The Rural Voice - July 2024

Rural Voice July 2024

The

THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE ... $3.50 PM 40037593

LAVENDER TO LAKESIDE Daytripping in southern Huron is an aromatic, tasty, historic adventure...with cows!

EMANCIPATION FESTIVAL Sharing stories of Canadian freedom seekers with grandchildren of today

ONE HEALTH ON SITE Ecology-focussed students see practicalities of One Health at local farms

Providing a Complete Package

Varna Location

Farm Location

IP Soybeans 2024 programs are available for: • SQWH • S03-W4 • S07-M8 • S12-J7 • OAC Aberdeen • OAC Bruton • & other varieties

hillhill@tcc.on.ca

519-233-3218

Marketing

• Buy & Sell Grain Commodities throughout Ontario • On-farm marketing & merchandising

Grain Services

• Transportation • Handling & Storage • Receiving • Packaging

RR #1 Varna, Ontario N0M 2R0 www.varnagrain.com

519-233-7908 1-877-433-7908

MITF2024_RuralVoiceAd 8.125x10.625.indd 1

2024-04-02 10:12 AM

New Homes • Renovations Mitchell, Ontario 519-301-1502

Cell: 519-301-1502

Email: Matt@feeneydesignbuild.com

Contents The Rural Voice THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE

Published monthly by: The Rural Voice, Box 429, Blyth, Ontario, N0M 1H0 Telephone: 519-523-4311 Fax: 519-523-9140 E-mail: info@northhuron.on.ca Website: ruralvoice.ca

18

Publisher: Deb Sholdice

22 Columns Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Keith Roulston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Kate Procter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Jeffrey Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Mabel’s Grill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Gardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Woodlots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Agrilaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Departments Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Ruralite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Business Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

Newsletters National Farmers Union . . . . . . . . . .66 Perth Pork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Bruce County Federation . . . . . . . . .68 Grey County Federation . . . . . . . . .69 Perth County Federation . . . . . . . . . .70 Huron County Federation . . . . . . . . .72

28 JULY 2024 • Cover Photo

Gemma James-Smith, Bayfield Lavender Farm Photo by Lisa Boonstopppel-Pot

Contributing writers: Keith Roulston, Kate Procter, Jeffrey Carter, Gary Kenny, Rhea Hamilton Seeger, Donna Lacey, Melisa Luymes, Carolyn Crawford, Bonnie Sitter, Jeff Tribe

• Deadlines: Aug. Issue – July 9

Advertising Sales: Shelley Kroes rvads@northhuron.on.ca

18 One Health on the Ground

Production co-ordinator & Telemarketing: Joan Caldwell

September Issue – August 6

University of Guelph students tour a wetland and forest to learn more about One Health

22 Emancipation Festival

There is food and fun games but its all part of not forgetting slavery

28 Collective Farming

ROSE Land Care Association farms have caretakers and a farm team for support

34 Lavender Farms and Donuts

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: $30 (12 issues) $55 (24 issues), includes HST Back copies $3.75 each.

Make cheques payable to: NORTH HURON PUBLISHING CO.

You can visit a lavender farm and eat lavender donuts while daytripping in southern Huron

39 Hallahan’s Dairy Farm

Reporter learns about modern dairy farming at Hallahan’s dairy farm

46 Way More in 2024 Bonnie Sitter gives us a picture summary of the Clinton Spring Fair

All manuscripts submitted for consideration should be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited submissions. 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.

‘

Editor: Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot rveditorlisa@northhuron.on.ca

A division of North Huron Publishing Company Inc.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.

Feedback Letters to the Editor: The Rural Voice, P.O. Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 rveditorlisa@ northhuron.on.ca

Appreciation for Shepherd’s Sight To the Editor, I was very excited to receive the May issue as I had finished Shepherd’s Sight a couple of weeks prior. It was wonderful to have some pictures of the author and her husband, and their home and farm, to fill in that visual gap that was in my mind.

I very much enjoyed the book, and have Lambsquarters waiting in the wings for another day.

Many thanks for this! ~ Larry J. Mohring, Auburn

Keep children away from lawnmowers

To the Editor, As we are now in the season of lawn maintenance and outdoor activities, I would like to remind everyone about the potential hazards associated with machinery such as lawn mowers, especially in the presence of children.

I was only two when an accident forever altered the course of my life.

Innocently playing outside, I ventured too close to a moving lawn mower, unaware of the danger it posed. The operator was unaware of my presence and backed up, not realizing I had stumbled and fallen behind the lawn mower. I was rushed to the hospital where doctors had to amputate my right arm above the elbow and part of my left hand.

As a graduate of The War Amps Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program, I am advocating for safety measures around lawn mowers. I accept who I am today, but I wouldn’t want another 2 The Rural Voice

child to go through what I did.

It’s important to recognize that accidents can occur in the blink of an eye, with lifelong consequences. By sharing my story and raising awareness, I hope to encourage greater caution and vigilance among parents, caregivers and communities alike. ~ Denise Swedlo, The War Amps

Perth County clarifies official plan process Since 2018, Perth County has been undertaking a review of the County Official Plan, as required by Ontario’s Planning Act. Perth County’s Official Plan is over 25 years old and is inconsistent with current Provincial planning legislation. The review will ensure conformity with both Provincial and Federal Policy, and consistency with local priorities and changing community needs. Perth County would like to clarify identified items of concern regarding the Official Plan review process as listed within the article from PCFA published on May 2nd.

Public Engagement: This project would not be possible without the valuable community input received.

Since 2018, the County has held 14 public engagement sessions and five stakeholder meetings with the PCFA. To provide transparency on how feedback received was considered and implemented, the first draft Official Plan was released in December 2023, with Open Houses held in February 2024. A letter from the PCFA, dated March 2024, was one of 58 submissions received by Staff regarding the draft Official Plan text.

In response to feedback, Perth County Council shifted the project timeline and Staff will now present the revised draft Official Plan in Summer 2024 and will seek direction from Council on next steps.

Provincial Policy Statement Changes: Based on continuous consultation with the Province and the project consultant, WSP, it has been recommended that the best course of

action regarding proposed legislation is to continue working on the Official Plan and adapt to legislative changes once they receive Royal Assent.

Density Targets: In 2019, Perth County engaged Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. to prepare a Comprehensive Review to determine the land supply required for residential, commercial and industrial growth over the next 25 years. The Comprehensive Review was adopted

by County Council on November 2, 2023, which then guided the Official Plan density targets. In response to feedback, revisions to density policies were made to further support infill and intensification. The County Official Plan limits residential growth to the boundaries of designated Settlement Areas, particularly those with full municipal services (Listowel, Milverton, and Mitchell), to preserve and protect existing farming activities and agricultural resources.

Settlement Areas: The new Official Plan does not propose the establishment of new settlement areas.

The expansion of existing Settlement Areas is proposed based on density targets and land needs identified through the 2023 Comprehensive Review and in alignment with provincial policy. The Minimum Distance Separation (MDS) requirements, legislated by the Province, only apply to lands located outside of Settlement Areas. The Official Plan provides policies that ensure normal farm practices can continue adjacent to settlement areas.

Municipal Drains: Municipal drains are regulated through the Drainage Act. As the Official Plan cannot regulate areas outside County jurisdiction, the Natural Environment designation within the Official Plan will not impact municipal drains.

Lot Creation: The Official Plan does not support the creation of new lots in agricultural areas and recognizes that lot creation outside of settlement areas should only be in alignment with normal farm practices.

The County is proud of the contributions local agricultural provides the County and the Province. and through Official Plan policy. The Official Plan looks to protect prime

agricultural lands and important natural environmental areas by striking a balance between land uses to support the continued economic function of the County.

Interested in learning more about the County’s Official Plan project?

Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page: www.perthcounty.ca/NewOPFAQ ~ Sarah Franklin, Communications Officer, County of Perth

Specializing in White Cedar Lumber Custom Wood Moulding

Willis & Maryella Metzger 519-848-6692 8910 Concession 7 Arthur, ON

Cedar lumber in-stock

Shop, Cook & Dine Canadian August 3, 2024 Food Day Canada! #FoodDayCanada

Parks Livestock of Canada L.P. Box 280, 6 Spencer Street, Milverton, ON N0K 1M0

www.howickmutual.com 1-800-265-3033 Farm • Home • Auto • Commercial

Office 519-595-8555 • Toll Free 1-877-338-4647 SOWS, BOARS, FEEDER PIGS, BBQ PIGS FOR EXPORT Hayden.parks@parkslivestock.com ~ Cell: 910-284-0031

Happy Food Day Canada!

MATTHEW RAE MPP - Perth–Wellington

519-272-0660 • 1-800-461-9701 matthew.rae@pc.ola.org matthewrae.ca

HURON FEEDING SYSTEMS Your local authorized dealer for...

Brussels 519-887-6289 www.huronfeedingsystems.com

July 2024 3

HURON FEEDING SYSTEMS Safe, Dependable Trucking Service

VITAMIN/MINERAL & SPECIALTY FEED PRODUCTS FOR LIVESTOCK

Your local authorized dealer for...

Livestock, Bulk, Freight Brussels

519-887-6122 • 1-800-667-8399

69819 London Rd., R.R. #1 Centralia, ON 1IPOF t t 'BY & .BJM LQBMFO!LFOQBM PO DB t XXX LFOQBM PO DB

Brussels 519-887-6289 www.huronfeedingsystems.com

CONGRATULATIONS • Crop Inputs • Crop Consulting • Crop Protection Products • Seed • Custom Application • Nutrient Management Planning www.brusselsagromart.ca

Brussels 519-887-6273

Junior Farmers

TO JFAO ON

Libro knows farming, it’s in our roots.

80 YEARS of service to our agriculture and rural communities!

Invite us to the table and gain agriculture banking experts who have been a trusted partner for over 75 years.

Book an appointment today.

on

MATTHEW RAE MPP – Perth-Wellington

The Rural Voice Magazine Blyth ~ 519-523-4311

4 The Rural Voice

libro.ca/ag

519-272-0660 • 1-800-461-9701 Matthew.Rae@pc.ola.org

MatthewRae.ca

“

Ruralite I walk in the forest every morning

and it reduces my cortisol levels and lowers my blood pressure...the complexity of what the forest

”

provides for our bodies and brain is tremendous.”

~ Cathy Walker on the benefits of trees during the One Health Tour. See page 18.

Fun With Words

● I did a theatrical performance on puns.

It was a play on words. ● I know a guy who is addicted to brake fluid.

He says he can stop anytime.

•

Farm Ownership “The price of farming has decoupled from agricultural production. How does it make sense for farming? ~ Mike Courey on living and working on a ROSE Land Care Association farm See page 28

July

INSPIRATION

“My dream is to be a farmer myself, but also to provide opportunities to others who don't have the land or the resources, in order to grow food themselves and teach them how to do it. ~ Rose Namajunas

Hmm...

• Why do “overlook” and “oversee” mean opposite things?

• Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

•

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

● When all is said and done, there will

Pre-Show Chatter

The Farm Show: Then & Now is worth going to see but goers also enjoyed interaction with Fiona Mongillo and fellow cast members connected before the play, as they asked “who are you and where are you from.” Fitting, given the focus of the play. ~ Photo by Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

be more said than done. ● Never approach a horse from the

•

rear, a bull from the front or a fool from any direction.

July 2024 5

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

Intermission!

Cock-a-doodle-do!

I laughed out loud (more than once) watching The Farm Show: Then and Now on the Harvest stage in Blyth.

I didn’t see the original Farm Show play but director Gil Garratt and cast incorporated its history and success right into the play.

In fact, there were three levels (sometimes happening simultaneously) during this play: 1. A reenactment of scenes from the original. 2. A retelling of why the play was written in the first place and its subsequent, world-wide success. 3. A tribute to the original actors, living and dead in present day voice to honour their legacy. That, along with all the vignettes of farming stories in Huron County could have become chaos.

Instead, it pushed and pulled in all the right places, which will earn the play and cast a new generation of fans while simultaneously creating a nostalgic bond with anyone who A) watched the original play B) knows the Tebbutts, Crawfords and Lobbs represented in the play and C) farms themselves.

This is where the play really hit home for me, particularly the hay mow scene where an “actor playing an actor who played a farmer 25 years ago” (a line from the play) relived his experience unloading and stacking hay for the first time.

From his first emphasis on the new word he had learned – “mow”, I was hooked. Right there with the crowd as we all shook our heads at the stupidity of wearing shorts doing hay. “Had to be from Toronto,” we were thinking and yes, he was.

The actor playing an actor playing a farmer talking about how awful it was unloading the hay wagon so he decided to go into the mow. Again, any of us who have ever worked in a mow were thinking, “wrong choice, fella.”

6 The Rural Voice

Actor Landon Doak had a knack for physical humour (you’re going to watch him portray a deer in another scene) and everything he did made me think “fool” while also admiring his tenacity.

Filling a mow is HARD WORK and what he did best was honour every farmer who has stoically sweated through wagon after wagon of dusty, heavy hay bales.

When Doak said after the first load he discovered the greatest thing in the world, I was already mouthing “Freshie” when he yelled it from the stage.

Another of Doak’s lines after standing in sweaty exhaustion in the mow was to ask “why would any human being put themselves through such utter hell. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now.”

I think I do because I was one of them. Growing up on a dairy farm, the oldest of three, I spent many summers unloading hay wagons because round and square balers weren’t part of the package. Those summers were both the worst and best times of my life. It was brutal work but the pride of a full mow and the satisfaction of knowing you had feed for the whole winter combined with creating serious muscles! I credit today’s physical strength and fitness to a childhood of good old-fashioned hard work.

I learned to stack a mow from my dad, who was as fit and strong a man as you ever met. Those mows stood

straight all winter as we dismantled them bale by bale to feed the cows.

Dad didn’t always like it when we made forts but we did, having friends over on Sundays to add rooms and eat Fruit Loops in their dark, cavernous insides.

I’m a daughter of Dutch immigrants so I wasn’t part of the play’s family base but of course I know the Lobbs and their “dynasty” on the 16th line (a song from the play that will ring in your head long after the play).

Still, I felt honoured because I was and am a farmer with a history from a similar time period the original Farm Show was created. The creative team and ensemble cast who brought this play back to life took our history, our neighborliness, our faith, our persistence and determination and made it into a story that will live on and be shared again and again.

Kudos and bless your hearts, actors, for being chickens, tractors, snowmobiles, winter, peacocks, deer and “actors playing actors who played farmers 25 years ago”. Especially to Garratt for his original announcement of “intermission” in rooster speak.

You did us proud and it was a good laugh to boot. ◊

A rocking scene from The Farm Show: Then & Now (above) had the actors and audience laughing at the Harvest Stage in June. Geoffrey Armour (top) was in fine form during the play which runs from June 12 to August 4.

July 2024 7

Keith Roulston Keith is former publisher of The Rural Voice.

He lives near Blyth, ON.

Look at pioneers to see progress

Looking out the kitchen window at a field that’s planted in soybeans for almost as far as the eye can see, I got thinking of a book I read recently on early pioneer life — and of how far we’ve progressed.

I’d recently taken the old book (well 1989 is old these days) off the shelf and was reading it for the first time, to the best of my knowledge.

We used to get catalogues back then from book sellers selling unsold books from publishers like Stoddart press who published When the Work’s All Done in the Fall by Dave McIntosh.

McIntosh must have spent many hours looking through archives to find the excerpts from dozens of

early commentators on Canadians’ farms in all provinces. Many of the writers were visitors from England and to say they were pessimistic is an understatement.

It was all news to me. I’ve always been impressed with the work of the pioneers. The farm we live on was pioneered, along with most of the farms on our concession, by brothers from one Scottish family who took up 1,000 acres of land that became known as the McGowan settlement.

The McGowans were tireless workers, taking up the bush-covered land northwest of Blyth in the 1850s and working to clear it. Each year they’d chop and burn the trees on a few acres of land, until I can look out and see hardly any trees to the west or east of our house that weren’t planted on purpose to protect the house (there is bush behind us in a swampy area and along Blyth Creek).

The McGowans were rewarded for their hard work. While many rural areas have hardly a house left today, there are substantial brick or stone houses on most of what would have been the McGowan homesteads.

SERIES www.martinwagons.com

Trailblazer Wagons

Hay Racks

Available in different sizes

Gravity Bins Call or email for a quote today!

714 Arthur St. South, RR#2 Elmira ON N3B 2Z2

519-664-3383 Fax: 519-664-1668 sales@martinwagons.com

8 The Rural Voice

There are, unfortunately, no McGowans left in the area, They would have farmed among the stumps of the trees they cut for the first few years, unable to use any mechanized equipment. As the stumps rotted, they could be pulled and larger equipment, pulled by horses or oxen, made farming easier and profitable. Then came threshing machines and steam engines. When we moved here 49 years ago, our neighbour spent days working and planting the land. Recently, the cashcropper who rents the land planted the entire 250 acres in a little more than a day, pulling his no-till equipment behind a massive tractor.

My great-grandfather took up land about the same time at the northern edge of the township (and county).

He was just 17 when he took up 200 acres in West Wawanosh with his father. My great-great-uncle came to visit and said he would stay if he could have the farm my greatgrandfather had taken up. Being young and optimistic, my greatgrandfather moved north, across the border into Bruce County, and started over on land that contained a lake named for him, Purves Lake (now known more as Paradise Lake and home to several expensive homes but still called by my grandfather’s name if you look it up on Google).

Like the McGowans, my greatgrandfather prospered. He bought more land, spreading along the lake, He ran for township council, became reeve and then Warden of Bruce County from 1880 to 1882.

Despite the pessimistic early visitors from England, quoted in When the Work’s All Done in the Fall today’s Canadian farms have prospered, at least as far as farms have been allowed to prosper. Many children grew up on those farms, became educated, and chose urban jobs, but their brothers and sisters stayed on the land and kept their supermarket shelves full of nutritious food — and affordable despite the complaints.

Now and then as we grouch about expensive taxes or whether or not we have good cable television, we need to stop and think about what this land was like when the pioneers came here and how blessed we are.◊

Farm To Table Bentinck Packers Ltd. CUSTOM SLAUGHTERING and RETAIL Conveniently Located 5 Minutes from Hanover Specializing in Fresh Beef, Pork and Lamb Products

Customized gift baskets, freezer packs & meat trays

Reg. Hours 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Tues. - Sat.

381488 Conc. 4 NDR, Hanover ~ 519-364-3538 ~ www.bentinckpackers.ca

Meadowview Farm & Apiary

Beef • Pork • Sausages • Custom • Wholesale • Retail • Deli Meat & Cheese Trays Available 142 Arthur St., Harriston Tel.: 519-338-3330 mark@harristonpacking.ca

Wholesome goodness - grown & made here!

Offering • fruit wine, hard ciders, fruit liqueurs & fruit spirits (Schnapps) • baking • preserves • sweet ciders & fruit juices • seasonal fruit & so much more

Clare and Gwen Gerber

PURE ONTARIO HONEY •Beeswax • Beeswax candles • Nucleus colonies

PURE MAPLE SYRUP

77697 Orchard Line, Bayfield 519-482-1666 Please follow facebook/Instagram for updates & operating hours

Farm Store is open for shopping & taking reservations for our Tasting room.

Bistro is open Thursday – Sunday 11-7

•Available in various bottle sizes Grass-fed Beef

Chicken

Available to order by the side or mixed quarter.

At the farm store: Assorted cuts & patties

Available to order fresh At the farm store: Frozen, Whole or in pieces (Drumsticks, wings, breasts)

RR 2, 91104 Holmes Line, Wingham

519-357-4347 or Cell 519-357-8339

Available at; Zehr's Country Market Hwy 21- 3km South Bayfield

6th Generation Small Batch - Wood Fired 100% Pure Maple Syrup

Farm gate sales: 35703 Pavillion Rd Bayfield ON (4 km south) Text or email ahead at; 647-882-4299 info@westlakemaple.ca

July 2024 9

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

Shades of green

O

ne of the things I have always loved about spring is the infinite number of shades of green. From the first timid hint as you run your eyes over the edges of the bush, to the lushness we see now, shades of green tell the story of the seasons. Shades of green can be a diagnostic tool and a method of distinguishing plants from one another. They are also just downright beautiful.

Trees and tree planting have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Before I was born, my Dad was planting trees on the farm – replacing places where deforestation had happened with what are now healthy woodlots. My Mom is also a tree planter. Our yard regularly had new trees and shrubs over the years including peach, apple, cherry, plum, red currants, blackberries, oak, silver, sugar, and red maples, ash, black walnut, mountain ash… you get the idea.

Because I live in the house where I grew up, every morning I look out at a red maple that I have some affection for because it was planted the year I started kindergarten – we actually grew up together. While we

have been around for over half a century (!!!) and in spite of being pruned and going through years that were tough and years where the sun and rain suited us perfectly, we are both still strong and healthy, slowly adding to our rings. If I look out a different window, I see a windbreak that I helped plant over 30 years ago.

The spruce and cedar now tower above my head in an imperfect, but still effective, barrier to the winds.

When I was 17, I participated in the Junior Ranger program. It meant travelling north to the Chapleau district where I was paid $15 a day, plus room and board, to work for the summer doing various forestryrelated jobs. We worked at thinning poplars from tree stands planted in harvested areas using a tool called a Sandvik. We cleared canoe and hiking trails. We peeled logs for a sauna that we never got to use. And we planted trees. Lots and lots of trees in areas where harvesting was completed. My son, now a forester himself in the Thunder Bay district, revisited the area to assess tree stands, 30 years later. He is on the leading edge of reseeding jack pines with drones in harvested areas. At at a cost of over $1,000 per kilogram, finding more efficient ways to distribute those precious seeds is vital.

We recently started a fairly major project with the help of Shannon Millar and the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) (https://mvca.on.ca/) to reforest three areas of former pasture. Last spring, Saugeen Conservation Authority staff planted 8,800 new seedlings, including 80 per cent conifers, 10 per

C - 119 Pinebush Rd., Cambridge, ON Fax: 1-866-388-9659 Email: info@waddelleng.com Website: www.waddelleng.com Instagram: @waddell_engineering TikTok: waddell_engineering

Design your next project with our trusted team 10 The Rural Voice

cent hardwood, and 10 per cent shrubs on 13 acres. Species included White Pine, White Spruce, White Cedar, Tamarack, Sugar Maple, Silver Maple, Bur Oak, Sycamore, Hackberry, Swamp White Oak, Black Willow, Ninebark, Red-osier Dogwood, Elderberry, Smooth Arrowwood, and Pussy Willows.

Last summer, a duck pond was created in a low spot that never completely got dry in the summer. It had previously served a purpose as a settling area for runoff from surrounding fields, protecting the areas downstream including Lake Huron, and will continue to do so.

