The Rural Voice - July, 2019

July 2019

Rural Voice

The

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

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Contents The

Rural Voice THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE

20

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

27

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

15 Columns Lisa B. Pot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Keith Roulston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Kate Procter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Jeffrey Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Mabel’s Grill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Gardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Woodlots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Agrilaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Departments Ruralite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 News & Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Business Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Newsletters National Farmers Union . . . . . . . . 4 Perth County Federation . . . . . . 68 Grey County Federation . . . . . . 69 Bruce County Federation . . . . . . 70 Huron County Federation . . . . . . 72

30 JULY 2019 • Cover Photo Jason Newton of Oxford County Photo by Jeff Tribe.

• Deadlines: August Issue –July 17 September Issue – August 21

15 Cultivate ... Create ... Cannabis Jason Newton grows marijuana for therapeutic treatments.

20 Spring-Fed Rainbow Trout Two entrepreneurs combine talents and use local springs to raise trout from eggs to table.

27 Tractor Transplants Fawcett Tractor Supply has the parts infusion needed to revive old tractors

30 Relief Milking Empire Martin VandenHoven serves 150th farm and expands to 25 employees to provide relief milking.

Contributing writers: Keith Roulston, Kate Procter, Jeffrey Carter, Rhea Hamilton Seeger, Arnold Mathers, Steve Bowers, Melisa Luymes, Anne Mann, Nancy Fisher, Dorothy Henderson, Bonnie Sitter, Gary Kenny, Jeff Tribe and Bob Reid.

Mailed by: McLaren Press Graphics, Bracebridge, ON Sales representative: Shelley Kroes rvads@northhuron.on.ca Production co-ordinator & Telemarketing: Joan Caldwell Advertising & editorial production: Dianne Josling PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40037593 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 429 BLYTH ON N0M 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca Subscriptions: $20 (12 issues) $35 (24 issues), includes HST Back copies $2.75 each U.S. rates, $65.00

33 Shawarma in Palmerston The world is coming to rural Ontario in the form of food.

36 He likes old stuff Arnold Mathers can’t believe what his family’s antiques are worth.

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

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

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

A division of North Huron Publishing Company Inc.

NH

ORTH URON

PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.

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

What might turning 50 years old activate in you?

When James Alf Wight was 50, he was sharing a funny story about a farm client with his wife, Joan, and said he’d write it in a book someday.

Joan laughed. “People don’t suddenly start to write a book at the age of 50,” she said.

This bothered him. “It nettled me,” is how the real life Alf Wight described that pivotal moment. His words rang out from a grainy screen in the World of James Herriot museum and surgery in Thirsk, England where I recently travelled.

Alf Wight is the man who transformed into James Herriot, author of eight books about his life as a veterinarian in the Yorkshire Dales.

So internationally famous did the books become that Northern Yorkshire around the village of Thirsk has become known as “Herriott Country”.

I first read All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott when I was a kid on the family farm. I was instantly transported to the picturesque Yorkshire Dales and their contained collection of quirky characters identified by an intense work ethic, folk wisdom and sometimes absurd superstitions.

Herriot celebrated their individuality and hard scrabble life on the moors with engaging humour. His animal patients were characters too, from the greedy Tricki Woo to the loyal Blossom who escapes the drover and returns home, udder swaying, to her stall in the byre.

Herriot wrote about the cold nights birthing lambs and miserable hours with his aching arm up the arse of a cow while lying on manure2 The Rural Voice

coated cobblestone. He did not mean to romanticize it yet his stories felt profoundly purposeful; idyllic even.

He had a gift for detail, a captivating style and because he loved his job, his family and his place, the stories resonated. The Yorkshire Dales were his castle; those green arching hills bordered by stone fences cleared hundreds of years earlier. Herriot would write that after needling wild bullocks, he would park his car and sit on a hill, feeling the wind and taking in the view of the valley with all its old stone barns and winding lanes. There he would find his peace, his contentment and very likely, there he would begin developing a fictional version of the eccentric farmer or animal he had just left.

It was those stolen moments amidst the consuming demands of being a rural veterinarian that have been a constant lure for me, an ardent fan of all his books. I reread his books every few years to immerse myself in the Yorkshire Dales.

I wanted to sit in those same hills to feel, see and love the Dales as he

(did. It felt like an elusive dream, for what would ever bring me there?

Turns out turning 50 was the impetus for my own launch. A twoweek vacation that included Scotland, a six-day hike along Hadrian’s Wall and completed with a stay in the Yorkshire Dales was planned while I was still 49. But would seeing it match the ideal James Herriot had painted with words so many decades before?

Leaving Bowness on Solway following our hike, blisters healing in sandals and backpacks thrown into the trunk of a rental, we headed towards Gunnerside in the thick of the Yorkshire Dales.

Our host might well have been a James Herriot character – her wild, grey, good-witch hair and obsession with previous guest’s use of sugar was offset by a genuine welcome.

Later, driving though Wensleydale and Swaledale, Hawes and Bedale, Herriot’s books came to life. In this hilly country, dotted with farms and small towns, connected by a curving gateway of narrow roads lined by flower-filled stone fences, it

The views heading into Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales of Northern England are what helped persuade James Herriot (the Scottish Alf Wight), transplant to England to begin a lifelong career as a veterinarian. Being a veterinarian was his purpose and passion but his novels about the farmers and animals he served became international bestsellers, inviting fans like to me to experience “Herriot Country”.

Lisa B. Pot

Sheep roam everywhere in the Yorkshire Dales, some unfenced as they dine on the lush grasses that give this part of the world an emerald glow.

was stunningly real. If today’s cars did not fly by (not fearing death around the next bend as we were on one-lane roads narrower than our laneways) you would never know this was 2019 versus the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s in which Herriot’s earlier books were set.

We parked the car. We sat on the hills and felt that breeze. Saw those sheep. Breathed deep of the fresh air and ingested every adjective Herriott ever wrote about the Yorkshire Dales. It was everything.

Climbing higher, we reached the moors, those high hills of heather, moss and grass where sheep share ground with the circling curlews, the fighter-pilot lapwings, wing-beating skylarks and camouflaged grouse.

Walking in the moors is like walking on a sponge. At first it seems porous. Vacuous. Then you catch the first “cur-lee” call of the curlew. You watch the lapwings joining forces and fly in formation to defend their nests. Then, if you are ever so lucky, you startle a grouse hen and she’ll run away, her chicks stumbling behind her.

It is achingly beautiful up close and even more so when you stand to view the never-ending succession of sweeping hills.

I would love this place without James Herriot’s literary blessing upon it but I might never have known about it if his wife had not “nettled”

him into writing a book.

And so one lightly-spoken challenge in Skeldale House, village of Thirsk, North Yorkshire, brings people from around the the world to these parts. His books also launched the dream of many to become veterinarians themselves. Reading them, you will, at the very least, develop an empathy for animal suffering while receiving a medical education. As a working vet, he did not shy away from clinical details and reading his books, you’ll learn more about prolapsed uteruses than perhaps you ever wanted to know.

When you read more about the author James Herriot/Alf Wight, you learn he was eventually overwhelmed by his fame. He identified as a veterinarian first, author second yet his literary fame encroached on his work as a veterinarian. He could not keep up with the letters, visitors and appeals for speaking engagements.

These days, it’s Alf Wight’s son, Jim (also a veterinarian) and daughter, Rosie (a retired doctor), who shoulder the responsibility since their dad died in 1995 at the age of 78.

While Alf Wight still lived, his books were adapted for film and television as well.

I like to imagine one day I might pen something that makes people “see” what I have seen. Wight proves it’s never too late and that turning 50 can lead to great things! ◊

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July 2019 3

National Farmers Union – Ontario NEWSLETTER Strong Communities.

Sound Policies.

Sustainable Farms.

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

NFU-O news There are many issues and meetings that are responded to and attended in a month! Some highlighted issues include: Natural Heritage Designation Every county is in the process of certifying their official plans, and areas of natural or scientific interest (ANSI) have to be designated in official plans. Some counties are designating peripheral areas of up to 30 metres. The NFU-O supports the intentions of the Natural Heritage Designation (NHD) to protect wetlands and areas of natural and scientific interest from being altered or destroyed in principle. When implementing a NHD, the County needs to meet the criteria of the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), which leaves some room for interpretation. We encourage you to get involved in the discussion if your County is making choices that concern you or affect your farm.

Ontario Food Terminal The provincial government is reviewing the efficiency of the Ontario Food Terminal (OFT). NFUO President, Don Ciparis, has been in contact with several people around the issue. As it stands, there is an Advisory Group, which includes no farmer representation, looking at the feasibility of the current location as well as alternatives if the OFT should move. The OFT currently sits on 80 acres of “valuable real estate”. The provincial government has stated that it want sto keep it open but ensuring that it is modern and meeting the

needs of the businesses that use it.

We are advocating for the Ontario farmers who depend on the OFT for their business alongside the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers and Toronto Wholesale Produce Association.

Animal Welfare Enforcement As of June 28, 2019, the OSPCA will be stopping all animal welfare enforcement after the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to have a charity which receives donations respond to animal welfare issues. In the interim, the government has passed an act that allows the province to appoint a Chief Inspector, who can appoint qualified local inspectors at humane societies.

The NFU-O sent a brief in response to the province’s consultation, which can be found on our website. We also welcome any feedback you have around solutions to the issue of animal welfare enforcement to the NFU-O office.

Harassment of Livestock Farmers Farmers are continuing to be harassed by animal welfare advocates who either trespass onto their farm or meet them at the sale barn, banging on trailers and verbally abusing farmers who are trying to sell their animals.

The NFU-O website has information regarding your rights as well as how to react to trespasser(s).

We have written a letter to the provincial legislature requesting that trespassers at the farm or the sale barn be prosecuted.

Climate Action Fund The NFU-O has received up to $83,606 in funding through the Climate Action Fund to work with farmers to implement farming practices that will help mitigate climate change. For details and how to participate, please visit nfuontario.ca/climate.

Get Involved!

The NFU-O Board is looking for members who have ideas to share and want to discuss issues in more depth.

These campaigns and committees are open to farming and non-farming members. Currently, we are looking for members who would like to participate in the following campaigns/committees: • Support for Direct Marketers • Climate change • Farmland Access & Preservation • Editorial Committee • AGM Committee For further information or to participate, please contact the office.

Coming Events Local 330 Renfrew– Next meeting is Wednesday, July 3, 7:30 p.m. via conference call. Contact Connie Tabbert at rcnfu330@gmail.com or 613-646-7753.

Participants in the Ottawa Climate Change KTM

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

Ruralite

“

•

“When most people think about

Cooking

cannabis it’s a bunch of hippies getting high;

”

it’s Cheech and Chong. It still can be but that’s not all there is.”

~ Jason Newton of Oxford County, on growing and

manufacturing cannabis oil for therapeutic health reasons.

“In Pakistan, we have a saying that there is more taste in a woman’s hands... meaning they are better at cooking.

But my wife likes my cooking.” ~ Aimer Sikander, owner of Minto Shawarma in Palmerston

Lumbering closer I pray with all might that...

The fence holds tight ~Lisa B. Pot

For the Lexophiles: • I tried to catch some fog. I mist.

• How did Moses make coffee?

Hebrews it.

• This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club but I’d never met herbivore.

Winnie the Pooh Wisdom • “Promise me that you’ll always remember that you’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.” ~Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh

JUNE INSPIRATION “That beautiful season the Summer!

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; And the landscape Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.”

{ •

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Why are they called stands when they are made for sitting?

} •

July 2019 5

Keith Roulston Keith is former publisher of The Rural Voice.

He lives near Blyth, ON.

Gaining power has left us on our own Late last winter I noticed a grey smudge on the snow outside our kitchen window and when I investigated, I found the remnants of a paper wasp nest blown out of one of the trees in our yard.

The wear and tear of winter winds had ripped away the outside paper skin but the interior comb of hundreds of breeding cells was still intact. When I did a little research and found out the entire structure had been made by wasps that chewed up fibre from old wood or from plant stems to create the paper the nest was made of, I was struck by how much effort by how many hundreds of wasps went into building this home that now lay in ruins.

As I mulled it over later, I thought how different we humans are than these tiny creatures who must work together by the hundreds to get a job done like that. Then I realized that humans originally had to work the same way. Imagine the group effort it took to build the pyramids in Egypt in the days when the only power came from the muscles of humans and animals. Even the castles of Europe and structures like our own parliament buildings required huge amounts of muscle power to erect and, because of that, an enormous amount of co-operativity.

Lately, because of a personal creative writing project I’ve taken up, I’ve been immersed in reading about, and thinking about, the lives of the first settlers who came to Ontario to carve out new lives for themselves.

It’s hard to even conceive what must have gone through the mind of a man who faced 100 acres of solid trees with nothing but an axe, knowing he must chop down enough of them, fast enough, or he and his family would starve to death.

It must have been very lonely in 6 The Rural Voice

those first days when a family had only its own resources in this life and death struggle. It’s no wonder, then, that pioneer families were happy to discover they had neighbours. Soon people were coming together to build roads and schools and to help each other out when an emergency such as illness or injury struck. Often cooperative efforts like a barn-raising also became social events as lonely families came together.

This tradition of joint effort created business opportunities as farmers came together to erect cooperative creameries or cheese factories and farm supply co-ops.

The entrenched understanding that people working together had more strength than individuals on their own led to the creation of supply management for dairy, chicken and eggs in the 1960s.

By then things were already changing. Combines meant that it was no longer necessary for farmers to come together for threshing bees to harvest their crops. One man with a hydraulic-equipped tractor could do the work of a dozen a century earlier.

At the same time, the coming of

television meant each family had the best, most talented musicians, actors and athletes in their own home. They didn’t need to gather for entertainment at community concerts or cheer on local hockey or ball teams. Each family existed in its own world, tied by modern communications to the outside world without the need of the neighbourhood community.

I’m now reading that some experts think society has moved to a worrisome new level of isolation. In these days of social media and online shopping, some people are cutting themselves off from human contact, even though we are, by nature, social animals.

That’s one thing that was reassuring in seeing crowds gather to watch the Toronto Raptors championship run. People wanted to come together to share the experience.

Nobody wants to return to the days when back-breaking work forced people to come together to share the burden, but we still need other people. We need to find new ways to bring our neighbourhoods and communities together. ◊

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JUNE 12 to AUGUST 10 | WORLD PREMIERE

JUMBO By Sean Dixon

One of the biggest tales in the history of South Western Ontario, playwright Sean Dixon brings the real larger-than-life story of Jumbo the Elephant’s fateful final performance in St Thomas, to the Blyth Festival stage.

JUNE 26 to AUGUST 10

CAKEWALK By Colleen Curran

On our 45th anniversary, we are bringing back this delicious comedy that premiered at the Blyth Festival in 1984 and went on to international acclaim.

JULY 31 to SEPTEMBER 5

THE TEAM ON THE HILL

By Dan Needles

This play is a rich, funny and moving family drama about life on the home-farm, complete with its nostalgia for the way things used to be, and the struggles for succession.

AUGUST 7 to SEPTEMBER 6 | WORLD PREMIERE

IN THE WAKE OF WETTLAUFER By Kelly McIntosh & Gil Garratt

Images by Kelly Stevenson

Created with compassion from interviews with some of those most closely affected, this play follows fictional siblings as they learn their infirm father has been in the same home as Nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer. A hard-hitting but life affirming story of hope for change.

SEPTEMBER 11 TO SEPTEMBER 28

BED AND BREAKFAST By Mark Crawford

From the playwright of last year’s sold out comedy The New Canadian Curling Club comes a slap-down drag ‘em out comedy about being truly “out” in small town Ontario for a limited run.

Blyth Festival gratefully acknowledges support of

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JULY 2019 7

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

I wasn’t going to write about the weather, but...

I wasn’t going to write about the weather. I was trying hard to think about something else. But no matter how I tried, the weather is the biggest thing going on for us in agriculture.

Across the continent, the weather is making headlines and is worrying for a lot of people, not just farmers.

Through most of the crop-growing area of Ontario and the corn belt in the U.S., cold, wet weather and a lack of sun since last September has affected our harvest, our winter crops, and of course, spring work. On

the flip side, hot, dry weather is affecting our cousins in the western provinces – burning off forages for cattle, leaving farmers to plant into nothing but dust, and enabling raging forest fires that choke people in cities and on farms alike. I’ve read firsthand accounts from western farmers who are already selling off livestock because they have no hay and no pastures to feed them.

For the first time, I was actually envisioning what our fields would look like if we didn’t get the crop planted. While leaving fields fallow was once fairly common practice, I’ve never seen it and I’m not sure how you would manage to keep the weeds at bay. Aside from the depression factor of being surrounded by bare fields, the financial hit doesn’t really bear thinking about.

It is no secret that the weather has impacted all of us in other ways as well. According to the Insurance Board of Canada, “The insurance industry has had a front-row seat to the effects of climate change. Thirty

Sample each season! Alsoo sample after: y heavy h rain i y plumbing l bi woorkk y change in water’s colour,, taste or odour Pick up and drop off free sample bottles at: Clinton

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8 The Rural Voice

Wingham Wingham & Districct Hospital Lab Monday–Thursdayy, y, 8:30 a.m. to noon

years ago, insured losses for extreme weather events averaged $400 million a year. In the last decade, these losses have skyrocketed to $1billion or more every year but one,” (http://www.ibc.ca/on/disaste r/water/). Claims due to water damage are significantly more than claims resulting from fire and wind damage combined.

While the overall average annual rainfall has increased in our area over the past century, extreme rainfall events have also increased, causing damage to homes, farms, and municipalities. It is important to make sure that your insurance policy covers your home and business for damage caused by floods and septic backups. Government pressure following flooding disasters in the past decade in major cities has resulted in changes within the insurance industry. Insurance companies are all different – but most will charge different rates based on your area of exposure. If you have built on a flood plain it is possible that you will not be able to get insurance at all. Higher risk equals higher premiums.

This year, flood warnings and watches have been issued due to high water levels in the Great Lakes in various areas of the province. Local Conservation Authorities (CAs) are responsible for local flood messaging, while municipalities are responsible for “on the ground flood response”. Their website provides a provincial map showing areas of flood watches and warnings.

The 2019 provincial budget has reduced funding to CAs across the province. According to Conservation Ontario, prior to this reduction, a total of $7.4 million in provincial funding was shared across the 36 CAs towards flood management.

“The impacts of these reductions will vary from CA to CA, however, they will all be felt immediately, particularly in smaller and more rural conservation authorities.” said Kim Gavine, General Manager of Conservation Ontario. On Friday, April 12, 2019, the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) was advised that funding for MVCA natural hazard management programs

Kate Procter would be reduced from $70,556 to $36,424.25 for 2019.

Gavine explained that cutting natural hazards funding is particularly problematic right now in light of the fact that – like everywhere else – Ontario is experiencing stronger and more frequent flood events as a result of climate change impacts.

