, they had five kids, most of them older than my brother and I. In planning this column I’d intended to bemoan the fact that it’s hard to find any Canadian-grown pickles these days. Bick’s was bought out by U.S.-based J.M. Smucker which moved production to the U.S. in 2010. But then I saw a story that Quebec-based Whyte’s Foods had bought a Wallaceburg factory and was converting it to process pickles. It was estimated upwards of 600 acres would be needed to grow cucumbers for the new plant when it reaches full production next summer.

So I’ll be able to buy Canadian pickles after all. I’m just glad I don’t have to pick them.◊

See you at the...

Perth County Plowing Match Saturday, August 24 Host: Van Winden Farm ~ 7872 Road 158, Listowel, ON N4W 3G9 (1.5 kms. south of Listowel) • Displays • Machinery Show • Banquet Thompsons Warehouse at 2:00 pm (Black Angus Catering)Tickets for BBQ $15.00 (adult), $10.00 (12 & under) - Please book in advance Bert 519-338-8761 or Deb 519-301-3418

Registration from 8:00 am - 9:00 am Lands Draw at 9:00 am Sharp Competitive Plower at 9:30 am - 1:30 pm Specialty Classes & VIP Plowing 1:00 pm

• Queen of the Furrow Interviews at 12:30 pm, Plowing 1:30 pm; Speeches 2:30 pm; Garden Tractor Class for children 2 to 12 - no entry fee 10:00 am. Each child receives a prize.

Awards, silent and live auction at 2:00 pm. Crowning of the queen following the awards.

For general information call Bert Vorstenbosch 519-348-8761 or Sara Woods 226-820-2239

Proud supporters of the Perth County Plowing Match

Parks Livestock of Canada L.P.

Box 280, 6 Spencer Street Milverton, ON N0K 1M0

Office 519-595-8555 Toll Free 1-877-338-4647 Auction Sale Every Monday!

E-mail john.nicholson@parkslivestock.com

519-229-8866 • 1-866-829-8866 email: perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com website: www.perthcountyfarmers.ca MANURE APPLICATION

1•800•265•3007 www.keildadson.ca

Keil-Dadson

Brendan & Brett Shute 519-719-7711 baselineagri@quadro.net www.baselineagri.ca

Farm – Home – Auto – Business Listowel – Mitchell – Tavistock 1-800-263-9987 • www.southeasthope.com

Proud to represent farm families in Perth-Wellington

1-800-461-9701 • pettapiece.ca

Proud to Serve the farm families of Perth—Wellington

You’re in Tradition country.

Stability. Security.

Close to home.

519 -393 - 6 4 02 Sebringviille, ON www w..traditionmutual.com

SupporƟng our rural tradiƟons and communiƟes.

John Nater, MP johnnater.ca

August 2019 7

Kate Procter Kate farms, hikes, canoes, and plays guitar in Huron County.

Kingsbridge Centre is way more than a building

Available at Cowbell Brewing Co., the Beer Store, LCBO and online at WWW. COWBELLBREWINNG.COM 40035 BLYTH RD., BLYTH, ON N0M 1H0

8 The Rural Voice

1-844 -523 5 - 4 7 24

“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” ~Margaret Mead If you have the opportunity to drive down Highway 21 between Amberley and Goderich, you will pass through the tiny hamlet of Kingsbridge, which is composed of nine houses, a former church, and a signpost, surrounded by farms. There are no public buildings for over 15 km in any direction in this area. But you would be wrong if you thought that this is a place where nothing ever happens.

“Rural Isolation used to mean that communities were isolated from services because of their geography.

Anymore it is starting to mean that the people within the communities are isolated from each other because they no longer have that central space to gather in,” explains Jennifer Miltenburg, Director, St. Joseph’s Kingsbridge Community.

In 2012, the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, a heritage building over 100 years old, was closed and slated for demolition. This left a vibrant rural community isolated with no venue for public gatherings, service group meetings, or rental options.

The community attracted national attention at the time when it rallied to keep the church open, even if not functioning as a church anymore, but as a place to for the community to gather. For those of us who don’t live that close to Kingsbridge, we may have a vague recollection of people rallying to keep this building open and in use – but it has mostly faded from our attention.

But what has happened in this tiny

rural community is amazing, inspiring, and shows what people who care can accomplish – just by coming out and refusing to take “no” for an answer.

After the church closed, the community came together to form St. Joseph’s Kingsbridge Community, a registered charity, with the goal of providing the community with a multi-use building. Since achieving ownership of the building – renamed Kingsbridge Centre – in May 2015, 584 individuals, including 372 seniors, have volunteered to repair, restore, and renovate the building and establish vibrant a concert and theatre series.

Between May 2015 and June 2019, 584 individuals have volunteered on the Kingsbridge Centre Renovation project. Area businesses have contributed $169,326, individuals have contributed and fundraised $474,174, and Kingsbridge has established 26 community partnerships. The downstairs was completely gutted due to water damage, and was closed to the public. It has since been renovated in phases as funds were obtained. After over four years of ownership, the basement renovations are nearing completion. The final Phase 4 is the kitchen area, which is currently under construction.

In 2019, from March to June, there were 51 uses of the building in 102 days (not including work bees), 130 volunteers (11 new) with 7,500 volunteer hours (value $105,500 at minimum wage).

Kingsbridge was 2018 Winner of Huron Arts & Heritage Cultural Organization Award, (placed third in 2019) and St. Joseph’s Kingsbridge Community has been notified by the National Trust for Canada that the “Kingsbridge Centre Renovation” has been shortlisted for an Ecclesiastical Insurance Cornerstone Award in the Transformative Projects category.

In May, 2019, the community lost a vibrant and active member and the Kingsbridge Centre seemed to be afitting place for people to come together to celebrate her life, to grieve, and to say goodbye. The main hall of the basement was used for the

Kate Procter Creek Edge Farms first time – over 200 people were fed with food prepared off site due to the lack of a functioning kitchen. Tables, chairs, serving platters, dishes, and coffee urns were borrowed from other area halls and churches using a legion of volunteers with trucks to carry the furniture.

The community rallied together, and with the generosity and hard work of many volunteers, the supplies needed came. This community gathering not only highlighted the need for the basement, it generated a list of supplies necessary for a functioning kitchen.

The Kingsbridge Centre renovation project has the support of people of all ages and demographics, and has revitalized this rural area.

But the Kingsbridge Centre story isn’t just about the rejuvenation of a spectacular heritage building. It is about community. It is about remembering to value all people, regardless of age, ability, or capacity – and that all within the community have a valuable role to play. The Centre provides a space for people to come together to share their good times, their sad times, to expand their minds, and to tell their stories.

The unique success of this project has led Jennifer Miltenburg to be a part of a provincial investigation of the central role church buildings play in communities. “In both rural and urban communities many of these buildings operate as de-facto community centres, providing space for 12-step groups, children’s and senior’s activities, sports activities, art groups, the homeless, and other vulnerable communities. They have been affordable spaces for the notfor-profit sector to deliver community programs,” says Miltenburg.

There are approximately 27,000 faith buildings in Canada and it is estimated that 9,000 will close in the next eight to 10 years. The United Church of Canada alone is closing churches at the rate of one a week.

This study will help develop a picture of the current situation and help broaden understanding of how vital these buildings are to both urban and rural communities. ◊

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10 The Rural Voice

Jeff is a freelance journalist based in Dresden, Ontario.

The food and farm disconnect It is time to lose the ‘us-versusthem’ attitude when it comes to food production.

While it’s true that a large percentage of the population of developed countries like Canada is woefully ignorant of the practices of today’s farmers – whether it is the industrialized version, organic or anything else – there are disconnects as well within the farming population itself.

How can people in the city be expected to have trust in the industry when farmers and all the others directly involved cannot agree about the direction that should be taken?

A few years back, Syngenta commissioned the consulting firm Edelman Berland to conduct an online survey of several thousand consumers from 13 different countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. It showed an across-the-board preference among responders for things like organic, local and urban production and the need to reduce pesticide use. The results, interestingly, were similar across all countries.

There was also an indication that most people – around 90 per cent – believed that producing more food for the growing world population would be an important challenge over the coming years though no mention of food waste was made. At the same time, the nod was given to government and large-scale farming as having the greatest potential in meeting the demand.

The numbers backing large-scale production, interestingly, varied widely. They were highest in the U.S. and Russia at 46 per cent.

France, Kenya and Switzerland,

however, were much lower at 19, 22 and 26 per cent, respectively.

Concerning the environmental impacts of agriculture and the impacts on rural communities, there was generally a great deal of uncertainty expressed, reflecting the ignorance most people have for the subjects.

With biodiversity and land fertility, for example, the majority of people indicated agriculture’s impact is neutral or even positive, though it’s widely accepted among the scientific community that agriculture has had a negative effect on both and continues to do so.

There was also support in most countries for getting more people involved with primary agriculture.

The notable exceptions were China, India and Indonesia where there are still large farming populations.

The global community needs to be better informed. Alarm bells should be ringing.

The way the bulk of the world food is currently being produced is having a negative impact on our air, water, soil and wildlife – the whole environment. Yet most players within the dominant agricultural industry, including farmer-led lobby organizations, are either in a state of denial or have placed their own interests to the fore, regardless of the consequences.

Most individual farmers, I suspect, are aware of the challenge but given cost-price crunch, feel unable to respond. It’s hard to invest in things like clean water or even healthy soils when the potential for profitability is at best uncertain and when most of those involved are approaching the end of their farming careers.

Government could help, but appears compromised, a victim to lobby organizations intent upon maintaining the status quo. Consider, for instance, the latitude granted to the seed and chemical companies to continue along their destructive path.

Farmers need to find new allies who are fully informed. Only through consumer education which places the ugly realities of the agricultural industry in the same discriminating light its successes can real change be generated. ◊

Come to the Fair!

WOODSTOCK FAIR Join us at the Paisley Fall Fair

Blue Jeans & Country Dreams Sunday, September 8th

FUN FOR THE W H O L E FA M I LY !

Best one-day heavy horse show in Ontario, beef & dairy shows, Agricultural Education tent, live music, BBQ beef supper, gospel hour, family-friendly traditional fall fair.

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Have a great time

* Exhibits * Horse Show * Beef Show * Dairy Shows * Sheep Show * Llama Show * Inflatables * Axe Throwing * Children’s activities * Wagon Rides * Teddy Bear Picnic * 4H Shows * Horse Pull * Cookie Contest * and so much more!

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Mabel’s Grill The world’s problems are solved daily ’round the table at Mabel’s Grill.

“What happened to your shirt?”

Molly Whiteside asked George McKenzie when he arrived for the morning coffee session at Mabel’s Grill the other day.

“Oh that,” said George looking down at one of those triangular tears on the front of his shirt. “I got too close to a young steer I haven’t dehorned yet.”

“If you were that close, it’s lucky the only hole is in your shirt,” said Dave Winston as George took his place at the table with the others who were already there.

“What, are you practicing to go to Spain and do one of those ‘running of the bulls’ things?” wondered Cliff Murray.

“Hey, I’m taking enough risk in my life just trying to make a living raising cattle,” said George. “I hardly

need to do something that’s stupid as that.”

“Yeah, I saw them doing that on the TV the other day!” said Molly as she filled George’s cup. “I hear every year a few people get gored, even killed. Are those guys crazy? Getting in front of all those bulls with all those sharp horns when they can’t possibly run faster than the bulls!”

“You’ll notice it’s men doing that,” said Mabel, from behind the counter. “Only men are that nuts.”

“And the crazy thing is people come from all over the world to do it,” said Cliff. “It goes to show you it’s possible to convince people to do anything if they somehow think it’s glamorous enough.”

“Yeah, if they have a death wish they could stay home and dodge traffic crossing the 401 on foot, but somehow that’s not romantic,” said Cliff.

“I’m going to miss this shirt,” said George, looking down at the tear. “It was one of my favourites. Lots of good pockets.”

“Maybe your wife could sew a patch on it,” said Dave.

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“Ha! You come over and suggest that,” said George. “The last time I mentioned something like that my wife told me in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t my mother who had time for things like that. She’s kept us going on the farm through the bad times with her job in town so she is not going to mend clothes too.”

“I don’t blame her,” said Molly.

“I’ve got better things to do than patch my kids’ clothes. If you want your shirt fixed you could sew it yourself.”

“Me with a needle would be almost as dangerous to my health as running with those bulls,” said George.

“And you can’t find people to mend clothes anymore,” said Dave.

“People just throw stuff away.”

“Not everybody,” said Cliff. “I read somewhere that Prince Charles gets his suits mended by his tailor instead of replacing them.”

“Yeah, well he can afford to, can’t he?” said Dave. “The rest of us could probably buy a brand new suit for what he pays to repair his.”

“Besides fashion changes faster than you guys can wear out a suit,” said Molly.

“Yeah, but the prince says that he keeps his suits long enough that he’s in fashion every 25 years,” said Cliff.

“Better than me,” said George. “If I get something that’s vaguely in fashion, my kids know it’s time for fashion to move on.”

Molly passed out the guys’ bills.

“I wonder if I should keep this so I can claim it as a medical expense,” said Dave.

“That’s kind of stretching it, isn’t it?” asked George.

“Well I read that this counselor said that if you’re a farmer, having coffee once a week with your friends is good for your mental health.”

“And you actually think we’re your friends?” asked George, keeping a straight face.

“You guys could be overdosing, having coffee together five days a week, not once,” said Molly.

“Hey, I like this idea,” said Mabel who had overheard the conversation.

“If coffee is therapy instead of just an excuse to get away from work, I can start charging like it was medicine.

Say five bucks a cup?”◊

Come to the Fair!

The Durham Fair presents

“Fun for the whole herd!”

August 30 - September 1 Friday • Junior & Senior Ambassador Competition • Dessert & Quilt Auction • Kids’ Pedal Tractor Pull • Kids’ Fun Factory (Fri. & Sat.)

Parade Saturday ~ Downtown to Fairgrounds

Saturday

So much to see and do

Sunday

• English & Western Horse Show • Community Church Service • 4-H Achievement • Luncheon following service • 4-H Invitational Beef, Dairy • Antique Tractor Pull & Sheep Show Fun For The Whole • Local Entertainment Herd Competition • Excavator Operator Competition

www.durhamfallfair.ca

~ prizes for largest family

Drayton Fair

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August 9th to 11th, 2019

August 23 to August 25 All weekend enjoy the Children's Village, Bouncy castles and Pony Rides Friday Axe Throwing 7:00 - 9:00 pm Parade 6:30 pm Taste of Minto 7 pm Saturday Axe Throwing 10 am - 4 pm Birds of Prey 10 am - 4 pm 4-H Sheep Show - 10 am Reptile show 11 am - 1 pm Excavator Games 12 noon - 4 pm Tractor Show (all day) Corn roast 5 pm - 7 pm Trivia Night 7:30-10 pm Box car movie night 7:15 pm Sunday Church Service 10 am Dog Agility 12:30 pm Equine Show 1:30 pm Pig Races 2:30 pm Roast Beef supper 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm For more info contact secretary Angela 519-343-3427 www.palmerstonfair.ca

• local truck & tractor pulls • livestock shows cattle, sheep, heavy horse, dairy, and goats • exhibits • bubble mania • bouncy castles - sponsored by Edge Mutual Insurance

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www.draytonfair.com August 2019 13

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Round Bale Spears, for loaders or 3 PH........................... $275. to $375.

Auger for Danuser Posthole Digger, 18 in., good for planting trees... $375.

Massey Ferguson 212 Thrower, electric controls, hyd. tension.....$2,200.

IH 55 Chisel Plow, 10 shank, good shape, hyd. lift................... $3,800.

New Idea 327 Corn Picker, 2 row, 36 inch, husking bed.......... $2,200.

Westfield 742 Grain Auger, 7 inch, 42 ft. on wheels............... $1,450.

Hesston 7020 Forage Harvester, 2 row corn head......................$3,600.

Leinbach 3PH Posthole Digger, 12 inch auger, adjustable................$675.

John Deere 29B 100 Gal. Trail Sprayer, 30 ft. boom, hypro pump.....$975.

Nuffield Suitcase Weights,75 lb., two only.......................... pair $150.

International 10 Seed Drill, 18 run single disc, works good............$1,650.

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519-338-2688 14 The Rural Voice

Mel Luymes Mel Luymes works in agriculture and conservation and blogs at headlands.ca

Culture is like blanket of comfort in our lives I spent the other Sunday afternoon at Conestogo Lake and I got caught in a traffic jam just outside Wallenstein. For me, it was a traffic jam like no other. I was surrounded by dozens and dozens of horses and buggies needing to cross Highway 86. It was a beautiful day and even though I was in a hurry to get somewhere (of course!) I crawled along at a snail’s pace and calmly let them in. It was spellbinding to see, actually. It was a glimpse into another world that exists just minutes down the road.

If I had been born just 20 minutes away, into this community, I would have an entirely different view of the world. As I was crawling through Wallenstein, I tried to imagine what my life would have been like and I felt a sense of gratitude and respect for this community and how they have protected their culture and worldview over the generations.

But, deeper than that, and seemingly out of nowhere, I really got the importance of having alternative worldviews exist side by side. It was suddenly very important to me that this community be completely free to practice their religious beliefs. It didn’t matter that I would never see the world that way.

It only mattered that they could.

I’ve been doing a summer food series that I’m really (really!) enjoying. Last month I got to meet part of a small Pakistani community from the area. This month, I got to meet Jay and Jackie: two friends

from Thailand that run a Thai restaurant, in Drayton of all places!

For me, small towns just got a whole lot bigger. Not only do I get access to more diverse foods but also to new people with different languages and diverse cultures.

Here in rural Ontario, there is a culture and way of being that we hardly recognize. It’s just normal.

The most incredible experiences in my life have been traveling to places where I wasn’t normal. Places where faces, language, tastes and music were strange and unfamiliar. I especially love experiencing holidays and knowing that for the people around me, this novel moment is nostalgic and familiar. It is their turkey and stuffing, their Canada Day fireworks, their Christmas morning.

I’m curious about other worldviews and what the people in them see. It feels like stepping into a new room, understanding that new ideas only make sense relative to other concepts from within the room, not evaluated as right or wrong from the perspective of the outsider.

And we don’t have to go very far to get a taste of this diversity. My University friend Adrienne, an American who loved the Royal Canadian Air Farce more than anyone, gave me the most memorable day in Toronto. We popped up from the subway train to see Poland, China, Korea, Ecuador, Tibet, Italy, Greece, etc. and had the most delicious food.

It was a fun day, and I love travelling, but this is serious, folks.

“Culture is not trivial,” writes Wade Davis, renowned and Canadian anthropologist, in The Wayfinders.

“It is not a decoration or artifice, the songs we sing or even the prayers we chant. It is a blanket of comfort that gives meaning to lives. It is a body of knowledge that allows the individual to make sense out of the infinite sensations of consciousness.”

Davis argues that every culture, coming out of the jungles of South America or the plateaus of Tibet or the swamps of Europe, is a different response to our world. He reminds us that “the world in which you were born is just one model of reality.

Mel Luymes Other cultures are not failed attempts at being YOU; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.”

He sees that much of that spirit is carved into languages and that, like language, cultures are not fixed but always evolving. Davis refers to languages as the old-growth forests of the mind and estimates that half of the world’s 7,000 languages are on the brink of extinction. Just as medicines and animals within a forest are lost forever when it is destroyed, so does the wisdom and human discovery contained within a language pass away when the last speaker of a language dies. It is like dropping a bomb on the Louvre, he says.

More than just an exercise in trying new foods or doing “diversity and inclusion” training, there is a lot at stake in preserving culture and language. I love to hear Urdu, Thai, Dutch and old German in our small towns, but also wonder what language and culture grew out of the forests along the Conestogo River and what the Conestogo River was called for centuries before English came here, before it became the Lake.

A young man wearing a black hat and a grateful smile waved at me as he pulled his horse and buggy ahead of me to cross Highway 86. But sitting in that traffic, I was the grateful one. On a sunny Sunday, I had all the time and space for the traffic around Wallenstein. And I want to make all the time and space for other cultures that make their home here. I don’t need to understand or agree, I just know that they absolutely need the space to be.◊

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519-349-2502 S Mary’s , Ontario St. August 2019 15

Crops • By Lisa B. Pot •

Fascinated by the common earthworm Less tillage equals more worms which improves soil say fans of the humble Lumbricus terrestis

T

his past Spring, on a beautiful evening after the sounds of the day had faded away, Carl Brubacher of Carlotte Farms Inc. near Arthur stood in the midst of a field of corn residue and listened to the earthworms.

“You could hear them,” he says, excitement creeping into his voice. “You can shine your phone on the field and you’ll see them grabbing at corn leaves with their mouths. They have no idea how big the leaves are so they keep working away at it and you can HEAR it, literally millions of them working away...it’s so neat.”

Since posting a picture of a shovel of soil featuring a count of 80 earthworms, Brubacher has become known as the “earthworm guy”. His slogan is “Earthworms are Nature’s Plow”.