Working with Ducks Unlimited (DU) and MVCA, planting in this area happened this spring. The wetland is 1.2 acres, with an additional 2.2 acres of seedlings, and 4.2 acres of larger stock trees planted. Over 1,500 trees were planted in these areas, including many of the species planted in the other areas, as well as Tulip Trees, Staghorn Sumac, Freeman Maple, Sandbar Willow, Trembling Aspen, and Highbush Cranberry.

As I have relearned this spring, planting is just the first step. This spring I have been working away at releasing our baby trees from the orchard grass and thistles that tower over my head. With the assistance of my other son, who now farms with me, and my sister – we have painstakingly been finding all of those trees planted last spring in order to mow and give them a better chance.

While this year's rainy spring has caused lots of anguish for farmers trying to get our planting done, it has been great for the baby trees. Planted in the middle of a hot dry spell last spring, I wondered how many would survive. I am happy to report that many that I thought were dead a month after planting are looking great. Some have added over 10 inches of fresh green growth.

You may be thinking… why all the tree planting? Over 60 years ago my dad planted trees for some of the same reasons we are planting now – to have useful trees rather than allow the areas to grow up with weeds, and to improve water quality. At that

time, the local townships were also hoping to develop lands to be recreational areas and the Junior Farmers group helped plant some of those trees. Today, that area is still used by many people who access the river to fish and boat and enjoy time in nature.

Healthy trees can help to reduce both wind and water erosion, stabilize stream banks, and improve water quality. This is important to us as the Maitland River runs through

our farm and on to Lake Huron.

Having a variety of trees on our property increases biodiversity, and provides birds and wildlife with habitat and corridors to travel. Trees and natural spaces are also important for humans – providing recreational spaces and improving mental health (https://forestsontario.ca/en/program/ 50-million-tree-program). Reading about the life of Edmund Zavitz and his tireless effort to replace deserts in Ontario with forests is both inspiring

Farm To Table

and worrying as it highlights the importance of forest cover to life as we know it (Two Billion Trees and Counting, John Bacher, 2011).

If you are interested in tree planting on your own property, there are programs that can help. Contact your local conservation authority and look into other programs such as Forests Ontario’s 50 Million Tree Program (https://forests ontario.ca/ en/program/50-million-treeprogram). ◊

• Fruits & Vegetables • Black Angus Beef • Maple Syrup & Honey 5857 Hwy. 89, Harriston

519-338-5381 Reg. Hours: 9 am - 7 pm ~ Closed Sundays

www.steckles.ca

SULLIVAN’S BUTCHER SHOP Email: arno805@aol.com

“FOR MEAT YOU CAN’T BEAT”

(519) 534-3074 Toll Free 1-877-398-4218 641 Berford St. P.O. Box 775 Wiarton, Ontario N0H 2T0

Local...Quality...Delicious Local Beef • Pork • Poultry Specialty European Meat Products

Open Tues. - Fri. 9 am - 5 pm Sat. 9 am - 3 pm 180 Brock Avenue, Hensall

519-262-3130 www.metzgermeats.com

July 2024 11

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

Literature, history, perspective and truth

A

nyone experienced in research – historians, journalists and the like – go to source materials as a means to distinguish truth from perspective. If a source originates from an earlier time period, such as the latter part of 19th century when Nicholas Flood Davin released his Report on Industrial Schools for Indian and Half-Breeds to Canada’s federal government, it must be understood as much as is possible from the context of those times.

I’m not so sure this has happened to any significant extent, having followed media reports and

commentary concerning residential schools and the general wellbeing of indigenous peoples in Canada, particularly those aired by CBC Radio to which I listen to diligently.

Perspective dominates the narrative.

I have read the Davin Report which recommended creation of residential schools and have considered as well the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which concluded, and rightfully so, that a “cultural genocide” occurred in Canada.

States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group. Land is seized, and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted.

Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed. And, most significantly to the issue at hand, families are disrupted to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next.

My own perspective on the matter

Obround Fuel/ Oil Tanks

We also build Generator Sub-Base Fuel Tanks, Fuel Cube Tanks & custom design Steel Tanks to your specs

Call or Email for Inquiries 519-669-3007 sales@riversideweldingmfg.com

Wallenstein, ON

riversideweldingmfg.com 12 The Rural Voice

MADE BY

is born out of the understanding I’ve built of my family’s history, a perspective also influenced to a significant degree by the ongoing residential school discussion. The maternal side of our family was split apart in the 1930s, five children taken from their parents, and placed in the “loving” embrace of the state.

Despite the mixed outcome and the ongoing trauma that persists, I do not feel the people who dragged my then nine-year-old mother and her younger siblings to foster care and adoptive families were necessarily persons of evil intent. Neither was Davin nor were most of the people who developed and managed the residential school system, though that is how they are typically portrayed.

Evil does exist in the world, however. Tough to argue otherwise in light on the ongoing conflicts that now dominate the news.

If positive change is to come, young people need the tools to understand their world, among them the opportunity to consider history and literature – the line between the two is blurred – by utilizing source materials.

That is becoming more difficult.

It has come to my attention (from what I feel is a reliable source) that certain books are to be removed from the public high school libraries in Lambton County and Chatham-Kent.

Calls to the school board to confirm this as this column is being submitted for publication had yet to be returned.

Among the books said to be on the ‘removal’ list is Lord of the Flies, published in 1954, the debut novel of British author William Golding.

Other titles were cited for their use of language and themes deemed as inappropriate for today’s audience.

As such, society seeks to protect its children.

Lord of the Flies is widely accepted as a literary work, the story of a group of prepubescent boys, stranded and left to their own devices on a remote island. In the event you haven’t read the book, suffice to say it is a cautionary tale, one especially relevant given today’s global circumstances. It speaks of innocence lost, of the descent into savagery when civility and morality are abandoned and authoritarianism

embraced.

Granted, literature and history does need to be contextualized. What better venue than a learning institution in which ideas and views are respectfully exchanged and discourse encouraged?

I remember reading Lord of the Flies – a part of the high school curriculum as I recall – and many other titles which have been banned or censored in various ways at various times. Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses comes to mind, as does Mark Twain’s most celebrated novels, Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, Joseph Conrad’s – oops, shouldn’t say that word, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and D.H. Lawrence’s (yawn) Lady Chatterley’s Lover. I could go on.

Satanic Verses may be the most extreme example, a significant part of the Islamic world not only banning the book but issuing a fatwa calling for the death of Rushdie and his publishers.

There is irony in that. What Rushdie has had to say, it strikes me that his words help bridge the cultural and religious chasm between east and west. I, at least, came away with a greater appreciation for the Islamic world regardless of Rushdie’s admitted apostasy.

We live in a permissive society.

Lessons concerning sexual orientation are now part of the elementary school curriculum while pornography is readily available and we wonder why children are confused. Drugs and alcohol including substances that incapacitate and kill are easily accessed.

Gambling is not only allowed by the government but actively encouraged.

As such, it is difficult to understand how having works of literature in the hands of young people can be viewed as a concern.

Their removal and efforts limit the discussion to “accepted” narratives – acts of tyranny both – do not protect young people. Neither do these acts of censorship prepare them for the future. ◊

ÏÉé Þ²ÏŇ&L\ ' Ň |YLŇđĎđē ,îÞÏÉŇ ÏîÉéÿŇĶŇ;îÂÿŇēé®Ň éŇĐĎ È

LF¨ÏÞ © É éùÏÞÀġ

& v \ FfĦ

,EVVMWXSR 6SEH +SVVMI 3RXEVMS 4VIWIRXIH F] 3RXEVMS *SVEKI 'SYRGMP ,YVSR 'SYRX] 7SMP 'VST -QTVSZIQIRX %WWSGMEXMSR

âé ÞÉŇø  ÿŇĶŇ;îÂÿŇĐđé®Ň éŇĐĎ È 7X -WMHSVI 6SEH 7X -WMHSVI 3RXEVMS 4VIWIRXIH F] 3RXEVMS *SVEKI 'SYRGMP )EWXIVR :EPPI] 7SMP 'VST -QTVSZIQIRX %WWSGMEXMSR

*SVEKI IUYMTQIRX HIQSRWXVEXMSRW 8VEHI 7LS[ 2S VIKMWXVEXMSR VIUYMVIH 0YRGL [MPP FI EZEMPEFPI XS TYVGLEWI SR WMXI

Cover Crops ¤j ~ƉXj XØ 8 XXě )~ F )Ø ¤) ~ě~j b% ~) FXƉz ~ b)~

Give us a call and let us help you set up a field-specific cover crop BLYTH 519-523-9624/1-800-663-3653 WALTON 519-887-6130

&2'*71*= 43

TERHLGVSTMRTYXW GSQ %TEVVMWLLIMQFIGO

Cover Crop Oats * More seed options available

519-525-6430 carl.bolton@tcc.on.ca

July 2024 13

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

“Good morning gents,” greeted Molly Whiteside when she delivered the menus at Mabel’s Grill the other morning, “Can I start you off with a coffee?”

“Of course,” mumbled George Mackenzie. “I can hardly get going before I have a coffee in the morning.”

As Molly poured the coffee, Cliff Murray looked at the stain on the front of her uniform.

“Spill something this morning?” he asked when she looked up.

“Actually it was yesterday,” Molly said, colouring slightly.

“Mabel already commented on it this morning. The kids are home from school now and they distracted me from doing my laundry on time.”

“Yeah, kids home for the summer,” sighed Dave Winston,

“They’re always a problem until they’re old enough to help out with the work on the farm.”

“Or until the summer camps begin,” sighed Molly.

“Unless you’re a teacher,” sighed Cliff. “My sister’s a teacher and she’s got the whole summer off to look after her kids. Me, I stayed home on the farm and I have to keep working – bringing in the hay, combining the wheat and the beans and the corn.”

“And feeding my pigs every day,” sighed Dave.

“But teachers keep on complaining,” Cliff said. “I was at a year-end party at my sister’s last weekend, and there was a whole crew of people from her school’s staff there. They spent an hour grumbling about how hard teaching was.”

“Teachers always complain,” scoffed George.

“Unlike farmers,” slipped in Molly.

“Hey,” said Cliff, “the reason Mabel gets so much business is that it’s one place farmers can get together and share their frustrations.”

er 50 Years v O r o F e ic v r liable Se Providing Re ift' For You r An 'Easy L Of Making A

74 19 E C SIN

FA CT OR

ny Doo

515 James Street S., St. Marys, Ontario N4X 1C7 Ph: 519 349-2355

YO UT LE T

EASY LIFT DOORS LTD.

800 667-3845

Fax: 519 349-2144 website: easyliftdoors.com email: easylift@quadro.net

 Prompt Service  Large Volume of stocked Inventory  Dock Seals / Dock Levellers  On Site Consultations  High Quality Standards  Attention to Detail  Well equipped Service Trucks  All Materials 3 ft. to 30 ft. Wide

AGRICULTURAL • RESIDENTIAL • INDUSTRIAL • COMMERCIAL 14 The Rural Voice

“And boy do they share them,” smirked Molly.

“The thing about teachers,” said Dave, missing Molly’s comment, “is that they get a chance to retire early and almost all of them take it.”

“Unlike farmers who have to keep on farming,” sighed George.

“Of course there are advantages,” said Cliff. “I was reading in The Rural Voice last month – in that old geezer’s column, the one who used to be editor – that the price of farmland increased anywhere from 8.5 to 13 per cent last year, depending where you live.”

“So you’re hardly suffering, not selling and retiring,” Molly said.

“How much is a farm, say 100 acres, worth these days?”

“Well the price went anywhere from $13,800 to nearly $42,000 an acre,” Cliff explained.

“An acre!” exploded Molly. “So 100 acres would be –” she did some quick figuring – $1.3 to $4.2 million!

“And they own more than 100 acres,” called Mabel who’d been listening in the kitchen.

“And if it went up – say 10 per cent – you earned . . .” and Molly did the quick math, “130,000 to $420,000 just sitting at home, not farming at all.”

“And they all own more than 100 acres,” Mabel called out.

“So you guys could sell out and move to town,” Molly said.

“But I like living in the country,” George commented.

“Yeah, and if he sold out and retired to town at the same age as a teacher retired, he’d be out all the money his farm increased last year,” Dave said.

“Meanwhile, I’ll have to keep on waiting tables to pay the bills,” Molly grumbled. “And I can’t even get a 15 per cent tip from you millionaires!”

“I’m not a millionaire yet,” George said, “and with the cost of farming the way it is you’re lucky to get a tip at all.”

“I’ll tell my kids to be sorry for you when all I can only afford to buy them is hamburger,” Molly said.

“You can always try ground pork,” Dave suggested. “Pork’s way cheaper than beef.”

“Which explains your small tip, but not his!” Molly grumbled. ◊

Cover Crops GENERAL AIRSPRAY LTD.

Aerial Application Services

PAUL HODGINS Phone: 519-227-4091

Email: genairspray@hotmail.com 6375 Airport Drive, Lucan

ARG applied mid-June in Hanover area

Cover Crop Applications available.

Funding! Cover crop incentive in Huron County Are you an agricultural producer in Huron County? If so, you may be eligible for a $15 per acre cover crop grant from Huron County Clean Water Project. dŽ ĂƉƉůLJ͕ ĐĂůů ĞŶ Ăƚ DĂŝƚůĂŶĚ ŽŶƐĞƌǀĂƟŽŶ Ăƚ 519-335-3557, ext. 245 Žƌ ƌŽŽŬůLJŶ Ăƚ ƵƐĂďůĞ ĂLJĮĞůĚ ŽŶƐĞƌǀĂƟŽŶ Ăƚ 519-235-2610, ext. 261 /ŶĐĞŶƟǀĞ ŐƌĂŶƚ ŝƐ ŵĂdžŝŵƵŵ ϭϱϬ ĂĐƌĞƐ ƉĞƌ ĂƉƉůŝĐĂŶƚ ƉĞƌ LJĞĂƌ͘

HuronCleanWaterProject.ca • huroncounty.ca • mvca.on.ca • abca.ca

July 2024 15

Viewpoint Ralph C. Martin is an author and a retired professor from the University of Guelph

The collapse of civilizations is possible

I

am not a prophet. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, much less next year or beyond that.

However, as a scientist, I read scientific literature and books about ecology, agriculture and dynamic systems. At this point, I am compelled to say that the collapse of civilizations is possible. Given my attachment to family and friends, my preference is to spare them this article, although I’ll plod ahead.

“The world’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past a 1.5C target and they envisage a ‘semi-dystopian’ future, with famines, conflicts and mass migration, driven by heatwaves, wildfires, floods and storms of an intensity and frequency far beyond those that have already struck. …

Almost 80 per cent of climate scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, foresee at

least 2.5C of global heating, while almost half anticipate at least 3C.” (Guardian, May 8, 2024).

Bill Rees in his well written 2023 scientific paper in World (vol4), The Human Ecology of Overshoot warns that “the growth of the human enterprise (population and economy) on a finite planet is the greatest factor contributing to plunging biodiversity.

Reduced human populations almost everywhere are necessary to preserve remaining patches of non-human life on Earth.” The article also states “The abundance generated by fossil fuels enabled Homo sapiens, for the first time, to experience a one-off global population boom−bust cycle. … No repetition is possible.”

Rees bluntly states, “the human enterprise is effectively subsuming the ecosphere” and “wide-spread societal collapse cannot be averted— collapse is not a problem to be solved, but rather the final stage of a cycle to be endured.” He acknowledges that “barring a nuclear holocaust, it is unlikely that Homo sapiens will go extinct.” Even if you read just one scientific paper every decade, ponder this one.

In another seminal paper, Earth Beyond Six of Nine Planetary Boundaries, Richardson et al. 2023 in Science Advances (vol. 9), update the 2009 and 2015 planetary boundary papers. Biogeochemical flows, in

PORT MAPLES

Maple Syrup Firewood Sales Custom Tree Cutting

Visit portmaples.ca Sylvester Martin Cell: 519-270-5294 Fax: 1 888-672-3750 Email: vestmar.portlaw@live.ca 16 The Rural Voice

327095 3rd Concession RR#1 Maxwell, Ontario N0C 1J0

2023, were more pronounced with phosphorus flows from fresh water to oceans at 22 Tg per year, twice what is recommended, and the total of human generated nitrogen at 190 Tg per year, more than 3x the planetary boundary limit. Biosphere integrity also still exceeds the safe operating space, with the human appropriation of net primary productivity now over 23 per cent, contrasted with a preindustrial level of 10 per cent.

The other breech of biosphere integrity is the rate of species extinctions, estimated to be hundreds of times higher than the average rate over the past 10 million years, and it is accelerating.

The four planetary boundaries newly crossed in the 2023 paper are: i) land use change, which is mostly indicated by the decline of forest cover since preindustrial times, ii) climate change with atmospheric CO2 concentration at 417 ppm, well beyond 350 ppm and radiative forcing at 2.91 W per sq m, in contrast to 1 W per sq m, iii) novel entities, including synthetic chemicals, microplastics, endocrine disruptors, organic pollutants, nuclear waste and nuclear weapons and iv) freshwater change with deviations almost twice recommended levels.

The planetary boundaries framework is focused on the stability and resilience of patient Earth.

Obviously, human health depends on Earth health, as addressed by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

In a recent TVO (Agenda) interview, Wade Davis said, “Doom and gloom will never encourage people to action. Only hope and the promise of a better world will lead to action.” He argued that we survived WWII and other crises so, in the end, we will be fine.

I want to agree and then I consider the ecological scientific literature about living within our ecological carrying capacity and the disturbingly accurate predictions of the 1972 book, Limits to Growth. At this stage of our human journey, it is appropriate to recognize the threat humans have become to the entire global ecosphere and to understand it

is possible to proceed too far along this path. This knowing may be crucial to walk more respectfully on a path within ecosystem limits.

Seth Klein in his book, A Good War also compares our current emergency to that of WWII and asks us not to underestimate the capacity of humans to look reality in the eye and to respond with alacrity. His suggestions for action are practical but unfortunately, mostly ignored.

Nevertheless, Ecojustice, an environmental law charity, is holding

governments’ and corporations’ feet to legal fires.

Before acting to adapt, take a breath and reflect on Cynthia Bourgeault’s advice, from her book The Wisdom Way of Knowing.

“Rather than rushing around in exhaustion to exercise our ‘choices’ in clothing, cars, jobs, and vacations, to maximize the selfhood that is illusory anyway, we could learn to give and take with life in the effortless freedom of inner authenticity.”

Preser ve & Store

Coming full circle, I don’t know what will happen in the future.

Neither do I know what will not happen. In the time we have left as civilizations, we can at least appreciate and respect our singular home, Earth, where we belong with other species and elements.

Thomas Berry, a wise ecotheologian, asserted that the Earth project is primary and the human project is derivative. Our role is to live accordingly, regardless of outcomes. ◊

Strawberries, raspberries & blueberries plus seasonal vegetables Visit our farm market and experience family farm fresh

Open April ’til Thanksgiving 6 days a week 9:00 am - 7:00 pm; Closed Sundays Order form for bulk produce: https://forms.gle/di8qxUBuBD6MWHRR7

5857 Hwy. 89, RR 1 Harriston, ON N0G 1Z0 519-338-5381 www.steckles.ca

HUBBARD MASSE FRUIT & VEGETABLE FARM G. L.LIMITED

C/O MIKE AND DIANNE MASSE

PICKED

35291 Zurich Hensall Road, Zurich, ON N0M 2T0 FRESH FOR Phone: 519-236-7907 YOU DAILY Email: massepumpkins@hay.net Open daily June - October 31st Like us on Facebook for up-to-date info

Growers And Packers Of Quality Rutabagas

The Hubbard Family Dinsley St., Blyth 519-523-4554

July 2024 17

One Health

Walking and talking about One Health

A conservation tour taught students from the University of Guelph the practical and ecological side of One Health during a teaching tour at the Scott and Walker farms in Huron County in June. Above, the group heads back to the Scott barn. At left, students were encouraged to take notice of bees, birds and butterflies as indicators of wetland health. Cathy Walked admires a maidenhair fern in the forest and bottom, tour teachers included Dan Krause, Melanie Pletch and Phil Beard.

D

oug Walker has lived on Fairview farm in North Huron all his life and the farm’s woodlot helped make major mortgage payments when needed.

However, Doug and his wife Cathy believe this woodlot and others like it serve a greater purpose toward a vision of One Health – an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment.

“I worked in healthcare all my life and I think it is amazing how the forest contributes to the health of human beings,” said Cathy, before leading a group of students from the University of Guelph through the forest as part of the One Health Tour: Healthy Watersheds, People and Wildlife, held June 6.

“I walk in the forest every morning and it reduces my cortisol levels and lowers my blood pressure. I’m curious how it does that.

How can we replace that? What the forest provides and the complexity of what it does for our bodies and brains is tremendous,” said Cathy. The Walker farm was the second stop on the One Health tour which started at Scott Farm on Nature Centre Road near Belgrave and ended at the Wingham Ecological Park.

Phil Beard, General Manager of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) helped organize the tour saying “a healthy environment is the foundation for health for people and

• By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot • 18 The Rural Voice

wildlife. Healthy rivers, lakes, forest, wetlands, clean air and a stable climate are needed for human health and for our economy,” said Beard.

Jane Parmely, a veterinarian and professor at the University of Guelph believes this also and it’s why she teaches about One Health concepts in the Bachelor of One Health program at the university and also this summer’s ecology course. Students Alaina MacDonald of Clifford, Mysha Chowdhury and Tsai-Ping Liao came on the tour to see the practical side of One Health on farms in Huron County.

MacDonald is a veterinarian who has returned to school to pursue a PhD. because she is interested in markers of health and becoming better at disease surveillance.

Specifically, to understand the balance of health before diseases emerge.

“Understanding how to maintain human health we need to consider how wildlife and ecosystems affect health,” she said. In order to learn that, Macdonald says it’s important to have honest conversations from a variety of experts. “My background is veterinary medicine so walking through a woodlot is all new.

Listening to Erin (Gouthro) speak about the synthesis of ecosystems is very interesting.” Gouthro is a water ecologist with the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority who took a leading teaching role on the tour.

Starting at the Scott Farm, the group heard Melanie Pletch, owner, explain that the 220-acre farm was started by her parents, Murray and Wilma Scott, who embarked on a multi-year project to transform the Scott Drain into a healthy creek for brook trout and other aquatic wildlife to thrive. Live sod, rocks and berms were used to create a meandering path to slow water down and reduce sediment loss from the surrounding farm fields. “We wanted to keep as much water on the farm as possible before it roars off to Lake Huron.”

