The Rural Voice - December, 2020

December 2020

Rural Voice

The

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

THE WORMERY Hungry worms in cavernous basement at Western Fair District are reducing food waste

GREEN’S IS REBUILDING Resiliency and the gift of family support allow Green’s Meat Market to rebuild after devastating fire

CHRISTMAS GIFTS Forgiveness, sharing meals and “walking each other home” are giving themes inside this issue!

To all our loyal customers we wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and all the best in theNew Year!

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Contents

16

21

The

THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE

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

25

Columns Lisa B. Pot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Keith Roulston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Kate Procter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Jeffrey Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Mabel’s Grill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Gardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Woodlots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Agrilaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Departments Ruralite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 News & Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 Business Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Newsletters National Farmers Union . . . . . . .74 Perth County Pork . . . . . . . . . . .75 Grey County Federation . . . . . . .76 Bruce County Federation . . . . .77 Perth County Federation . . . . . .78 Huron County Federation . . . . . .80

Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Lisa B. Pot rveditorlisa@northhuron.on.ca

DECEMBER 2020 • Cover Photo Dan Lizmore, The Wormery Photo by Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

• Deadlines: Jan. Issue

Rural Voice

Contributing writers: Keith Roulston, Kate Procter, Jeffrey Carter, Rhea Hamilton Seeger, Arnold Mathers, Donna Lacey, Melisa Luymes, Anne Mann, Nancy Fisher, Dorothy Henderson, Bonnie Sitter, Gary Kenny, Jeff Tribe, Amanda Brodhagen, Bob Reid and Geoff Dale Mailed by: McLaren Press Graphics Bracebridge, ON

– Dec. 08

Feb. Issue – Jan. 12

16 Vermicomposting Hungry worms make great gardens at Western Fairgrounds

21 Green’s Meat Market Arises The Green family hopes to make grandparents proud with “bigger and better” meat market

25 Cage Constructor Lives Free Peter Eltink has a solitary job but he’s never lonely as he works in Ontario chicken barns

28 Finding Your Purpose Knowing your purpose is a key ingredient to maintaining mental health, say experts

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

32 A Christmas Gift Fred Sloman remembers a little girl and a simple gift

36 Junior Farmers Thriving Junior Farmers across Ontario get creative during COVID-19

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.

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“

•

We hope to grow into

something bigger and better while making grandma and grandpa proud.

”

Vermicomposting “I always wanted to

~Shaelin Green, project manager and daughter of

be famous but I didn’t think

owner Kevin Green, on rebuilding Green’s Meat Market

it would happen because

in Wingham after a devasting fire.

of worm poop.” ~ Dan Lizmore, Grounds Supervisor at the Western Fairgrounds in London,

{

DECEMBER INSPIRATION A thousand times in history a baby became a King.

But only once in history did a King become a baby.

}

on all the media attention he is receiving for his vermicomposting project in the basement of the Progress Building.

Christmas • Christmas: What other time of year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks?

• What do you call an elf that can sing and dance?

- Elfis • Why does Scrooge love reindeer so much?

- Because every single buck is dear to him!

•

Neil’s One-Liners (Wisdom from McGavin Files)

• All people smile in

I need a coffee!

Wanting to respect the Amish desire to avoid being photographed, but still intrigued by the image, Bonnie Sitter captured this scene at the Blyth Tim Hortons knowing we can all relate to the need for a hot coffee on a cold, winter day.

Photo by Bonnie Sitter

the same language •You never fail until you quit trying.

•

December 2020 3

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

More screens or more personal contact?

As much as I like to boast that my kids work in the barn and run outdoors and explore the woods, river and fields, I have to admit that when it comes to screens, they are as addicted as any other teenagers.

When asked what they want for Christmas, there is usually some screen-related device they would like to have for gifts.

I can’t blame them. I’ve eyed up a new Ipad even as the desktop I am typing on is perfectly functional. So is the laptop. So is the phone. We all know screens are addictive and the digital age is transforming our

productivity and leisure time as well as current and future job opportunities. My oldest daughter is preparing for that by taking university courses on managing big data; the oldest son problem-solves broken heavy equipment fixes with his laptop and one of the middle ones teaches farmers how to use their new equipment via online demonstrations.

I used to develop photos in a darkroom and type out news stories on a typewriter. They were typeset, then run through a waxing machine to adhere to a page laid out on a light table. I became extremely proficient with an exacto knife as we literally cut and pasted the newspaper together. I kinda miss those days. We used to chat and laugh during production. Now we all sit in our own offices, apart.

But this column isn’t a bitch session about the evils of modern technology. It’s a probe into what the future job market holds in store for the next generation. I recently came across an interesting chart in my studies which indicated artificial intelligence will render the following jobs obsolete: Telemarketing,

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benefits managers, receptionists, couriers, proofreaders, computer support specialists, financial analysts, market research analysts, advertising salespeople and retail salespeople.

Compare that to jobs that will be in demand in 2022: data analysts and scientists, machine learning specialists, software and applications developers, sales and marketing professionals, big data specialists and digital transformation specialists.

What surprised me is that financial analysts are on the obsolete list. The Fintech (financial technology) industry is capable of parsing enormous amounts of data faster and more reliably that a human brain can. Robo advisors can create personalized investment portfolios, eliminating the need for stock brokers and financial advisors. No human interaction, I suppose we saw it coming when bank machines replaced bank tellers which allowed us to bank outside of traditional banking hours and suited our propensity to keep our financial records private. For many, it was a loss of the way we did business on a Friday afternoon. I do miss the friendly faces at the Blyth CIBC even while I appreciate the handiness of now being able to cash cheques with my smartphone at my home office.

I will keep my financial analyst.

Money may be a set of red and black numbers allowing a transference of assets to meet our needs, but the specifics of the transference are hugely personal.

Ultimately, there’s no point in lamenting the “old days.” It’s time to focus on modelling a balance for these new days.

It means I will allow screen time when I book a winter cottage for our family to go skiing and drink hot chocolate in front of a woodstove.

Being outside is crucial to the balance; sharing it on social media is their way.

I also trust that my children’s adeptness at adapting new software will stand them in good stead for the future job market.

The biggest task, I think, will be to help my children understand that as they spend time mastering technology, they cannot let it master them. ◊

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December 2020 5

Keith Roulston Keith is the former publisher of The Rural Voice. He lives near Blyth, ON.

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When one of the farm papers arrived the other day with a spectacular photo of a barn fire taking up most of its front page, it sparked memories for me of many years recording these tragedies as editor of community newspapers.

The photo was illustrating a pilot project whereby Trillium Insurance will subsidize some of its clients to purchase and operate a monitoring system to detect potential failures of their barn’s electrical wiring.

A provincial study earlier this year estimated 40 per cent of claims for barn fires across Ontario can be traced to wiring issues. What’s more, while the number of barn fires is probably lower than at any time in history, the claims made for the approximately 80 barn fires yearly have exploded to $18.5 million because of the size and complexity of modern barns.

How things have changed over the decades. When I was in elementary school, I’d dread hearing the town’s fire siren sound, imagining the lifechanges that could be happening if the fire was at our farm.

Local fire departments were pretty rudimentary then, generally with one truck. If they were called beyond the limits of the town’s fire hydrant system, they were handicapped unless they could find a nearby pond or river to pump water from. The first water tankers were appearing at local departments about the time I became a community newspaper editor.

Not that the new water supply often made a difference. Most farmers were still using tinder-dry wooden barns, which were stuffed with hay and straw. If I leapt out of bed when the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night, I often didn’t need to search very hard to pick up the firefighters’ trail. If it was a barn

fire there was likely already a telltale glow in the sky.

As I rushed to the fire, I’d mentally check off which farm family was being emotionally and economically pummelled at the moment.

In those days, nearly every farm still had a mixture of farm animals and you hoped the family and their neighbours had been able to rescue the animals. Most horrible was arriving at a fire to hear the screams of terrified, trapped animals and the “pop” of bullets putting them out of their misery.

For a reporter/photographer, there was also the guilty realization that this tragedy that caused so much pain, presented the opportunity for the sort of dramatic photos that would capture readers’ interest, and even perhaps catch the eye of a judge in the “best photo” contest run by newspaper association.

They were spectacular photos, even in those days when printing technology was so expensive that we could only afford black and white.

But technology was changing everywhere, not just among newspapers. Farmers needed to specialize, not own a few milking cows, some beef animals and pigs.

Pig farmers built new barns for pigs only. They didn’t need hay so spontaneous combustion from storing hay containing too much moisture, was a reduced risk.

Dairy and beef farmers turned to silage corn for more of their cattle’s nutrition, again reducing the danger of fire. Earlier specialized barns were replaced with bigger and better structures. Plastic-wrapped bales took the hay out of the barn completely.

Technology was changing with fire departments, too. More specialized trucks and equipment were added and the fire station became, next to the arena, the municipality’s largest structure.

Hopefully, these new wiring monitors can reduce the number of barn fires much farther. With the size of barns’ animal population growing ever bigger and with barns more expensive to rebuild, the human, livestock and economic cost of fires is greater than ever.◊

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8 The Rural Voice

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

Cycling to protect our most vulnerable 2020 will obviously go down as a year that most people who are alive now will remember for the rest of our lives. There have been lots of jokes that aren’t really jokes about how rotten this year has been for a lot of people. There has been much suffering brought on by a global pandemic, the like of which most of us have never experienced.

It has also put into sharp focus what is really important. As we have all stayed home and taken steps that we never would have imagined a year ago to protect our most vulnerable, we have rediscovered what we love the most. We are looking at the world around us in a slightly different way.

For anyone who read this column in September, you may remember that my family participated in the Great Cycle Challenge, which is a fundraiser that began in 2016, and at that time, had raised over $12,412,026 in support of research to develop treatments and find a cure for childhood cancer. I loved the Sick Kids Foundation vision – “a world without cancer where all kids are living life, not fighting for it,” https://greatcyclechallenge.ca/.

My family formed a team, The Procter Rockets, which consisted of me, my sister, Jennifer Cooper, my Dad, George, my uncle, Charles, Helen Otterman, Anne Procter, and Arnie Spivey. We set riding goals, and fundraising goals. Little did we know at the beginning how much those goals would increase as the month went along. We did a lot of riding through the month of August – we covered trails, and side roads, and pedalled a lot in our living rooms.

I wanted to write a follow up of that adventure because I was so

amazed by the support we received and how far we collectively rode through the month. The challenge pulled all of us along, and it felt good to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. When I started, I set a goal of riding 150 km and raising $500. I thought it would be a struggle to get there.

With the support of our great pit crew, my Mom, Elizabeth, we rode the Saugeen Rail Trail that allowed us to pedal through the back yards of Port Elgin to Southampton, and then along the gorgeous Lake Huron shoreline. We also rode from Meaford to Thornbury on the Georgian Trail, which cyclists, hikers, and cross country skiers have been enjoying since 1989. We appreciate the visionaries, volunteers, and land owners who made these things happen.

Of course, we also enjoyed the beautiful G2G Rail Trail, which was being upgraded as we rode. I used to ride a portion of this trail – Goderich to Auburn Rail Trail (GART) with my kids – it was a safe and beautiful ride that would take us to the lake and allowed a history lesson along the way. Having the rest of the trail refurbished for use by people of all abilities has been a great exercise in growing community, some growing pains, and learning from each other along the way.

One of the highlights of my summer was setting out with Jennifer from Walton on the G2G. I had been wondering for a while … how far could we go if we had no time constraints and a ride home …? We lucked out with an amazing, sunny Three Bears kind of day that was not too hot, not too cold, just right. We packed snacks and found beautiful spots to stop and take breaks as we rode. It was a great way to do a crop tour – seeing the fields from a perspective that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. We saw garden stands and entrepreneurial folk with snack and beverage stands set out along the way. If only we had remembered to carry some change! We met others also riding for the same cause, and met people who donated to us when they learned what we were doing. We were excited to blow our Great Cycle Challenge goals out of the water by

Kate Procter doing 90 km that day alone. And happy to have the chance to see what we could do if we didn’t know we couldn’t.

At the end of our challenge, The Procter Rockets collectively rode 2163.3 km and raised $10,719.42.

Uncle Charlie, who just turned 97, was our top rider, completing just over 500 kilometres himself. My Dad rode 336 km. We struggled to keep up with these inspiring guys. Our team placed seventh out of over 600 registered family teams across the country. The Great Cycle Challenge raised $9,429,927 this year, with 52,223 riders who rode a total of 6,181,193 km.

While our family was able to enjoy the company of each other in a distanced way, and explore beautiful parts of our southern Ontario home, always on our minds was the reason we were riding. Childhood cancer has touched too many people in my life in heartbreaking ways. I will always remember the generosity of our friends, family, neighbours, and business associates who jumped in to support us in this venture. â—Š

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December 2020 9

Jeff Carter Jeff is a freelance journalist based in Dresden, Ontario.

Fair is the Christmas tree.

The skunk, not so much.

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Christmas on our family’s farm in Oxford County was always an elaborate event, especially when my two elder sisters and I were still of the opinion that the existence of Santa was a distinct possibility.

The season began in earnest when the tree was secured. I remember accompanying our father on one occasion, making the trip back to the woodlot, riding in the little trailer behind our Ford 9N tractor.

No firs, pines or spruce for us. A cedar was our only choice.

Eastern white cedars – we called them ‘swamp’ cedars – have certain advantages. No needles to drop and the fragrance in my opinion is superior to all others.

They were located along the edge of the bush or a few feet in. My father didn’t bother with the little ones but instead selected a wellproportioned specimen, 15 to 20 feet in height.

The top six or seven feet would find its way into our home. The remainder, branches removed, might serve as a post at some later date.

Father got involved with the initial set-up and then his job was done. He was a school-bus-driving-dairy farmer with little time for decorative pursuits.

Mother took over at that point, deciding which of the tree’s “sides” was best. It was always placed in one particular corner of the living room, one of only two main downstairs rooms in our home – Grandma Carter occupying the other side of the house.

It would then be given a little drink, a combination of water and corn syrup.

Next came the lights, a rainbow of colours, then ornaments, those deemed precious hung by mom or my older sisters and the plastic icicles that I was allowed to handle.

On a few occasions there was popcorn as well, carefully strung in the evenings as we watched one of the two or three channels available on our black and white television.

The final touch was the tinsel, something you don’t see often these days.

It would be saved from year to year and perhaps a new package was purchased.

Unlike my wife’s family, it wasn’t thrown onto the tree. Instead, each individual piece was carefully hung, free to swing with the opening of a door, a person’s passing or when the fan of combination furnace kicked in.

Years later, father long gone, and mother living in town, Marie and I decided to revive the ritual.

We made the trip to the 15th line but rather than visiting the farm, we spoke to the folks I knew who owned property on the other side of the bush. A suitable tree was cut and topped and we made the trek back, Marie deciding upon a short cut across the muddy field rather than hugging its edge. (She did extricate herself, eventually, along with her boots.)

Then off to town. My sisters were all there, the two eldest and the youngest as well — all women with careers and lives far from the farm.

They shed tears, all of them, and mom too.

“Good God,” I said, “I should have brought a skunk instead.

Remember the skunk?”

All of them did.

Dad, one Christmas morning discovered a member of the species in a pen with a sow and her piglets and dispatched it with a pitchfork.

Then, coming in from the barn to clean up for the Christmas meal, made his way to cellar to change, hanging his work clothes in the furnace room. As farm family, all members were familiar and even appreciative of the scent of animals from an old-fashioned bank barn.

Skunk? Not so much.

But that’s another story. ◊

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

“That smells good,” said Dave Winston when Molly Whiteside delivered George Mckenzie’s order of bacon and eggs.

“It does at first,” said Molly, “but after hours wearing these darned face masks, they absorb the kitchen smells. You get awfully sick of the same smells all day.”

“That’ll be a surprise for Hormel Foods down in the States,” said Cliff Murray. “They’re selling a mask that has a bacon scent to it.”

“I’ll pass on that,” said Molly as she returned to the kitchen. “Now if they can come up with a mask that smells like fresh air on a June afternoon, I might be interested.”

“I can’t imagine having to wear one of those masks for hours on end,” groaned Dave. “If I have to put one on for a half-hour to go to the

bank or the grocery store, I feel like I’m going to suffocate.”

“And that was before they said you should only wear three-ply masks,” said Cliff. “It feels like a choice between certain death by suffocation if I wear a three-ply mask versus the small possibility of getting too close to someone who’s infected.”

“Back to these scented masks,” said George, “if I had to wear a mask for hours, I might like a little variety.

I might want a mask that smells like pizza around lunchtime and at supper, fried chicken.”

“What about after supper?” wondered Dave.

Just then Mabel opened the oven door and the heavenly smell of her apple turnovers wafted through the room. “Mabel’s apple turnover about nine would be good,” said George.

“Sounds like a lot of calories,” said Molly as she brought her coffee pot to refill their cups. “You might gain weight just from smelling your masks. I think you’d better at least skip the turnovers, George,” she said, “Maybe we won’t put on the usual five pounds for Christmas if we have

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smaller Christmas celebrations,” said Cliff. “I know that my relatives from the big smoke aren’t coming to our place this year. Said they didn’t want to spread Toronto’s epidemic.”

“Yeah, I remember back at Thanksgiving hearing that people were looking for smaller than normal turkeys because there were fewer people coming to eat them.”

“Not me,” said George. “I ordered 20-pound turkey even though it was just the wife and me. We like leftovers.”

“Except he didn’t,” smirked Dave.

“Hey, I told you that in confidence, not to have you broadcast it to the whole world!” grumbled George.

“What’s this?” wondered Cliff.

“I like snacks, too,” said George quietly.

“Boy does he like snacks!”, said Dave.

“What’s the story?” probed Molly when George showed no signs of expanding on the subject.

“Well I sort of snacked at the leftover meat while I rested up for a day or so before slicing up the rest,” said George.

“He had no leftovers!” laughed Dave, bending over and slapping his knee in merriment.

“Well I did save a lot of time spent slicing and packaging meat for the freezer,” George said defensively.

“But poor Marian had all these plans for casseroles using leftover turkey,” laughed Dave.

“Well we’ll fix that for Christmas,” said George. “I’ll order a 25-pound bird.”

“Ha!” exploded Molly. “Seems to me what you really need is a Cornish Game Hen.” “The holidays really are a time of temptation,” sighed Cliff. “There’s so much food sitting around and you end up convincing yourself that if you’re not going to spoil yourself a bit at Christmas, when will you?”

“Pretty often, looking at you guys’ waistlines,” said Molly.

“Maybe what you need is one of those masks that smells like roast turkey,” Dave said to George. “Then when you feel the temptation to snack you put on the mask.”

“And glue it to your face!” said Molly.◊.

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Viewpoint Gary Kenny is retired from a career in international human rights, is a writer and resident of Grey County.

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Recently a “save our wetlands” petition from the Green Party of Ontario (GPO) found its way into my inbox.

Southern Ontario, the GPO said, has lost 75 percent of its original wetlands, and Premier Doug Ford is selling off what’s left to deeppocketed developers.

Apparently, with the latest giveaway, a prominent Progressive Conservative party donor will turn a 54-acre wetland in Durham Region into a warehouse. Even though the wetlands are protected, the GPO said, “Ford is abusing special zoning orders to sell them off.”

“Sign onto our letter to save wetlands from reckless development,” the GPO asked.

I signed the petition. Not because it came from the Green Party. But because wetlands are important to me. I’ve been an enthusiast since I was a boy and spent countless hours exploring neighbourhood streams, ponds, and marshes.

