The Rural Voice - October, 2020

October 2020

Rural Voice

The

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

APPLE STORIES Almost every tree has a story says Bill O’Keefe, grower of heritage apples

GOING GREEN Politicians have to stop prolonging a consumption-based lifestyle says rural leader

CULINARY HISTORIANS Preserving Indigenous and immigrant food traditions is part of food group’s goals

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Contents The

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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 Publisher: Deb Sholdice

22

Columns Lisa B. Pot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Keith Roulston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Kate Procter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Jeffrey Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Mabel’s Grill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Gardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Woodlots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Agrilaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Departments

Editor: Lisa B. Pot rveditorlisa@northhuron.on.ca

OCTOBER 2020 • Cover Photo Bill O’Keefe of O’Keefe Grange.

Photo by Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

• Deadlines: Nov. Issue

– Oct. 13

Dec. Issue – Nov. 10

18 High Density and New Varieties New varieties, Salish and Zestar, make debut at Goldsmith Orchards

22 600 Heritage Trees and Counting The O’Keefes collect heritage trees for their unique flavours and the stories that come with them.

27 Going Green in Oxford Mayor Dave Mayberry leads the charge to become an energyefficient county

Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Ruralite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 News & Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Business Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . .63

30 Culinary Historians

Newsletters

35 Hosta Haven at Riverbend

National Farmers Union . . . . . . .59 Grey County Federation . . . . . . .60 Bruce County Federation . . . . .61 Perth County Federation . . . . . .62 Huron County Federation . . . . . .64

Rural Voice

Saving the cookbooks and recipes that capture the immigrant cooking experience

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

Riverbend Nurseries is home to over 1,200 varieties of hostas

38 Decorate then Cook with Pumpkin Pumpkin recipes abound for this versatile fruit

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

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

NH

ORTH URON

PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.

A division of North Huron Publishing Company Inc.

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

Racism is everyone’s problem The Editor, I totally disagree with Mel Luymes (Wrestling with #BlackLivesMatter, August issue of The Rural Voice) and Josh Suppan (Feedback - September issue of The Rural Voice) view that racism is only a white problem. My experience is it is everyone’s problem.

I am white and have experienced racism from Indigenous people (Audrey Falls trading posts where I was informed that I could not get fuel or an ice cream cone as they did not serve whites there), from Blacks at a club in Toronto where I was informed that I should get my Honky a?? out of there as this club was for Blacks only

and in Quebec where I was refused service because I could not speak French even though I tried. These are just some of the incidents I have encountered in my travels across this country.

The most recent incident was a friend of mine who was forced out of a trucking firm that had been purchased by some East Indian people because he was white and all the loads started going to East Indian drivers.

As can be seen from the above, all people can be racist in nature at times, and we have to understand this problem and correct it. ◊ – Rick Butler Feversham, ON

advertisements to people who mentioned a problem that your advertisers can help fix.

I enjoy all your monthly contributors and would someday like to meet Kate Procter in person. She does a fantastic job.

Your forestry column by Steve Bowers was usually one of my first reads. I hope his retirement is very enjoyable. Your new forestry columnist, Donna Lacey, stepped up to the challenge of replacing him and we’ve hardly noticed a transition.

Keep up the good work, Rural Voice! Thank you so much. ◊ – Gary Shute Bognor, ON

Keep up the good work

Be vocal about carbon tax

The Editor, Thank you for producing such an interesting magazine. I’m a long-time subscriber and I think you always have fantastically interesting articles. I quite often cut out and forward

The Editor, There is an opportunity for your readership to add its voice and strengthen the growing call to exempt farmers from paying the carbon tax on farm-use propane and natural gas. It is not that common but it is very reassuring to see such solidarity from so many groups right across Canada with respect to a single farm-related issue. This includes commodity groups, accredited farm organizations, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Ontario Agri Business Association (the OABA serves as the representative organization for crop input suppliers, country grain elevators and feed manufacturing facilities operating out of 375 business locations throughout Ontario).