A working farm, the project was designed to improve the land base as well. Tile drainage allows fields to dry out faster to grow better crops but when farmers crop too close to a creek or drain, and pull out trees to

Oxford Honey and Supplies Beekeeping Supplies * Bees * Queens Honey * Creamed * Cinnamon * Buckwheat Pollen * Beeswax * Cosmetics * Candles Store Hours: First Thursday in February until Dec. 23rd Every - Thursday, Friday, Saturday Only (9 am to 3 pm)

John Van Blyderveen 519-550-1096

384954 Salford Rd. Burgessville, Ontario. N0J 1C0 van3301@live.com

www.oxfordhoney.ca

July 2024 19

create more farmland, they create a heated water course that is either rushing with water or a lifeless trickle. Pletch remembers when her father had to clean out the drain every few years. “He looked for a solution and that started the ball rolling for the wetland project,” she said. Berms, tree planting, reforestation, ponds and a controlled wet/dry pond are all part of the solution at Scott Farm to conserve water and soil while creating wildlife habitat.

Beard explained to the students that Huron County was once covered in forest. Now, about 16 per cent of that forest cover remains. Dan Kraus, the Director of National Conservation for the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada then told the students they are graduating at “an awesome time because the urgency of the climate crisis and the health crisis are colliding.” It’s not just a Huron County issue, it’s a planetary issue and “we need new solutions because if we lose nature, we lose everything.”

One Health isn’t a new concept. In fact, many cultures have holistic views of human health in connection to wildlife and ecology.

Unfortunately, many Canadians view health “in structures like silos” keeping human health separate from systems that protect wildlife when, in fact, “what is designed for wildlife protection also helps the climate and cleans water for humans,” said Kraus.

That’s why getting the students to the farms to see ecosystems in action is vital.

Jane said students spend hours in classrooms learning concepts but they need to see it in real time, on real farms, where real people are making real changes.

Gouthro first led the students to a weigela bush on the property to identify over 10 different kinds of bees that were feeding from the flowers. This diversity 20 The Rural Voice

Ecologist Erin Gouthro (top centre) encouraged University of Guelph students to examine the 10 different varieties of bees she noticed on this flowering shrub at the Scott farm where owner Melanie Pletch (left) continues the work started by her parents to create a wetland to improve water drainage from farm fields and create a wildlife habitat. A large map on the property shows the extent of the project.

Doug and Cathy Walker (left) then toured the group through their North Huron forest where veterinarian and student Alaina MacDonald (above) learned more about ecology and its role in the One Health concept.

is not something Gouthro sees on every farm but diversity and partnership are key components of a healthy ecosystem, she said.

“If there was only one bee, that would be an alarm bell that the system is out of sync,” said Gouthro as the students peered into the bush, looking at the bees.

Gouthro walked the students through the farm talking about the foundational importance of insects, how plant breeders are creating sterile shrubs that don’t feed the bees, and how landowners need to offer more native and flowering shrubs in the landscape to support the declining numbers of insects.

Gouthro also explained what a drain was, why they are needed for farming, how they can destroy fish habitat when water flow isn’t managed and the “energetics” of moving water and creatures. “If you are a fish and you have to spend too much energy managing your life from raging currents to silty water, then you can’t thrive,” explained Gouthro.

That also goes for insects who don’t have skin like humans to buffer them against excessive nutrients that can be in drain water. “When you take down trees, the water heats up.

Oxygen dissolves better in cooler water so it affects how creatures breathe,” added Gouthro.

The wetland project on the Scott Farm has rejuvenated the drain/creek and the result is clean water and a diverse habitat for wildlife to thrive.

Gouthro encouraged the students to really look, then close their eyes and listen to all the sounds of birds singing in the area…to immerse themselves in the experience.

From a farming perspective, Beard explained that rural stormwater management is about keeping soil on the fields and slowing water down so it has time to seep into the soil and nourish the crops instead of rushing away. Convincing farmers to create wetland projects is an uphill battle so he continues to organize field days like this One Health tour to create awareness of soil and water conservation as part of the One Health vision.

The Walkers are certainly on

board and were delighted to walk everyone through their woodlot where Gouthro pointed out native plants that indicate this forest is in balance. “It’s an incredible forest because of its structure,” said Gouthro. “This is because the landowner chose to look after it, and harvest it in such a way to keep both larger and smaller trees.”

The “mother tree” is huge and some estimated it to be over 100 years old but Gouthro said it is likely a young adult just approaching the 100 year mark. Maples like this mother tree can live to be over 300 years old and serve a vital purpose in regenerating the forest with seeds.

The problem with many forests is the lack of mother trees to broadcast seed to the forest floor.

As the students moved through the

forest, Cathy Walker stopped to admire a maidenhair fern, an indicator species of a healthy forest.

This is what she likes to show her grandchildren and she takes them to the forest as often as she can.

“These children are part of the ‘anxious generation’ and they will be the environmentalists of tomorrow. If we don’t get them engaged with forests, then we won’t have the forest protectors of tomorrow,” she said.

On this day, at least three students were given an overview of the ecosystem pillar of One Health to see examples of healthy aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This practical experience is vital as they develop an understanding of the importance of ecosystems (nature) to human health and well-being. ◊ Manufacturer of Precast Concrete Products Complete Infrastructure Supply • septic and holding tanks • sewer • watermain • concrete structures • hydrants and valves • hydro vaults • plow blades

www.porters.ca Lucknow (head office) 519-528-3537 Owen Sound 519-372-1636 Stratford 519-271-5554

Lucknow location also offers • septic pumping • ready mix • aggregate and decorative stone Division of J.A. Porter Holdings (Lucknow) Ltd.

Drilled Wells, Bored Wells, Pumping Systems Specializing in Residential, Agriculture, Irrigation and more Follow on social media @mcleodwaterwells

• Strathroy 519-245-9355 (WELL) • Toll-free 1-844-290-3053 • Ingersoll 519-485-5252 July 2024 21

Histor

“Can you imagine what it was like?”

Owen Sound’s Emancipation Festival teaches Black Canadians about their roots • By Jeff Tribe • Doug Johnson shows a photo of himself with his sisters Bonita Johnson deMatteis and Susan Johnson Washington, taken at his sister’s farm.

Johnson is a yearly attendee of the Owen Sound Emancipation Festival being held August 2‐3.

D

oug Johnson’s childhood understanding of Owen Sound’s Emancipation Festival was simply that it was a fun, family event.

“To us kids, it was just eating good food, running races, playing baseball and going to the river,” smiled the 75year-old London resident. “As kids, you’re just kids having fun.”

Johnson has attended the festival for virtually his entire life. His comprehension evolved as a teenager with the realization some of his playmates were turning into attractive young women, onward through marriage and taking his own family and children to the event, and now his grandchildren. It’s still a time of fun, food, musical entertainment and community. But Johnson’s appreciation for its cultural and historical significance for the descendants of Black Canadians who came to the country via the Underground Railroad to settle in freedom has also grown.

“It’s important they keep coming and know their roots, or they’ll lose it.”

Slavery did exist in Canada (British North America), however the British Commonwealth Emancipation Act of August 1, 1834 preceded the January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation in the neighbouring United States by close to 30 years. In that intervening period, enslaved people south of the border sought freedom in Canada, their journey north supported by the Underground Railroad, an affiliation of supportive individuals and organizations.

Beginning in 1862, the original Black settlers spread throughout Grey and Bruce counties and their families, friends and allies began celebrating what was originally known as “Simcoe Day” weekend. A picnic organized 22 The Rural Voice

through the leadership of British Methodist Episcopal (BME) Church Pastor Thomas Henry Miller and Josiah Henson’s cousin, Father Henson laid the foundation for a century-and-a-half-long tradition. The Emancipation Picnic/Emancipation Festival is the longest such continually-running celebration of Black heritage and culture in North America.

Today, a festival honouring long-standing traditions is hosted by a not-for-profit non-political organization whose mandate is to respectfully honour the hardships freedom seekers endured and their legacies, celebrate the Underground Railroad, and share and appreciate an important if little-understood and under-taught portion of Canadian history, featuring Black contribution.

Johnson’s own family history includes namesake ancestors “coming up” from Kentucky in the 1850s to settle in the Dresden area, as well as the Earls, believed to come from Virginia before stopping near Owen Sound.

“As far as I know, they were escaped slaves looking for freedom,” said Johnson, allowing that precise details from that time period are scant. For years, people didn’t want to talk about horrific conditions endured and escaped. Many stayed silent about enslavement until perhaps sharing a few details late in life.

“You can understand they didn’t want to remember that stuff.”

He can comprehend enslaved people’s desire for freedom.

“They considered you as chattel,” said Johnson, citing the example of a child being wrested from their family.

“Someone takes them and sells them and you never see them again.

“Can you imagine what that was like?”

Their journey to freedom was similarly unimaginable, travelling in the dark through unknown, hostile territory, mothers with babies at their breast, in constant fear of recapture, cruel punishment and a return to enslavement.

“How did they do that?” Johnson marvelled.

One historical detail which survived is his understanding that a couple of his ancestors were doggedly pursued by slave catchers, resulting in a confrontation near Detroit.

“There was a big fight there,” said Johnson, one which allegedly ended badly for the pursuers, understandably given what was at stake.

“They would have been beaten and shackled and put back into slavery,” he said, adding his speculation a reward might have been paid even if his ancestors had been returned dead.

Freedom seekers landed at several Canadian destinations including the Niagara region, Ingersoll, North Buxton (Dresden and Chatham) and Owen Sound, which was the Underground Railway’s most northern terminus.

“They wanted to put as much distance between them and their former lives as they could,” Johnson theorized.

His own roots touch down in several of those locations. His father was born in Thorold, meeting his mother in London, where Doug was born. He lived for a time in Dresden, and following a challenging family situation resulting from his World War II army officer father’s struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder “he came back a mess,” - Doug also spent time with relatives near Owen Sound.

Canada brought freedom, but was not without challenges, including ongoing elements of racism.

Johnson shared the story of his white grandmother being approached by a member of the local constabulary, offering to “run” his father - son of the BME minister “out of town” for dating her

OWN A FARM AND

NEED MONEY? WE WORK WITH A DEEP NETWORK OF

OVER 100 LENDERS

READY TO FINANCE YOUR MORTGAGE, REGARDLESS OF PROPERTY OR ZONING CONCERNS, INCOME, OR CREDIT. • Poor Credit? No problem.

• Recovering from Bankruptcy? We can help.

• No Financials? We understand.

• Between Jobs? We’ve got solutions.

• Facing Power of Sale? We’re here for you.

1-888-205-9757 GrowLightCapital.ca Lic. #13646

info@growlightcapital.ca

July 2024 23

daughter.

“She said ‘Get away and don’t bother us again,’ ” recalled Johnson, adding with a smile, “I’m pretty sure the words coming out of her mouth weren’t Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”

Doug’s father related how during his six-year military career in World War II, American soldiers from the southern states would refuse to obey his orders until they came under fire, and learned to respect his combat experience.

“And then they started listening to him.”

Johnson’s own experience included the fact he was not welcome to eat in certain restaurants while growing up, and racial slurs flung at him during his career as a talented athlete. It’s history he relates matter-offactly, undeniably unpleasant, but also something he was not about to allow to beat him either at the hockey rink or in life.

Far less overt, but a factor nonetheless, is historically, Black Canadians were generally a significant minority.

As society advances, ● Middle, left: Volunteers are crucial to ongoing celebration of the longest continuous emancipation festival in North America. ~Photo Courtesy of Juanita Christmas ● Middle, right: Doug Johnson and members of his family were included in this 2005 publication, whose photos were featured in a display in a Washington, D.C. museum. ● Bottom: This photo was taken after the death of Doug Johnson’s great‐ grandfather in a quarry accident. His widow Susan Earls is seated in the centre of the photo, Johnson’s uncle Moses Earls is in the top, left position, with Doug’s grandfather Clifford Samuel Johnson next to him. His wife, Doug’s grandmother Sarah Earls, is seated to the right of Susan Earls, (to the left looking at the photo).

24 The Rural Voice

Races remain part of the Owen Sound Emancipation Festival, in keeping with the long‐standing tradition of this annual picnic. ~ Photo courtesy of Juanita Christmas

those in the majority may have occasion to discover themselves in a situation where the tables are turned.

Certainly not a negative, just an important realization that what may be a one-time experience is day-today reality for many.

The Emancipation Festival has provided annual re-connection for geographically separated families and friends of the descendants of Canadian freedom seekers, and also a rare opportunity for a shared, majority understanding of unique history, challenges, experience and sensibilities.

“When I went there as a little boy I felt I was fine, I was safe,” said Johnson of a prevailing ‘beautiful, serene atmosphere.’

“All you could feel was love and respect.”

Laughing, he shares how typically, there would be little groups at the festival, often defined by age, his own progression landing him among what he used to consider ‘the old people.’

“Time waits for no one,” he smiled, thinking how the passage of time of a passage also brings increased understanding of the festival’s ongoing importance to current and future generations. “It’s important they know it’s special.”

The three-day festival is always the first weekend in August, this year opening August 2 with Speaker’s Corner from 6- 9 p.m. at the Grey Roots Museum & Archives, a themed combination of entertainment and storytelling with an educational component. Presenters may be descendants, historians or educators, says festival board of director Juanita Christmas.

The signature Emancipation Festival and Picnic is held Saturday at Harrison Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Official ceremonies are rung in via the town crier. The day also includes educational opportunities, entertainment, vendors and races in keeping with the long-standing tradition of this annual picnic.

Gospel Sunday closes out the festival’s official schedule from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. outdoors at Moreston Heritage Village, beside the Grey Roots Museum & Archives. A shared

blessing recognizes its BME origins, at a gathering which has evolved into a musical tribute with speeches honouring history and tradition.

Attendance fluctuates from yearto-year, says Christmas for an event which has been recognized by the City of Owen Sound as “outstanding” for its contribution to culture and diversity.

“We’re just a modest-sized picnic and musical festival, but the impact

of preserving this 160-year-plus festival is so much greater.”

Those seeking more information are invited to visit the website https://www.emancipation.ca, or better yet Christmas added, plan on attending in person.

“We’re honouring our Black ancestors and trying to keep our history alive,” she concluded.

“Everyone is welcome.

“Diversity is our strength.” ◊

():O O">05O<6 ),#7O):O"#:)'1#"OC)<(O# :#O3%O>:#O )1O0)1" O @#7:)M#"OD(##,:O 1"O O,3CO #1<#7O3%O'6 A)<KO 0# 1O<():O<6 ). #7O):O7# "KO<3O&3,/3COL3?O 1LE(#7# O # BO"><KO"#:)'1O&37O 3<(OE37+O 1"O5, L O (#O 1#O )H<##1O >:(O >'')#:O 7#O13DO A ), ,#O <(73>'(O O # ,#7O1#<F37+ O ), ,#O)1O 3<(O53E"#7N 3 <#"O 1"O ,A 1)M#"O )1):( O 3,37O 5<)31:O A ). ,# O #<O)1O<3> (OE)<(OL3>7O1# 7#:<O 1#O )H<##1O # ,#7O <3O ): >::OD( <O35<)31:O O #::37)#:O 7#O7)'(<O &37OL3> O

: ;6;

O

O

;+.; 6 ; +6;0&9"

: ; &"; +4*; &*$0

: ; ; ; *+ 7; &".0

: &*; +2-(".

: ;$ ; %""1; "1 (

: 3 &( (";&*; &*1"! ; (3 *&9"!

: ")+3 ("; &(; 1"

: ; .; ./ *18

: ('&*$; *!")0

: *!;5&* %;#,.;!2)-; 00&01

; -$; 42$;*J#$2=8 *-$9; ! O G 42$;*I=#$2=8 *-$9; !

July 2024 25

D a y Tr i p s & D e s t i n at i o n s

EARTH BOUND GARDENS Red Bay Bruce Peninsula

Plant Sales, Landscape & Design, Gift Shop, Metal Art

Sunday Concert Series

519-534-2483

www.earthboundgardens.com FRESH

LOCAL

M-F 9-6 • Sat 9-5 • Sunday 12-5 Just 10 minutes from Masonville

CRUNICAN ORCHARDS

FALLS RESERVE

Conservation Area at Benmiller

MORE THAN JUST APPLES We have a wide selection of local food products and now Generations Hard Cider

SERVICED & UNSERVICED SITES RADIO FREE SITES

Come and try our new hard cider from Generations Cider Co.

- OPEN ALL YEAR -

Explore our 230 acre natural playground

MONTHLY APPLE SPECIALS crunicanorchards.com 519-666-0286 23778 Richmond St. N., Hwy. 4, London

CAMPING DAY USE FISHING HIKING BIKING

RESERVE TODAY

mvca.on.ca

1-877-FALLSCA

EXPERIENCE Huron County’s unique history and rural culture www.HuronCountyMuseum.ca 110 North St., Goderich, ON

26 The Rural Voice

D a y Tr i p s & D e s t i n at i o n s

Armstrong’s Home Bakery Made Fresh Daily • Honey baked bread • Assorted rolls • Assorted baked good trays • Cookies and squares • Soups and sandwiches • Pies • Cakes made-to-order • Gluten-free goods

Lucknow

Bulk Food Store • Baking supplies • Gluten-free products • Candy • Popcorn

Take-out Available

519-528-2211

• Liquid • Creamed • Comb

We have more than just Honey!

Honey sauces: BBQ, Mustard, Garlic, Hot & more!

• Honey Butter • Honey Spreads • Skin Creams • Beeswax Candles • Bee Pollen • Bees for your own hive!

Open Thursday, Friday, Saturday 9:00 to 5:00 39006 Zurich-Hensall Rd., East of Zurich 519-236-4979

www.fergusonapiaries.on.ca

Natural Wine Begins in our Regenerative Vineyards

Winery: 1289 Line 3 Rd Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (905)468-9417 reimervineyards@gmail.com

Ron & Lori Grant 91064 Belmore Line, RR#1, Wroxeter, ON N0G 2X0 (519) 392-6315 www.pineechocamp.com

July 2024 27

Land Trusts

Farming as a collective ... it’s not communism Mike and Kristina are the newest caretakers of a ROSE Land Care Association farm partnering with New Moon to support the local community • By Melisa Luymes •

The New Moon farm team stands for a photo L‐R: Jesse James Barbosa, Kristina Greenaway Courey, Mike Courey, Jonny Courey (Mike’s brother), Beck Mitchel and Cody Stroud. (Farm team missing from the photo are Luis Reyes and Kathy Meneses.)

A

t a bend just before the road crosses the Ausable River south of Ailsa Craig, a shaded laneway emerges into another world: a gorgeous old yellow brick home with blue decorative shutters, chicken coops, the familiar hum of milking time coming from the old barn, and plenty of trucks parked in the yard. Mike Courey comes across the lawn to say hello, with a yellow lab named Moses bounding in front of him.

Mike and his wife Kristina are the newest caretakers of this farm, but they don’t own it. In fact, this farm can’t be owned by anyone. It is held by a non-profit land trust called ROSE Land Care Association.

You may have read the article on Luna Mia Farm’s arrangement with the Steins in last month’s issue of The Rural Voice and this is the second part of a series on farmland access that describes a more mainstream model of land trusts, if one could call this mainstream.

On a sign at the farm store is a quote by Aldo Leopold: “When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

The coffee is great and spirits are high among the New Moon farm team for their Tuesday morning meeting on the store’s porch. Before they head off to do another planting 28 The Rural Voice

of sweet corn or feed the pigs and chickens, they chat about the farm and pose for a photo.

Some are volunteering, others are paid, but all are there because they care about the environment, community, regenerative agriculture and food sovereignty. In many cases, the team members studied horticulture and are eager to put it into practice. New Moon Community Homestead also has about 30 members who are welcome to visit the farm and volunteer if they like; regardless, they get a weekly share of vegetables and meat. They also sell at London’s Hyde Park farmers market on Wednesday afternoons, Shady Pines campground on Friday nights and Ilderton on Saturday mornings.

Mike and Kristina moved to the farm with their children in 2021 and this will be their third growing season as New Moon Community Homestead. They sold their home in London’s Old East Village for the opportunity to build up a farm and a community here. They have pastured pigs, chickens, and a sprawling five-acre garden that is in tidy rows covered by a biodegradable mulch made from thistles.

There is a drip line irrigation system set up that pumps straight from the river just a few metres from the garden.

The couple talk about their plans for investing in on-farm

processing and their hopes to start a crowd-funding campaign to help with the upfront costs.

ROSE Land Care Association is a non-profit association that was founded in 1991 by Sally Vernon and a group of seven other people who were concerned about farmland consolidation and speculative ownership of farmland. They were concerned with the issue of “land grabbing” in which large swaths of farmland (often in the Global South) are purchased by foreign companies,

governments or individuals. But they knew that Canadian land would also be up for grabs, and it is. In their original brochure, ROSE quoted the Institute for Community Economics’ Community Land Trust Handbook: “The question is no longer whether there will be new approaches to property. The question is whose interests they will serve.” From the outset, ROSE’s mission was to support the interests of their local community, through innovative farm ownership models, building

regenerative agriculture, and bringing rural and urban communities together.

That was also the year that Alex and Ellinor Nurnburg immigrated to the area from Germany. They came with a belief that land should not be owned by an individual, but rather be owned collectively with a shared responsibility for its caretaking. They had seen a similar “land trust” model working back in Europe. They worked with ROSE, knocked on doors to fundraise locally and back in

D a y Tr i p s & D e s t i n at i o n s 43rd Annual Tractor Pull Saturday July 27, 2024 - 11:00 am

Please note the *NEW* time

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

Palmerston Agricultural Fairgrounds (Beside Arena) Contact: Simon Signer ~ 519-588-0670 or Paul Schneider ~ 519-504-5896 Please see website

www.palmerstonfair.ca for

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

519-839-4000

sunparlorhoney.ca

complete list of weight classes.

Entry fee to pull is $10 per class.

Cash prizes 1st through 4th Weigh in on grounds after 10:00 am Tractors must have original manufacture engines.

No Loaders allowed on Tractors. No Clevis-No Pull. Helmets required while pulling. Judges decision final.

Classes 10 through 13 are qualifier classes for the King of the Pull.

Spectators: $10.00 admission, children under 12 free

Food Booth Available July 2024 29

Germany, pre-selling vacations to the farm, to raise a downpayment. They connected with a unique farm property on the river and ROSE went on to purchase the 180-acre farm from Norm and Ruth Smith for $430,000 in 1992. At the time, it was called Sunnivue Farm and the Nurnburgs kept the name, but the history of the house dates back to a colourful character named Alexander “Klondike” Stewart who apparently made his fortune slinging beers in the gold rush and came to the area with a saloon dancer in 1900.

ROSE stands for Redeeming Our Soils Economically. One of the mandates from the outset was that the farm be managed biodynamically, which is a holistic, organic method of farming based on the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925). The Nurnburgs farmed the property under these principles, milking cows, growing vegetables and eventually they went on to milk water buffalo.