But wetlands, it seems, just can’t catch a break. Throughout history they’ve been saddled with a bad reputation, swamps especially.

Folklore, legends and mythology are chockfull of images of wetlands as malevolent places where death lurks.

A few examples: • In the old English epic poem, Beowulf, the monstrous creature Grendel lived in a marsh near King Hrothgar’s mead hall.

• In North American folklore, the will-o’-the-wisp is an eerie atmospheric ghost light seen by travelers at night, especially over bogs, swamps, or marshes.

• In Australian Aboriginal mythology, the Bunyip is a large

beast that lurks in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes.

Wetlands are equally maligned in modern times. Witness the hybrid plant-human monster in the 1982 American superhero movie, “Swamp Thing.” Or the swamp creature in Stephen King’s 1986 horror novel, “It.” Or sensationalist outdoor adventure TV shows with names like “River Monsters.”

For its part, the English language is fraught with idioms that disparage wetlands. He’s a “stick in the mud.”

I’m just “swamped.” Her name was “dragged through the mire.”

And sadly, wetlands are sometimes subject to self-serving political agendas. In 2016 the slogan “drain the swamp” helped vault Donald Trump to the United States presidency.

Environmental journalist Melissa Cronin wonders whether humans’ aversion to wetlands might be evolutionarily programmed, like our predisposition to fear snakes and spiders.

But “swamp-hate,” Cronin believes, is really a cultural construct born of a long list of cultural artifacts, such as the previously mentioned books, TV shows and movies. All feature wetlands in a sinister way.

In the effort to redeem wetlands, it might help to first be clear about what they are.

Contrary to still-popular belief, wetlands are not all swamps. A wetland is generally defined as a low-lying land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, and contains moistureladen soils and aquatic vegetation. Marshes, bogs, fens, and swamps are typical wetlands.

Depending on its type, a wetland may feature mostly trees, grasses, shrubs, or moss.

The most maligned of wetlands, the swamp, is really just a forested wetland. A regional example is the 8,000 ha Greenock Swamp, Southern Ontario’s single largest remaining swamp.

Wetlands have been called “biological supermarkets” because they produce great volumes of food that support a remarkable level of

Viewpoint biodiversity. According to The Wetlands Initiative, “in terms of number and variety of species supported, wetlands are as rich as rainforests and coral reefs.”

Ontario Nature (ON), which advocates for stronger government policy to protect wetlands, says they are critical to water filtration, flood retention, erosion control, nutrient cycling, and groundwater recharge.

They also make landscapes more resilient to many of the anticipated impacts of climate change, including flooding, drought, and the loss of biodiversity. And they possess a huge capacity to store carbon.

Farmers committed to truly sustainable agriculture might also give the wetlands on their farms more consideration. Some still seek to drain them in an effort to acquire a few more arable acres and improve their bottom lines. I understand the temptation, but the long-term ecosystem benefits of an on-farm wetland surely outweigh any shortterm financial gain.

Acting as a form of natural infrastructure, wetlands also contribute $14 billion annually in economic benefits for Ontarians.

Commercially important products including fish, shellfish, blueberries, cranberries, timber, and wild rice – all are harvested from wetlands.

Thankfully, modern environmental science is working hard to change the narrative of wetlands as unsavoury, menacing places.

Learning about wetlands should begin at an early age. I made sure our two children were exposed to nature’s watery wonders from the get-go, albeit a tad over-zealously at times.

One outing in particular lives in infamy within our family. I took our kids on a canoe excursion down a stretch of the Teeswater River, which meanders through a portion of the Greenock Swamp.

The day was hot and sultry, the mosquitoes and deer flies, thick.

Not infrequently we had to get out of the canoe and pull it over trees that had fallen into the narrow river, a challenge I hadn’t foreseen. Nor did I anticipate the numerous scratches and bites – and

occasional child submersion.

Oh, and I recall a leech or two.

At journey’s end we were hot, sweaty, bitten and tired. Mom was less than impressed when she set eyes on the kids’ bug-bitten and scratched arms and faces.

But both children learned a lot that day. Imprinted on them forever was the wonder and awe of hovering dragonflies, turtles swimming languidly in the easy flow of the river, and the occasional water snake stealthily seeking an unsuspecting frog.

Many Ontario organizations offer

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programs to deepen knowledge and appreciation of wetlands, some for children. Good places to begin are the websites for regional conservation authorities, Ontario Nature, Ducks Unlimited, and the Sierra Club.

Children’s books with titles like “Swamp Kids Yoga,” “Deep in the Swamp,” and “Swamp Chomp” have been produced to help remove children’s fears and apprehensions of wet woodsy or marshy places. They learn to appreciate wetlands for what they are: enchanted places teeming with awe-inspiring life. ◊

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Worms

Vermicomposting at The Wormery Deep in the bowels of the Progress building, hungry worms create compost rich in nutrients

Kandace Moyse and Dan Lizmore work the grounds for the Western Fair Association and are the brains and brawn behind The Wormery, a vermicomposting system in the basement of the Progress building. Their fertilizer-creatingconcept is part of the larger, revitalizing initiative at the Western Fair called The Grove.

D

eep in the cavernous basement of the Western Fair District’s Progress Building is a room filled with moist dirt and shredded newspaper clippings. A closer look into the soil reveals worms – hundreds of thousands of red wigglers – which are composting everything fed to them.

“Isn’t it cool,” beams Dan Lizmore, Grounds Supervisor for the Western Fair Association (WFA). He is the creator and manager of this worm farm in the bowels of the building as part of his goal to eliminate food waste at the Western Fair.

“I just couldn’t stand all the food going into the landfill,” says Lizmore, “Food waste is total bullshit.” He had to something about it so he decided to try and turn all the fairground’s food and green waste into fertilizer for the district’s many planters and gardens. He shares these ideas 16 The Rural Voice

on videos and with a growing number of curious journalists cautiously following him through the empty rooms of the Progress basement until entering the worm room. He jokes he always wanted to be famous but didn’t think it would happen through worm poop!

The Grove is a new initiative at the WFA. It was established in 2019 to help new and existing agribusinesses to incubate, accelerate, educate and connect.

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As agri-food businesses became established along with a farmer’s market, there was more food waste being

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produced. Lizmore wasn’t having it.

So he did some research on vermicomposting and started with two small totes filled with worms.

“They were too small to take care of this much food waste,” remembers Lizmore. “It took weeks for them to eat it.”

The next step was using reclaimed material to build a vermicomposting table. After watching several YouTube videos, he, and groundskeeper Kandace Moyse, designed a four-by-eight wooden table with a bottom of strong, strong cordage that can take the weight without stretching (the very first one was made with trimmer line).

Newspapers are laid over the strung cords. Then a layer of peat moss or coconut coir (a natural fibre extracted from the outer husk of a coconut) is laid down. This forms a mat or base onto which composted material is layered to a depth of about two to three inches. Then a layer of shredded newspaper is applied both as edible material for the worms and to regulate moisture. The content needs to be moist enough that when squished in your hand, a drop or two of water falls out. Too dry and the worms can’t thrive. Too wet and the material rots and stinks.

The red wigglers (ordered online from Cathy’s Crawly Composters out of Bradford) are given 8-10 weeks to establish and then harvesting begins!

Red wigglers are the worm of choice because, unlike nightcrawlers which are deep soil dwellers, red wigglers live in the top six inches of soil, making them better suited for the shallower condition of worm farms.

They can consume up to half of their body weight in food scraps each day.

Also, they are hardy and can tolerate a wide range of temperatures while maturing and reproducing quickly.

Also, they seem content to stay in their container. Lizmore says they haven’t had a mass evacuation yet as the worms are content in their food tables.

As the worms eat the compost, they produce castings. “The castings look like little brown grains of rice and are extremely high in all sorts of nutrients the plants require,” explains Lizmore. These nutrients include iron, sulfur, calcium, nitrogen,

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phosphorus and potassium to make a highly-desirable soil amendment.

The castings are collected by raking underneath the tables. They fall onto the concrete floor and are scooped up with a shovel into a sifting table. Once sifted (to separate any remaining clumpy compost) the material is used for the WFA’s gardens.

Leftover castings are bagged and sold for $10 as “The Wormery” worm castings. It is a plant-based, odourless, non-toxic, soil amendment. Directions advise working two to four centimetres of the worm castings into the existing soil surface around shrubs, perennials and indoor plants. It can also be made into worm tea by adding a handful of castings to five gallons of rainwater and letting it steep Kandace Moyse, Morgan MacTavish and Dan Lizmore (above, left to right) have launched The Wormery worm castings, a soil amendment product, since starting the vermicomposting farm at The Grove, Western Fairgrounds, to reduce food waste and create fertilizer for the gardens at the fairgounds. Lizmore (right) is the brains and brawn behind the project while the red wigglers (below) do all the actual composting. At bottom, Lizmore demonstrates how the castings are raked off the bottoms of the tables to be shovelled up, sifted and bagged for use.

overnight.

Lizmore says it has been a tremendous learning process. When they first started, they chopped up vegetables and food waste (no meats, oils or dairy) in a pail and fed it directly to the worms.

“It took way too long and we were getting fruit flies,” explains Lizmore.

They experimented by first composting the food waste and discovered the worms loved it, plus the process was exceedingly faster.

So now all food waste is composted in a field behind the facility in a thermophilic process of heating and cooling that kills seeds and pathogens, while creating a material rich in nutrients, microorganisms and fungi all of which the worms feed on.

When it works. Lizmore says it is very difficult to keep the temperature right in traditional composting so that the material breaks down and doesn’t stink.

18 The Rural Voice

By starting the compost outside then letting the worms finish it in a continuous flow process, the resulting material is even richer, finer and completely odourless.

Sometimes, for fun, Lizmore and Moyse add a raw piece of watermelon and stand amazed as the worms literally race to this favoured food. The soil under the watermelon will become a mass of shiny, hungry worms.

There are now 22 tables at The Wormery with an estimated 700,000

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red wigglers creating castings which are harvested once or twice a week.

With less than a year’s experience running the vermicomposting “farm” in the concrete basement Lizmore, Moyse and MacTavish admit it has been a learning year. They’ve had to refine the process more than once and are still working on a better way to sift the harvested castings. Right now, it is hugely labour-intensive, which largely falls to the hands of this trio.

However, MacTavish estimated

the worms have saved 30 tonnes of food waste from going to the landfill.

Lizmore beams at the sharing of this information. He shared so much practical information and jokes during this interview that I could not capture it fast enough.

To “meet’ Lizmore and learn more, you can watch the first video of the WFA’s Urban Agriculture series explaining the process of vermicomposting: https://www. thegrovewfd.com/events-1/wormfarming-with-dan-lizmore.◊

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20 The Rural Voice

Processing

Construction has begun!

A new smoker and reorganized cutting floor will help the Green family process more animals in their new facility after fire destroyed it in June • By Amanda Brodhagen •

S

Owner Kevin Green and project manager Shaelin Green stand in front of the framing that will become the new Green’s Meat Market in Wingham. The abattoir and retail store was destroyed in a fire in June, further reducing processing space in Ontario.

The abattoir had already been booked a year in advance when the fire happened.

everal months after Green’s Meat Market, based in Wingham, burned to the ground, the family-run abattoir is in the midst of rebuilding. Their determination to carry on after a devastating fire is a testament to the family’s resiliency.

Green’s Meat Market (GMM) was started in 1971

by John and Arlene Green who took over a butcher shop in Wingham from the Deyell family. From its founding roots, it has grown from a small store front with an abattoir outside of town to the processing facility that it is today (prior to the fire on June 24 of this year).

“The loss came as a complete blow to us as a family and as a business. We are very grateful that no one was injured but it has nonetheless been devastating,” said Shaelin Green company spokesperson and daughter of Green’s Meat Market’s owner Kevin Green.

But this isn’t the first time that the Green family has faced a setback. There was also a fire in 2011, but thanks to the support from customers and the community, they were able to rebuild and continue to expand their business.

“We hope to follow in those footsteps and grow into something much bigger and better while making grandma and grandpa proud,” said Green. “John will be watching from above as he passed on October 31, 2020. He was a huge part of the rebuild up until he passed and we hope to make him proud as we continue on this journey.”

Shaelin has been involved with the family business on and off over the years. Like most young people, she left her rural community to pursue a degree at the University of Guelph and worked as a flight attendant for a few years but ultimately found her way back home shortly after the pandemic began. Shaelin and her sister Shelby, who are both in their early twenties, stepped in to help their grandparents during COVID-19 so that they could safely stay at home.

December 2020 21

“My sister and I are now full time employees and I guess you could call us project managers?,” she said. “We don’t have a specific title but we play a part in the day-to-day operations and manage most of the rebuild activities.”

The decision to rebuild was a no brainer for the Greens. The business has been a staple in the community for two generations, almost three with Shaelin and Shelby showing an interest in the enterprise.

Interestingly, 2021 will mark the 50th anniversary of GMM, which the family feels at this point would be the perfect opportunity to rebuild and reopen for the community, hopefully

by May or June.

One of the other factors that the Green family took into account is the huge shortage of abattoirs and processors in Huron County and surrounding area, and the demand for local meat has only increased under COVID-19.

“Our customers and farmers have supported us for 50 years and we felt that we owed it to our community to get back up and running and provide the services that we do,” said Green.

“We were fully booked into 2021 and are already putting farmers down on a waitlist for when we reopen.

Personally, I always knew that my family’s business was important but the fire really showed me how much our agricultural community relies on us,” she explained. he Green family has received a tremendous amount of support from the community. Church groups have collected donations, community members dropped off food in the days following the fire and local business owners have reached out to see what they could do to help. Green said that their customers continue to support them at their Lucknow retail store and engage with them on social media.

The Green family would also like to thank the Municipality of MorrisTurnberry, Huron County and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) for being helpful during the rebuilding process.

“The support we have received as a business and as a family has

T

22 The Rural Voice

definitely been the silver lining in all of this,” she noted.

Now given the chance to start from scratch with a new building, the Greens have dreamed up their wish list of what they would like to include in the build. “We are very excited about some of the new features we are implementing in the new building. We took our own experience, input from employees,

and recommendations from OMAFRA to make our new facility safe and efficient. Luckily, most of our equipment was salvageable so the main piece of equipment we are purchasing is a new smokehouse,” said Green.

The new smokehouse is touted to be faster and more efficient, which will allow them to increase their production of smoked products for

When fire destroyed Green’s Meat Market in June, it affected the entire agricultural community.

Thankfully, construction has begun on a new facility and owner Kevin Green and daughter Shaelin (right) are overseeing the process. Sister Shelby (below) is also actively involved in the family business.

Green’s Meat Market before the fire (above) and post-fire, below.

custom butchering and retail customers. They are excited about this improvement.

When customers see the new building, the exterior will have a more modern and welcoming design, explained Green. The family decided to stick with a similar external blueprint but with improved flows on the interior. The main focus right now is to get the new facility up and running and when the time is right, do an overhaul of the kill floor and hanging cooler, with the hopes of increasing their weekly slaughter numbers and space to hang carcasses in the cooler. The original kill floor and hanging cooler were salvaged but it is an area of the plant that inhibits growth.

“Our current blueprint also includes a larger cutting and processing space. This means that in the future we will have room for more equipment and more bodies working,” said Green. “It also means that we will be able to be in line with current COVID-19 procedures for processors. We have also expanded the smokehouse room. We are currently purchasing one smokehouse but hope to acquire another in the near future, hopefully through a funding opportunity.”

One of the most difficult things that the Green family had to do following the fire is to lay off the majority of their full-time and parttime employees as there was not enough work for everyone during the rebuild. “We had an incredibly hardworking and dedicated group of staff in here at the time of the fire and we hope to be able to bring them back when we reopen, but completely respect that some have moved on to new exciting opportunities!” said Green.

The Green family would like to thank the farmers in their community for their patience and understanding as they navigate through this difficult time. “We are so thankful to be located in a community of farmers and loyal customers that don’t just care about us as a business but as people and as a family. We are so excited to get back open and continue to serve the community like we have done for the past 50 years,” said Green.

While these last few months have been challenging, the future is bright, with the new facility coming in 2021, the next generation helping to shape what GMM will look like for years to come, and the opportunity to get back to doing what they do best: providing the same small town butcher service to their customers while also catering to modern trends and the changing needs of the community. Stay tuned for some new branding to go along with the updated facility, which the Green

family hopes will add to their customers’ experience.

Readers are encouraged to follow their Facebook page at Green’s Meat Market for updates or stop in at their Lucknow retail location and say hello to Shaelin, Shelby and other valued employees – Mark, Jeff and Heather.

“We post specials from our Lucknow store, updates on the Wingham build and are planning on hosting more giveaways as a way to give back to our loyal customers,” said Green. ◊

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Poultry

When he’s not building, he’s dancing • By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

Months on the road away from his home in Brazil, Peter Eltink loves his work installing chicken cages Peter Eltink says he never has a bad day, as he sees the joy in each day while working hard to install housing systems in Ontario layer barns

F

or new layer barns in Ontario, it’s all about the enriched housing. In Quebec, it's more organic, free range and aviary systems. Whichever system egg producers choose, Peter Eltink, with his infectious smile and decades of experience, is the man to install them.

Eltink is a Dutchman, a Brazilian, a cage installer and a dancer. He knows seven languages, is starting a fish farm in Brazil, runs a restaurant at his partner’s hotel during his “downtime” and is on the road for months, away from family, when he comes to Canada to install Hellmann Poultry housing systems for farmers like Jeff and Linda Van Wyk of Wykville Farms.

At the VanWyk’s socially-distanced open house in October, Jeff and Linda had nothing but praise for Eltink, a man who always has a story to tell. “The guy can talk about anything,” laughs Jeff. “From immigrating 50 years ago to life in Brazil to caging in Ontario, he was very entertaining. He was also very good at what he did and handles employees very well.”

Eltink oversaw the installation of enriched housing at the VanWyk layer barn which was built by Vanderlaan Construction out of Exeter. With new codes of practice for the care and handling of pullets and laying hens, chicken farmers have to reduce the number of hens in conventional cages. For the VanWyks, that meant reducing bird numbers

from seven to four in the existing barn and required the construction of a new barn to house the displaced birds.

The new, enriched-housing barn provides more space per bird and includes “enriched” features such as perches, scratch pads, increased lightning and a private nesting area in each section. The new barn can house 14,000 birds with space to add three more tiers, for a total of 28,000 birds as quota holdings expand.

Jeff wasn’t exactly thrilled to spend over a million dollars to build a new barn in order to house the same number of chickens and produce the same number of eggs.

However, with four children potentially wanting to farm in the future, it made sense to expand rather than sell quota.

Now that the barn is finished and the kinks have been straightened out, he says the chickens are adapting well to the new system. In the older barn, with four birds to a cage instead of seven, he’s finding the “thinned out” spacing easier to manage.

Jeff chose enriched housing over an aviary system because he has more experience with this management style. Plus, he has worked with Hellmann Poultry and has had really good luck with the company and the housing systems. Interestingly enough, the existing layer barn was Peter’s first installation in Ontario some 20 years ago!

“One day, while I was working as a maintenance man in December 2020 25

food plants in Rio de Janeiro, I got a call from Germany that they wanted me to install cages in Brazil,” remembers Peter, who was speaking by phone from Quebec, where he is working on another installation.

Soon, he was installing systems in Ontario with VanWyks being the first barn he worked in.