If anyone would like to support this ‘call to exempt’, please do the following: Prepare an email stating: I support the call to exempt farmers from paying the carbon tax on farm use propane and natural gas.

Include your name and address.

Send it to the following email addresses: Justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca; Marie-Claude.Bibeau@parl.gc.ca; A G R I @ p a r l . g c . c a ; Erin.OToole@parl.gc.ca; YvesFrancois.Blanchet@parl.gc.ca; Jagmeet.Singh@parl.gc.ca and Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca Send it to your local MP and MPP.

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Feedback What is at the heart of this exemption request is the recognition and understanding that farmers are primary producers and, for the most part, price takers and end users. We have no way to recoup this cost.

Everyone in the chain above us can recover the cost of the carbon tax paid by them by passing it on (i.e. billing the farmer for it) but farmers have no way to recoup this cost because we cannot set prices in a global market (but must try to remain competitive in that market). It is the reason why gasoline and diesel fuel for farm use have been exempted from carbon tax pricing. The same logic should apply to farm use propane and natural gas.

Grain must be dried. Barns must be heated. Crops must be irrigated.

Boilers must be fired to create steam for pellet mill operation in the production of livestock and poultry feeds. These are not optional activities and, at the present time, there are no viable replacements for fossil fuels to dry the crops, heat the barns, irrigate the crops and fire the boilers.

On August 11, 2020, the AshfieldColborne-Wawanosh (ACW) Township Council, Huron County, passed a resolution asking that the federal government of Canada support the broad-based call to exempt farmers from paying the carbon tax on farm-use propane and natural gas. The motion was sent to Lisa Thompson, MPP for HuronBruce and Ben Lobb MP for HuronBruce. A copy of the motion was sent to all lower tier municipalities in the County of Huron and the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus for their consideration. On September 2 Huron County Council supported the same resolution. As part of the farming community in Huron County we are deeply appreciative of ACW and Huron County Councils for acting on our letters.

The fall harvest is just around the corner. There will be a reconvening of our federal parliament on September 23 and a throne speech. It is possible that a federal election may follow. Now is the time for the grassroots to make its voice heard.

Please join us!◊ – Anita Frayne and Maggie Durnin Kingsbridge

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October 2020 3

Best wishes for a safe and prosperous Harvest Season

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“

Ruralite

The best thing about having a great recipe is sharing it ... I’ve never understood why some women don’t want to share a recipe ... for me that’s the fun part!”

”

•

Chose energy efficient every time “If Germans can make a 100 per cent recyclable car,

~ Carolyn Crawford, president of the Culinary Historians of Canada ~

surely we can figure out a way to recycle cardboard cornflake boxes.” ~ Mayor Dave Mayberry on reducing waste and energy consumption both personally and in Oxford County~

Neil’s One-Liners (Wisdom from McGavin Files) • Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echo is endless

{

October INSPIRATION

}

“That moment when you wake up, walk outside, smell the air

Cheerfully serving, autumn volunteers pop up, wherever needed. ~ Lisa. B. Pot

and say to yourself, “It’s harvest season.” ~Unknown

For the Lexophiles

•

• Those who get too big for their britches will be totally exposed in the end.

• I didn’t like my beard at first.

Then it grew on me.

•

October 2020 5

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

Place: Is it about location or relationships and experience?

When describing place, place theorists Jeff Malpas and Edward Casey say we live in place and can only live in place. Our “place” doesn’t just have a coordinate system. Rather, our place is made by bounded, flexible, constantly changing relationships. In effect, place is not separate from human experience.

This suggests that place is actually about relationships and it is our experiences, relationships and memories that makes a place “home’.

These concepts come from the study of human geography, other wise known as anthropogeography which is a branch of geography that deals with humans and their communities, cultures, economies, and interactions with the environment by studying their relations with and across locations.