CAs now have a variety of responsibilities around flood management in Ontario. These include forecasting flooding and issuing warnings, monitoring streamflow, rainfall, and snow packs, floodplain mapping, managing and operating $2.7 billion in flood infrastructure such as dams and dykes, providing planning support and advice, regulating development activities in floodplains, contributing to municipal emergency planning and preparedness activities as well as recovery activities, informing and educating the public, protecting, restoring and rehabilitating natural cover to reduce flooding.

In the Maitland watershed, where almost 80 per cent of the watershed is used for agriculture, watershed stewardship services are vitally important. A major priority of MVCA has been to work with landowners to help them keep soil and nutrients on the land and out of municipal drains, rivers, and Lake Huron. Provincially-funded Drinking Water Source Protection was established in 2006. Proposed changes to the Conservation Act suggest that this service would now be mandatory and that conservation authorities would have to levy their municipalities to pay for it.

We all recognize that, like our own household, there are limits to the public purse. Cuts at one level result in a reduction of services. Sometimes cuts can result in finding efficiencies or improving ways of doing things.

Regardless of how we pay – whether we increase our level of private insurance, donate to our local CAs to help pay for services to deal with increased levels of water or pay through taxes, we are all paying and will continue to do so. It is up to us, as a society, to determine the most efficient way to do so. ◊

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July 2019 9

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

Serving Ont. Sheep Producers Since 1918

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There’s something wrong at CBC Radio, hopefully an issue that renewed investment into the Canadian institution can fix.

As an avid listener for 30-odd years, tuning in morning, noon and night most days, I’ve learned much over that time about Canada and the world. It’s been my go-to place for news, commentary and ideas; an educational experience and, at times, entertaining as well.

Yet of late, it’s often been with a sense of trepidation rather than anticipation that I’ve been tuning in.

The tone, too often, has been one of shrill mean-spiritedness.

Among the recent low points was the interview of a relative of the late Ethel Merman (1908-1984). The host, with melodramatic persistence, portrayed the actress and songstress as a racist – focusing on the lyrics of a single song from the 1930s – despite the overwhelming logic behind the relative’s argument that this was hardly the case.

It’s not that the CBC coverage of issues related to racism, notably the broadcaster’s groundbreaking work concerning Canada’s indigenous peoples, is unappreciated. Yet the impression has been building that the CBC is running out of things to say about core issues it has focused on in recent years, which includes its coverage of marginalized groups like women and the LGBT/nonbinary/two-spirited community.

I have listened with interest and yet the coverage at times seems to have only broadened the divisions among Canadians rather than bringing them together. All too often what appears to be the accepted opinion at CBC Radio is being

treated as fact and those who disagree are targeted and chastised rather than being allowed a voice.

Well-considered dissenting opinion is something to be pursued, at least in a small way.

The narrow focus of the CBC Radio does, of course, come with a flip side – the need to broaden its coverage. For that to happen, however, it needs money. Among the 36 Organization Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations, the average per capita funding for public broadcasting is $90. At $34 per capita, Canada ranks third-lowest on the list.

Bringing Canadians together is something best exemplified on CBC Radio through the Cross-Country Checkup program (although it is also in need of more resources for research purposes before going to air). When, for instance, the program turns to subjects with a decided rural connection – like the episode concerning changes to the Canada Food Guide – an air of unpreparedness is evident, only to be addressed when well-informed listeners call in.

That’s nothing new, according to Rex Murphy who, up until 2015, hosted the program. I heard Murphy speak to a gathering of Southwestern farmers in London a year or so back during which time he leveled a barrage of criticism at the CBC for its inadequate rural coverage.

Afterwards, I walked up to Murphy, who appeared to sense my approach with a degree of unease, and uttered the observation, “They have their heads up their arses.”

Murphy simply nodded in what I took to be agreement but that may have only been a stalling tactic to contemplate the means to escape an awkward conversation, perhaps by poking me in the eye.

I stepped aside. He passed.

CBC Radio does occasionally touch on things rural. Where the broadcasting services fails, however, is in fully appreciating the importance of rural communities, like the agricultural community, to the rest of the nation and its connection to the environment, climate change, immigration, and social justice. ◊

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“I’m thinking of becoming a fly farmer,” said Dave Winston the other day as the gang gathered at Mabel’s Grill for their morning session.

“A what?” asked George McKenzie, stopping dead in midpour as he put sugar in his cup.

“A fly farmer,” Dave repeated.

“I’ve heard of fly fishing but never fly farming,” said Molly Whiteside as she filled Dave’s cup.

“Well, that’s sort of it, in a way,” said Dave. “I read in this article that the government has given approval to some company to grow flies so they can market feed made from fly larvae to people with fish farms and to poultry farmers.”

“Now that would be the ultimate in specialization,” said Cliff Murray.

“I spend time trying to keep flies out

of my barn and you keep a barn full of them.”

“That’s what I figured,” said Dave. “If you can’t beat ’em, grow ’em. Besides, you know how hard it is to kill a fly. I figure they’ve got to be easier to raise than pigs.”

“I dunno,” said Cliff. “It sounds too good to be true. I’m thinking if you put a few million flies in a barn and you really want them to live, they’re liable to get sick too. Maybe you’d have to shower before you go into the barn to make sure you didn’t bring in any disease.”

“Good grief, I thought I’d be getting rid of that if I got out of pigs,” said Dave.

“Hmmm,” wondered George, “do you think we’ll have vets specializing in sick flies when this comes in?”

“And sure as shootin’ they’ll want to improve the breed,” said Cliff.

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“What do you feed a fly?” wondered Molly.

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waste from food processing and grocery stores. That’s gotta be cheap.”

“Except as soon as these companies see people are making money off the stuff they’re throwing away it’ll suddenly get real valuable,” said George.

“Well then maybe the fly manure would be worth some money too,” said Dave. “The article said marijuana growers in the U.S. are already growing their plants on fly manure compost shipped all the way from Europe.”

“I can see the company slogan right now,” laughed Molly. “Come fly high with us.”

“I wonder how long it will be before somebody starts PETB?”, said Cliff.

“PETB? What’s that?” wondered George.

“People for the Ethical Treatment of Bugs,” said Cliff, straight faced.

“Never thought of that,” said Dave. “I suppose it’s only a matter of time before somebody’d be sticking up for the rights of flies.”

“Maybe invading your barn, taking videos of how you treat your flies and taking home a fly for a pet,” laughed George.

“Okay, okay. Maybe I wouldn’t be further ahead raising flies than pigs,” said Dave. “Besides, the company would likely send me back to school to learn how to grow them.”

“Well time flies when you’re having fun,” sighed George as Molly delivered their bill, “so I guess I’d better get going.”

“What’s on the agenda today?” wondered Cliff.

“Believe it or not, walking,” growled George. “My doctor wants me to get out and walk two miles a day.”

“Yeah, I read that people who walk faster live longer,” said Molly.

“I’m not too sure about walking fast,” said George. “So far I’m doing darned good if I can make the two miles at any speed. I never realized walking was such darned hard work!”

“Ha! I figure if the Lord had wanted farmers to walk he wouldn’t have given us ATVs,” said Cliff.◊

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Cultivate & Create • By Jeff Tribe •

Therapeutic value of medical marijuana explored by home grower Individual growers are exercising their right to cultivate and create with legalized cannabis

C

annabis’s rich, pungent, slightly skunky aroma permeated the air as Jason Newton unscrewed and removed the lid from atop a litre-sized jar of dark green dried flower.

“This is the stickiest, stinkiest stuff I’ve ever grown,” he smiled, extending the container of his own pure CBD strain for a closer look and appreciative sniff. “And you could smoke a pound of it and never get high.”

It is safe to say Canadians’ understanding of cannabis is evolving, just as accurately to add ‘on the fly.’ Its glacial resuscitation back into the medical realm preceded recreational legalization, a jointly highly-anticipated and feared milestone. The massive scope of new or converted production facilities garners the majority of attention as big business and governments alike struggle to catch up to demand in

July 2019 15

something approaching an orderly fashion.

Further away from headlines and hoopla, individuals are also exercising their personal right to cultivate and create, taking a handson approach to cannabis’s psychoactive and therapeutic properties.

Newton’s own journey of discovery grew out of necessity, driven by the determination to support a close friend’s medical needs in response to diagnosis combining MS, sacroiliac joint pain, and myofascial inflammation. In laymen’s terms, that hat-trick of potential misery translates into constant or chronic pain fluctuating in intensity. On the day of diagnosis, Newton committed to ‘fixing it’, a bold assertion in the face of a daunting spectre.

“They laughed,” he recalled.

But following an extended run through traditional pharmaceutical options (none of which had proven effective despite costing up to $2,000

monthly) desperation and the suggestion to try nabilone, a synthetic man-made form of cannabis, opened the door to exploration of the natural product.

Initial reaction from the patient’s medical support team was universally skeptical. Her doctor, neurologist and specialist all saying ‘no’, with another healthcare professional suggesting it would ‘make them dumb.’

Newton attributes reluctance to more mainstream medical cannabis to a lack of education, fostered by years of illegality and secretive usage.

“It’s legal now but that stigma will be around for a while,” he said.

“When most people think about cannabis it’s a bunch of hippies getting high; it’s Cheech and Chong.

It still can be, but that’s not all there is.”

Initially, his friend shared the skepticism, reluctant to be ‘high all the time’, a misunderstanding fostered by lack of knowledge.

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beginning, but now I see the benefits she says. “It does work, it does work – it helps.

“It’s not perfect, but it makes my pain tolerable – without it, my bad days would still be bad days,” she adds.

In very broad, simplistic terms, differing strains of cannabis contain differing percentages of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), the former responsible for the psychoactive effects (buzz), the latter arguably for pain and inflammation relief and anti-anxiety qualities, although Newton is not alone in believing the two go “hand in hand”. Beyond that, again in very broad, simplistic terms, there are indica and sativa-dominant strains, with indica moreso supporting pain relief and melting into the couch for a long nap while sativa is comparatively uplifting, perhaps encouraging users to contemplate the meaning of life while cutting their lawn.

Additionally, terpenes – the aromatic evolution in maraijuana to attract pollinators and repel predators – also contribute to the final combination.

Think perhaps of cattle, with both meat and milk-specific breeds. Inside those two distinctions, there are also milk breeds which will, for example, produce greater volume or higher butterfat. Cannabis breeding is a notunrelated metaphor, additionally complicated by Newton’s assertion different strains and amounts affect different people on a very individual level. ewton’s journey began with his friend’s prescription for medical cannabis and subsequent application to Health Canada for an ACMPR permit, which allows patients to grow their own medical cannabis, or designate someone – in this case Newton who had more horticultural knowledge and expertise – to grow it for them.

Post-legalization legislation currently allows cultivation of four plants per household.

Newton’s efforts to figure out how to grow, harvest and process medicinal organic cannabis with limited equipment – “something anybody could do at home” – was

N

taken to maintain control from fertigation through finalization. He absorbed as much knowledge as possible through hours of research from countless sources including university studies and practical information gleaned from a global array of farms, large and small. Seeds were purchased through breeders originating in Holland, British Columbia and California based on grower data, reviews and performance history.

“They’re not just random seeds,” said Newton, who habitually “researches the crap” out of anything he approaches.

He currently uses an organic ‘tea’ to promote plant growth: compost, worm castings, bat guano and blackstrap molasses steeped in water over two days. The mixture helps create a living soil or microecosystem around the roots, fostering nutrient breakdown and uptake.

Following harvest, flower (bud) is separated and dried for approximately five to seven days to the point of being dry, but not “snapping”. Newton completes a process he sees as crucial to quality by slow-curing buds in mason jars or large stainless steel containers for several weeks, in order to break down chlorophyll, which he believes results in a smooth, pungent, finished product.

“Not drying and curing cannabis properly produces flower that smells of hay and is harsh for smokers,” he explained. n its natural form, cannabis contains CBDA and THCA, components including a carbon molecule which must be decarboxylated or separated in order to create purified and active ingredients. Smoking cannabis separates the carbon molecule through intense heat and instantly makes THC or CBD available for absorption through inhalation, but beyond Newton’s preference for a healthier edible option, the latter can also be controlled more precisely within the therapeutic realm.

“You are in control 110 per cent, which you don’t have when you smoke.”

Decarboxylation can also be achieved at lower temperatures over

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Jason Newton sources carefully-chosen cannabis seeds (top) from Canada and the United States, grows his allowable four plants, and creates a variety of products including cannabis-infused coconut oil, dried flowers, and cannabis-infused coconut oil capsules.

18 The Rural Voice

Jason Newton (above) creates cannabis capsules with simple, easily-accessible household equipment to dry the flower buds (top) and create capsules with cannabis-infused coconut oil.

a lengthier time period. Given that the process is highly aromatic and cannabis’s pervasive ‘skunk’ can be persistent, Newton heads outside.

There, he heats the flower he has broken apart inside a covered pot at 240 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. He then adds the resultant decarboxylated flower to extra-virgin coconut oil (high in saturated fat which binds well with the resin) inside a crock pot, on low, stirring frequently. He removes flower particles by straining the resultant mixture through cheesecloth and again through a reusable coffee filter with a fine wire mesh (“Any little bits of leaf aren’t going to hurt you”) leaving cannabis-infused coconut oil.

After letting the infused oil cool, he utilizes a magnetic stirrer to ensure uniform consistency, prior to filling capsules he purchases at a health food store with disposable three-millimetre pipettes. Newton creates two options: a pure ten-drop (0.25 ML) capsule plus a larger version containing cannabis-infused coconut oil combined with a recipe featuring matcha, kale, spirulina, barley grass, wheatgrass, chlorella, peppermint, acai berry, goji berry, maca root, ginkgo bilboa and an organic fruit and vegetable blend.

“And then, like any other medication, it’s put away and locked up.”

As a parent, he is focussed on education, particularly cannabis’s reported effects on young minds.

“I wouldn’t want my kids high every day; it’s no different than being drunk every day. You know they are going to try it, I just try and educate them on being responsible. When that day comes and they make that decision, I want them to make smart choices.” ewton’s capsules’ effects emerge roughly an hour-anda-half after ingestion, lasting around five hours. The broad strokes of their creation are comparatively straightforward compared to the exhaustive trial and error required to establish optimal individual blend efficacy through micro-dosing.

“So there is relief, but you’re not spending your day high.”

Newton maintained meticulous

N

records throughout the process, going in low, so to speak, then gradually moving upward in dosage before levelling off, backing down and making final adjustments. Currently, his capsules contain a blended 50/50 THC/CBD kush, 90 per cent indica THC strain and his own pure CBD variety, mixed at a rate of one ounce of dried flower per cup of coconut oil.

Intentionally, the capsules are low dosage, simply taking more as required.

“You have to take the time and do the research,” Newton said of the process, noting frustration can develop when things don’t immediately work. “There’s a lot of people who throw in the towel right then and there.” he Ontario Cannabis Store features wide Health Canadaapproved variety, including CDB blended or dominant options.

But apart from the satisfaction of successfully figuring things out on his own, Newton and his friend appreciate knowing exactly what has gone into Newton’s capsules, and

T

precisely how they were created.

“You have complete control over your own medicine – how great is that?” Newton asked rhetorically.

The bottom line, however, is that the cannabis has proven effective, providing relief where other more traditional options failed.

“There were days I couldn’t get out of bed,” said Newton’s friend.

“But once I take one of his pills, I can move and walk. It didn’t take away all the pain, but it was enough, it was tolerable.”

“And you weren’t in any opioid zombie state,” Newton added. “You could function.”

In conclusion, he does not see a cannabis plant as an aromatic magical wand. Rather he says it offers potential for a variety of medical conditions given individual blend, preparation and dosage.

“Thousands of people can’t be wrong when they say they use cannabis for different purposes and it helps them,” Newton summed up. “It all depends on the person. It’s an amazing plant which can help people in so many ways.” ◊

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July 2019 19

Aquaculture

Spring water raises healthy trout

The perennially exuberant, 61-year-old Bruce Green (above) says raising trout at Kolapore Springs Hatchery makes him feel like a “rock star” because people are just so happy when he shows up to stock their freezers or ponds with the spring-fed fish.

Bruce Green and Sean Brady of Kolapore Springs combine their skills to channel pristine escarpment spring water to tanks and raceways to grow rainbow trout from eggs to eating size 20 The Rural Voice

• By Gary W. Kenny •

W

hen Sean Brady bought acreage in 2009 in Grey County’s picturesque Blue Mountains, just south of Collingwood, probably the last thing on the mind of the former home builder and renovator from Toronto was reviving the property’s defunct, 1960s-era inland fish hatchery. He had planned to build a log home, kick back, and enjoy the idyllic setting which includes a 17-acre pond, lush woodlands, and rich wildlife habitat.

But what to do with the hatchery? It was still in reasonably good condition.

He thought of Bruce Green. Green had once installed hardwood flooring in Brady’s house in Thornbury and

was a member of the Georgian Triangle Anglers Association, trained in aquaculture, and had worked for several years in a fish hatchery. They talked by phone, mulled over the idea of restarting the hatchery, agreed that it had potential, and developed a simple, direct-sale-to-the customer, business plan. By late 2009 the Kolapore Springs Trout Hatchery was once again in business, with Brady and Green as equal partners.

That was 10 years ago. Today, Kolapore Springs (as the hatchery is also called) is a going concern. It provides its customers, which include prominent restauranteurs and chefs in Southern Ontario cities and towns, with Kamloops-variety rainbow trout. They are known for their firm flesh, superior flavour, and overall high quality. Large numbers of both brown trout, native to the Saugeen River watershed, and speckled trout also are raised at the hatchery but are mostly sold to stock regional ponds, lakes, rivers and streams. he drive into the hatchery site from Grey County Rd. 31, especially in spring, summer and fall, is enchanting. The dead-end gravel road wends through dense, lowland forest canopy and occasional stretches of wetlands teeming with aquatic wildlife. As one approaches the hatchery one is visually struck by what has perhaps become its picturepostcard-perfect iconic symbol: a set of old moss-covered, fern-edged concrete raceways that descend in steps through the forest. They carry cold, crystal clear spring-fed water from the nearby Niagara escarpment into the hatchery’s very heart.

Andrew Kenny, who twice a year buys trout from Kolapore Springs to stock his pond, describes the last leg of the trip as a kind of personal “spiritual journey”. [Full disclosure: Kenny is this writer’s son.]

Brady and Green divide their responsibilities according to their personal skills and attributes. Brady’s include a friendly, persuasive manner and innate entrepreneurialism which, with his connections in Toronto and other urban centres, make him a natural salesperson and marketer.

Green’s aquaculture training and hatchery experience equip him to

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22 The Rural Voice

manage the day-to day fish farm operations. It’s a nice balance,” Brady says of the pairing. Indeed, on the basis of interviews with them both, their relationship seems like a marriage made in aquaculture heaven.

The hatchery, which itself is nestled in a verdant forest setting on the edge of the property’s serene, languid pond, is quaint and unassuming. Its centrepiece is a onestorey frame building painted forest green and looking very much like its 1960s vintage. It houses 10 rectangular stainless-steel tanks in which eggs are hatched and fry reared, and three round concrete tanks housing fingerlings that are grown to a size where they can be transferred to outdoor raceways. In the external raceways and an additional two metal tanks, the fish are reared to a size when they are ready for market. Regular customers include restaurants, small (100,000 sq. ft.) grocery stores and chains, and ponds and streams stocked by private landowners, Anglers Clubs, and others.