“For many years, I was the only supervisor installing cages for Hellmann Poultry in Canada. Now, they sell so many systems we have seven supervisors with 54 people in Canada putting together all these cages,” says Peter, speaking on the phone from Quebec. He’s staying with his oldest son who is also a crew supervisor with Hellmann Poultry.

This is a nice change for Peter, who doesn’t often get to spend time with family. He hasn’t seen his other son (who also works for Hellmann Poultry) for over two years.

It’s an interesting life. Some might say a lonely life but Peter says he is never, ever lonely. “I am mostly alone in this world. I go to work, I go to sleep. With the coronavirus, it is even worse,” he says. “But if you like travel and a challenge and different cultures, food and language, then you do it because you like it.”

Consequently, he can speak, read and write Dutch, English and Portuguese.

“I can speak Italian and French and can defend myself in Quebec. I also have Indonesian and Malay (Malaysia) because they are close to each other.” He has quite an interesting accent, having taken on the flavour of several languages.

“My feelings are Brazilian but the way I walk and talk is SO Dutch,” he laughs. eter is the youngest child of 13 children, with his Dutch parents immigrating to Brazil to a piece of property that was all trees. The family had to create a farm out of bush. “There was no house.

No electricity. No toilet. He took an ax and started to farm,” Peter says of his father. With so many children, not every one of them could be farmers though Peter did farm for a while in Brazil on rented land. He’s had quite a varied career and has experience driving trucks, playing professional volleyball, working construction, growing strawberries

P

26 The Rural Voice

Taken just days before the new chickens arrived, Jeff VanWyk (right and below with son, Kyle) was busy cleaning up supplies and making calls to coordinate all the work to be done in the new barn (above). Installer Peter Eltink’s first and latest chicken cage installation was at Wykville Farms located near Holmesville and Goderich.

and building machines while living in Holland, Brazil, Indonesia and Germany at different times in his life.

“I am now 61 and all the experience from my past jobs helps me with this job now. This job is a bit of carpentry, construction, electrical and machinist. You need to know a little bit of everything and that's why I like it,” says Peter. It pays well and lets him travel, though current travel restrictions have kept him in Ontario longer than he is used to.

Usually, he returns to his wife in Brazil every few months. “All the time there are different rules so I decided to stay in Canada until the jobs are done.”

The couple regularly talks on the phone and while COVID-19 has kept them apart longer than usual, they are used to being separated. She runs a hotel in Brazil and when he goes home, he likes to rest for a day or two. “Then, the fourth or fifth day I get bored and I have to work. I want to wake up and know what I have to do. I do not want to sit at home and watch the birds. I have no patience for this.”

So when he’s home in Brazil he opens the restaurant attached to the hotel and when he leaves, he closes it down. “For me to really relax is to be in the kitchen and make food. That is my first hobby,” says Peter.

Gardening and landscaping are others. When not cooking and gardening, he continues his studies on how to establish a fish farm to raise Piraruca (Arapaima gigas) a large, freshwater fish found in Brazil.

“That is what I will do in retirement.

It is like chickens in cages … I will learn to farm them with the right temperature, water and oxygen.

Maybe I will also sell the systems to other farmers who want to start.”

Clearly, Peter is a man with a lot of experience, energy and ideas. He’s fun to chat with because he has such a positive attitude about life, work and how to enjoy every single day.

Given his transient life staying in Air BnBs (he prefers these to hotels) away from family, one might assume he's lonely. “Nope, never”, he says.

“I never feel myself lonely. I play harmonica. I listen to music. I try to dance every night for an hour for the

exercise!” he exclaims. “You just put on the music you like and go through the movements. Any movements!

You can dance to classics or jazz and include the stretches. Just dance!”

Peter remembers Jeff asking him why he is always happy. “I tell him that for more than 10 years, I have not turned on the television. I do not need to watch the news when they repeat everyday the same things.

That works on your spirit. I do not need to know if something bad happens because I cannot solve the problem.” Though he rarely eats in restaurants anymore, if a television is on when he enters, he will leave.

“That television tries to tell you what to eat and what to wear and I do not need that. Walk alone by yourself.

Nobody needs to tell you those things.”

In fact, he is very intentional about his attitude. “I have never had a day where I thought I would not be okay today. I think in the morning you set your mind to whatever you want. If you want to be sad that day, you will be sad. If you wake up and hear the singing of a bird and see the leaf fall off a tree, and you find it beautiful, then everything will be beautiful that day. You make your day.”

It helps, Peter says, when you have a job you love to do. He genuinely enjoys his work putting together housing systems for

chickens and meeting the farmers who manage the barns. “I love what I do. I wake up every morning between four and five o’clock. I am ready for work. If you wake up and think ‘damn, I have to go to work today’ well, forget it! You better go look for something else even if it pays less. It is better to be happy.”

A reader, Peter learned from an article that 70 per cent of people in the Netherlands are not happy with their job. “How can you say it is a good morning if you hate your work?

That is crazy! Maybe you think I am lucky because it has never happened to me but I never choose for the things that I do not like. I am not lucky. It is a mindset. “ The cage installer/philosopher has one more important piece of advice to share. “I say ‘I love you’ but I also say ‘I love me’. If you love yourself, everything can happen!”

This conversation took place on late-October morning before Peter headed off to his current installation in Quebec. It was easy to see why Jeff and Linda recommended I have a chat with Peter when their barn was done. His energy and enthusiasm for life is infectious. He has left his mark in a very practical way through his handiwork supervising chicken housing but also via his positive spirit and simple wisdom, gleaned from multi-cultural experience and a positive outlook on life. ◊

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Mental Health

Christmas and COVID-19: A double whammy • By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

Knowing your purpose and connecting to others can help avoid burnout and improve mental health Adelle Steward of Do More Agriculture says farmers have deep roots of strength and community to deal with the hardships of farming but it can lead to illness when farmers believe they have to be strong all the time.

Christmas is a time of joy for many but it’s also a stressful time and a season that challenges mental health.

Couple it with COVID-19 isolation and mental health becomes a serious concern.

Aware of the issue, Farm Credit Canada and Junior Farmers of Ontario both launched webinars focusing on mental health to help farmers and the agricultural community understand how and why they might be at risk, and how to take care of their own mental health.

Mental Illness: Breaking hearts since who knews when

A

delle Steward admits she did not know a lot about mental health. Before working in the industry and even just starting in it, her own naturally high level of resilience protected her from mental illness.

Then she started working with the Do More Agriculture Foundation in Saskatchewan and her understanding grew.

But it really became personal when her cousin, who lived with bipolar, posted “Mental illness. Breaking hearts since who knows when” on a social media account in 2014.

“I thought something must be wrong but I did nothing.

Unfortunately, my uncle found him in the calving barn the 28 The Rural Voice

among farmers

next day as he had taken his life by suicide,” revealed Steward while speaking to Junior Farmers on November 2 during their mental health webinar, hosted by Junior Farmers of Ontario president, Arin Douglas.

His post received less than 10 likes and three people commented on it, but only after the suicide. “He passed because we did not know how to help. I cannot help but wonder how it could have been different if we had asked him how he was; if we weren’t afraid to ask people how they are with mental health.”

Mental health does not have boundaries across professions but it is different in agriculture. “People who live and work in agriculture are experiencing mental illness at higher rates than the general population.”

She explained that farmers have deep roots of strength and community. Those roots allow them to deal with the hardships of day-to-day life on the farm. However, they also lead to farmers thinking they have to be strong all the time. Invincible, even. The subliminal message is if you can’t handle farming, get out of-it. There is still stigma to mental illness in the farming community so they keep working in isolation. This can lead to burnout and emotional exhaustion.

Lack of awareness is also an issue. “It’s really important to spread the message within the industry so we can work together to change the stigma of mental health in agriculture,” said Steward.

Statistics from a National Survey on Farmers’ Mental Health conducted by the University of Guelph discovered that 35 per cent met the criteria for depression classification; 45 per cent were classified as having high stress and 58 per cent met the criteria for anxiety classification.

Steward said she often gets asked what has changed in agriculture that so many are dealing with some level of mental illness. Are we talking about it more? Are there really more mental health issues? Or more awareness?

When looking at statistics in agriculture, the exponential rate of growth of farm size is astonishing, said Steward. In 150 years, we grow 14 times as much wheat, 10 times more pork and five times more cattle.

Tractor prices have risen from $200 to over $200,000 or way higher.

“This is extremely daunting for young producers.”

Plus, advances in technology have been rapid. “We have seen more change in technology in the last 150 years than in the last 1,000 combined. There are studies that show mental health and stress claims rise when a company implements a new IT system.”

Understanding stress is also important. People need moderate stress to be alert, engaged and challenged for optimal performance.

Too little stress leads to low motivation while too much stress leads to high anxiety and poor performance.

Farmers really need to start paying attention to themselves, their family members and employees when: • they are angry • they cannot make decisions • they cannot sleep Chronic sleep deprivation can be equated to having a blood alcohol level of up to .10. “Our ability to focus and our critical thinking skills are greatly reduced,” said Steward.

To stay well, Steward had this advice: • Find a life balance: “Most people think this is a 50/50 ratio but that isn’t true. Some people can take a larger workload while some need a weekend away without the kids. It’s different for each individual. So if

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you and your neighbour are going through the same thing, they may handle it differently than you and that’s okay.”

• Reach out to your friends and family: “Campaigns say to reach out if you're struggling. But I think we need to notice the change in our friends and family and do the reaching out.”

• Ask more: “Ask someone about their mental health. Ask them how they are handling things. You might comment that you have noticed they are dressing differently, or their tone is different or they haven’t been coming to coffee. If they are willing to share, then listen nonjudgmentally. You can take workshops to learn how to do this.”

Steward said farmers can access resources from the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention. Steward works with the Do More Agriculture Foundation which is a not-for-profit focusing on mental health in agriculture across Canada. https://www.domore.ag/about-us

“Walking each other home” is our purpose

P

urpose is the precursor to passion and knowing your purpose is key to preventing burnout and compassion fatigue says child psychologist, Dr. Jody Carrington of Alberta, Canada.

Speaking to the agriculture community via a webinar offered November 3 to Farm Credit Canada clients and their families, Carrington said we all have one primary purpose: “to walk each other home.”

The phrase was coined by Ram Dass, an American spiritual teacher, psychologist, and author who passed away in 2019. The idea of “walking each other home” via kindness, connection and helping each other self-regulate was a theme Carrington wove throughout her entertaining and practical presentation. She said farmers, in particular, need to hear it because they are genetically wired to face the world with a negative attitude to protect themselves against 30 The Rural Voice

Jody Carrington was asked by the Farm Credit Corporation to offer a webinar to its clients and their families giving them strategies to avoid burnout and protect their mental wellness during this time of year. She advises that we are all here to “walk each other home.”

all the difficulties a farmer faces.

“If you were raised by a farmer, you will find all the shit that is going wrong. I never heard a farmer once say, ‘Hazel, it’s going to be a good year!’ ” said Carrington. “We come from multiple generations where they have prepared for the worst. There never was a time they could let their guard down and it would be okay.”

The issue with that is if you only think about the bad stuff, you can’t feel the good stuff. While people are capable of holding two emotions in their head at one time, only one will take precedence, explained Carrington. “So when you are so busy planning for all the bad stuff, you cannot feel the joy. And know this, no amount of preparation will prepare you when something bad does happen. Joy and happiness are two different things. You can be unhappy and still deserve joy.”

Joy is a tricky thing, however, when someone is approaching burnout. According to her research, Carrington said burnout consists of three things: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and a decreased sense of accomplishment.

“Honestly, I have not met many people who are not feeling burned out. Part of what we need is acknowledgement,” said Carrington.

She said next time you are at a

hockey game, you tell the mom or dad you are sitting beside how great their kid is. Tell them what a good job they are doing parenting. Wave at your neighbour, praise their crops, say something to acknowledge who they are and what they are doing.

“Because when we acknowledge each other, we rise,” said Carrington.

Emotional disconnect is another big issue and something Carrington is particularly worried about during COVID-19. She asked listeners to imagine their grandparents' house packed full of children. If someone came home in a bad mood, everyone knew because they lived in such close proximity. Now, people have large houses and often more devices than kids.

“It’s critical that you look and see each other and acknowledge your spouse and your kids,” she said.

In her work as a psychologist with Carrington Services, the counselling practice she runs in Alberta, Carrington says during virtual staff meetings, her counsellors have the option to turn their cameras off. “I don’t let them! It doesn’t matter to me if you don’t have your bra on … this is a global pandemic!” She needs and wants the connection with her staff.

As part of the process of “walking each other home” Carrington

believes it is critical to model selfregulation. “Babies cry. They lose their friggin’ minds. The job of us big people is to soothe and walk them home. The more I co-regulate with a child in my presence, the more I give them the skills to do that when I am not there,” she explained.

“Never in the history of yelling at people to ‘calm down’ has anyone calmed down. You don’t tell them, you show them.”

Now, we are all getting “chippy” admits Carrington. “We are all feeling emotion that seems to have nowhere to go. You may have noticed we are all a lot chippier.

That’s because chippiness is contagious and it makes us shut down so that we have very little compassion to give away,” she said.

We are putting up armour. We are perpetuating the disconnect and our “burnout will be a fallout” unless we stay connected to each other.

With that admonition, she offered these five strategies to avoid burnout and stay connected during stressful times: 1. Reconnection: “Reconnection is an important word to me. It’s not always hard to connect with new people but it can be really hard to reconnect to our OWN people. It’s easier for me to be kind to other kids.

If they ask for help, I’ll say ‘sure, honey, let me help.’ My own kids ask for help and I’m yelling at them to do it themselves! Well, we need to serve the people we were given too. That goes to people in our community too.

We are responsible for each other’s mental health.”

2. Purpose: “Passion is sexier to talk about but I never met a person who is passionate about something who is not clear on their purpose. It’s not about finding passion, it’s about finding your purpose.”

3. Rest: “The data is phenomenal on this. You should be resting 10 hours a day. When I do a mental health assessment one of the first questions I ask is how are they sleeping. Sleep is the most significant predictor of your ability to regulate emotion. Think of what happens when a two-year-old misses her nap ... it’s a disaster! You are the same way!

4. Joy: “I think joy is a choice.

Something happens with laughter.

When was the last time you laughed with your babies? When was the last time you danced? We are wired to do the hard stuff but we were never meant to do it alone or without joy.”

5. Gratitude: “This is a practice.

Just like your golf shot or the capacity to judge a pen of heifers, it takes practice. If you do not practise you will not be good at it. We need to focus our attention on all the good things that happened today and they don’t have to be big things. Be conscious. I might say at this

moment, today, I am grateful I have a bottle of white wine in the fridge at home! This is the antidote, or at least the bandaid, to burnout.

Other tips she offered included: • Drop your shoulders. “When you drop your shoulders it sometimes leaks out of your eyes.”

• Give someone a compliment. “It is never too late, never once, to give someone a compliment.”

• Be careful what you consume: “Misery loves miserable company. It doesn’t enjoy optimism so be careful who you plug into on social media.” ◊

May the Peace and Joy of God’s love through Christ, be with you throughout the coming year!

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Christmas

Bright green silk ribbon and myrrh • By Fred Sloman •

A little girl in the burnt woods learns her times tables and what it means to be cherished Fred and Cela Sloman teaching in the school car. Date unknown. ~ Photo from the Northern Ontario Railway Musuem and Heritage Center.

“Myrrh” was written by Fred Sloman (now deceased) of Clinton, and is submitted to The Rural Voice by Toby Sloman Rainey, the youngest daughter of Fred and Cela Sloman, who still lives in Clinton.

The story was first published in December, 1929 by The Canadian National Magazine which is now discontinued. At the time it was considered the top market for distinguished fiction in Canada.

“Myrrh” was one of the earliest stories written by Fred Sloman. He began his School Car teaching in 1926. The story captures some of Sloman’s experiences after the Ontario Department of Education assigned him to teach children along the route from Capreol to Foleyet in Northern Ontario. The people in that area were usually immigrants trying to make a new life. They were desperate to earn and save enough money to bring their families from Europe while struggling to learn a new language at the same time. They worked for the railway, and they were miners, loggers and trappers.

When the “School Car” was retired in 1967 it was purchased by the Town of Clinton and converted into a popular museum, which now stands in Sloman Park in Clinton

By Fred Sloman here used to be a good story about Christmas. It was something about princes coming by starlight carrying gold and frankincense for a child. I understand it is told yet by radio to a few mothers who can sit by a fireplace under a rose-silk lamp.

Perhaps the old folk-tale will be printed in a magazine for December 25. I can’t recall it for my neighbor is an atheist and believes there is no God. He is Annie’s neighbor too.

T

32 The Rural Voice

We live in that county which is called Stark Reality. It is east of another county and beyond a dark rock from the county where you have your home. Not many voters live here and they never vote. It is a land of boulders and of tall pine trees that were burnt to ghost things 20 years ago.

There is no road, for people who have motor cars do not care to come in. But there is a trail through a swamp. There is a school on the hill but the wind has made it crooked.

There isn’t any house where people can come together to laugh. Half a mile away on the next rock is the shack of the bitter man who believes there is no God. He went to college once. Three miles past him through the swale is where Annie lives. She lives with five sisters … or six, counting the grown one who married her brother. Annie is eleven.

Annie and 17 others came to the crooked school that is in the middle of the county of Stark Reality. They were dirty and things crawled on them. At recess they played MudPush. It was very hard to teach them six times seven for nobody but mothers and God loves children who are not washed.

These had no bright red ball to toss about. As each pushed each down in the slushs and mud they did not laugh right. They could not join hands and go ring-around-a-rosie.

They could not chant London Bridge. They had not learned to play. They were children whose fathers’s seed had fallen on stony ground. Because it had no root it withered early, and Annie’s sister married when she was just barely 14.

The Minister of Education told me to tell them to sing “O Canada … From East to Western Sea…” Oh Canada!

These did not live in Canada. They lived in the County of Stark Reality with a swale, walls of gray hard rock and a thousand thousand burnt tree trunks. It is bounded north and

east and south and west by Canada.

Annie’s hair is blotched white in places and is very thin. It is tied in little tails‌ five of them‌ with bits of white rag.

The Minister of Education told me to teach Annie that six times seven is forty-two or forty-three or something.

I am doing that. The Minister said it was important for unless Annie or anybody else knows that six times seven is forty-two or forty-three they have little chance of ever helping in our nation’s trade and commerce. I told Annie that.

But the Minister of Education made a mistake. He shouldn’t have sent me to teach Arithmetic. He should have sent someone to teach a child. Annie should have been taught that there are children in the world who have rosy faces, and that there are blankets white as snow, and that there are merry-go-rounds and that Bobby Shafto went to sea.

The Minister of Education told me to write in a book how old Annie was and when she was born. That was difficult. Annie had no birthday. *** The school master swept the mud from the schoolroom floor. He had asked the children to find their ages and their birthday at home and bring it on the morrow. He paused at the window and watched them play mudpush until they disappeared in the burnt trees to the east and to the north.

They were bent frail things with shoulders slumped. They looked like little animals who watched the earth.

If they looked for a moment to the red in the sky their feet would bruise on the uneven road.

Presently there was no sound from the gray rock or the dead bush or from the sky. It hurt.

It hurt so that the schoolmaster wanted to speak, to hear a sound.

There were no words ‌ starved kids, without fairies ‌ kids who had yet to learn to play.