It’s an important topic to me personally as I digest the change to my place with the creation of the G2G Rail Trail. In a much broader reach, the concept of place affects us all collectively as we process Indigenous issues and what it means to “own” land and the right associated with having a deed, a huge loan, growing crops and raising livestock on land we’ve bought and are still paying for.

If, as human geography suggests, relationships and experience are at the core of place, then how we understand our own section of land requires a re-evaluation.

Beginning with the G2G rail trail, I am personally struggling with its creation and popularity given that it crosscuts a significant portion of

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farmland my family has owned and made a living from for two generations.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a beautiful trail! Flat and hard-packed, I love hiking and biking down it as much as anyone. I just finished cycling the 130 km distance from Gueloh to Goderich! As with any good thing, most appreciate the privilege of using the trail and respect the space and place for the opportunity it proffers to enjoy nature and exercise. Alongside the majority of respectful users come the disrespectful ones who trespass in our fields, leave garbage in our brush piles and park in our farm lanes, disrupting the flow of farm machinery during crop season.

It’s frustrating. I feel like my place, which includes the trail when it was pitted, overgrown and unpopular, is now an open corridor for agricultural destruction. On a personal level, I am honestly mourning the influx of people onto what was once a quiet wayfare through my farm. I do not begrudge the travellers who are respectful but my goodness, I get all worked up about those who don’t.

“Boohoo,” you might say and perhaps I am complaining and resisting change for change’s sake.

Perhaps I’m being selfish and this is likely true. I walk trails in other areas without apologizing for it and as stated, I enjoyed cycling it. I’m in mourning nonetheless. Technically, we never officially owned it but because it was part of our landscape, we feel like we did. Landowners lost ownership rights when the Ontario government bought the abandoned railway line in the 1990s.

Landowners like myself now need to redefine what the rail trail is to us.

If, as human geography suggests, place is about relationships and experience, perhaps I can rethink my stance. What opportunities can the rail trail offer in terms of relationship so that I can appreciate the space once again? Can I use it to educate hikers and cyclists about farming practices with signage along the trail?

Can I take advantage of the trail to routinely travel east, creating relationships with towns and fellow cyclists/hikers along the way? Will a

Lisa B. Pot friendly hello and a quick chat become more valued than a quiet walk used to be?

I imagine use of the trail and accepting its transection of my home will be an evolving process.

Life changes all the time.

We all, at some point in our life, find something important to us that we wish to stay the same. It might be your house or a local landmark.

Human geography examines how historians can become fixated on places. They see them as unchanging and glorify their nature at a given moment. It has led to the heritage movement in which buildings and sections of neighbourhoods are “frozen in some artificial concept of how things were at some important time,” states Dr. Anne M. C. Godlewska, a geography professor at Queen’s University.

There is a line between preservation and progression that is constantly moving.

This ties in, I think, to a countrywide notion of place, ownership and land with its connection to Indigenous issues.

I haven’t done enough studying here to fully understand all the underlying issues but the concept of place as relationship and experience really changes the idea of ownership, don’t you think?

It doesn’t mean I’d happily hand over farms we’ve worked for decades should a dispute arise. That just displaces another culture from their connection to the land. I think the key word is “relationship”. As more and more speakers acknowledge meeting places as once having been the traditional homes of Indigenous peoples, it’s the start of establishing an understanding which can lead to relationship.

Geographers, said Godlewska, need to think about their own personal experience of place to understand “how others are embedded in places formed of relationships with other people and indeed, the larger environment.”

That’s something to ponder as we spend hours in the tractor harvesting on our/their land. Or, perhaps, as we hike down the G2G. ◊

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Keith Roulston Keith is former publisher of The Rural Voice.

He lives near Blyth, ON.