He isn’t the only one. Earthworm excitement is a real thing. And this year’s wet spring has some farmers concerned how their “ecosystem engineers” are thriving.

“Given this wet year, farmers have struggled with timing to plant crops and they’ve had to grit their teeth and march through. There has been more compaction and compaction is hard on worms,” says

16 The Rural Voice

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Anne Verhallen, a soil specialist with OMAFRA. “However, there has been less tillage because the weather did not cooperate so farmers settled for a rougher seedbed than they normally would. So there has been a bit of balance.”

Chatting with Verhallen and Sebastian Belliard, a soil specialist with OMAFRA in Eastern Ontario and you’ll find yourself wanting to count worms. More than 20 worms in a shovel and that’s cause for celebration! Read articles from worm expert Odette Menard of the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture plus the works of Charles Foster’s Being a Beast and eating earthworms to simulate living as a badger and you start to sense that earthworms have a fan base. However, farmers that use a lot of tillage are unlikely to be part of the earthworm fan club.

“Tillage has a big impact on earthworms,” says Anne Verhallen, a Soil Management Specialist with OMAFRA. “They are less affected by shallow tillage and more affected by heavy disking and plowing.”

Especially the deep burrowers. ssentially, farmers are likely to find three kinds of earthworms in their fields, writes Odette Menard – epigeic, endogeic and anecic.

Epigeic worms are the surface dwellers living in the crop residue for 90 to 150 days. They don’t make tunnels so much as live and feed on crop debris. Visually, they are often bright red and reddish-brown.

Endogeic worms are the topsoil dwellers, getting a little deeper, living and feeding in the topsoil.

They can live 150 to 210 days and are often pale colours of grey, pink, green or blue. They make horizontal tunnels through the soil.

Anecic worms are the deep burrowers that live the longest, about 500 days! They have long tunnels from which they rise at night to feed on crop residue. These are also the worms that create middens, those little mounds of dirt on top of their holes which serve as rooftops. “They act like an air conditioning unit keeping their burrows cool,” says Verhallen. Anecic earthworms are recognizable by their dark red or

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brown heads and paler tails.

Each kind of worm adds value.

Soil containing all three kinds of worms means your soil is doing well.

Yet it’s the anecic or deep burrowing worms which are really indicative of soil health says Sebastian Belliard.

“They are more sensitive to soil management than topsoil worms,” he says. “They make their homes in all kinds of soils though they don’t do well in very shallow, very wet or very coarse, sandy soils. But imagine if someone comes along every year and destroys your home. Well, you would move on. This is, of course, an analogy for what tillage does. Tillage disturbs their burrows and breaks them up and can kill worms.”

Belliard says the deep burrowers are really “eco-system engineers of the soil” in that they alter the landscape for other creatures.

It’s what they do for the crops, though, that makes them invaluable.

Those vertical worm holes become important points of entry for quick water infiltration.

Earthworms improve soil porosity, increasing the exchange of carbon dioxide (which needs to leave the soil) and oxygen (which roots need for growth). Soil porosity also reduces the effect of compaction from heavy equipment.

Belliard explains that worm holes are lined with organic matter which adds nutrients to the soil. Worms

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leave a mucous behind as they travel and this mucous makes worm tunnels stable. Crop roots then “race through these tunnels” searching for moisture and nutrients.

“Earthworm castings are eight times more fertile than bulk soil,” says Belliard. ccording to a PennState article on earthworms, a typical earthworm population can “easily” consume two tonnes of dry matter per acre per year. That’s a lot of crop residue transformed into earthworm casts which contains more nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and calcium content that surrounding soil. Soil castings also make available essential soil micronutrients such as zinc and boron.

Moreover, some earthworms eat harmful nematodes.

Belliard and Verhallen say they have been talking about earthworms for years but it was when they started digging holes and doing earthworm moulds that people could “see” how deep and productive earthworms are.

“I have done worm counts for 20 years or longer but it wasn’t until we started doing the latex moulds, that I really got the complexity of what was going on in the soil,” admits Verhallen.

The moulds are made by pouring liquid latex into the soil. They are left for three weeks to allow the latex to set and are then carefully excavated

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to uncover a latex form that resembles a jellyfish with tendrils going off in all sorts of directions.

Belliard often digs holes for farmers to get a visual.

“My champion earthworm burrowed a metre and 15 centimetres into poorly drained soil,” says

Anne Verhallen Soil Management Specialist OMAFRA

Belliard, who takes farmers on worm-counting forays into their fields. “That was an eye opener for those farmers and what I really remember from that experience is how one farmer said, ‘Those worms work so hard for me, maybe I should do a bit to help them out.’”

“Yes”, exclaims Brubacher! This is exactly what he wants to hear. He thinks as farmers, we have to work at changing what we perceive as “good” soil.

“It seems locally that we really like black soil ... that we need a whole lot of fluffy topsoil to plant into,” says Brubacher. “I tell you, I really struggle seeing a plowed field.

I like to see a corn field with residue in between knowing that worms are working away.”

Tillage is the enemy of earthworms, confirms almost every earthworm lover.

“For worms, you want residue on top. If we put that residue into the soil, the worms will not touch it.

They want it on top to pull it down and process it,’ says Brubacher.

Sebastian Belliard (left), a Soil Specialist with OMAFRA in Eastern Ontario, said his champion earthworm burrowed a metre and 15 centimetres into poorly drained soil (left, bottom) causing one farmer to rethink his tillage practices.

At the top is photo of a worm midden of soil and crop debris pulled away to expose the deep burrowing wormhole underneath. Above is a picture of Blake Vince, a farmer near Merlin, holding two latex worm molds created by OMAFRA Soil Specialist Anne Verhallen which reveal all the worm activity from one circle of soil. ~Photos submitted by Belliard and Verhallen

August 2019 19

“THEY put the corn stalks through them.”

In accordance with his quest to champion earthworms, the Brubachers have gone largely minimum tillage, using a CurseBuster, a passive verticaltillage tine tool which goes eight inches deep into the soil, fracturing it, without disturbing or relocating the soil. “It doesn’t hurt the earthworms. It enhances them,” says Brubacher.

“It’s not the earthworm pickers.

It’s not the seagulls. The biggest destroyer of earthworms is tillage,” says Brubacher.

Belliard agrees. “Less tillage is key but I am hesitant to recommend no-tillage across the board,” he says.

“Conditions are so variable and the equipment farmers have is so variable. I hesitate to tell people this is the only way. But for sure, less soil disturbance is better for soil organisms.”

If tillage is part of a farmer’s cropping plan, the use of cover crops can go a long way to making life better for earthworms. ‘“The more things that are living above the ground, the more things are living below the ground,” says Belliard. “But there are still tradeoffs. Cover crops take more management and unpredictabe spring conditions can make them difficult to manage according to plan.”

Such as the Spring of 2019. How did all that rain affect the earthworms, anyway?

“If it is too wet for a crop to grow, it is too wet for worms. They will drown,” says Verhallen. However, while it has been very wet in Ontario this spring, fields have generally been more waterlogged than flooded.

“Waterlogged is not good for the earthworms but they will regroup and come back as long as the rest of their habitat is undisturbed.”

Good crop rotation, the use of cover crops, manure application and using compost when possible all contribute to increasing earthworm populations.

In particular, earthworms prefer perennial crops and deep roots. An ideal rotation for earthworms is a hay crop including alfalfa (which has 20 The Rural Voice

Crouching in a field of IP soybeans grown for the Japanese market, Carl Brubacher of Carlotte Farms near Arthur inspects the health of the beans growing in a field that hasn’t been plowed since 2014. He loves seeing corn residue between the rows, knowing earthworms are feeding on it with the capability of producing castings at a rate of over 10 tonnes per acre per year. ~Photo submitted

deep roots) rotated with soybeans since earthworms love soybean residue.

Encouraging a thriving population of earthworms can be more challenging in sandy soils because of its abrasive qualities. Worms need their skin to breathe.

Interestingly, earthworms are not viewed with delight by all lovers of farm, field and forest. Verhallen says OMAFRA and the Ministry of the Environment have “polite conversations” about earthworms.

“Earthworms are great things and have their place in fields and gardens. Where we have problems is when people go fishing near forest areas and dump their bait buckets where they should not be,” she says.

Earthworms can be terribly destructive in forests, eating forest litter which is essential for the understory population. Also, there

aren’t many predators in forests to control them.

Fortunately, worms are not expansive travellers. They only move about six to 10 feet a year. Also, their populations tend to be inconsistent, with higher populations around old farm buildings and orchards.

Foresters are really worried about imported worms, such as the various species of Asian jumping worms, a group of large worms named as such because when touched, they wriggle violently in a snake-like motion, sometimes even leaping into the air or detaching their tails trying to escape. These worms don’t really burrow. They stay on the surface, often in leaf piles and consume more plant matter than other worms. The result is rather than enriching the soil, they transform it into a field of soft, dry soil pellets sort of like ground coffee. Asian jumping worms

can be identified by their dark greybrown colour and lack of slime.

One last interesting and superweird fact about earthworms is their taste. After our interview, Belliard forwarded an article by Charles Foster, a Brit who lived as a badger, otter, fox and stag for a year. Since about 85 per cent of a badger’s diet consists of earthworms, Forster was compelled to sample many an earthworm in his travels. Not surprisingly, he said “earthworms taste of slime and the land.”

However, they have a very distinct terroir based on where they feed.

“You can suck off the slime and you’ll find that Chambly slime, at least in the Spring, is lemongrass and pig shit. The slime of the weald is burning rubber and halitosis. The tastes vary with the seasons...”

Certainly, this is next-level for earthworm enthusiasts who might realistically prefer to keep worms doing what they do best: transforming field soils into a palatable mix for hungry crop roots.◊

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Crops

Controlled drainage installed in Clinton • By Melisa Luymes •

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fter a desperate spring trying to plant or plow tile between the rainstorms, hundreds of farmers and drainage contractors from near and far came to the Huronview Demo Farm near Clinton on June 15. Huron Soil & Crop Improvement Association (HSCIA) spear-headed one of the most innovative drainage research and demonstration sites in North America, on a 47-acre field belonging to the County of Huron.

Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) also partnered on the project, along with AGREM and the Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario (LICO).

Hundreds turn out to see a controlled drainage system installed on a slope with tiles that can be blocked or opened as needed June 15 was a dreary day, but the rain stayed away and the rolling field, covered in a thick cover crop, was buzzing with four different crews installing tile in various sections of the field. The drainage contractors were Parker & Parker, KMM Farm Drainage, Roth Drainage and Williams Drainage.

Every 20 minutes or so, tractors pulled people in wagons around the

field so contractors could keep working and visitors could get a closer look. No one had ever seen anything like this before.

Plows were burying drainage pipe on a curve, with only a 0.1 per cent grade, pushing their machines to take tighter turns than ever before. The purpose was to increase the drainage capacity and attempt to control drainage on a slope.

The Huronview Demonstration Farm field near Clinton is seen after installation of a controlled drainage systems was installed on June 15 in a project spearheaded by the Huron Soil & Crop Improvement Association on June 15. The photo shows contoured and controlled tile fields beside conventional and untiled land. Huron County’s Huronview complex is in the background. ~Photo by Shawn Hathaway

22 The Rural Voice

Controlling drainage means managing the outflow of a subsurface drainage pipe. With gates or with an elbow and vertical pipe, the tiles can be blocked or opened as needed, controlling the water table in the field for sub-surface irrigation or just to limit downstream flows.

Controlled drainage works in flat fields, but the head pressure makes it impossible to regulate tile outflow on a slope. Unless the laterals are laid flat, that is.

Roth Drainage tackled the sevenacre controlled section of the project.

Each lateral was installed on a precise contour with a control structure at each lateral end. There are 22 lateral control structures in total. Mike Neeb, of Roth Drainage, used their BRON 150 plow for the job.

“We used our shorter plow and it did a better job of making those tight turns,” says Neeb. “Installing on contour was a slower process than a conventional installation but putting in the control gates wasn’t as big a job as we thought it would be.” our styles of control structures were installed for a performance comparison: Agridrain, ADS/Ideal’s nyoplast gate, Porter’s weir-type gate and a do-it-yourself version that was designed by AGREM for public use.

These gates were assembled by HSCIA’s board and dubbed the “Gord Gates” after the Huronview farm manager, Gord Mitchell.

Next to that, Parker & Parker installed conventional drainage that will serve as a side-by-side comparison with the controlled section and ABCA will monitor soil moisture levels, as well as water quality and flow rates, both from surface water and through the tile. A third, un-tiled area of the field will act as a control and HSCIA will be monitoring yields and plant health from all of the sections.

Parker & Parker also installed a conventional system under a six-acre sub-watershed that will have surface contoured terraces installed later this summer. The purpose of these terraces will be to intercept surface water and redirect it across the slope and into a grassed ditch where it will outlet into an existing wetland. The

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August 2019 23

wetlands will also be monitored by ABCA for its ability to filter sediment and nutrients to improve water quality.

Williams Drainage spent two days completing the contoured drainage (without control gates) in the northern part of the field, while KMM Drainage had previously installed a side-by-side comparison between 15-foot and 30-foot spacing in an adjacent field belonging to HSCIA board member and project supporter, Rick Kootstra.

The majority of the installation happened on Saturday, June 15.

Three hundred and fifty people were watching, and they had come from across Ontario, including some from the U.S. and even California.

Attendees during the day also included the Honourable Ernie Hardeman, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, as well as other local dignitaries.

Project partners addressed the crowd at noon, thanking the attendees of the field day and the funders of the project, which included the County of Huron, ABCA, LICO, HSCIA and several industry sponsors and private donors.

The project was also funded in part through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP), a federalprovincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of the Partnership in Ontario.

“It is an unprecedented partnership,” said Melisa Luymes, Project Coordinator. “We brought agricultural, drainage, and environmental stakeholders together to align on innovation and research to improve soil and water quality,” she said.

The field day also included an industry trade show, a soil pit presentation, food vendors and workshops that were held throughout the day.

Workshop presenters included Kirsten Grant, a recent graduate from the University of Waterloo who spoke about her research on phosphorus and tile water.

Representatives from LICO, Sid Vander Veen and Peter Johnson, also gave presentations, along with OMAFRA’s Anne Verhallen and 24 The Rural Voice

ABCA’s Ross Wilson in the soil pit.

MacKenzie Smith and Lynne Warriner spoke about 4R Nutrient Stewardship and improving water quality through improving fertilizer placement and timing.

For Dr. Jeremy Meiners’ presentation, there was standing room only. Meiners is with Illinoisbased company AGREM and designed the Huronview project.

AGREM has been spear heading

drainage innovation around the world and Jeremy and Bob Meiners, along with their whole family, were in Ontario for the whole week, working on the installation with each contractor.

“It was great working with AGREM,” says Mike Neeb. “It wasn’t an easy installation because no one has ever done anything like this. But we were excited to be part of the project and look forward to see

Above: Dignitaries addressing the crowd on June 15 at the Huron Demonstration Site near Clinton were (left to right) Huron County Warden Jim Ginn, Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority General Manager Brian Horner, Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association President Doug Walker, Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario Secretary Sid Vander Veen and the Hon. Minister of Agriculture, Ernie Hardeman. ~ Photo by Tim Cumming. Below: People movers and contractors moved around the fields watching and installing the contoured and controlled drainage system. ~ Photo by Melisa Luymes.

what research comes out of this site in the future.”

The drainage project was initiated by the Huron Soil & Crop Improvement Association (HSCIA), which is a volunteer board of farmers who are passionate about improving soil and water quality. HSCIA has a 15-year rental agreement with the County of Huron for the Huronview Demo Farm, to demonstrate soil health best practices such as cover crops and no-till, along with erosion control. “We knew we needed to invest in field drainage at Huronview in order to control erosion and we took this opportunity to try the most innovative system out there,” said Doug Walker, President of HSCIA. “By partnering with Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA), we’re able to use it for research.”

This research will benefit the environment, along with the drainage and agricultural industry. It was quite a sight, and all are welcome to visit at 77722 London Road, just south of Clinton. ◊

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Poultry

Eggs over easy, Poechman style • By Gary Kenny •

Gerald Poechman raises chickens in a cage-free aviary system for organic egg production

F

or his entire adult farming life, Gerald Poechman has been a visionary. The vagaries all farmers contend with including market access, pricing fluctuations and, especially these days, fickle weather patterns have never discouraged his penchant for blue-sky thinking and outside-thebox initiative. A pioneer in the agricultural sector, he has earned some bragging rights. He was Ontario’s first commercial organic egg producer and he is a co-founder of Organic Meadow, the farmerowned cooperative that remains at the forefront of the organic dairy business in Canada.

At 60, the tall, lean Bruce County farmer is poised to set another trend.

His latest venture is a multicomponent cage-free aviary system for organic egg production that utilizes the best of imported German technology and integrates a novel idea of Poechman’s own. The system, he says, makes for happier 26 The Rural Voice

Greens and sprouts grown in an on-farm greenhouse are fed to the chickens during the winter and the chickens can free-range in the summer at Poechman Farms near Hanover. The chickens are housed in a cagefree, tiered aviary system designed by the Hellman Poultry Company and called the Pro 10.

laying hens, better egg production, more nutritious eggs, less human labour, and, he anticipates, greater value for the organic eggs he and others like him will produce.

With Marlene, his wife of 37 years, Poechman owns Poechman Family Farm, a 150-acre operation just east of Hanover. Several rented farms bring the total acreage worked to 600. In addition to their new 6,000 bird commercial-scale organic egg operation, the Poechmans maintain an organic mixed feed grain business and run 25 head of organic beef

cattle.

Poechman’s affinity for the egg business – and perhaps also his venturesome nature – is inherited.

The barn in which he houses his current flock was built by his father in 1960, when the senior Poechman decided to supplement his custom farming business by trying his hand at commercial specialization with a flock of conventional laying hens.

With 5,000 - 6,000 birds, it was a major undertaking. Most commercial laying hen flocks at the time totalled only 200 to 500.

The early days were grim, Poechman says. He remembers a day in 1967, the year of Canada’s centennial, when his dad showed him an egg payment slip with earnings of only 17 cents per dozen. The cost of feed to produce a dozen eggs at the time was 50 cents. But his dad, he says, was not one to easily succumb to adversity. He persevered, and in 1974 recognized an opportunity with the beginning of debate on supply management.

“Dad was staunchly in favour of a regulated market. He made sure he attended all the organizational meetings and that his voice was heard. But it was a tough fight.”

Sometimes things got a little heated. Poechman has boyhood memories of local farmer opponents of supply management cruising the concession roads trying to influence their neighbours. Once, he says, a live chicken with a note, “as a freemarket supporter, please vote against supply management,” was delivered in rural mail boxes.

Poechman senior’s break came in 1972 when the federal government introduced supply management for eggs. At the time he had a breeder flock and was supplying fertilized eggs to Fisher’s Poultry Farm Hatchery in nearby Ayton. Dad was paid a “pretty decent” above-regularmarket premium for his fertilized eggs, Poechman says. But he realized he’d always be dependent on the hatchery and he wanted to be an independent egg producer and part of the regulated market. “It was a big decision, but Dad decided to start all over again.”

Supply management meant a cut back to 62 percent of the family’s historical egg production, “but Dad made money on every dozen eggs and didn’t have to worry about losing money in the next month or year,” Poechman says. “That set us up for stability.”

Initially the family marketed their eggs as Omega 3s but transitioned to certified organic layers in 1994.

“There were no retail organic eggs in Canadian markets at that time,” Poechman says. But there were naysayers, he adds. The two big egg graders said the market for organic

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eggs was so tiny that it wasn’t viable.

“An egg is an egg is an egg and you will fail,” the family was told. But word spread, and “soon we were getting calls from retailers and distributors in other provinces looking for our eggs,” Poechman adds.

It had already happened with Omega 3s. The Omega 3 egg was on the market for about 10 years before its recognized health attributes increased prices. “If it could work with Omega 3s, we knew in time it could work with organic eggs, too,” Poechman says.

In 2013, the Canadian Organic Standards Review Process reported news of a farmer in western Canada who had installed an aviary system.

An important feature is that aviary systems are cage-free (hens are free range on a spacious floor), placing them in stark contrast to battery cages which still house most laying hens in Canada and the United States, and which are considered inhumane by many animal welfare organizations. They have been banned by the European Union and are now being phased out in Canada.

Battery cages severely restrict a hen’s ability to fully express natural behavior such as nesting, dustbathing, foraging and roosting. Cagefree systems allow for the expression of these behaviours, Poechman says, resulting in less stress, better plumage, stronger bones, and fewer physical injuries. As market research has shown, these considerations are also important to a growing segment of the egg-purchasing public. oechman acknowledges that cage-free systems are not entirely without welfare concerns of their own. But according to the World Society for the Protection of Animals, if managed well, they offer a higher level of hen well-being and are best placed to meet future market demand.