They were also joined by Dagmar Seiboth who grew vegetables, and together they stocked an on-farm store which opened in 1998. Alex, a journalist at heart, wrote an annual newsletter that outlined the highs and lows of Sunnivue Farm over the years, and documented the farm’s visitors, all 800 of them.

Dagmar left after 15 years there, and Alex and Ellinor said farewell to the water buffalo in 2016 as the farm underwent a transition. A few small enterprises, including maple syrup production and a market garden, took root there for some time. ROSE also rented the barn and acreage to two young farmers for a five-year term which allowed them to access the New Entrant Quota Assistance Program for organic milk production.

At the time ROSE purchased Sunnivue farm, farmland trusts were almost unheard of in Ontario, and over 30 years later ROSE is still unique. However, land trusts have evolved in the U.S. and the Agrarian Trust could be a model for structuring farmland trusts going forward. This model consists of a few key components: the donors give support to the Agrarian Trust (a national non-profit organization) to buy farmland on behalf of local 30 The Rural Voice

groups, termed “Agrarian Commons”, which are also nonprofits, but operating locally. The Agrarian Commons takes ownership of the land, signing long-term leases with farmers that produce food for the local community. The Commons is a board that consists of representatives from the national • Top: Alex Nurnburg stands by the linden tree that he and Ellinor planted when they moved to the farm in the early 1990s.

• Middle: Surplus scapes and lettuce are donated to the London Food Coalition that re‐distributes it to nonprofits that support people who are food insecure.

• Bottom: ROSE Board member, Mary Simpson, and New Moon farm team member, Jonny Courey. (Courtesy of Kristina Greenaway Courey)

Agrarian Trust, the farmer(s), and the local community and they sign the longest leases permitted by their state, in some cases that is 99 years.

Similar to Ontario, farmland prices in the U.S. have risen astronomically in the last decades, and the average age of an American farmer is 58.1, similar to Ontario’s at 56.7.

According to Agrarian Trust, 40 per cent of U.S. farmland (400 million acres) will be transferring ownership in the next 15 years. In many cases, older farmers are counting on the sale

of their land at current market value for their retirement, thereby cursing the next generation of farmers with a debt they wouldn’t be able to pay back through farming it, at least not within their lifetimes.

“The price of farmland has decoupled from agricultural production,” says Mike. “How does it make sense for farming?” In the next decades, Canada will be facing a similar transfer of land, likely to either large farmers who can leverage the rest of their properties, non-farm

investors who will rent out the land, or to developers that may take the land out of production entirely. The board members of ROSE can point to several local examples in which large landholdings were sold to investors, local non-agricultural businesses or those with an agricultural mandate, such as Bonnefield.

What does this mean for local food? New farmers across North America face farmland prices that restrict access to most, especially to those who opt for the intensive

Shop, Cook & Dine Canadian August 3, 2024 Food Day Canada! #FoodDayCanada

Lisa Thompson

$XJXVW UG LV

MPP Huron-Bruce

Happy Food Day Canada!

CONSTITUENCY OFFICES Blyth Office: Phone: 519-523-4251

Kincardine Office: Phone: 519-396-3007

Huron-Bruce Matters

TILE DRAINAGE PAYS! Let a good drainage system work for you to help improve: • Soil erosion • Aeration • Crop yields • Soil warm up 43479 Blyth Road • Crop rotation • Harvest length (R.R. #1) Walton, ON N0K 1Z0 • Land values • Soil conditions • Fertilizer efficiency E-Mail: kmmfarmdrainage@outlook.com • Plant growth

CALL THE EXPERTS! Business: 519-887-6428 Ron McCallum 519-524-3543

Chad McCallum 519-955-1588

GPS Grade Control & Mapping

July 2024 31

Schmidt’s Farm Drainage 1990 Ltd. Harriston

It’s more than your livelihood, it’s your life

Specializing in Farm Drainage, Backhoeing & Excavating, GPS includes: mapping grade control & surveying

You deserve an advisor who really gets what’s on the line.

Jordan Bowles, CPA, CGA 226.775.3033 | jordan.bowles@mnp.ca

Where Schmidt’s go, the Water Flows!

GPS Grade Control

MNP.ca

519-338-3484 • Cell 519-323-6335

Licensed Plumber Are Hard Winters or on Staff High Fuel Prices Draining The ECO Store your Bottom Line?

559 Bervie Sideroad RR #4 Here is the Answer!

Kincardine N2Z 2X5 Way More Affordable then you Think

Commercial 4 Million BTU Gassifier • 1800 Gallons of Water • Green Houses • Dryers • Farms • Resorts • Gassifier • Wood or Wood Chips • Like Buying Propane at 8¢ a Litre!

Various Units

rvie Supply Be Energy Unlimited

Installation • Energy Audits Feasibility Studies • Training

CG Blast • 450,000 BTU approx.

• Green House • Economical • No Plumbing!

• Indoor/ Outdoor • CSA • High Efficiency

Boilers

Pellet Stoves • Ecoflex® & Boilers Thermal Pipe Are you dreaming of...

Solar Panels

?

• Many Sizes • Home RV DC Well and Pool Pumps

• Largest showroom in Ontario • In stock • Ready to ship • CSA Appproved!

32 The Rural Voice

• energy independence?

? • reducing your hydro bill? ? ? • reducing your fuel bill?

Sun-Mar Composting Toilets

• Batteries • AGM • Flooded • Surrete • Solar

? • building an off grid home? ? ...then you Better talk to us!

labour and thin margins of growing food for local markets. These farmers may find land to rent, but they don’t often have the security in a rental agreement that would allow them to invest or build equity. To create land security for these farmers and protect local food markets, these kinds of land trusts aim to buy land in order to remove it from the market entirely, and reserve it for the community.

They accept land donations, or crowd-source funds to buy farmland outright, one last time. It will be held in perpetuity by this non-profit entity, to provide affordable spaces for small- to mid- size farms to grow organic food for the local community.

Just a quick note: If you’re thinking this sounds like communism, it isn’t. Rest assured that farmers still own their businesses, machinery and other infrastructure and are very much operating within a market economy, just without a large debt hanging over their head.

They do, however, have to work with a board of directors. In this case, the ROSE Board currently includes long-time members Hans Rosch, Jens Stickling, and Dagmar Wendt along with newcomers like Mary Simpson, Katherine Lawless, Josh Laurence and Kristina Greenaway Courey, the farmer delegate.

It is not easy work, working together. There is a large investment of time in meetings and decisionmaking. Mike and Kristina spent several months working alongside the ROSE board to develop a new lease and supporting Alex and Ellinor’s transition off of Sunnivue

Farm and into town. The Nurnburgs still stop by the farm, as do Norm and Ruth Smith, a testament to their collective focus on community and land stewardship.

To work more efficiently and equitably, ROSE adopted a transformative model of dynamic governance termed Sociocracy. This decision-making model builds trust between all parties; it decentralizes decision making to various groups and those groups are structured so that all voices are heard and decisions are made by consent.

Regardless of who or how, the goals of ROSE have remained consistent from the beginning. The goals are to keep the farm safe from private ownership, only to be used in ecologically sound and economically non-speculative purposes, striving for biodynamic farming practices, providing social, therapeutic and educational activities for the community and to assist groups or projects with similar aims. These aims are written right into the lease.

Mike and Kristina have similar goals for the property and their focus on community-building and the environment make them ideal farmers for a land trust arrangement.

Mike has a farming background and the couple met while studying Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, where Mike went on to get a PhD and continues to work as a professor. The couple connected with ROSE through board member Jens Stickling through their involvement in their Old East Village community group. Since they have moved to the farm, the Coureys have been using the farm for hosting

community events, school groups and even day camps. They are both passionate about food sovereignty, investing in regional food for community resiliency, and community wealth building tools.

They provide employment for people with disabilities through the Hutton House, donate food to the London Food Coalition and much more.

“We are aiming to build economies that are embedded with the tools for shared ownership, risk and mutual rewards,” says Mike.

New Moon Community Homestead now has a long-term lease that would allow them to borrow against 20 per cent of the value of the farm, build equity and invest in the property in such a way that it would be repayable to them in part if they chose to leave at some point. Mike and Kristina are also discussing equity-building with the New Moon farm team.

The Coureys want to build their business to be self-reliant and sustainable economically and they understand the importance of both investment and scale. They are learning from mentors Martin DeGroot who built Mapleton’s Organic (ice cream brand), Leisure Farms that operates a larger farm and tourist destination near Sturgeon Falls as well as Chris Newman of Sylvanaqua Farms in Virginia, who makes online content about scaling up regenerative agriculture. Mike and Kristina know that their next step is to leap into a big investment into the property and are figuring out next steps. As for ROSE, they are eager to replicate this model on more acres to support more communities and farmers.

“All this requires a strong belief in humanity,” Kristina says, and the couple is optimistic and determined to put the shared principles of ROSE Land Care Association and New Moon Community Homestead into practice. For those interested in community ownership, ROSE Board member Mary Simpson recommends the book Reclaiming the Commons for the Common Good, by Heather Menzies. And to learn more about what’s happening on the farm, see newmooncommunityhomestead.ca ◊ July 2024 33

Daytripping

From lavender fields to cow pastures Southern Huron charms with cows, wood-fired pizza, lavender fields and amazing coffee • By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

After learning about lavender and admiring all the beef cows along the county roads, it was time for a dill pickle pizza and blackberry lemonade amongst the apple trees at Bad Apple Brewery on Highway #21 on this daytripping adventure in southern Huron County.

Each summer, a Rural Voice writer goes on a day-trip to showcase the rural-based sites one can visit in Huron, Perth, Bruce, Grey, Wellington or Oxford counties. This day trip took place in South Huron in June.

D

riving into the southern part of Huron County, one could easily spend a day in the touristy towns of Grand Bend or Bayfield. There is lots to see, eat and the beaches are spectacular. If that isn’t your scene and you prefer fields, blue skies, cows, plants, produce and supporting local with a few food breaks, then some of these stops might be what you’re looking for.

This day started with a visit to Bayfield Lavender farm on Porter’s Hill Line north of Bayfield. Enter the wood-lined laneway, pass the new trailer and find your parking spot in this hidden gem of lavender gardens complete with a folksy store featuring lavender-infused products.

Jade Gingerich, who was manning the store, moved to Goderich from Cambridge to work on the lavender farm because it was a “beautiful spot to work”. She also helps maintain the gardens started by Gemma James-Smith who takes lavender from start to finish, using home-distilled lavender essential oil and lavender hydrosol, a floral water that’s a byproduct of the steam distillation process.

Gemma has no intention of creating a lavender empire. Instead, she wants people to come learn, rest and create. She offers classes (wreath making, water colours, yoga), tours, and is open all summer, closing after Labour Day. I was a bit early and the lavender wasn’t yet in bloom, However, I did feel restful wandering around the gardens, taking a seat on the benches, enjoying the offerings in the store and the large chicken run with colourful hens. It’s 34 The Rural Voice

worth a visit whether the lavender is blooming or not, but I do want to return in late June and July when the gardens are in their glory. Cost is by donation.

I didn’t want to enter Bayfield even though The Village Bookshop was calling my name. However, I did make a quick stop at the pier. It’s lovely there. People strolling. Boats bobbing. Birds diving. Just a minute to soak in the sun then I was off down Highway #21 then onto Bronson Line so I could visit the family-owned greenhouses called Huron Ridge Acres Inc. Truthfully, I visit here every year. The greenhouse is large and organized with an expansive offering of annuals, vegetables and perennials.

Cows!

Just before I got there, I pulled over to take photos of some stocky Charolais bulls grazing on a Steckle farm. Cows are ALWAYS on my agenda when doing a day trip even if it’s nothing more than admiring the

Brenda Steckle is in charge of the perennials at Huron Ridge Acres.

herd from the side of the road, camera in hand.

Greenhouse A few minutes later, I arrived at Huron Ridge Acres and chatted with Brenda Steckle who started working here 33 years ago and has been full time for the last 15 years. She is in charge of the perennials and also helps with retail and wherever needed. After the busy month of May, things slow down just a little.

Steckle said perennials are becoming more and more popular as some gardeners are choosing native plants and others are trying to save money with plants that return year after year.

Vegetables are still hugely popular and Steckle said many vegetable plants sold out early. “With food costs rising, people are growing their own,” said Steckle.

I left with a few bok choy and swiss chard seedlings to add to my vegetable garden after enjoying the burst of colour in the annual greenhouse. I don’t plant many annuals either but I sure appreciate the bold hues of geraniums, petunias and pansies after a long winter and wet spring.

Pizza and Lemonade When travelling in this area, you have to stop in one of the many breweries and wineries on Highway 21.

I decided to stop at Bad Apple Brewing Company Ltd. so I could eat a woodfired pizza amongst the apple trees and see if any musicians were playing.

I was too early for a band but the speakers were belting out old-time rock and roll so I lingered with my dill pickle pizza (gluten-free crust available) and a blackberry lemonade. Bad Apple manager Erin Traqueair was serving today and she brought my pizza out to a rustic metal table with rocking chairs and the combo of warm sun, rocking motion, pizza and lemonade was

You can choose beer, cider or wine at Bad Apple Brewing Company and manager Erin Traqueair and staff deliver it right to your table amongst the apple trees. most delicious.

Bad Apple Brewery serves beer, ciders and wines and has two new wines this season: a strawberry marquette and an apple vidal. Their pineapple blood orange cider is a fan favourite according to Erin as is the Cider-Wiss Apple Graf beer.

Bad Apple is open all year with seating inside for 60 but it’s hard to beat sitting outside, choosing what style of oddball table or chairs you’d like to settle into. It was hard to leave but hunger sated, I was off to the St. Joseph Memorial Park, also on Highway 21.

History When I first got there, I was a little disappointed. It’s quite small and right beside the busy highway but I misjudged its intent. This is not a nature park to take a 10 kilometre hike. Rather it’s a testimony of the fortitude of St. Josephs’ early French settlers, with plaques describing how they farmed and lived. Following winding, cobbled paths, you read about the history of St. Joseph, including Narcisse Cantin who grew up in the little community of St. Joseph. Narcisse, a grandson of one of these settlers, showed an entrepreneurial spirit by the time he was 17. He started buying cattle from July 2024 35

local farmers and shipping them by rail from the Hensall station to Buffalo.

Narcisse envisioned St. Joseph as a port with hydro electric plants and an electric train system. He imagined docks, a warehouse and a summer resort area. First came the building of a sawmill, a tile and brick yard, a novelty factory, organ factory and winery. Next, Cantin created a spectacular building, the New Balmoral Hotel, a block-long, threestorey structure which sat at what is now the corner of Hwy. 21 and Huron County Road 84.

Completed in 1907, the Balmoral is said to have cost $250,000, and was to be Cantin’s centrepiece for his resort. However, the splendor of the Balmoral was never experienced. For more than 10 years, Cantin predicted the opening of a rail line from Hensall west. When that did not happen, the major means of travel for his intended clients vanished.

This park recalls the history of St. Joseph and Cantin’s dream at the intersection of Highway 21 and Zurich-Hensall Road (County Road 84) across from the site where the majestic Balmoral once stood.

My belly digested my meal while I devoured the history in this park so I was ready to keep going into the town of Zurich. Zurich is witnessing a juvenation of its downtown and one

36 The Rural Voice

place I wanted to visit based on the cheerful vibe of their online presence was Zielman’s Goods and Gifts owned by Anneke Zehr-Beyers in partnership with her mom.

Vendors, Crafters, Creators Anneke was inspired by “David Rose”, a character on the Canadian hit, Schitt’s Creek, to open a store that offered natural products created by local artisans. A lifelong resident of Zurich, Anneke learned business skills from her mother who ran a floral shop and tea room in town years ago.

“I’ve seen the rise and fall of businesses on Goshen Line and these past three years, there has been a comeback,” said Anneke. Zielman’s is a large store, featuring coffee, bath bombs, clothing, towels, earrings and other gifts. Everything is beautifully presented and the spacious floor plan makes for a wonderful wander, as you pick up gifts for future showers St. Joseph Memorial Park will give you some local history (bottom, right) before traveling to Zurich where Anneke Zehr‐Beyers (below, left) has created a welcoming space to browse for gifts made by local artisans at Zielmans Goods and Gifts.

Right next door, Bekah Pfaff will brew you an amazing cup of coffee (right)

and birthdays.

Anneke is good with her cell phone but a little frustrated (in a good way) that when she features husband Steve Beyers, the “likes” on her Instagram posts increase exponentially. But hey, business is business and Steve does help at the store when he isn’t farming.

Anneke’s vision is to support local artists and creators who need a communal space to sell their products. “People depend on me because this outlet helps them pay their bills,” says Anneke.

When I close the door behind me after leaving Zielman’s I only have to take a few steps to meet another young entrepreneur, Bekah Pfaff of Havasu Coffee Co. It was late afternoon by this time and coffee was needed. So was the crème brûlée donut, the lavender donut, the scones and gluten-free brownies but I stopped at two donuts – one for me, one for my daughter at home. She wasn’t pleased there was a bite out of hers, but hey, it was research.

Donuts to Die For The coffee was amazing, the donuts even more so and Bekah served up both with a big smile and friendly spirit. Bekah is also a Zurich native and says starting a business in a small town can be daunting but the local support has been amazing.

“That’s what is nice about small towns,” she said.

Havasu has been open for two and half years and is open five days a week, with Bekah hands on every day. She loves dealing with customers and has a fair hand at baking, which means I’ll be returning next time I’m travelling to Zurich.

There were many other places I could visit on my list to purchase some homegrown goods including The Whole Pig in Dashwood, Hayter’s Farm for turkey on Dashwood Road as well as Farm Little on Mill Road outside of Bayfield which is where I did stop on my way home.

Farm Little Lucas and Kelsey Seeberger grew up in families who harvested and preserved their own food. After purchasing a stone mill, Lucas began milling locally grown, certified organic grain into flour. Kelsey focussed her efforts on growing vegetables and produce. They also grew two children and the family is grateful to be part of the local food economy in Huron County.

That was it for this daytripping tour. As always, there are so many places to visit but I like to stop at the small-town, rural-minded, agricultural-infused businesses and tourist destinations to celebrate our farming heritage, our farming present, and sustain our farming future. ◊

W.D. Hopper & Sons Ltd. Seaforth, Ont. 1-519-522-1737 Water Well Drilling Farms, Irrigation, Residential Grundfos Stainless Pumps Well Abandonments Down Hole Videos Geothermal Drilling Serving You For 100 Years+ wdhopperwaterwells.com E-mail: wdhopper@tcc.on.ca SATISFIED CUSTOMERS & BEST VALUE $$$ WELL SYSTEMS

ADVENTURES START HERE. HYBRID

Honda Sensing™ Two-motor Hybrid Powertrain Safety Technologies

Real Time AWD

MODEL RS6H9RKSX

Over 94.6% of Honda CR-V models sold in Canada in the last 10 years are still on the road today.*

CRV . THE 2024

TOURING HYBRID

% APR

LEASE FOR 24 MONTHS.

1,000 PLUS GET A

HONDA BONUS †

IN STOCK NOW.

Dealer order may be required. Representative monthly lease example: 2024 CR-V Touring Hybrid (Model RS6H9RKSX) on a 24-month term with 104 weekly payments at 2.99% lease APR. Weekly payment is $201.24 Total lease obligation is $20,928.64.

150-7th Avenue, Hanover 40,000 kilometre allowance; charge of $0.12/km for excess kilometres. Touring model shown. *Longevity claim disclaimer: Based on S&P Global Mobility Vehicles in (519) 364-1010 Operation as of June 30, 2023 for Model Years 2014 to 2023 vs Total New hanoverhonda.ca Registrations of those vehicles. Limited time only, offer may change without notice.

July 2024 37

Outdoor Recreation

Auto Vern’s Country & Leisure • Safety Vehicle Inspections • Classic Cars Specialist • All models cars and light trucks • Motorcycles & ATVs • Lawn & Garden Equipment • Snowmobiles • Watercraft & Marine • Trailers 40486 B-Line Road, Wingham

519-357-1997 Fax: 519-357-9978 vernsauto@eastlink.ca

vernscountryauto.com

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

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

Call us today for all your building and renovating needs.

NORTH HURON CARPENTRY INC. Specializing in eavestroughs, windows and doors, exterior residential and utility doors, siding, agricultural storage buildings, and so much more.

2024 Kawasaki Ridge HVAC

Recreational, Snowmobiles, ATV’s, Motorcycles, Marine, Lawn & Garden Equipment, Hunting & Fishing Equipment, Firearms & Ammunition

We also manufacture custom kitchens, cabinetry, stairs and railings

No job too big or too small!

38728 Moncrieff Rd., RR #3 Blyth, ON David Werkema Ph.: 519-526-7634 Dave - Mobile - 519-531-0224 Email: dave@northcarpentry.ca Herman - Mobile - 519-525-0232

38 The Rural Voice

122 Huron Road Hwy. 8 West Mitchell, ON N0K 1N0 www.wightysrepairs.com

Phone: 519-348-0404 Fax: 519-348-0424 sales@wightysrepairs.com

• KAWASAKI • STIHL • ARIENS • GRAVELY • TORO • RAMBO •

Dairy

Farming to feed others — a dairy tour Outdated visions of dairy farming are replaced during a tour at the Hallahan dairy farm as “The Robot” did its thing Steve and Arletta Hallahan along with daughters Grace and Sarah are carrying on the Hallahan dairying tradition with modern upgrades.

Editor’s Note: Back in June, Scott Stephenson, a reporter with The Citizen, our sister publication, visited the Hallahan dairy farm near Blyth to learn about dairy farming and celebrate National Dairy Month. You’ll quickly realize he didn’t grow up on a farm but how he saw modern dairy farming was funny, appreciative and informative. This story stands on its own but can also encourage all modern farmers to open their doors to nonfarming friends and neighbours so they can experience it too.

T

o properly ring in the 87th edition of National Dairy Month, The Citizen decided to finally shake off the persistent, antiquated notions about milk production cobbled together from the half-remembered cartoons of youth and replace them with cold hard facts that might just finally solve the mystery of how milk really makes its way from cow to consumer in the 21st century.

Finding a farm willing to give us a guided tour was easy — there are over 3,000 dairy farms in Ontario alone — and one of them is located near Blyth. A quick car ride later and we were at Hallahan’s Dairy Farm, greeted by not one but two generations of the Hallahan family — proprietors Steve and Arletta Hallahan, and their daughters, Grace and Sarah. All four of them were excited to divest us of the opaque weight of our unpasteurized ignorance.

• By Scott Stephenson •

Steve Hallahan, the latest in a long line of farming Hallahans, led us straight through the industrial-chic milking barn, right to a room in the middle of the action.