Brady and Green market their fish as sustainably and ethically-grown and harvested and say the hatchery causes little adverse environmental impact, a principle to which they are committed. The continuous flow of pristine escarpment spring water makes it possible to rear high-density cultures of fish that are relatively free of the various disorders associated with some other fish farms, in particular, diseases requiring regular doses of antibiotics to control. ravity compels the continuous flow of water downwards from the Kolapore uplands to the hatchery. Two spring-fed streams run under the forest floor and converge about 500 metres uphill from the hatchery site. The streams, averaging at around seven degrees C, are considerably colder than water at most commercial fish farms, and are optimum for rearing trout. This results in a healthier, firmer-fleshed animal, Green says.

In the hatchery the water passes through a series of troughs, tanks and raceways before it exits into the nearby pond “at almost the same temperature it enters the hatchery,”

Ten stainless steel tanks are where rainbow trout eggs are hatched and fry reared before they are transferred into three round concrete tanks (above). Once the fingerlings (left) reach the right size, they move into the outdoor raceways (below) and are fed pellets made of fish by-products.

The trout also eat the “fairy shrimp” found in the spring water coming off the escarpment.

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July 2019 23

Green says. [“Raceways” in this article refers to concrete structures, some of which carry water to the hatchery from its upland source, and others that house the growing fish and through which the cold spring water flows continuously.] The water flows at a rate of about 700 gallons per minute (400 at low points), Green adds.

The streams feeding the hatchery also collect and carry numerous enzyme-rich micro-organisms that provide extra enrichment for the fish.

In many large-scale fish farms, these enzymes are produced artificially and have to be added to processed feed.

Kolapore Springs water also carries “fairy shrimp” which are found in cold, fresh water streams and rivers almost everywhere in the northern hemisphere. Consumption of the tiny crustaceans add to the vibrant colour and quality of the fish. Other naturally-occurring dietary supplements include minnows and small insects. The trout’s mainstay diet, however, is pellets made of fish by-products processed in Ontario.

As for the quality of the fish, the 57-year-old Brady says the rainbow trout his partner delivers directly to restaurants – from pool to plate, so to speak – have a reputation as being “super-fresh” and “super-delicious.”

Toronto-based Chef Carl Heinrich, the season-two winner of the Food Network’s reality competition TV show, Top Chef Canada, is an enthusiastic fan. He attributes the high quality of the hatchery’s rainbow trout to the unique ecological conditions in which they are grown. f course no business, not even a successful one like Kolapore Springs, is without its challenges. Kolapore’s two main liabilities are environment-related, Green says. The natural water flow and raceways are vulnerable to storms and heavy spring freshets.

Runoff water can carry bacteria from the forest floor into the hatchery and stress the fish. When this happens, which Green says fortunately isn’t often, the raceways have to undergo extra flushing which can cut significantly into the management schedule. Without vigilant watch of

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24 The Rural Voice

weather forecasts and appropriate preventive measures, large losses of fish can occur quickly.

Another persistent threat is predation. High concentrations of fish in a confined area in an outdoor setting are vulnerable to a range of predators. Wire strung in a grid-like pattern above the outdoor raceways

Rainbow trout hatchlings growing inside the indoor tanks are safe but once moved outside to raceways, the fish are prime targets for herons, hawks and four-legged raiders including coyotes.

discourages overhead attacks from herons, cormorants, eagles and hawks. A perimeter chain link fence helps exclude four-legged raiders including coyotes. Minks and raccoons, which can take a lot of fish in a short span of time, usually at night, have to be trapped. As with all farms in Ontario, whether cattle, sheep, goats, etc., or fish, it is legal for farmers to take action to protect their livestock.

Disease also is something for which Green and his hired helper, André Will, are constantly on the

watch. In any situation where fish or livestock are concentrated in large numbers, opportunistic diseases can occur. “Outbreaks are uncommon but when they do occur, we have to act quickly,” Green says. Serious cases can sometimes mean resorting to an antibiotic. But because Kolapore Springs trout are cultivated and grown in such cold, pure, pristine Niagara escarpment spring water, Green adds, disease outbreaks are rare. “We haven’t had to use a single antibiotic in some five years, he says.

It’s another reason why his and Brady’s trout are coveted by chefs and restauranteurs whose clientele prefer naturally-grown, chemical-free fish.

Even after a run of 10 years, Brady’s and Green’s enthusiasm for the hatchery seems boundless. Asked what he finds most satisfying about the work, the perennially exuberant 61-year-old Green said: “My wife works in [retail] customer service and is always dealing with people with problems and putting out fires.

I’m always dealing with people who are excited … and happy [when I show up in my truck with a tank full of live trout to stock their pond.]”

Adds Green, “Kids, parents, grandparents – they are always thrilled to see me and receive the live fish. They take pictures and treat me like a rock star.”

Both Brady and Green say demand for the hatchery’s fish is consistently high. In fact, Green says, keeping up with orders for fish stock in particular is sometimes challenging. But neither Brady nor Green want to expand the hatchery.

There are some practical obstacles, Green says, including a limited supply of the spring water, that distinguishes their product. The water could be recycled, Green adds, but that option carries too many risks to the health and quality of the fish. ecently Brady took over a small, federally-licensed plant in Owen Sound where Kolapore Springs trout, as part of a value-added measure, are being smoked and sold locally. He also hopes to market the product to prestigious hotels in Toronto, including the Four Seasons and

R

Royal York, as part of their Canadian banquet menu. Also planned for commercial sale are smoked wildcaught Pacific salmon and Lake Huron whitefish. The whitefish will be supplied as part of a business venture with the regional Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON). Brady also says he wants to help the SON modernize their aging fleet of fishing tugs and equipment not only for his own but their commercial benefit.

In interviews with both Brady and Green, one senses that expansion of Kolapore Springs Fish Hatchery, despite the demand for its coveted fish, isn’t in the cards. “We’re more than just a hobby operation,” Brady says, “but we’re not a rock and roll enterprise either,” he adds. The two good-natured fishmongers seem content with their finely-tuned, small-volume operation. It provides them with some modest extra income, but perhaps more importantly, a deep and abiding sense of satisfaction at having produced a high-quality product that is sought after by a multitude of customers. ◊

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Machinery

In the business of tractor transplants • By Bob Reid •

O

ld farm tractors, like old soldiers, don’t ever really die but slowly fade away.

That is unless their owner doesn’t want them to fade away in which case he or she might make a visit to Fawcett Tractor Supply Ltd. on the outskirts of St. Marys.

The family-owned business contains thousands and thousands of spare tractor parts salvaged from tractors no longer in use but capable of extending the working life of similar models through a parts transplant. Sturdy cast iron bodies and simplicity of operation typical of older tractors allows mechanically inclined farmers to extend a tractor’s working life for decades.

“They (older tractors) were solid, reliable and fixable,” said Micah Tavares, sales manager with Fawcett.

Tractors like the popular Ford 8N or series of Farmalls made by International Harvester were once the mainstays on a hundred-acre farm.

Models of that vintage seemed to last forever with a bit of attention when needed, said Tavares.

“Put in a new set of points and they would fire right up,” he added.

Every farmer has a favorite make of tractor iron – Ford, John Deere, Allis Chalmers, Massey Ferguson, Cockshutt, Case-IH – all represented at Fawcett. Until about 15 years ago they were all quite simple to repair for someone with some mechanical skills.

The advent of electronics and computerization incorporated in recent years in all tractor lines has changed that, at least for those less comfortable with that rapidly evolving technology.

At the same time, it has brought a lot of later model tractors to Fawcett’s salvage yard via insurance companies.

“There is a danger operating electronic stuff in dirty conditions. That is what catches on fire,” explained Tavares.

Fifteen years ago Fawcett stopped salvaging combine parts for a similar reason.

“When a combine goes up in flames it really goes up. There is not much left,” said Tavares attributing that to all the chaff and dirt that collects on combines in normal operating conditions.

Also, as combines got increasingly bigger there was a lot of heavy metal to haul around and store on the property.

July 2019 27

Fawcett’s was established in 1977 on a former pig farm.

“My grandfather started the business as a way to combat declining swine prices,” said Liz Fawcett, the third generation of the family working at the business located on the original farm site.

Keith Fawcett had approached the bank about borrowing some money to expand and improve his pig business. When he was refused a loan he decided to supplement his farm income by starting his own business in the farm workshop – salvaging tractors.

That shop has expanded several times under Liz’s parents, Jeff and Donna Fawcett, to become the largest tractor salvage operation in eastern Canada, employing 31 people. The barn that was once full of pigs is now full of tractor parts. avares, Liz’s brother-in-law, described the tractor salvage business as currently being in a time of transition. Younger farmers more familiar with electronics are gaining the confidence to fix the complex guidance and computer controlled functions.

“You will have young farmers not afraid to plug the tractor into their lap top,” suggested Tavares of those trouble-shooting diagnoses.

He suggested there was also a cautious transition for the farmers who bought their very first tractor after switching from horses to horsepower. They, too, had to become familiar with the machine’s operation before taking it apart and putting it back together.

The difference in those two vastly different eras is the shelf life of spare parts for late model tractors. While tractor manufacturers once carried parts for tractors 20 or 30 years or more, 10 years is the standard length of time now for carrying replacement parts by tractor manufacturers.

“That is not very long in the useful life of a tractor,” said Tavares.

This basically reflects the shorter shelf-life characteristic of all electronics as part of a throw-away rather than repair manufacturing philosophy.

The electronic control units (ECU) on newer tractors have to function or the tractor is disabled. If

it is not repairable the owner may simply decide to replace the ECU, especially if it is a higher-priced model.

However that unit may have to come from France as tractor manufacturing is now an integrated process spread round the world.

“The tractor owner might have a thousand acres of crop to put in and doesn’t want to wait three days for a part,” said Tavares.

If Fawcett can immediately supply the needed ECU it will shorten the

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28 The Rural Voice

Top: Three generations Of Fawcetts run the tractor parts business.

They are (left to right) Keith and Barb Fawcett, Jeff and Donna Fawcett, Micah and Audrey (Fawcett) Tavares, Liz Fawcett.

Right: Micah Tavares, sales manager, and Liz Fawcett are the third generation of the Fawcett family involved with the businesss standing with some of the used gears salvaged from tractors.

time for the farmer and that has a value, said Fawcett.

The price applied to salvaged parts is actually based on age and availability. The rarer the part the higher the price.

Eight out of 10 customers for parts are private individuals, said Tavares adding, “Usually we can come to some price agreement.”

While farms have grown much bigger and far fewer, there is still a ready supply of salvageable tractors available.

This bodes well for those farmers wanting to fix up an old beater. It may no longer be the main power supply on the farm but handy for pulling around wagons or some less demanding chores, said Tavares.

He divides the customer base into those interested in restoring antiques and those wanting to repair a tractor that will remain in use.

Mainly he stays clear of the antiques but he did deal a steelwheeled 1912 McCormick to a German buyer.

He also recalled a former tractor owner coming to the shop recently in search of an older model for nostalgic reasons.

“He said it was his first tractor and he wished he had never sold it and wondered if it might have ended up here,” recalled Tavares.

“Every farmer has the (tractor) colour they love and their shed will be full of the same colour.”

If someone is looking for a particular model of tractor it is usually the one they grew up with on the farm, said Tavares. he search for salvageable tractors looks through a moving window determined by the passing years combined with tractor engine hours. Larger farms and custom operators may replace tractors leased after only two or three years to avoid repairs. But eventually those tractors wear out, sold into the used market to farmers willing to endure grease-stained hands and repairs for a reduced machinery debt load. Those units eventually need replacement parts that may no longer be stocked at a dealership.

Fawcetts sells parts worldwide through on-line sales and five carriers that enter the business to pick up deliveries daily.

While it was once not unusual to come across farmers who could rhyme off every model number in their preferred line of tractors, the vast number of models now available corresponding to seemingly endless options makes that exercise much more difficult.

It has also made cataloging inventory much more difficult requiring three full-time employees, noted Fawcett.

Not every part of a tractor finds a

market. A portion then becomes scrap metal destined for recycling.

The business has been dealing with the same recycler for 40 years, said Fawcett.

Currently there is a strong market for used parts in models 15 years old

or older like the John Deere 4000 series or Case Magnum line before electronics became so prevalent, said Tavares.

Fifteen years from now it will be different models or series as the used tractor parts window shifts.◊

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July 2019 29

Business

Building a relief milking empire Martin VandenHoven has list of 25 employees as he expands his relief milking business to over 150 farms • By Lisa B. Pot •

M

Martin VandenHoven is owner of Relief Herdsmen Services near Mitchell which used to be a one-man-show until VandenHoven decided he would expand his reach by hiring men and women with “that basic farming instinct” to meet the needs of Ontario dairy farmers.

30 The Rural Voice

artin VandenHoven says he loves cows and variety and believes, 150 farms later, he has landed the ideal career.

VandenHoven is celebrating his 150th farm as owner of Relief Herdsmen Services near Mitchell, a business that fills the gap when dairy farmers are looking for temporary help, often when they go on vacation.

It used to be a one-man show with VandenHoven being that man.

However, seeing opportunity to expand his reach outside of Perth County, VandenHoven has been recruiting former dairy farmers and other employees who “know how to milk a cow”.

It’s an ambitious goal and is taking the idea of relief milking to a new level as dairy farmers are discovering the “neighbour boy” isn’t so easy to find anymore.

“It’s very hard to find reliable help and the good ones are few and far between,” says Peter Luyten, a dairy farmer who depends on his sons for help. However, when there is a family event, he looks to VandenHoven to milk his Holstein herd. “A relief milker has to be committed to their job and like what he does … it’s not a career for everybody,” says Luyten adding he prefers to create his own routine rather that be called here or there.

However, VandenHoven says he may be just the opposite. “Doing the same thing everyday? That’s not for me,” says the lanky father of two, who took over his family’s 50-cow dairy farm and ran it for five years until the barn burned down in 2005.

He opted not to rebuild and tried going back to school and working for a chicken farmer. Neither appealed to him and when he started to miss the

cows, he wondered if he’d made the wrong choice not to rebuild.

So in 2008, he decided to get back into dairy by starting his relief milking business. Willing to do whatever is needed except for field work, VandenHoven discovered he really loved the work. As a person who likes variety and a challenge, he enjoyed learning how to run all the different types of equipment. Farms with robotic milkers still need someone to feed and check the herd and he enjoys the flexibility robotic dairy barns add to his schedule.

As the business grew, he was frustrated to have to turn down 25 to 30 calls a year. He decided to expand his business by hiring staff who either work as part-time employees or independent contractors depending on how they want to direct their tax situation. When adding to his list of employees, he looks for men or women who have “that basic farming instinct”. They need to know how to milk and run equipment beforehand.

“It’s about attitude more than anything,” he says. He now has 25 people on a call list to do chores or milkings. Eight are women and VandenHoven says he’d hire more women in a heartbeat. “They really do have more patience and an intuition for working with animals.”

It’s been a learning curve for VandenHoven as he has learned new business structures including payroll, Workmen’s Safety Insurance Board reporting, and Quickbooks.

Also, he follows up with every employer and employee to make sure the match was a good fit.

VandenHoven charges $35 a hour from leaving home to returning home for all Relief Herdsperson Services employees plus $40 cents per kilometre mileage.

Most farmers don’t comment on the hourly rate but they aren’t keen on paying mileage, says VandenHoven. “They really hate that but Ontario is a big place,” says VandenHoven.

May is a slower time of year for the relief milking business as most farmers are on the farm, managing the spring cropping.

Having been a relief milker for over 10 years now, VandenHoven

Martin VandenHoven has reached a milestone with his business, Relief Herdsmen Services having been called to his 150th farm to provide dairy farmers with temporary help.

has had a few great and not-so-great experiences. One of the greats was working for a farmer on Manitoulin Island for a week. He was able to take his family and make it a workcation.

On the flip side, he’s had some stressful situations. One shared milking led to milk from a treated cow getting into the tank so it had to be dumped. Another time a feed cart tipped over and caught on fire.

“Luckily the farmer was still home but when he grabbed the fire extinguisher, it did not work. We were able to get it out with water but I wish I’d thought at the time to throw wet feed on it because the flames were shooting to the ceiling.”

Being responsible for multimillion dollar facilities while the farm owner is away can be stressful so VandenHoven now carries liability insurance.

His next goal is to get into independent consulting. Since he is inside a lot of barns, he sees how dairy farmers in southwestern Ontario run their operations. He learns what works and what doesn’t and how an idea in one barn could work in another. He is currently making a checklist of management questions that can guide a consulting

session and help individual farmers fine-tune their management practices.

“Dairy farmers are so busy doing the day-to-day work that sometimes they don’t take the time to sit back and reflect on what they could be doing better,” says VandenHoven.

Now 41, VandenHoven says there will come a day when he doesn’t want to get up at 5:00 a.m. to milk cows and he’s hoping this new phase of his business will allow him to slow down physically as he ages.

For now, he’s building a relief milker empire, capitalizing on his farm boy instincts and a gap in the labour force to make his own dreams come true. ◊

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Summer Foods

Shawarma, poutine and being Canadian Shawarma is Arabic for turning and can be made for virtually any kind of meat say owners of Palmerston’s new fast food restaurant

Salim Shah (above, left) and Aamir Sikandar (above, right), both originally from Pakistan, are bringing the taste of shawarma to Palmerston. Not related but brothers in spirit, the men share how they and their families love the green spaces of rural Ontario and how merging cultures has been both wonderful and challenging.

• By Melisa Luymes •

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hawarma restaurants have long been a late-night staple in Montreal and Ottawa, and now they are coming to rural Ontario.

Salim Shah and Aamir Sikandar, both originally from Pakistan, opened Palmerston’s first shawarma restaurant in December last year.

Shawarma is spiced meat cooked in a vertical rotisserie, often served in a pita wrap with fresh vegetables. “It is slow-cooked fast food,” says Salim. “It is healthy and good to eat on the run.” He says that many people ask what shawarma is when they come in, and that they love it once they try it.

Located across from the high school, Minto Shawarma also sells typical fare like pizza and fries.

Salim loves making food and worked at Better Beef and Grand River Foods for nearly a decade before becoming an entrepreneur. He has operated pizza places in small town Alberta and most recently in Orillia, preferring to make his pizza sauce and dough in house.

“I think there is taste in my hands,” he jokes. Aamir explains, “In Pakistan we have a saying that there is more taste in a woman’s hands. It means that they are better at cooking.”

Salim shrugs, “But my wife likes my cooking,” he says.

Shawarma is Arabic for ‘turning’ and it can be made from virtually any kind of meat. The meat is thinly sliced and marinated in spices like bay leaves, cinnamon, turmeric, paprika or cardamom. It is tightly packed onto a two-foot vertical skewer that rotates in front of an element. As the meat cooks, it is shaved off with a long knife and is often rolled into pita bread with fresh vegetables and pickles. It can also be served with rice for dinner and, at Minto Shawarma, they also make a delicious shawarma poutine.