For some 10 years, the Poechman’s had been using a slatted floor model of a single level deck system. The hens were free range on the floor and had access to roosting areas and outside pasture. But with aging equipment and bodies and no obvious plan for succession, he and Marlene realized a decision had to be

Gerald and Marlene Poechman of Bruce County have been raising chickens for decades and recently upgraded to a cage-free aviary system to prepare for future market demands.

P

28 The Rural Voice

Greenhouse and hydroponically-grown greens are fed to the chickens, above, that are released into a greenhouse-type yard for free range feeding time as part of Poechman’s organic egg business near Hanover .

made. “Either we had to make some changes or plan our exit from the organic egg business,” he says.

After considerable research and discussion, the family chose to upgrade their operation with a 10year horizon in mind. “We were still making a good living from the organic egg business,” and “we also realized that eggs, being a fairly easy-going kind of enterprise, were something we could do in our older years,” Poechman says. He also discovered that a new and higher capacity and fully automated aviary system was not as costly as he had thought. The new model also could be adapted to his ’60s era chicken barn saving him considerable money.

In 2016, with an all-clear from Farm Credit Canada, the Poechmans forged ahead. They opted for a stateof-the-art cage-free tiered aviary system designed by the German firm, Hellmann Poultry Company and called the Pro 10. According to Hellmann, ease for the birds and the producer was one of the prerequisites for the development of the system.

All tiers are outfitted with feeders, waterers, nests, egg belts, and manure conveyances.

A two-tier version of the Pro 10 was perfect for the height of the family’s layer barn. A salesperson tried to sell them on a three-tier aviary to accommodate substantially more birds. But it would have meant greater modification of the barn and what Poechman believed would be over-crowding on the floor. Also, he says, “we’re not greedy” and doubling the capacity of the previous 3,000-layer operation was quite sufficient.

In the summer of 2017, a design assembly specialist from Hellmann’s spent several weeks on site overseeing the installation of the new system. A team of local casual labourers was hired to help with construction. There were a few snags with the complex assembly, but in the end the system came together and continues to function well.

Poechman’s characteristic innovation didn’t end with the new, more efficient, and higher capacity aviary. Aware of the growing interest among the eating public for pastured

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meats and dairy, he began researching how his hens could have access to “pasture” 365 days a year and not just the summer months. And so was born the idea of integrating into the system a greenhouse growing hydroponic greens and sprouts and a “winter garden,” a 50’ by 80’ Britespan building, a domecovered yard, where the hens can “graze” daily throughout the winter months. The temperature in the garden is ambient but the lack of snow, rain and wind make it a comfortable foraging facility for the hens, Poechman says.

“My experience with Britespan has been exceptional,” Poechman adds. Local builder Peak Builders Construction Services Inc. designed the unique integration with the old layer barn, and combined with local manufacturing in Lucknow, the Britespan option was his obvious choice.

The greenhouse consists of a 24’ by 60’ metal frame erected on a preexisting concrete pad and over which are stretched two layers of greenhouse-grade plastic. Air is blown between the two layers to maximize insulation value. A propane furnace provides heat.

Greens and sprouts, including buckwheat, oats, barley and peas, all of which Poechman says his birds devour, are grown in hydroponic trays where their roots form dense mats. When ready, the mats are wheeled into the winter garden and pulled apart and spread evenly around the floor. Then the foraging frenzy begins.

With the summer outdoor range, only a small percentage of hens ever went outside, and because the “pop holes” from the barn to the pasture are small, and given the hens’ “mob mentality,” birds could be suffocated in the crush, Poechman says. He solved the congestion problem by installing a 12-foot-wide door between the aviary and garden. A funnel-like structure directs the hens’ entry into the bright, domed environment. Every day at 1:30 p.m., having just finished their noon feeding of mixed grain, the hens queue at the door anticipating the

The 6,000 hens at Poechman Farms near Hanover live in a two-tier version of the Pro 10, a cage-free tiered aviary designed by the Hellmann Poultry Company out of Germany. All tiers are outfitted with feeders, waterers, egg belts and manure conveyances.

awaiting mixed salad. They line up “politely,” Poechman says. When the door, controlled by a solar-powered clock, opens the hens enter the garden six to eight abreast and in a relaxed, orderly manner. And they eagerly eat everything, Poechman adds.

In addition to hydroponics, the family is also growing and feeding greens, including triticale and peas, in raised soil beds in the greenhouse.

They want to compare the nutrient density of plants grown in both media. nother built-in efficiency feature of the multicomponent set-up is the recycling of heat generated by the greenhouse’s propane furnace. Ducts were installed to direct excess heat from the winter garden into the aviary where it makes for less dust and drier, ammonia-free air.

Poechman says his chickens are now calmer, more alert, and more active.

In addition to the cage-free aviary, greenhouse, and winter garden there’s a fourth component: another Britespan storage facility to which manure from the barn is regularly transferred by conveyor belt where it is stored and later removed to another site for composting. The composted manure is used to fertilize the

A

family’s organic crops, including the grains eaten by their flock.

Yet another bonus is the limited daily labour required to run the aviary and its component parts.

Walking the barn to monitor the health of the birds and ensure systems are working takes up to 30 minutes. Preparation to grow the greens and sprouts and scrubbing down the growing trays requires about 60 minutes. Hand packing the eggs, which are automatically conveyed from the aviary to two packing stations, can take two hours.

So in total, the Poechmans spend a modest three or so hours a day doing fairly easy and stress-free aviaryrelated chores.

The Poechman family enjoys a premium for their certified organic eggs and the market for their eggs continues to grow as consumers become convinced that organic eggs are better, more nutritious, and more flavourful than eggs produced conventionally. With their “pastured” eggs, the Poechmans now aim to create a new marketing category within the general egg market. They just might succeed. Preliminary comparative nutrient tests show that their pastured eggs register five to 25 percent more nutrient dense for some vitamins than conventional eggs. ◊ August 2019 31

Dairy

Biosecurity...check. Just one more!

Tavistock Veterinarian Clark Sinclair (far left) helps dairy farmers like Jason and Ryan Wesselson (middle) alongside proAction expert Sarah Smith, also of Tavistock Veterinary Services Inc., as they prepare for validation from a Dairy Farmers of Ontario Farm Services Representative.

Brothers Jason and Ryan Wesselson are reviewing the Biosecurity Module of the proAction plan for their Embro-area dairy farm and have one more big module to complete: Environment 32 The Rural Voice

• By Lisa B. Pot •

W

ith binders open, computer on and wearing work boots for the physical work of dairy farming that never ends, Jason and Ryan Wesselson of Embro are currently reviewing their proAction paperwork.

ProAction is the dairy industry’s tool to demonstrate reponsible stewardship of their animals and the environment as they produce nutritious food.

Newborn calves can be seen sleeping through the office window as the brothers are advised by Tavistock Veterinarian Clark Sinclair and proAction expert, Sarah Smith.

Clark and Sarah have a checklist and are reviewing all the farm reports to

make sure Jason and Ryan haven’t missed anything as they enter the sixth proAction module – biosecurity. In September a Field Services Representative (FSR) from Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) will come to the farm to make sure the brothers have all their signage, documentation and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place to meet all the requirements of this fifth of six proAction modules.

They are among the first dairy farmers to reach this level.

The brothers have already completed milk quality, food safety, animal care and traceability.

It’s intense. There is some sighing and lots of paper ruffling as older brother, Jason, finds receipts and reports. He’s more resigned than thrilled by all the paperwork but has accepted that this has to be done.

Brother Ryan is looking on because he will be taking over this task once Jason starts his own dairy farm next year. s Sarah goes through the checklists, it looks like the brothers are doing well.

Medicines are properly stored. The treatment program is bang on with a four-step recording process: 1) The treated animal is marked with red tape.

2) The animal and treatment are written on the communal whiteboard for all family members and milkers to check.

3) The treatment is written down on its proper form in the red binder.

4) The information is added into the proAction software program called Wizard.

Stocking density is excellent. An addition on the barn has given the 144 milking cows 168 stalls. The herd has lots of room with potential for expansion.

The calves seen though the office window are bedded in deep straw and can see each other – another proAction requirement. Check!

It’s now mandatory for all calves to be given sedation and pain relief when being dehorned. The brothers have this procedure in place. Another check!

What was not present on the farm was a “wash station” for visitors

A

August 2019 33

Made in Canada Matters S1 Self Lock Gate Visit us at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show

• Heavy construction, durable • Soundless in open position, reducing wear and tear • Training position guides cows to enter gate from top opening • Adjustable or fixed neck space • Can lock one cow and release others • Available from 2 to 8 cow spaces • 4-5 Bargates in heavy aluminum tubing available

Michael’s Stabling Developments Inc. Williamsford, Ontario

Phone/Fax 519-794-3933 • Website www.sgate.ca Manufacturer of Stabling for Dairy-Beef-Hogs-Goats and Sheep

34 The Rural Voice

leaving the barn. What does that entail, asks Jason.

“Everyone across the province asks me about that requirement,” laughs Clark. “I say they need to provide access to a hose at barn doors.” A pail and sanitizer can be added. Sometimes the solutions are very simple.

Jason recognizes the ideals of the program. It is producer and DFO led.

It protects consumers and farmers.

As the DFO website states: “proAction provides a vision and a framework for consistent standards and measurable results that will allow farmers to continue to earn the trust of consumers into the future.

The platform will provide farmers with tools for continuous improvement and will drive more efficient use of existing resources.” onsumers are demanding transparency from farmers on how they raise their animals and grow their crops. ProAction is the dairy farmer’s quality control program just like chicken farmers have their Raised by a Canadian Farmer On Farm Food Safety

C

Program, beef farmers the The Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) program, veal farmers the Veal Quality Assurance (VQA) and hog farmers follow the Canadian Quality Assurance (CQA) program.

It’s just a lot of paperwork. Daily paperwork ... something Jason and Ryan would not rank high on their “favourite chores” list. They became dairy farmers to work with cows, not forms and programs.

“It’s very time-consuming but it does protect us,” says Jason. “Where it is really beneficial is in biosecurity and traceability. If something were to happen, I have proof that I followed protocols and took good care of my animals.”

Through proAction, all animal movements (sales and deaths) are tracked. Milk is traceable from farm to processing plant. This protects both the farmer and the consumer. ow, with the biosecurity module, the intent is to benefit both the farmer and consumers. Jason and Ryan will write an SOP to prevent disease from arriving on the farm. This includes No Trespassing signs on barn doors, and offering plastic boots to visitors allowed into the barn.

“I have a farmer who put a mailbox up outside the barn door and keeps plastic boots in it for people to put on,” says Sarah, who visits a lot of dairy farmers in Perth County, helping them with ideas on how to best implement the proAction guidelines. She is loaded with checklists and forms and knows the Wizard program that dairy farmers are required to learn to digitally file their paperwork.

Her first rule? Don’t get behind.

It’s a line echoed by both Jason and Ryan.

“Stay on top of things!” Jason says when asked what advice he would give dairy farmers still working through other modules.

Ryan agrees. “If you can make time to input little bits at a time, then you won’t be stuck behind a computer for hours.”

For data that can’t be immediately entered, they keep a calender in the milkhouse to record Time

N

Developing Standard Operating Procedures for four proAction modules (milk quality, food safety, animal care and traceability) has been a lot of work. Now almost done the Biosecurity module, dairy farming brothers Jason and Ryan Wesselson (top) rely on help from Clark Sinclair (left) and Sarah Smith (bottom) to review their work to ensure they have met all the program requirements.

August 2019 35

Cover Crops Plant a Cover Crop Give us a call and let us help you set up a field-specific cover crop

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Growing Your Success 36 The Rural Voice

Minto AG LTD. Harriston: 519-338-5751

Temperature Recorder (TTR) alarms.

Every dairy farmer in the province must have a TTR to alert farmers if milk or wash water temperatures are outside the temperature requirements.

Every time the alarm goes off, it has to be recorded in the proAction documentation.

There are charts and forms and spreadsheets for almost every aspect of dairy farming. These cover procedures such as shipping cattle, bull housing, stocking density, calving areas, tie-stall trainers, calf feeding, heifer rations, cattle handling, euthanasia, milk equipment sanitization, corrective action plans ... so many items.

More binders will be needed. ome farmers are completely resistant but most just need encouragement to complete the program, says Clark. He and Sarah offer classes at their veterinary practice, and have hosted over 30 in past years.

Back when dairy farms had small herds of 40 cows, it was easier for

S

farmers to keep track of everything in their heads. However, as herd size increases into the hundreds, it’s impossible for farmers to remember it all. “They also rely on more hired help and this requires training,� adds Clark.

Jason agrees. “I think the program is designed so that if you were to grab someone off the street, they could read about your procedures in the binder and know how your farm operates.�

ProAction SOPs encourage consistency and quality control.

Many of the forms are standardized but the FSRs are looking for specifics unique to each farm. “They want details on how you do it, who does it and that includes names and phone numbers when you name someone,� say Clark and Sarah. “DFO knows that some farmers struggle with all the paperwork,� says Clark. “So we go and check to help farmers through it. And it’s getting better. Most farms have designated a person to take it on as

0RXQW (OJLQ 2QWDULR 3 )

WULSOHSFRQVXOWLQJ#H[HFXOLQN FRP

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Chad McCallum 519-955-1588

GPS Grade Control & Mapping

they accept that the program will be around for the long term.�

As a veterinarian, he likes having the option to check farm records to track on-farm treatments of animals.

Furthermore, self-regulation is far better than being forced to comply to a non-farming government or processing organization. “It protects your industry. It’s not just a makework project. ProAction creates a structure that keeps farmers accountable and protects the farm and the farmer,� says Clark.

Penalties for non-compliance can cost farmers over $1,500. he final module Jason and Ryan, along with all of Ontario dairy farmers will have to complete, is Environment. Dairy farmers will have to demonstrate that they employ environmentally beneficial practices on their farms to protect land, water and air quality for their families and surrounding communities. Training starts this September and validation is to be completed in 2021. Currently, there are 37 proAction validators who assess how the program is implemented on farms.

Jason and Ryan are the third generation to be milking cows at the Wesselson farm. It is currently owned by their father, Lloyd Wesselson, an active farmer who has passed the proAction workload onto his sons. Going forward, Ryan will be taking over the proAction paperwork. He is 25 and married to Erica. Jason will be milking his own cows and developing his own proAction initiative with his wife, Melissa and their three young children.

Ultimately, the program is about trust. Consumers in general have a level of trust and respect for farmers but trust needs to be earned.

As DFO states, farmers must continue to earn that trust every time a consumer buys a Canadian dairy product. “The expectations of today’s Canadian consumers and wholesalers are evolving, becoming more specific and more demanding. To continue to earn trust and ensure our businessses are viable, we must set, evaluate and, when needed, raise high our standards for our industry.� ◊

T

August 2019 37

25

25th Annual

Steam & Antique Power Show

RY

th

NIVERS AN A

‘Nicest Little Show Around’

August 24-25, 2019 ITINERARY

presented by Saugeen Antique Power Association Inc.

Saturday, August 24 Grounds Open from 8:00 am - 6:00 pm Light Breakfast served from 7:30 am - 9:00 am Auction Sale at 10:00 am Steamed Corn Children’s Tractor Pull at 2:00 pm Everyday at Parade at 4:00 pm 3:00 pm Roast Beef Dinner from 5:00 - 7:00 pm Sunday, August 25 Grounds Open from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Light Breakfast served from 7:30 am - 9:00 am Church Service at 10:00 am Dave Chittick 519-364-5264 Children’s Tractor Pull at 2:00 pm Parade at 4:00 pm Proudly brought to you by

at Cedar Rail Camp Ltd., Scone (Camping available on site for members & exhibitors only) Gate Admittance: $8.00 Featuring: NEW THIS YEAR BOTH DAYS FOR KIDS Bouncy castle, nerf ball invasion field SUNDAY ONLY Birds of Prey

Note: All displays & times Tractors of all colours, subject to change implements, machinery or Auction Sale ~ Saturday 10 am horse-drawn and small (Time subject to change) engines.

NOTE: Quality items requested.

Also cars and trucks.

No garage sale items please.

5th Annual SWAP MEET Items for sale must be at site Friday unless BUY, TRADE, SELL prior arrangements have been made.

Booth Rental 10x20' - $25 Call Durk Devries 519-935-3156 Dealers welcome dualacredurk@gmail.com

Vendors & Crafters ~ Contact Bonnie Cavill 519-363-3612 or cavillfuels@hsfx.ca

Saugeen Antique Power Association Inc.

• Steam Engines • Threshing • Vintage Tractors • Antique Cars/Trucks • Sawmill • Food Booths • Bingo e & • Face Painting • Kids’ Barrel Rides • Rope Making • Sheep Shearing • Shingle Mill • Live Music For more information contact: m o C ... • Wagon Rides • Gas Engines/Models • Crafts • Horse Plowing & Demo • First Aid on the grounds Birdie Hood, President 519-794-3576 See Jim Vance, Past President 519-364-6282 • Auction Sale • Blacksmith Demo • Wood Planer • Buzz Saw • Penny Table & Silent Auction • Wood Carving Website: www.saugeenpowershow.com S.A.P.A. or Auctioneer NOT responsible for injury or loss of property show days.

SaugeenAntiquePowerAssociation

MAXWELL BEEF FARMS LTD.

James Cavill Fuels Chesley 519-363-3553

Licensed Elevator, buyers of Ontario Wheat, Soybeans and Corn Bus: 519-363-3423 Fax: 519-363-0386 Email: george@maxwellbeef.ca

RR#3 Chesley, ON N0G 1L0

421 - 1st Ave. N., Chesley Phone: 519-363-3038 • 1-888-498-9999 Fax: 519-363-3885 E-mail: hattenbuilding@eastlink.ca

www.maxwellbeeffarms.com

PETER & JACQUI KNIPFEL 30 First Avenue, Chesley

Phone: 519-363-2882 Fax: 519-363-0023

Chesley 519-363-3510 38 The Rural Voice

Business

Rolling abbatoir processes meat on site • By Jeff Tribe •

W

hen circumstances prevent farmers from getting an animal to the abattoir, Aaron Wall brings his rolling abattoir to them.

AA Cuts Mobile Butchery converts pure loss into full freezers for producers with a healthy, yet injured cow which can’t be legally transported and sold at the sale barn, or slaughtered at an existing facility.

“There are not too many people who do this type of work,” says 25year-old Wall. “I feel a great sense of satisfaction for being able to provide this service and make a living off of what would otherwise get wasted.”

The Milverton-area resident’s entry into the butchery business goes back to the age of 17, when he began working for family friends. Across four years Wall gained experience and exposure in each aspect of the business from slaughter through cutting and processing.

“I learned one skill at a time, starting on cheaper cuts and worked my way up.”

Identifying a personal niche employment opportunity in producer need, Wall decided to take that carefully-developed skillset on the road. Step one was ordering a custom-designed bumper-pull trailer featuring thermal capability and sanitary components for chilling, cutting and processing meat, and facilitating meticulous clean-up.

Secondly, he began the process of getting his name out through wordof-mouth, cold calls to neighbourhood farms and flyers he distributed for the first three months throughout Huron County.

“That’s what helped kick-start it back in the day,” says Wall. “I took it one day at a time and basically worked through one call at a time until I got on my feet.”

The first year was a little unnerving, he admits, but based on his workload, he has gotten more than comfortable with what some

Travelling butcher makes a living of what would otherwise be wasted

The travelling butcher, Aaron Wall, slaughters cattle on farm when an animal cannot be sold or transported but is otherwise healthy to process for meat. He requires host producers to have a front-end loader with enough capacity to lift and move the carcass.

August 2019 39

might consider his business model’s uncertain nature.

“I just work with the calls when they come in.”

Over time, Wall has also gotten his procedure down to a science.

There is no such thing as a regular schedule in his line of work and calls can be by nature very random, but volume of demand, means given reasonable geographic proximity and animal size, his version of six steady work days weekly (Monday through Saturday) has evolved.

“My schedule is very unpredictable but since this is my full-time work, I can get to a majority of calls.”

Ideally, Wall will slaughter an animal in the afternoon, letting it hang and chill overnight inside his trailer before Aaron Wall of the Milverton returning the following area first gained experience morning to cut and process that animal, subsequently butchering animals at the heading out in the age of 17. Now 25, he owns afternoon to repeat the his own travelling abbatoir cycle. and travels across SouthHost producers are western Ontario butchering required to have a frontend loader with enough lift on site with his temperaturecapability to move the controlled trailer. He makes carcass during onsite all cuts and also grinds beef, processing, a water hose packaging it in microwaveand tap, and a 220-volt safe plastic tubes (below). welding outlet in order to power the mobile trailer’s chiller unit.

In practice, following an onsite assessment based on years of experience, Wall humanely dispatches injured animals with one precisely-placed shot from a highpowered rifle. The carcass is then transported to and positioned on a portable cradle for preliminary work, lifted to finish the process and remove internal organs, halved with the assistance of an electric-powered saw, transported to his portable trailer, and further cut into pieces he can manually lift onto hooks for the chilling process.