The schoolmaster picked a broken chalk from the floor. He wrote on the wall to keep from thinking of the stillness. A dead soldier wrote for him‌ “We are the dead‌ if ye break faith‌â€? That was senseless. He tried to think of the words for a tune he had once heard at the Gaiety. There were none. He went back to the window.

Annie was just topping the hill by the atheist’s shack. She looked very much like the dead trees.

The atheist believes there is no God ‌ but supposing there were, wouldn’t it be good if He were like the one of the old folk-tale where there was a star and some children some frankincense? Wouldn’t it be good if He should step out of a sunset to children in Stark Reality and smile and say: – “Come, ye and play with me a while.â€?

He would not ask them six times seven.

And not only living-dead Annie would hear. Stockbrokers and engineers, and merchants and mothers who can’t find their children at twilight would be glad ‌ “Come ye, and play with me a while.â€?

A morning came, a clear frosty morn-mud road to lumps of iron that bent the feet this way and that. It was December the Thirteenth.

Annie took off her father’s sweater

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and bent over the roaring stove.

Above her stockings as she bent there was just blue skin. Where a broken button let her dress open at the back there was just blue skin.

We stood around the stove that day to say six times seven and to read a lesson. There did not seem any laugh on any page. We tried to make a story but Ridinghood who lived in a pretty village… but a village we did not comprehend… it had too many houses.

When we were warm at ten o’clock we took our seats. Little Gubby and big Ollich and all the rest copied words out of a book. If they hadn’t copied work to take home their fathers would know they were not learning anything and would keep them at home so as not to waste their time. That’s why they wrote empty words. The lesson was really about “Who has seen the wind”… it is a song and in schools south of the county of Stark Reality, that lesson makes kiddies see winds ripping lakes in Fairyland, and making cheeks rosy on slopes in Maine and carrying golden galleons around The Horn.

Our winds just make flesh blue where stockings don’t come much about the knee.

The Minister of Education wanted names and ages in a book.

He wanted it for The Great Statistician.

Some had brought the date of birth on a margin of paper. Some had remembered it. Two had forgotten to ask it at home. The teacher wrote them down as best he could.

When it came Annie’s turn, the child said “December 13.”

The teacher thought … she is a frightened, frozen hungry thing. She is confused. She is mixed with to-day by the calendar. She is afraid she will be hit with a heavy stick … one is not like that on one’s birthday and today was December 13.

The teacher pretended to write and passed to the next child. He laughed with this one and that. He fixed the fire and made a gay picture on the wall.

Presently he asked again, “when did you say your birthday 34 The Rural Voice

came, Annie?”

The child said, “December 13”.

There was no spark of light in the sick blue eyes. There was no flicker of consciousness that this day rounded out the eleventh year of happy childhood. This was just one of five girls who came one after another, or one of six if you counted the sister who was married to her brother.

Annie would be like her mother. In time there would be no flicker of consciousness that a thirteenth of December had rounded our a fortieth year.

The teacher said, “Why Annie, today must be your birthday.”

The child just dully answered, “Is it?”

The schoolmaster swung his big chair in front of Annie and looked deep into the sick blue eyes.

Annie, do you know that the King of all those red places on the map has ten thousand thousand children and every single one of them has a birthday. Some have birthdays in the Spring when there are blue flowers and some have birthdays in the Fall when there are brown flowers and rich gold leaves. Some have birthdays in the winter when the fairies make little light to shine in every bit of snow.

Even the King in England has a birthday and so have old men and men who have automobiles, and women, and babies and people who are in jail. If the King in England knew that even one girl who lived in the bush had no birthday he would be very angry for 10,000 people in Winnipeg and Elora and Hamilton and Montreal and all the places of the map promised him faithfully that they would see that no girl was missed.

But of course a few might be missed when there are so many.

The best time of all to have a birthday is in December, for on some day or other in that month the best birthday of all was given. It was for a Baby and he was born in a shack in a far far land.

The King was so glad for that birthday that even the stars shone brighter and away over the bush the north lights made a better green and red and gold.

An that night, fairies in the air came close and sang a song for little

ones… “Kyrie, Kyrie, Kyrie,” they sang.

And that night mothers all over the world wakened and leaned over and touched their own little ones on the hair… softly, softly… just like that…

And that night three Princes heard about it and they came by starlight and they brought presents… they brought Gold and Frankincense, and Myrrh…

“Myrrh…” said little Annie, her little lips surprised into repeating the unfamiliar word. old, frankincense and myrrh… that’s why to this day mothers in Toronto and in Liskeard go in on birthdays and waken their little girls with a kiss and give them a bright gift. They laugh with them, and they clap their hands and have a dancing feeling in their hearts. They go into the kitchen and they make them a dandy cake with candy on it and on the candy they light little candles, one for every year so that every year birthdays are brighter and brighter. Some people put on eleven candles.

In the teacher’s house across the yard there was just a bed and a stove and some blue books that told how to teach six times seven.

It took about seven minutes by the clock to throw things into a boot-box.

There was the bright silver paper from a chocolate bar, a new pair of shoe laces, a broken fountain pen, a brass padlock, a pencil almost whole, some nails, a soda biscuit and a khaki handkerchief. On top of it, lying loose was a yard of bright green silk ribbon.

A red tissue paper was wrapped around and tied and the whole loosely bundled in a newspaper. The value of the gift was 17 cents.

It was dropped on the desk before the open-mouthed Annie. The newspaper fell back and showed the red box.

“You see, Annie, my Fairy’s wing hurts today. She was too tired to fly to the King or to the Broker, but I coaxed her and she sent this.”

The class took their arithmetic and their geography and the teacher showed them Madagascar and the river Nile on the big map. Annie sat with arms hanging limp on each side and staring past the red box and the

G

soiled newspaper. We asked her “Six times seven?”

Her ear caught her name for she turned a little, looked vacantly and her little lips tried the unfamiliar word, “Myrrh”.

In the burnt bush on the thirteenth of December it gets dusk soon after four o’clock. The little animal children do not loiter for the three miles of swamp is a rough path. It took Annie an interminable time to button and re-button her father’s old sweater. Finally she went to the door and looked north and looked east but the road was clear. She came back and said brightly: “Oh, I forgot my box!”

She lied.

From the school window she looked very much less than the dead trees. She clasped the red box with both arms. She would run a few steps, then stop. She would put the box to her ear, to her lips. She would shake it a little and then run on.

She was lost in the swale and then came on the little knoll beyond. She sat down and seemed to break the string. If she did, the first thing that would break upon her hungry little eyes would be a yard of soft bright green silk ribbon. I only know she jumped, clasped her hands over her head, and danced and then grabbed paper and box and ran like a deer over the rise… away into the dark, past her neighbour who believes there is no God. The teacher melted sugar and whitened it with flour and spread it over a half loaf of gingerbread. He took frozen wintergreen berries from the dead bush and set them like a star.

He pared three common candles to Christmas size and set them in place for Annie’s birthday cake.

It was late at night when he got through the dark trails to the shack.

Stars were over it… not bright.

Annie was lying on the other bed covered with a dark rag. Tight to her face she hugged a broken shoe box and a torn red paper that covered a tinsel and a broken lock. Bright green silk ribbon was tangled in her little fingers.

The light on her face disturbed her.

She stirred in her sleep and smiled, and murmured, “Myrrh”.

She was dreaming. ◊ December 2020 35

By Amanda Brodhagen

Who let the hogs out?

Junior Farmers turned to virtual events like everyone else but they also got creative with group events to support others, raise funds and build rural leaders through personal growth

Huron-Perth Junior Farmers got creative with old water barrels and recycled jugs to create plastic pigs to be dropped off at rural homes and businesses for a drop-off or pick-up fee. The money raised will go towards purchasing a live pig to be raised for a food bank. Top, Jolande Oudshoorn from Huron-Perth JF puts the finishing touches on the homemade pigs. Above, Logan Saunders, Maddie Saunders, Christine Wyville, Sarah Wyville, Sydney Martin take a selfie while participating in a car rally in Grey County.

36 The Rural Voice

T

his year has been a challenging time for many, but especially for youth. However, rural youth organizations like Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario (JFAO) have looked for creative ways to continue on with their mission: “To build rural leaders through personal growth, travel, experiences, and community betterment.”

“This year continues to be full of challenges and hurdles, but that hasn't stopped Junior Farmers from across the province,” said Elizabeth Bruce from Oxford County who is currently serving as the President of JFAO. At the provincial level, the Junior Farmers have moved events online, which has allowed members from across the province to stay connected while keeping their communities safe. She notes that their annual Ontario Young Farmers’ Forum which is normally held in conjunction with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture AGM evolved this year into a webinar series.

“Moving online has allowed us to host speakers from across Canada, which would not have been possible for an in person event,” said Bruce.

Bruce lists examples of what clubs have been doing at the local level.

“Instead of their annual ice cream fundraisers, Huron-Perth JF is raising funds through their “Who Let the Hogs Out!” travelling lawn ornament initiative. While Middlesex JF normally volunteers at local 4Grey County JF members Christine Wyville, Logan H events, this year they hosted a virtual Go for the Gold 4-H Saunders, Sarah Wyville, Sydney Martin, Maddie practice night for local 4-Hers to complete with Dairy Queen Saunders pose for another selfie as part of their car rally gift cards as prizes! And Grey County JF held a Community event. Below, the Middlesex JF handed out halloween Car Rally raising funds for their local hospice. In addition, candy as part of a food drive at the Komoka Foodland. multiple clubs have practiced social distancing while Bottom, the Oxford JF connect virtually. collecting garbage along the ditches of their club’s adopted roads,” she added.

One project in particular that has gained a lot of momentum is Huron-Perth JF’s “Who Let the Hogs Out” fundraiser. “With COVID the Huron-Perth Club were looking at a way to do something fun but give back to the community,” said Crystal Blake social media rep for Huron-Perth JF. “Members Lauren Bos and Jolande Oudshoorn researched what Huron and Perth Counties are known for and they concluded that both have a high concentration of pig farming.

Members decided to construct pigs with the help of members and alumni members assisted with transporting the pigs across various locations in Perth and Huron Counties with a sign that explained what they were doing.

“We charged $10 to come pick the hogs up, $20 to pick up and drop off at a place of your choice, and $30 to have all of the above and never see them again, and also offered a trucking fee if you wanted to send them to a friend,” said Blake.

The Perth and Huron County Pork Producers kindly made a donation to help cover the costs to allow all the money collected to go to charity. All proceeds are going towards buying a pig and having it butchered for local food banks in each county.

“As we navigate through this pandemic, Junior Farmers will continue to find creative ways to stay engaged and involved in their local communities, because nothing can stop a determined Junior Farmer!” said Bruce. ◊ December 2020 37

Looking Back

The games people played ... outside!

• By Arnold Mathers •

I

t is almost unbelievable how playing has changed over my lifetime. I have a baseball team of grandchildren and their play bears no resemblance to how we amused ourselves as children. They spend their play time with their noses buried in a DSL or similar electronic device. They invent a dog and teach it electronic tricks. What happened to real dogs? They watch an average of three TV shows and one video a day and spend a lot of time texting their friends. When I was a kid, my Mother had a rule: no hats at the table. Now we have a rule: no cell phones at the table and that rule is as much for the adults as the younger folks.

There were few games that one could play outside alone so Dad taught me the hoop and stick game.

We had a bunch of old metal hoops hanging in our driving shed. The hoops were about a foot across. The game was to roll the hoop with a stick. The stick was a slat with a cross piece at the bottom end like a tee. Once I learned to get the hoop rolling, the next step was to learn to turn corners and go up and down hill.

I logged in miles every day with my hoop and stick. We still have a hoop and stick. I have tried to teach our grandchildren the game but they keep getting interrupted by messages on the cell phones When I was seven years old, in the mid-1940s, we moved to the farm on the Second Concession. It had a big front lawn from the house to the road and a big back lawn from the house to the barn. For the first year, Mother tried to cut it with a push mower. It was impossible to keep ahead of the grass and Dad was a farmer, which did not include lawn mowing. Mother was a teacher but stayed at home to raise the family and help on the farm. She filled in for the teacher at our school for a few days in June. When her pay check arrived, she raced off to town and 38 The Rural Voice

Hoop and stick was even more fun when you cut paths into the grass to create roads, intersections and parking lots.

bought one of those new-fangled motor-driven rotary mowers. I expect that Dad thought that was a pretty frivolous purchase but it was her money. The downside was that I was expected to push the darn thing.

Well, that led to one of our favorite games. I would cut the front yard normally but the back yard I cut into streets and parking lots. Now the hoop and stick game had a purpose.

Being a farm boy, it was fun to pretend that the backyard was a town or city and I was driving the streets, stopping at the intersections and pulling into a parking lot. We had to watch out for hoops coming from the other direction and the odd chicken pedestrian.

When I started school I learned some new team games. Tag was likely the usual game at most schools. Any number can play, the rules are simple and the slowest kid likely gets the most exercise. There were variations like no-touch back or freeze-tag.

We were about 20 students in grades one to eight and Anty-AntyOver was a favorite recess game. I have no idea where the name came from except the “over” part. A team of half the children lined up on each side of the school. One of the bigger kids threw a ball over the roof of the

school and everybody on that team yelled “Anty-Anty-Over”. If the other team caught the ball, they all ran around the school and tried to catch someone from the team that threw it. If they missed the ball, someone threw it back over to the other team and the roles reversed.

Anyone who was captured joined that team. (The rules were so simple that it now seems difficult to explain.) The game had no beginning and no end, no winners and no losers.

We just played until the bell rang. A few people got injured running into other players and the shingle roof took a bit of a beating but that was life in those days.

On indoor days, we played Footin-the-Corner. Each of the players found a corner of the room and held their heel in the corner. The object was to get all the way around the school without being caught without a corner. One person was out or ‘it’.

The person who was ‘it’ shouted, “Pussy wants a corner” and everybody had to run to another corner including the ‘it’ person.

Whoever didn’t get their heel in a corner was now ‘it’. In our school with cupboards and a raised platform at the front and three doorways there were enough corners for everybody who wanted to play. The danger of

this game was getting your foot stepped on by someone trying to beat you to the corner. Looking back on the game, the teacher must have dreaded indoor recesses but to their credit no teacher ever outlawed it.

In the good weather, we played Scrub. This is a variation of softball without teams. Everybody plays every position. There were three batters. If the batter did not get to first he was “out” and had to go to far left field and everybody else moved up a position. The catcher became the next batter. If two batters got on base, the third batter had to bring in a runner or the batter was out.

Everybody played, from grade one to the big tall guy in grade eight who had failed twice and could drive the car to school. The big kids helped the little ones learn. No umpires or coaches were needed. We gobbled our lunch and got the game underway ASAP and didn’t stop until the bell.

Next day same positions and the game continued.

Another game that lasted longer than Anty-Anty-Over was called Red Rover. This game was more popular at our children’s school and after I became a teacher. The teams of any number lined up opposite each other.

One team linked arms and when they yelled “Red Rover Red Rover Come Over”, the other team tried to break through the line. Then the teams reversed roles. I’m not sure that there was any clear object to the game but there was a lot of bumps and bruising which is good for children growing up. You learn a lot about team work, your friend may be your opposition in a game but not to be taken too seriously.

Lots of creative activities arose when playing with friends or cousins.

We did not have playgrounds with slides and climbers so we invented our own. We climbed trees. We climbed the beams in the barn. We slid down the sides of the haymow. I was a height sissy so I didn’t climb the high beams but a couple of my cousins could have built bridges with the Mohawks. They could run along the beams and shimmy around the top of the silo. I definitely liked the lower branches. I didn’t have any brothers and my mother didn’t like me climbing trees so that’s my

excuses for acrophobia.

When we had to spend time indoors, my cousin and I wrote and produced plays which we forced either his or my family to watch.

He did the illustrating and I did the writing. This early partnership in the arts was a foreshadowing of what would come later. I wrote plays for our school concerts and still write short stories. My cousin, Wayne, became an artist and worked for a TV station and later became the designer for the Eddy Match Company.

I belonged to a very active Young People’s group at Belgrave United Church. Every Sunday night we met and had brief devotions and then played games. One of the really good life-skills game was Telephone.

Everybody sat in a circle and one person drew a slip of paper from a box. That person whispered the word or sentence that was on the slip of paper to the next person, and that one to the next person and so on. The last person then told what he or she heard and then the first person read what

was on the slip of paper. The final word or sentence bore little resemblance to the start. This was a good lesson for life; the gossip you hear likely bears faint resemblance to the truth.

We also played Wink. All the girls sat in a circle with a boy standing behind each girl. The boys held their hands behind their backs. There was one empty chair. The boy who was standing behind the empty chair would wink at a girl and she would try to get to that chair before the boy behind her chair could grab her shoulders. Now that I look back on this game from an adult perspective, there are several elements of the game that I better understand. It was likely very telling which girl sat in front of which boy. It was likely also very important which girl the boy winked at. I don’t remember being a very good winker and wearing glasses didn’t help but I think that I was a pretty good grabber. I married one of the girls in that Young People’s group and I have held onto her for over half a century. ◊

December 2020 39

Recipes by Nancy Fisher

A new kind of Christmas celebration

C

hristmas is usually a time for big parties and family gatherings, but this year things may be a little different.

However, I strongly believe that we can make the best of trying times and adapt our ways to suit our circumstances. And what better time to find new ways to reach out and embrace the season, than when the hearts of the world are filled with celebration.

I, for the first time in years, am planning to send out Christmas cards.

So many of us have left this lovely tradition behind. Our busy schedules, and fast paced world leave little time for the slow art of writing a card and

sending it off in the mail. But perhaps 2020 is just the year to revive that custom? There may be friends and family that you won’t be seeing in person, or elderly relations that are social distancing. I think it would brighten anyone’s day to receive a cheery card in December (or even later…)

There may be those special friends for whom you want to drop off a little gift along with the card and I love to send along a jar of a homemade jam or chutney that will be enjoyed for days or weeks to come.

I have been making Pear Pineapple jam for years, well

- decades. The sunny colour of the finished product is a lovely and sweet addition to some toast or on a cracker with a sharp cheddar. It is a great preserve to make at this time of year as pears are still widely available and the pineapple comes from a can.

There are quite a few recipes and I have adapted this one a few times over the years. Compared to some others this seems to have a lot of sugar….but it is Christmas after all.

The sending of Christmas cards might be a custom to reestablish during COVID-19. Or send a jar of pear pineapple jam (left). Above, toffee apple pudding is a sugary treat while Big Flavour Sloppy Joes taste good served fresh and as leftovers the next day.

40 The Rural Voice

Recipes Pear Pineapple Jam Ingredients: Approximately 2 lbs of ripe pears 1 cup of canned crushed pineapple The grated rind (approximately 1 tablespoon) and juice of a lemon ( ¼ - ½ cup) 6 ½ cups of white sugar 1 packet of pectin Directions: Peel, core, and finely dice the pears so you have about 3 cups of prepared fruit. Pour into a large pot (stainless is best) along with the pineapple, lemon zest and juice.

Mix well and add the sugar. Stir to allow the sugar to absorb and then cook over a medium heat to a boil.

Boil briskly for about 5 minutes, lower the heat to keep a roiling boil, stirring often and watching the contents do not scorch.

Remove from heat and add pectin.

Continue to stir and skim any foam. The reason for stirring is to prevent the bits of fruit from rising.