Luxuries we take for granted Thanksgiving is perhaps the one time of the year when Canadians take a break from the constant drive for more possessions, more comfort and more wealth to appreciate instead what we already have. Then we go right back into the two months, leading up to Christmas, of wild spending on things that are supposed to make us, our kids, family and friends, happy.

You can make an argument that it’s our desire for more, more, more, that drives improvement in our way of life. There seems to be something about humans that says life is never so good that it can’t be better.

But because of reading and

8 The Rural Voice

researching I’ve been doing for the last year or two for a writing project, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to realize just what an easy, effortless life I lead today compared to the people who built this country.

For instance, during my entire life all I’ve had to do is flick a switch on the wall and turn night into day in any room in the house. We simply take that for granted – at least until we suffer the odd power blackout.

We can’t comprehend what a miracle it must have seemed to people more than a century ago when electric lighting was turned on and they suddenly had a light only slightly dimmer than sunlight.

When I think about light in preelectricity days, I think of the coal-oil lamps and lanterns which were still kept around in my youth in case of electricity interruptions. They were smelly and dirty, the glass chimneys requiring regular cleaning so the maximum amount of the paltry light they produced could shine out.

What I didn’t realize, until I started my research, was that coal-oil was a relatively “modern”

convenience. It wasn’t until the 1860s that oil-fueled lamps and lanterns replaced candles as a light source. And the candles early pioneers used were made of tallow, not wax as we think of today. The tallow was melted down by pioneer women from beef or mutton fat harvested from animals homebutchered by the family, then the wicks laboriously dipped by hand.

What strikes me, too, is that I don’t even need to think about many tasks that were always on my father’s mind. While some our readers still heat with wood, most of us simply adjust the thermostat and constant heat keeps our home comfortable.

The water pump kicks in every time someone flushes the toilet, always maintaining a ready water supply without having to go to the well with a bucket, like the pioneers. And of course the toilet means there’s no need either for a trip to the outhouse or the messy necessity of a chamber pot under the bed.

The water heater insures there’s always a supply of hot water.

Pioneers had to heat their water when they needed it, turning a hot summer day into a torment when water needed to be boiled on the stove or fireplace to do the weekly laundry.

And then there’s travel. For most of the first settlers a horse was an unaffordable luxury. If they needed to go somewhere, they walked.

There’s a family legend that my great-grandfather once walked a dozen miles or more with a sack of wheat on his back to get the grain milled into flour.

Even when they became affluent, people still had to harness the horses and hitch them to a buggy or sleigh, requiring extra time and planning.

Winter trips were long and slow with hot bricks or stones providing the only heat.

Today, if I buy the right model of car, I can start the engine without leaving the house. Once in my toasty car, I may have heated steering wheel or seats to add even more comfort.

And all this is just the modern convenience around the house.

Improvements in farm machinery could fill several columns more. So while life can always get better, we’ve got it pretty good now!◊

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October 2020 9

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

The pandemic is an opportunity to see the world differently When we look back at where we were a year ago, it would be difficult to find a person who would have accurately predicted where we would be today. After the first wave of disbelief that many of us felt in March as our kids came home from locked classrooms, and as meetings, churches, sports, and all forms of social gatherings were shut down, we have found ways to adapt to our “new normal”.

I am proud of how we have come

together as a community to protect each other by following changing guidelines, as scientists around the world scramble to learn about this novel Corona virus that has us in its grip. We move from fear, to depression, to exhaustion, to acceptance, as we try to understand where we are and where we are going. We have adapted faster than we could’ve imagined to a world where getting groceries is risky business and hugs are a forbidden luxury. We have all had to come to grips with it in our own way.

As farmers, we are perhaps better equipped than some of our nonfarming neighbours to understand this pandemic. We are used to dealing with the sometimes harsh realities of nature. We are used to having limited control of our finances and our livelihoods. We are used to changing plans and staying home. We are used to dealing with viruses and bacteria, all part of nature, and know they can act in devastating and deadly ways. We are used to changing rules and regulations on an international scale

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that require compliance if we are to stay in the game.