The following day Wall returns, quickly and efficiently beginning a butchering process which can include boneless roasts, steaks packed in bulk, stewing beef and ground beef packaged in convenient microwave-safe plastic tubes, which are sealed to enhance 40 The Rural Voice

quality during freezer storage.

Since the beef is not government inspected, regulations state it must stay on the premises where slaughtered, consumed by the producer and their immediate family, and cannot be sold, donated or transported.

Wall charges 50 cents per kilometre of mileage, a flat $100 fee for slaughter and 70 cents per pound of dressed beef. In ballpark terms, a local milking cow may run around $600, while a larger beef animal further away $900 to $1,000. Based five minutes south of Milverton, Wall’s standard area of operations includes all of southern Ontario, within a three-hour radius.

The work is strenuous and physical.

“It’s a lot of hours a day on my feet working with my hands,” says Wall, who nevertheless thoroughly enjoys the changeable settings his chosen vocation provides. Outgoing by nature, he also appreciates interaction with clients. “It’s a little bit of everything, lots of hard work, some variety and a lot of interesting people and places.”

The majority of his work is repeat customers. That sector, combined with new clientele offers the potential for expansion at some point.

“Not in the near future,” said Wall. “I’m busy, but content for the time-being as a one-person operation.”

The mobile nature of his operation, both in terms of customer need and physical location, is not for everyone, but Wall has no regrets about life outside a standard ‘9-5.’

“Not really, I’m happy with the way this has been working out.”

Wall’s work ethic, professionalism and willingness to take a risk has turned AA Cuts Mobile Butchery into a successful business venture, which is working out for his bottom line. Well beyond that, it’s a venture he finds personal satisfaction in through customer satisfaction: dedicated farmers who enjoy their chosen lifestyle discouraged at the thought of a good animal going to waste.

“I can take that situation, turn it around and fill their freezer with food for their family.” ◊

We work with a number of insurers; this provides us the opportunity to offer you the best coverage at the right price for your farming operation.

With Offices In: Blyth 519.523.4481 Brussels 519.887.6100 Goderich 519.524.2664 Linwood 519.698.2215 Seaforth 519.527.1610 Stratford 519.271.4340

www.orrinsurance.net August 2019 41

9 2 n d A n n u a l H u ro n C o u n t y

P L O W I N G M AT C H T h u r s d a y, A u g u s t 2 2 & F r i d a y, A u g u s t 2 3 , 2 0 1 9 Hosted by: Windy Lane Farms ~ Ray & Anita Dykstra 44407 Creamery Rd., Gorrie (Howick Township)

Co-hosted by Huron County Warden, Jim Ginn

Thursday, August 22 - Junior Day

Schedule of Events - Friday, August 23

Practice - 9:00 am - 11:00 am Lunch - 11:00 am - 1:00 pm Competition - 12 noon - 3:00 pm Princess Speeches - 1:00 pm

Silent & Live Auction after Banquet

Awards Ross Gordon Memorial Trophy William Leeming Memorial Trophy McGavin Family Award Don Dodds Award Best Going Plow Team Award Antique Tractor Awards

Antique Plowing Champion Huron Junior Champion Huron Junior Reserve Champion Huron Senior Champion Huron Senior Reserve Champion Val-Lea Farms Award MGM Townsend Tire

For information call Margaret Vincent 519-531-0803

7:30 - 9:30 am Breakfast Banquet 8:00 am - Registration Tickets 9:00 am - Competition Call 11:00 am - 3:00 pm - Lunch by Neil & Joan Belmore Skating Club Vincent Dealer Tillage Equipment Demo Antique 519-357-2336 Competition 1:00 pm - Queen of the Furrow Speeches or Joan Ryan Bring your 5:00 pm - Greetings 519-237-3806 restored and 5:30 pm - Banquet catered by unrestored Cardiff BBQ Catering Ltd. antiques Silent Auction Bidding throughout the day Awards Presentations and Queen of the Furrow Crowning following Banquet

Proud supporters of the Huron County Plowing Match

Lisa Thompson, MPP for Huron-Bruce Best wishes for a successful plowing match CONSTITUENCY OFFICES Blyth Office: Kincardine Office: Phone: 519-523-4251 Phone: 519-396-3007 Website: www.lisathompsonmpp.ca Email: lisa.thompsonco@pc.ola.org

DALE PUMP & FARM SERVICE LTD. Water Pumps ~ Water Conditioners Water Installations ~ Backhoe Service Full Line Hydraulic Hose and Fittings LICENSED PLUMBER & GAS TECHNICIAN

For all your water needs 519-482-3274

519-482-9642 1-800-511-1135 Fax: 519-482-1416

42 First Ave. Clinton, ON N0M 1L0

HURON COUNTY FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE Email: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca Web: www.hcfa.on.ca

269 Ontario St., (Hwy. 8 East) Clinton

Looking forr Com mmon Sense Insurance?

Best wishes Kenpal Farm Products Inc. to everyone R.R. #1, 69819 London Rd., Centralia, Ontario at the Match Phone: 519-228-6444 • 1-800-265-2904 Fax: 519-228-6560 E-Mail: kpalen@kenpal.on.ca • Website: www.kenpal.on.ca

Stephen Thompson Income Tax Service Congratulations Huron County Plowing Match!

R.R. #2, Clinton (H) 519-482-3244 (C) 519-524-0957

Locations ~ Blyth and Walton

Seed Crop Protection Fertilizer Grain Elevators Custom Spraying Contact us at 519-523-9624 • 1-800-663-3653 Proud supporters of the Huron County Plowing Match!

www.robertsfarm.com www.mcgavinequip.com

42 The Rural Voice

Theseear a ch isso s ver v .

Zurich, ON 1- 877- 807-3812 519 -236 - 4381

KMM F A R M D R A I N A G E Walton

TILE DRAINAGE PAYS! Let a good drainage system work for you to help improve: • Soil erosion • Crop yields • Crop rotation • Land values • Plant growth

• Aeration • Soil warm up • Harvest length • Soil conditions • Fertilizer efficiency

GPS Grade Control & Mapping CALL THE EXPERTS! Shop 519-887-6428 Ron McCallum 519-524-3543, Chad McCallum 519-955-1588

‘Helping Agriculture Grow’

H u ro n C o u n t y

PLOWING M AT C H

Safe, Dependable Trucking Service • Livestock • Bulk • Freight 519-887-6122 or 1-800-667-8399

BRUSSELS LIVESTOCK CONFIDENCE, TRUST & SERVICE YOU CAN COUNT ON 42857 Newry Rd., Brussels 519-887-6461 or 519-887-6811

Congratulations to all the Competitors at the Huron County Plowing Match HAUGHOLM BOOKS & A.J. HAUGH EQUIPMENT “Canada’s First Steiner Dealer” Specializing in new and older tractor parts, books, manuals & decals for farm tractors and stationery engines. Pick up our free catalogue.

HAUGHOLM BOOKS AND A.J. HAUGH EQUIPMENT One mile east of Brucefield at 40372 Mill Rd.

40356 LONDESBORO RD., Londesboro

1-877-619-7877 519-523-4742 www.townsendtire.ca

519-522-0248 Fax 519-522-0138

HURON FEEDING SYSTEMS Proud to provide encouragement and support to our agricultural community

91 Main Street S., Seaforth Bus: 519-527-0400 • 1-800-463-9204 Fax: 519-527-2777 www.mckillopmutual.com

Your local authorized dealer for...

401 Albert Street, Box 340 , Brussels, ON N0G 1H0 Phone: 519-887-6336 Fax: 519-887-6438 www.riversidefuneralhome.ca

Brussels JOE SEILI 519-887-6289 www.huronfeedingsystems.com

A warm welcome to everyone attending the Match!

See us for your Fall Weed control and Fall Harvesting needs IP Soybean contracts available

• On-farm grain marketing & merchandising • Grain bought & sold throughout Ontario • Handling & storage • Commodity marketing hillhill@tcc.on.ca • 519-233-3218 RR #1 Varna, Ontario N0M 2R0 www.varnagrain.com

August 2019 43

August 16, 17, 18 Paisley Featuring

All Things International Harvester

• FARM • HOME • AUTO • BUSINESS • COMMERCIAL • RECREATION • COTTAGE • MARINE

The Bruce County Heritage Association are proud sponsors of the

Bruce County Heritage Farm Show

LUCKNOW

Aug 16-17-18th

634 Campbell St., Box 389, Lucknow, ON N0G 2H0 Ph: 519-528-3824 Fax: 519-528-2531

2.5 km south of Paisley, on County Rd #3

1-877-839-3742

www.mcconvilleomni.ca 44 THE RURAL VOICE

Preserving our Past for Future Generations “Supporting Our Heritage”

All are Welcome August 2019 45

August 16, 17, 18 Paisley Featuring

All Things International Harvester

• FARM • HOME • AUTO • BUSINESS • COMMERCIAL • RECREATION • COTTAGE • MARINE

The Bruce County Heritage Association are proud sponsors of the

Bruce County Heritage Farm Show

LUCKNOW

Aug 16-17-18th

634 Campbell St., Box 389, Lucknow, ON N0G 2H0 Ph: 519-528-3824 Fax: 519-528-2531

2.5 km south of Paisley, on County Rd #3

1-877-839-3742

www.mcconvilleomni.ca 44 THE RURAL VOICE

Preserving our Past for Future Generations “Supporting Our Heritage”

All are Welcome August 2019 45

The Rural Reading Room Specializing in Rural Living & Local Authors

OUT OF THE WOODS: CHRONICLES AND CHARACTERS OF HURON COUNTY David's collection of stories appeals to the casual reader and history buff alike. Each short entry is filled with human interest and details that open a window to the county's past and its characters. Arranged in chronological order - from the time of the region's Indigenous people through to early settlement and finally to Canada's coming of age during the Great War - it is a book you can enjoy one story at a time or cover to cover. $25.00

FROM IRELAND TO THE QUEEN’S BUSH Author Arnold Mathers’ Irish roots run deep in these stories which weave a pattern about the romantic pioneers that were his ancestors.

His great grandfathers came from Ireland and settled in Huron County.

His mother’s family farm was called Queen’s Bush Valley Farm. $24.95

BACKROADS OF ONTARIO Ron Brown has updated and expanded this guide to hundreds of interesting places to visit throughout Ontario.

Mapped out routes for daytrips let you get to know rural Ontario with interesting stories about spots along the way. $29.95

GRANDAD YOU’RE THE BEST Here’s a collection of humorous and inspirational quotes celebrating brilliant grandfathers from authors such as Paul McCartney, Woody Allen, Bill Clinton, and Abraham Lincoln. $13.95

LETTERS HOME from Willis Machan Flight Sergeant Willis Machan of Brussels served with the RCAF prior to his death in the Azores in 1943.

In his letters to his parents, brother and sisters he reveals the thoughts of a young man at war. $18.00

GRANDMA YOU’RE THE BEST Humorous and inspirational quotes celebrating brilliant grandmothers by dozens of famous people, ranging from Mark Twain, the Dalai Lama and Audrey Hepburn to Homer Simpson. $13.95

Total

Qty.

OUT OF THE WOODS BACKROADS OF ONTARIO LETTERS HOME OUR LAND OF MILK AND HONEY FROM IRELAND TO THE QUEEN’S BUSH GRANDAD YOUR’RE THE BEST GRANDMA YOU’RE THE BEST CANADA FOR KIDS SHIPPING & HANDLING RATES $6.00 for the first book 60¢ for each additional item to a maximum of $20.00

46 The Rural Voice

$25.00 $29.95 $18.00 $30.00 $24.95 $13.95 $13.95 $17.95 Total for Books Shipping & Handling Add 5% GST on subtotal Order Total

OUR LAND OF MILK AND HONEY The hard work and bravery of Dutch families who came to Canada after World War II is a story worth telling. B.B. Carmen Johnson recalls the 1948 journey of her family, the de Haans, to Huron and their experience since. $30.00

CANADA FOR KIDS In this patriotic celebration of Canada’s superlatives, complete with 300 colour photographs, kids are presented with thousands of unique facts, figures and feats that make the country unique.

From inventions to statistics to amazing geography, this book will keep the whole family flipping pages for unique Canadian trivia. $17.95

Send cheque or money order for full amount to: Books: North Huron Publishing P.O. Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 or call and pay by credit card 519-523-4311 MAIL BOOKS TO: Name:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Address:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ______________________ Code _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Phone:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Prices subject to change with increases in wholesale prices, postage, taxes, etc.

Please refer to current issue for correct figures. Incorrect payment will delay delivery.

Repurposing

The Pallet Witch repurposes waste pallets Hammering out her vision with old pallets leads to the creation of functional, rustic furniture near Bayfield • By Lisa B. Pot •

“S

omewhere, in the dark forest, you can hear the hammering of the Pallet Witch.” That is the direct tagline from Pamela Patterson’s flyer and indeed, when you find her place on Orchard Line near Bayfield, you sense a wild kind of creative energy.

For starters, some of Pam’s creations are on view by the roadside.

Then you travel down a gravel lane into trees with a house on the left, a coverall workshop, a little garage, a cute caravan and then a trailer. There is a lot of pallet-diversity going on here … the deck fence is made of pallets, there’s a crooked house made of pallets, a gazebo, bar stools and table all made of pallets. Each creation is designed and constructed

by Pam herself, an artist who loves to rescue cats, wood and just about anything that needs new life.

Not shy about her struggles with anxiety and how she sometimes feels like a human alien in the face of stress and confrontation, Patterson finds solace in her work. She defines herself as an artist in the woods, making useful furniture out of pallets that would otherwise be tossed, burned or piled away.

It all started five years ago when she was working in shipping and receiving for a local company. An accident at work gave her whiplash and she struggled through it but eventually quit her job and retreated to her small home in the woods.

Before she left, the pile of pallets collecting at work bothered her. “It was such a lot of waste.” Like many artsy women do, she looked on Pinterest for ideas of how to reuse pallets and a design for a wine rack caught her eye. So she took one pallet home, made a wine rack and

Pamela Patterson says she comes by her handy ways honestly, growing up with parents who believed if you couldn’t buy it, then you made it! She uses her creative energy to design chairs, hutches, tables, coolers and all manner of furniture from pallets that would otherwise be thrown away.

August 2019 47

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was instantly hooked.

“I’m not a carpenter. I’m more of an artist and the wood, well, it speaks to me. It almost talks to you,” says Patterson. “There is actually a lot of character in pallets. The knots enrich it. Some don’t even need sanding ... just a torch to make it one-of-akind,” she says.

Though she was gifted a table saw by her son, she prefers to use just four tools: a mitre saw, jigsaw, drill and a sander. Oh, and a torch! She uses that to blacken the wood to add more definition to her creations.

Some readers may recognize Patterson from her former attendance at the Goderich Farmer’s Market

Pamela Patterson is The Pallet Witch of Bayfield, creating furniture and living spaces like “Alice” the Caravan, by repurposing old pallets.

where she took the 1959 caravan trailer she pulled out of a swamp.

Renamed Alice, she redid the whole interior of the caravan with pallets, creating a cool retreat and showroom for her creativity.

Her truck, likewise, is a 21-yearold Dodge she found with less than 150,000 km for $200. She has outfitted it with pallet racks and brooms, as per her “witch” persona.

Also, Patterson was a “judge’s choice” winner at the Rural Talks to Rural “The Pitch, The Catch” Dragon’s-Den-style competition held in Belgrave in 2016 which granted her $2,500 to create her own workshop. Previously, she had been working out of her basement or a cover-all type structure on the property during the summer months.

Patterson has grand plans to create a sort of pallet rescue business. The business would include a sort centre, a mulch and kindling section, a lumber section, a workshop component and a showroom.

Multiple artists could partner up and join her vision of repurposing materials that would otherwise be discarded.

Right now, though, the plan is on hiatus as she sticks close to home this summer to create and manage her health. She also plays in a band with her partner, Ron. eemingly torn between embracing and rejecting the chaos of humanity, she finds solace in the wood. It’s something she comes by naturally, she says.

“My mom, when she got cancer, made each one of us kids a chicken wire hutch,” recalls Patterson. “And my dad, well he always said that if you wanted something and couldn’t afford to buy it, you made it.”

Patterson lives by the same philosophy. When she needed a new deck railing, she made it out of pallets. Yard tool storage? A pallet.

Kitchen islands and barstools?

Coolers? Propane fireplaces fronts?

All pallets.

Each project requires different kinds of pallets. for all pallets are not made equal. She likes to use paper pallets because they are clean and strong. She always looks for Canadian, heat-treated pallets

S

because they are chemical-free.

Prices for her pallet-furniture range from $225 for kitchen islands to $500 for barn doors.

Currently on disability, her Pallet Witch business is not a business from which she makes a living. But she believes if her long-term plan comes into fruition, it well could be.

Until then, she continues hammering away, transforming simple pallets into rustic furniture. ◊

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A special THANK YOU to all the sponsors, presenters and volunteers, because of your generous support, donated items and valuable time 200 children were able to attend our Progressive Agricultural Safety Day Coordinators: Susanne Claussen, Gwen Good, Lyle Haney, Nichele Steenbeek & Seaforth Agricultural Society Huron County Progressive Safety Day

August 2019 49

Summer Foods

Dream of opening Thai restaurant comes true in Drayton • By Melisa Luymes •

I

f you pick up a pizza in downtown Drayton, you’ll also be in for a treat. You no longer have to drive to the city for Thai food.

Since February, Jonqkol (Jay) Sringern and Saithip (Jackie) Wandee-Boyce have been serving spring rolls, mango salad, red and green curries, stir fry and Pad Thai alongside the usual fare at Drayton Pizza and Thai Food.

The two friends came to Canada from Northern Thailand in their late

20s, intending to work for a few years to send money home to their families and to save to buy houses back in Thailand. They could have never imagined that a little over a decade later, they would have a restaurant together in rural Ontario.

Back then, they didn’t even know each other.

They were sponsored to work in a restaurant in Ontario in 2007, which is where they met. But they had a bad experience there and instead found work in the My Thai restaurant chains, gaining valuable experience

Since February, Saithip Wandee-Boyce (top, left) and Jonqkol Sringern (top, right) have been serving Pad Thai (above, left)) including sticky rice and mango (above, right) alongside the pizza at Drayton Pizza and Thai Food.

They both came to Canada from Northern Thailand in their late 20s intending to make some money and return home but they have settled in Drayton which, they say, reminds them of their rural home.

50 The Rural Voice

in the kitchens there.

There they also met Vanh Kalong, the founder and owner of the My Thai restaurants. Vanh herself had come to Canada as a Laotian refugee and she started a Thai restaurant in Hamilton 20 years ago. It has grown to six locations.

“She was like a teacher to us,” says Saithip. “And a friend and a mother. She was everything and helped so many people like us who were struggling in a new country.”

Jonqkol and Saithip worked for Vanh for several years and their friendship grew even as they found other opportunities. Saithip married Mike, moved to Cambridge and they now have two children, ages five and three. Jonqkol moved to Toronto and worked there for a few years.

Both of them love Canada and jumped through the hoops for permanent residency and citizenship, taking English language courses and studying up on Canada’s history.

And they dreamed about working together to open a restaurant, so they looked for opportunities.

Mike was picking up pizza in Drayton when the owner joked about him buying the place. That’s where it started. Saithip and Jonqkol worked with Tom and Anna from Drayton Pizza for a few weeks to learn all the recipes and they took over in February 2019.

They make pizza, lasagna, panzerottis, cheese sticks and all the same food that Tom used to, but added a Thai menu as well. They have a basil chicken stir fry, pineapple curry on rice and in the summer they have a delicious mango sticky rice for dessert.

“When people come in, many don’t know about Thai food,” they say. “They ask, is it Chinese?”

Though they came from the mountainous region of Northern Thailand where the traditional food is different, they have spent years cooking the Thai food that is known around the world. The food they serve in Drayton is the royal cuisine that originated from Central

Thailand, which relies on coconut Northern Thailand, they are used to milk, nuts and herbs to make light small, tight-knit communities. and spicy sauces for rice and “Everyone is like one big family noodles. where we come from,” says Jonqkol.

Perhaps one of the most “Everyone grows their own food in commonly known dishes is Pad Thai. gardens and they share everything.”

Rice noodles are Thailand has cooked and stir-fried three seasons, with eggs and a sweet e x p l a i n s tamarind and fishJonqkol. Novbased sauce, along ember to Febwith tofu and shrimp ruary is winter. or chicken, served “But compared with a wedge of lime to Canada it and roasted peanuts. isn’t all that Spring rolls are cold,” he laughs. made in-house with Still, without hot cabbage, chicken, water or heating, carrots and glass it can be uncomnoodles, which are fortable in the clear noodles made of winter in mung bean starch.