Common condiments and sides with shawarma include: torshi left, July 2019 33

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34 The Rural Voice

pickled turnips (which are bright pink because of the beets they are fermented with); hummus, (which is a common dip or spread ground from chickpeas), garlic, olive oil, lemon and tahini (made from toasted sesame seeds); tabbouleh, a salad made from minced parsley with onion, mint tomato and bulgur (parboiled grains) with olive oil and lemon juice; and tzatziki is a yogurt sauce with cucumbers and garlic.

Shawarma originated from the Turkish doner kebab in the 19th century and was spread across the Ottoman empire. In Greece, it became gyros and in the Middle East it became shawarma.

But Pakistan is 5,000 kilometres from the Middle East. Salim and Aamir like shawarma, but it isn’t their traditional food. Aamir learned to make shawarma from his friend in the Netherlands of all places.

Avoiding the stifling heat of summers in Pakistan, Aamir often took his family to Europe and they have spent time in nearly every European country, and in the United States as well. He moved to Palmerston with his wife and children a few years ago, leaving his extended family in Islamabad. He purchased the gas station at Highway 23 and White’s Road but has since sold it to a Sri Lankan family. alim Shah was also born in Pakistan but has lived and moved across Ontario and Alberta for most of his life. His father lived in Montreal for eight years before he was able to sponsor the rest of his family to join him in Canada. Salim was 12 when he started school in Ontario and in the 25 years he has been here, he has visited Pakistan only twice – once to get married and the second time to solve a problem with their work visa.

These days, you’ll find him, his wife and children living in Atwood.

He refers to Aamir, 20 years his elder, as his brother. “We are closer than brothers actually,” Salim laughs.

In reality, the business partners met because Salim’s uncle is good friends with Aamir’s brother in Philadelphia.

“That is our culture,” says Aamir, “we are one big family across the world.” While Aamir stayed with friends as he traveled across Europe,

S

he also hosted the same friends when they came back to Pakistan to visit.

“Our culture is friendship, hospitality and reciprocity,” he says, as he brings several cups of tea for the interview. The restaurant is bustling with their friends and relatives coming and going.

They prefer the green, open spaces of rural Ontario to the cities in Pakistan. Imagine 213 million people in a country less than the size of Ontario with average monthly temperatures of 30 degrees from May to August. “For me it was too hot and too dangerous to stay in Pakistan,” says Aamir. He had been looking for opportunities to purchase property and move to Canada. All over the world, he says, people say great things about Canada. “And it is great, but it isn’t always easy,” he says.

“The first week we opened, our front window was smashed in,” says Salim. Security cameras from the gas station captured footage of someone wearing a balaclava and hurling rocks from their pockets into the front window. “It was expensive enough to start this place and then we had another $1,000 expense in the first week,” says Salim. “But I don’t want to assume that it was a racial thing, it could have been any reason.”

“And 99 percent of people that we meet here are wonderful,” adds Aamir. “So, I don’t want to think about the other people.”

“There aren’t many people that look like us here,” says Sanan, Aamir’s 19-year old son. Sanan just graduated from Norwell high school and will be studying Business Management at Humber College in the fall. Before he moved to Canada, he played cricket. Now he plays basketball.

“One time, another brown person saw me walking and came in the restaurant just to find out where we were from,” laughs Sanan. “I guess it isn’t that common.” And being a minority in small town Ontario, they can easily relate to each other.

“I guess we all came from somewhere though, the difference is how recently and how many ties we still have to our home country” says Salim. He laughs about the stereotypes now. “Growing up in Ontario, I think we were stereotyped,

but we didn’t really speak English yet, so we didn’t care,” he smiles. ow Salim speaks English without the hint of an accent.

He also speaks Urdu and Pushto and can understand Punjabi.

Like the rest of us that went to school here, he speaks ‘un petit peu’ of French and likes to complain about Brian Mulroney.

A Dutch couple visiting Ontario stops in for a pizza dinner; Aamir wakes up his friend from the

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Netherlands on Facetime to chat in Dutch with the couple. In this day and age, we are so connected around the world.

As I leave with a delicious chicken shawarma wrap, I reflect that this part of Wellington County has been shaped by immigrants with a strong work ethic and that Salim and Aamir are no different. Like shawarma poutine, we are a fusion of different cultures. To me, that is what makes me proud to be Canadian. ◊

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July 2019 35

Arnold Mathers

Our old things were just “soup-du-jour” As technology increases obsolescence, things from yesteryear that last increase in nostalgic and monetary value

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ne rainy day last week, we spent the afternoon touring through some consignment stores. That seems to be the new term for antique shops. The first thing that I noticed was that a great deal of the stuff could have originated from our farmhouse where I grew up. As a young lad growing up in Huron County in the 1940s and ’50s, I never realized that our lamps and knickknacks and furniture were all so valuable. They were simply the soup-du-jour, handed down from my grandparents or purchased at an auction sale.

The one new piece of furniture that we had was a dining room table and chairs set purchased from the Eaton’s catalogue. The chairs fell apart one by one and were constantly being reglued and rescrewed, and the table marked every time something hot or damp was set on it. When we had just enough money to buy an arborite kitchen table with plastic covered chairs, Mother tossed out our old wooden kitchen table and chairs that would be worth a small fortune today. Out with the old and in with the new! However, the new stuff has long since been relegated to the dump; it had no hope of becoming more valuable with age.

What is an antique depends very much on when and where you were born. The old adage that “one person’s junk is another person’s treasure” holds true for antiques. I was shocked at the prices in the consignment store. One fancy sleigh bedroom suite cost almost to the penny the amount we paid for our new Pontiac in 1954. I expect that bedroom suite is selling today for more than the original price. When we got married, we bought a new bedroom suite for our Toronto apartment. I was so glad to get away from my old three-quarter-sized spool bed. And where did my old spool bed end up? In the guest room

36 The Rural Voice

Old stuff the Mathers family couldn’t wait to get rid of has now become so valuable in terms of memories and dollars.

of our farm house where guests oohed and aahed over the opportunity to sleep in a real antique bed. Who would have guessed?

Today, most of our friends sleep in not double, but queen-sized, beds and some of our friends and family sleep in king-sized beds. It’s just not the same as snuggling in the old spool bed. Quite often when we check into a motel, we are asked whether we want two queens or a king bed. Wow, that’s a tough choice that we never had to make half a century ago.

In my lifetime there have been many changes. The things that I saw in the Dick Tracy comic books are commonplace to the preteens of today. Watches that can be used as a telephone, starters that can start your car from inside the house and computers that correct my spelling and grammar are all taken for granted by my grandchildren.

When I was about 12 years old we got our first TV. It was a 17-inch black and white that got three

channels off an aerial mounted on a pole; we couldn’t afford a fancy tower. Then along came the miracle of colour and the 24-inch screen.

Later, we graduated to a 36-inch TV that weighed about 300 pounds and took up a good chunk of the living room. Today, our TV is a 55-inch flat-screen that weighs about 20 pounds and gets over 300 channels. I can still only watch one at a time, but recently I saw a TV that has a picture-in-picture screen and you can watch up to four shows at a time. I can barely stay awake to watch one show. We went to Sam’s last week – that’s a store not a friend’s place – and they had a special on 70-inch TVs. I’m out of date again. Will old 17-inch black and white TVs become valuable antiques some day?

Everything is changing so fast.

The microwave is a radiowave phenomenon that can heat up leftovers in a minute or two. Now they have timers and turntables and so may settings that you need a manual to heat soup. The latest ones

Arnold Mathers talk to you. “Your soup is warm,” “your baked potato is cooked”. Soon we will have a microwave fridge combination and I will only need to say “heat up some chicken” and it will get it out and cook it.

Fridges have come a long way since our 1952 Woods with a freezer that could only hold a brick of ice cream. Now they come with a freezer that can hold a month of groceries and filtered water and an ice maker.

These are supplemented by a beer fridge in the bar and a freezer in the basement. We still have an old ice box in our farm house; it is now just a piece of antique furniture. We bought it at an auction sale when we were living in an apartment in Toronto. We had no place for it so we stored it in my brother-in-law’s basement. We left it there so long that they thought it belonged to them and when we wanted it back I traded a trailer for it, so in fact, I had to buy it again.

A few other very simple inventions that sneaked into use when I wasn’t looking were patio doors, smart phones and atomic clocks. I can now find out the weather in forty-nine countries without opening the patio door and checking outside. Oh yes, and who invented the dimmer switch? The older I get the less use it is to me; I need more light not less light. hen I was growing up, Mother washed dishes after every meal and once in a long time she might persuade Dad to help dry the dishes. Never once in my life did I ever see Dad wash dishes. Maybe the hot water would have been bad for his hands. When we were old enough, my sister and I were conscripted to help with the dishes. Now it is almost against the law not to have a dishwasher. The variety of dishwashers is amazing, pot scrubbers, deep tub, crystal cleaners and dual wash models. What a change!

We are fortunate to have a few articles that have been in our family for many years. My Grandmother was a musician. She played the organ and the harp. Her parents were staunch Methodists and in that day instruments were not welcome in

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most Methodist churches. However, my great-grandfather was not one to follow tradition. In 1896, he gave his daughter an organ as an 18th birthday present and had it placed in Belgrave Methodist church. She was the organist at that church until her marriage to my grandfather. The organ went with her to their farm on the first concession of Morris Township. When she passed away, the organ was relegated to the attic of my Grandfather’s house for nearly 50 years. In 1978, the organ, in its original but aged condition, was on the way to the dump when we rescued it and gave it a home in our old log house. Last week we were touring an antique shop and saw the twin sister of our organ for sale for over $500 U.S. I guess we will keep it for another generation.

Grandfather Mathers and Grandmother Ellen were given a settee and chair for their wedding by grandfather’s sisters. The settee and chair were likely purchased from the T. Eaton Company out of the catalogue. The settee was advertised

for $1.50 and the chair for 85 cents which was quite a lot of money in 1909. We had them both restored and they now also live with us in the log house.

My sister and I were each given a water goblet brought from Ireland by our great-great-grandmother. She brought her five children from Ireland to Canada in 1846 and as far as I know, these are the only possessions left from that time.

I have the set of binoculars that had been given to Grandmother Ellen Owens on her wedding day, November 3, 1909, by the storekeeper in Belgrave. This was a very unusual wedding gift to help her see into the future.

So we like old stuff. I’m always amazed when we go to an auction sale or tour an antique shop to notice the old stuff that we could hardly wait to get rid of has now become something of value. Apparently, other people must also like old stuff.

I hope that the next generation will feel the same way about the things we leave behind. ◊

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July 2019 37

Recipes by Dorothy Henderson

Fresh garden herbs add superb flavour

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ummer months slip by quickly when there are so many pleasant things to do. No one wants to spend a lot of time in the kitchen but it is still fun to try out new flavours and dishes when the summer markets are full of fresh, local fruits and vegetables.

What is more quintessentially summer than the burger? Although it is fast and easy to buy ready-made burgers in the supermarket, making your own international gourmet burgers offers a flavour treat. These can be full-sized or shaped into 12 sliders. (Slider buns are now available in most supermarkets.)

I served these three types of sliders at a party recently and the guests loved trying out the different flavours.

Greek Burgers 1 ½ pounds ground beef or lamb 1 small onion, grated 1 clove garlic, minced 1 slice soft bread, crumbled 1 egg 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp oregano ½ tsp cinnamon Salt and pepper to taste Italian Burgers 1 ½ pounds ground beef 1 sweet or hot Italian sausage, casing removed 1 small onion, grated ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated 1 tsp oregano Pinch chili flakes Salt and pepper to taste Truly Canadian Pork Burgers 1 ½ pounds ground pork 1 slice soft bread, crumbled 1 egg 2 green onions, chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 tbsp vinegar 1 tbsp prepared mustard 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil or sage Salt and pepper to taste Directions for all burgers: • Toss all ingredients lightly together.

• Form into 6 patties or 12 slidersized patties.

• Grill 3-4 minutes on each side

38 The Rural Voice

Hamburgers can be served as Greek, Italian and Truly Canadian Sliders with a switch of ingredients and popping them on slider buns, now available at most supermarkets. For dessert, an Apricot Upside-Down Cake (above, right) is considered the “best cake in the world” by the Henderson family. Peaches on the barbeque add a unique flavour to a dish of peaches served with toasted almonds and pecans. over high heat on BBQ or bake for 20 minutes in 375°oven (less for sliders).

To serve the Greek Burgers: Instead of traditional buns, tuck burgers into a pita bread pocket and serve with tzatziki and Greek Salad.

To serve the Italian Burgers: Use Kaiser buns brushed on the inside with tomato sauce. Top with grilled peppers, onions and/or mushrooms.

To serve the Truly-Canadian Pork

Burgers, top each burger with a slice of bacon, cooked until crisp and snapped in half. Add a slice of mozzarella over bacon in the last minute of cooking. otatoes form a perfect accompaniment for any meal as this tuber can be served in so many different ways. Potatoes are as versatile and nutritional as they are comforting. Their scientific name is solanum tuberosum which is derived

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Recipes from a Latin word meaning “soothing.” Not much wonder we associate potatoes with comfort food.

Serve potato skins with a salad, grilled portobello mushrooms or steak or as an afternoon snack. They always disappear quickly after a sports event or family gathering.

Recently, while at our family cottage, I made a plate and when I returned five minutes later, they had all disappeared. This version is easy, low-fat and the skins provide excellent dietary fibre.

Potato Skins 4 large baking potatoes (any type but Russets are excellent) 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari ¼ cup vegetable oil Sprinkle salt Sprinkle chili powder 1 cup grated cheese • Scrub potatoes and prick with a fork. Microwave for 5-8 minutes until a sharp knife may be easily inserted.

• While the potatoes become cool enough to handle, combine the soy sauce and vegetable oil and prepare any of the dips listed below.

• Pre-heat the oven to 500°.

• With a serrated knife, carefully cut each potato into 4 or 6 wedges (avoid breaking the skin) and scoop out about half the flesh. (Save this in a separate bowl, add mayonnaise, onion, celery and spices for a small potato salad for the next day.)

• Using a pastry brush, coat both sides of the potatoes with the soy sauce-oil mixture. Set skin-side down on parchment lined baking sheet.

Sprinkle with salt and chili powder.

• Bake for 10 minutes then remove the pan. Sprinkle on cheese and return to the oven for another 10 minutes until the potato skins are a crisp, golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Dips: Serve with bowls of salsa and/or a bowl of sour cream to which a teaspoon of horseradish has been added. ocal summer markets offer a delightful array of summer fruits which are as delicious as they are nutritious. My family declares this the best cake in the world. I once took it as a gift to my daughter-in-law, Joanna, and she

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confessed that she and a friend ate the entire cake in one sitting.

If you make this cake when it is off-season for fresh apricots, a 398 mL/14 oz can is the perfect amount of fruit.

Apricot Upside-down Cake ¼ cup butter or margarine ¼ cup brown sugar ¼ cup maple syrup 8-10 fresh apricots, split and pitted 1 ½ cups flour 1 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp baking soda Pinch of salt Heaping 1/3 cup margarine or butter ¾ cup white sugar 1 tbsp lemon juice or 1 tbsp lemon zest 2 eggs ¾ cup sour cream • In an 8- or 9-inch square or round cake pan, combine the ¼ cups of butter, brown sugar and maple syrup over low heat on stove top.

When melted together, lightly spray sides of pan to keep from sticking.

• Arrange apricots, cut side up, on top of syrup in pan.

• Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

• In a separate bowl, press or beat together the butter, sugar, lemon and eggs.

• Beat half the flour mixture into the butter-sugar-egg mixture. Stir in the sour cream. Beat in the remaining flour mixture. Spoon over apricots.

Use the back of the spoon to spread the batter to the edge of the pan.

After baking for 40 minutes in 350°F oven, run a knife around the edges to loosen any crusty bits. Set a flat pan or plate on top of the cake and quickly invert and remove the pan. The beautiful, curved side of the apricots will be on top.

This cake may be served with ice or whipped cream or just enjoyed on its own. hen peaches are in season and while the barbeque is on, try this easy recipe.

Barbecued Peaches 2 tbsp soft butter or margarine, divided 5-6 peaches, peeled and sliced 2 tbsp brown sugar

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2 tbsp brandy or maple syrup 2 tsp lemon juice • Spread 1 tbsp butter in an aluminum pie plate.

• Toss fruit with sugar, brown sugar, flavouring and lemon juice.

Pour into pie plate and dot with the remaining butter. Seal tightly with foil wrap.

• Cook on low barbeque heat for 20-30 minutes. Carefully open foil to let steam escape.

• Spoon fruit with juices over ice cream or cake. Garnish with toasted almonds or pecans. f there are children in your life, take time this summer to create a watermelon basket with them. My friend, Linda Shaw, who was the busy mother of triplets, told me that adding pineapple to a fruit salad helps preserve the life of a fruit salad for days and I have found this to be true. A watermelon basket is a great picnic treat. If you are transporting it to a picnic, take along the prepared fruit in a separate sealed container.

Add to the carved watermelon basket just before serving.

Watermelon Basket 1 whole watermelon 4 cups assorted summer fruit (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc.)

1 can pineapple chunks, undrained • Using a long sharp knife, create a “basket” by cutting the watermelon horizontally, but do not cut straight through at the centre of the watermelon. Leave a strip of the top part of the watermelon rind attached to the bottom, which makes it look like a basket.

•Remove the two top “disposable” sections of watermelon. Set aside and eat later.

• Carefully cut out the flesh of the bottom part of the watermelon. Cut into cubes and put about half of them in a bowl. (Save the rest for eating or for making watermelon slush.)

• To the watermelon chunks, add the assorted summer fruit and the can of undrained pineapple. Toss lightly.

• Pile fruit back into the watermelon basket and serve. If you wish, serve with a sweet dipping sauce by combining a package of softened cream cheese with a cup of marshmallow dip. ◊

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July 2019 39

Rural Living A Country Guide for the Rural Homestead Brussels Farmers’ Market Four Winds Barn basement

Goderich

BIA Farmers’ Market

Fridays 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Rural Living

May 17th - October 11th

www.bayfieldfarmersmarket.ca

Buskers Welcome ---------------New Vendors always Welcome

Fresh vegetables, fruits, preserves, lamb, pork, summer sausage, baking, artisans, flowers and plants.

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Join Us Every Weekend On The Square Saturday Farmers’ Market 8am - 1pm Vendor Inquiries Call 519-440-0871

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40 The Rural Voice

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Deadline for the August issue of The Rural Voice Magazine is July 17 JULY 2019 41

Rural Living

Country Quilting

Long Arm Machine Quilting Services

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

Scarring and planting the gift of Kentucky Coffee Tree seeds Despite the cool wet spring or maybe because of it, we had a spectacular June. Lilacs, redbud, wisteria, flowering crabapple, magnolias, fragrant linden and golden chain trees all in bloom above our heads; along the ground we saw sweet woodruff, tree peonies, herbaceous peonies, iris, cranesbill, primulas and drifts of forget-me-nots along the paths. I could enjoy June all summer.