Inside was the Lely Astronaut — an intuitive, automatic milking machine designed with a cow’s comfort in mind.

“This is the whole heart of the operation,” he said with just the slightest hint of reverence. “This is... The Robot.”

Any and all childish notions one might have of a sluggish farmer moving from one reluctant ungulate to the next as he fills a galvanized bucket with the day’s milk were dashed to pieces forever the moment The Robot started doing its thing. The cows weren’t remotely reluctant. In fact, more than a few of the farm’s 65 Holsteins had gathered around the milker, seemingly waiting patiently for a turn.

As it turns out, these thoroughly modern dairy cows have been liberated from the shackles of the farmer’s schedule — each black and white beauty gets to decide when they want to be milked, and how often. And some of these ladies get milked a lot.

“A fresh cow might come in here every six hours,” he explained, “but a cow that’s at the end of her lactation might come in every 12 to 14 hours to get milked. They set their own time for whenever they want to come in.”

Each cow that ventures into the milking area is also rewarded with a tasty snack. “There’s a wee bit of grain in that manger there - that’s what keeps them coming back to The Robot,” he confided.

July 2024 39

In 1942, Simon Hallahan was milking cows by hand, as hydro was not available. The purchase of a gaspowered milking machine successfully sped up production for a time, before it burned down the barn. After the family went into debt to rebuild it, the barn burned down again - this time in 1966.

When a cow enters the milking booth, a pair of whirling brushes leaps forward, gently washes the lucky lady’s udder and returns to its original position, where it is automatically sterilized. Udders are just like snowflakes - no two are exactly alike, which is one of the reasons why The Robot uses lasers to pinpoint the location of each individual teat, so each piebald bovine can enjoy the comfort and luxury of a custom fit, every time the milkers move themselves into position. The machine also responds to the cow’s every movement, moving along with it to prevent unnecessary pain and stress during the milking process. As far as they know, the Hallahans were the first dairy farmers in the area to take a chance on this cutting edge, costly machine, but the gamble paid off, and they’ve never looked back.

Various sensors also record each individual cow’s temperature and files it away, along with 200 other bits of useful data that give Steve an overview of that animal’s well being. Each member of the herd is equipped with a cool collar that allows the computer to correctly identify her.

Younger daughter Sarah believes that this modern, automated approach to dairy farming provides her with significantly more free time to focus on her true passion: dairy farming! “Another great thing with technology is not spending four hours a day just milking alone. Now we’re spending that time vaccinating, cleaning and doing other things to make our herd better.

It had a positive effect, in a way, because now we can do all these other things that we didn’t have enough time in the day for. It makes it easier to grow our herd, and improve it.” In addition to The Robot, there are two other helperbots on site that clear loose feed off 40 The Rural Voice

the floor and muck out the barn on a regular basis. While the robots do the dirty work, Sarah spends a little extra time with her favourite cow, the one she raised in her 4-H Club.

“She’s just extra friendly. And some

Sarah Hallahan connects with a heifer at her family farm near Blyth where reporter Scott Stephenson learned how computerized a modern dairy farming is with robotic milkers (right) , computerized records (below) and mechanical feed pushers (bottom).

cows are just outgoing. Some just chill and do their own thing. And some cows are just trouble!” she exclaimed, before becoming a bit reflective. “I think 4-H is definitely a good thing to get involved with.

And there’s so many different clubs, not just, like, the livestock. There’s lifestyle clubs and a lot of great leaders.”

Steve, who grew up milking cows the old-fashioned way, also appreciates the freedom the family robots afford them. “At our old barn, it would have been three of us in the barn all day, doing chores.

Now, one person runs everything here.” Arletta, a self-proclaimed “town girl”, may not spend much time working in the barn, but she still has high praise for the milking machine. “Steve was in the barn 24/7 until we got The Robot. It can also call Steve’s phone if something’s wrong with it. We’ve been away before and it called, so we just FaceTimed the neighbours and had them reset it.”

Steve’s father, Frank, is the only one not singing The Robot’s praises.

He still likes to help out around the farm, but he prefers the hands-on approach to farming that he’s always used. He can tell a lot about how an animal is feeling through simple observation. “He’d just come here and watch cattle,” Arletta recalled. “Watch them and just know which ones were in heat.”

Spending his childhood working alongside Frank made Steve sure he wanted to be a farmer at an early age. “Dad and I have always been in the barn together… I’ve had rubber boots on since I was five years old.”

After a 25-year succession plan that included partnering with his parents, the farm is finally Steve and Arletta’s. “You could almost say I’m a new farmer for getting the farm, but I’ve been here for 30 years.”

All the cows that are too young to breed, in heat or newly pregnant are housed in the breeding barn — their vitals are monitored remotely, from the office. “We’ve been in this barn for 16 years now,” Steve recalled.”

It’s kind of a funny story. The carpenters were here putting those doors on, they wanted me to help, and I said ‘I can’t, I gotta get [Arletta] to the hospital’, and then [Sarah] was born.” That’s how we remember the exact day the doors went on.”

In 1856, Dennis Hallahan and his family left their home in Ireland, made the perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean, and built a new life in Wawanosh, Ontario, with the hope that the fertile earth would allow their family to flourish. And flourish they have! In the 168 years since arriving in Huron County, members of the Hallahan clan have worked to enrich rural lives time and again, be it running for township council, joining the Plowmen’s Association, or the Knights of Columbus, or the Blyth Fire Board, or, in the case of local legend and founder of the Huron Pioneer Threshers and Hobby Association, Simon Hallahan, all of the above.

Now that the 25-year succession plan with his parents has come to an end, it’s just about time to start crafting a succession plan that works for their own children. Grace and Sarah both want to continue being involved with agriculture but are approaching the situation from two very different, but complementary

angles. Sarah wants to take on the mantle of running the family farm as soon as she’s done school, while Grace is considering various career paths as she pursues a degree in Political Science at Guelph. “I always liked public speaking,” she said. “I thought it would be very interesting to work for the county, or become an MP. But looking now, there’s so much more opportunity out there. I still want to live in the country, and have a couple of horses and animals and stuff. I think it would be cool to be a keynote speaker. Who knows? I’ve still got three more years.”

Right at the end of The Citizen’s tour of Hallahan’s Dairy, Sarah offered up one last astute observation. “A thing I’ve seen about how the generations have grown, is, like, before my Grandpa took over, you worked on that farm so you could eat, and live off that farm, and you’d have a pig, and one cow. Now, we farm to feed others.

It’s not just us, it’s Ontario.” ◊

Stoneview CUSTOM SERVICE INC.

CUSTOM FARMING

•950 & 450 bushell spreaders Manure Hauling •Spring Tillage •Planting (Corn, Beans) •Swathing •Foraging (Grass & Corn & Cob Meal) •Combining (Grains & Beans & Corn) •34-Foot Hay Merging

RENTAL EQUIPMENT

•950 & 450 bushell Manure Spreaders •5” & 6” Walinga Sucker/Blower •25 Tonne Silage Dumper •Lancaster Grinder

Wallenstein, ON Call 519-897-9471 July 2024 41

Recipes by Carolyn Crawford

Capturing Ontario’s bounty in summer salads

A

s Ontario produce is finding its way to our kitchen tables, we need to take advantage of its immediate freshness and full flavour.

Salads are an easy way to capture Ontario’s bounty of fruits and vegetables. When I was in my teens, I worked as a server at the Victoria Inn Restaurant in Caledon. My boss, Peter Alexopoulos, had salad plates on the menu.

Salad plates were served a lot in the “diner days” and almost fell to obscurity in the 80s in Ontario.

Today, you can sometimes still get a cold salad plate at the traditional “Mom & Pop” style restaurants in places across Canada, particularly down east. (See Barry C. Parson’s version of the Newfoundland Cold Plate here: https://www.rockrecipes.com/newfoundland-cold-plate/ ) He has a really unique recipe for potato salad that includes pickled beets and beet juice for a lovely pink coloured salad.

In a way, salad plates have been making a comeback in the form of “power bowls.” Power bowls are a modern take on a salad plate: they have more variety in the selection of protein; the ingredients may include some hot or roasted items; they are protein based (many are vegetarian); they are health-oriented with little (or no) dressing that is usually a seasoned, oil blend. Like salad plates, power bowls make the perfect light meal on a hot Summer salad plates were once a fixture in restaurants (see menu below) and are making a comeback because they are a beautiful and healthy way to capture summer produce and can incorporate egg, tuna and potato salads (right), along with fruit, breads and pickles.

42 The Rural Voice

summer night or after physical activity. This month, I will focus on recipes for salad plates and next month will be power bowls.

There are millions of combinations of salad ingredients, dressings, and toppings! While one could throw any selection of ingredients in a bowl and call it a salad, some of the best salads are made when combining flavours that compliment one another. Of course, there are the perennial family favourites that show up at potlucks, barbecues, picnics, and family reunions. There are also some great salad (and power bowl) recipes out there that can surprise you with how healthy and tasty they are!

A traditional salad plate includes a flat as possible piece of frilly lettuce on a medium-sized plate, two or three scoops (one of each) of either egg salad or slices of hard cooked egg or devilled egg, tuna salad, or chicken/turkey salad, potato salad, cottage cheese, coleslaw, slices or wedges of tomato, slices of deli meat and/or cheese, pickle (whole gherkins, sliced dills, pickled beets, or olives, celery and carrot sticks) radishes (sliced or whole) and suitable garnishes such as parsley, chives or dill.

A salad plate is often served with a dinner roll, tea biscuit, crackers or melba toast, garlic toast, or one or two slices of bread or toast. Can you see how the combinations are endless?

The best thing about either one of these homemade “lunchables” is that you can prep everything ahead of time. You can serve them up cold immediately before you sit down for lunch with a guest. As with a week’s worth of power bowl ingredients they can be in your fridge at the ready for

an easy work lunch every day, all week. You can also have some of these items on hand to go to the field at a moment’s notice.

Norval United Church’s Potato Salad This is from the 1964 edition of Norval United Church Cookbook. It was reprinted in the Norval Community Association’s cookbook entitled Among Neighbours A Collection of Norval’s Best Recipes in 2000. It was served at the annual Norval United Church Chicken BBQ. Ingredients: 1 ½ cup vinegar ½ cup water 1 1/3 cups sugar 3 eggs 2 tsp salt 6 tsp cornstarch 4 tsp dry mustard Dash pepper Directions: Heat vinegar, water and 1 cup sugar.

Mix remaining sugar, salt, cornstarch, mustard and pepper and add to vinegar mixture. Beat eggs well. Add some hot mixture to eggs and stir.

Add eggs to hot mixture. Blend well.

Continue cooking, stirring often, until thickened. (Author’s note: this is best done in a double boiler to ensure that it does not scorch on the bottom).

For the salad, cook five pounds potatoes (not new potatoes). Mash while hot; add chopped celery, onions, grated hard boiled eggs (three eggs), salt, pepper and salad dressing.

Mix well. Chill the salad thoroughly.

Tuna Macaroni Salad My Mum made this in many different ways over the years doing it this way or making her One Egg Dressing which I included in the January 2023 edition of the Rural Voice.

Ingredients: 1-454g package of pasta (smaller shapes like ditalini work better) 2 cans tuna, drained, juice reserved, flaked with fork well 3 hard cooked eggs, chopped 1 cup celery chopped 1 cup green, red, yellow, or orange

sweet peppers or some of each, chopped 3 green onions, chopped 1 cup Miracle Whip Salad Dressing 1 tbsp prepared mustard Juice of 1 or 2 lemons depending on size (aim for ½ cup juice) Salt and pepper to taste Paprika, for garnish Radishes, sliced for garnish Cook pasta first and rinse well with cold water to chill thoroughly.

Add chopped vegetables.

Aunty Ina’s Coleslaw My aunt, Ina Harris, brought this salad to our family picnics in her covered enamel refrigerator container. Born in 1921, Aunty Ina was not used to countertop appliances. She cut the ingredients in her cabbage salad in very thin shreds using her extra sharp knife. It really looked attractive this way.

Ingredients: 1 large green cabbage, shredded finely 4 medium carrots, grated coarsely 1 medium sweet onion (or 3 green onions), chopped finely 1 green or red pepper, chopped finely ½ cup white sugar 1 cup white vinegar 2 tsp celery seed 2 tsp prepared mustard 1 tsp salt 1 cup salad oil Directions: Place first four ingredients in a large heat proof container.

Sprinkle with ½ cup white sugar and toss lightly. Set aside.

In a saucepan combine vinegar, celery seed, mustard salt, and salad oil. Bring to a boil for at least two minutes and pour over vegetables.

Toss and let cool.

This may be stored in the fridge for about one week. Makes approximately 20 servings.

Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad This is online recipe from Donya Mullins’ A Southern Soul blog.

Ingredients: 3-3 ½ cups cooked chicken, chopped ¾ cup dried cranberries 1 apple, chopped

½ cup pecans, chopped ¼ cup green onions, chopped ¾ cup mayonnaise 1 tsp salt ¼ tsp garlic powder ½ tsp pepper Directions: Add chicken, cranberries, pecans, apple, and green onion to a mediumsize bowl.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together mayonnaise, salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Pour over chicken and other ingredients.

Using a large spoon or spatula, toss all ingredients together until well mixed.

Serve immediately.

It can be stored covered, airtight, in the fridge for up to three to five days.

Egg Salad Everyone makes egg salad in their own special way. Here is a recipe from the Egg Farmers of Ontario website.

The EFO suggests hard cooking your eggs this way: Place eggs in a single layer on the bottom of a saucepan and cover with cold water an inch or so higher than the eggs and cover with a lid. Over high heat, bring eggs to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and let stand in water for 10-12 minutes for large eggs. Reduce time slightly for smaller eggs. Drain water and immediately run cold water over eggs until cooled. Rapid cooling helps prevent a green ring from forming around the yolks. You can keep hard cooked eggs in the fridge for up to a week.

Ingredients: 4-6 hard boiled eggs 1/4 cup mayonnaise or (Miracle Whip) salad dressing 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Optional add-ins: green onions, celery, red pepper or for further inspiration go to the EFO website here: https://www.eggs.ca/recipes/ cat/96/egg-salad Use any of the above salads to create your own cold salad plate.

Garnish with radishes, your favourite pickles, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes or any Ontario produce! ◊ July 2024 43

Gardening Rhea Hamilton‐ Seeger is a skilled cook and gardener who lives in Goderich.

Interlopers waving about in the garden

W

hat a hectic spring! Have you noticed it too? Winter was relaxed and spring rolled in early with a heated passion which is turning into an early summer.

The lilacs, peonies and columbine are all blooming a good two weeks early here.

So what does this mean in our gardens? Here we try to practice restraint in cleaning up. In fact cleaning up is rather minimal. We chop some standing stalks like golden rods and coneflower by cutting them back to 12 inches and let the soil warm a bit before moving and relocating plants.

Well, that has backfired a bit this spring. The one garden that is sporting aggressive native and nonnative plants is looking quite full and tall and I see interlopers waving from the centre. The worst one is shoots of trumpet vine! But not to worry. I have learned to start at the edge and carefully work my way to the centre and tread lightly.

Imagine my surprise when a few years ago I read that trumpet vine, Campisis radicans, is a native woody vine. While we had one that was semi impressive at the farm, the one growing here is a robust plant that puts up a spectacular show in the summer.

A favourite of hummingbirds, we have also seen orioles piercing the sides of the trumpet to get at the nectar.

I would recommend planting it in an isolated spot and a strong support for it to grow on. When they get out of control, it is best to pull them.

Failing that, a sharp narrow spade works pretty well.

44 The Rural Voice

You don’t often get a line like “I am pumped to see something webbing and eating my…”. Normally the initial response would be to dispose of the nibbling creature, but our knowledge of native plants and the insects they support is growing daily with so many of us.

In this case the plant is a newly introduced pearly everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea. It contains wee webbing and my hope is it is the caterpillar for a painted lady butterfly which targets this native plant for raising its family. Once the cycle is completed the plant repairs itself and carries on. Nature is so grand.

Pearly Everlasting can grow up to two feet high and tolerates both dry conditions and poor soil. It does best in full sun but will do well in partial shade. Mine is in an area that gets a late morning to early afternoon shot of sunlight.

The foliage is a shade of graygreen and quite attractive on its own.

The tiny clusters of flowers remind me of mini straw flowers with white bracts (petal-like) and yellow flowers which bees and butterflies love. And yes, you can dry the flowers for winter bouquets.

Research notes warn it will spread quickly. I have two small plants now so I will let you know just how quick

that quick is. And of course it is a favourite of many pollinators but a food source for the painted lady butterfly!

I am always on the lookout for news on native trees and was part of a group to recently tour Baker’s Nursery, near Bayfield. Owner Todd Baker took us on a tour of the greenhouses and their massive freezers. It is a detailed operation that takes seeds and cuttings and grows plants, mostly trees, for the wholesale market.

I have to tell you that after seeing for myself, I was impressed with all the careful thought and research into making their operation environmentally sound. Their choice of materials, like pots and trays, aim for longevity rather than price point to work on a small footprint on this world. We should all be so conscious in our choices. Todd and I spoke briefly about types of trees that municipalities need; specific trees that will work well with the infrastructure like electrical, water and sewer lines and walkways. Not an easy task.

Baker’s Nursery is also doing a bit of custom growing of native plants for restoration work. Another fascinating aspect to the business.

I am leaving you with an

Mulching is good for trees but NOT when hilled up around the base of the tree.

It’s crucial not to cover the tree’s natural flair at the bottom because excess mulch compromises the integrity of the bark.

interesting observation and tip to help your trees flourish. I am not sure if you have seen the latest landscape idea of hilling soil and mulch up high around the trunk of newly planted trees giving them a volcano appearance.

Trees have a natural flair at the bottom. It is crucial that this flair not be smothered. The bark around the tree needs to stay open to create a natural barrier to insects and diseases. The excessive mulch allows moisture and pathogens to work away at the tree base and compromise it.

When spread thickly over the planting, some mulches can actually matt over time and dry to the point that it impedes moisture reaching into the soil to nurture the tree. It will look fine for a few years but I rather doubt the tree will reach maturity.

What a waste of resources and a valuable tree.

Happy gardening and don’t forget the sunscreen and your hat – both “tools” that need to be in my garden basket. ◊

Stop living with it, Start living in it!

Let us transform your patio & outdoor space

Now Booking Summer Projects!

• Summer Pruning • Property Maintenance • Landscaping & Designs • Water Features

GIFT STORE Annuals/Perennials, Trees/Shrubs, Pond Plants & Supplies **Topsoil, Mulch, Aggregates** Armour Stone, Steps, Flagstone, Wall stone, Hardscape **Delivery or Pick up Available Mini Ex, Post Hole Auger, Harley Rake

Dealer for Permacon, Brown‛s Concrete, Rosetta by Brown‛s, Triple H, Unilock

Opening Night Parade, Opening Night Fireworks Show, Ambassador Competition, Senior's Day, Homecraft Exhibits, Kid's Day, Livestock Shows, Tractor & Truck Pull, 6 Horse Hitch Competition, Horseshoe Tournament, 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!

Thursday, July 18th • Senior’s Day Entertainment starting at 1:00 p.m.

• Truck Pull

OVER 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

Friday, July 19th

www.livelandscape.ca

Saturday, July 20th • Demolition Derby

Lisa Van Bakel 519-949-3444 Email: lisa@livelandscape.ca

• Antique & Modern Tractor Pull

For full details visit www.listowelfair.com

July 2024 45

Photos by Bonnie Sitter

“ Way more in 2024” at Clinton Spring Fair

T

he Clinton Spring Fair held in June offers everything an attendee could want from the Impact Motorsports Demolition Derby on Friday night, to the home craft division, animal shows, rides and .... Bonnie Sitter was there to take photos to celebrate fair season, of which there are over 200 across the province. ◊

Finn McMahon (top left) gets a little push to get him started competing in the Mini Tractor Pedal Pull. Each competitor received a ribbon and a Toonie for being a good sport! Darien Boucher (top, right) of Goderich performed like a pro and earned some cash in the Class 650 Garden Tractor Pull. Proud Grandpa, Dennis Boucher posed with her after the pull.

Jeff Bennewies of Dashwood (right) is shown driving his modified trackchair which was built in the U.S.A. by a company that builds military equipment.

He enjoys demonstrating at tractor /lawnmower pulls. Jeff has been using a wheelchair since 2006 and about 10 years ago acquired a rip chair which easily fits into place to enable him to use the hand controls. He uses this piece of equipment on his farm when he is cutting grass, raking hay, fencing or baling straw and in leisure time for hunting and fishing.

46 The Rural Voice

• Top, left: Who can resist a ball toss game at the Midway?

Mom Ashley MacDonald gives her son Killian (blue shirt) some encouragement to give it a try while his older brother Lachlan prepares to toss the yellow ball and win a prize.

• Above: Volunteering at the Clinton Spring Fair at the Baby Show were three lovely young ladies from Central Huron. At left isJunior Ambassador for 2024‐2025, Jillian Simpson, who is a grade 8 student. In the middle is university student and Huron Central Ambassador Maria Pot. Paige Bruinsma (right) is also a junior Agricultural Ambassador. All three young ladies assisted the judges and parents when they came forward to introduce their babies and later presented prizes and certificates. Every baby was a winner!

• Top, right: Pet pony Gemma, won a first place red ribbon, and some cash, for the Best Pet Trick. When a large inflated ball was placed in front of Gemma she kept giving it a nudge with her nose to keep it moving. Owner Tessa Ropp is on the right and Mom Erin Marshall proudly stands on the left.

• Bottom, right: Brant Matthews aka: The Fire Guy is shown performing a balancing stunt on a Rolla Bolla, the cylinder and board, while juggling fire torches and spinning a flaming double torch on a stick from his mouth. It's his claim to flame!

Brant has spent over 20 years as the Fire Guy and he is the world's #1 Fire Eater and has the Guinness Record in Fire Eating because he ate 101 torches in one minute.

July 2024 47

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

Will sukhovey winds dessicate Russian crops or is it all hot air?

R

ussian agricultural production is important for many in the world marketplace. This is especially true with wheat, as Russia has become the world’s largest wheat exporter. It is because so much of the world relies on Russian grain, that Russian production is a major influencer of world pricing. It is for this reason that Russian grain offer prices, events of the on-going war, and growing season weather are all closely followed, and market prices

can be severely impacted with changing circumstances.

Grain prices have moved higher recently, as some regions of the world have had production challenges surface. Russia is one of those regions. The southern region of Russia, which is a major production area has been affected by both early season frost and also severe drought.

As a consequence, many analysts have been reducing expectations for Russian wheat production for this harvest. Prices moved higher accordingly.