Thailand and he This is rolled into describes how rice paper, deep-fried they would heat and served with a water and tangy dipping sauce. blankets in the Jonqkol and sun during the Saithip also serve a Jonqkol (left) and Saithip (right) day for bathing fresh roll, which is are the new owners of Drayton and to keep lettuce, mango, red Pizza and have added Thai food themselves warm peppers and glass to the menu, fulfilling a dream at night. March noodles with cori- they’ve had since coming to to June is very ander and mint, in a Canada from Northern Thailand hot in Thailand in 2007. fresh rice paper roll. and there is a Mango sticky rice is a delicious water festival, Songkran, held every traditional dessert made of glutinous April to help keep cool. Essentially rice and sweet coconut milk with a it’s a country-wide water fight and side of perfectly sweet mangoes.

Songkran also marks the New Year They also serve a number of in Thailand. July to October is the colourful and light curries on rice and rainy season and this is when the chicken stir-fries. “We don’t make fruit becomes ready, he explains. things spicy unless our customers ask Food in Thailand is always fresh, us,” they say. “A lot of people here with open-air markets every morning want it spicier, though.” and evening, when it is cooler The friends still support their outside. families in Thailand and visit their It hasn’t been easy to move to a families there every two years. They new country and make a go of it, love Thailand but Drayton is their they say, but they are grateful for the home now. During Saithip and opportunities that they have had here.

Jonqkol’s last trip this March, Mike They also like how clean and tidy it bought a house in Drayton and is, and though there aren’t many moved them in. They laugh that other Thai people nearby, they have when they came back from Thailand found connections in the Cambodian they had to ask for the address to the and Laotian community in the area house, to see it for the first time. through attending Buddhist temples.

“My son begged us not to move Buddhism is a religion that practices again,” says Saithip. “He loves the non-violence, simplicity and house, his school and his friends.” meditation.

“We love Drayton because it Twelve years later, Jonqkol and reminds us of home,” they say.

Saithip are working side-by-side in Coming from small villages in their own restaurant. The friends

were born in different villages, but only a day apart and they would have never known each other if they hadn’t both taken a big chance to work in Canada. Drayton Pizza and Thai Food is open for lunch and dinner six days a week (11a.m. to 8:30 p.m.) but closed on Monday so that they can get restocked.

It has been busy, but rewarding so far, they say. “If you never try, you never know,” says Jonqkol, with a smile. ◊

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August 2019 51

Machinery

Forage Expo a great day for making hay Who has the tightest bale? Farmers got to compare bales from equipment such as the John Deere 460M MegaWide HC2 (top left) to balers from McHale, New Holland and Kubota at the Ontario Forage Expo 2019 held July 9 at Pendora Dairy near Monkton.

Forage Expo allows farmers to make side-by-side comparisons of the latest forage cutters, balers and wrappers

52 The Rural Voice

Above: The Laemmler family of Daniel (purple shirt), Martha and their son Kerry analyze a row of baled hay with a friend. Below: Adrian Groenewegen, a dairy farmer near Teeswater, took his three sons to the event. From left: Thys, Cornelis and Arnold.

I

t was such a good day for making hay, farmers were home making their own.

Consequently, numbers were a little down from the 200-300 usually in attendance at the Ontario Forage Expo which was held this year at Pendora Dairy near Monkton.

However, there was still a solid turnout for John Deere, New Holland, Kubota and McHale dealers (among others) to demonstate the latest and greatest haymaking equipment.

“These events are a great way to showcase their hay-making technology and for farmers to see the equipment running head-to-head,” said one of the event organizers, Christine O’Reilly, OMAFRA’s forage and grazing expert. “Then they can make direct comparisons for themselves.”

The event is put on by The Ontario Forage Council which is a non-profit organization representing the multi-level interests of the Ontario forage industry. ◊

Top: Paul Ahrens (left) of Elmwood and a fellow dairy farmer check out the newly-cut hay about to be baled. Middle Left: Two future farmers watch a Kubota baler in action. Middle Right: Christine O’Reilly, a forage and grazing expert with OMAFRA, kept things rolling at the event. Bottom: Rick Pot, a demo specialist with Huron Tractor in Exeter, discusses the merits of John Deere equipment with Earl Martin of Alma (centre) and Paul Martin of Teviotdale.

The Rural Voice 53

The Sweetness Of Nature

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54 The Rural Voice

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August 2019 55

Recipes by Anne Mann

Super summer suppers save time

I

was starting to mull around ideas for the August article when the garden was finally starting to show signs of growing and it finally felt like summer when my son mentioned they were making skewers for friends. Yes... the perfect August BBQ food and they are wonderful for those of us eating gluten-free because they do not require a bun and seldom even require an adaptation to the recipe!

Making shish kebabs is a labour of love but well worth the extra effort at least a couple of times during the grilling season. The additional prep time seems worth it when they are looking so appetizing while you take time to sit down with a cool drink and relax before putting them on the barbeque. Serve with a crock of rice and a fresh salad and enjoy the outdoors while you can.

Shish Kebabs This is a versatile marinade that I found on an Ontario pork brochure years ago and it has suited our tastes perfectly but you may like it a little hotter or spicier. We will often make the kebabs with several types of meat if we are having a crowd and usually finish up with a few plain veggie skewers to balance out the meal.

Marinade: 1/2 cup barbecue sauce 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar 3 Tbsp honey 1 tsp lime juice 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce Kebabs: 2 lb chicken, beef, pork or lamb cut in 1 1/4 inch cubes 1 lb mushrooms, washed and trimmed 1 - 2 green peppers 2 sweet red, orange or yellow peppers 1 red onion 2 small zucchini, unpeeled, sliced in 1/2 inch pieces Directions: For marinade mix BBQ sauce, olive oil, vinegar, honey, lime juice and hot pepper sauce together.

Set aside about 1/4 of the

56 The Rural Voice

Shish Kebabs are a versatile way of serving grilled meats and fresh vegetables for a quick and healthy summer supper. marinade to brush on kebabs while cooking and pour remaining mixture over beef, chicken, lamb or pork cubes.

Let sit at room temperature for an hour or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.

An hour before grilling cut vegetables into roughly 1 1/4 inch pieces and soak wooden skewers if you are using them.

Thread marinated meat and vegetables on skewers alternating different items.

Brush with marinade left from

meat and let sit for up to 1/2 hour before cooking.

Throw out marinade that meat was in once you start cooking. Use the reserved marinade to brush the kebabs while cooking. Barbecue for about 15 minutes, basting with clean marinade, until meat is done and vegetables are tender crisp.

Vij’s Ground Meat Kebabs I adapted this recipe from the kebabs in “Vij’s At Home” by chef Vikram Vij who has several famous Indian restaurants in Vancouver. I tried it the first time because I had a

Recipes pound of ground lamb, ground pork and ground beef to use in the freezer.

After I had them all thawed out I realized it was just supposed to be beef and lamb but I used all three and it was great so I continued to do the same the next time. I loved the idea of ground lentils to pack in a little extra protein and fibre (although there is some concern that lentils may be processed in facilities with other gluten-containing grains).

These took a little time to make but the recipes produces around 40 kebabs which will serve 10 - 12 people as a main dish. They also freeze well and make an easy dinner served with some fresh tomatoes and a few cobs of corn grilled alongside.

Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef 1 lb ground lamb 1 lb ground pork or any combination of above meats to equal 3 lbs total 1 cup split green lentils, ground (you may substitute bread crumbs) 2 cups green onions, finely chopped 1 egg 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 - 3 tsp cayenne pepper, ground 3 Tbsp crushed garlic (about 9 med cloves) 2 Tbsp finely chopped ginger 2 Tbsp dried mint* 1 Tbsp paprika, ground 1 Tbsp oil (to form the kebabs) Directions: Grind lentils in a coffee grinder or use bread crumbs if you prefer (gluten-free if needed) .

Whisk together egg, salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, mint and paprika.

Mix meat, lentils, green onions and egg mixture together with your hands until spices and lentils are uniformly distributed.

Measure about 2 Tbsp (I used an 1/8 cup measure) of mixture and form into a log about an inch in diameter using your clean hands dipped in canola oil. I stuck each kebab on small bamboo skewer or toothpick (about 4 inches) for ease of handling on the BBQ and to eat.

Grill on high heat for 5 to 10 minutes until there is no pink in the middle, turning often so they do not get charred. Test with a knife to ensure they are completely cooked.

Serve with your favourite chutney or condiments.

Makes about 40 *Remember to bring in some fresh mint to dry this summer while it is plentiful Veggie Skewers You can throw on a few plain vegetable skewers any time you are grilling using one of your favourite vinaigrettes and a little extra honey or maple syrup if it is not already sweetened.

I served Vij’s Kebabs with Michael Smith’s “Strawberry Arugula Salad” from Food Network Canada https://www.foodnetwork. ca/recipe/strawberry-arugulasalad/10379/ and used some of the dressing to brush on some veggie skewers to go with dinner. If you are going to serve more than two, double the recipe in order to have enough for both the salad and vegetables.

Vinaigrette : 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard 1 Tbsp honey 2 Tbsp olive oil Salt and pepper Whisk together and brush on vegetables up to a half hour before grilling.

Yakitori It was difficult to choose which of three types of chicken kebabs to do for this article. I have an old tried and true, kid friendly recipe that can be done in the microwave that would be great except it is BBQ season. Then I considered a brined chicken souvlaki but we will save that for another time! I decided on the Japanese version, Yakitori, because it added more contrast with the two other recipes shared... and it made use of the abundance of green onions in the garden (notice Vij’s Kebabs also used some green onions). Yakitori is often served as a snack with drinks rather than a complete meal.

Although deboned thighs are the preferred cut of chicken for this recipe, you may make these skewers with the boneless breast also.

Traditionally the skewer is dipped in the sauce just before grilling but I did not want to contaminate the entire batch of sauce so I took about a ¼ cup and placed the cubed meat in the marinade while I was threading the skewers then poured what remained in that dish over the grill-ready

kebabs, leaving me with a good amount of fresh sauce for basting and dipping later.

Ingredients: 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs 9 green onions canola oil for coating Tare Sauce: 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup mirin or white wine with 2 Tbsp sugar 1/4 cup sake or white wine 1/4 cup water 2 tsp brown sugar (or reduce water to 2 Tbsp and use 2 Tbsp maple syrup) Directions: Soak wooden skewers in water while preparing other ingredients.

In a small saucepan combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, water and sugar or maple syrup and bring to a boil.

Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes until reduced by half. Do not overdo this or it may become too thick and sticky... I hate to admit this is the voice of experience talking! Let sauce cool while preparing skewers.

Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces. If you have deboned the thighs yourself you will not have the prettiest, most even pieces but that will not matter once you manage to get them on the skewers. I used 1/4 cup of the sauce to soak the chicken in while I was completing this step.

Cut white and light green parts of green onion into 1 inch pieces.

Fold chicken pieces in half and thread on skewers, alternating with green onions. I only put on a piece of onion after 2 or 3 pieces of chicken.

Pour marinade left from soaking chicken over prepared kebabs using extra reserved sauce if needed. Be sure to move more of the sauce into a separate bowl before using brush that has come in contact with raw meat.

Brush your grill or the chicken with a bit of canola oil before placing on hot BBQ .

Grill, turning often to prevent burning. After about 5 minutes brush with more sauce and continue cooking several more minutes until chicken is completely cooked and sauce is caramelized.

Serve with reserved sauce for dipping.

Serves 2-3 - If you want to serve more increase the chicken but you will probably not need more sauce. ◊ August 2018 57

Rural Living

Rural Living

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Gardening Rhea HamiltonSeeger is a skilled cook and gardener who lives near Auburn.

Beetles destroy but bulbils save the day The wonderful cool moist spring left us with a bounty of long-lasting blooms in the garden and topped up the water table. The July garden was lush and glorious. All was right in the world except for ... a few wild creatures.

It started with a wee vegetable garden I planted this spring. I must admit I am drawn to well-planted vegetable gardens. To me they are the epitome of gardening. They provide both the joy of growing

something, and the flavour of the season. Nothing beats peas, beans and carrots fresh from the garden.

And don’t get me started on the pleasurable juiciness of fresh tomatoes, hot from the sun and so savory or sweet. The joy continues all winter if you are lucky to preserve your bounty.

The snow peas were in the ground in record time but were slow. I lay assorted slender branches over them to both support and protect from rabbits. They were about three inches high when they were munched off.

Same for the Scarlet runner beans and even the leeks were nipped.

Move over pepper plants and watch out uncaged tomatoes because the turkeys are coming.

This bit of now dry, exposed land in the vegetable garden has become a spa for the local turkeys. They have quite a depression now and hate being disturbed by the slamming of the screen door. We are all for “live and let live” around here and as a result we are supporting the local farmers’ markets this year.

Lily beetles (below) can decimate lily patches. Thankfully, the remaining Turk’s cap lilies in Rhea’s gardens are generating bulbils (above) at the base of the stems which will drop to the ground and root into the soil to create new plants.

The growth of the lovely trees over the years has altered the light in the garden and I have been moving sun lovers out of the shade where they are lagging to a few choice sunny spots. Time flies around here.

For years I had a lovely stand of Turk’s cap lilies on the back patio among the grape vines. Klaus was not a fan of their location so I moved a few to another spot. While weeding around I was looking for the transplanted lilies and was dismayed to see only three spindly specimens and a few red lily beetles. Yikes!

I trotted over to the grapes to see how the parent patch was doing and imagine my horror when I could find none. I did see the lily beetles last year and knocked them off and continued on. Bad decision.

The original plants came from 60 The Rural Voice

Gardening planting bulbils graciously given us by friends in Parry Sound who had a wonderful large patch.

Bulbils are an interesting method of plants propagating naturally.

These wee purplish-brown balls are located along the stem nestled at the upper base of the leaves. They grow and mature on the parent plant and will sometimes sprout leaves or wee roots before they drop to the ground and begin pulling themselves into the soil with further root growth.

Small bulblets are found at the base of the stem underground. They can be gently removed and planted out in pots or directly into the ground.

Fortunately my unhappy lilies are setting up bulbils and I think with careful watering, and a bit of compost, I can encourage them to rejuvenate.

But back to the scarlet lily beetle.

The gang at Earthbound Gardens has a wonderful page on their website about waging war on the lily beetle.

They specialize in, among other things, lilies at their gardens at Red Bay in the Bruce They set up their ‘war on beetles’ campaign in early spring before we have seen the last of winter. They suggest an attack of one part ammonia to ten parts water and pour this over the area where the lily bulbs are planted. As a follow up they dust the ground with an Ant Killer (silicone dioxide) or finely crushed eggshells. And follow up with further dusting every week to knock their numbers back.

By checking under the leaves of your plants you can discover red dots that are the eggs. Armed with a bucket of bleach you can safely wipe off the eggs. Any slimy gunk on the stem should be wiped into your bleach bucket too. This is hiding the larvae.

The Earthbound website also has suggestions from their Lily Loving Garden Gurus that are worth checking out.

There is always the cautionary note to be careful when applying anything in the garden, whether it is organic or not, with the intent to kill or maim. Be careful to restrict your war to the area directly affected to

allow for beneficial insects to continue living in your garden.

One last creature to talk about is the slug. My hostas this year are quite nice. I noticed late in June a number of outside lower leaves seemingly broken and lying on the ground. A closer look showed the leaves had been compromised with a hole eaten through the base.

I sought advice from Shirley Koch at Riverbend Nurseries. She is the hosta maven and suggested slugs as the culprits. A ring of wood ashes around the hostas may help. I am

stepping it up with a rinse of two and a half cups of ammonia in a gallon jug topped up with water and sprayed at the base of the leaves.

So as you can see it has been a busy summer just carefully maintaining a balance in the garden.

Don’t get me started on the chipmunks that love to munch on geranium slips and flower blossoms.

They even nailed the transplanted gooseneck loosestrife. It is nice to see the wildlife but it does come at a cost. I have learned to relax and simply enjoy it all. ◊

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August 2019 61

History

Releasing what he has restored • By Lisa B. Pot •

A

Doug McEwen of Cedar Grove Farm near Monkton takes a break in one of the carriages he bought in disrepair and restored to its former glory. With a shed full of shiny cutters, plows and collectibles, he’s thinking it’s time to let someone else make use of what he has fixed and collected.

At age 83, Doug McEwen is hoping to spend more time riding and less time fixing with a sale of his horse carriages, cutters and other antiques 62 The Rural Voice

s the interview unfolds, I ask Doug McEwen of Monkton how long he has lived at his Century farm, circa 1875.

“That would be 83 years,” he says and there’s a twinkle of mischief in his eye.

“And how old are you, then?” I ask, knowing the answer.

“Eighty-three years,” he says with a grin. Though he can’t remember if he was actually born in the house, he fully intends to die there if present good health and attitude have anything to do with it.

Still, he has accepted that he is slowing down. Though he still spends time each day in his “man cave”, the workshop in this shed, where every shelf and drawer is overpopulated with tools, paint cans, prints, cassette tapes and tools, he’s thinking maybe it’s time he slowed down buying old equipment at auction sales and fixing it up.

“I’d sooner sit in here than go to the lake,” says Doug from the comfort of his swivel chair. He is quite at home, here, among his collections. He has his old cassette tapes behind him, admitting he listens to them over and over. A small beer fridge is close by. Frames hang from the ceiling and there’s still an old girlie calender hanging up (come, now!). Doug’s oldest son and neighbour, Brian, is keeping him company today fixing up another old piece of farm equipment.

It used to be neighbours and friends would stop in for a chat but now most of his friends have passed away. Sadly, so has his wife, Berniece, who died in 2017. They had six children together (one stillborn).

Behind the workshop sits a lifetime of fixing. The shed is full of shiny horse cutter sleighs, carriages and horse-drawn plows. One wall is full of old farm tools like scythes and shovels, washboards and skillets, an

old hay fork and... what is that?

“You use that to catch a sow,” explained Doug of the odd metal contraption with two roundish ‘hooks’ on either end.

There is a lot of history on that wall.

Fixing things is something Doug has always enjoyed. He took over the dairy farm from his parents but sold the cows when the industry switched from milk cans to coolers. Then he raised pigs while maintaining offfarm jobs working first in construction and then in hog barns.

Now retired, he has spent recent years restoring farm equipment that reminds him of his past when he used to farm with horses.

He still has one horse, a dappled roan Standardbred named Rosie who has been in local parades. She also pulls Doug down the sideroad when there is enough snow for the cutter sleighs.

In good health, though mindful of the stroke he had eight years ago, Doug says “I’d like to see these things sold before I croak.” He wants them to get used and appreciated.

Some days he spends more time playing solitaire than working in his man cave. It’s time to let some things go.

There will be an auction at Cedar Grove Farm outside of Monkton on September 7. David Carson Farms and Auction Services will be running it.

Doug is still deciding what will be sold and what won’t. He wants to keep the old 1949 Allis Chalmers Model B tractor for his sons. It was the first tractor he used on the farm.

For the rest, though, it’s time to let others make use of what he has restored. ◊ Doug McEwen and his son Brian (top, right) are cleaning and organizing the restored tractors, hand plows, cutters and carriages at Cedar Grove Farm to prepare for a September sale. They’ll keep the farm and Rosie the horse too.

However, at age 83, Doug is feeling it’s time to retire from restoration work to let others make use of his life’s passion even though each item, like the red cutter (middle), has a story to go with it.

August 2019 63

Crops • By Lisa B. Pot •

Soil Showdown: Discovering “alligators and swede midges

A

n “alligator” larvae of the ladybird beetle found on a head of rye is passed around for all the crop farmers taking part in this Soil Showdown in Bruce County to view.

“It’s normal for me to walk out of a wheat field and be covered in brown spots from the cereal leaf beetle but this year I would walk out with little alligators on my pants,” says Peter Johnson, better known as Wheat Pete, the moderator and general source of information and amusement on this crop tour.

Blessed with a quick wit and an extraordinary knowledge of agronomy, Peter and a few other experts led a bus full of crop farmers on a day-long excursion visiting different crop fields to learn the science of soil management and crop production. Organized by the Bruce County Soil and Crop Improvement Association, the annual event addressed everything from the wet spring to cover crops to club roots and fungal flies.

The event is an excellent way to learn practical techniques and see how other farmers do things.

The first field was owned by the Calhoun family and sprayed by Harry Biemans who was on the tour.

Originally planted as a cover crop of rye, the wet spring delayed planting of corn into the rye so the owner decided to let the crop mature.

However, the field was also full of wheat, leading Peter to predict the seed was contaminated.

“This field was drilled 80 pounds to the acre. That’s a pretty high rate for a cover crop. We usually keep the seed rate down to 30 pounds,” said Peter. “The fact that the wheat is in the rows instead of scattered tells me the rye seed was likely contaminated.”

Will harvest be a problem? It could be a challenge because rye ripens before wheat. However, rye is cross-pollinated versus selfpollinated like wheat. Once the rye heads come out, it takes a week before they release a plume of pollen.