For some reason mine still rises to the top of the bottles, but I don’t mind the look. Perhaps I just get tired of stirring too soon.

Pour into warm sterilized bottles.

Seal and process following recommended canning practices.

This is a great time to use all those fancy little jam jars and add a ribbon or pop into a nice little gift bag. o perhaps you are out delivering your local cards and bottles of jam and when you get home you would love a warm, filling, throw-back meal? I recently felt like that after an afternoon of yard work and suddenly craved a favourite meal from my childhood - sloppy joes. I fully admit to grabbing a can of that store bought sauce when my kids were little and I needed a fast meal, but I’ve discovered that making them from scratch is not all that time consuming and the flavour is over the top.

Big Flavour Sloppy Joes Ingredients: Olive oil for the pan ½ cup of grated carrot 1 finely chopped yellow onion A pinch of celery salt 2 cloves of garlic crushed or minced ½ teaspoon salt 1-1 ½ pounds of ground beef -

S

ground turkey can work too ½ cup ketchup 1 small can (mine was 398 ml) of good quality diced tomatoes - I diced mine even finer before adding 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon vinegar 2 tablespoons brown sugar Pinch of dried pepper flakes to taste Directions: In a large sauté pan soften the onion and garlic for a few minutes and add the shredded carrot. You can add a bit of finely chopped sweet pepper here as well if you want.

Add the ground meat and season with celery salt, salt, and black pepper. I like to sauté the meat until it is thoroughly cooked and getting a bit dry. I want the final mixture to be able to sit on the bun without being too sloppy so I don’t want any excess moisture.

Add the ketchup, diced tomatoes, worcestershire sauce, vinegar and brown sugar.

The final taste should be a bit on the sweet side with a back tang from the vinegar - much like a sweet BBQ sauce. You can adjust seasonings and add the hot pepper flakes to taste.

Stir and simmer for five minutes to make sure it is thoroughly cooked and the flavours have melded nicely.

Serve on good old hamburger buns with a nice side salad.

I will say as I was typing this out I had to stop, go dig out the leftovers from my fridge and reheat for lunch.

And I am happy to report that like all good one-pot types of meals, it was even better the next day. ften at this time of year we are attending some Christmas meals and gatherings. I frequently choose to have the Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert. I won’t claim this next recipe is an exact replica of that flavour but it is a pretty good and easy winter dessert.

It’s great when you have the oven on already to slide this in as well.

I have made a much lighter version of this pudding without the apples for years. I’d like to say adding the apples makes this healthier, but there is a lot of sugar in this. It is important to use dark brown sugar for the sauce. Dark brown sugar contains more molasses than

O

light and it is that deep rich molasses flavour you want. Serve with cream or custard, but it’s fine all on its own.

Toffee Apple Pudding Ingredients: 2 tablespoons melted butter 1 ¼ cup flour 1 tablespoon baking powder ½ cup golden or dark brown sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup milk 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 large peeled sliced apples - good to use a tart apple here to contrast the sweetness.

Topping: 1 cup dark brown sugar 1 cup boiling water ½ cup chopped pecans Directions: Preheat oven 375°F Coat a 2-litre oven-proof dish with the melted butter. Arrange the sliced apples in the bottom of the dish.

In a bowl mix together flour, baking powder, first portion of sugar and salt.

Combine the milk, vanilla and egg and stir into the dry ingredients until you get a smooth batter.

Pour the batter over the apples and make sure they are all coated.

For the topping put the dark brown sugar in a heatproof dish and pour in one cup of boiling water.

Stir to melt the sugar.

Carefully pour this mixture over the apples and batter.

Sprinkle with the chopped pecans (they are optional) and bake for about 40 minutes.

When it comes out there should be a dense apple-pecan cake on top and a rich sauce on the bottom.

Allow to cool a bit before serving as the sauce is super hot.

A big scoop of this on a cold winter’s night is a hug in a bowl. hristmas may look a lot different this year, but the flavours of our favourite meals are still there to enjoy.

Make sure to reach out to those friends and neighbours who may be on their own more this year and share some extra treats with them. I wish you a very happy holiday season and much joy in 2021. ◊

C

December 2020 41

Gardening Rhea HamiltonSeeger is a skilled cook and gardener who lives in Goderich.

Thank you for your business in 2020 Best wishes for a safe, healthy holiday season. www.livelandscape.ca Lisa Van Bakel 519-949-3444 Email: lisa@livelandscape.ca OVER 25 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

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World soil day is a reminder to admire and protect it We walk on it, dig it up, flip it over, dump stuff on it, buy it by the bag or the truck load, and we often don’t give much thought to it. Soil is the living base of our existence. The amazing combination of minerals, organic matter and microscopic creatures that make up this essential material is often lost on us as we work away growing and harvesting our crops, whether in our gardens or in our fields.

There is clear evidence showing that healthy soils grow healthier crops. The nutrient makeup of our vegetables and other food crops is dependent on what the plants are fed, those same essential elements that we too need to prosper.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has set aside December 5 as World Soil Day to educate and remind us all that we need to consider care of soil into everything we do when working with it.

There is a focus on soil biodiversity. We understand more about the myriad of living organisms, many that we cannot see with the naked eye, that make up a healthy soil. As gardeners we are aware of the role of microrrhizae, a mutual symbiotic relationship between fungus and plants that occurs in the soil. A healthy soil promotes this, but did you know an excessive amount of fertilizer especially phosphorus will inhibit this relationship? A little goes a long way but excessive amounts would be detrimental.

We have to recognize how much healthy soils act as carbon sequesters and absorb and hold moisture longer, both features necessary in these times of climate change.

Holding back moisture allows for

less erosion and in light of erratic rain, offers more resiliency for crops.

And of course it enhances plant health.

In our gardens we are well aware of the benefits of applying compost and covers of mulch. Is it much harder to do on a grander scale like hundreds of acres? I don’t think so.

Farmers have been using animal nutrients (manure) on cropland for generations. We have come to learn about porosity of our soils and protect from nutrient runoff with guidelines on amounts and indicators of prime conditions to make the best use of the nutrients.

To celebrate World Soil Day, and enjoy a quick walk, consider the Huronview Farm located way behind the long-term care facility, Huronview, on Highway 4 south of Clinton. Readers of The Rural Voice will be familiar with the land and of the far-sighted plan of the County of Huron leasing the 50 acres to the Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association. It has offered the Huron Stewardship Council, and the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority to work with the Association to show everyone how improvements to the land can keep farmland sustainable, and healthier, as well as profitable.

Among the features they are demonstrating are continuous no-till and cover crops. We had over 40 years of no till on our farm and it does make a difference. Our land is quite stony and after each spring work up of the land and before seeding, or immediately right after seeding, we would be out with the wagon picking up rocks that had surfaced. Later it became a pastime to walk to the back of the farm and pick up rocks with lovely colours or marvel at the fossils we would find.

It was only last year we were commenting on how we almost never see a large rock on the surface of the field. It became easier when planting crops and most certainly easier on the equipment.

I must admit I am fascinated by cover crops. There is an extensive variety of seeds available that produce a green cover for soil and then are gently turned over to create a “green manure”, or the next crop is

Gardening simply planted right into the cover crop.

We add our compost to the garden and mulch but if you have a large vegetable garden maybe a cover crop for winter could be considered. We all have a lot to learn.

Another benefit of the Huronview farm is the data that is being collected to show our farming community the benefits of tending to the health of the soil. We can learn from this too.

In light of COVID-19 this year, a greater number of people decided to try their hand at gardening. I am sure there were a lot of conversations over the fence about the right way and the wrong way to sow seeds, to watering, and then what to do with the harvest, or, in our case, lack of tomato harvest. It is rather exciting to see such a return to vegetable gardening.

It makes one appreciate the work that goes into growing food.

On another note; Guelph University is offering a Soil Health Research Forum: Behavior Change, Baseline Data and BMPs on Monday December 7. Of course it’s virtual. It is put together by the Ontario AgriFood Innovation Alliance (a collaboration between the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the University of Guelph) in partnership with Soils at Guelph. The event will share recent research findings related to soil health; spotlight projects supporting implementation of Ontario’s soil strategy; and promote knowledgesharing between researchers, industry and government. To register and for more information, please visit the event webpage: https://www uoguelph.ca/alliance/events/2020/12/ soil-health-research-forum%E2%80%93-behavior-changebaseline-data-and-bmps I know I started this column with references to our somewhat abusive behavior to soil. We also love to dig our hands into it, smell it and lament over the slowness it takes for it to warm up in the spring. Then we revel in the warmth it emits in the summer and love the creatures that inhabit our soil: the fat worms, the grubs and busy ants. We all enjoy the soil and it if it is healthy, so are we. ◊

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Christmas • By Hetty Stuart •

The hand-made, Ottie Wissler knives Old man Wissler’s hand-made knives are being wrapped for the Wright family’s secondhand Christmas

J

oan Wright is a proud owner of about seven of these home-made knives, knives that were made half a century ago, in her very own backyard.

“Ottie Wissler, our neighbour in Teeswater, was ancient back when I knew him as an eight year old,” Joan remembers. “When I looked up his obituary, he couldn’t have been really that old, but to me he just was!

He had a small shed that backed onto our property where he would fabricate many wonderful things.”

One of those things was the kitchen knife, the paring knife, and the butcher’s knife. He hand forged the blades, and made wooden handles for them. “My parents, who fondly called his work ‘tinkering around’ were the proud owners of several.

My siblings and I used the knives as much as my parents did.”

These knives were used exclusively in her family home, and when Joan got married, her dad had some made for her. After 47 years, she still uses them; in fact, some paring knives have whittled down to thin crescents.

“Like so many things, they’ve become more valuable to my siblings and me, not only as the Ottie Wissler knives, but as memories. I still have a few extras in my possession that I plan to share for Christmas.”

This Christmas, due to the restrictions caused by COVID-19, Joan’s family is doing a twist to giftgiving: it has to be second-hand, and it has to be in good working order.

Joan’s gift will be her hand-made knives to her siblings who will value these tools. Her children too, look on with nostalgia at these Ottie Wissler knives – someday, they will be proud owners of the remaining knives and the stories that they bring with them.

So lives the legend of the Ottie Wissler knives. ◊

44 The Rural Voice

Ottie Wissler was an old man when Joan Wright was a child but she remembers him making knives for her family . Then her dad commissioned a set of knives to give to Joan when she married. The knives have since become family treasures and will make perfect second-hand gifts for the Wright family Christmas this year: a secondhand Christmas.

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News • By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot•

Grey Federation: A trail with two halves Agriculture is poised to be the leader for economic recovery during COVID-19 says leader at annual meeting

C

ommunication has been the joiner on a year that was like a trail with two halves: pre COVD-19 and COVID-19, says Keith Currie.

Currie, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture shared the screen with several others at the Grey Federation of Agriculture’s (GCFA) annual meeting held virtually on October 14.

“The agriculture industry is very much poised to be the leader for economic recovery during COVID19,” explained Currie. “We need to make sure we enhance the agriculture industry as best as we can because it’s hard to get the federal government to understand.”

Provincially, however, the minister of agriculture, Ernie Hardeman, was “all in” said Currie.

“For the first three or four months we talked to Hardeman three times a week and to his staff every day.

There were lots of little things they did to alleviate the pressures and concerns. We are not out of it but there are solutions coming to the table for jobs and recovery. They are looking to the agriculture industry as helping with the recovery going forward.”

Currie said there has also been lots of activity with the freedom of information request in regards to farm business registration holders.

When OMAFRA made the decision to release the names, an appeal application was already ready to be filed. “That appeal puts the process on hold,” explained Currie. “We feel this is an infringement on the industry when everyone wants everyone's information. Most appeals take up to two years to be resolved so we will see what the mediator works out. It is in the hands of the mediator now.”

To finish his presentation, Currie

46 The Rural Voice

Last year, members of the Grey County Federation of Agriculture were able to meet in person and in close proximity. COVID-19 has changed how GCFA meets and this year’s meeting was held virtually. No photo! So here are some of the Grey faces quoted in this article fr0m last year’s photo (Left to right) Paul McQueen, Bill Herron, Allen Hughes, Kevin Raszmann, Hugh Simpson, Jackie Pennings, Paul Wettlaufer, Dianne Booker, Paul Vickers.

said it is important to discuss the OFA team as a whole. “This organization is blessed from top to bottom with great staff and volunteers,” he said. “I can’t say enough about the staff for what they have done during COVID-19.”

Paul Vickers, the Zone 2 Regional Director for Grey Bruce said OFA has had many organizational wins this year. These include influences on the climate change panel, Bill 156, investments in rural infrastructure, natural gas and broadband services plus conservation authority consultations.

“We also received funding to help farmers pay for protective equipment during COVID-19 and insurance needs to cover the losses when they could not hire labourers,” explained Vickers. “We also worked with beef, sheep and grain farmers and saw

$150 million added to the risk management program.”

On a local level, he said the federations gave gifts to frontline workers to recognize their dedication during the pandemic.

He called attention to the OFA’s COVID-19 resource hub on the federation website where farmers can find all the information they need to understand rules and regulations in regards to the pandemic.

Vickers also highlighted the Feeding our Future program which is a new initiative of the OFA to connect employers to job seekers. “If you are hiring on your farm, check it out and see what it has to offer,” he said. The site also includes webinars on a number of topics as well as information on training opportunities.

‘Always in Season’ is another toolkit offered by the OFA for local food

News practitioners. “The goal is to increase local food sales and provide ideas for local producers to add value to their products,” explained Vickers.

Part of OFA’s goals is to develop priority media campaigns for print, radio and television. On social media, the hashtag #OntAgProud has had “huge uptake” across all platforms. “It was created to celebrate farmers and everyone involved in the supply food chain,” said Vickers. “We want to spread confidence about the local Canadian food supply.”

In the future, the OFA will focus on: • Implementing Bill 156 • Economic recovery with regional task forces • Lobbying and planning for resilience in the agriculture industry • Dealing with animal activism • Developing economic passports to strengthen economies and reduce regulatory burdens to help businesses grow in these challenging times • Strengthen the voice of Ontario farmers • Make sure OFA offers efficient and streamlined services Closing off the speaker portion of the virtual meeting, the outgoing president, Hugh Simpson, said it was an honour to serve as president and he looked forward to more time on the board as a past president and director.

Like Vickers, Simpson noted that communication is key to moving forward. “What has become very clear is that we are communicating with a more and more diverse audience,” said Simpson. “We have come to learn as farmers that there is a real influence on our businesses, our lifestyle and our livelihood from interest groups that don’t always have the same philosophies or experiences that we do.” He said the GCFA has really tried to think about those diverse audiences and looked for ways to broaden their message to gain traction and understanding with that complex audience. Twitter has been a particularly effective option for getting the GCFA voice heard, said Simpson.

In terms of virtual meetings, the GCFA has embraced them with

board meetings and also hosting online meetings with five or six people in leadership to address the big issues on people’s minds. “This year, we also embraced the value of personal visits,” said Simpson.

“Myself and others spend quite a bit of time on the road to visit with municipal council members formally and informally.”

The GCFA social committee also embraced Shed Talks to profile specialists in the area on their subjects of expertise. “We did it around chicken wings or something where people would not feel intimidated by the format,” explained Simpson.

He also felt that headway was made meeting with the local conservation authorities. “We hope to reconstitute those discussions and gain direct input in an advisory form,” said Simpson.

The establishment of an agriculture advisory committee at the county level is also being worked on.

“We want a committee created so that when the county council is

deliberating on policy and thinking of new ideas, they are thinking about agriculture in a way that is informed by farmers,” explained Simpson.

Lastly, Simpson wanted to acknowledge the directors of the GCFA board. “Some are more quiet than others but they all bring a strong voice in their advocacy for agriculture. They have a lot of wisdom, passion and energy for agriculture,” concluded Simpson. ◊

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News • By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot •

Bev Hill recognized for contributions to agriculture Hill was called “a force within the agriculture community” as he is honoured at Huron Federation’s annual meeting

D

escribed as a “force within the agriculture community”, Bev Hill was awarded with the Huron County Federation of Agriculture’s trophy for outstanding contributions to agriculture.

“In recent years, Bev Hill has cultivated the future leadership of HCFA by encouraging and pushing those he saw with potential forward,” said Erica Murray in a virtual presentation of the award at the HCFA annual meeting held October 26.

Hill sat on the board table of the HCFA for many years advocating for the needs of Huron County farmers and has been a local voice to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, added Murray. “A few years ago at an OFA convention, he asked all the Huron County delegates under the age of 50 to stand and proudly proclaimed that he was in the minority now and if Huron could do it so could others. What he didn’t mention was that many of us were there thanks to his dedication and encouragement.”

Hill is a long-time farmer and owner/manager of Hill & Hill Farms Ltd., in Varna which he runs with family members. Congratulations on the win came in from HCFA Twitters followers who said: “Bev Hill’s father Gordon was a close friend of my dad’s from OFA days in the ’70s. I’ve met Bev and he’s just like his Dad. He cares a great deal about the Ag community and is a great guy. Congratulations Bev.” ~Harry Bennett “No one deserves it more!

Congrats Bev!” ~Jim Burns A video of Murray presenting the award to Hill at his office sees Hill chuckling and saying, “Well, for goodness sakes! I’m floored!”

Part of the HCFA annual meeting included a presentation from Gwen

48 The Rural Voice

Devereaux of Gateway from the Centre of Excellence in Rural Health on the Farmers Mental Health and Resiliency Project.

The project goal is to improve mental health among the farming community via building resiliency to deal with the demands of the job and accompanying lifestyle. The project also hopes to increase social capital among the farming community. Another goal is to maintain and improve a healthy, sustainable workforce.

Huron, Perth, Grey and Bruce counties have a total of 12,710 farmers who generate Bev Hill, owner of Hill & Hill Farms Ltd., farm leader $2.7 billion in farm and federation volunteer was recognized for his cash receipts annually. outstanding contributions to agriculture with the These counties are the annual award presented by the Huron County most agriculturally Federation of Agriculture’s Erica Murray. productive counties in election process where Rob all of Ontario, stated Devereaux.

VandenHengel was named the new “Agriculture plays a vital role in our president and Murray Workman the community and is a driving factor in new vice-president. ◊ our local economy.”

The project will empower the agricultural community, generate support, increase access to services, reduce stigma, increase resiliency and improve mental health.

Shed Talks, health coaching, a support line and farm safety programs will be offered via the program. To move ahead, the Farmers Mental Health and Automobile, Residential, Farm & Commercial Properties Resiliency Project needs local 507 Main St. S., Exeter partnerships, funding, community 519-235-0350 support and grant opportunities. www.usborneandhibbert.ca Moving on from the presentation, the HCFA annual included an

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News • By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot •

Outdoor education offered during COVID-19 The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority offers several learning opportunities for students and families

N

ature is a place where you can go for a walk, to look at the trees, clear your mind and forget about COVID-19 for a while.

It’s a great place to learn too!

So says Kate Monk, the stewardship, land and education manager for Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority as the organization pivots to offer outdoor education opportunities to schools, home learners and families.

Living World Walk, Animal Adventures, Fantastic Fossils and Local Water Systems are a few titles from over 12 programs the ABCA offered in the fall. This winter starting in December, they will be offering a “Christmas in the Forest” program.

“People can book a time with a group of people from their bubble. It will include a hike at Morrison Dam (near Exeter) and a nature craft,” explains Monk. “We think it will be a safe way for family and cousins to get together over Christmas.”