July is a mature time in the garden; the rush of growth and bloom is over and now it’s time for some solid growth. This is a perfect time to get at spots we have not weeded yet and finish with a bit of mulch here and there. I use my mulch sparingly along the front edge of the garden as far in as twelve inches. I use leaves in the back of the garden around the larger plants. I don’t mulch around my favourite plants that seed down as it limits the seeds’ soil contact and germination. I am missing my magnificent Canadian columbine. It would freely seed down and the vibrant orange, yellow blossoms make a wonderful visual with the spotted blue-blossomed lung wort or pulmonaria growing around its base.

But thanks to birds or maybe the wind, a small one popped up 15 feet away and I will spread the seed in a few other locations.

Mulch is a wonderful tool in the garden to help conserve moisture, keep the garden soil cooler, and as it breaks down it improves the quality of the soil.

I should bring you up to date on the state of my curcuma. Last 42 The Rural Voice

November I picked up this exotic plant and once it died down, I stored it with my canna and dahlia bulbs. I checked for growth in January and February and even gave it a bit of water. But when I was pulling out all the other bulbs, I discovered the tuber had completely dried up. There was nothing there but the soil and a few dried leaves that would have been around the base of the stem. Now I wonder if it was actually a seed plant and no tuber had formed yet. Like seed begonias. So that purchase did not end well but I think most, if not all, gardeners have similar stories.

The next big experiment involves more trees. John Hazlitt dropped off half a dozen thick leathery seedpods from a Kentucky Coffee tree. You don’t see many of these trees in the landscape. There is one species here in North America and two others in

Kentucky Coffee Tree seeds are embedded in a green pulp inside the pods. In order to sprout, the hard seed coat needs to be scarified. These seedlings were nicked with a grinder and then planted in a sheltered spot to be nurtured before transplanting.

China. They are referred to as a colony tree and have a vast root system from which new trees sprout.

Male and female flowers are on separate tree colonies. If you can imagine this, an entire colony of trees may only be one genetic individual.

If isolated, then fruit on these trees is rare which makes these pods a treasure.

Usually found in floodplains and rich/moist woodlands, Kentucky Coffee trees will tolerate open dry sites or partial shade. They are considered small but will grow to 80 feet and two feet in diameter when happy.

They do hold the record for the largest leaf of any Canadian tree.

They have double compound leaves that can be anywhere from one to three feet long and up to two feet wide. It gives the trees a feathery

Gardening look, which makes it useful as an ornamental.

The flowers are greenish-white and not memorable although they are fragrant. While the wood is heavy and decay resistant, its true value is in the roots that bear nodules containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which on decaying enrich the soil.

So what to do with the seeds? The pods were tough to rip open and the seeds were embedded in a green sticky pulp, or “stiff goo” as I called it. The seeds need to be encouraged to sprout. In Henry Kock’s Growing Trees from Seeds, he recommends filing a patch off the seed coat. Since our grinding wheel has not worked in years I thought a sharp rasp would do the trick. I changed tools when I ripped one of my knuckles on the rasp. This was with the first seed and I was looking at 29 more seeds to do.

So I dug out the wee dremil tool and using the grinding attachment, proceeded to notch all the seeds. It was hard to know if I was making a deep enough nick, as the seed coating was quite hard. The seeds were covered with water and let sit for a couple of days. They can swell to double their size and they did!

Now where to plant? We potted up 25 Korean Stone Pine trees this spring and set them into the ground in the shade of an oak tree. What better place to set out these seeds. So in a row between the pine trees we planted the coffee trees about two inches apart. Mr. Kock recommends they be grown in a nursery for a couple of years and when they are about six to twelve inches high they can be transplanted out. A tree nursery is a semi-shaded spot with a frame and netting to protect the seedling. As a popular treat for deer and rabbits, this could explain part of why we don’t see many in the landscape.

Oh, on a final note you cannot make coffee from the seeds. They are called coffee trees due to its seed similarity to coffee seeds. The taste is bitter and unpleasant although when scoring the seeds they smelled pretty good.

I will let you know next spring how the seeds fared. ◊

Lisa Thompson MPP Huron-Bruce

CONSTITUENCY OFFICES Blyth Office:

Kincardine Office:

408 Queen Street, PO Box 426 Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 Phone: 519-523-4251 Toll Free: 1-800-668-9320

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

Huron-Bruce Matters

163rd Listowel Agricultural Fair July 18-21, 2019

Free Fireworks Show!

Thursday, July 18th Following crowning of Fair Ambassador Rain date is Sunday, July 21st Sponsored by

Opening Night Parade, Ambassador Competition, Senior's Day, Homecraft Exhibits, Kid's Day, Livestock Shows, Baby Show, Tractor & Truck Pull, 6 Horse Hitch Competition, Horseshoe Tournament, Youth Talent Competition, Church Service, and the ever-popular Demolition Derby to finish off the weekend!

Food Booth on site operated by the Listowel Agricultural Society featuring all locally grown commodities!

Beverage Tent open Friday & Saturday evenings. Midway all weekend!

Friday, July 19th Saturday, July 20th Sunday, July 21st

• • • • • •

Traditional country singer and yodeler Naomi Bristow performs at 1:00 pm Truck Pull Pub Night & entertainment by 8 Second Ride Band 2:00 pm ~ Thorn & Roses perfomance & old tyme country dance Combined Farm & Modified Tractor Pull Demolition Derby

For full details visit www.listowelfair.com July 2019 43

People • By Lisa B. Pot •

We get to choose our response

We may not get to choose what we play but we get to choose how we play says hockey goalie, Sami Jo Small

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It’s hard to imagine a connection between dairy farming and winning an Olympic gold medal for women’s hockey but Sami Jo Small found it.

“I’ve learned you do not always get to choose the role you play but you get to choose how you play it,” said Sami Jo at the Canadian Dairy XPO held in March.

Sami Jo’s journey as a professional woman hockey player, who was primed to be the top-ranked goalie at the Olympics, only to be pulled from the final game and have to watch her team win the gold from the stands, was compelling. She brought her A-game to the XPO, revealing lessons she has learned about life, choice and inner victory which can translate to every profession ... even dairy farming.

She began by passing the gold medal around for everyone to hold.

“I will warn you I’ve been to over 500 elementary schools so bite it at your own risk,” joked Sami Jo. As a young girl who idolized her older brother, Sami Jo served as goal tender for her brother’s team of friends. “It was maybe not the smartest thing for little me to get into the net but I had dreams of being a hockey player so I played,” said Sami Jo. Turns out her brother was a kind one and he was her first encourager. “He believed in me and included me in the game.

Life Lesson #1 “What I throw to you today is to be that person for someone else. How can you share your wisdom and knowledge and encourage someone no matter what? If my brother had not encouraged me I would never had the opportunity to go on and be an Olympic champion.”

Since her bother played in a hockey league, Sami Jo asked her 44 The Rural Voice

Olympic gold medallist and famous Canadian women’s hockey goalie, Sami Jo Small, had a humbling and encouraging story of motivation to share with dairy farmers at the Stratford Dairy XPO in March. She’s seen here swapping medals with Dairy XPO host Mr. Andrew Dellava, International Marketing Manager with Hoard’s Dairyman magazine.

parents if she could play too. So they signed her up as Sami Jo, which is her name. “My parents were not hockey people so they waited for all the other girls to show up. They didn’t. People came up to my parents and told them I couldn’t play so my parents realized they would have to shield me from negative comments because what they saw was me out there with a great big smile.”

Back then, Sami Jo played the position of forward. During one game, a man stood up and yelled “hey little girl, you belong in the kitchen.” Not understanding the comment, Sami Jo asked the coach why that man was yelling at her.

With tears in his eyes, the coach told

her to ask her mother. Her mother’s comment was “life isn’t fair.”

Life Lesson #2 “Life isn’t fair. This wasn’t an easy message to get but it’s an important one to get. Life isn’t fair.

My mom said hockey would be different for me than the boys but if I loved the game, she would support me no matter what. Because my parents were in my corner, I was able to play a game I loved.”

As she grew up, Sami Jo continued to play hockey. She also joined other sports, including cross country in an effort to improve her game. Thing was, Sami Jo was not a gifted runner. After her first race,

People Sami Jo wanted to quit but her dad told her she had signed up and she owed it to herself and the team to stick it out. So she did, coming in near-last at races, sweaty and discouraged.

On the cross country team was a boy named Adam who was a gifted runner and encourager. After one race, when she had placed 296th, Adam said “you did amazing.” Sami Jo said, “I did so bad.” Whereupon Adam replied, “You finished, right?”

Then he asked Sami Jo if she thought she could do better next time. Thanks to Adam, she stuck with cross country until grade 12 and during her final race in Grade 12, she earned a ninth place. “For me, it meant the world.”

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Life Lesson #3 “That barf-coloured 9th place ribbon means just as much as that Olympic medal because it represents all the work I put in. That’s what life is ... knowing you put in the work and the effort.”

Sadly, Adam died while Sami Jo was at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. “I so wanted to show him our medal. But he probably would have said, ‘So, now you need to win a second one! Never rest on your laurels.’ ” Sami Jo won a scholarship to Stanford University and played on the men’s hockey team in California.

It led to being chosen for the women’s hockey team to play at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

The team felt a lot of pressure to win a gold medal. In the end, they lost by one goal to the United States and “settled” for silver. Sami Jo was the third-string goalie and watched the loss in disbelief. “We had to watch the other team throw their gloves in the air. We wanted a doover but we couldn’t do that for another four years. We felt we had let the country down. Some of my teammates had tears. Some took off their medals. But the next morning we cheered on other athletes and came to celebrate that we had a silver medal!!”

Four years is a long time. Sami Jo had a degree in mechanical

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People engineering and had to decide whether to choose a high-paying job or move to Canada and play hockey full time for basically no money.

She found herself playing hockey and when the starting goalie got pregnant and the second-string goalie retired, Sami Jo became the starting goalie!! In between Olympics, the team won three straight world championships. However, the years heading into the 2002 Olympics, the team could not win a single exhibition game.

Life Lesson #4

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Going into Salt Lake City, people did not believe we could win.

But we did. Sometimes in failure you learn the most about yourself and others ... as in, which teammates needed a shoulder to cry on or a kick in the pants. Having gone through that, we knew what we had to do to support each other.â&#x20AC;?

In Salt Lake, the team made it to the finals with Sami Jo as the goalie.

The night before the final game, the coach sat her down and said the other goalie would start the final game. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was mad and sad and disappointed,â&#x20AC;? recalls Sami Jo. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tears were streaming down my face and I felt my dreams were over. So many people had come to Salt Lake to watch me play. I did not know what to feel or who to turn to so I walked around the Olympic village for three hours that night feeling sorry for myself.â&#x20AC;?

Eventually, she realized she had two choices. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wanted to be the person to make the big saves but my teammates needed me to make the other choice â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to be the best cheerleader in the entire world.â&#x20AC;?

Though Sami Jo had not trained for 25 years to be the best cheerleader, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what she did.

Canada won with Kim St. Pierre as the winning goalie.

Life Lesson #5 â&#x20AC;&#x153;I watched my teammates get the gold medals and when the presenters got to me, I got a gold medal and it made me realize we all have an important role. On the farm, or whatever it is you do to create success for the team, that matters.

People We don’t always get to choose, but it matters.”

Sami Jo decided to hang around for the next Olympics to be held in Torino, Italy in 2006. Once again, she did all the training. Then the coaches sat her down and said they would like to take her as the thirdstring goalie.

“I would have to train, travel and all that knowing I would not get a medal in the end. I did not know if I had the strength of character ... I was depressed and sad. I felt like my dream was over.” When five team mates encouraged her to stay on the team, Sami Jo decided she would go.

“But when the final buzzer went, I was so sad because I would not get a medal. It was really hard. Sometimes life is just hard. This time there was no great lesson. I could not see the life lesson,” recalls Sami Jo. Weeks later, she ran into Adam’s mom who asked to see the nonexistent medal. Sami Jo shared her story:

Life Lesson #6 “Adam’s mom reminded me that Adam believed it was not about the award, it was about the role. I learned you do not always get to choose the role you get to play, but you do get to choose how you play it.

Then I was able to be proud of the effort I had put in and the encouragement I gave to my teammates.”

Before she finished her talk, the audience was curious about the future of women’s hockey in Canada as the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) had just folded.

As a staff manager with the Toronto Furies hockey team, Sami Jo said there will always be a hockey league in Toronto but it remains to be seen under which umbrella it will fall. In April, it was announced that the National Women’s Hockey League (NHWL) would add two expansion franchises in Montreal and Toronto with support from the National Hockey League (NHL). It’s unknown if the NWHL will assume control of the Furies or if the league will start new teams in Montreal and Toronto. ◊

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News

Transitions: Respect creates family harmony from one generation to the next • By Lisa B. Pot •

H

ow does one family harvest when another is trying to grow? This is one of many concerns farm families go through as they embark on the often overwhelming journey of the family farm transition; a journey where everyone is encouraged to have a voice but not everyone will have a vote.

The problem (or opportunity) is that every farm family transition plan is unique and has the potential to strengthen the business and family ... or totally destroy it.

“We have seen how farm families are ripped apart by this issue,” said Pierre Robitaille, Group Lead Ontario of Scotiabank’s Agriculture Specialists.

He, along with several other speakers, provided a comprehensive look at the team approach required for today’s complex farm family transitions. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture hosted the event in Neustadt on March 28 at which participants heard from bankers, accountants, financial planners and insurance operators, all offering advice on how: • to keep everybody happy • parents can receive value from their farm and the work they have put into it • parents can leave a legacy for children and grandchildren • to support local community • to resolve tax issues “It’s not just a business issue. It’s an emotional issue,” said Robitaille.

“It requires starting the planning for transition early and revisiting those plans again and again.”

Many issues came up when the participants were asked to break into groups and answer questions on a fictional story of one farming couple supporting two daughters while passing the farm onto their son

48 The Rural Voice

Speaking from experience:

A farm son shares his family’s story of fracture Darryl Wade, a Family Enterprise Advisor with Farm Life Financial knows from personal experience how critical communication is when a farm is in transition. His story shows how bad things can get when tragedy is mixed without a plan.

The youngest of four siblings, Wade was the one encouraged to make use of his brains, earn a degree and start a career. His brother was chosen as the “farmer”. When that brother lost his arm due to a horrific farm accident involving a power takeoff Darryl Wade (PTO), Wade came home to help. Their father, a very successful farmer, voiced his worries that his farming son, recently separated, without a diploma, might not be able to farm again.

It was a difficult time for everybody including Wade’s brother who was struggling physically and emotionally. He never returned to farming.

Wade said he “put his head down and filled the gap” to get the farm work done. Communication was already a problem and turned into a family nightmare when Wade’s dad went to the hospital for a colonoscopy. The procedure seemed to go well but when Wade talked to his dad, he let out a terrible moan and Wade knew something was wrong. He went back to the hospital and they discovered he needed surgery for a perforated bowel. That surgery also seemed successful but the next day, Wade got the call that his dad had died from a post-surgery embolism.

“The next day it all started...we all started arguing about where he was to be buried and how,” remembers Wade.

Without knowing what his father’s wishes were and no family plan on what should be done, Wade’s sister and mother decided the farm should be sold. Wade’s mom would move to the city and Wade would be left a smaller, second farm near Peterborough.

“I was upset for me and for my brother who had put years of work into the farm. He should have been considered,” says Wade.

Ultimately, a successful farm was lost to the brothers and feelings were so damaged, the siblings did not talk for years.

“It caused a lot of disharmony,” is how Wade, now healed from the pain of it, describes it. Close to that time, a financial advisor approached Wade and offered him a job helping other farm families.

“My response was no. All I knew was cattle,” remembers Wade. He reconsidered and now considers helping farm families make the transition in a healthy way a life purpose. ◊

News Even though it was concerns are a big one, of course. but “thorough discovery” a fictional family, the so is: to understand the discussion quickly • Identity: Who am I when I’m not future vision of the became emotional, a full-time farmer? farm, family members stated a leader from • Loss of control: Fear of letting and the retiring couple. one of the groups. go.

It involves meeting “We discussed that • Marital breakdown: Fear of with the entire family, ‘equal’ and ‘fair’ are losing the farm and having to buy it often around the not the same thing,” back again. kitchen table, to said the group leader.

• Farm conflict: Families are honour each person’s “In my family, not afraid to start the process because goal, hopes, fears and everyone got an equal they are worried it will lead to fights. needs. share because we • Overwhelmed: Families don’t Advice from the could not cripple the know where to start.

Farm Advisor farm.” They solved “It all starts with open dialogue,” Pierre Robitaille Darryl Wade, a the problem of leaving says Wade. “We need everyone to Family Enterprise some money to nonshare their stories. We need to hear Advisor with Farm farming family how dad got the farm and what Life Financial knows from personal traditions he thinks are important.” members via life insurance policies. experience how critical He will often start a meeting by Another audience member asked communication is when a farm is in asking “what is good about the use of trusts to provide for transition. (See his personal story in communication?” A mother might non-farming children and the sidebar) Learning from his say “no swearing.” Wade agrees, specifically, children with disabilities family’s losses, he became a farm adding that swearing is only for when who will need lifetime support. advisor to help family members you are moving cattle in the barn.

“We see more and more people traverse potential mine fields.

Respect is critical. So is nonturning to trusts as a vehicle that over From years of helping farm judgment. time sets milestones for when funds families through the process, he says “It’s amazing what people will can be released,” said Robitaille. there are commonalities. Financial share with someone who lives two Another attendee spoke of setting values on land and buildings and assets early on. “If values are set early on and there follows a dramatic increase in values, it has nothing to do with the non-farm children,” said the attendee. Others nodded in agreement that appraising values and setting these as the values, despite what might happen in the future, was a way to avoid in-fighting.

Many ideas flooded forth once the farm families started talking. These family neighbours wisdom intuition dreams included: • Marriage contracts: Everything needs to be in writing Contact: • Parents maintaining control of some assets (land and quota) and Larry Batte Jordan Bowles slowly transferring assets.

MNP Clinton office MNP Stratford office • Transparency: Open the books T: 519.606.8550 T: 519.272.0000 up and let everyone see what is happening. Also, open the books to teach the incoming future farmer to share the realities of the business.

• Start talking.

The communication aspect is where all the day’s professional speakers started and ended. The core ingredient of each and every farm transition, no matter how unique it is, is communication.

Scotiabank calls it making a

Trust

July 2019 49

News

Advice from the Insurance Experts Farms are so large and complex, that a farm transition really requires a team, said Larry Goetz, a district manager with The Co-operators Life 50 The Rural Voice

Advice from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture

Insurance Company.

That team should include a lawyer, accountant, real estate advisor and insurance advisor.

It involves risk management, looking at the perils and potential impact of an event. People buy insurance to protect themselves against accident or death.