64 The Rural Voice

This times the pollination process closer to wheat.

However, rye is also tougher to combine so it needs to sit longer.

“I suspect the wheat will be ready

before the rye,” predicted Peter.

It will be up to the farmer what he wants to do. Wheat and rye seeds are similar in size which makes sorting them very difficult. With high straw

Peter Johnson (top) led a group of Bruce County farmers from field to field, investigating crop pests and diseases during the Bruce County Soil and Crop Improvement Association’s Mystery Car Tour, otherwise known as the Soil Showdown. Meghan Moran, OMAFRA’s Canola and Edible Bean Specialist (above) discussed the possibility of swede midge and clubroot (not found) in a canola field owned by Mike Christie (pictured on next page).

Crops prices, the farmer may opt to sell the mixed grain at a discount and maximize profits from the straw.

“The rumour mill is saying straw is being delivered into the yard for 12 to 14 cents a pound,” says Peter.

“And I heard straw was selling for $100 a bale for a big square,” added Harry.

“But what is a ‘big square’”asked Peter with a chuckle, citing a bunch of common sizes ranging from three by-six to four-by-eights “I always say that you shouldn’t be the first one to tell a story at the coffeeshop because it won’t be a big enough lie.”

Rye can be a tough crop. Peter said there is a hybrid rye which is shorter and higher-yielding and less likely to lodge. However, seed companies have proprietory rights and most of it ends up being grown for Hiram Walker in Windsor to make whiskey.

“The base alcohol for their whiskey is made from corn but like pepper adds flavour to corn, rye is to whiskey. They need about 10 per cent rye to add flavour,” said Peter.

As farmers looked into the rye heads they found different insects including a cereal leaf beetle and the ladybird larvae. The cereal leaf beetle is very common and its larvae look like a brown dab as it quite literally covers itself with its own poop.

Hence, the brown marks on Peter’s pants after striding through a grain field. This year, he is finding ladybird larvae because the grain fields are being eaten by aphids.

Ladybugs love aphids.

Though still below acceptable thresholds, the problem with aphids is that they spread the barley yellow dwarf virus. This viral disease can lead to a 50 per cent yield loss so it has serious repercussions.

Another farmer discovered leaves with rusty streaks. Was it wheat leaf rust, which can also decrease yield?

“Here is a diagnostic tool. Run your finger along the leaf. If your finger turns rusty, then those are fungal sports. If it doesn’t, then it’s physiological. By that, I mean it is sunburn on the leaf. You will notice that the rusty streaks are worse where the leaf is bent and facing the sun,” explained Peter.

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August 2019 65

Crops Lastly, someone found a wheat stem detached from the ground. Was it insect damage or root rot? Nope. It was rodent damage.

“If the wheat had bleached heads, I would think differently. Also, the stalk would still be attached. When the stem is cut off, its often mice.

Sometimes you’ll find a stem nipped off in four-inch section for the makings of a nest,” said Peter.

Despite the potential harvest issues and insect pressure, this cover crop gone wild looked healthy with stems reaching neck high on some farmers.

Before leaving, Peter looked over the crop and smiled. “I’ts interesting what happens in the field,” he said.

With that, everyone piled into the bus for field #2, a canola field in Arran-Elderslie farmed by Mike Christie.

Planted on May 16 in wet conditions, the canola was short but flowering. Ideally, it should have been planted May 1. Dressed with 300 pounds of urea, 50 pounds of Aspire (potash, boron and potassium) and 100 pounds of ammoniumsulphate to the acre, the seeding rate ranged from 4.8 pounds in the middle of the field to 3.5 pounds in poorer areas.

“Right now, I can’t see any difference. It looks like all the strips are yielding well,” said Mike.

Despite the late planting, the cool and wet conditions since have been ideal for the canola field said Meghan Moran, OMAFRA’s Canola and Edible Bean Specialist. Hot weather above 28 degrees Celsius causes flowers and pods to abort.

Another big issue with canola crops is Swede Midge. The adult doesn’t damage the plants but the hungry larvae can affect growth and prevent the plant from creating a pod.

Last year, Mike added an insecticide to the summer spray of fungicide to combat the swede midge pest. He feels he should do the same this year even though he “really hates” applying insecticide because it also kills beneficial insects. Also, his neighbour keeps beehives near the field for honey production. Last year, he sprayed in the evening when the bees were inactive. Since it is a 66 The Rural Voice

contact insecticide, the bees were not affected the next day. The beekeeper kept the bees locked up for a day and reported no bee losses following the spray.

What farmers really need to avoid is a breakout of clubroot which can form huge galls on the canola plant roots.

“Clubroot can last in the soil for over 20 years. I sampled 130 fields in 2016 and found it in 25 fields,” said Meghan. These fields were mostly located in the Bruce Peninsula and near the Grey-Dufferin border.

The galls will release hardy spores which overwinter in the soil. In the spring, the spores germinate and

Peter Johnson says when walking in wheat fields, he usually has brown spots on his pants from the cereal leaf beetle. This year he’s had “alligator larvae”, his term for Ladybird larvae. Following the wheat and rye field stop, the Mystery Car Tour travelled to a canola field owned by Mike Christie (right) and family to discuss planting rates and harvest expectations from the late-planted crop.

transform into zoospores which can swim. They have flagella to carry them through wet soils so they travel in the water and seek out root hairs to infect. That’s why clubroot can often be found in wet areas.

Meghan advised Mike to pull a few plants every year to check for clubroot. “I’ve seen small balls on smaller roots but I’ve also seen what looks like an onion pulled out of the ground,” she added. Clubroot is often found near the entrance of a field where infected soil is dropped off boots or equipment entering the field.

Mike joked that every plant pulled reduces yield but stressed he is very serious about his crop rotation to

Crops reduce disease pressure.

Meghan then added that farmers should either be alternating boots when going from field to field or wearing plastic covers on their boots.

“We really need to make sure we are not transferring clubroot from field to field,” she said. “I keep three sets of boots, disinfect them when I get home, and wear a clean set when I go into fields.”

To combat all diseases and pests, canola should never be grown in the same field two years in a row. Mike uses it in a four-year rotation, and is careful to spread his canola fields far away from the previous year’s crop.

Also, he chooses resistant varieties.

Canola is a tough crop, admits Meghan. Mike agrees but he finds it a fascinating crop and he knows if he grows canola (which is harvested in August) he will have lots of time to plant winter wheat.

“I need to harvest one tonne per acre (2,204 pounds) but I’ve seen yields under 2,000 pounds,” he admits. Especially last year after a hot and dry season.

This is his fifth year growing canola and he has had yields averaging 2,500 pounds per acre.

“The average harvest of canola in Bruce County is 2,400 pounds per acre. In Ontario, we find the best yields in Nipissing and they can yield over 2,800 pounds,” said Meghan.

Prices for canola have also been stale, adding to disinterest among crop farmers.

Peter added that after growing canola, don’t try growing corn in that field. “The corn goes purple and does not perform like it should,” he said.

Meghan explained that canola does not support mycorrhizal fungi which is needed for phosphorous uptake. Corn needs mycorrhizal fungi as well so it suffers from a lack of phosphorous.

Peter was thrilled to report, however, that wheat thrives when grown after canola. It does not require mycorrhizal fungi for phosphorous uptake.

The tour continued with a visit to a bean field planted into a tall rye crop and then a late-planted organic bean field. More on what was learned in those fields in the September issue of The Rural Voice. ◊

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August 2019 67

Markets Scott Krakar is a Grain Merchandiser with LAC Inc., Hyde Park, 519-473-9333

Are U.S. planted corn estimates accurate… or not?

At this time of year, market prices are typically determined by weather conditions and the development of the crop in the field. Usually yield estimates, as driven by weather and crop development, are anticipated and the total production of each commodity can be projected in conjunction with the planted acreage estimates. This year this task isn’t quite so easy. Final planted acres are still up for debate and the lateplanted crops could face too short of

a growing season if the fall frosts come too soon. Therefore at this time, we have an extremely large amount of uncertainty, both in terms of planted acres and final yields, depending on the duration and conditions of the growing season.

With these variables in mind where does the market go from here?

Well, short-term the market has relaxed somewhat from its initial panicked reaction, to what appears to be a general acceptance that both U.S. and world supplies should be reasonably adequate going forward.

Long-term, as we potentially see changes in the estimates we discussed, the market will react correspondingly. As the facts change market prices will also change accordingly.

The USDA has shocked many in the trade, with their planted acreage estimates on corn. While everyone was expecting acreage to fall substantially from the original prospective plantings, the USDA only lowered corn acres a relatively

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68 The Rural Voice

nominal amount. Everyone knows about the difficulty that many areas had getting corn in the ground this year. The constant rains throughout the spring pushed planting back beyond the preventative plant date for many growers, in many counties, and everyone knows of somewhere that corn wasn’t planted. When you talk to many industry players, farmers, brokers, traders, etc. you find that most people do not believe the USDA’s estimates are accurate.

There is scarcely a report or commentary out there that does not suggest that the USDA is off on their acreage estimates. From this many wonder why the market hasn’t reacted as anticipated from this thought and moved more aggressively and sustainably to the upside?

It is interesting to notice that while it seems everyone is bullish versus the USDA estimates, the market has been fading recently, indicating that someone out there agrees with their evaluation, for the time being anyway. Coming from this discussion it is helpful to examine the USDA’s methodology regarding their planted acreage estimates. Shortly after the report was released on June 28, I heard an interview with a lead statistician at the USDA, who explained their surveying procedure.

My take-away from the interview is that their surveying ability is second to none, recognizing that the results are only as good as the information received. For their June 28 report they surveyed farmers as to their planting intentions between May 30 and June 17. Keep in mind that this survey was for planting intentions, not actual planted acres and therefore the data demonstrates intentions that may or may not have materialized. Therefore, an objection that one can have is that planting delays at this late date still prevented intended acres further. The USDA recognizes this, and therefore for the August 12 report they will resurvey 14 leading states.

To gather the initial data for the June 28 report the USDA completed two independent surveys. The first survey was a phone survey. USDA

Markets representatives called growers and asked them how many acres they had planted or intended to plant by crop, on all their acres. This phone survey is massive and is likely not repeatable by any other group. The reason I say that it is not repeatable is because of the sheer size of the review. For this survey the USDA gathered data from 68,000 individual farms. From this information they applied statistical techniques to determine this portion of their estimate.

The second portion of the survey involves the physical inspection of blocks of land. USDA representatives go to the fields and survey what crop is actually planted in pre-selected blocks. If no crop (or crops) is planted yet within that block, the USDA representative contacts the grower to determine planting intentions. The survey blocks are each one square mile, and therefore could cover multiple different farmers. In total this survey involves 9,000 square mile blocks or 5,760,000 acres. This survey involves 31,000 farmers.

Therefore, in total, the USDA surveyed 99,000 farmers to gather data for their June 28 report. As we sit here today, we recognize that while it may not be completely reflective of the actual conditions in the field, it is not overly prudent to discount their information completely. Therefore as the market prices faded from their highs, the large commodity funds have been selling their positions, demonstrating that they do not want to be offside from the USDA’s data. From this discussion the take-away point today is that the market will likely drift until planted acres are confirmed on August 12.

As we enter wheat harvest in Ontario, quality has been top of mind within the trade. With the widespread frequent rains experienced almost everywhere, concern of vomitoxin has been prevalent. There have been reports of extremely high vom in parts of Indiana, however as harvest moved north into southern Michigan and northern Ohio quality has been better. Hopefully this trend continues into Ontario and we see quality wheat. ◊

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Investigating the woods of Bavaria with the Budd family For years Bob and Bev Budd hosted a number of international visitors on their Goderich-area farm.

Many of the visitors were WWOOFers; an acronym that refers to an initiative called Worldwide Opportunities for Organic Farms. On the Canadian program web site (wwoof.ca) it is described as a voluntourism and ecotourism initiative where hosts provide cultural and educational experiences for their guests.

The Budds had a wide variety of experiences to offer their guests.

They operated a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) program on their farm for years. Bob is also a farrier and provided hoof care for local race horse and recreational horse owners.

His trade led the Budds to become horse owners, with several standardbred brood mares and resulting foals (some of which were raced) and also a retired race horse or two. The Budds also built their own beautiful timber frame home that is “off the grid”, relying on solar and wind power to provide most of their electrical needs. In researching alternative power sources Bob started building windmills and for a time offered workshops for homeowners interested in learning how to build their own windmill generator. In her “spare time” Bev worked in social services and they both were active in the community, e.g. Bob was a board member of the

Woodlots Huron Stewardship Council.

Understandably, some of their visitors enjoyed their time with the Budds so much they returned more than once and eventually became friends. Of course, along with the friendship came invitations to visit their own homelands and the Budds were able to embark on a trip to visit their friend Melanie in both Switzerland and the German State of Bavaria in what Bob said may be their “trip of a lifetime�. Melanie now works as a veterinarian in Bavaria.

While in Bavaria they stayed in a small town close to the Czech border on the edge of the Bayern Wald (Bavarian Forest). The Bavarian Forest became the first national park in Germany in 1970. It is roughly 60,000 acres in size and adjacent to an even larger (170,000 acres) national forest on the Czech side of the border. Together they form the largest contiguous forest in central Europe.

Bob says the primary tree species are Norway spruce, silver fir and European Beech. He says lots of spruce and fir were four feet in diameter and limbless for 50 or 60 feet. The largest fir they saw was over eight feet in diameter at chest height and 400 years old. Bob speculates that the soils are very productive which along with the moderate climate and consistent rainfall makes for good growing conditions similar to the west coast of Canada and results in huge timber volumes per hectare.

Melanie’s brother had been a logger in the area before it became a national park, then did forestry work for the park and now guides tours of the forest. A highlight of their trip was travelling with him and learning about the countryside. Development in the area had for centuries centred around the forests and a glass industry utilizing quartz deposits in the nearby mountains. The glass industry required firewood to fuel the furnaces and potash from the beech trees to lower the melting point of the quartz. Of course forest products were also used for construction and Bob says most houses have a high wood content of clear, high quality

Hiking through the forested mountain regions of Bavaria was a highlight for Bob and Bev Budd of Goderich and their daughter Melanie (centre photo).

On their trip, they discovered old photos revealing how timbers were transported down the mountain (above) and in present day, saw mountainsides with peeled and felled trees that were left where they lay (bottom).

August 2018 71

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material. Many other local forestdependant industries developed over the centuries of forest utilization.

The nearby area is all forested mountain ranges. Of particular interest to the Budds were historical methods developed to get wood down the steep hillsides. The infrastructure that was developed is incredible, especially when you consider it was done by hand without access to modern machines. A common means of winter transport was horn sleds, where loggers would load the sleighs with wood, then ride them down the steep trails with only a crude braking system (see the adjacent image). Hand-laid stone terraced trails were constructed in a zigzag pattern across the hills for use by the sleds (and are still in place).

Then of course the sleds would have to be carried back up the slopes. Hard and dangerous work!

In other areas they would dig canals to collect water in ponds for discharge into nearby rivers. The ponds would be filled with water and logs, then be emptied or “flushed” like a huge toilet, carrying logs into the rivers and downstream to nearby settlements.

Strangely, even though area inhabitants spent much time working in the woods, the dense dark coniferous forest (no doubt similar to the nearby famous Black Forest) generated fear in some folks and resulted in folklore about mythical forest creatures such as the “Wolpertinger”. The Budds saw many versions of Wolpertingers on display for tourists at various places during their travels. ver hundreds of years, forestry practices resulted in a much less diverse species composition than would have occurred naturally. The forest had a high component of mature Norway spruce along with fir and beech. As a result, the forest became susceptible to attack by the European spruce bark beetle, which has recently caused significant areas of mortality. Since it is a national forest, harvest of the declining trees was not allowed in most areas, in spite of some public pressure to utilize the wood. Most areas of mortality have

O

72 The Rural Voice

Woodlots been left to regenerate naturally into a more diverse forest composition. In some areas near the perimeter of the park, spruce were either felled, debarked and left or, in other areas, totally salvaged in an effort to reduce the chance for spread of the beetle into adjacent commercial forests. The Budds did see some areas 40 acres or more in size where trees had been felled and peeled, then left where they lay. In their words it was a “strange sight”. ◊

Camping New and Used Trailer Sales SAVE THOUSANDS AT OUR WELCOME TO SUMMER SALE!

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• Large parts and accessories store • Qualified techs on hand for all your RV fixes 535 Main St. N. Mount Forest, ON N0G 2L0

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August 2018 73

Agrilaw John D. Goudy is a partner in Scott Petrie LLP Law Firm, and also farms north of London.

Good fences may make good neighbours, but what about boundary trees?

A review of the many boundary tree cases that have been litigated in Ontario courts would indicate that boundary trees do not make good neighbours; rather they are often a source of conflict.

The Forestry Act provides that “every tree whose trunk is growing on the boundary between adjoining lands is the common property of the owners of the adjoining lands.” It is an offence under the Act to injure or destroy a tree growing on the boundary between properties without the consent of the owners of the properties. Yet, the common law of nuisance provides that property owners are entitled to resort to selfhelp remedies to eliminate a continuing nuisance caused by roots and branches from trees. Owners may also seek an order from the Court that the nuisance be abated or removed.

Some cases end up in Court because one neighbour seeks advance approval from the Court to eliminate the nuisance; other cases end up in Court because the neighbour has already pushed ahead with a self-help remedy, rightly or wrongly.

Earlier this year, Justice E.M. Morgan heard an application by property owners in a Toronto neighbourhood seeking advance permission to remove a boundary tree that they alleged to constitute a nuisance. The tree in question was a mature and healthy maple of over one metre in diameter at the trunk, estimated to be between 50 and 60 years old. Two-thirds of the trunk was located on the Applicants’ property, 74 The Rural Voice

Agrilaw and the other third on the Respondents’ (the neighbours’) property. The Applicants planned to expand their house with a substantial renovation adding approximately 1,300 square feet of living space.

However, the proposed renovation would require excavation around the tree deep into a “tree protection zone”, which, according to the Respondents’ expert witness, would cause the death of the tree. The Applicants did not dispute that conclusion.

Although the Applicants had obtained all relevant municipal permits required to cut down the tree, they sought an order from the Court because compliance with regulatory requirements does not address the question of the respective ownership rights of the neighbours in the tree (Justice Morgan suggested that the Applicants were wise to do so as unilaterally chopping down the tree (the “self-help remedy”) would be an offence under the Forestry Act). The issue to be decided by Justice Morgan was whether or not the boundary tree actually constituted a nuisance. If the tree’s interference with the Applicants’ planned enhancement of their property did reach the level of nuisance, then they should be permitted to remove the tree. If the tree’s interference did not reach the level of nuisance, then the Applicants would not be entitled to remove the tree without the permission of the tree’s co-owners, the Respondents.

For there to be a nuisance, there must be interference with a property owner’s use and enjoyment of his or her own land that is both “substantial and unreasonable”. The “substantial interference” part of the test is a threshold issue; actionable nuisances include “only those inconveniences that materially interfere with ordinary comfort as defined according to the standards held by those of plain and sober tastes”. Did the continuing presence of the boundary tree materially interfere with the Applicants’ ordinary comfort? On the reasonableness part of the test, the Court must analyze the situation from a “competing property rights point of view”. Is it reasonable for the Applicants to expect the shared tree to be removed to the detriment of the Respondents in order to allow for the proposed house expansion? Or is it

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Agrilaw

CONCRETE FOUNDATIONS Concrete Pumping 0 Circular Tanks 0 Bunker Silos Crane Rental 0 Excavation 0 Float Service 0 Stone Slinger R.R.#5, Mildmay, Ontario Office (519) 367-2372 Fax (519) 367-2172

Email: gbcon@wcl.on.ca www.greybruceconstruction.ca

LLOYD COLLINS CONSTRUCTION LTD • Residential, Commercial & Agricultural Heavy Equipment Services • Licensed Septic System Design and Installation • Ontario Onsite Wastewater Association Member

Quality and experienced workmanship at reasonable prices

Chad Mann 455 Wolfe St., RR #2 Teeswater, ON N0G 2S0 519-357-3015 or 519-529-7082 Fax 519-357-3252

EXCAVATION • TRENCHING • BULLDOZING • TOPSOIL • GRAVEL DUMP TRUCKS • RETAINING WALLS • EROSION CONTROL & REPAIR

The Rural Voice office is closed for holidays July 31

Reopening August 12 at 9:00 am 76 The Rural Voice

more reasonable to require the Applicants to have to work around the boundary tree?

Justice Morgan dismissed the application on the basis that the boundary tree did not constitute a nuisance. He noted that it was not clear that the Applicants’ proposed renovation design was the only possible design, and that the Applicants had not attempted to find a design that would accommodate the continuing presence of the tree.

Justice Morgan commented: However, it is not for the Respondents’ expert to propose a reasonable design; it is for the Applicants to show that the design [requiring the destruction of the tree] is reasonable given that they have a neighbour with property rights. That entails demonstrating that the tree must be chopped down, which in turn entails demonstrating that there is no reasonable alternative. The record contains no alternative design explored by the Applicants.