Teaching during COVID-19 has required a real shift for conservation authorities, admits Monk.

Kate Monk, Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority

50 The Rural Voice

They immediately started providing curriculum-based programming online for teachers to access. Plus, they fielded calls from teachers on how best to educate students outside and going beyond science to teach English, math and other subjects outdoors.

It helps to have trees for counting and measuring. Writing can involve observations of what the children see around them while in a natural setting.

Part of it is dressing for the weather, knowing the risks of the schoolyard and keeping the attention of the students.

“It’s important to let the kids run around and get moving to get the excitement out of their system,” advises Monk. “Then they can focus.”

Also, it is a good idea to have the students face a direction that doesn’t offer many visual distractions, such as a road or busy walkway might do.

Clothing is also a big deal. “Be dressed for the weather because if students are uncomfortable, they are not able to learn as well.”

Monk and the ABCA staff are still offering school sessions for classes that can walk to a local conservation authority or have a schoolyard with lots of space and trees. For example, St. James Elementary School in Seaforth is able to walk students to Seaforth Lions Park.

For the homeschooling and home learning families, ABCA offered a weekly program with curriculum for children age 9-13.

“They come every Tuesday and believe me, they get in way more than 10,000 steps!” laughs Monk.

Oaks and Acorns was a program for two to five-year-olds along with their caregiver. “It’s all outdoors in nature on Friday afternoons. It’s been really nice.”

Children enjoy the outdoor learning opportunities offered by the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority.

Both children and adults need to connect with nature during this stressful time, believes Monk. One of ABCA’s overarching goals is to raise awareness of the benefits of nature to physical and mental health.

“We have been separated from nature and this time is an opportunity to reconnect,” says Monk. “As families go on walks, we hope it will become a regular activity. We hope that as they walk through conservation areas, they will learn about it and about good practices they can use on their own property, such as caring for woodlots or planting buffers on creeks and rivers to keep sediment out of the rivers.”

Families interested in taking advantage of the outdoor learning opportunities available though the ABCA can book through Eventbrite.

An owl prowl was available in November along with pond studies and fossil hunts. New outings such as the Christmas in the Forest program, will be offered in December and into the new year. Call conservation education staff at 519-235-2610 for more information. ◊

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December 2020 51

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

Brazil planting 2.5 million acres of soybeans per day Grain and oilseed markets have been trending higher and higher as we roll through harvest. The biggest and most apparent driver of this strength are the large volume purchases from China. On top of this export demand, and adding to the markets push higher are: the growing prospect of inflationary pressures potentially developing, an

expectation of lower U.S. crop production this season, south American crop fears and a successful large trial of a COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer. These all add to the bullish sentiment rounding out the 2020 growing season.

China has been continuing its large scale agricultre purchases from the U.S. On the soybean front this is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. South America is sold out until new crop supplies come on during harvest (winter 2021) and Brazil has recently purchased soybeans from the U.S., further demonstrating their tight local supplies. Fears continue to increase that the developing La Niña weather pattern could lower South American production this season – further threatening a drop in world ending stocks. Brazilian soy planting has been off to a slow start initially in the early part of the season, with severe dryness limiting the amount of soys planted in October through to early November. However planting did pick up as we moved through

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November – within the second week of the month estimates were for over half of the soys in the ground – with Brazil planting at a rate of about 2.5 million acres per day! (For context Ontario typically grows about three million acres of soys per year). With the dry field conditions in South America it will be unlikely to see bean prices fall significantly until production estimates can be more accurately anticipated. From this the market should stay strong to ensure that the U.S. farmer plants lots of beans this spring.

The soy market will need the U.S. farmer to plant lots of beans this spring as the U.S. carryout keeps slipping. The November 10 USDA report showed stocks dropping dramatically in the U.S. as soy yield estimates were cut 1.2 bushels per acre to an average production estimate of 50.7 bushels per acre. It wasn’t long ago that we were facing U.S. carryouts of 909 million bushels in the 2018/2019 crop year and 523 million bushels for the 2019/2020 crop year.

The most recent carryout estimate is for a dramatic reduction from the past two growing seasons, with the carryout currently expected at 190 million bushels. When considered in regards to stocks-to-usage ratio the result of these ending stocks are dramatic. In 2018-2019 stocks to usage was very high at about 23 per cent, dropping to a comfortable approximately 13 per cent in 20192020, and now for this growing season a mere four per cent stocks to usage ratio. The take away from this is that while there are still beans yet to buy – the successful bidder will have to pay a lot for them.

While there are expectations that China will continue its U.S. soy buying spree, due simply to the fact that they need soys this crop year, news flashes indicate that this may not be their intention long term.

After the U.S. election, China has already announced their desire to step away from the Phase 1 trade deal they signed with the U.S., stating that it is too favorable to the United States. “A renegotiation is also in line with China’s wishes” – states an advisor to China’s State council.

Whether the U.S. administration is

Markets willing to renegotiate trade is yet to be seen. The U.S. position seems to be that regardless of the government administration, China did sign the deal on their own accord, and as such they are bound to the agreement.

Analysts indicate that it is unlikely that Biden would renegotiate the Trump deal with China anytime soon – as renegotiation could have the appearance that Biden is “soft on China”.

It’s not just South America that is dry. The U.S. plains continues to see extremely dry conditions and rain seems elusive. The wheat crop in some large key states is well below the five-year average conditions.

Most notably the big wheat states of Kansas and Oklahoma are developing poorly along with Texas, Nebraska and Colorado. So how dry is Kansas?

October was the 11th driest on record since 1895 with rainfall accumulation less than 17 per cent of normal. What the impact of these dry conditions will be on final yields won’t be known for some time. The wheat crop will be entering dormancy soon so the yield effects won’t be demonstrated for four to five months or so.

On the other hand states like Michigan, Wisconsin, New York and Pennsylvania are progressing well and the crop conditions in these states are pretty decent. From this we see that while the Hard Red Winter crop may be in some jeopardy, the Soft Wheat crop should yield well in 2021. Therefore Soft Red stocks are expected to grow year over year.

Currently U.S. Soft Wheat sales are weak – exports are the lowest since the 2016-2017 crop year and 22 per cent below the five-year average.

Overall World wheat stocks are falling, but are still towards record high. ◊

The deadline for the January 2021 issue of The Rural Voice December 8, 2020

December 2020 53

Woodlots Donna Lacey is a forester with the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority

Be aware of species at risk When we walk through a forest, we often do not see everything that is present. What we see depends on what we are thinking about as we stroll. If we are heading into the forest to cut firewood, we may not see the plants on the forest floor. If we are out to look at the bloom of wildflowers, we do not notice the trees.

How often is it that we walk right past a species that is at risk and do not even notice it? Many people would be astounded to know that someone could just walk by and not pay particular attention to these species, species that they may have

54 The Rural Voice

spent years trying to observe in person. So, what does it mean to be a species at risk?

Not that many years ago the term “species at risk” was not used. We simply called those species endangered. Now, under the title of Species at Risk, there are four categories for ranking species p o p u l a t i o n conditions.

The categories in worst to best condition are: E x t i r p a t e d , Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern.

Extinct species are not mentioned as there is no longer a risk associated with a species that has ceased to exist. Other species, many actually, fall within the group of species that are determined to be Not at Risk.

Sometimes it is quite surprising to hear that a species that has been commonly seen is on the species at risk list. Species like: butternut, eastern meadowlark, hart’s tongue fern, bobolink, and snapping turtles are quite commonly observed in my travels. This reminds me that our natural network of species is linked to communities that are both close and very far away. We need to ensure that the actions that we take in the areas that still have a noticeable population of a species do not further degrade their status on the species at risk list.

Species like bobolink and the eastern meadowlark are challenging to accommodate in our farming practices. I do believe that farmers strive to benefit these species in the same way they would avoid a fawn that has chosen to hide in a hay field during a harvest.

Butternut trees offer up many challenges to landowners and are very difficult members of the species at risk list due to their preferred habitat, hybridization, and reason for

Snapping turtles (left) and hart’s tongue fern (below) are fairly common in southwestern Ontario but are both species at risk

Woodlots decline. The site in which butternut is growing is to be protected from disturbance by the Species at Risk Act. It is quite difficult to encourage the regeneration of this species without disturbing the site in which it is growing. This creates a huge conflict for forest managers and property owners. Butternut is a shade intolerant tree. To encourage regeneration, the site surrounding butternut seedlings or saplings must be free of competing species.

Butternut trees that have hybridized are exempt from the act. It is important to seek advice from a professional or Butternut Health Assessor prior to working around a butternut tree to ensure that you are not violating the Species at Risk Act. The list of species at risk is constantly growing but our best efforts may be able to reduce the number of species on the list. If we all work together to raise awareness of the requirements of the species that are on the list, we may find new ways to adapt our practices for the betterment of all.

A great example of this is the idea of hanging chains in front of equipment to flush out wildlife prior to an implement passing through.

This is simple, affordable, and effective. We need farms, forests, grasslands, and settlements to be sustainable while being mindful of our interrelationships with the natural landscape.

It is important to remember that many of the birds and some of the insects that are on the list are not only reliant on the habitat that Ontario provides but on other lands on other continents. Our efforts to raise awareness and adapt our practices should also be shared with the other sites which affect a species.

If we protect a species here due to low population numbers, but that species is hunted (as an example) in another land, we will not be successful regardless of our actions.

While human health and safety comes first, we still must remember the role that we have within the ecosystems that we live, work, and play in. Again, if we take the time to observe the natural world around us we can be quickly reminded of how amazing our area really is. ◊

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

ERT overturns OMAFRA decision, approves NASM Plan for sewage biosolids The use of Non-Agricultural Source Materials (“NASMs”) in Ontario agriculture is on the rise.

NASMs are materials capable of being applied as a nutrient to farmland that do not come from agricultural sources. Examples include leaf and yard waste, fruit and vegetable peels, food processing waste, pulp and paper biosolids, and sewage biosolids. The last example, sewage containing human waste, is controversial. Application of sewage biosolids to farm fields has raised concerns from nearby residents about odour and the risk of transmission of bacteria and viruses.

Ontario began to regulate land application and storage of NASMs under the Nutrient Management Act, 2002 beginning in 2011. Anyone who wants to land apply or store sewage biosolids must have an NASM Plan prepared by an OMAFRA-certified plan developer.

The Plan must give effect to the following purposes: 1) “the optimization of the relationship between the land-based application of nutrients, farm management techniques and crop requirements”; and, 2) “the minimization of adverse environmental impact”. The Plan must contain a contingency plan, including proposals for dealing with unanticipated releases of nutrients from storage or during 56 The Rural Voice

Agrilaw transport or application and with the inability to store, apply or otherwise use materials or nutrients as a result of weather conditions or unavailability of equipment.

Most NASM Plans must be approved by OMAFRA. Where approval is not granted, the applicant may appeal OMAFRA’s decision to the Environmental Review Tribunal (“ERT”). In a recent decision, the ERT overturned a denial by OMAFRA of approval for an NASM Plan that included a new storage lagoon that would receive materials from various sources including washwater from confectionary, digestate mixed with pet food, digestate of grape skins, pomace and winery waste, washwater from winery, washwater from a dairy processing facility and liquid anaerobically-digested sewage biosolids. OMAFRA’s Director had refused to approve the Plan on the basis that the proposed lagoon, to be owned and controlled by a nonagricultural operator, was not an “agricultural operation” subject to the Nutrient Management Act, 2002.

The application under review was submitted jointly by two parties – a cash crop farming business and a waste management business. The two businesses already worked together under the farming business’ existing approved NASM Plans; the waste management business was contracted to implement the plans, including procuring and land applying NASMs. Now the two applicants proposed to revoke the existing plans and consolidate them into a single NASM Plan, at the same time adding a new storage facility. That facility – an earthen lagoon – would be located on the property of the waste management business and would be under the sole control of the waste management business.

OMAFRA’s Director determined that the lagoon could not, on that basis, be considered an “agricultural operation”. The lagoon would require approval from the Ministry of the Environment as a non-agricultural waste facility.

On appeal, the ERT found that the Director was wrong to conclude that

Dundalk Location 79 Proton Street N., PO Box 340, Dundalk, Ontario N0C 1B0

Feversham Location 494283 Grey Road 2 Feversham, Ontario N0C 1C0

Tel: 519-923-2400 Tel: 519-922-2725 Fax: 519-923-2950 Fax: 519-922-3468

Holiday Greetings to all our customers from Directors and Staff Karen Hannon

Nancy Ferguson

Agricultural & Commercial Account Manager khannon@dundalkcu.ca

Agricultural & Commercial Credit Officer nferguson@dundalkcu.ca

Happy Holidays

Grain Elevators and Marketing, Seed, Crop Protection Products, Fertilizer, Custom Application Blyth Location Walton Location 40605 Walton Road, Blyth 10 Patrick Street, Walton 519-523-9624 • 1-800-663-3653

December 2020 57

Agrilaw

To all our friends near and far, we offer our thanks and best wishes.

Advising Executors Training in QuickBooks Accounting and tax preparation

Payroll Financial Planning Estate Planning

Glenn Hayter, CFP, CEA Gayle Poore Devon Congram-Newell

Maureen Kloeze, BBA Beverley Blair

Phone: 519-482-5840 Fax: 519-482-5627 320 Victoria Street, Clinton, Ontario N0M 1L0 Email: general@hayter.on.ca Website: www.hayter.on.ca

Lisa Thompson, MPP Huron-Bruce Merry Christmas and wishing you the very best in the coming New Year!

Constituency Offices BLYTH OFFICE 408 Queen Street Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 Phone: 519-523-4251 1-800-668-9320

KINCARDINE OFFICE 807 Queen Street, Unit 2 Kincardine, ON N2Z 2Y2 Phone: 519-396-3007 1-866-396-3007

Website: www.lisathompsonmpp.ca Email: lisa.thompsonco@pc.ola.org

58 The Rural Voice

a waste management business could not be involved in an agricultural operation. That is, the proper consideration was of the operation and not the operator. The ERT found that the relevant regulation under the Nutrient Management Act, 2002 directed the OMAFRA Director to consider the “the comprehensive operation that is proposed”, not the “business activities of one of the operators”. While the proposed storage lagoon on its own would not be an agricultural operation, the ERT found that the lagoon would form part of an agricultural operation consisting of “six farms operating as a Farm Unit, with the inclusion of a storage lagoon for the storage of NASM dedicated to those six farms that form the Farm Unit.”

Further, the ERT did not agree that the Director’s concerns about potential future use of the lagoon for other (possibly non-agricultural) purposes were relevant; the Director was tasked with considering the specific NASM Plan application before him.

The ERT also did not agree that the blending or agitation of separate types of NASMs as part of the proposed storage lagoon management process constituted an “intermediate operation”, which is by definition a non-agricultural operation. The Director considered the waste management business to be a “broker” who simply receives materials from one source, does not generate a new nutrient product from the materials, and then transfers the material to another operation. The ERT accepted the position of the applicants that storage and agitation of the NASMs is not “blending” for purposes of the definition of an “intermediate operation”. If that were the case, then virtually all NASM storage facilities would be categorized as an intermediate operation and excluded from NASM regulation. No NASM storage facility could receive material from more than one source, and multiple materials could not be mixed before application to a field.

Finally, the ERT did not accept the OMAFRA Director’s opinion that

Agrilaw the proposed NASM storage lagoon was properly regulated as a “waste management system” under the Environmental Protection Act (“EPA”), requiring (as noted above) an Environmental Compliance Approval from the Ministry of the Environment. In argument, OMAFRA cautioned the ERT that “the more expansive the definition of agricultural operation, then the more likely that the EPA can be avoided”. In this specific case, however, the ERT was not concerned that a non-agricultural use was being approved as an agricultural one – the storage lagoon and the six farms would be operated as one entity. ◊ ______________________________ 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.

Deadline for the January 2021 issue of The Rural Voice is December 8, 2020

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www.hanoverhonda.ca

honda.ca

PH: (519) 364-1010 TF: (800) 461-1020 December 2020 59

Holiday Shopping Smell the sunshine, taste the flowers

* Wild flower & clover alfalfa honey: liquid, creamed, cinnamon * Hand dipped beeswax candles * Summer sausage Year ’round: Mon. & Tues. by chance, Wed. - Sat. anytime, closed Sunday

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CUSTOM FABRICATING LASER CAPABILITIES PUNCHING SHEARING, BENDING STEEL, STAINLESS GALVANIZED, ALUMINUM

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INC.

• • • •

Small Engine Repair Auto Parts ATVs & Snowmobile accessories Construction Rentals

Troy Bilt Power Products Columbia Power Products Stihl Power Products 12 Days of Christmas Specials

• Helmets • Boots • Gloves • Accessories

390 First Ave. S., Chesley

450 10th St., Hanover

519-363-3811 519-364-6345 60 The Rural Voice

Holiday Shopping Offering a complete line of Maple Products

Syrup Warmest wishes this holiday season and great thanks from our business to all of you.

142 Arthur St., Harriston Tel.: 519-338-3330 Fax: 519-338-3525 mark@harristonpacking.ca

Online Store: makeawishcakes.com/shop/

Butter

Condiments

Sugars

Gift Baskets ~ made to order

Jim/Dianne Magwood 519-364-1932 Located 1 1/2 miles northeast of Canadian Tire (Hanover) 341326 Con 2 NDR

Nutritious, healthy and tasty Sun Parlor Honey has it all!

sherri@makeawishcakes.com 226-980-7807

Monday - Saturday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm 238 Cty. Rd. 14, RR 1 Cottam, ON

519-839-4000

December 2020 61

Holiday Shopping LOCAL HONEY Come to the Honey House

Makers of Fine Maple Products

Maple Syrup Maple Butter Maple Jelly Maple Sugar Leaves Granulated Maple Sugar BBQ Sauce, etc.

Dick & Gale O’Brien ~ 519-369-3056 493168 Glenelg Sideroad 49 R.R. 1 Priceville, ON N0C 1K0 unclerichards@gmail.com www.unclerichards.ca

“The Home of Tasty Pastry”

519-524-7941 Christmas baking available 49 West Street, Goderich

Highway 10, Chatsworth Tuesday to Friday 10 to 4 Saturday 10 to 3

519-794-3335 www.chatsworthhoney.com

Toys | Models | Apparel

Great Cheese begins with high quality milk

¶ Christmas Trees ¶ Kid’s and Adult Muckboots ¶ Tough Duck winter wear ¶ Gift certificates available

It’s Local, It’s Gouda, It’s Good!

Shop online online orr instore instore for the big and small farmers in your life e

Thank you for supporting local businesses!

Check our website for farm store hours www.mountainoakcheese.ca Gift Baskets and Cheese Platters available Phone: 519-662-4967

519.323.4289 9545 Conc 6N, Wellington North Mount Forest, ON N0G 2L0

Check us out on Facebook & Instagram

3165 Huron Rd., New Hamburg 62 The Rural Voice

22 Isaac St., Clinton 519-482-9333 www.shophuron.ca www.verbeekslandscaping.com

Holiday Shopping Unique gift ideas for the holiday season 441 Queen Street, Blyth

www.factsblyth.ca

Gift Certificates & Gift Baskets available Open 9-6, Mon.-Sat.

7 Toronto St., Markdale

519-986-4144

gift certificates available for gifts, kits and classes

84548 St. Augustine Line, Auburn 519-529-7857

Custom Gift Baskets A collaborative marketplace showcasing Huron County’s creative artisans.