Nature is the theme running through all of this. The virus came from nature, it changed and adapted and was able to not only jump from one species to another but to also develop the ability to jump from human to human.

This should not have been a surprise. More than a decade ago we were strongly encouraging our pig barn employees, on our veterinarian’s recommendation, to be vaccinated annually against the flu.

This was not only to protect them, but also to try and prevent the virus from jumping from human to swine, mutating, and causing much bigger problems. “High-density poultry farms in Southeast Asia enabled the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 to jump from wild birds into domesticated fowl, where it then became more virulent; swine flu (H1N1) emerged in 2009 from industrial hog farms in the southern United States and Mexico because multiple strains mixed to create a new combination,” writes Dr. Shannon Bennett, https://www. biographic.com/pandemics-of-ourown-making/.

Scientists around the world are linking the causes of this pandemic, as well as possible future outbreaks, to our relationship with nature. This includes loss of habitat, and our resultant exposure to animals and pathogens that might otherwise have been kept at a safe distance. “Evidence for this connection between nature’s destruction and pandemics is so compelling that the World Health Organization recently identified protecting ‘the source of human health: nature’ as the number one priority for Covid-19 recovery strategies,” https://cpaws.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/02/CPAWSParks-Report-2020-ENG.pdf.

We also look to nature for solutions. Not only for a cure for our immediate issue, but also to help us as individuals deal with it. Parks are overflowing, trails across the country have gone to reservation systems because of the massive inflow of people, and places that were once where you went to get away from the

Kate Procter hustle and bustle of city life are now themselves bustling with humans. Good luck finding a bike if you didn’t have one already.  People are realizing that nature provides solace and comfort and maybe even some stability when our “normal� way of life doesn’t feel quite so normal anymore. Getting out in nature is touted as a way to protect mental health. This is one more area where farmers have an advantage.

We measure our back yards in acres – not in square feet, if you’re lucky enough to have a back yard at all. We may bristle at the tourists flocking to our natural areas – but I have to feel for people who are cooped up in tiny lots, or worse, apartments, with no green space available for months on end. And people who never get to experience the beauty and wonder of nature can hardly be expected to understand or care for it.   This pandemic is giving us all the opportunity to see our world differently – to appreciate nature – the raw force of it, as well as the delicacy that has been overlooked for so long. “In January 2020, a World Economic Forum (WEF) report concluded that half of the global GDP depends on nature and its services. The WEF’s Global Risk Report also identified biodiversity loss as one of the top five global risks facing the world,� https://cpaws.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/02/CPAWSParks-Report-2020-ENG.pdf.  Our future depends on taking another look at nature, seeing it not just as what it can give to us in the short term, but also how we can protect and preserve the health of the earth in a more long-term way.  For anyone wanting to contribute to protecting and enhancing nature in our own back yard, the Maitland Conservation Foundation (MCF) has been raising funds for significant local projects since its incorporation in 1975. Projects funded through the Restoring the Maitland Campaign include the Middle Maitland Headwaters Restoration Project, the Garvey-Glenn Restoration Project, and improvements to local Conservation Areas. ◊

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COVID-19 frustration mounts as pears rot for lack of canning jars

Much like the rush on toilet paper when COVID-19 first hit, gardeners are struggling to find large canning jars to preserve fall fruits as Canadians worry about food security.

Pinkie has called, an angry edge in her tone, to inquire about canning jars. Did I have any.

“I wanted to can a few jars of my pears, so I popped down my local hardware store and the grocer then drove to Walmart in town. Not a jar on the shelves anywhere. Just the promise of delivery, perhaps by the end of September, perhaps by midOctober, or later on. Not much use either way, not when canning pears.

The hornets will have them in a few days.”

“Sorry, Pinkie, I’ve run up against same thing. I do have several of the 12 The Rural Voice

litre type, with new lids, and a few wide mouths but I suspect that’s not what you’d really like.