As attention turns more closely to weather in Russia, there has been conversation of some further potential threats that may (or may not) surface, that could be impactful to the growing crop. Such a weather scenario that has been discussed is called sukhovey winds. This sukhovey wind pattern, it seems to me, a rare event in Russia and consequently because of its rarity, I have been previously unfamiliar with this wind event or its consequences.

In my effort to learn more about this

Class Leading Features

RANGER

f 550 Gallon Capacity. f EAGLE Booms from 45’ to 66”. f Inline Boom Filters. f 5 Gallon Clean Water Dispenser. f Hydraulic Lift & Fold. f Diaphragm or Centrifugal Pumps.

CONTACT YOUR HARDI DEALER TO LEARN MORE. CONNECT EQUIPMENT Rockwood 519-856-9512 Chepstow 519-366-2325 connectequipment.com

MAPLE LANE FARM SERVICE

Mount Forest 888-264-1229 maplelanefarmservice.ca

ROBERT’S FARM EQUIPMENT SALES Walton 519-887-6365 www.robertsfarm.com

HARDI NORTH AMERICA 1500 West 76th Street, Davenport, IA 52806 Phone: (563) 386-1730 · Fax: (563) 386-1280 E-mail: info@hardi-us.com · www.hardi-us.com

48 The Rural Voice

STAY CONNECTED FOLLOW US ON #SprayHARDI

wind pattern, my investigation took me back to an infamous time in history.

A time when grain inventories became suddenly precarious, after an extended period of surplus supply. A time in history that is notoriously called, “The Russian Grain Robbery.”

There is an article dated June 22, 1979 from The New York Times, which stated that, “One of the most fearsome words for Russian farmers is sukhovey.” Sukhovey winds are known as “thirsty winds.” They originate in the deserts of Kazakhstan and the Caspian region of Asia.

They are characterized as being high temperature (25C+) and extremely low relative humidity winds. These winds are extremely dry, with one instance being reported with relative humidity less than five per cent. With such low humidity they can cause desiccation of plant tissue rapidly and almost immediately.

The extreme dryness of this hot wind is rapidly destructive. It is reported that the damage to the plant tissue occurs because of the loss of water balance in the leaves. Because of the physical dry and hot nature of the sukhovey winds, the stomal apparatus (the pores in the epidermis of leaves that control the rate of gas exchange between the internal air spaces of the leaf and the atmosphere) no longer functions normally to regulate evaporation and as a result the leaves dry rapidly.

Depending on the duration of the wind, the leaves can range from partially to completely dried, resulting in the leaves being yellowed to completely browned. Within only one to two days, plant flowers can be desiccated and pollen can be sterilized. When you consider the rapid deterioration caused by these thirsty winds, it is easy to understand the destruction possible to a developing wheat crop. If these winds occurred during flowering time or during the grain fill period, the crop could be wiped out completely.

This is exactly what happened in the summer of 1972. The sukhovey winds blew. In the fall of that same year as the crop was harvested, Russia realized it had a major

Markets shortfall in grain. Their solution was to make purchases from abroad to fill their void – in fact major purchases, importing a record 1.2 billion bushels. Russia buying wheat was not unusual in those days, so that wasn’t a red flag. Years of mismanagement under communist rule prevented the nation from even coming close to their production capability. At that time, the only dominant wheat exporting nations with available supplies were the U.S., Canada, Australia and Argentina. Keep in mind that information flow wasn’t as it is today, and so little was known as to the Russian plight by major wheat exporting nations. This unknown fact worked to the advantage of the Soviet Union. Over a long weekend, with agreements now in place with the financial subsidy of the U.S. government, the Russian government stealthily purchased grain from major world players simultaneously and unbeknownst to each other. The majority of the purchases were from American shippers.

When U.S. markets reopened following the long weekend, revelations as to the extent of the Russian purchases came into the market and chaos ensued. Prices skyrocketed with wheat prices almost tripling, and corn and soy doubling over the duration of about a year.

Commodity tightness was around the globe and in many parts of the world it was a luxury to eat bread, for a time.

Because of this event, which depleted U.S. grain stocks, the U.S. enacted an Export Sales Reporting Program. The purpose of this program is to make large purchases known publicly, so that all participants in the market are aware of events happening in the agricultural marketplace.

Will we see the Russian crop shrink further and wheat prices continue to strengthen? Will we see a sukhovey threat as some weather watchers say forecasters have suggested? Will the Russian crop see better conditions and the crop stabilize? Will the talk of the fearsome thirsty winds this year be “all hot air”? ◊

Steve Cronsberry (Owner) 5483 Fifth Line Minto, Palmerston 1­888­534­0393 marquardtfarmdrainage.com

519­343­3233

of providing professionally designed and installed drainage systems.

Call or or text text for for a a quote quote 519-521-3482 519-521-3482 Call

RCS specializes in forestry mulching services such as tree & stump removal, lot & land clearing, subsoiling, grading & excavation, armour stone installation and design, industrial & commercial vegetation management, tree & fence line clearing, headland clearing, trimming back over hanging limbs and trail maintenance.

33267 Coursey Line, Lucan, ON N0M 2J0

rcsforestrymulching.ca

July 2024 49

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

Dame’s Rocket — pretty but invasive

A

t least three times a week I walk the same stretch of the Saugeen River Trail in the Municipality of Brockton.

This trail was developed and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Walkerton and was built on the former railbed which likely dates back to the 1800s. I believe that the maintenance of the trail is carried out by municipal staff and volunteers.

This means that when there are larger management issues, they are hard to conquer with limited funds and available manpower. This is

really no different than the majority of trail systems in our area.

When walking the trail in late May into June, I couldn’t help but enjoy the beautiful flowers. I was seeing large patches of white and pink and purple mixed in with ferns and other greenery. First my mind says, “wow, that is so beautiful, I am lucky to get to enjoy this”. Second, my mind says, great, another sea of invasives. What I was staring at was a massive display of Dame’s Rocket.

Dame’s Rocket has likely been in our province for a couple of hundred years. Over its time here, it has slowly become more prominent in our natural environment. It likely spreads via seeds being carried by the small creatures that are foraging and then excrete the seeds in a new location, or by people unknowingly buying a wildflower seed mix that contains this invasive.

Dame’s Rocket is a tall flowering plant that can reach over one meter (three feet) with an upright display of flowers that can last for one to three months. The closest native

Huron Perth

beach water quality Find beach water test results: 1-888-221-2133 ext 2501 www.hpph.ca/beachinfo

50 The Rural Voice

wildflower look-alike we have to Dame’s Rocket is phlox. To identify the plants when in flower is pretty easy. Dame’s Rocket flowers earlier in the spring/summer than phlox.

Also, Dames Rocket has four flower petals while phlox has five. Without the flower, the most notable distinguishing characteristic is that the phlox has an opposite leaf arrangement, and the rocket has an alternate leaf arrangement.

Dame’s rocket has four flower petals while native phlox has five, helping you identify this pretty, but invasive species.

Dame’s Rocket is in the mustard family, and therefore has a small bean-shaped pod of seeds. Our native phlox seeds have a rounder versus long pod. I would need a lot of help to identify the seeds outside of their pods, but when in the pod, identification is not difficult.

As I look at the closest patch, I notice that I am looking at Dame’s Rocket, garlic mustard, Manitoba maple, hemlock, cedar, and yellow birch. This sight went from beautiful to unpleasant really quickly as my thoughts went to the challenges that lie ahead to restore the native plants or limit the spread of the invasives that are present in good numbers. The soils within the area are black and moist which is partly why these species are growing here, but these

soil conditions will make control much easier.

One of the methods of control would be to use herbicides but this method is often frowned upon given what we know about herbicides. That being said, the use of herbicide would be my first choice as it can be done quickly and has a greater success record over a shorter term.

When manpower and finances are short, these are important criteria.

However, if there is a team of volunteers prepared to dig in and work to control these invasives over a number of years, this can also be successful.

Dame’s Rocket and garlic mustard can be pulled, bagged, and burned to limit the reseeding of the species.

The negative side of pulling efforts is that the soil is disturbed which makes for a viable seedbed for the seeds that may already be present. The bagging and burning is important, as many people forget about the spread of invasives and throw plants into compost piles which in turn spreads the invasives to someone else’s property. I should note that it is much easier to control invasives in smaller patches or numbers of plants, pulling the first that you see could save you from this nightmare.

The Manitoba maple could be pulled if smaller. But these larger stems, that have already been cut back multiple times, will require more repeated cutting, and would be more likely to succumb to these depletion efforts if the residual stem area were girdled. Basically, these repeated cuttings are going to cause the tree to deplete its food stores through the constant regrowing without the return of nutrients and water.

I sure hope that the team of people that look after this beautiful area reach out to the trail users and give us a chance to help out with this huge issue. However, as a manager of many properties with similar infestations of invasives, I know the challenges of trying to have a successful event. It all takes time.

Given that Dame’s Rocket is not a noxious weed and staff are annually fighting plants like giant hogweed, I understand the limitations of time. ◊

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

besterforest@gmail.com

July 2024 51

CRAFTER’S

CORNER

Creative China Decorating clocks, mugs, tea sets, wedding plates, dinner sets...

Nancy and Lena Martin 519-323-3035 084494 Southgate Rd 08 RR#2 Hand Mount Forest, ON Decorating Since 2009 N0G 2L0 Custom Options Available Microwave Safe White, Gold, Silver or Plain

Long Arm Machine Quilting Services 519-392-6591 Teeswater By appointment only

yscott@wightman.ca ~ Yoka Scott

Country Quilting Piece a quilt you love, we can quilt it! ** Custom Machine Quilting ** For the quilting enthusiasts, we have everything you need.

Cottons, flannels, fleece, wools, books, patterns 84849 Ethel Line, Brussels, ON

519-887-9456

www.countryquilting.ca

Fabrics, Quilts & Much More

Fabric, Quilting Supplies, Ready & Custom Made Quilts

519-392-6046 3855 Bruce Rd. 4, 5 kms. N. of Teeswater

519-625-8435 heather@thequiltplace.ca www.thequiltplace.ca

Christmas in July days July 24 to July 27

3991 Perth Rd. 107, Shakespeare, ON

Check Facebook for store updates or visit our website sanityhill.ca

Hammermills • Blower Systems Automatic Feed Systems Shaving Spreaders

Brian Martin (BJ) 1 (226) 622-8214 52 The Rural Voice

nu-maticbrian@outlook.com numatic.ca

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

Supreme Court of Canada digs up the dirt on the Sales of Goods Act

Corey Hoffarth

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

Email: gbconoffice@gmail.com www.greybruceconstruction.ca

T

he Supreme Court of Canada issued a decision at the end of May in a case about topsoil.

Of course, the case was not only about topsoil. Topsoil just happened to be the subject matter of the contract at the heart of the dispute between the parties. The Supreme Court chose to hear the case because it involved important questions about contracts for the sale of goods and the statutory conditions that are implied through legislation to form part of those contracts.

With the exception of Quebec, all Canadian provinces and territories have a statute governing the sale of goods that is modelled on a 19thcentury law from the United Kingdom – the Sale of Goods Act, 1893. That UK legislation codified common law (judge-made, nonstatutory) that had developed in the English courts throughout the 19th century. Passed down to Canadian law were three implied obligations that certain sellers of goods can owe to buyers related to the characteristics or properties of the goods sold even though the contract between seller and buyer might not mention the obligations: 1) fitness for purpose (that where the buyer makes known to the seller the particular purpose for which the goods are to be used, the goods will be reasonably fit for the purpose); 2) merchantability (that the goods sold by description will be of “merchantable” or reasonable quality and fit for sale in the usual course of trade); and, 3) correspondence with description (that goods sold by description will match the seller’s description of the goods).

According to the Supreme Court in its recent decision, those implied

REBUILD YOUR NATURAL CAPITAL  Nutrient Management Plans  NASM Plans

 Feasibility Studies & MDS  Soil Health

Family owned and operated, check out our website www.highlandsupply.ca for updated equipment pricing throughout the year!

92 Main St. W., Dundalk, Ontario Tel: 519.923.2240 ~ Toll-Free: 800.265.9154 email: sales@highlandsupply.ca July 2024 53

WE WANT YOUR GRAIN! Download the London Ag App for FREE (Real-time scale tickets, contracts, cash bids and more.)

• Corn • Wheat • Soybeans • Feed Grains • Feed Ingredients • Food Quality Soybeans

CASH & FORWARD CONTRACTS Call us today for Quotes Scott Speers 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

INTERNATIONAL STOCK FOOD VITAMINS/MINERALS & SPECIALTY PRODUCTS FOR LIVESTOCK

FEATURING...

SILO GUARD®II Forage Additive for Alfalfa, Corn Silages and Baled Hay Corn Silage Increases average daily gain and feed efficiency in beef heifers fed corn silage ensiled at 65-75% moisture.

Alfalfa Silage Improves the conservation of dry matter in alfalfa silage ensiled at 60-70% moisture.

Hay Improves the conservation of dry matter in hay baled at 20-25% moisture.

For more information on the entire line of ISF products, contact your local ISF Sales Representative today!

Camlachie Feeds Camlachie, ON 519.899.2285

Dennis Dolmage Dungannon, ON 519.525.6063

Wayne Lawerence Durham, ON 519.374.3883

Weyburn Snider Floradale, ON 519.897.4664

Tony Willemse Parkhill, ON 519.878.9104

Ryan Grove Chatsworth, ON 519.794.4744

Robert Pomajba Chatham, ON 519.809.3781

Ronald Gerber Newton, ON 519.274.4350

Sylvite Agri-Services Ltd. Putnam, ON 519.485.5770

Top Notch Rations Staffa, ON 519.494.8139

Paul Hamilton Acton, ON 519.833.7023

Albert Shetler Powassan, ON

Henry Brubacher

Paul Stuart Princeton, ON 519.770.5118

Dave Weir S. Bruce Peninsula, ON 519.378.3526

Mathieu Patenaude Embrun, ON 613.443.7316

Jerry Zook Chelsey, ON Fax 519.363.2252

Naamon Martin

Wallenstein, ON 519.669.2064 Greg Wood Wyebridge, ON 705.725.3870

Larry Bennett Caledon, ON 519.939.3995

George or John Sutherland

Seeley’s Bay, ON 613.387.3957

Jonas B Hoover Bruce Mines, ON Fax 705.785.3740

Paul McMahon Peterborough, ON 705.740.2697

James Cotton Navan, ON 613.835.2780

Greg Knops Spencerville, ON 613.340.1045

Brian Bradley Oshawa, ON 905.576.5286

Glen Cassalman Campbellford, ON 705.653.6524

Dale Dingwall Finch, ON 613.551.7142

Gord McFarlane Napanee, ON 613.354.2981

Eli Stutzman Ironbridge, ON 705.842.5534

Joseph Troyer Englehart, ON 705.545.4000

Jim Carson Sunderland, ON 705.928.1445

Dina Mahmutova Thessalon, ON 705.391.6005

Solomon Bauman Douglas, ON

Phillip Connell Bruce Mines, ON 705.785.3852

Jason Teeple Emo, ON 807.275.8467

Doug Eidt Mitchell, ON 519.301.0794

Stephen Hamilton Clarendon, QC 819.647.8230

Vicki Leppard Conant Waubaushene, ON 705.984.4657

Enoch Bauman Douglas, ON Fax 613.649.2245

Jayne Quick Copetown, ON 905.627.7171

INTERNATIONAL STOCK FOOD 69819 London Rd, RR#1 Centralia, ON, N0M 1K0 5FM t 5PMM 'SFF t 'BY JOGP!JTGDBOBEB DB t XXX JTGDBOBEB DB

54 The Rural Voice

Val Gagne, ON 705.232.2414

obligations were likely imposed by judges to relieve buyers from the harsh effect of the law of “caveat emptor” (buyer beware) that left all of the risk related to the characteristics or properties of the goods on the buyer where the contract was silent on those matters.

In Ontario, the Sale of Goods Act contains the three implied obligations of fitness for purpose, merchantability and correspondence with description and makes them implied “conditions” rather than “warranties”. Contractual terms are “conditions” where they are fundamental to the contract: breach of a condition would give the buyer the right to reject the goods from the seller. Contractual terms that are not fundamental to the contract are “warranties”: breach of a warranty would give the buyer a claim for damages but would not entitle the buyer to reject the goods. Where a condition is breached, the buyer would actually have the option to reject the goods or keep the goods and sue for damages (as if a warranty had been breached).

In the case that went to the Supreme Court, the issue was whether or not the parties to a contract for the supply of topsoil had “contracted out” of the implied condition in the Sale of Goods Act that the goods sold by description correspond with the description.

Parties don’t have to leave the implied conditions in place – they can use express language in their agreement to say that the implied conditions will not apply.

The buyer in the case was engaged by a municipality to remediate flooding in an area, which involved the removal and replacement of topsoil. The buyer needed topsoil with a specific composition in order to provide the drainage required to solve the flooding problem. The topsoil was sourced from the seller on the basis of the seller’s description, which included laboratory reports based on topsoil samples taken six weeks prior to the eventual delivery of the soil.

Although the seller warned that updated test results should be obtained, the buyer had missed project deadlines and wanted

immediate delivery of the soil to avoid paying damages to the municipality. The seller and the buyer agreed to go ahead with the transaction and delivery of the soil, but with exclusions of implied conditions. The buyer would have the right to test and approve the topsoil before it was shipped to the site, but if the buyer waived that right the seller would not be responsible for the quality of the topsoil once it left the seller’s facility.

It turned out that the topsoil delivered had substantially more clay content than indicated by the earlier test results. The soil didn’t drain the way it was supposed to and ponding developed on the project site, forcing the buyer to remove the topsoil and replace it with new topsoil that would drain properly. The buyer sued the seller for damages claiming that the seller failed to deliver topsoil that had the composition of the soil shown in the test results that had been provided.

The majority of the members of the Supreme Court (one dissenting opinion) sided with the seller, finding that the parties had contracted out of the implied “correspondence with description” condition in the Sale of Goods Act. Although the exclusion language used by the seller and buyer in their contract referred to “quality”, which is arguably something different than the matching of “identity” between the description of the soil (the test results) and the soil as delivered, the Supreme Court found that the buyer had chosen deliberately to assume the risk of not having further testing carried out on the topsoil before delivery. The use of the word “quality” in the exclusion clause didn’t allow the buyer to avoid the objective intention of the exclusion clause – that the seller was not to be held liable for any claim relating to the topsoil. ______________________________ 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 circumstance.

Liquid Mold Inhibitor for Baled Mixed Hay Reg. # 983454 Features and Benefits • Consistent Results • Mold Control

Packaging 200 kg Barrels 1000 kg Totes

Storage

• Bale hay at higher moisture for higher feed value • Higher leaf content = more protein per acre

Guaranteed Analysis Propionic Acid Min. 59% pH 5.5 to 6.0

Store out of direct sunlight

GRK Products RR #1 Gorrie, ON N0G 1X0 1-519-335-6764 • 1-519-807-4406 cell email: grkproducts@wightman.ca Other dealers: Janholm Farms, Brunner - Larry Jantzi 519-502-6036; Dirksen Ag, Harriston - Scott Dirksen 519-321-9127

July 2024 55

People • By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot •

“There’s no place like it” says Scott Austin

F

inding a wood turtle – an endangered species – and helping it cross the road on Hydro Line in the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area (HPWA – also known as the Hullett Marsh) is just one of the cool wildlife experiences Scott Austin has experienced during his tenure as manager.

“It was a male with only three legs and had a transmitter installed by the Huron Stewardship Council (HSC) but the transmitter had been dead for a few years. The turtle was last tracked near Vanastra,” remembers Austin who is retiring as manager this year and hoping to pass the baton to Hullett’s Wildlife and GIS Technician, Ben Elliott. “I contacted Huron S.C. and a biologist quickly came out to collect the turtle … they have very secret studies in place regarding this species!”

When Austin first started working at the Hullett Marsh in 2013, he remembers being thrilled to see a bald eagle nest. This is more common now, but back then it was a rare experience. Austin is also enamored with the whitetail deer population in the marsh and seeing the nesting sandhill cranes.

Working at the Hullett Marsh fits right in with Austin’s career trajectory. From 1987 to 2001 he worked for the Ministry of Natural Resources, taking samples of commercial fish for the Lake Huron Assessment Unit. That led to a stint owning Bayfield Fish, a fish market at the Bayfield Harbour. “I was a fishmonger,” he says. He also served as a professional Canada goose hunting guide. Between the fish and guiding, work was very consuming and Austin felt like “I missed a bunch of my life” so when the management job came up at the Hullett Marsh, “I was ready for a change. My education was in fish and wildlife management so this brought me back full circle.”

The marsh was also dear to his heart. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors for the Hullett PWA, serving as the treasurer. He 56 The Rural Voice

Scott Austin (right), manager of the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area says it’s a unique, special spot where one of the highlights of his work is educating youth about habitat and wildlife (above). filed the corporation papers and opened the first bank account for the marsh.

It’s not surprising, then, as he looks forward to retirement from managing the marsh, that he hopes to stay on as a part-time employee.

Being the manager entails a number of different tasks. Applying for funding is one, along with day-today business. The 5,400 acre property requires $250,000 a year to keep going. Austin also manages the habitats, grasslands and fallow field mowing to stop successional forest growth; manages water levels (there are 20 water control structures) in partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada; controls invasive species such as phragmites; maintains trails, roadways, parking lots, signage, etc.

Also, he organizes many events with educators, coordinates with volunteers and trains summer students who help on the property.

It’s a lot of work but Austin says there is no place like the marsh. It is a man-made wetland, reclaimed from poor farmland, where waterfowl, birds and mammals are free to live and thrive. As a hunter, Austin also appreciates that the Hullett PWA is pro-hunting. People can also ride horses in the marsh, hike, canoe and take photographs.

“There are so many different kinds of wildlife you don’t see anywhere else,” says Austin, referring to species at risk like the least bittern. It’s a great spot for nesting turtles though Ben and the summer student are busy this summer putting boxes on the turtle nests because the raccoons will “dig them out almost as soon as she lays them,” says Austin.

Austin’s favourite part of the property is the Orange trail off Summerhill road in the north end of the marsh. “It has the highest elevation and the view from the stand is amazing,” he says.

He encourages volunteers to join the Friends of Hullett to experience the place first hand. Volunteers can prune, mark trees and help with trail maintenance.

Reflecting on his time managing the marsh, Austin says one of the most rewarding parts of the job was working with young people who volunteered or worked as summer students. He runs into them now and again, and one recently shared how working at the marsh changed his life. “I see these kids doing well in life and that makes me feel good,” he says. “It’s so rewarding being able to help young people and educate them.

People tell me I am full of information and I love being able to share that and teach someone.” ◊

You see our signs everywhere TIME TO FIND OUT WHY!