Gourmet Edibles & One-of-a-Kind Items!

Offering: Blyth Farm Cheese, Meats, Baking, Preserves, Etc.

J.R. Fear Apiaries Inc. RR #2, Wingham • 519-357-3656

robinmap@hurontel.on.ca www.robinsonmaple.com

Now has FRESH HONEY & PURE UNSCENTED BEESWAX CANDLES FOR SALE

Mon. - Fri. 9 am - 5 pm; Sat. 9 am - 4 pm

Open Daily 8:30-5:00 Closed Monday & Sunday

26 ISAAC STREET, CLINTON • 519-482-1445

Call 519-357-3656

Check Facebook for extended December hours

• Certified Organic • Pure Maple Syrup • Maple Syrup Candy

• Liquid • Creamed • Comb

WE HAVE MORE THAN JUST HONEY...

Merry Christmas!

Something for everyone on your list.

Online sh hopping also available.

HuronTractor.com

• Honey Butter • Skin Creams • Honey Spreads • BBQ Sauce & Mustard • Bee Pollen • Bees for your own hive!

OPEN Thurs., Fri., Sat. 9-5 39006 Zurich-Hensall Rd., East of Zurich 519-236-4979

www.fergusonapiaries.on.ca December 2020 63

Holiday Shopping On-Farm Store is Open

Harriston, Ontario 519-994-4400 info@cedarwoodhoney.com www.cedarwoodhoney.com

Where Black is Beautiful Quality Animals Yarns, socks, hand knit & felted products

DEE & ADRIA GRAHAM Farm open by appointment or by 519-528-2406 Cell: 519-450-8144

542 BRUCE RD. 86, (Amberley Rd.) RR 1 LUCKNOW chance DLFARMSALPACA.COM dlfarms@hurontel.on.ca

Cedarwood Honey Pure raw honey, candles, bee pollen, flavoured honey, bee’s wax food wraps and Bee Hive Wooden Wares Visit us at St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market New Market Building or by appointment on-farm LIQUID HONEY CREAMED HONEY COMB HONEY POLLINATING SERVICES BEESWAX

HAUGHOLM

BOOKS The taste of the Swiss Alps close to home. From our farm to your table award winning handcrafted alpine style cheese.

Christmas shopping made easy with our gift boxes and gift baskets!

RR 1, Brucefield, 40372 Mill Road, Ontario N0M 1J0 (519) 522-0248 Fax (519) 522-0138

2021 CALENDARS • Classic Tractor Fever • Massey Harris • Steam Engines • Vintage Tractors • Farmall IH • 2021 Tractors • Lawn & Garden Tractors

BOOKS - NEW LIST • Farmall Cub Encyclopedia • The True Metal • Putt-Putt Books • The I.H. Break-up • Cockshutt Story • Oliver Advertising • 100 Years of Ford Trucks AND MANY MORE Mon to Fri 9 am - 5 pm, Sat. 9 am - 3 pm 5021 Perth Line 8, St. Marys, ON

New Parts for Older Tractors Tractor manuals and decal sets for older tractors and stationary engines.

info@stonetowncheese.com www.stonetowncheese.com

Happy Holidays to all!

519-229-6856

64 The Rural Voice

We are proud to use the boiler from a 1926 Sawyer Massey traction engine — the last one manufactured in Hamilton, Ontario — to produce the steam for our operation. We believe that a steam fired evaporator results in a quality maple product with a distinguished taste.

Maple Syrup Maple Sugar By appointment or by chance “Feel the nostalgia in our product and the season” A Div. of Amalgamation Acres Brian & Annette MacKenzie 85399 St. Helens Line, R.R. #2 Lucknow, ON N0G 2H0 519-528-5995 amalgacres@hurontel.on.ca www.amalgamationacres.com

The

Rural Voice

Business Centre To place your ad call: 519-523-4311 or email: rvads@northhuron.on.ca Choose from:

Horse & Livestock Car, Utility & Recreational any design, hitches trade-ins welcome super after sales service

Hazelnut, heartnut, Persian and black Walnut, chestnut, hickory, pecan, pawpaw, persimmon, mulberry, fig and more.

979 Lakeshore Rd, RR3 Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario L0S 1J0 Tel: 905-YEH-NUTS (934-6887) Fax: 905-YEL-NUTS (935-6887) E-mail: nut.trees@grimonut.com Catalogue Site: www.grimonut.com

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

Maitland Welding & Machining

Est. 1991

• In-shop & on-site millwrighting • Custom fabrication • Steel & industrial supply sales

STEVEN NIXON

www.beloretrailers.ca

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 318 Josephine St., WINGHAM, ON N0G 2W0

63 North St. Wingham

Ph: 519-357-2727 Fax: 519-357-4769 www.maitlandwelding.com rstute@maitlandwelding.com

It’s a Seller’s Market Need listings for houses and farms

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

Wa n t e d to buy

O L D BA R N S FOR SALVAGE CALL STEVE

519-523-4523

Galvanized Roofing For Sale

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

December 2020 65

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

B U S I N E S S

MANUFACTURING STEEL ROOFING SIDING & TRIMS

519-531-0355 TEESWATER, ON

mike@steffenwelldrilling.ca

519-363-3757

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

2051 Bruce Rd. 19, R.R. 1 Chesley, ON N0G 1L0

Also Supplying Other Building Accessories

SALES & SERVICE

C E N T R E

STEFFEN WELL DRILLING

INSTALLATION & PARTS

Full service to all boats and marine engines

ARGYLE Marine & Small Engines Inc.

33973 Church Camp Rd., Goderich 519-524-5361 Email: argylemarine@cabletv.on.ca

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

Merry Christmas We hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Thank you for your business this past year.

Steiner Tractor Parts Supplier "Specializing in Older Tractor Parts ... ...and looking for tractors in any condition"

STEPHEN 519-523-4922 LONDESBOROUGH e-mail: ontariousedtractorparts@gmail.com

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

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AUCTION -------------------------------------------------Elmira Produce Auction – Hay and Straw Sales every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. except December 23.

Consignors and buyers welcome. Call Noah Gingrich, 519-669-3884. 7400 Reid Woods Drive, Elmira.

-------------------------------------------------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.

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

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

--------------------------------------------------

FARM FRESH -------------------------------------------------Potatoes - red or white, guaranteed winter keepers, $13 for 50 lbs. or $4 for 10 lbs. Ask about wholesale discounts. Harriston, 519-338-2691.

-------------------------------------------------FIREWOOD -------------------------------------------------Screened hardwood slabs – 16" cut $30 face cord, 10 cord deliveries or pick up in Auburn. huronfirewood.com Call 519-5243493.

--------------------------------------------------

FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------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 or windbreaks. Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce, White Spruce, Pine and Cedars. Also… a Complete line of Bee Supplies for the commercial or hobby beekeepers. Order your (Nuc) Bees for spring 2021. We stock all wooden-ware (bee-hives) foundation, assembled and unassembled frames, smokers, suits, jackets, gloves, mite treatments and some extracting equipment. Honey containers, jars, pails, custom built wooden-ware.

Come visit our nursery and bee supplies store Monday to Saturday at 42661 Orangehill Rd., RR 1, Wroxeter, ON N0G 2X0, one km. north of Wroxeter.

--------------------------------------------------

Bodywood • Slabwood Quantity Discounts 519-441-2085 519-656-2057

Serving Southwestern Ontario for over 10 years!

Advertising in The Rural Voice – A Wise Choice!

Call Today! 519-523-4311 66 The Rural Voice

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------Rosco grain bins for sale – 19' and 14' diameter. Parts available. Used grain bins wanted for parts or reuse.

Closed Sundays, 519-338-3920.

-------------------------------------------------CORN SEED pricing starting at $129/bag (before discounts). De Dell Seeds, the Leaders in Non-GMO corn. 519-264-CORN. -------------------------------------------------MULCH/GREEN SAWDUST, FOB MILL, trucking also available. 519367-5789.

-------------------------------------------------Heavy duty horse sleigh, both back and front bobs in good condition, meant for a team of horses, log bunk, also front and back bolsters for wagon box, asking $200. Don Morden, Rothsay, 519-638-2525.

--------------------------------------------------

LIVESTOCK FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------LIMOUSIN – quality fall born young breeding bulls for sale. Delivery included. Posthaven Limousin, John Post 519-766-7178. www.posthavenlimousin.com -------------------------------------------------Limousin bulls, open and bred females available. Smart Limousin, Meaford 519-372-7459. smartlimo@ bmts.com www.smartlimousin.com -------------------------------------------------Red Angus, Simmental Heifers bred to a Red Angus bull. Silver Springs Farms. James and Joan McKinlay 519-599-6236. jmckinlay@bmts.com -------------------------------------------------RESTORATION -------------------------------------------------The Olde Tyme Radio Centre – antique radios, clocks, gramophones, telephones; sold/restored. (vintage autoclock radio, speedometer, tachometer repaired). Belgrave 519357-4304, www.oldtymeradio.ca -------------------------------------------------RETAIL & GIFTS -------------------------------------------------Stitches with a Twist – 404 Queen St., Blyth, 519-523-9449. Yarns, needles, notions, patterns, books and lots more yarn.

------------------------------------------------SERVICES -------------------------------------------------INCOME TAX FILING – for farms, small business, truckers and individuals. Will make house calls in the North Huron, Perth and surrounding area. Call Shirley in Wingham – cell No. 1-705-434-8187.

-------------------------------------------------Firearms and hunting training.

PAL & HUNTER ED. Ongoing courses available.

Certified instructors. Call Greg 519-887-9622 or 519-291-0507.

-------------------------------------------------TOWNSLEY BARN PAINTING – All farm buildings and houses, seamless eavestroughing, liquid rubber coatings, waterproofing, metal, concrete, wood, foam and bin flooring sealing. Serving Ontario since 1955.

Call 519-859-0097 or 519-871-0300 townsleypainting@hotmail.com --------------------------------------------------

SERVICES -------------------------------------------------Barnhem Farm Services. Solid manure spreading; variable rate precision application (optional).

Serving Bruce, Grey, North Huron and North Wellington. Contact for info: Herman Vinckx at 519-881-7663 or Dylan Vinckx at 519-881-8957.

-------------------------------------------------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 --------------------------------------------------

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

-------------------------------------------------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 519595-7775.

-------------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK BEDDING -------------------------------------------------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. 1-877-773-8004. Sittler Grinding. Rick Sittler.

-------------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------Hypharm Genetics rabbits breeding stock now available in Ontario. Order your PS19 does and PS40 bucks. CuniON@tcc.on.ca --------------------------------------------------

Sales Service Installation Free Estimates

519-364-4026 eod@persona.ca

Eastern Overhead Doors (Bruce-Grey) Ltd.

December 2020 67

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

SERVICES --------------------------------------------------

DONALD A ANDREW ACCOUNTING Accounting & Income Tax Services for FARMS, BUSINESSES & INDIVIDUALS 296 Ross St., Lucknow

Ph. 519-528-3019 Specializing in on Farm Pest Management Serving Southwestern ON, Golden Horseshoe, GTA Email: info@sgsltd.ca

519-692-4232 www.sgspestmanagement.ca

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 Eugene Glavin 519-228-6801 SEAMLESS EAVESTROUGHING

 Roofs & Walls  Elevator Legs  Air Blasting  Pressure Washing  Fully Insured  Free Estimates

London 519-268-8500 -------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS -------------------------------------------------Chantry Island Cham-bettes 2020 Virtual Christmas Home Tour, online Friday, December 4 to Sunday, December 13. Access your tour of four beautiful homes by making a donation to Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation at this link: smhfoundation.ca/xmashometour during these dates.

--------------------------------------------------

Chatsworth Santa Claus Parade This year we are hosting a STATIONARY PARADE

Saturday, December 19

th

10:30 a.m.

The Old Community Centre Site This year’s theme is Christmas in Canada For details call Sharrie at 226-974-0334 email at sbrickonelderlane@gbtel.ca

68 The Rural Voice

WANTED -------------------------------------------------SEEKING DAIRY FARM JOB: hard-working immigrant worker looking for a dairy farm job. Have agriculture diploma plus farming experience, good at breeding, any farm job would be great.

Please contact 519-444-4649. pmaheshigunawardena@gmail.com -------------------------------------------------Young farmer looking for land rent, sharecrop, or custom work opportunities. Good environmental stewardship and professionalism.

Short and long term. 519-200-7845 or hundt.chris@outlook.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.

-------------------------------------------------Looking for land to rent for upcoming year. Call Braecker Farms 519-524-0615.

-------------------------------------------------Seeking farmland for rent in Huron and Bruce Counties. Maximize financial return while improving your land. Call Caleb Ringgenberg 226920-3147 cringgen@gmail.com -------------------------------------------------Round bales of horse or cattle quality hay picked up. Call Riley Gorman 519-321-1012.

-------------------------------------------------DEALERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES are available in many areas with the Leader in Non-GMO corn. De Dell Seeds 519-264-CORN. --------------------------------------------------

EQUIPMENT SPECIALS

TRACTOR CHAINS Various sizes. Good for ice and snow.

Price

225. to $475.

$

TRACTOR CAB YEAR ROUND Fold out doors, windows, heater, keylock entry, good glass, model 211.

Price

1,250

$

International 55 Chisel Plow high clearance model, new tires, 10 shank double spring, hyd. lift curved shovels.

Price

4,900

$

TRACTOR CAB 4' wide, 66" high, 62" long, 36" between fenders, good glass, side doors

$675 Chisel Plow, IH 55, ten shank, double spring, hyd. lift ....................$3,600.

John Deere 443 Four Row Corn Head, for combine, working order .......$4,600.

Tractor cab, Laurin, fiSOLD ts 20, 30, 40 Series, side doors, fold out windows .......$875.

New Idea 10, One Row Corn Picker, rolling husking bed, 540 PTO.......$1,250.

Allis Chalmers 2000 Plow, hyd. reset, four furrow, clean boards...$2,200.

Loader Bucket, fits MFSOLD 3165, 30 Industrial, 79 in., pin hookup..........$475.

Ford 130 Plow, four furrow, cyl. lift, 3PH, 16 in., clean boards...........$975.

Tractor Cab, Litchfield, fits 3130, 2840, JD, side doors, heater..........$950.

Chisel Plow, shank assembly, double spring, bolt on ........................$175.

SOLD Forage Wagon Roof Sheets, 7 ft. wide, galvanized ...................each $40.

New Idea, Two Row 325 Picker Sheller, works good, 540 PTO............$3,700.

Chisel Plow, nine shank, 3PH, gauge depth wheels.......................$1,850.

Leyland 255 Tractor, 55HP, diesel, new tires, 3 PH, pwr. steering......$4,600.

NI 516 Snowblower, 7 ft, 3PH, single auger, manual hood ....................$975.

Snowblower for 4x4, 90 inch hyd lift & angle (left & right)......................$850.

Reist 9 ft. Double Auger Snowblower, 3PH, heavy gear box, hyd. hood.........$2,200.

SOLD

DAN SEIFRIED EQUIPMENT

The Rural Voice welcomes letters and will publish as many as space permits.

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December 2020 69

Celebrating 55 Years of Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week

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70 The Rural Voice

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December 2020 71

Celebrating 55 Years of Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week

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Dairy & Farmstead Equipment Welcoming producers & agri businesses from across Canada & beyond.

72 The Rural Voice

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Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week (virtual/online) January 5-12, 2021

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1.855.246.2333 December 2020 73

Celebrating 55 Years of Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week

First for Quality & Service

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

A justice-driven virtual farmers’ market This article is part of our series profiling our members’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Green Circle Food Hub started with a “commitment to social and environmental justice,” says founder Dave Kranenburg.

Before COVID-19, Kranenburg, along with partner Emily Tufts, raised pasture-raised fowl, other livestock, and wild-harvest mushrooms destined for restaurants and farmers’ markets in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). When the pandemic hit, the 70-acre Kendal Hills Farm lost access to 95 per cent of their business; the potential of losing their farm was all too real.

Kranenburg, a member of the National Farmers Union–Ontario, and other farmer friends knew their survival depended on cooperation between farmers and eaters. The Green Circle Food Hub was “rooted in” a vision to benefit farmers, homes, and the environment by offering an on-line distribution and sales model for local growers.

The food hub model allows sustainable farmers who tend to grow a diversity of produce to operate in an “economy of scale.” “I believe that if local, sustainable food can compete on convenience, quality, and customer service we can reach more people,” says Kranenburg.

Offering eaters fresh, seasonal food from over 50 producers and vendors, Green Circle maintains the personal touch of the farmers’ market by encouraging eaters to communicate directly with producers, and many of Green Circle’s eaters are new to the local food movement.

When farmers deliver their produce to Kendal Hills storage facilities, they know their food has already sold. Farmers are the pricesetters, selling their product at their determined wholesale price, and

Dave Kranenburg and Emily Tufts - EFAO Fall Field Day Series snapshot – https://vimeo.com/468375984/2c6db68705

Green Circle’s modest revenue is reinvested in storage at Kendal Hills, transportation costs and a $17 living wage for seven package and delivery staff.

“We are not looking to make a profit,” says Kranenburg. The breakeven enterprise allows “farmers to spend less time on the road, so they can spend more time growing.”

Green Circle also benefits the environment by consolidating distribution from its 50+ suppliers across the GTA to one vehicle.

By the end of October, Green Circle exceeded $1 million in sales.

They feed over 600 homes regularly, with another 2,000+ casual eaters.

By not carrying excess inventory, ensuring minimal food waste, and by not squeezing extra profit, the hub has kept its prices competitive.

Kranenburg hopes that Green Circle, by saving farmers labour and distribution costs, will contribute to making healthy food more accessible and affordable.

In 2021, Green Circle plans to include wholesale distribution to

restaurants in which producers will be charged a modest delivery fee that will be offset by continued home deliveries.

Kranenburg’s long-term vision includes a network of connected hubs across the province, under the brand virtualfarmersmarket.ca.

Green Circle welcomes queries from eaters and producers at info@virtualfarmersmarket.ca.

“Green Circle has the potential to contribute to community food security and social justice,” says Kranenburg. “We build relationships that go beyond financial transactions.”

Save the date!

Local 341 Oxford-Perth – December 9, 2:00 p.m. via Zoom or telephone.

Local 316 Frontenac, LennoxAddington – January 16, 6:45 p.m. via Zoom or telephone.

Local 344 Grey – January 25, 7:00 p.m. via Zoom or telephone.

A subscription to The Rural Voice is one of the benefits of being an NFU-O member 74 The Rural Voice

Craig Hulshof, President craig.hulshof@gmail.com / 519-301-8483

Perth, Huron, Grey and Bruce County Pork Producers

* The Rural Voice is provided to Perth County Pork Producers by the PCPPA perthcountyporkproducers@gmail.com

NEWSLETTER

What are we?

Just over 10 years ago I registered the user name @ModernFarmer on a new social media site called Twitter.

At the time Farm and Food Care was on the hunt for a few farmers to make content for fast-growing platforms like Twitter and Facebook so we could reach urban consumers with a literal field view of what was going on at the farm. My first profile picture was me in a pair of my grandfather’s old overalls with a shirt and tie underneath. It was my stab at trying to encapsulate what I thought a modern farmer looked like. I knew we were business people who ran world-class enterprises but I also felt that society wanted to see those overalls, not to mention we all know there are few things more comfortable than a good pair of bibbers.

Those overalls were threadbare, covered in patches, and the man that wore them was stronger than an ox with calloused hands and bad knees.