“Guess you’ll have to eat those pears fresh … Uh, Pinkie, are you still there?”

I imagine her mouth poised in determination, wisps of frustration rising.

“Why don’t you call Bernardin.

From what I gather, they have the concession on home canning?” I ask.

“I’ve been getting used to the pandemic, you know. Though I’m getting sick of hearing about it every time I turn on the radio or turn on the TV. Floods in Sudan and Bangladesh, Pakistan too. Thousands upon thousands forced from their homes in the Western U.S. by those fires. Same thing happened earlier in Australia. Then there’s the greatest humanitarian crisis of our times in Yemen, supported by Canadian-built light-armoured vehicles. And our friends in the not-so-United States tearing away at each other, Black against White, police against protesters, left against right, and a mad man leading the way – and, yes, I did call Bernardin.”

I think of letting Pinkie know that 500 ml jars were still available through Amazon but decide to let this little tidbit of information slide. At Canadian Tire, when they were available, a dozen jars with lids and rings could be purchased for about $12.50, tax included. On Amazon intrepid vendors were asking as much as $64.96.

“You’ve piqued my curiosity, Pinkie, what did they tell you?”

“It took me a half hour to get through. The woman I spoke to – she was quite nice – told me the jars are made in the U.S., Indiana – and that Bernardin Canada is essentially a distribution warehouse in Brampton.

A canning jar monopoly, I gather, at least here in Canada.”

“I’d say the issue is related to Canadian food security, at least if you’re a home gardener. Was COVID-19 a factor, Pinkie? I mean, folks have become worried about their food supply, now that they’re stocked up on toiletries. There was a run on bedding plants this spring as I recall.”

“Yes, COVID was a factor, and

not just affecting home canning.

Apparently, restaurants and even bakeries have been buying up jars at an unprecedented rate, for deliveredto-your-home meals and treats, that sort of thing. Bernardin, like everyone else, was taken unawares.”

“So, jars are not available?”

“Not in time for my pears, friend, and so yes, I’ll take those litre jars and lids. Rings I have. I’ll give you a jar of pears as recompense, but I want the jar back.” ◊

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“I tell ya, it’s worse than Home and Garden TV,” Cliff Murray was telling the guys one morning when they took advantage of a warm day for a coffee session on Mabel’s patio.

“I mean when my wife sees a perfect house on HGTV, she knows it’s been set-up to look perfect. But this is right on the regular news programs. They interview some expert from their home and there’s a perfect room in the background with a perfect bowl of fruit on the kitchen counter or a perfect flower arrangement on the table in their living room. And after a while, my wife says to me ‘How come we don’t have a perfect kitchen like that, or a perfect living room?’ ” “Maybe because you’re a farmer, not some professor making 100 grand a year?” suggested

X

Dave Winston.

“But even with being able to afford a nice home, how do they manage to have it so perfect all the time?” wondered Molly Whiteside as she filled the guys’ coffee cups.

“There are no kids’ socks in the middle of the floor or dirty dishes in the sink. I mean it’s like they’ve called in a set decorator to arrange that fruit or those flowers, but they’re supposed to be socially isolated, which is why they’re working from home instead of a studio set.”

“Well I tell ya, it’s wearing me out,” grumbled Cliff. “I mean it’s not like we’re being interviewed on CBC or anything but if I leave a dirty cup on the counter the wife’s all over me.

And yesterday she brought paint home from the store and pointed out all the chips in the woodwork that need to be touched up.”

“Maybe it’s watching all those athome interviews that has my wife wanting to paint all the woodwork white,” said George Mackenzie.

“Ever notice nearly everybody’s house looks the same – white walls and white woodwork?”

“Well, I’d hold off as long as you

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can,” cautioned Molly. “When people see everybody else’s house is painted white, the interior decorators will be changing the ‘in’ colours.”