At the other end of the spectrum is a 2017 case where another Toronto property owner went ahead with a self-help remedy without his neighbour’s consent and without advance approval from the Court, and ended up facing a private prosecution by the neighbour for an offence under the Forestry Act. Although the property owner had obtained a permit from the City to remove a shared boundary tree, the permit did not in and of itself relieve the owner from having to address his neighbour’s property rights in the tree. The owner was convicted on a charge of destroying a boundary tree (upheld on appeal), the Court having found that there was no legal basis on which the owner could remove the tree without his neighbour’s consent. The tree was not causing a nuisance. Nor was it a situation of urgency where the neighbour’s consent could not be obtained in a timely manner.◊ ______________________________ John D. Goudy’s law practice includes real property and environmental litigation, expropriation law, energy regulation, and regulatory offences. Agrilaw provides information of interest to the farming community, not legal advice.

Readers should consult a legal professional about their particular circumstances.

The Rural Voice

Business Centre To place your ad call...519-523-4311 Horse & Livestock Car, Utility & Recreational any design, hitches trade-ins welcome super after sales service

Brough & Whicher Limited • Engineered Roof Trusses • “I” Joint Floor Systems White Cedar Decking, Posts & V-Match

WIARTON, ONTARIO www.broughandwhicher

Tel: 519-534-0340 or 877-866-3434 Fax 519-534-4637 Email: sales@broughandwhicher.com

www.beloretrailers.ca 324025 Mount Elgin Rd. Mount Elgin, Ontario N0J 1N0 Jamie Belore

phone: 519-485-5358 toll free: 1-877-247-7227 fax: 1-519-485-6129 jbelore@gmail.com

Member of the O.W.T.F.A.

BAG Supplies Canada Ltd. Bulk Bags/Tote Bags/Super Sacks

If we don’t have it in stock, we’ll custom make it for you!

info@bagsupplies.ca Tel: 1-519-271-2040

www.bagsupplies.ca Fax: 1-519-271-2027

• Farm Lanes • Campgrounds • Driveways • Horse Riding Arenas Brent Pryce

519-525-6295

INNIS NEW & USED TRACTOR PARTS LTD. Agricultural & Combines New & Used Parts Used Tractors & Machinery

1-877-274-6583 Phone: 519-291-4924 Fax: 519-291-1520 Fire No. 6142, Line 84, R.R. #2, Listowel, ON N4W 3G7 Wanted: Early and late model farm tractors, combines, crawlers and construction equipment, fuel injection pumps, starters and alternator repairs

August 2019 77

B U S I N E S S C E N T R E

PACKERS: WE BUILD RUBBER TIRE PACKER SPECIALISTS

Order Now Also large fold-up steel drum packers, lawn & estate rollers, custom manufactured

RR #2, Arthur, Ont. (519) 848-2799

B U S I N E S S

Looking to Buy or Sell A Farm or Home? Give me a Call! g

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Serving the area since 1999

Broker WILFRED MCINTEE & CO. LIMITED

Bus: 519-357-2222 Cell: 519-531-0252 Email: nixon@execulink.com Web: www.stevennixon.com 249 Josephine St., WINGHAM, ON N0G 2W0

Lis

Farm Drainage #18

84359 Hoover Line RR#1 Belgrave $1,100,000.00 MLS# 30734702 125 acre farm with 72 acres of G.P.S. mapped rolling to level workable land, some random tiles with the remainder hardwood & mixed bush, backs onto Maitland River. Great farm to add to your current farming operation. Subject to severance. Seller is keeping buildings and 7 acres. Call Steve Nixon 519.357.2222

• GPS • Plastic • 2013 Bron Plow • Surveys • Maps Glen 519-291-0709 cell Dennis 519-276-9292 cell

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Wa n t e d to buy

OLD BARNS FOR SALVAGE CALL STEVE

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Agricultural Residential Commercial • Unmarked Vehicles • Fully Insured • MOE Licensed Technicians

78 The Rural Voice

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Cathy Hendriks Sales, Rep.

519-357-5128

TF: 1-877-509-2847 Ph: 519-799-5000 Web: ruralroutespestcontrol.com info@ruralroutespestcontrol.com

Centrally located near Fisherman’s cove & Blackhorse Golf Course. Approx. 20 minutes to Kincardine, Walkerton/Wingham and short commute to Hydro & Lake Huron.

Asking $59,900/lot Call Cathy Hendriks 519.357.5128

STEVE TRUPP

Elwood Kuepfer: 519-363-9493

SALES & SERVICE INSTALLATION & PARTS

Grey Rd 25 #581053, Chesley ON N0G 1L0 LTD.

We Buy All Types of Scrap Cars & Trucks Scrap Metal and Machinery USED AUTO PARTS • Government Inspected Scale • Competitive Prices • Bins Available 3961 Road 111, RR4 Stratford

519-271-4008 perthautodismantlers@bellnet.ca

Whitechurch Welding - custom tubing gates - 1"x1" sq. tube and diamond gates in stock - powder coating or galvanizing option - Buy Direct and Save!

Luke Martin 60 Grey Ox Ave., Teeswater, ON N0G 2S0

Landscaping & Wood Clearing Lawn Seeding & Repair Bush Lots Tree Pruning & Planting Cedar Logging and maintenance, etc.

Yard Trees Natural & Coloured Mulch Stump Grinding

Rissler KEITH SIEMON FARM SYSTEMS LTD. 81987 Perth Rd. 180, R.R. 4, Walton 519-345-2734 (anytime)

www.keithsiemonfarmsystems.com email: keithsiemon@tcc.on.ca For Free Planning and Estimates

STEFFEN WELL DRILLING 519-531-0355 TEESWATER, ON mike@steffenwelldrilling.ca

• Agricultural & domestic water wells • Well Cleanouts • Pump Testing • Camera Inspection • Irrigation Wells • Dewatering Services

MANUFACTURING STEEL ROOFING SIDING & TRIMS

37452 Glen’s Hill Road, RR 2, Auburn, Ont. N0M 1E0

Tel. 519-529-7212 Fax. 519-529-3277 Snowblowers, Quick-attach Buckets, Sweepers, Woodsplitters, Land Rollers, Stone Windrowers, etc.

Website: smythwelding.com Email: info@smythwelding.com

Elwood Kuepfer 519-363-9493 Grey Rd 25 #581053, Chesley ON N0G 1L0

Landscaping & Wood Clearing

519-363-3757 2051 Bruce Rd. 19, R.R. 1 Chesley, ON N0G 1L0

Also Supplying Other Building Accessories

has trees available for planting.

8 ft. - 10 ft. cedar & white pine, good for windbreak. 10 ft., 12 ft. silver maple, 6 ft. Norway spruce, 12 ft. white birch, 6 ft - 8 ft. Hackberry.

Smaller sizes available.

Call 519-363-9493 and leave a message.

August 2019 79

B U S I N E S S C E N T R E

CLASSIFIED AUCTION -------------------------------------------------Elmira Produce Auction – Hay and Straw Sales every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Consignors and buyers welcome. Call Noah Gingrich, 519669-3884. 7400 Reid Woods Drive, Elmira.

-------------------------------------------------CAMPSITES -------------------------------------------------CHESLEY LAKE CAMP. Find an ideal mix of accommodations, dining, activities and golf for your whole family at Chesley Lake Camp, 78 Camp Rd., RR #3, Allenford, ON. 519-934-2071. chesleylakecamp.ca Email: clc@gbtel.ca -------------------------------------------------CONSTRUCTION -------------------------------------------------WE POUR: liquid manure tanks, bunker silos, foundations and pads.

All are 100% engineered. Serving Ontario since 1968. De Jong & Sons Ltd. 519-348-0523.

-------------------------------------------------CUSTOM WORK -------------------------------------------------Janmaat Custom Bale Wrapping.

In-line wrapping, any size round bale and any size square bale up to 6 1/2' long. Call Cody at 519-955-3384.

-------------------------------------------------DAIRY -------------------------------------------------Screened bedding sand, delivered.

Call 519-625-8242 or 519-274-1490.

-------------------------------------------------FARM SERVICES --------------------------------------------------

EGGER FARMS CUSTOM BALING

• 3x3 Bales Automatic Acid Applications, Roto Cutter.

Individual Bale Wrapping 6' bales

Call Fritz: 519-292-0138 Advertising in The Rural Voice – A Wise Choice!

Call Today! 519-523-4311 80 The Rural Voice

CLASSIFIED FIREWOOD -------------------------------------------------Bodywood • Slabwood Quantity Discounts 519-441-2085 519-656-2057

Serving Southwestern Ontario for over 10 years!

-------------------------------------------------FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------Garlic Gardeners Diversity Special – Includes: 9 ‘seed’ bulbs of 3 distinctly different varieties of garlic. $30 plus shipping. Grow diversity and taste the difference!

D&H Newman, growing 50+ varieties of garlic in Kincardine, ON. Order now at: www.dandhnewman.ca dandhnewman@gmail.com -------------------------------------------------For prices on forage peas, forage pea mixtures and cover crop mixtures. Contact Courtney Grain & Seed (2015) Ltd., 225 Hwy. 21, RR 1, Ripley. Phone 519-395-2972. Ask for Carmon or Mitch.

-------------------------------------------------Martin’s Nursery & Bee Supplies Etc. Large selection of flowering trees, shade trees, fruit trees and hydrangeas and other shrubs. We have the plants you need to make a living “privacy hedge” or snow fence, Blue spruce, pine, cedars, etc. Also…

Complete line of Bee Supplies for the commercial or hobby beekeepers.

We sell Bees (Nucs) in spring and early summer. Come see our selection Monday to Saturday at Emanuel E.M. Martin, 42661 Orangehill Rd., Wroxeter, ON N0G 2X0, one concession north of Wroxeter on Belmore Line.

-------------------------------------------------Rosco grain bins for sale – 19' and 14' diameter. Parts available. Used grain bins wanted for parts or reuse.

Closed Sundays, 519-338-3920.

-------------------------------------------------Hay and straw and individually wrapped baleage, nice, clean, rotary combined, good for TMR, 3x3x7' bales and silage bales individually wrapped. Huron East, 519-292-0138.

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CLASSIFIED GARDEN TOURS -------------------------------------------------Visit Keppel Croft’s four acres of gardens, nature trail, and Keppel Henge. Bring your picnic. Open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 504156 Grey Rd 1, Big Bay, Grey County. www.keppelcroft.com -------------------------------------------------Visit the Gardens of Huron Perth.

Private gardens open all summer. More info at http://gardensofhuronperth.com.

Maps at tourism sites and libraries.

-------------------------------------------------Riverwood Gardens offers extensive display gardens along with a retail garden centre to elevate your garden from ordinary to inspiring; located in the heart of West Grey.

Be inspired!

519-369-1659 @beinspiredinwestgrey -------------------------------------------------Visit Earthbound Gardens and greenhouses. Tour 5 acres.

Perennials, daylilies, native plants, small fruits, flowering shrubs. Free Sunday live concerts. Open 9:00 5:00. 7 days until Thanksgiving. www.earthboundgardens.com -------------------------------------------------Froggie’s Song – A cottage style garden with many unusual perennials.

Also daylilies and roses. Pathways take the visitor through the garden. A shade garden and a rock garden.

9:00 - 8:30 Thursday. By appointment or by chance. $3. Barbara Weatherall, 154552 Grey Road 32, RR 4, Flesherton. 519-986-3516. sable@ morganharvey.com -------------------------------------------------HELP WANTED --------------------------------------------------

S & C Clark TRANSPORT INC. PART-TIME MECHANIC FULL/PART-TIME AZ DRIVERS Owner & Operators

Runs between Canada & U.S. - Competitive Wages - Paid Picks & Drops - Benefits - Wait Time - 2 year experience preferred - Home most weekends 111 PINE STREET, WINGHAM • 519-357-3346

-------------------------------------------------Experienced Excavator Operator with A/Z licence – Full-time position for A/Z driver, experience running heavy equipment an asset; position will include duties around the yard/site as needed. Competitive wages, benefit package. Please email résumé to rick@sittlergrinding.com Office: 519-669-2456.

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CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

IRON & STEEL -------------------------------------------------DISCOUNT STEEL: New second grade steel sales; 1" - 8" square tubing; 7/8"-14" round tubing; Rectangle tubing, discount plate; New and Used I-Beams; Bar grating, rebar, angles; Custom cutting, welding, punching. Listowel. Phone Aden 519-595-7775.

-------------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK BEDDING -------------------------------------------------Bedding pack compost starter for dairy and veal barns. 1-877-7738004. Sittler Grinding. Rick Sittler.

-------------------------------------------------MIRACLE FIBER Livestock Bedding. Also, coarse wood mulch for horse and cattle walkways, wet areas around water troughs and bush lanes. Also available is dairy pack starter bedding. 1-877773-8004. Sittler Grinding. Rick Sittler.

-------------------------------------------------DUST EXTRACTED straw available in coarse or fine cut. Also available in pellets, bags or bulk. Call for details.

Chopped straw and sawdust mix; bags only. Edgar Martin, 519-2916783.

-------------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------14 bred beef cows, Red Angus cross. 519-357-2509.

-------------------------------------------------SPECKLE PARK HEIFERS 75 Commercial Speckle Park Heifers, fully vaccinated western cattle. Great way to build or start your herd. $1,800 per head. Come take your pick. Call Henry 519-671-2549. Hensall.

-------------------------------------------------Red Angus-Simmental, Red Angus and Simmental heifers bred Red Angus for sale. James and Joan McKinlay, 519-599-6236. jmckinlay@bmts.com -------------------------------------------------Limousin Bulls – yearlings and 2 year olds, polled, some homozygous polled, thick, well muscled, semen tested. Smart Limousin, Meaford 519-372-7459. www.smartlimousin.com --------------------------------------------------

LIVESTOCK FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------LIMOUSIN – quality breeding bulls and breeding females for sale.

Delivery included. Posthaven Limousin, John Post 519-766-7178. www.posthavenlimousin.com -------------------------------------------------Registered Black Angus Heifers, some bred, rest ready to breed. Good pedigrees and well grown. Howard Carey, Elora, ON 519-831-9892.

-------------------------------------------------Suffolk – five yearling ewes, purebred, British bloodlines, all twins.

Closed flock. 2019 born ewe lambs also available. 519-233-7896.

-------------------------------------------------REAL ESTATE -------------------------------------------------336+-acre (320+-acres workable) adzuki, corn, soy and wheat farm with possibility of another 50 acres, systematically tiled with 65 acres+ – spring water sub service irrigation.

20-year-old confederation log home with excellent views and in-law apartment and geo thermal air conditioning and heat. Mainily sandy loam and loam and almost stone free.

Second farmhouse could be rehabilitated. Four 5,000 bushels full floor aeration bins with unload. Shop 40x60 propane heated. 170+-acre field on home farm. Orillia-Brechin (Udney) area. You need to see the crops! Please write Donald R. MacDonald, 1908 Concession Rd. 10, Ramara Twp., Brechin, ON L0K 1B0.

705-484-2197.

------------------------------------------------RESTORATION -------------------------------------------------The Olde Tyme Radio Centre – antique radios, clocks, gramophones, telephone and vintage auto clock radio. Speedometer, tachometer sales–restorations. Belgrave 519357-4304, www.oldtymeradio.ca -------------------------------------------------RETAIL & GIFTS -------------------------------------------------Stitches with a Twist – 404 Queen St., Blyth, 519-523-9449. Yarns, knit and crochet instruction. Chainmaille supplies. Alterations and repairs, including leather.

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SERVICES --------------------------------------------------

DONALD A ANDREW ACCOUNTING Accounting & Income Tax Services for FARMS, BUSINESSES & INDIVIDUALS 296 Ross St., Lucknow

Ph. 519-528-3019 All farm buildings & houses, seamless eavestroughing, liquid rubber coatings, waterproofing, metal, concrete, wood, foam and bin flooring sealing.

519-859-0097 or 519-871-0300 info@townsleybarnpainting.com

GLAVIN BARN & COMMERCIAL PAINTING FARMERS repaint your faded coloured steel FREE QUOTES ~ FULLY INSURED

RR 1 Crediton, Ont. N0M 1M0 (near Exeter)

Call: Jim Glavin 1-800-465-4725 519-228-6247 Specializing in on Farm Pest Management Serving Southwestern ON, Golden Horseshoe, GTA Email: sgschris@ciaaccess.com

519-692-4232 www.sgspestmanagement.ca

Discount Steel Great for barn posts, stabling or other build-your-own projects

Custom Welding & Machine Shop Custom Stabling Mfg. Open Tues. & Thurs. ~ other days by chance John A.M. Martin 1467 Grey Ox Ave., Lucknow SEAMLESS EAVESTROUGHING

 Roofs & Walls  Elevator Legs  Air Blasting  Pressure Washing  Fully Insured  Free Estimates

London 1-888-253-3756

HIGHLAND FENCE & SUPPLY INC. Joseph Kirwin

519-475-4868 • 1-800-923-4488 info@highlandfence.ca • www.highlandfence.ca 804075 Rd. 80, Embro, ON N0J 1J0

August 2019 81

CLASSIFIED SERVICES -------------------------------------------------Cronin Poured Concrete Ltd. Since 1976. Liquid manure tanks to 200'.

Heights of 8'-14' (1-pour). All jobs engineer specifications/inspections guaranteed. Best firm quote in Ontario. Mark Cronin, 519-348-9062.

Cell 519-274-5000. www.cronin pouredconcrete.ca -------------------------------------------------TRINAL CUSTOM FARMING – If you are looking for someone to do your disc-bining, big square baling or forage harvesting please call Ken Horst, cell: 519-292-1393 or Kervin 519-357-5557, RR 2, Teeswater.

-------------------------------------------------INLINE FENCING – Custom farm fencing. Page wire and horse fencing 519-934-1555.

-------------------------------------------------Firearms and hunting training.

PAL & HUNTER ED. Ongoing courses available.

Certified instructors. Call Greg 519-887-9622 or 519-291-0507.

-------------------------------------------------STANDING TIMBER -------------------------------------------------STANDING TIMBER - hardwood and softwoods. Quality workmanship guaranteed. B. Kropf Forestry Service Ltd., Bruce Kropf, RR 1, Shakespeare, ON, N0B 2P0. 519-748-7422.

-------------------------------------------------TRAVEL -------------------------------------------------AGRICULTURAL & UNIQUE TOURS – NWT/Yukon/Alaska – Australia/New Zealand 2020 – Peru/Brazil/Argentina/Chile 2020 – Costa Rica 2020 – Panama Land Tour 2020 – Kenya/Tanzania 2020 – India 2020 – Egypt/Jordan 2020 – Portugal/Spain 2020 – Morocco 2020 Portion of Tours may be Tax Deductible.

Contact Select Holidays at 1-800-6614326 or visit www.selectholidays.com -------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS -------------------------------------------------Falls Reserve Conservation Area – campground/day-use area. Visit us to get away from it all! Settle into one of our beautiful campsites. Seasonal campsites available. Enjoy a hike or picnic outing with the family. Day use membership passes available.

Camping reservations available online! 1-877-FALLSCA (519-3255722) www.mvca.on.ca --------------------------------------------------

82 The Rural Voice

CLASSIFIED UPCOMING EVENTS -------------------------------------------------Explore Moreston Heritage Village, Grey Roots’ picturesque ten-acre living history site. Chat with costumed interpreters, wander through the period buildings, and visit the farm animals. Open 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until Labour Day. For more information, call 519-376-3690 or visit greyroots.com -------------------------------------------------Kettle Valley Pioneers Elgin Historical Show, August 9, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., August 10 – 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; August 11, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission: Adults $6, children 12 and under free. Friday Beef and Pork Barbecue, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. extra: adults $15, children under 12 $7.50. Sunday breakfast, 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. extra: adults $8, children $4. Wood carver – making two wooden benches, sawmill, ice cream booth, vintage vehicle display, antique tractors and more. Entertainment Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. by Roma Prudhomme and Saturday and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. by the Dan Landry Band, Dan Patterson Park – Old Farm Equipment 519-2693977.

-------------------------------------------------Minneapolis Moline, Fox Equipment, Waterloo Bronco, Early Deutz distributed by Waterloo Manufacturing Co., Waterloo, Ontario will be featured at Mitchell Pioneer & Hobby Club’s show at Mitchell Fair on August 31 and September 1. All vintage farm equipment and automotive welcome.

-------------------------------------------------Middlesex Sheep Producers Annual Lamb BBQ at Poplar Hill Park, Poplar Hill, ON, Thursday, August 22, 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Advance tickets only: adults $20; children 12 and under, $7; preschoolers free when accompanied by adult.

Information – ticket sales http://www.eatontariolamb.ca 519666-2423, 226-374-9029.