DRILLED WELLS BORED WELLS PUMP SYSTEMS WATER GUARANTEED Call us FIRST for great deals on new wells & pump systems

LUCAN 519-227-0057 1-888-535-4455 www.haydenwaterwells.com info@haydenwaterwells.com Like us on Facebook Hayden Water Wells - Follow us on Instagram @haydenwaterwells

OR JUST ASK OUR SATISFIED CUSTOMERS!

MORRIS SACHS SILO CONSTRUCTION New stave silos now available SILO ACCESSORIES SILOS DISMANTLED, REBUILT AND REPAIRS

519-363-3900 Cell # (519) 372-5375 R.R. #2 Elmwood, Ont. N0G 1S0

July 2024 57

People

• By Gary West •

Children’s safety day at dairy farm a success

T

his year Rick and Erin Koch hosted the 26th children’s Farm Safety Day on June 1, at their farm on Carmel-Koch Road in Waterloo County.

According to leader Susan Martin, the day consisted of six safety stations — fire safety, large machinery safety, large animal safety, electrical safety, brain safety, and a small animal talk with a veterinarian.

At the animal station, the group learned that a large animal sees the world much differently than humans do. Children had an opportunity to try on glasses that copied how a large animal measures depth perception.

Children ages 5 to 12 take part in the farm safety day. This year they had 62 children registered, along with several younger siblings attending with their parents. ◊

Wellesley Fair Ambassador Kaitlyn Bartlett (left) was one of the group leaders. She is pictured trying on the glasses that show how a cow sees her surroundings at the large animal safety station. Children (above) rotated through six stations at the dairy farm of Rick and Erin Koch. ~ Photos by D. Rogers.

Tractor convoy salutes dairy farmer Roger Lupton A convoy of farmers met at the farm of Dave and Christine Meadows before driving their tractors into Stratford to honour Roger Lupton at Stratford’s Rotary Hospice. Looking out from a large window in his room, Lupton, his wife Marianne, his daughters and parents all had a smile on their face in appreciation of the effort by friends, neighbours and fellow dairy farmers. Lupton dairy farms with his family southwest of Tavistock. ◊ 58 The Rural Voice

Rural doctor devotes two decades to healing heart patients

By Gary West uring her career, Maureen Leyser has seen great strides in research and development in heart care inspiring her to take her education further.

Leyser, after many years of hard work and study, and writing her thesis has become a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing.

She would be the first to admit that it hasn’t been easy. However, her interest in identifying health inequities while coming to the aide of people suffering from heart failure has long been her focus and interest.

Leyser’s story begins on the farm of her parents near Zurich in Huron County. She was the youngest of six children and from a young age was interested in nursing and helping people.

Following her graduation from high school, she studied nursing in Stratford at the School of Nursing beside Stratford General Hospital, and graduated as an R.N. in 1992.

Leyser spent her first 10 years in the Intensive Care Unit at Stratford General Hospital, but wanted to do more.

In 2001 she graduated with her BSc degree and became a nurse practitioner, specializing in stroke and renal dialysis in both London and Kitchener.

In 2007 she obtained her Masters of Nursing degree at the University of Toronto.

During her 22 years as a nurse practitioner, she was able to spend 10 of those years at St. Marys General Hospital in Kitchener and from 2017 until 2022, specialized in the Cardiac Care at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC).

Hard work and dedication is part of Maureen Leyser’s DNA. After six years spent working and studying, she has now earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing Leadership and has received many awards along the way. She has been a keynote speaker internationally and across the U.S.A., speaking on her research and development of cardiac care, now and in the coming decades.

During her various studies, she has

D

always wanted to identify health inequities. She says we can learn so much from the “address” where a person might live.

For instance, there is a difference between condo living and living in an open space like a farm where exercise and a proper diet can go a long way in preventing heart problems in the future.

She states that as a nurse practitioner, she has worked in the highly medical “heart failure” world of chronic disease management, with a focus on heart failure for almost two decades.

Her connection to nursing and to nursing practice has been influenced and guided by the philosophy of one “Florence Nightingale”.

Leyser said the approach from her practice is from a place of curiosity and critical thinking, and she says she is sensitive to the health inequities affecting many patients.

Florence Nightingale, known as the founder of modern day nursing in the western world, provided the model for nurses to critically analyze the care they provide to their patients, while being aware of the patients’ social situations.

Leyser believes “nursing is the pursuit of health and well-being, grounded in evidence and compassion, and should be underpinned by an equity lens”.

It is her view “that social equity is nursing’s social mandate for the 21st century”.

She knows through study, that the Waterloo-Wellington area is the fastest growing area of the country, and connection of rural and urban areas should have the same access to healthcare, with no one left behind.

Leyser believes more nurse practitioners are needed to help solve problems faced in healthcare today.

Leyser is the mother of two grown children with husband Rob, whom she credits as having gone “above and beyond” to support her study and research. They live in Downie Township in Perth South.

Maureen Leyser, N.P, PhD is the director of Perioperative and Ambulatory Care Services at St. Marys General Hospital. She really cares about the future and well being of patients in her area of work and study, in the health-care field. ◊

Maureen Leyser, seen in her backyard with pet dog Penny, has earned her Doctorate in Philosophy of Nursing and hopes to make a difference in the area of heart care.

July 2024 59

Lakeside Shelving & Racking • Pallet Racking • Store Shelving • Warehouse Equip. & more Industrial, Farm & Retail

519-524-1740 www.lakesideshelving.com

LEON BRUBACHER 9539 AYTON ROAD, RR#4 HARRISTON, ON N0G 1Z0 519-338-5497 T GENERAL REPAIRS & MODIFICATIONS OF EQUIPMENT T T CUSTOM WELDING MIG & TIG T T SHEET METAL FORMING T

KEY STOCK T KEY WAYS

PROPANE - LUBRICANTS FUEL - CARDLOCK Now offering…

Save fuel by up to 3%

6630 Wellington Rd 123 Box 148, Palmerston, ON 1(800) 265-3594 | chalmersfuels.ca

• AGRICULTURAL • COMMERCIAL • RESIDENTIAL 5" Seamless Steel and Aluminum Eavestrough Rugged steel eavestrough for today’s metal roofing systems.

Siding • Soffit • Fascia • Steel Roofing 411575 Sideroad 41, Mount Forest

519-323-9841 60 The Rural Voice

The

Rural Voice

Business Centre To place your ad call: 519-523-4311 or email: rvads@northhuron.on.ca Brad Doney Independently Owned & Operated by

B&B Reglazing & Liners Call: (519) 440-3799 35642 Huron Rd. Goderich, Ontario N7A 3X8 brad.doney@bathmaster.com www.bathmaster.com

►Quality bathtub reglazing ►Acrylic bathtub liners ►Custom wall surrounds ►Clawfoot tub restoration ►Free in-home estimates ►Tub cut to shower conversion

CUSTOM PROCESSING ———— CUT & WRAP Howard & Rosanna Brubacher 7335 12th Line RR2 Alma ON, N0B 1A0

519-846-1319

C E N T R E

DL Distributing Dave Mustard 519-794-3334 Authorized Dealer

• Farm Lanes • Campgrounds • Driveways • Horse Riding Arenas Brent Pryce 519-525-6295

AGRICULTURAL

Tough on Winter, Easy on You

Email: dlmustard2@gmail.com 556735 Strathaven Road, Chatsworth, ON

RESIDENTIAL

NEW CONSTRUCTION RENOVATIONS

519-524-0253

B U S I N E S S

Profitable, Actionable, Advice Crop Planning SWAT Maps/VR Scripts Soil Sampling Cropwalker Newsletter

Jonathan Zettler CCA-ON, 4R NMS 519-323-7505 jz@fieldwalker.ca fieldwalker.ca

July 2024 61

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? I can help with...

REAL ESTATE • Farm, residential, country, cottages, condominiums.

• Thinking of Buying or Selling? Rightsizing? Relocating?

• Market value analysis on your property.

Gladys Munro Realtor® “Welcome to connect with me anytime.”

Direct: 519.389.8242 Office: 519.396.3300 gladysmunro21@gmail.com 926 Queen St. Kincardine, ON

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

STEFFEN WELL DRILLING 519-531-0355 Full service to all boats and marine engines

ARGYLE Marine & Small Engines Inc.

33973 Church Camp Rd., Goderich 519-524-5361 Email: argylemarine1960@gmail.com

TEESWATER, ON

mike@steffenwelldrilling.ca

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

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

TREE TRIMMING & REMOVAL Any Size. Any Place • FULLY INSURED • FREE ESTIMATES • OVER 18 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

5554 Highway 23 Harriston, ON Office: 519-638-0121 Cell: 226-885-0045

Lucknow Auto Parts Supply 37521 Amberley Rd., Lucknow 519-528-2220

FULL SERVICE: Tree Trimming • Tree Removal • Stump Grinding • Brush Chipping •Thorough Cleanup • Fire Wood & Wood Chips Sales Monday-Friday 7:30 am - 6:00 pm Saturdays on request We accept payment by cash, cheque or E-transfer

Spike’s Auto Parts 252 Queen St., Kincardine 519-396-1515 Email: lap@porters.ca

Organic Growers Wanted Long term production contracts available for HR Winter Wheat, Winter Barley, Winter Spelt and Winter Canola Also available in 2024 : production contracts for Soybeans, Edible Beans, Sunflowers, Peas contact: Wehrmann Grain & Seed Ltd

RR 1 Ripley, Ontario N0G 2R0 Cell: 519.955.0386 • Office: 519.395.3126 • Fax: 519.395.2935

e-mail: ingasven@hurontel.on.ca

62 The Rural Voice

www.wehrmanngrainandseed.ca

Leadership in energy and environmental design

Devon Henry 519-505-2473 84772 McDonald Line • Box 616 • Brussels

devonjhenry@hotmail.com

Your Source of Trees Year Round Explore this year’s inventory of potted trees and larger trees in wire baskets. Stock will become available in April.

Designing, Planting and Tree Spading Available Tim & Christine Diebel Phone 519-291-4754 Fax 519-291-3968 Email tcdiebel@outbacktreefarm.com 5290 Line 86, R.R. #3 Listowel, ON N4W 3G8 www.outbacktreefarm.com

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

-------------------------------------------COMING EVENTS -------------------------------------------Kettle Valley Pioneers Elgin Historical Show. Saturday, August 17 and Sunday August 18, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission: adults $5, children 12 and under free.

Friday, August 16, Beef and Pork Barbecue, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. $30.00, under 5 free. Sunday Breakfast, 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Adults $12, children under 12 $6, under 5 free. Ice cream booth, car show, antique tractors, chainsaw carver, face painter, steam engines, flea market, petting zoo, fire safety with a visit from “Sparky” and more. Entertainment Saturday and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Dan Patterson Park - Old Farm Equipment For more info call 519842-0338 or 519-631-5446 -------------------------------------------ZURICH COUNTRY FAIR July 26-28, 2024 - Fireworks at dusk (at the ball diamond) on Friday July 26; Saturday, July 27 - parade at 11:00 a.m. followed by the opening ceremonies. Exhibits, horse shows, children’s entertainment, evening dance and elimination draw; Sunday, July 28 garden tractor pulls. www.zurichcountryfair.com --------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------CONSTRUCTION -------------------------------------------Liquid manure tanks, bunker silos, foundations and pads. All are 100% engineered. Serving Ontario since 1968. De Jong & Sons Ltd. 519-348-0523 -------------------------------------------FOR SALE -------------------------------------------Alfalfa hay mixtures, pasture mixtures, top dressing for pastures, and a selection of organic grass seeds. All mixed to your personal needs. Available at Courtney Grain & Seed (2015) Ltd., 225 Hwy. 21, RR 1, Ripley. Phone 519-395-2972.

Ask for Carmon or Mitch.

-------------------------------------------Available for cover Crops after winter wheat we have forage peas, oat/pea mixes, pure oats and special mixes with radish and brassicas. For pricing contact Courtney Grain & Seed (2015) Ltd., 225 Hwy. 21, RR 1, Ripley. Phone 519-395-2972. Ask for Carmon or Mitch.

-------------------------------------------Glenlee Gardens - strawberries, raspberries, peas, beans, corn, garden greens and colours.

Palmerston Farmers Market every Saturday, call to order or visit the farm Monday to Saturday 8:00am to 8:00pm. 6466 6th Line, Harriston, 519-338-2691.

-------------------------------------------Rosco grain bins for sale - 19' and 14' diameter. Parts available. Used grain bins wanted for parts or reuse. Closed Sundays, 519-3383920.

-------------------------------------------FOR SALE -------------------------------------------Shade trees, Spruce, White Pine, Cedars, windbreaks and privacy hedges, Shrubs, Apples, Pears, Peaches, Plums, Sweet and sour Cherry Trees at (Emanuel E.M. Martin) Martin's Nursery. 42661 Orangehill Rd Wroxeter ON N0G 2X0.

-------------------------------------------Thirty-five pine boards, 2"x6"x16', stored inside. $20 each. Farm at Ilderton - please phone 519-6660525 -------------------------------------------CUSTOM WORK -------------------------------------------Custom Planting, Excavation and Scraper work. Competitive rates, Quality Work. Willing to Travel.

Ben Morgan 519-353-8704 Teeswater.

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

Southampton 52nd Annual

Craft Show Thursday, July 4, 2024 10 am - 4:30 pm Southampton Coliseum

Entry Fee: $5

EGGER FARMS CUSTOM BALING

• 3x3 Bales Automatic Acid Applications, Roto Cutter.

Individual Bale Wrapping 6' bales

Call Fritz: 519-292-0138 DEADLINE for August Rural Voice is July 9 July 2024 63

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

Call 519-625-8242 or 519-2741490.

-------------------------------------------HELP WANTED -------------------------------------------Experienced A/Z licence driver, loader/ Excavator Operator - Fulltime position for A/Z driver, experience running heavy equipment an asset; position will include duties around yard/ on job sites as needed.

Competitive wages, benefit package. Please email resume to rick@sittlergrinding.com. Office: 519-669-2456 cell 519-588-8400.

-------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK BEDDING -------------------------------------------MIRACLE FIBRE 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. 519-669-2456.

Sittler Grinding Inc. Rick Sittler.

-------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK FOR SALE -------------------------------------------Limousin - Yearling and 2-year old Limousin bulls. Semen tested; will deliver. Smart Limousin, Meaford.

519-372-7459, smartlimo@bmts.com. www.smartlimousin.com -------------------------------------------SUFFOLK SHEEP - Taking orders now for 2024-born breeding ram lambs and ewe lambs. Several British bloodlines. MV Negative closed flock. Florence Pullen, PO Box 715, Clinton, ON N0M 1L0 519233-7896.

-------------------------------------------Red Angus/Simmental bulls for sale. Completed test results available by googling Ontario Bull Evaluation, Silver Springs Farms.

Heifers available bred to an easy calving bull for spring 2025 calving.

Contact us at 519-599-6236 to reserve yours. James, Joan and Robert McKinlay --------------------------------------------

64 The Rural Voice

-------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK FOR SALE -------------------------------------------LIMOUSIN breeding bulls, quiet, thick, semen tested, guaranteed breeders, delivery included. Posthaven Limousin, John Post, 519-766-7178. www.posthavenlimousin.com -------------------------------------------MARKETS -------------------------------------------Flesherton & District Farmers' Market. A "true farmers' market".

Locally grown, produced, and handmade. 9 am to 1:00 pm.

Saturday's until Thanksgiving. 101 Highland Drive, Flesherton. (Email: market.manager.fdfm@gmail.com) -------------------------------------------RESTORATION -------------------------------------------The Olde Tyme Radio Centre antique radios, clocks, gramophones, telephones; soldestored (vintage autoclock radio repairs). Golden Oldies Antiques For Sale. Belgrave 519357-4304, www.oldtymeradio.ca -------------------------------------------RETAIL AND GIFTS -------------------------------------------Little Falls Artisan Market Over 100 Artisans to choose from!

Large, varied selection of interesting gift ideas. Headquarters of popular 18 inch doll clothes. 83 Queen St. East, St Mary's; www.littlefallscraftersmarket.com -------------------------------------------SERVICES -------------------------------------------Farm buildings, homes, cottages repaired, remodeled, restored and jacked up. Also roofing, siding, doors, windows, cement work, foundations, piers, framework, decks, doors, fencing, beams, eavestroughing - repaired, replaced or installed. Brian McCurdy 519375-0958/519-986-1781 -------------------------------------------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. 519-274-5000. www.croninpouredconcrete.ca --------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------SERVICES -------------------------------------------PAL Class for firearms training.

Ongoing courses available.

Certified instructors. Call Greg 519-291-0507 -------------------------------------------Langside Chainsaw & Small Engine Sales & Service - chainsaws and accessories, string trimmers, power cutters, small engines, v-belts, lawn mower sales and service. Isaac M. Martin, 378 Langside Street, RR 5, Lucknow ON N0G 2H0.

-------------------------------------------Scrap Metal Recyclers in Perth and Huron Counties. Secondary Resources (Perth) Ltd. The Joyes Family Scrapyards - 62 Years in Recycling Business, Perth East Location: 4546 Line 42, R. R. 1, Sebringville, ON (519) 393-5390.

Huron County Location: 205 Nelson Street, Goderich, ON (519) 524-7024. Call for Lugger and Rolloff Bin Service for Metal Recycle. Visit our website at www.secondaryresources.ca.

Thank you for Recycling!

-------------------------------------------Income tax filing for farms, small business, truckers and individuals.

Will make house calls in the North Huron, Perth and surrounding area.

Call Shirley in Wingham.

Cell: 1-705-434-8187 --------------------------------------------

DANNY’S

Custom Painting & Sandblasting 86362 Harper Line RR 1 Lucknow N0G 2H0 (just north of Zion Road)

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 Eugene Glavin 519-228-6801

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

519-692-4232

www.sgspestmanagement.ca

-------------------------------------------WANTED -------------------------------------------Scrap Cars Wanted. 20, 30, 40 yd. scrap metal bins available. We sell quality used auto parts. Wanted to buy - scrap cars, trucks, farm machinery, heavy equipment.

Kenilworth Auto Recyclers.

519-323-1113.

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

DEADLINE for August Rural Voice is July 9

BRUSSELS LIONS Olde Tyme

12 ??@ Iř ì <Oř ;P;CF;<FĔ

JULY 21, 2024 1:00pm to 4:00pm BMG Community Centre Brussels Registration open from 11:20 to 1:30 or preregister at

www.brusselsfiddlejamboree.ca

We hope to see you there!

RESISTS CRACKING & PEELING Water based, solvent free, Liquid Rubber Seal Roof creates an adhered, flexible membrane.

SURFACES • Metal (inc. galvanized & aluminum) • Wood • Concrete • Manure Pits • UV Resistant

-------------------------------------------WANTED -------------------------------------------Dion threshing machine with straw cutter, any condition. McCormick grain binder in good condition.

Phone evenings 905-983-9331 -------------------------------------------Young farmer looking for land rent, sharecrop, or custom work opportunities. Good environmental stewardship and professionalism.

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

-------------------------------------------Farmland - Long or short term.

Cash rent, share crop. Contact Paul at Hill & Hill Farms, 519-233-3218 or 519-525-3137 or email: paul.hill@tcc.on.ca

ɳɱɳɵ :LQWHU :KHDW 2IIHULQJV $9$ 6:: %5$1621 %ɷɶɵ65: %ɸɱɱ65: *52 ɱɹ65: 0$5.(5 2$& &2167(//$7,21 2$& 0221 2$& 9,5*2 +MZI YW E GEPP XS JMRH E HIEPIV RIEV ]SY 0YGORS[ 4EPQIVWXSR #HH $V ZHx BZ Ǚ HAA V , ; $V ,BZ Ǚ S ,$V Z

[[[ WRSFIPIRJEVQW GSQ $7RSFIPIR+VEMR $WRSFIPIRJEVQW July 2024 65

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

Land Access Stories from the Field

A

ccessing farmland is becoming more and more difficult due to development pressures and skyrocketing land prices.

The NFU-O believes that next generation farmers should be nurtured in their quest for land access through systemic support, and are advocating for this at a provincial level. Meanwhile, just as the strongest and most resilient plants prevail under weed pressure and drought, these resilient farmers are springing up across the province by finding alternative ways to access land.

Here are some examples of alternative land access methods that next-generation farmers across Ontario are exploring.

Five Haystacks Farm Five Haystacks Farm is a 45-acre farm in Campbellville, Ontario that is home to Little Wolf Farm, Lawoti Farms, and Carabao Fields. Without farming backgrounds themselves, the owners of Five Haystacks decided to share some underused land with small-scale farmers in the GTA. All three farmers have individual businesses and sign individual contracts yearly with the goal of farming there long-term. This land access arrangement is managed by building slow, trusting relationships, and supporting each other to work towards collective success.

Little Wolf Farm Mark farms on a one-third acre plot to supply produce to his restaurant, Midfield Wine Bar in Toronto. He has 17 years of chef experience in the U.K., New York City, and Toronto, and was surprised to find limited access to fresh and diverse wholesale produce options in Toronto. In 2021, he started growing his own produce at Five Haystacks to fill this gap after meeting the land

owners on FarmLink.ca and connecting over community and food-related values. Mark grows hard to source varieties of vegetables like carrots, onions, and cabbages. Since purchasing land in the GTA is out of the question due to high prices, Mark’s goal is to continue farming at Five Haystacks and supply Midfield Wine Bar exclusively with Little Wolf’s produce in an effort to be selfsustaining. Check out Midfield Wine Bar on Dundas Street, where Mark serves dishes with Little Wolf’s produce and occasionally offers direct-sale items via a farmstand on the patio.

Lawoti Farms Surendra farms a one-half acre plot and grows hot peppers for Lawoti Sauce Co. His specialty is Nepalese Dalle cherry peppers, used to make Achar - a traditional Nepalese hot sauce made with his mother’s recipe. Surendra grew up in an agricultural community in Nepal and spent 4-5 years growing food in his backyard in Canada before farming more seriously. He started farming 50 feet of land borrowed from a friend in the Rouge Valley, but quickly expanded at Five Haystacks after connecting with the owners on FarmLink.ca in 2022.

There, he developed a good working relationship with the owners and gained support with things like farm open-houses. Despite balancing fulltime work and family time, he has plans to expand by growing 35 different vegetable crops in addition to peppers, including south Asian vegetables like okra. Learn more about Lawoti Farms at www.lawoti.com and find their products at Withrow Park Farmers’ Market and The Underpass Farmers’ Market this season.