Life insurance is one of the tools many farmers use to equalize a farm estate among heirs.

If a farming child borrowed $1 million to pay out siblings, that mortgage (over 25 years at five percent) will cost $5,816 per month for a total cost of $1,744,800.

Meanwhile, a life insurance policy for $1 million spread over 20 years would cost $1,863 per month for a total cost of $447,228.

The OFA Benefit Program gives farmers access to 21 member service representatives who advocate for members and their families.

By partnering with institutions and businesses such as Farm Life, the Scotiabank, CBA Canada, The Cooperators and others, they offer these transition workshops for free across the province. Members receive a 10 per cent reduction on their succession planning fees.

A full plan includes a farm description with financial and future farm values. It provides equalization and tax efficient strategies plus legal agreements to implement the succession plan. ◊

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hours away versus who lives two minutes away,” says Wade. An impartial sets of ears is often necessary for truths to be shared.

Everybody wants harmony but they don’t necessarily know how to achieve it. Everyone also wants to be successful but different generations have different ideas on how to meet that goal. Listening to everyone’s goals in what Wade calls “Individual discoveries” often reveals things no one knew.

A farm advisor then assesses the stories and builds a governance around how the family communicates and makes decisions to maintain success.

He encourages the retiring generation to consider how ready they are to let go. Then he asks the younger generation if they are really ready to listen, learn, take on more responsibility and shift into leadership.

Then it’s decided who will be at future meetings. Non-farming children should be at family meetings but only those involved in the business should be at business meetings. This is where the phrase “everyone has a voice but not a vote” comes into play.

Wade will then factor in things like sweat equity, gifts, tax implications, multi-generations, financial tools (promissory notes, incorporating, trusts. etc) and helps develop a plan.

“We help the family co-create a road map for the transition,” explains Wade. Initial fees for the process are $2,500 and further expenses are discussed with the family, depending on how involved a farm advisor needs to get.

This “map” is then taken to a lawyer to be signed.

The key is that the map isn’t a secret treasure map. It’s visible, transparent and allows everyone to know what the plan is.

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Advice • By Lisa B. Pot •

Be empathetic, not sympathetic

Udderly SAFE provides advice on how to encourage and respond to mental unwellness among farm employees

E

mpathy and sympathy are two very different responses and farmers working with employees, or dealing with a person who is struggling with mental wellness would do well to learn the difference.

“Empathy fuels connection and sympathy drives separation,” explains Taylor Leitch, a marketing specialist with crisis help hotline experience. Leitch works for People Management Group, a Woodstock company that offers human resources and health and safety solutions for small to medium businesses including the program Udderly SAFE for dairy farmers.

Leitch spoke to dairy farmers at the Stratford Dairy XPO about the mental health components of Udderly SAFE and provided some very practical tips to recognize signs of mental unwellness and how to help.

The occupation of farming, as a whole, has many stressors. These include lack of sleep, weather stress, lack of control (weather and family) too much work, money worries and animal welfare stress. Dairy farmers may have extra stress from supply management threats. Social isolation can also contribute to farm stress.

Statistics indicate 35 per cent of producers meet the classification for depression while 45 per cent are classified as “high stress”. Almost 60 per cent of farmers meet the “anxiety classification”. Of all the short and long-term disability claims in Canada, 30 per cent are due to mental health problems and illness.

Statistics are clear indicators but sometimes the signs of mental unwellness are not. Leitch says it can begin with a farmer or farm employee doubting their abilities or seeming less confident. They may have a difficult time concentrating, learning or making decisions.

Attitude changes can be also be

52 The Rural Voice

huge indicators of mental unwellness. These can include: • social withdrawal • takes an unusual amount of time off • signs of anxiety • extreme mood swings • inability to concentrate • inability to cope with daily stressors Changes in appearance are also something to watch for. “If they come to work and find a hole in their coveralls and they just break down crying, well that’s obviously an overreaction. You know it’s way beyond the coveralls,” says Leitch.

So how should we respond when signs indicate someone is struggling with mental health?

This first thing to do is express concern WITHOUT making assumptions, says Leitch. “If a team member is experiencing any kind of mental illness, it is their decision as to how much they want to share with you.”

The listener needs to let the team member know they are there to listen without judgement if they need someone to talk to. If they decide to share, that’s the time to use empathy, not sympathy.

“Empathy is a sacred place. When someone is in a deep hole, they say ‘I am stuck, it is dark and I am overwhelmed’. The empathetic person will climb down that hole with them and lie down. The sympathetic person will look down the hole and offer them a sandwich,” explains Leitch.

Never does an empathetic response start with “at least”.

Example 1: I had a miscarriage At least you know you can get pregnant Example2: I am getting divorced.

At least you had a marriage.

Leith shared a quote from Brene Brown that states: “If I share something with you that is difficult, I

Taylor Leitch Marketing Specialist, UdderlySAFE

would rather you say ‘I don’t know what to say but I am so glad you told me.’ Rarely does a response make things better. The connection makes it better.”

Following a discussion or disclosure with a team member, it’s always best to continue to make that team member feel as though they are part of the team and continue to involve them in regular work activities, advises Leitch.

If an employer feels they need to approach a team member, Leitch provided some tips for starting the conversation: • “Over the past few weeks, I have noticed ______. This concerns me because _______.

• “I wanted to speak with you about something I have noticed which is causing me concern.”

• “I have been made aware of something that I wanted to speak with you about, and I just want to follow up with you.”

• “I understand there is something you would like to discuss. Start wherever you are comfortable.”

Advice As the team member speaks, you need to respond sensitively. Some ideas include: • I am very sorry you are dealing with this.

• I cannot imagine what you are going through.

• Is there anything I can do for you to help?

• You are not alone.

• How are you handling this. There are resources in the community you can utilize if you need to speak with

someone, such as the Canadian Mental Health Association.

• Thank you for confiding in me.

As a leader of an organization, it’s wise to encourage healthy eating and provide positive encouragement to team members. This can include a mental wellness day.

Leitch says a new study suggests 70 per cent of people would rather have positive encouragement in their workplace than a $1 increase in pay per day.◊

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

Record rainfall preventing corn planting “When it rains, it pours.” This expression sums up the 2019 planting season very well. Concerns about the possibility of extremely large, prevented-plant acres caused the market to rally recently, as uncertainty about both acres and potential yields intensified.

Commodity funds that were record short in the corn market, aggressively bought back their positions as they were squeezed with the rapid advance of corn futures, rallying 27 per cent in 30 days. Given the state of the U.S. corn plantings, it was not surprising that the futures market rallied so far, so fast. As of the June 2 USDA planting report only 67 per cent of the intended corn acres were in the ground. As of June 9, the U.S. typically has 99 per cent of its corn acres in the ground. This year the U.S. crop was 83 per cent planted by June 9, the slowest planting pace ever recorded.

The U.S. Midwest received record rainfall in May, and March to May was the wettest also, (other than one year in the early 1970s). The result of this excessive rain and slow planting pace is the reduction of corn acres, both in the U.S. and here at home.

During the late May period, the market started trading on expectation that U.S. corn acres would be

reduced between eight to 12 million acres from initial expectations. Under this scenario, assuming 170 bu. average yields in the fall, we would either have an adequate carryover at the end of the crop year or have close to the tightest carryout on record.

Therefore, the market started showing choppy performance, as everyone has a varying opinion as to planted acres and potential yields.

On June 11, the USDA released its crop production report. In this report, the USDA lowered planted acres only three-million acres from their May projection for corn. This is definitely narrower than the average expectation and therefore many think it will likely be into the June 28 planted acreage report before the full extent of prevented-plant acres will be realized. The USDA was quick to reduce expected yields for corn in the same report. Expected yields dropped 10 bushels per acre in this report, from 176 bushels per acre to 166 bushels per acre. This lower yield projection is being attributed to later planting.

With these USDA numbers as a starting point we see a dramatic reduction in U.S. ending stocks year over year. If these estimates end up being correct we would still see a somewhat comfortable stocks-to-use ratio through the year however, running about 12 per cent down from the original burdensome estimate of about 17 per cent, if all the intended acres would have been planted and achieved average yields. The 12 per cent stocks-to-use ratio is equal to about 10 million acres at a 166 bushels per acre yield. Therefore if acres are in fact lower than the current estimate (which many anticipate they will be) we could see ending stocks fall to worrisome levels – in fact tighter than the 20122013 season if acres fall too much. If production estimates were to

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approach record tightness it would cause a major price increase to ration corn demand. So the question that still overhangs the market is what will the final corn planted acreage be? From here, how will the crop develop over the summer?

South American countries are happy to sell into the world market to make up the potential U.S. shortfall.

Brazil’s corn (safrinha) crop is reported to be large, with some of the largest growing areas likely to have record yields. Recently it was reported on the news wires that Brazilian corn was being imported into the United States, received in the southeastern U.S. by large hog integrators. Argentina is also forecast to be producing a larger corn crop this year. When considered as a whole, South America is estimated to produce about 153 million tonnes of corn this season. This South American corn estimate is compared with about 119 million tonnes last year, up 29 per cent from last year.

Soybeans are not projected to have preventative plantings in the U.S. at this time. The USDA held steady at 83.8 million soy acres with a 49.5 bushel per acre yield. If this production is realized it will be the first time ever that U.S. ending stocks top the one-billion bushel mark.

Into mid-June we don’t have a dissimilar situation here at home.

Currently we have areas of the province where producers are yet to turn a wheel due to the constant rain accumulation. As a result of the slow corn planting Agricorp has bumped the crop insurance planting date by a couple days. Corn acres will be lower and bean acres will likely be steady to higher.

It’s the opposite problem in Western Canada. The wheat crop there is in jeopardy due to drought and yields will reportedly be greatly affected if rains do not come soon.

Australia is dry again, following last year’s production issues which led them to import Canadian wheat.

Likewise areas of the Black sea export region are showing dryness concerns. The U.S. hard wheat crop is large and will work into feed rations considering the challenges faced by corn production. ◊ JULY 2019 55

Woodlots Steve Bowers is a forester, forest owner and member of the Ontario Woodlot Assoc.

Challenging Bruce Trail offers a variety of natural habitats When my friend Terry Schwan and I started hiking the Bruce Trail in 2015, I thought we’d be done in two or three years at the very most. Well, we’ve just recently started into the 5th year of hiking and I don’t think we'll get it done this year either. So far we’ve hiked about 500 of the trail's total 900 kilometre length. As many of you likely know, the Bruce Trail follows the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara to Tobermory. Right now we’re in the Owen Sound Area, although we also have to double back and finish a portion of the section between Niagara and Caledon.

According to the Bruce Trail web site (brucetrail.org) the concept of the trail was first discussed in 1960 and it was officially opened in Canada's Centennial Year in 1967. Now, 52 years later, the trail is managed by the Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) which also functions as a land trust and has charitable status.

Cooperative landowners have been key for success of the trail in generously allowing access to their properties for establishment of the trail. Volunteers are another key element for ongoing success with BTC having access to over 1,400 volunteers. Many of them work with one of the nine different trail chapters that each look after a section of the trail. BTC is also a membership based organization with almost 11,000 paid members.

While much of the trail winds its way through natural areas, there are many sections that travel along roads to bypass segments where private 56 The Rural Voice

land access is not available. As mentioned, BTC is also a land trust and actively pursues securement of properties that will provide long term trail access as well as protecting significant natural heritage and historical features for future generations. Roughly two thirds of the trail’s route is now secured through BTC ownership or easements, as well as ownership by others such as Conservation Authorities and municipal, provincial

or federal governments. BTC endeavours, on an ongoing basis, to acquire other key properties as they become available through donation or fundraising for purchase.

In addition to the 900 kilometres of main trail, there are approximately 400 kilometres in several hundred side trails along the route such as the Merle Gunby Side Trail near Owen Sound (a name some long-term readers of The Rural Voice will be familiar with).

Walking the Bruce Trail can be challenging with steep slopes, rocky crevices and caves. Morels (above) are tasty finds in June. One of the landmarks is the “Polish Tree” (above left) in the section of trail near Owen Sound. The Beech tree is getting old but still bears the markings of a Polish soldier who inscribed part of his country’s national anthem into the bark. Standing by the tree is Steve Bower’s hiking companion, Terry Schwan.

Woodlots I have to admit the trail has far exceeded my expectations in many ways. It is definitely more challenging than I expected – many sections have very steep slopes or rocky footing. Hikers can plan on ascending and descending the escarpment several times on any given day. There are many natural heritage features of significance seen on a daily basis as the trail follows the edge of cliffs, squeezes through crevices and passes by caves and waterfalls. The trail crosses a variety of natural habitats, ranging from mature hardwood forests, to old growth cedar, to meadows, wetlands and farm fields. The escarpment is home to many species of plants and animals, some not found in abundance in other parts of Ontario.

The trail passes many features of historical significance as well – both post-European settlement and prior.

We’ve passed many limestone kilns and abandoned quarries as well as numerous old mill sites located along watercourses.

Every section has features to remember. Recently as we walked around Owen Sound, almost within the city limits, we could hear city noise while traversing some of the trail’s more rugged, seemingly remote areas to date. One section the trail required stepping over numerous narrow crevices – some up to 40 feet or more in depth. The past few weeks have also been great for viewing spring wild flowers and morels, but unfortunately also great for black flies.

Just east of Owen Sound we were fortunate to be able to see the Polish Soldier Tree. In late 1941 and early 1942, a Polish soldier training camp was located in Owen Sound and likely had some training activities at this site. One of the Polish soldiers carved part of the Polish national anthem in a beech tree, which according to the Bruce Trail web site translates as “Poland has not yet perished.” He also carved the date of April 14, 1942 and signed it as zolnierz or soldier. After 77 years the tree and message are still there, but unfortunately with beech bark disease and age, it may not last much longer. ◊

1563 Hwy#9 Mildmay, ON N0G 2J0 Ph: 519-367-3215 Fax: 519-367-3214 www.southbruceflooring.com

BERNIE McGLYNN LUMBER LTD. BUYER OF HARDWOOD BUSHLOTS Wholesaler • Hardwood Lumber 1563 Hwy#9, Mildmay, ON N0G 2J0

Ph: 519-367-5789 • Cell: 519-357-6621 sawmill@wightman.ca

Green Lumber Kiln Dried Lumber Coloured Mulch Sawdust Firewood

Ph: 519-881-3829 • besterforest@gmail.com

July 2019 57

Enjoy the Country Lifestyle!

Agrilaw

THE RURAL VOICE MAGAZINE

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

Don't Delay â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Subscribe Today!

Produced by people with farming in their blood.

Serving more than 11,000 readers in the region.

One year for $20; two years for $35 (HST included) The Rural Voice Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0

519-523-4311

Reversing the regretted farm transfer and other uses of the resulting trust Most often (but not always) with the best of intentions, a parent may transfer part of his or her ownership interest in a farm property to a child for little or no consideration. In some cases, the parent intends to gift the ownership interest outright with the understanding that the child will be the true owner of the interest going forward. In other cases, the transfer might be in connection with a plan to operate the farm with the child, who will contribute labour to the operation going forward in repayment to the parent. Often the parent makes the transfer in contemplation of an estate plan or farm succession plan; for instance, a parent may add a child on title to a property as a joint tenant so as to avoid payment of probate tax in the future on the death of the parent, at which time the parentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ownership interest will pass automatically to the child.

Unfortunately, life after a gratuitous transfer of ownership can fall far below the expectations of the parent. Parent and child may not get along as joint operators of a farm. A child may turn out to be an unexpected prodigal. Whatever the reason, parents sometimes come to regret having transferred the ownership interest and look for ways to reverse the transfer. In certain circumstances, the law will allow the parent, the transferor, to recover ownership from the child, the

58 The Rural Voice

Agrilaw transferee, on the basis of a “resulting trust”.

Canadian law presumes that the transfer of ownership results from a fair bargain, not a gift. If a transfer is made without proper consideration in return (i.e. a gratuitous transfer), the law normally presumes a resulting trust in favour of the transferor. The transferee is presumed to be holding legal title in trust for the transferor’s benefit – the transferee may be registered as legal owner of a certain interest on title to a property, but the transferor remains the beneficial owner of that interest, which is to be returned to the transferor on demand.

The presumption is rebuttable by the transferee, who may show on a balance of probabilities that the transferor had an intention to gift the ownership interest outright. The transferee might also show that the transfer was not in fact gratuitous at all – that there was an exchange of consideration and a “fair bargain”.

If persuaded that a transfer of ownership was gratuitous, and that the transferor did not intend to make a gift, the Court may make an order setting aside the original transfer and restoring full legal ownership to the transferor. Although the presumption of resulting trust is a legal tool of general application, the Court’s analysis is heavily fact-driven, and the outcome of each case will depend on its particular circumstances.

Ontario’s Court of Appeal has found that the resulting trust continues to apply where assets are held within a corporation, and the transferee receives shares in the corporation without proper consideration; the focus of the analysis should be on the substance of the transaction, not the form. The transferee’s interest in the assets as a shareholder in the corporation would be subject to the presumption of resulting trust, rebuttable by showing that there was an intention to gift the The Rural Voice welcomes letters and will publish as many as space permits.

Write: The Rural Voice Box 429, BLYTH, ON N0M 1H0

interest in the assets to the transferee.

Where the resulting trust is found to apply, the Court could order that legal ownership of the shares be restored to the transferor.

A resulting trust can also be presumed in situations where two parties acquire property jointly, but only one of the parties puts up the consideration paid in the transaction.

Depending on the circumstances, the party who paid the consideration may be entitled to the beneficial ownership of the entire property while the other non-contributing owner holds his or her legal ownership interest in trust for the other.

Claims based on a resulting trust argument sometimes arise in the context of estate proceedings, after the transferor parent has passed away. As noted above, a surviving joint tenant will become the full owner of a jointly-owned property where the other joint tenant dies; the jointly-owned property does not become part of the estate of the deceased available for distribution to beneficiaries under a will or

otherwise. Those beneficiaries may argue that a jointly held property should nevertheless form part of the estate of a deceased parent on account of a resulting trust.

Similarly, in bankruptcy proceedings, creditors of a bankrupt may argue that a certain property legally owned by another party forms part of the bankrupt’s estate (for purposes of satisfying the bankrupt’s debts) by way of a resulting trust.

And the opposite situation can occur as well, with creditors of an alleged beneficial owner of a property arguing against the inclusion of the property in the estate of the bankrupt legal owner so as to keep it out of the hands of the bankrupt’s creditors.◊ ______________________________ 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.

Ontario Handi Quilter Retailer of the Year

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www.sewandsavecentre.com JULY 2019 59

RAL READING ROO RUBOOKS M ON RURAL THEMES

YOUR WATER FOOTPRINT Award-winning Ontario journalist Stephen Leahy says every item we purchase, each form of transportation and energy has a water footprint.

With growing water shortages across the world, we all face tough choices. $19.95

RAISING MEAT GOATS Storey Publishing provides a guide to managing, breeding and marketing meat goats.