-------------------------------------------------Deadline for the September issue of The Rural Voice is August 21, 2019

CLASSIFIED WANTED --------------------------------------------------

DAIRY FARM WANTED We are a family with four young children and we are looking for an on-going dairy farm in Bruce, Grey or Huron county. +/- 40 kg. milk quota.

Please keep this ad.

Email dairyfarmsearch@gmail.com -------------------------------------------------Hay/Straw - small square bales of hay; timothy and alfalfa. Round bales of hay; timothy alfalfa or timothy grass mix. High class large square bales of hay. Call Riley Gorman 519-321-1012.

-------------------------------------------------Actively seeking farmland to rent for corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, edible beans. Contact Narva Farms Limited: 519-366-2636 or 519-881-9384 or email: sandyfitzsimmons@hotmail.com -------------------------------------------------Farmland – Long or short term.

Cash rent, share crop. Contact Paul at Hill & Hill Farms, 519-2333218 or 519-525-3137 or email: paul.hillhill@tcc.on.ca -------------------------------------------------Scrap Cars Wanted – 20, 30, 40 yd. scrap metal bins available. We sell quality used auto parts. Wanted to buy – scrap cars, trucks, farm machinery, heavy equipment.

Kenilworth Auto Recyclers. 519-3231113.

--------------------------------------------------

MORRIS SACHS SILO CONSTRUCTION New stave silos now available SILO ACCESSORIES SILOS DISMANTLED, REBUILT AND REPAIRS

519-363-3900 Cell # (519) 372-5375 R.R. #2 Elmwood, Ont. N0G 1S0

Perth County Federation of Agriculture Email: perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com Website: www.perthcountyfarmers.ca Agnes Denham, Secretary: 519-229-8866 or 1-866-829-8866 Tim Halliday, President: thalliday33@gmail.com or 519-291-3374

Do Official Plans have you asking, “How am I impacted?”

The Perth County Federation of Agriculture invites you to attend the OFA Regional Meeting on Tuesday, August 27 at the Mitchell Golf Club, at 7:00 p.m.

The guest speaker this year is Peter Jeffery, Senior Policy Analyst

from OFA, who will speak on Official Plans and Natural Heritage.

Elections for Delegates and OFA Policy Advisory Council members to the 2019 Ontario Federation of Agriculture Convention

(November 18-19), will take place.

To be eligible to run for positions and vote at the meeting you will need to be a member of the OFA. Please have your 2019 OFA membership card with you. ◊

Perth County Federation of Agriculture

AGRICULTURAL RECOGNITION AWARD Nominees can be individuals, couples, families, businesses or organizations who have made a recognizable contributed to Agriculture and the Agricultural Community To request an application contact Perth County Federation of Agriculture at perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com.

Call 519-229-8866 or download from website www.perthcountyfarmers.ca/ PCFAAgAward.pdf Deadline: Nominations must be received

by September 30, 2019

Presentation will be at the Perth Harvest Gala on Saturday, November 16, 2019

PCFA INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS • Up to 2 (two) – $1,000 scholarships • Youth continuing their education in Agriculture or/and Agricultural-related field • Entering their second, third or fourth year of college or university • Home address when not attending school must be in Perth County • Must be able to show a connection to an OFA farm member.

To request an application please contact PCFA at perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com Call 519-229-8866 or download form from website: perthcountyfarmers.ca/PCFA Scholarship.pdf DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 Presentations will be made at the Perth Harvest Gala, Saturday, November 16, 2019

Thank you to our sponsors: Award Level: Tradition Mutual Insurance President Level: MNP Financial, Southwest Veterinary Services Benefactor Level: Monteith Ritsma Phillips, Trillium Mutual Insurance

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Perth County by the PCFA.

August 2019 83

St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9 Grey County Federation 446 10th519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 grey@ofa.on.ca Website: greyfederation.ca of Agriculture * The Rural Voice is providedEmail: to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA

GCFA remembers Karl Chittka Over its 79-year history Grey Federation of Agriculture has been lucky enough to have dedicated directors join the board and who have represented the board actively for many years.

Karl Chittka was one of those directors who spent many years advocating for the farmers in Grey County. He was very passionate about agriculture and anyone who had the chance to meet Karl would know his thoughts and beliefs on many important issues. We were saddened to learn of his passing and wanted to share with you his obituary as posted

by McMillan and Jack Funeral Home in Dundalk. his volunteer work with the Home and Community Support Services of Grey Bruce and local public speaking events for youths.

At Karl’s request he will be reunited with his sweetheart Lisa in a private ceremony. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Egremont Proton Federation of Agriculture or Dundalk Agricultural Society would be appreciated.

Grey County Federation of Agriculture

DIRECTORS’ MEETINGS 2019 • August 15 – 8:00 p.m.

• September 19 – 8:00 p.m.

• November 14 – 8:00 p.m.

All meetings are held at Grey Ag Services, Markdale

Save the date!

Ag Night at the Races at Hanover Race Track

August 17 GCFA sponsored race Bring your family for a fun night out Call 519-364-3050 for more details!

KARL HEINRICH CHITTKA Karl Chittka passed away peacefully at Markdale Hospital on Tuesday, June 25, 2019, in his 87th year after a very happy and fulfilling life.

Karl’s greatest passion in life was his family. He was a devoted husband of Lisa (2002) whom he cherished; dedicated father of Robert (Te André) and Michael (1989) both of whom he adored; and caring grandfather of Andrew, Brian, and Becky, all of whom he loved deeply.

A man with a strong work ethic and even stronger conviction, he will be fondly remembered by his family, as well as those who knew him from his advocacy on behalf of farmers, both in local politics and through the Egremont Proton Federation and Grey County Federation of Agriculture.

He will also be remembered for 84 The Rural Voice

Grey County Federation of Agriculture

2018-2019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING October 11, 2019 Durham Legion Social: 6:30 p.m.

Dinner: 7:00 p.m.

Karl was presented with this farm print when he retired from GCFA Board in 2017.

Guest speaker: Bruce Sargent, Farm Boy Productions

Craig Hulshof, President craig.hulshof@gmail.com / 519-301-8483

Perth, Huron, Grey and Bruce County Pork Producers Perth County Pork Producers

2019 GOLF TOURNAMENT

* The Rural Voice is provided to Perth County Pork Producers by the PCPPA perthcountyporkproducers@gmail.com

NEWSLETTER

PERTH COUNTY PORK PRODUCERS PORK PRODUCTS • Smoked Pork Chop • Fresh Pork Chops • Stuffed Loin Chops • Smoked Sausage • Smoked Cheddar Sausage • Bacon Burgers • Teriyaki Pork Steaks AVAILABLE FROM: Dave and Ruth Kloostra (Monkton).. 519-347-2619 Ted and Donna Keller (Mitchell)........ 519-348-9836

Jerry and Sandra DeGroot (Kinkora) 519-393-5237 Leis Feed (Milverton).......................... 519-595-2048

Have the Perth County Pork Producers BBQ at your next event or celebration!

Phone Jerry DeGroot 519-393-5237 for more information.

Wednesday, August 14 Mitchell Golf and Country Club

Perth County Pork Producers Association

11:00 a.m. sharp Shotgun Start Registration: 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.

Meal: 4:00 p.m. or at completion of course

$300 per foursome (Golf Cart included) To register, send an email to: perthcountyporkproducers@gmail.com When registering please state number of players if NOT coming with a team of four Registration fee can be by e-transfer to: perthcountyporkproducers@gmail.com or cheques payble to: Perth County Pork Producers and mail to: 5685 Perth Line 8, St. Marys, ON N4X 1C4

Questions or to inquire about sponsorship contact Stewart Skinner 519-492-2990 or email: stuskinner@gmail.com

Registration Deadline is Friday, August 2 AUGUST 2019 85

Email: bruce@ofa.on.ca website: brucefederation.ca

NEWSLETTER BCFA DIRECTORS MEETINGS AUGUST 26 SEPTEMBER 23 NOVEMBER 11 All meetings are held in Walkerton at the Bruce Building 8:00 P.M.

446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Bruce County by the BCFA

“The Farmer’s Creed" was first published in 1915 and was traced back to a farmer named Frank Mann. These days – character, values and purpose seem to be more about your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram profile and less about what you stand for. A pretty powerful message, perhaps even more so now than it was over 100 years ago.

THE FARMER’S CREED I believe a man’s greatest possession is his dignity and that no calling bestows this more abundantly than farming.

I believe hard work and honest sweat are the building blocks of a person’s character.

Bruce County Federation of Agriculture

Annual General Meeting 2018-2019 October 25, 2019 Social: 6:30 p.m.

Dinner: 7:00 p.m.

Underwood Community Centre

I believe that farming, despite its hardships and disappointments is the most honest and honourable way a man can spend his days on earth.

I believe my children are learning values that will last a lifetime and can be earned no other way.

I believe farming provides education for life and that no other occupation teaches so much about birth, growth and maturity in such a variety of ways.

I believe many of the best things in life are indeed free: the splendor of a sunrise, the rapture of wide open spaces, and the exhilarating sight of your land greening each spring.

I believe true happiness comes in watching your crops ripen in the field, your children grow tall in the sun, and your whole family feel the pride that springs from their shared experience.

I believe that by my toil I am giving more to the world than I am taking from it, an honour that does not come to all men.

Save the date!

Ag Night at the Races at Hanover Race Track

August 17 BCFA sponsored race Bring your family for a fun night out!

Call 519-364-3050 for more details!

86 The Rural Voice

I believe my life will be measured ultimately by what I have done for my fellow man, and by this standard I fear no judgment.

I believe when a man grows old and sums up his days, he should be able to stand tall and feel pride in the life he’s lived.

I believe in farming because it makes all this possible.

Index A.G. Hayter Contracting....................67 Advantage Royal Group....................15 Bag Supplies.................................... 77 Baseline Agri.................................... 15 BDO.................................................. 65 Belore Trailers.................................. 77 Bernie McGlynn/SB Flooring............ 70 Bervie Supply....................................25 Bester Wood Products...................... 70 Bio-Ag.............................................. 33 Bluewater Pipe..................................29 Blyth Brewing...................................... 8 Blyth Festival............................ Cover 7 Boviglo.............................................. 34 BP Dust Control................................ 77 Brough & Whicher............................ 77 Bruce County Heritage Show...... 44,45 Bruce County Plowmen’s Assoc........ 6 Camping............................................73 Canadian Co-op Wool Growers........ 48 Chalmers Fuels.................................. 8 Cliff’s Plumbing................................ 87 Clinton Skating Club........................ 61 Cover Crops................................30, 36 Creek Edge Farms..............................9 Cross Country Eavestrough..............48 Diamond Roof.................................. 10 Donkers Agri................................ 9, 15 Easy Lift Doors..................................12 Egger Farms.................................... 80 Fairs............................................ 11, 13 Fawcett Tractor................................ 78 Free-light.......................................... 74 Gerber’s Workwear.......................... 79 Grey Bruce Construction.................. 76 GRK Products.................................. 17 Grober Nutrition........................Cover 4 Hanover Customs Brokerage............51 Hardi................................................ 27 Hill & Hill Farms...... Inside Front Cover Homegrown Food Basket................ 41 Honey..........................................54, 55 Hunter Steel Sales.................. Cover 4 Huron Commodities.......................... 69 Huron County Health Unit................ 68 Huron County Plowing................ 42, 43 Huron Dirt Works.............................. 49 Huron Pioneer Threshers..................75 Hyndman Transport.......................... 77 Ingersoll Cheese & Ag Museum...... 60 Innis New & Used Tractor Parts........77 JA Porter Holdings............................ 23 Jones Harold Enterprises..................78 Keith Siemon Farm Systems............ 79 KMM Farm Drainage........................ 37 Kuepfer Farm Drainage.................... 78 Kuepfer Firewood..............................78 LAC.................................................. 73 Lands & Forests Consulting..............70 Layton Steve.................................... 78 Legge Fitness ..........................Cover 3 Lloyd Collins Construction................ 76 L-Wood Landscaping/Wood Clearing..79 Mapleview Agri..................................33 Marquardt Farm Drainage................ 10 Martin Farm Wagons........................ 29 Marvin Smith Forestry...................... 73 McIntee Real Estate - S Nixon..........78 Metzger Meat Products.................... 51 Michael’s Stabling............................ 34 Mike’s Custom Welding.................... 79 Morris Sachs Silo Construction........ 82 Nuclear Waste Management............ 69

Nuhn Forage.................................... 21 Nutra-Glo.......................................... 27 OFA.................................................. 23 Orr Insurance.................................... 41 Oxford Insta-Shade.......................... 72 Peak Realty - Cathy Hendriks.......... 78 Perth Auto Dismantlers.................... 79 Perth County Plowing........................ 7 Peterhans Stefan.............................. 82 Progressive Farm Safety.................. 49 ReMax (Cardno).............................. 21 Ridgeway Metals.............................. 79 Rural Living................................ 58, 59 Rural Routes Pest Control................ 78 Rural Voice Books............................ 46 Rural Voice Holidays.................... 2, 76 Sauble Beach Motorsports....18, 25, 61

Saugeen Steam Show...................... 38 Saugeen Valley Conservation.......... 72 Schmidt’s Farm Drainage................ 72 Schweiss Doors................................ 74 Seifried Farm Equipment.................. 14 Sew & Save...................................... 59 Smyth Welding..................................79 Somerville Seedlings........................ 70 Steffen Well Drilling.......................... 79 Stratford Agri Analysis...................... 67 Triple P Consulting............................37 Trouw Nutrition.................. Back Cover Walton Raceway.................. Cover 5, 6 WD Hopper & Sons.......................... 17 West Wawanosh................................ 2 Whitechurch Welding........................ 79 Williams Drainage............................ 27

How it Works A geothermal system consists of a heat pump, a ground loop, and a flow centre to connect the indoor and outdoor components. The geothermal system uses the constant temperature of the ground to heat and cool your home. In the winter, your WaterFurnace geothermal system extracts the heat and in the summer, it rejects it.

Why Choose WaterFurnace?

A WaterFurnace geothermal system operates more efficiently than ordinary heating and air conditioning systems because it can deliver up to an astounding five units of energy for every one unit of electrical energy used.

Why Choose Cliff’s?

Cliff’s Plumbing & Heating has been a trusted name in Huron and Bruce Counties since 1979 and has been installing WaterFurnace geothermal systems for over 30 years. We are members of HRAI and the Grand Valley Construction Association, accredited with the Canadian Geothermal Coalition and our technicians are licensed through the Ontario College of Trades and factory trained.

Other Services Include: Air Conditioning, In-floor Radiant Heating High Efficiency Furnaces, Gas Fireplaces, Plumbing, Pumps and Water Treatment

1136 Bruce Road 86, LUCKNOW

www.cliffsplumbing.com Phone: 519-528-3913 • Toll Free: 800-449-2543 • Fax: 519-528-3125 cliff@cliffsplumbing.com

August 2019 87

HURON

42 First Avenue, Clinton, Ontario N0M 1L0 519-482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135

County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER

Name our paper – send in your suggestions Every year the Huron County Federation of Agriculture (HCFA) produces an annual paper that is circulated throughout rural addresses in Huron County.

This paper includes articles from the HCFA, commodity groups and local agricultural interest stories to review the important issues and activities occurring in Huron County agriculture.

Currently this publication is called “The Huron County Survey”. We are looking to update the name of the paper.

Please submit your suggestions to the HCFA office by email to: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca or HCFA, 42 First Ave, Clinton ON N0M 1L0.

There will be one winning entry selected. The winner will receive a

Don’t forget!

Huron County is currently undergoing an Official Plan Review.

If you were unable to attend the workshop on May 14 and you would like to provide feedback for the Official Plan Review you can provide comments on the County’s Community Consultation form at https://www.huroncounty.ca/ plandev/county-official-plan/huroncounty-official-plan-five-year-review/oprfeedback-form/.

You can also send written comments or ask to be added to the Five Year Review mailing list by contacting: Monica Walker-Bolton, Planner at mwalker-bolton@huroncounty.ca or 519-524-8394 ext. 3

$20 local food voucher and a pair of tickets to our annual meeting.

Entries must be received by August 26. All entries become property of the HCFA. ◊

ALL CANDIDATES MEETING for the upcoming Federal Election

Website: www.hcfa.on.ca Email: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca

Upcoming Events August 5 – Civic Holiday!

August 5 – Lucknow 4-H Dairy Invitiational Show.

August 16-18 – Bayfield Fair. Visit bayfieldfair.ca for details.

Holmesville Community Centre

August 22-23 – Huron County Plowing Match, hosted by Warden Jim Ginn and Windy Lane Farms, Ray and Anita Dykstra, 44407 Creamery Road, Gorrie.

Send in your nominations!

August 23-24 – Zurich Bean Festival. Visit beanfest.ca for details.

The Huron County Federation of Agriculture is collecting nominations for the yearly Huron County Agriculture Award for 2019.

Please include in the nomination: the name, address and phone number of the nominee, plus a description explaining your reasons for this person’s (or persons’) nominations – eg. the contribution to Huron County’s agricultural or rural life attributed to said person (or persons). The nomination must be signed by the nominator.

Huron County Federation of Agriculture

October 10 – 8:00 p.m.

Nominations can be emailed to ofahuron@tcc.on.ca or they can be mailed to the HCFA office.

Deadline is September 23

The Huron County Federation of Agriculture will be

August 15 - Performance Host

The Team on the Hill

BOARD MEETING August 26 – 8:00 p.m.

Vanastra Office

Save the Date!

Huron County Federation of Agriculture

ANNUAL/REGIONAL MEETING Friday, October 25 Holmesville Community Centre

Contact the office for further details and for tickets

HCFA OFFICE HOURS: The office is open on Mondays and alternate Fridays 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

We are also open other days by chance

by Dan Needles Follow us on Twitter

Contact the Blyth Festival for tickets

twitter.com/huronfedofag

1-877-862-5984 or 519-523-9300 info@blythfestival.com

Facebook at Huron County

and Federation of Agriculture

The Rural Voice is provided to all OFA members in Huron County by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture

88 The Rural Voice

TIME

LIVE. ORIGINAL. CANADIAN. THEATRE. JUNE 12 TO SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 1.877.862.5984

BLYTHFESTIVAL.COM

JUNE 12 to AUGUST 10 | WORLD PREMIERE

JUMBO By Sean Dixon

One of the biggest tales in the history of South Western Ontario, playwright Sean Dixon brings the real larger-than-life story of Jumbo the Elephant’s fateful final performance in St Thomas, to the Blyth Festival stage.

JUNE 26 to AUGUST 10

CAKEWALK By Colleen Curran

On our 45th anniversary, we are bringing back this delicious comedy that premiered at the Blyth Festival in 1984 and went on to international acclaim.

JULY 31 to SEPTEMBER 5

THE TEAM ON THE HILL

By Dan Needles

This play is a rich, funny and moving family drama about life on the home-farm, complete with its nostalgia for the way things used to be, and the struggles for succession.

AUGUST 7 to SEPTEMBER 6 | WORLD PREMIERE

IN THE WAKE OF WETTLAUFER By Kelly McIntosh & Gil Garratt

Images by Kelly Stevenson

Created with compassion from interviews with some of those most closely affected, this play follows fictional siblings as they learn their infirm father has been in the same home as Nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer. A hard-hitting but life affirming story of hope for change.

SEPTEMBER 11 TO SEPTEMBER 28

BED AND BREAKFAST By Mark Crawford

From the playwright of last year’s sold out comedy The New Canadian Curling Club comes a slap-down drag ‘em out comedy about being truly “out” in small town Ontario for a limited run.

Blyth Festival gratefully acknowledges support of an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

Season Sponsor

Media Sponsor

Hospitality Sponsor

New Play Sponsor

Cremalto™

Cremalto™ is a patent pending

When supplemented to lactating cows LQ FRQWUROOHG VWXGLHV ĂłVLJQLILFDQW LQFUHDVHV in milk fat yield were observed.

calcium gluconate in a fat matrix, designed for lactating dairy cows.

*Controlled Studies conducted by Trouw Nutrition R&D, 2016 – 2019.

For more information, visit

www.trouwnutrition.ca

Contact your local Shur-Gain dealer for more information.

Belmore Feed Mill Belmore 519-392-6522 Dauphin Feed & Supply Dungannon 519-529-7951 1-800-665-5675 Walton 519-887-6023 The Hitching Post (2019) Ltd. St. Marys 519-284-2360

Hensall District Co-operative Londesboro 519-523-9606 1-800-265-9000

Nieuwland Feed & Supply Ltd. Listowel 519-291-5795 1-800-265-3229

Zurich 519-236-7155 1-800-565-7155

Drayton 519-638-3008 1-800-263-9818

Ripley 519-395-5955 1-855-895-5955

Elora 519-846-5354 1-800-265-5354

Mitchell 519-348-8752 1-800-669-3502

Yantzi Feed & Seed Ltd. Brunner 519-595-8251

Parkhill 519-294-6252

Tavistock 519-655-2033