Carabao Fields In 2023, Jien and Steve started

Carabao Fields, where they grow over 45 varieties of ecologically grown vegetables including South Asian staples like pac choi, bitter melon, kangkong, chayote, and long beans on a one-quarter acre plot. Jien worked in the financial industry for 10 years, but decided to work on a farm in 2022 to learn about growing vegetables and ultimately started her own venture. They discovered an opportunity at Five Haystacks through FarmLink.ca, only a 30minute commute from their home, and built a relationship with the owners around shared values, gaining support with getting electricity near the plot, using the farm’s location as a farmstand, and having collective access to a shed and parking area. In 2023, they attended farmers markets, had a small CSA and some wholesale orders. For the 2024 season, they will be serving their hometown as vendors at the Georgetown Farmers Market, expanding their CSA locally, and having an online store for farm pickup. They look forward to providing quality produce, and forming meaningful connections with their community.

This land access model is successful because it provides new farmers with opportunities to share tools, knowledge, and support while farming on the same land. And, it gives them the freedom to experiment, learn, and grow as new farmers with minimal financial commitment. Challenges include balancing full-time work off-farm, personal life, commuting, and farming. And, signing a rolling yearlong lease instead of a longer-term lease can be limiting when the time comes to invest in more infrastructure. Ultimately, this model is best suited for individuals in the early stages of developing a farming business. ◊

A subscription to The Rural Voice is one of the benefits of being an NFU-O member 66 The Rural Voice

Henry Groenestege, President

Perth County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER

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

Try Mediterranean stuffed and grilled pork chops this summer!

T

he Ontario Pork website has recipes for every cut of pork and this Mediterranean stuffed and grilled pork chop recipe is ideal for summer .

Mediterranean stuffed grilled pork chops Ingredients: 4 boneless Ontario centre cut pork loin chops (about 1 inch/2.5 cm thick) 1/4 cup (60 mL) fresh breadcrumbs 1/4 cup (60 mL) diced roasted red pepper 3 tbsp (45 mL) shredded fontina or provolone cheese 2 tbsp (30 mL) finely chopped black sun-dried olives 2 tsp (10 mL) dried oregano leaves 1 tsp (5 mL) grated lemon zest 1/2 tsp (2 mL each salt and pepper) 2 tbsp (30 mL) canola or extra virgin olive oil 4 lemon wedges Cooking Instructions: Pat pork chops dry with paper towel. Using a sharp paring knife, cut lengthwise to create a 3-inch (7.5 cm) pocket in each pork chop. You may need to move the knife across pork chop being careful to not pierce through the chop; set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together breadcrumbs, roasted red pepper, cheese and olives. Press together and divide into 4. Fill each pocket with filling.

In a small bowl, combine oregano, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Rub pork chops with oil and sprinkle each with oregano mixture on both sides.

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

Place pork chops on grill. Grill for 2 minutes then turn over and grill for another 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and continue grilling pork chops, turning once more for about 10 minutes or until thermometer inserted in pork chops reaches 155ºF (68ºC).

Serve with lemon wedges.◊ ~https://www.ontariopork.on.ca/recipes

LOCAL PORK PRODUCTS AVAILABLE Fill your freezer with local pork products Order today from: Tanya and Darryl Terpstra (519-291-7603) or visit Leis Feeds in Milverton – Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon

Pork supplied by: Perth County Pork Producers BBQ services for large groups are also available, contact: perthcountyporkproducers@gmail.com for more details.

July 2024 67

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

519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551

NEWSLETTER

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

Safety Has No Season

3URJUHVVLYH $JULFXOWXUH 6DIHW\ 'D\V -RLQ XV IRU D )5(( )XQ )LOOHG 'D\ &KLOGUHQ $JHV WR 7XHVGD\ -XO\ 7HHVZDWHU $JUL &XUO *RUGRQ 6WUHHW (DVW 7HHVZDWHU 7XHVGD\ -XO\ 7LYHUWRQ $QQH[ 0DF.D\ 6WUHHW 7LYHUWRQ 7XHVGD\ -XO\ :DONHUWRQ $JULFXOWXUDO %XLOGLQJ 'XUKDP 6W : :DONHUWRQ (DFK GD\ LQFOXGHV OXQFK VQDFNV D 7 VKLUW DQG D WDNH KRPH JRRG\ EDJ (DFK GD\ ZLOO EHJLQ DW DP DQG SLFNXS WLPH LV SP

It is a busy time of the year when farmers are on the sideroads and highways moving from field to field. We all need to be aware of your surroundings and how the large equipment and slow-moving vehicles are on the roads and making turns that may be unexpected to you.

Each year at this time Progressive Agriculture Safety Days are offered across Bruce County for children to attend and learn about farm and home safety. A variety of topics are spoken about which are different each year. This year we are featuring these as some of the topics: Internet Safety/Stranger Danger, ATV Safety, Emergency Preparedness/72 Hour Kit, Basic First Aid, Glo Germ/Bacteria and a fun game of Agriculture Jeopardy.

There are three (3) days available to sign up for they are located at Teeswater Agricurl at 64 Gordon Street, Teeswater on July 9th, Tiverton Annex at 6 Mackay Street, Tiverton on July 16th, and the final day offered is at Walkerton Agricultural Building at 206 Durham Street, Walkerton on July 25th.

Each of the days would be not possible without the help of groups and organization to help financially and by attending as presenters the day of the events. Thank you to Howick Mutual Insurance – Wingham, Farm Credit Canada – Walkerton, Armow Wind – Tiverton, and of course Bruce County Federation of Agriculture for their financial support for this worthwhile event. Presenters that will be at each event include South Bruce Fire Department, Kincardine Fire Department, Grey Bruce Health Unit, Connect Equipment – Mildmay, St. Johns Ambulance, South Bruce OPP, and Margaret Vincent MSR from OFA. Each of them are very

6WUDQJHU 'DQJHU (PHUJHQF\ 3UHSDUHGQHVV )LUVW $LG $JULFXOWXUH -HRSDUG\ *DPH *OR *HUP %DFWHULD $79 6DIHW\

)RU 5HJLVWUDWLRQ DQG LQIRUPDWLRQ FRQWDFW 'LDQQH $WNLQVRQ $W EUXFHVDIHW\GD\#\DKRR FRP RU

Bruce County 2024 Directors Meetings August 26 October 4 - Annual Meeting September 23 November 11 knowledgeable in their field and will be teaching the children in a fun hands-on manner.

Registration has begun already and the days have several sign-ups already. If you would like your child to attend any one of these days please contact me at brucesafetyday@yahoo.com. And they can enjoy a fun filled day of learning.

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

68 The Rural Voice

519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 Grey County Federation Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: greyfederation.ca of Agriculture * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA

What3words - an option for fast help in an emergency GCFA representatives recently met with Fire Chiefs in Grey County. One topic of discussion was emergency services and their ability to locate remote rural addresses in the case of an emergency. The following is from a letter of support from OFA to Hon. Sylvia Johns, Minister of Health regarding the what3words app.

The landscape of rural and remote areas naturally presents significantly greater uncertainty for pinpointing the location of an emergency incident when compared to urban areas. While accidents on the farm can happen anywhere, the most recent report from the Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting (CAIR) for 2003-2012 indicates that of the 780 agriculture-related fatalities during this period, the majority occurred out in fields, in woodlots or orchards, or on roadways far from areas readily identified by a civic address. When precious moments can make all the difference in an emergency situation, we believe it is vital to use all the tools and technology at hand to increase accuracy and reduce response time for emergency services. As a farm organization, we never want to see accidents happen. But when they do, we hope that any tool that can bring help faster will be available.

The recommendation below is a very low-cost efficient tool that we believe government can promote to emergency services and citizens across the province.

The What3Words (www.what3words.com) application (app) divides the world into three metre by three metre squares and gives each square a unique combination of three words. Using words rather than strings of numbers or letters to encode location provides a simple and accessible way to identify the site of an emergency incident – saving time and reducing error.

Administration of the app is simple and integration into existing systems is not technically complex. Further, the app developers have indicated that there are no fees charged to emergency services employing the technology. Currently, there are 34 fire, ambulance, and police services in Ontario that have adopted the What3Words application to improve their ability to find people in need of help.

While the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have adopted the app for their jurisdiction, what remains is a patchwork of regional and municipal emergency services using the app to supplement existing means of locating people in need of critical assistance. This inconsistent use not only results in gaps in

application, but potential confusion among callers regarding where the service is and is not available. OFA requests that the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care and the Ministry of the Solicitor General examine the feasibility of extending the use of What3Words application across emergency services within their administration. We see this as a simple, easily-implemented solution that can serve as a bridge until integrated systems such as the Advanced Mobile Location (AML) are available in Canada.

We believe this would also nicely complement an existing program, Farm911 - The Emily Project (www.farm911.ca). This is a grassroots initiative that strives to improve emergency services in rural communities by assisting landowners to request a civic address from their municipality for entrances to their vacant farm fields.

While we continue to work tirelessly to protect our farm workers and owners from injury, farming remains a dangerous profession. What3Words is another option for emergency services to use to locate and provide urgent care to Ontario’s rural and remote residents.

If this is a tool you think might be helpful to your farm operation, details can be found on their website or app.

If you require a new SMV sign for your equipment before heading out on the road, contact our office we have some available to members.

2024 Directors Meetings

August 14; September 11; October 18 - AGM; November 13

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA.

July 2024 69

Perth County Federation of Agriculture Office: 1-833-229-6834 Email: perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com Website: www.perthcountyfarmers.ca Derek Van De Walle, President

Farming is a way of life deeply entwined with the rhythms of nature

T

he image of a farmer often evokes visions of hard work under the sun, the solitude of vast fields, and the resilience to weather life’s challenges. Yet, behind the stoic facade lies a reality that is seldom spoken of – the toll farming can take on one’s mental well-being.

Farming is more than a profession; it’s a way of life deeply intertwined with the rhythms of nature. However, this closeness to the land also exposes farmers to a unique set of stressors.

From unpredictable weather patterns and market fluctuations to the relentless demands of seasonal cycles, the pressures can weigh heavily on the mind.

Yet, amidst these challenges, a quiet revolution is taking root – farmers are increasingly recognizing the importance of prioritizing their mental health. It’s a shift fueled by a growing awareness and a willingness to break the stigma surrounding mental illness. Farming organizations and support groups are springing up, providing much-needed outlets for farmers to share their experiences and seek help without judgment.

Central to this movement is the acknowledgment that mental wellbeing is not a luxury but a necessity for sustainable farming practices. Just as crops require nurturing and attention, so too do the minds of those who tend to them. Practices such as mindfulness, exercise, and work respite are finding their way into farm routines, offering moments of rest amidst the hustle and bustle of agricultural life.

Moreover, fostering a sense of community is paramount in combating isolation – a prevalent issue among farmers. Initiatives like farm-to-table dinners and cooperative ventures not only promote

camaraderie but also serve as platforms for discussing mental health openly. By breaking down barriers and fostering a culture of support, farmers are creating resilient networks that strengthen both individuals and communities.

Technology, too, is playing a crucial role in bridging the gap in mental health. Online forums and social media platforms serve as virtual support networks, connecting farmers with peers who understand their unique challenges.

However, progress is not without its hurdles. Deep-seated cultural norms and perceptions of stigmatism often discourage farmers from seeking help, perpetuating a cycle of silence and suffering. Overcoming these barriers requires a concerted effort to redefine notions of strength and resilience, emphasizing that

vulnerability is not a sign of weakness but of courage.

In the tapestry of agriculture, mental health is a thread woven intricately into the fabric of rural life.

By tending to the well-being of their minds, farmers not only safeguard their own livelihoods but also cultivate a future where resilience, compassion, and community flourish.

As the sun sets on another day in the fields, let us pause to acknowledge the silent strength of those who nurture the land – and the quiet courage it takes to tend to the soul For mental health resources please visit: https://ofa.on.ca/issues/mentalhealth/ Should you or someone you know require immediate support please call 1-866-267-6255 to speak to a counsellor. ◊ ~Submitted by Sam Knechtel

Farmers are increasingly recognizing the importance of prioritizing their mental health and are learning to foster a sense of community and participating in online forums to serve as virtual support networks.

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

70 The Rural Voice

Index

Bautec Industries Inc ..................25 Bernie McGlynn Lumber ............51 Bervie Supply Energy ................32 Bester Forest Products................51 Blyth Festival ......................Cover 7 Britespan Building Systems Inc....7 Brussels Lions Club ....................65 Canadian Co-operative Wool ....38 Chalmers Fuels............................60 Cover Crops ..........................13, 15 Crafter’s Corner ..........................52 Crop Quest Inc ............................53 Cross County Eavestrough ........60 Daytrips & Destinations 26, 27, 29 Easy Lift Doors Ltd ......................14 Eco Wool ......................................71 Egger Farms ................................63 Farm To Table ..........................9, 11 Feeney Design Build ..........Cover 4 Food Day Canada ....................3, 31 Green Valley Heating Inc ............33 Grey-Bruce Construction ..........53 GRK Products ............................55 Hanover Honda ..........................37 Hardi ............................................48 Hayden Water Wells....................57 Hidden Home Wood Products ......3 Highland Fuels & Supply ............53 Hill & Hill/Varna Grain ........Cover 2 Huron Motor Products ................51 H-P Public Health ........................50 JA Porter Holdings Ltd ................21 Jr Farmers 80th Anniversary ........4 Kenpal Farm Products ................54 Kingwood Bins....................Cover 4 LAC ..............................................54 Lakeside Shelving & Racking ....60 Legge Fitness ..............Back Cover Leon Brubacher ..........................60 Listowel Agricultural Society......45 Live Landscape ..........................45 Lucknow Music In Fields ....Cover 3 Mapleview Agri Ltd ......................71 Marquardt Farm Drainage Ltd ....49 Martin Farm Wagons ....................8 Martin’s Nursery ..........................71 May Apple Financial....................23 McLeod Water Wells Ltd ............21 MNP LLP......................................32 Morris Sachs Silo Construction ..57 Nature’s Wave Inc ......................55 North Huron Carpentry ..............38 Nu-Matic Systems Inc ................52 Nuclear Waste Mgt ....................60 Nuhn Forage................................23 Ontario Forage Council ..............13 Outdoor Recreation ....................38 Oxford Honey & Supplies............19

Port Maples ..................................16 Preserve & Store..........................17 RCS Forestry Mulching ..............49 Riverside Welding ........................12 Rural Voice Books ..............Cover 6 Schmidt’s Farm Drainage............32 Schweiss Doors ..........................57 Snobelen Farms ..........................65 Stones ‘n More ............................45 Stoneview Custom Service Inc ..41 Superior Barn Painting ......Cover 5 SWO Diesel Inc ..................Cover 5 Townsley Barn Painting ..............65 WD Hopper & Sons ....................37 Waddell Engineering ..................10 Western Ont Steam Threshers....19

We have an experienced Landscaper who does planting and delivery for those who need the service Large selection of shade trees, including... MAPLES.... Royal Red, Sugar, Autumn Blaze, Autumn Fantasy, Morgan, Native Red, Silver X Red Maple, Emerald Queen, Maple, etc., Oaks, Crabapple, Ornamental Pears, Ivory Silk Lilac, Ginkgo, Kentucky Coffee Trees, Lindens, Hydrangea Tree, Serviceberry, Saskatoon Tree, Globe Maple, Umbrella Catalpa, Birch, Weeping Cypress, etc.

FLOWERING SHRUBS... Hydrangea, Spirea, Smoke Bush, Globe Cedar, Boxwood, Ninebarks & much more.

FRUIT TREES.... Apples, Pears, Peaches, Plums, Sweet and Sour Cherries, Apricots, Nectarines, Blueberry, Haskap, Black Chokecherry, Hazelnut, etc., Grapes, Currants.

Lots of Spruce and Cedars, create your own privacy hedge, windbreak or boundary line with a row of healthy Black or White Cedars, 3-8+ feet tall.

Martin’s Nursery

c/o EMANUEL E.M. MARTIN 42661 Orangehill Road RR #1 Wroxeter, ON N0G 2X0 1 Concession North of Wroxeter on Belmore Line Mon. - Sat. 7 am - 6 pm

July 2024 71

HURON

42 First Avenue, Clinton, Ontario N0M 1L0 519-482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135

County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER

Send in your nominations

We are collecting nominations for the annual Huron County Outstanding Contribution to Agriculture Award. Please include in the nomination the name, address, phone number of your nominee. Your nomination should include an explanation for the nomination such as the person’s or group’s contribution(s) to agriculture and rural life in Huron County.

Please send nominations to the HCFA office - deadline is October 4th.

Website: www.hcfa.on.ca Email: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca

Upcoming Events

July 1st - Happy Canada Day Saturday July 13, 2024 - Huron County Beef Producers Summer Steak BBQ. Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre Brussels, On. Eat-In 5:00 to 7:30. Tickets $30.00 Available from any H.C.B.P. Director or Harvey Hoggart 519-440-6733

The Farm Show: Then & Now The HCFA was a Performance Sponsor for The Farm Show: Then & Now playing at the Blyth Festival Theatre on June 22nd. The play runs until Sunday, August 4th.

Artwork by Autumn Ducharme

to our MPP Lisa Thompson on her appointment as the Minister of Rural Affairs.

Are you passionate about agriculture and Huron County?

Take this chance to discover more about the HCFA. Connect with the HCFA office or a board member to learn all about the HCFA and how we make agriculture a priority in Huron County. Now is your opportunity to see how you could network and contribute to guarantee that Agriculture in Huron County is resilient and strong for today and future generations.

Farmer Wellness Initiative 24/7 counseling to farmers and farm family members, free all year round 1.866.267.6255 https://farmerwellnessinitiative.ca/; and frequently asked questions about FWI: https://farmerwellnessinitiative.ca/faq

IPM 2017 Scholarships The Huron County 2017 IPM Trust Fund is offering scholarships.

Students can apply until July 31st. 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.

August 3rd - Food Day Canada

Joint HCFA and PCFA Board Meeting

Monday, July 8th Brodhagen Community Centre

Save the Date

The Huron County Federation of Agriculture is hosting its Annual/Regional meeting on Friday, November 1st at the Clinton Legion.

The Guest Speaker will be Sara Epp, Assistant Professor School of Environmental Design & Rural Development at the University of Guelph.

Contact the HCFA for tickets.

OPP Non-Emergency Line 1-888-310-1122

Room for Rent

The HCFA has a board room available for rent for $40 including HST. Call the HCFA office at 519-482-9642 ext 2 to book your meetings.

Huron Federation Office Hours Monday 9­12 and 1­4 Alternate Fridays 9­12 and 1­4

The Rural Voice is provided to all OFA members in Huron County by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture

72 The Rural Voice

 House & Barn Painting

Liquid Rubber Sealant Uses:  Roof Maintenance & Restorations  Foundations  Bins

 Pressure Washing  Asphalt Coatings  Sand & Air Blasting  Roofs & Walls  Elevator Legs  Lightning Rod Systems  Heavy Duty Seamless Eavestroughing  Fully Insured

We’re also certified applicators of Liquid Rubber

 Free Estimates

Towson Bailie 519-878-1273 Office 519-268-8500

Liquid Rubber Features:  Waterproof  Adheres to almost any surface  Resists Cracking & Chipping  Flexible in all weather

www.barnpainting.ca DORCHESTER

The Rural Reading Room Specializing in Rural Living & Local Authors

110 NATURE HOT SPOTS IN ONTARIO Informative introduction to some of the province’s best-kept secrets. A fresh look at destinations that have made Ontario famous. If you’re looking for a day trip or a weekend getaway, this book will appeal to you. $29.95

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DINOSAURS AND PREHISTORIC ANIMALS A stunning encyclopedia about the incredible world of prehistoric life. Suitable for home or school. $19.95

300 BEST POTATO RECIPES Our most common vegetable can also be the most versatile.

Information on potato history and varieties and recipes for everything from appetizers, snacks, salads, soups, main courses, breads and desserts. $27.95

250 GLUTEN-FREE FAVORITES Discover tasty and innovative ideas for everything from baked goods, pasta dishes, appetizers and family meals to mouth-watering desserts. As a bonus, many of the recipes are dairy-free, egg-free and white sugar-free. $27.95

NIGHT-NIGHT CANADA A special way to spend bedtime in Canada! Say goodnight to all your favorite locations, including: Calgary Zoo, Parliament Hill, CN Tower, Montreal Biosphere, Saddledome and more. Board book. $14.99

FARM BABIES (Tuffy Book) Introduce your infant or toddler to farm animals and their adorable little babies in this sweetly illustrated first book that doubles as a soothing teether. $13.50

Cherry Hill’s HORSE CARE FOR KIDS A perfect book for kids who are eager to learn the essentials of equine care.

Horse trainer and breeder Cherry Hill teaches what kids need to learn to become responsible and successful horse or pony owners. $25.95

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH Dr. Dave Perrin produces his fifth book of adventures as a veterinarian dealing with difficult patients from a mare that’s stumbling drunk, to a cockatoo that crunches his finger like a hazelnut, to a skunk in a church. $23.95

110 NATURE HOT SPOTS IN ONTARIO 300 BEST POTATO RECIPES NIGHT-NIGHT CANADA FARM BABIES ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DINOSAURS AND PREHISTORIC ANIMALS 250 GLUTEN-FREE FAVORITES HORSE CARE FOR KIDS WHEN THE GOING GET TOUGH

Qty.

$29.95 $27.95 $14.99 $13.50 $19.95 $27.95 $25.95 $23.95

Total

Total for Books Shipping & Handling $9.00 Canada Post Fuel Surcharge $4.00

Subtotal 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.

Saving Graceland Written by Gil Garratt

Dylan wants to know two things:

1) Where is her mom?

2) Why does Grampa like Elvis so much?

Photo by Gemma James Smith Photo by Gemma James Smith

Goldie Garratt

WORLD Premiere Previews June 19; Opens June 21 Blyth Memorial Hall.

Preview tickets from $40; Regular season $45 and $50 Youth $20

Also this season: The Farm Show: Then & Now, The Golden Anniversaries, Onion Skins & Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes, Resort to Murder, The Trials of Maggie Pollock Sponsored by

carlylepeterson

Lawyers, LLP

1.877.862.5984 blythfestival.com

Meet Softub. A Canadian Success Story!

We have been working with the Softub Therapy Spas for 14 years now, and they are unlike any other Spa on the market. We recommend them for family use, and for the health and well-being benefits of Massage, Exercise and Decompression.

• Hand-Made in Sudbury, Ontario for over 30 years • Moveable – only 85 lbs. when empty • Energy Efficient Heat Exchange System – Just plug in (15 amp) and enjoy!

• Low Up-Keep with our Natural Water Treatment • 3 Therapies in 1 – Water, Heat and Massage • Durable – Designed for year-round outdoor use!

Summer Sale Save $500 to $800 on your new Softub!

Graphite Pearl

LeggeFitness.com 1-800-695-7338

202 Main St. W., Listowel 105 Queen St W., Fergus

Your Family Fitness, Wellness and Mobility Store Since 1988!