The farm was a couple 100 acres in a radius of less than two kilometres and the red bank barn had cows for cream, pigs to eat up the skim milk and a couple 100 hens upstairs to pay the household expenses. No one went hungry but it was a subsistence existence and cash was scarce. Farm income problems were government problems; a third of the Canadian population was farming and the country was one bad harvest away from widespread poverty. That is not the world we live in today. While there are still plenty of bad knees, gone are the days of the red bank barn, skim milk fed pigs, and a farm income problem no longer seems like a government problem.

What is the image of a farmer that we want to present today? Is it the shirt and tie or is it the overalls? Ten years ago I thought we could be both; that we could satisfy the bucolic view that urbanites held while simultaneously getting politicians and policymakers to take us seriously as an industry of world-class

entrepreneurs. I was wrong. Trying to be both of those images leads to nothing more than a muddled and disjointed view of what we actually are. Even we end up confused.

For years it has been preached that agriculture needs to speak with one voice to be effective in lobbying our policymakers. How can a diverse industry full of thousands of proud and independent business owners be expected to speak with one voice when the image portrayed in our message itself is often bi-polar? Are we subsistence farmers who just need a couple bucks to get by this year or are we an economic powerhouse complete with millions of jobs for non-farming Canadians that from time to time need public help to be sustained?

I used to think that the auto industry was a monolithic beast devoid of independent business owners. Sure it created lots of jobs but it didn’t seem like there was any room for entrepreneurs to break in. I only saw the big automakers and the labour unions; I had no idea that the downstream supply chain was full of private family businesses who had carved out their place in a sea of heavy hitters. Why did I think the way I did? It is because that is the

image that the auto industry had presented to the public. That image is why the CEOs of Ford and GM can walk into the Prime Minister’s Office, ask for billions of dollars in times of crisis, and get it. It has been drilled into all of us that the auto industry employs hundreds of thousands of Canadians and it is in the public’s best interest to support those jobs in times of need.

The number of jobs in the agrifood industry dwarfs the auto industry yet there is not a farm group in this country that could call the Prime Minister’s Office asking for a phone call from the Prime Minister himself tomorrow and actually get it.

Why is that? There are only two per cent of us left in Canada that know how to run farm businesses and our primary products are a crucial piece for the millions of jobs. Yet we can’t get a call. Maybe because there are 47 different groups calling, never with the same story, and seemingly always in need. Perhaps it is time the “Big Three” of Canadian Agriculture was formed with grains, supply managed, and red meat playing the roles of General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. Who knows, maybe sheep can play Tesla someday. ◊ – Submitted by Stewart Skinner

PERTH COUNTY PORK PRODUCERS PORK PRODUCTS • Smoked Pork Chops • Fresh Pork Chops • Stuffed Loin Chops • Smoked Sausage • Smoked Cheddar Sausage • Bacon Burgers • Teriyaki Pork Steaks AVAILABLE FROM:

Dave and Ruth Kloostra (Monkton) Ted and Donna Keller (Mitchell) Jerry and Sandra DeGroot (Kinkora) Leis Feed (Milverton)

519-347-2619 519-348-9836 519-393-5237 519-595-2048

December 2020 75

Grey County Federation of Agriculture

446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: greyfederation.ca

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA

Christmas wishes: “The month before Christmas” Editorial articles submitted and published on this page are the views of the author(s) and are not meant to represent the position of the Grey County of Ontario Federation of Agriculture. ’Twas the month before Christmas, and all through Grey County, The farmers were resting, after harvest of their bounty; Equipment all washed and put in the shed, Barns overflowing so livestock would be fed; It was business as usual, for the GCFA board, As they had plans to make for the new year forward; With DIANNE at the helm as the President new, Big plans and ideas, there was so much to do, HUGH said “we’ll put it on Twitter and on Facebook”, Shed Talks for members to go take a look.

KEITH had information from ALUS to share, Also you can look to our website, details will be there.

Farmers working for Farmers is what we are, Representing all of Grey County near and far, Sitting on other boards when there is a call, Like Dufferin Pasture where we are represented by PAUL, CHRISTINE represents Grey County, to see what we do; As we work for our farmers with local government too, With delegations to discuss issues and fact, Or sending our public speaking winners to share their craft; Now, with MICHAEL! and, PAUL, JOANNE and JACKIE! Another, PAUL! and KEVIN! This group can get wacky!

We welcome ideas from people that

are new, There are always things for the membership, we work for you.

Throughout the year there is much that we do, A Curling Bonspiel, signup! Bring your crew.

Public Speaking for students is a fun night to view, These kids can sure tell a story or two.

Politicians we gather to tell them what’s new, Supporting our members; what we need them to do.

Ag issues are varied, but are important for all, Conservation, tax ratios, topics: big and small.

Each spring we honour an outstanding one of our own, In the name of “Tommy Cooper”, a man well known; In summer we meet at the Hanover Racetrack, For social and betting on the “leader of the pack”.

4-H we support and Junior Farmers too, We need our farm youth, they are the future, its true!

In our community, and at local fairs, Many of our directors can be seen

helping out there; Now back to our meeting, there is a spot waiting for you, We have different committees, with lots you can do; We meet for meetings, 10 times a year, To work on the issues we all hold dear.

So call in to our office, you just need to ask, You can just listen in, or take on a task; With COVID-19, virtual is the way that we meet, So stay on your couch and you have the perfect seat; We listen to members and have guest speakers too, To bring us information on issues old and new, ’Til there is no more new business or reports to be read, No comments to add or concerns left unsaid, ALLEN adjourns, as the night draws to an end, From all of us here, a greeting we do send.

We wish you all the best, and a coming year that is bright.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

The Grey County Federation of Agriculture would like to extend best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all OFA members and farm families in Grey County and thank you to everyone for their support this past year.

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA.

76 The Rural Voice

Email: bruce@ofa.on.ca website: brucefederation.ca

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 NEWSLETTER Walkerton-area farmer Chris Cossitt new president of the BCFA

Any opinion expressed is that of individual County Directors or Representatives and may not necessarily reflect the views of the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture or Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

Walkerton-area farmer Chris Cossitt is the new president of the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture.

Retired from a career with the Ontario Provincial Police, Cossitt raises pork and beef with his daughter, and serves on the boards of both Ontario Pork and Farm and Food Care Ontario.

For farmers in Ontario, Cossitt says 2020 has brought a number of challenges but has also had some unexpected positive outcomes.

Biosecurity is vital to the health of

responded to the crisis by increasing food donations.

Farm organizations had to seek new ways to connect with urban and school audiences as agricultural fairs and larger events including the Canadian National Exhibition and Royal Agricultural Winter Fair were cancelled for the year. The virtual education models that have grown out of this shift will offer more options for schools and students to learn about farming in the future.

Looking ahead, farm groups including the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture are optimistic about the provincial investment in rural internet connectivity, as well as improved supports to help producers manage through times of crisis. ◊

New OFA project helps farm employers find and train workers

Happy Holidays!

The Bruce County Federation of Agriculture Executive and Directors would like to wish a Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Prosperous and Happy New Year to all the farm families in Bruce County and thank you for your support this past year.

pigs, so at the farm level the pork sector was well prepared to adopt measures to protect the health of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Outbreaks at other points in the supply chain highlighted how vulnerable the current market model can be to unexpected disruptions. It also made it clear that responsive business risk management programs by government are essential to ensure a sustainable future for farms in times of crisis.

Among Ontario consumers, initial panic buying and supply shortages in the early days of the pandemic led to renewed appreciation for food grown close to home. Food banks, initially concerned about shortages, instead saw the benefit as farmers, commodity groups and government

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is excited to announce a new project to help farm employers find skilled labour.

The Feeding Your Future project aims to help farmers and business owners find qualified workers and in turn, connect youth with jobs in agriculture.

To make this happen, we have someone standing by at AgCareers.com to connect you directly with workers and help you post the job for free. In place of in-person job fairs, the Feeding Your Future project has hosted several virtual career fairs where job seekers have had the chance to ‘visit’ employer booths.

Additional services include online training to prepare workers, as well as webinars that discuss industry topics with experts. We are excited to launch the remaining videos for our Focus on Food training series which provides short training experiences for various positions in the agricultural sector. The training videos are targeted at farm markets, pork, apple, berry, grain, and beef producers- stay tuned for our launch date.

Visit our website at feedingyourfuture.ca, contact us by email at feedyourfuture@agcareers.com or call 877-438-5729 ext. 4. If you are looking for workers, we hope you take advantage of these services during COVID-19 and beyond. ◊

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Bruce County by the BCFA.

December 2020 77

Perth County Federation of Agriculture Email: perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com Website: www.perthcountyfarmers.ca Sue Shafer, Office Administrator 1-833-229-6834 Tim Halliday, President: 519-292-9533

Sixth Annual Perth County Harvest Gala held ‘from Home’ Submitted by Eric McLagan, PCFA Director On Saturday, November 21 the Perth County Federation of Agriculture (PCFA) hosted the sixth Annual Perth County Harvest Gala “from home”.

Due to the challenges of COVID-19, a traditional Gala was not possible but we still wanted to celebrate the amazing Perth County agricultural industry and recognize our continuing scholarship recipients so we decided to try something a bit different and did a Gala from Home. We are very pleased with the community response as it was a sold-out event. This wasn’t like any of the previous years but with the help of two local chefs it was still a great event and one to look back on.

For the Gala at home PCFA partnered with two chefs, Chef Paul Finkelstein and Chef Andrew Mavor.

A YouTube video was created by the chefs and those who purchased a food box were able to follow along and prepare the delicious meal in the comfort (and safety) of their own home.

Along with the cooking instruction to prepare your meal there was a virtual presentation of our annual Continuing Education Scholarships. Every year PCFA awards two scholarships to Perth County students who are in their second, third or fourth year of postsecondary education and plan to use

their education to better the agricultural community. Each recipient received a cheque for $1,000.

This year’s recipients are Alex Foster and Emma Francis who are both studying Agriculture at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus. We wish these students all the best in their studies and future endeavours.

The evening was a huge success and we want to thank all who attended, supported and were involved. The proceeds of the Gala will be used to support Ag Education efforts within Perth County.

A special thank you to our sponsors:

Master Chef Sponsors

Continuing Education Scholarships awarded The PCFA Continuing Education Scholarships were awarded virtually at the Harvest Gala from Home on November 21. Recipients were Alex Foster and Emma Francis.

Product Sponsors Alex Foster

Ingredient Sponsors

Alex Foster

Apron Sponsor

General Sponsors

In-Kind Supporters

Emma Francis * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Perth County by the PCFA.

78 The Rural Voice

Index A.G. Hayter Contracting ................24 Agri-Solve Inc ...................... Cover 3 Alex Ruff MP ..................................29 Allied Associates............................17 Argyle Marine & Small Engines ....66 Artisanal Chicken Program ..............5 Belore Trailers ..............................65 Ben Lobb MP ................................51 Bernie McGlynn/SB Flooring ........55 Bervie Supply ................................24 Bill Walker MPP ............................ 39 Bio-Ag ............................................59 Buddsteel Architectural Products ..56 Bushell’s Auto Sales ......................19 Chalmers Fuel ................................6 Chatsworth Ag Society ..................68 Cliff’s Plumbing & Heating ............33 Courtney Grain & Seed ............31,35 Design/Build/Improve/Renovate 5,7,9 Dundalk Credit Union ....................57 Easy Lift Doors ..............................47 Elma Steel & Equipment Ltd ............8 Fretz Welding ................................12 Gerrit’s Ag Service ........................79 Greenfield Global Inc ....................52 Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week ......69-73 Grimo Nut Nursery ........................65 Grober Nutrition ....................Cover 4 Hanover Honda..............................59 Harkness Equipment ......................2 Harold Jones Enterprises ..............65 Hayter & Associates Inc ................58 Hill & Hill Farms....Inside Front Cover Holiday Shopping ....................60-64 Howick Mutual Insurance ..............29 Hunter Steel ..........................Cover 5 Huron Commodities ......................53 Huron Motor Products....................49 Jennifer Cook & Associates Inc ....55 Keith Siemon Farm Systems ........66 KMM Farm Drainage ......................4 LAC ..................................................9 Lakeside Shelving & Racking ..........8 Lambton Heritage Museum ..........49 Lands & Forests Consulting ..........55 Layton Steve ..................................65 Lisa Thompson MPP ....................58 Live Landscape..............................42 Maitland Welding ..........................65 Mapleview Agri ..............................20 Marquardt Drainage ......................51 Martin Farm Wagons ....................53 Martin’s Nursery ............................43 Mathers Arnold ..............................44 McIntee Real Estate - S Nixon ......65 Metzger Meat Products..................14 Miller Insurance Brokers ................14 Millstone Crop Services ................57 Morris Sachs Silo Construction......47 Nature’s Wave Inc ........................56 Northern Flyer Designs ..................10 Ontario Used Tractor Parts ............66 Parker & Parker Ltd ......................51

R.T. Bolton & Son ................Cover 4 Ridgeway Metals ..........................66 Robert’s Farm Equip./McGavin’s ..59 Rural Living ....................................45 Rural Voice Books ................Cover 6 Sauble Beach Motorsports 15,17,23,27 Schmidt’s Farm Drainage ..............42 Schweiss Doors ............................54 Seifried Farm Equipment ..............68 Sew Save Centre ..........................43 Sharp’s Creek Forge........................6 Snowmobile ..................................11 South Easthope Mutual Insurance 49 Steffen Well Drilling ......................66

2GTVJ .KPG .KUVQYGN 1PV 0 9 *

Stihl Limited ..................................13 SWO Diesel Inc ....................Cover 3 Sylvar Technologies Inc ................79 The Brew Shop ................................5 Townsley Barn Painting ................67 Tradition Mutual Insurance ............51 Triple P Consulting ........................29 Trouw Nutrition ................Back Cover Truckers Toy ..................................23 Usborne & Hibbert Mutual ............48 Waddell Engineering......................31 WD Hopper & Sons Ltd ................17 White Carnation ............................43 Zehrs Country Market ....................10

1ÞEKCN '.5 ,QWTFCKP 'GCNGT 5CNGU áPUVCNNCVKQP

*GTTKV 5VQNVG

IGTTKV#IGTTKVUCIUGTXKEG EQO 6[NGT 5VQNVG

V[NGT#IGTTKVUCIUGTXKEG EQO

December 2020 79

HURON

42 First Avenue, Clinton, Ontario N0M 1L0 519-482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135

County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER

Bev Hill receives Agricultural Award for 2020

Website: www.hcfa.on.ca Email: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca Huron County Federation of Agriculture

BOARD MEETING The next Board Meeting is January 25, 2021 - 8:00 p.m.

CORRECTION In the October issue of The Rural Voice the HCFA page should have listed Gordon Hill as the Outstanding Contribution to Agriculture winner in 1977.

Bev Hill is the 2020 winner. Huron County agriculture has benefited from both father and son greatly over the years.

Contact Information for HCFA President Rob VandenHengel Vinselaar Holsteins vinselaar@gmail.com 519-440-9905

Erica Murray, executive member of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture presents Bev Hill with the HCFA Outstanding Contribution to Agriculture Award for 2020.

HCFA annual meeting election results The annual meeting of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture was held virtually on October 23.

Results of the elections were: President, Rob VandenHengel; VicePresident, Murray Workman; Past President, Ethan Wallace; East Wawanosh, Ian Scott; Goderich, Jeff Klomps; Hay, Paul Klopp; Hullett, Larry Plaetzer; McKillop, Erica

HCFA Annual Review The HCFA published its Annual Paper, The Huron County Ag Review in October and it was delivered by Canada Post to all the farm mailboxes in Huron County.

If you did not receive a copy we recommend that you contact Canada Post to confirm your address is classified as a farm in their system.

HCFA members who did not receive a copy and would like one please contact the HCFA office to arrange a copy. â—Š

Murray; Tuckersmith, Ethan Wallace; West Wawanosh, Marinus Bakker; Directors-at-Large, Joan Vincent.

Current commodity representatives are: Beef, Harvey Hoggart; Dairy, Ethan Wallace; Grain Farmers, Mike Colclough; Chicken, Ralph DeWeerd and Egg, Rick Kootstra.â—Š

The HCFA Board of Directors wish all its members and friends in the agricultural communities a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We look forward to seeing all that 2021 brings.

Vice President Murray Workman murrayworkman@yahoo.com 519-505-1977 Office Administrator Lori Gordon ofahuron@tcc.on.ca 519 482 9642 ext 2 OFA Member Service Rep Margaret Vincent Margaret.vincent@ofa.on.ca 519 482 9642 ext 1 OFA Zone 7 Director (Huron-Perth) Brent Royce brent.royce@ofa.on.ca 519-291-8279 HCFA Policy Advisory Committee Rob VandenHengel 519-440-9905 vinselaar@gmail.com Erica Murray Tel 519-615-2684 emurray@tcc.on.ca Marinus Bakker 519-529-7428 saratogaview@hotmail.com

OFFICE UPDATE due to COVID-19 Please call before visiting the HCFA office to determine if the office is open.

Please be assured that we are still available to address your concerns by telephone: 519-482-9642 or email: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/huronfedofag and Facebook at Huron County Federation of Agriculture

The Rural Voice is provided to all OFA members in Huron County by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture

80 The Rural Voice

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ALICE MUNRO WRITING HER LIVES Author Robert Thacker takes us on a fascinating journey of Munro’s life including growing up poor in Wingham and following through all her life stages including the slow but steady rise in her writing career. $24.95

A MOOSE IN A MAPLE TREE If you want to give someone a unique Canadian take on the 12 Days of Christmas this book will do it, with everything from salmon leaping to mounties and beavers building. Beautifully illustrated. $19.95

CANADIAN JINGLE BELLS Take a flying tour of Canada with Santa Claus and his sled pulled by beaver in this charming illustrated children’s book. Travel from the Yukon and Yellowknife to the west coast and all the way east to Newfoundland. $19.95

THE COIN KEEPERS - Rufina Book two by author Lynn Wilkelis continues to seamlessly weave the past into the present, as the coin attempts to anchor itself back into its African Roots. $25.00

IN SEARCH OF YESTERDAY David Turner, whose stories have appeared in The Rural Voice and other periodicals, provides a collection of stories about growing up in rural southern Ontario in the second half of the 20th century. $23.95

BIRDHOUSES BOXES & FEEDERS Whether you are a woodworker who loves birds - or a birdwatcher who wants to create a wildlife-friendly habitat-this book will show you environmentally sound ways to enhance any garden by attracting birds. $24.99

Check out huroncitizen.ca under Marketplace for more books Total

Qty.

BACKROADS OF ONTARIO MIGHTY MACHINES - MONSTER TRUCKS A MOOSE IN A MAPLE TREE CANADIAN JINGLE BELLS ALICE MUNRO WRITING HER LIVES BIRDHOUSES BOXES & FEEDERS THE COIN KEEPERS - RUFINA IN SEARCH OF YESTERDAY

$29.95 $5.95 $19.95 $19.95 $24.95 $24.99 $25.00 $23.95 Total for Books Shipping & Handling $9.00 Add 5% GST on subtotal Order Total

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.

Merry Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

FREE

A Visitor’s Guide to Huron o County Fall 2020

A Visitor’s Guide to Huron County Distributed FREE at tourist information booths, town halls, retail outlets, accommodations, and restaurants throughout the county and beyond!

Also available online at

stopsalongtheway.ca

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