Information on the various breeds, selection of breeding stock, housing and feeding, keeping stock healthy and tips on marketing. (softcover) $25.95

MAKING AND USING DRIED FOODS Easy, economical and nutritious, drying is a natural, great-tasting alternative to canning or freezing.

This book makes getting started easy, and even contains complete plans for building your own food dryer. $22.95

STEP-BY-STEP OUTDOOR STONEWORK More than 20 easy-to-build projects for walls, arches, patios, paths, steps, rockeries, fountains, seats and stables, sundials and bird baths. Tips on estimating costs, selecting tools and more. $23.95

RALPH FEELS SPECIAL Seaforth-area author Fran Hook, and illustrator Pattie Armstrong tell the continued adventures of Ralph, the stuffed door-stop dog and his creative friend Stephanie who gets him singing, dancing and joining her for tea parties. $10.00

DECKSCAPING Suggestions for trellises, arbours, planters, plants, vines and furniture to enhance your outdoor livingroom. 160 pages of ideas. $29.95

THE GARDENER’S GUIDE TO PLANT DISEASES Barbara Pleasant provides tips for easy identification of over 50 common garden diseases and shows techniques for prevention and control. 180 pages of information and illustrations. $22.95

DISCIPLINE WITHOUT DISTRESS 135 tools for raising caring responsible children without time-outs, spankings, punishment or bribery from Judy Arnall, a parent educator for several health organizations and mother of five children. $24.95

Total

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YOUR WATER FOOTPRINT MAKING AND USING DRIED FOODS STEP-BY-STEP OUTDOOR STONEWORK RALPH FEELS SPECIAL RAISING MEAT GOATS DISCIPLINE WITHOUT DISTRESS DECKSCAPING THE GARDENER’S GUIDE TO PLANT DISEASES SHIPPING & HANDLING RATES $6.00 for the first book 60¢ for each additional item to a maximum of $20.00

60 The Rural Voice

$19.95 $22.95 $23.95 $10.00 $25.95 $24.95 $29.95 $22.95

Total for Books Shipping & Handling 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.

The Rural Voice

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

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

WIARTON, ONTARIO www.broughandwhicher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

519-525-6295

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

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

JULY 2019 61

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

PACKERS: WE BUILD RUBBER TIRE PACKER SPECIALISTS

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

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

B U S I N E S S

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

tin

w

Ne

Broker WILFRED MCINTEE & CO. LIMITED

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

Farm Drainage #18

Serving the area since 1999

STEVEN NIXON

Lis

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

AGRICULTURAL

C E N T R E

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

Newton, Ont. 519-595-4545

RESIDENTIAL

Wa n t e d to buy

OLD BARNS FOR SALVAGE CALL STEVE

NEW CONSTRUCTION RENOVATIONS

519-523-4523

519-524-0253

Galvanized Roofing For Sale

48.9

ty

oun

on C

ur ES H

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

195 Wallace Avenue North, Listowel, Ontario N4W 1K8 Bus: 519-529-1167 Bus.: 519-291-2299 Fax: 519-291-1015

www.peakrealestate.com

Cathy Hendriks Sales, Rep.

519-357-5128 62 The Rural Voice

Landscaping & Wood Clearing Looking for some extra land base? Or that country jewel that has it all? Well kept brick bungalow, large barn with loose housing for beef, drive shed & hay storage building.... for details or to arrange a viewing. EXCLUSIVE Call Cathy Hendriks 519.357.5128

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

Yard Trees Natural & Coloured Mulch Stump Grinding

Elwood Kuepfer 519-363-9493

MANUFACTURING STEEL ROOFING SIDING & TRIMS

Grey Rd 25 #581053, Chesley ON N0G 1L0

Landscaping & Wood Clearing has trees available for planting.

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

Smaller sizes available.

Call 519-363-9493 and leave a message.

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

Also Supplying Other Building Accessories

TF: 1-877-509-2847 Ph: 519-799-5000 Web: ruralroutespestcontrol.com Email: rrpc@wightman.ca

STEVE TRUPP

LTD.

We Buy All Types of Scrap Cars & Trucks Scrap Metal and Machinery

Agricultural Residential Commercial

USED AUTO PARTS • Government Inspected Scale • Competitive Prices • Bins Available

• Unmarked Vehicles • Fully Insured • MOE Licensed Technicians

3961 Road 111, RR4 Stratford

519-271-4008 perthautodismantlers@bellnet.ca

Whitechurch Welding

STEFFEN WELL DRILLING

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

519-531-0355

Luke Martin

TEESWATER, ON

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

mike@steffenwelldrilling.ca

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

WE WANT YOUR GRAIN! • Corn • Wheat • Soybeans • Feed Grains • Feed Ingredients • Food Quality Soybeans

CASH & FORWARD CONTRACTS Call us today for Quotes Dave Gordon Richard Smibert Scott Krakar Matt McKillop Alex Kissler 1615 NORTH ROUTLEDGE PARK UNIT 43 - LONDON, ONTARIO, N6H 5L6 519-473-9333 Toll-Free 1-800-265-1885

JULY 2019 63

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-------------------------------------------------FARM EQUIPMENT FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------New Holland 38 crop chopper, weathered but in working condition, $750. 519-775-2670.

-------------------------------------------------FARM SERVICES --------------------------------------------------

EGGER FARMS CUSTOM BALING

• 3x3 Bales Automatic Acid Applications, Roto Cutter.

Individual Bale Wrapping 6' bales

Call Fritz: 519-292-0138 64 The Rural Voice

CLASSIFIED FIREWOOD --------------------------------------------------

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

Serving Southwestern Ontario for over 10 years!

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

-------------------------------------------------Martin’s Nursery & Bee Supplies Etc. Large selection of flowering trees, shade trees, fruit trees and hydrangeas and other shrubs. We have the plants you need to make a living “privacy hedge” or snow fence, Blue spruce, pine, cedars, etc. Also…

Complete line of Bee Supplies for the commercial or hobby beekeepers.

We sell Bees (Nucs) in spring and early summer. Come see our selection Monday to Saturday at Emanuel E.M. Martin, 42661 Orangehill Rd., Wroxeter, ON N0G 2X0, one concession north of Wroxeter on Belmore Line.

-------------------------------------------------For prices on forage peas, forage pea mixtures and cover crop mixtures. Contact Courtney Grain & Seed (2015) Ltd., 225 Hwy. 21, RR 1, Ripley. Phone 519-395-2972. Ask for Carmon or Mitch.

-------------------------------------------------Horse equipment – EZ Trail sprayer, 100 gal., both produce and field booms, 4 HP Honda engine, Hypro high pressure and high flow pump, very good condition, $2,500. Pioneer Homesteader with row cultivator attachment, like new, $1,250. Athens 2 horse treadmill in good condition, $2,500. 519-775-2670.

-------------------------------------------------Affordable granary roof vents for replacements or for the builders.

Various sizes available, 200 in stock.

Simon BM Martin, 90735 Toll Gate Line, RR 1, Clifford, ON N0G 1M0.

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

CLASSIFIED FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------Hay and straw and individually wrapped baleage, nice, clean, rotary combined, good for TMR, 3x3x7' bales and silage bales individually wrapped. Huron East, 519-292-0138.

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

BALER TWINE & COVERS FOR SALE

Call for skid pricing

Net wrap, bale wrap, black & white silage covers Also selling “The Juice” hay preservatives for Nuhn Forage Call Elvin at Weber’s Farm Supply, Mt. Forest 519-323-1043 -------------------------------------------------GARDEN TOURS -------------------------------------------------Visit the largest Botanical Gardens, Garden Centre and Home/Garden Décor Shop in Southwestern Ontario.

Explore 30 acres of manicured gardens within natural rock outcroppings, wetlands, meadow and forest. Shop for rare and unusual plants, unique garden pieces and quality home décor. www.folmergardens.com -------------------------------------------------Froggie’s Song – A cottage style garden with many unusual perennials.

Also daylilies and roses. Pathways take the visitor through the garden. A shade garden and a rock garden.

9:00 - 8:30 Thursday. By appointment or by chance. $3. Barbara Weatherall, 154552 Grey Road 32, RR 4, Flesherton. 519-986-3516. sable@ morganharvey.com -------------------------------------------------Visit Earthbound Gardens and greenhouses. Tour 5 acres.

Perennials, daylilies, native plants, small fruits, flowering shrubs. Free Sunday live concerts. Open 9:00 5:00. 7 days until Thanksgiving. www.earthboundgardens.com -------------------------------------------------Visit the Gardens of Huron Perth.

Private gardens open all summer. More info at http://gardensofhuronperth.com.

Maps at tourism sites and libraries.

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

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

GARDEN TOURS -------------------------------------------------Riverwood Gardens offers extensive display gardens along with a retail garden centre to elevate your garden from ordinary to inspiring; located in the heart of West Grey.

Be inspired!

519-369-1659 @beinspiredinwestgrey -------------------------------------------------Visit Keppel Croft’s four acres of gardens, nature trail, and Keppel Henge. Bring your picnic. Open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 504156 Grey Rd 1, Big Bay, Grey County. Art in the Garden, Saturday, July 13 (rain date July 14). www.keppelcroft.com -------------------------------------------------HELP WANTED -------------------------------------------------Help wanted on a smaller sow farrow-to-finish operation near Zurich.

Duties include all aspects of pig production. Experience necessary.

Eye for detail required. Wages negotiable. Please apply to 519-6192779 or peeters@hay.net -------------------------------------------------HELP WANTED --------------------------------------------------

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.

-------------------------------------------------Bedding pack compost starter for dairy and veal barns. 1-877-7738004. Sittler Grinding. Rick Sittler.

-------------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------LIMOUSIN – quality breeding bulls and breeding females for sale.

Delivery included. Posthaven Limousin, John Post 519-766-7178. www.posthavenlimousin.com -------------------------------------------------Suffolk – five yearling ewes, purebred, British bloodlines, all twins.

Closed flock. 519-233-7896.

-------------------------------------------------Registered Black Angus Heifers, some bred, rest ready to breed. Good pedigrees and well grown. Howard Carey, Elora, ON 519-831-9892.

-------------------------------------------------Limousin Bulls – yearlings and 2 year olds, polled, some homozygous polled, thick, well muscled, semen tested. Smart Limousin, Meaford 519-372-7459. www.smartlimousin.ca -------------------------------------------------RESTORATION -------------------------------------------------The Olde Tyme Radio Centre – antique radios, clocks, gramophones, telephone and vintage auto clock radio. Speedometer, tachometer sales–restorations. Belgrave 519357-4304, www.oldtymeradio.ca -------------------------------------------------RETAIL & GIFTS -------------------------------------------------Stitches with a Twist – 404 Queen St., Blyth, 519-523-9449. Yarns, knit and crochet instruction. Chainmaille supplies. Alterations and repairs, including leather.

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

SERVICES -------------------------------------------------INLINE FENCING – Custom farm fencing. Page wire and horse fencing 519-934-1555.

-------------------------------------------------TRINAL CUSTOM FARMING – If you are looking for someone to do your disc-bining, big square baling or forage harvesting please call Ken Horst, cell: 519-292-1393 or Kervin 519-357-5557, RR 2, Teeswater.

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

PAL & HUNTER ED. Ongoing courses available.

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

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

S & C Clark TRANSPORT INC. PART-TIME MECHANIC FULL/PART-TIME AZ DRIVERS Owner & Operators

Runs between Canada & U.S. - Competitive Wages - Paid Picks & Drops - Benefits - Wait Time - 2 year experience preferred - Home most weekends 111 PINE STREET, WINGHAM • 519-357-3346

-------------------------------------------------IRON & STEEL -------------------------------------------------DISCOUNT STEEL: New second grade steel sales; 1" - 8" square tubing; 7/8"-14" round tubing; Rectangle tubing, discount plate; New and Used I-Beams; Bar grating, rebar, angles; Custom cutting, welding, punching. Listowel. Phone Aden 519-595-7775.

-------------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK BEDDING -------------------------------------------------DUST EXTRACTED straw available in coarse or fine cut. Also available in pellets, bags or bulk. Call for details.

Chopped straw and sawdust mix; bags only. Edgar Martin, 519-2916783.

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

Deadline for the August issue of The Rural Voice is July 17, 2019

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

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

Ph. 519-528-3019

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

GRANT GNAY Chartered Professional Accountant Accounting & Tax Services 133 South St., Goderich

519-524-5113 JULY 2019 65

CLASSIFIED SERVICES --------------------------------------------------

HIGHLAND FENCE & SUPPLY INC. Joseph Kirwin

519-475-4868 • 1-800-923-4488 info@highlandfence.ca • www.highlandfence.ca 804075 Rd. 80, Embro, ON N0J 1J0 Specializing in on Farm Pest Management Serving Southwestern ON, Golden Horseshoe, GTA Email: sgschris@ciaaccess.com

519-692-4232 www.sgspestmanagement.ca SEAMLESS EAVESTROUGHING

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

London 1-888-253-3756 All farm buildings & houses, seamless eavestroughing, liquid rubber coatings, waterproofing, metal, concrete, wood, foam and bin flooring sealing.

519-859-0097 or 519-871-0300 info@townsleybarnpainting.com

-------------------------------------------------STANDING TIMBER -------------------------------------------------STANDING TIMBER - hardwood and softwoods. Quality workmanship guaranteed. B. Kropf Forestry Service Ltd., Bruce Kropf, RR 1, Shakespeare, ON, N0B 2P0. 519-748-7422.

-------------------------------------------------TRAVEL -------------------------------------------------AGRICULTURAL & UNIQUE TOURS – NWT/Yukon/Alaska – Australia/New Zealand 2020 – Peru/Brazil/Argentina/Chile 2020 – Costa Rica 2020 – Panama Land Tour 2020 – Kenya/Tanzania 2020 – India 2020 – Egypt/Jordan 2020 – Portugal/Spain 2020 – Morocco 2020 Portion of Tours may be Tax Deductible.

Contact Select Holidays at 1-800-6614326 or visit www.selectholidays.com --------------------------------------------------

66 The Rural Voice

CLASSIFIED UPCOMING EVENTS -------------------------------------------------July 26-28, 155th Zurich Country Fair: Junior Prince and Princess competition, local entertainment, parade, horse shows, petting zoo, children’s games, homecraft exhibits, The BarryO Kidshow, vendors, Saturday night elimination draw and dance. Jamboree and garden tractor pulls on Sunday. For more information: www.zurichcountryfair.com -------------------------------------------------23rd Anniversary of the Memories Then and Now Show and Shine Car Show, July 20 - 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. around the square in Goderich. Come out to see the old with the new!

Vehicles of all vintage welcome. Stroll among these special vehicles and engage their owners in sharing their passion for cars. Call 519-524-2477 for more information.

-------------------------------------------------Falls Reserve Conservation Area – campground/day-use area. Visit us to get away from it all! Settle into one of our beautiful campsites. Seasonal campsites available. Enjoy a hike or picnic outing with the family. Day use membership passes available.

Camping reservations available online! 1-877-FALLSCA (519-3255722) www.mvca.on.ca -------------------------------------------------Antique and Classic Car Show at Grey Roots on July 14 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Come check out an array of antique and classic cars in Morestone Heritage Village. Rain or shine. Regular admission rates apply.

Free for Grey Roots members. Details at greyroots.com or 519-376-3690.

-------------------------------------------------Blyth Community Vacation Bible School 2019, July 2-5, 9:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., Blyth Chrisitan Reformed Church. Lively songs, hilarious skits, creative crafts, energetic games, exciting Bible stories, tasty snacks and more.

Pre-registration: tinyurl.com/blythvbs2019 or call 519525-0096.

-------------------------------------------------Country Breakfast, Van Egmond House, Egmondville, Sunday, July 28, 2019, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Adults $8, children under 10 – $4, preschool - free.

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

CLASSIFIED UPCOMING EVENTS -------------------------------------------------Tri-County Heritage and Antique Show, Ilderton Fairgrounds, July 12 (evening only) mini tractor pull. July 13 and 14 - Grounds open 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Gas engines, garden and lawn tractors, antique cars, trucks, tractors, toys and models, flea market, ladies program, jamboree music, tractor pulls, children’s games. The feature is Case and garden tractors.

President 519-666-1627, flea market 519-229-8776, arena 519-475-4031.

--------------------------------------------------24th Annual Amish School Sale, July 20 starting at 8:30 a.m. at the farm of William and Esther Kuepfer, 4679 Perth Line 72. Approx. 16 auctioneers, Amish ladies’ food booth and bake sale. For more information 519-595-7902.

-------------------------------------------------50th Annual Southampton Craft Show at The Plex, Port Elgin, July 4, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Hourly door prizes. ATM on site.

-------------------------------------------------Progressive Agriculture Safety Day - Tuesday, July 16 at the New Sports Complex, Tiverton. Sponsored by the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture. Day runs from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Snacks and lunch provided. Some topics: Large Equipment Safety, Water and Sun Safety, Chemical Look a Like Awareness, CPR, Hearing, Bacteria and more. To preregister or to volunteer, contact Dianne Atkinson at brucesafetyday@yahoo.com or dwants1two@yahoo.ca -------------------------------------------------WANTED --------------------------------------------------

DAIRY FARM WANTED We are a family with four young children and we are looking for an on-going dairy farm in Bruce, Grey or Huron county. +/- 40 kg. milk quota.

Please keep this ad.

Email dairyfarmsearch@gmail.com

CLASSIFIED WANTED -------------------------------------------------Hay/Straw - small square bales of hay; timothy and alfalfa. Round bales of hay; timothy alfalfa or timothy grass mix. High class large square bales of hay. Call Riley Gorman 519-321-1012.

-------------------------------------------------Actively seeking farmland to rent for corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, edible beans. Contact Narva Farms Limited: 519-366-2636 or 519-881-9384 or email: sandyfitzsimmons@hotmail.com -------------------------------------------------Farmland â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 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 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 20, 30, 40 yd. scrap metal bins available. We sell quality used auto parts. Wanted to buy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; scrap cars, trucks, farm machinery, heavy equipment.

Kenilworth Auto Recyclers. 519-3231113.

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JULY 2019 67

Perth County Federation of Agriculture Email: perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com Website: www.perthcountyfarmers.ca Agnes Denham, Secretary: 519-229-8866 or 1-866-829-8866 Tim Halliday, President: thalliday33@gmail.com or 519-291-3374

Federal committee announces mental health strategies for ag sector

By Keith Currie, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture Mental wellness awareness on the farm is gaining momentum as the industry draws attention to the impact silent suffering has on the health of our farms, families and rural communities. The federal government recently released a new report entitled, “Mental Health – A Priority for our Farmers”, based on a sixmonth study conducted last year on the mental health challenges facing Canadian producers.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and AgriFood conducted the study, and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) was among many agricultural organizations that provided input to the committee last fall.

In the study report, the Standing Committee has provided 10 recommendations for the federal government to consider – actions aimed at breaking down the isolation and stigma farmers face when it comes to mental health. While the individual recommendations all have valuable, needed action items, collectively they provide the basis for a road map for long-term planning and investing in mental health initiatives and services for agriculture The stressors are nothing new to

the agricultural community: the risks and uncertainties that come from weather, environmental challenges, market fluctuations, debt and regulations, and the stigma that prevents many from seeking help. But the lack of support and services available to help farmers cope with these stressors, and the added amplification from negative commentary on farming through social media, mean farmers are far more vulnerable to mental health problems compared to the general public.

The report recommendations cover farm labour, regulatory changes, harassment and cyber bullying by activists, e-health services, mental health training and development of a national research centre on agricultural mental health.

These recommendations support and align with initiatives that the OFA has been advocating for in recent years. The need for high-speed internet across rural Ontario would support options for eservices for mental health.

Whenever the government considers regulatory changes, the impact on the agricultural sector must be fully considered. And as the incidence of on-farm

trespassing and harassment continues by activists, a recommendation has been made to elevate cyber bullying and intimidation to a Criminal Code offence.

The OFA will be following this file closely to track the progress of these recommendations by the federal government. Our work to bring awareness of this important health issue and realize the OFA’s recommendations outlined in the report isn’t over yet. Many of the recommendations fall within the federal jurisdiction, while others will need to be addressed at the provincial level.

For more information and a list of mental health resources available to Ontario farmers, visit ofa.on.ca.

PCFA DIRECTORS MEETING No dates have been set for July or August meetings. Contact office for time and location of next meeting

PCFA INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS • Up to 2 (two) – $1,000 scholarships • Youth continuing their education in Agriculture or/and Agricultural-related field • Entering their second, third or fourth year of college or university • Home address when not attending school must be in Perth County • Must be able to show a connection to an OFA farm member.

To request an application please contact PCFA at perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com Call 519-229-8866 or download form from website: perthcountyfarmers.ca/PCFAScholarship.pdf DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 Presentations will be made at the Perth Harvest Gala on the third Saturday of November

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Perth County by the PCFA.

68 The Rural Voice

St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9 Grey County Federation 446 10th519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 grey@ofa.on.ca Website: greyfederation.ca of Agriculture * The Rural Voice is providedEmail: to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA

Rocklyn – A little community with a big heart Any opinion expressed is that of individual County Directors or Representatives and may not necessarily reflect the views of the Grey County Federation of Agriculture or Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

Have you ever seen a sign to Rocklyn?

There are many signs on Grey County roads directing you to this town. If you follow the signs, you will arrive in this little community located on the 7th Line and Sideroad 22B. I will tell you that this little community is very full of life and its residents are very involved in the community. It is a very busy, welcoming and friendly place.

The hub of the activity is found at the arena. In the winter months, the Rocklyn Skating Club has classes during the week and there is beginner hockey on Saturdays. There is also a dedicated group of individuals, groups and businesses that support public skating for the community.

Public skating draws everyone from grandparents to toddlers just learning to skate.

Rocklyn’s 152nd Fall Fair will be on September 27 and 28. This year’s theme is “Granny Should Have Shown You How”. The Agricultural Society was encouraged to apply for the Pioneer “Here’s to Hometown” giveaway. A committee put their heads together to decide on a project that would be worthy of the award. A video was made, the application completed and the theme, “Granny Should Have Shown You How” was envisioned. In October 2018, the committee was contacted by Pioneer and were told they were one of three finalists and that there would be an internet-voting process to determine the winner. Everyone in the community was encouraged to vote on their devices. On January 16, 2019 the Agricultural Society was

contacted and it learned that they had won the “Here’s to Hometown” giveaway. Some of the funds are being used for updates to the kitchen in the community centre and some of the funds were designated to “Granny Should Have Shown You How” workshops.

The first workshop offered was, Learn How to Crochet, which attracted 30 participants. I had the privilege to be a left-handed helper (teacher) as crocheting left-handed is foreign to a right-handed person. It was a wonderful evening of visiting and learning and there was a great luncheon served.

The second workshop was Garden Basic and DIY Herb Planter. Again, 30 participants attended at Sideroad Farms which partnered with the Agricultural Society to host this workshop. We were toured around the farm and taught gardening tips with hopes we can plant successful gardens this spring.

Thanks to Pioneer for your support!

The Rocklyn Country Theatre began 30 years ago when Barbara Tulloch, a community supporter, came up with a fundraising event for the Agricultural Society. The performances have sold out every year since. The cast has very familiar faces from the community and this event has contributed over $125,000 back into Rocklyn.

The Friends of the Arena and the Centre Grey Lions are always finding ways to improve this little community in Grey County. Trivia Nights are always fun and well attended.

Another great event you should consider attending is the Annual Classic Car and Tractor Show on Father’s Day. Enjoy a brunch hosted by the Agricultural Society, a BBQ hosted by the 4-H Calf clubs, ice cream served by the figure skating club and baked goods sold by the 4-H Goat and Swine Clubs. There will be kid’s crafts and games, a silent

auction, music and a beer garden.

Take a stroll through the vintage cars and tractors and grab some goodies.

At this year’s Tommy Cooper Awards Night, hosted by the Grey and Bruce Federations of Agriculture, I was very impressed that the Tommy Cooper Award was presented to Catharine Campbell, a very busy and community-minded woman from Rocklyn.

The Grey County Federation of Agriculture has also hosted a speech competition for over 70 years for elementary students across Grey County. The junior and senior winners of the Don Hill Memorial Award are invited to the Tommy Cooper Award evening. The senior winner was Sydney Martin and we had the pleasure of listening to her speech on the topic of “Mental Health Challenges in Agriculture”. She is a member of the Rocklyn 4-H Club and is involved in helping at community events. Congratulations ladies!

My family has moved to this little community and we attended community dinners to meet people We are pleased to have been invited to be on a team for trivia nights. My husband and I are helping with the Classic Car and Tractor Show. My husband has also joined the Centre Grey Lions Club and I have gotten involved with the Rocklyn Agricultural Society. This community has lots of events to offer throughout the year. So, come on out to one of these events for a friendly welcome from Rocklyn – a little community with a big heart. ◊ – Submitted by Dianne Booker Director, GCFA Grey County Federation of Agriculture

DIRECTORS’ MEETINGS 2019 • August 15 – 8:00 p.m.

• September 19 – 8:00 p.m.

• November 14 – 8:00 p.m.

All meetings are held at Grey Ag Services, Markdale

JULY 2019 69

Email: bruce@ofa.on.ca website: brucefederation.ca

446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551

NEWSLETTER The Last Farmer 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.

Everyone has an opinion on what the first farmer looked like and did to provide food for the family and community. The hunter gatherer gradually evolved into a tiller of the soil and a domesticator of livestock and that farmer’s appearance stayed pretty much the same until about a 150 years ago, when the industrial revolution gave the farmer the means to turn horse-drawn to mechanical horse powered machinery and processing ability into everincreasing production potential.

Population migration from farms to cities has given electoral power to the urban side in our political process, but the farmer still plays an integral role.

What will tomorrow’s farmer look like?

Not many generations ago, 8N Fords, C Allis Chalmers, 10/20 McCormick Deerings and Johnny put-puts roamed the fields, helping farmers provide sufficient sustenance and employment for their families and communities. A 45-sow farrowto-finish pork operation provided enough income to support a family and even send kids to college. Dairy and poultry producers, flirting with a newly-minted supply management program, could look forward to a cost

BCFA DIRECTORS MEETINGS AUGUST 26 SEPTEMBER 23 NOVEMBER 11 All meetings are held in Walkerton at the Bruce Building 8:00 P.M.

70 The Rural Voice

of production formula that softened market fluctuations.

Independent beef producers could count on competing bids from many different slaughtering plants for their cattle. The list goes on….

Today, giant behemoth mega tractors comb the soil using GPS technology and equipment unimaginable just a few years ago.

Self-driving Roomba-like driverless equipment is even now in the testing phase. Fake meat, promoted by corporate media sponsorship, contains no animal products.

Livestock production has embraced technology in all of its applications to maximize efficiency and labour saving advantages.

The drive to sustain the family alone has become more in line with sustaining the world and hoping to get rich doing it. Although this is a lofty goal, it has also become a hostage to geo-political machinations, as evidenced recently.

Has anyone tried to hire home grown farm labourers lately?

What will the last farmer look like?

Prognostications are usually

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Bruce County by the BCFA

wrong, but consider the possibilities: • A scientist, “growing” protein on an industrial level for our “burger” enjoyment.

• A genetic engineer, gaining royalties for a patented seed from which its seed cannot be planted.

• A corporate board, domestic or foreign, that has a controlling share in a mega farm, but has never seen it.

• A government-supported partnership, that props up farm income enough to maintain a cheap food policy.

• A backyard gardener providing home-grown produce for family consumption and for sale at local markets.

• Any combination of farm owner, worker or function that includes “family” in the name.

I present this, not to antagonize but to provoke different thoughts on alternate futures for our farm community.

The face and function of farmers in the future will change, but as we all know, there will never be a last farmer.◊ – Respectfully submitted Ken Bridge, Past President BCFA

Index Advantage Royal Group....................19 Bag Supplies.................................... 61 Bax Audio Video Inc..........................29 BDO.................................................. 17 Belore Trailers.................................. 61 Bernie McGlynn/SB Flooring............ 57 Bervie Supply....................................51 Bester Wood Products...................... 57 Bio-Ag.............................................. 19 Bluewater Pipe..................................13 Blyth Brewing (Cowbell)....................13 Blyth Festival...................................... 7 BP Dust Control................................ 61 Brough & Whicher Limited................ 61 Brussels Lions Club.......................... 31 Camping...................................... 21,25 Canadian Co-op Wool Growers........ 10 Chalmers Fuels.................................. 3 Cliff’s Plumbing................................ 35 Cover Crops................................ 22,26 Cross Country Eavestrough..............13 Diamond Roof.................................. 25 Donkers Agri.............................. 13, 45 Dowler Karn...................................... 11 Easy Lift Doors..................................12 Egger Farms.................................... 64 Embro Tractor Pull............................ 46 Fawcett Tractor................................ 63 Free-light.......................................... 46 Gerber’s Workwear.......................... 63 Grey Bruce Construction.................. 37 Grills On...................................... 32, 54 GRK Products.................................... 9 Grober Nutrition........................Cover 4 Hill & Hill Farms...... Inside Front Cover Homegrown Food Basket................ 37 Honda...................................... Cover 4 Hunter Steel...................................... 14 Huron Commodities.......................... 45 Huron County Health Unit............ 8, 53 Huron Motor Products...................... 16 Hyndman Transport.......................... 61 Innis New & Used Tractor Parts........61 JA Porter Holdings.............................. 9 Jones Harold Enterprises..................62 July Shop Hop.................................. 51

Kinsmen Club of Goderich...... Cover 6 Kuepfer Farm Drainage.................... 62 Kuepfer Firewood..............................62 LAC.................................................. 63 Layton Steve.................................... 62 Legge Fitness.......................... Cover 3 Lisa Thompson MPP........................ 43 Listowel Fair......................................43 L-Wood Landscaping.................. 62, 63 Mapleview Agri..................................58 Marquardt Farm Drainage.................. 3 Martin Farm Wagons........................ 53 Mathers Arnold..................................41 McIntee Real Estate - S Nixon..........62 Mike Boven Carpentry...................... 62 MNP.................................................. 49 Morris Sachs Silo Construction........ 53 Nuclear Waste Management............ 34 Nuhn Forage.................................... 14 Ontario Forage Council.................... 34 Orr Insurance & Investment.............. 47 Palmerston Tractor Pull.................... 47

Peak Realty - Cathy Hendriks.......... 62 Perth Auto Dismantlers.................... 63 Peterhans Stefan.............................. 66 Ridgeway Metals.............................. 63 Rural Living................................ 40, 41 Rural Routes Pest Control................ 63 Rural Voice Books............................ 60 Sauble Beach Motorsports......50,67,71 Schmidts Farm Drainage.................. 10 Schweiss Doors.................................. 6 Seifried Farm Equipment.................. 11 Sew & Save...................................... 59 Steffen Well Drilling.......................... 63 SVCA................................................ 57 Triple P Consulting............................67 Trouw Nutrition.................. Back Cover WD Hopper & Sons.......................... 50 Weber’s Farm Supply...................... 64 West Wawanosh Mutual Ins.... Cover 5 Whitechurch Welding........................ 63 Williams Drainage............................ 29 Zehr’s Sales & Mfg.................. Cover 7

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JULY 2019 71

HURON

42 First Avenue, Clinton, Ontario N0M 1L0 519-482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135 Website: www.hcfa.on.ca Email: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca

County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER

New regulations for drone owners and operators This year there are new regulations regarding drone use. The HCFA would recommend that you review the Transport Canada regulations with regards to the use of drones. The new rules (which apply to drones weighing between 250 grams and 25 kilograms) are now in place for all drone operators, whether they fly for fun, work or research.

For more information visit https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services/aviat ion/drone-safety/flying-drone-safelylegally.html.

If you are hiring a drone operator you should ensure that they hold a pilot certificate and that the unit is registered.

Highlights of the new regulations include (but are not limited to): The new rules apply to Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), or “drones,” that: • weigh 250 grams (g) up to and including 25 kilograms (kg), and • are operated within the drone pilot’s visual-line-of-sight The rules introduce two categories of drones operations: basic and advanced. The categories are based on distance from bystanders and on airspace rules.

You should be aware that all pilots of drones weighing between 250 g and 25 kg must get a drone pilot certificate. Pilots conducting basic

operations need a Pilot Certificate – Basic Operations. While pilots conducting advanced operations need a Pilot Certificate – Advanced Operations.

All drones that weigh between 250 g and 25 kg must be registered with Transport Canada. Pilots must mark their drones with their registration number before they fly. (information from: https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/ services/aviation/drone-safety/newrules-drones.html) ◊

IPM 2017 Scholarships The Huron County 2017 IPM Trust Fund is offering scholarships.

Students can apply until July 15.

An application file is available on the Huron IPM 2017 Trust Fund Scholarship Facebook Page or email jbishopipm2017@gmail.com for an application.

Candidates must have completed their first year of post-secondary training and be enrolled in their second year of any college or university, or have completed a school training session in the trades.

The scholarships will be presented at the Huron County Plowing Match banquet in August at Windy Lane Farms in Howick.

Farm Business Contact Numbers Agricorp...................................................................................... 1-888-247-4999 Agricultural Information Contact Centre.................................... 1-877-424-1300 Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (Clinton Office)................................................... 519-482-3333 Canadian Food Inspection Agency (Mitchell)............................... 519-348-0433 County of Huron........................................................................ 1-888-524-8394 Farm and Food Care Ontario.........................................................519-837-1326 Farm Safety Association (Guelph)..............................................1-800-766-4902 Huron County Federation of Agriculture....................................... 519-482-9642 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (Clinton Office)......................................................................... 519-482-3667 Farmline......................................................................................1-888-451-2903 Ontario Mental Health Hotline.................................................... 1-866-531-2600 Crisis Services......................................................1-833-456-4566 or text 45645 Mental Health Line...........................................................dial 211 for information

* The Rural Voice is provided to all OFA Members in Huron County by the HCFA

Upcoming Events July 1 – Canada Day! July 10 – Beef Producers Steak Barbecue. Contact Harvey Hoggart for more information, 519-482-9157.

July 26-28 – Zurich Fair. Visit: www.zurichcountryfair.com for more information.

Huron County Federation of Agriculture

BOARD MEETING July 22 – 8:00 p.m.

Vanastra Office

Save the Date!

Huron County Federation of Agriculture

ANNUAL/REGIONAL MEETING Friday, October 25 Contact the office for further details and for tickets

Congratulations! to John Maaskant on his induction into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame

HCFA OFFICE HOURS: The office is open on Mondays and alternate Fridays 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

We are also open other days by chance 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

72 The Rural Voice

Take a e time to o visit yo our local fair!

2019 Agricultura al Fairs Listow wel July 18-21

Orangeville August 30-Sept 3 1

Zurrich July 26-28

- i LÕÀ i Sept 13-15

"Üi - Õ ` Sept 5-7 7

LÀ < ÀÀ> Sept 14-15

Dungann non August 9-11

Beaver Valley Sept 6-7 7

Brusse els Sept 17-18

Draytton August 9-11

Chesley Sept 6-7 7

IP PM Sept 17-21

Hanov ver August 9-11

Arthur Sept 6-8 8

-ÌÀ>Ìv À` Sept 19-22

Mt. Forest Augsut 16-17

Õ `> Sept 6-8 8

iÕÃÌ>`Ì Sept 20-21

>Þwi ` August 16-18

À Ì Sept 6-8 8

Wiarton Sept 20-21

` >Þ >ÀÀ V Sept 6-8 8

ÕV Ü Sept 20-22

/>Û ÃÌ V Sept 6-8 8

À> ` 6> iÞ Sept 20-22

` ° >Ì > Ý L Ì August 16-Sept 2 7 `ÃÌ V August 22-25 >À `> i August 23-25

ÀÕ L Sept 20-22

Western Fair Sept 6-1 15

Palmerstton August 23-25

Paisley Sept 7-8 8

-Þ`i > Sept 26

Teeswa e ter August 23-25

Arran-Tara a Sept 10--11

Ripley-Huron Sept 27-28

iÃL À August 30-31

COFS Sept 10--12

, V Þ Sept 27-28

V>À` i August 30-31

Seaforth Sept 12--15

Ü V /ÕÀ LiÀÀÞ Sept 27-29

Milverton Sept 13

i>v À` August 30-31

Tiverton Oct 4-5

Chatsworth August 30-Sept 1

Fergus Sept 13--15

Erin Oct 10-14

Durham August 30-Sept 1

Feversham Sept 13--15

7> iÀÌ Oct 18-20

Mitch hell August 30-Sept 1

Harriston-Minto Sept 13--15

Royal Winterfair Nov 1-10

www.o .ontariofairs.com

519-529-7921

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SATURDAY 8:00 am 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament on the Square 4:30 - 7:00 pm Fish Fry $15.00 (includes fish and chip dinner, coffee and juice, roll, dessert ) Advance tickets see www.goderichkinsmen.ca or Facebook

Saturday Headlining Act: TASTY NEWZ ($10.00 cover charge after 8 pm 19+)

For more info: email: goderichsummerfest@gmail.com www.goderichkinsmen.ca or check us out on Facebook

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Belmore Feed Mill Belmore 519-392-6522 Dauphin Feed & Supply Dungannon 519-529-7951 1-800-665-5675 Walton 519-887-6023 The Hitching Post (2019) Ltd. St. Marys 519-284-2360

Hensall District Co-operative Londesboro 519-523-9606 1-800-265-9000

Nieuwland Feed & Supply Ltd. Listowel 519-291-5795 1-800-265-3229

Zurich 519-236-7155 1-800-565-7155

Drayton 519-638-3008 1-800-263-9818

Ripley 519-395-5955 1-855-895-5955

Elora 519-846-5354 1-800-265-5354

Mitchell 519-348-8752 1-800-669-3502

Yantzi Feed & Seed Ltd. Brunner 519-595-8251

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Tavistock 519-655-2033