“The thing that gets me is how many books so many of these guys have on book shelves in the background,” said Dave.

“Hey, those experts who want to seem well-read are taking a chance on showing their book shelves,” said George. “I mean you’re some professor at Harvard or McGill and somebody spots a John Grisham novel on your book shelf – it might get you laughed out of the faculty club.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed some of these people turn a few of the books so you can see the whole cover, not just the spine,” said Cliff. “It’s probably some book they want everybody to see they’ve read.”

“Either that or it’s a book written by a friend that they’re trying to get free publicity for,” said Molly.

“I wonder how many of these guys have been upgrading their libraries to make a better impression when they’re on TV?” said Dave.

“Might be good for the book business,” said Molly.

“I tell you who’s been good for the book business, Donald Trump!” laughed Cliff. “Seems like there have been two or three books coming out every day telling us all his faults.”

“Humph!” grumbled George. “I’m surprised the environmentalists aren’t blaming him for all the trees that are being cut down to make the paper for all those books criticizing him.”

“I haven’t heard how those books are selling though,” said Dave. “I mean obviously the people who support him aren’t going to read them and if you can’t stand him, how much time do you want to spend reading about him?”

“Well if they are selling, I just hope people aren’t ordering them online,” growled George. “I mean I never know when my mail’s going to arrive anymore and when I ran into my delivery person one day she told me she has to personally deliver every package from Amazon or whoever that comes through the mail before she delivers letters.”

“Ha!” said Dave. “Remember when they considered letters First Class Mail?”◊

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

Science is a process, not a proper noun In the biography of Rachel Carson, by Linda Lear, it is so apparent that Carson recognized science as a process. She had to forgo a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University because of poverty and family tragedies. Nevertheless, from the 1930s to the 1960s, she persisted in her pursuit to reveal the broadening body of scientific understanding with “the voice of both scientist and poet, in love with the wonder in nature that she had discovered.” Her critical analysis of scientific methods and data garnered credibility.

Science is not a static proper noun. Sometimes we hear declarations that a certain method or product is the way to go because science says so. Scientific results, especially in biological systems, are within a range of probability, under a given set of conditions. Science is never finished.

Decades ago, I was ready to declare that there was enough scientific evidence to show that grazing cattle moved daily from one

paddock to the next would gain weight faster than those moved every week. Nova Scotian farmers were not so sure as we deliberated in the middle of a pasture field, with an attentive audience of ruminating bovines.

Grazing research is hard to do because there is so much variability among grazers and grass and how they interact, across extensive areas.

Furthermore, young cattle do not always cooperatively stick to their assigned groups and nimble-fingered humans may remove fencing components at remote locations.

My gallant student, Nathan, helped me fence the replicated strips for daily movers and weekly movers (who had a paddock 7 times larger).

The summer of the first season confirmed that daily movers had gained faster. Now all we had to do was repeat the trial in 2 more years and publish the results.

Imagine my surprise in the spring of year 2 when the daily movers gained weight more slowly. That was not how I understood the world. I was relieved that they gained faster in the summer and fall. In the spring of year 3, the daily movers again gained weight more slowly and then in the summer and fall gained faster.

In that experiment (https://journals.uair.arizona. edu/index.php/jrm/article/view/9581, I learned nuance and respect for the farmers who debated with me in our initial pasture discussion. In the Maritimes, in the spring, grass grows so fast that if you lie in it, you can feel it tickle your nose as it keeps rising before your eyes. At least that’s what I told my students, and

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none actually did the test to prove me wrong.

By observation of grass and clover, we inferred that the weekly movers on the larger paddock had access to rapidly re-growing grass and clover, in the spring. Later in the dry and warm days of summer and slow growth period of the fall, the daily movers gained faster because they were moving to fresh, fully replenished forage plants, every day.

If testing had been over 10 years (very difficult to fund), we may have seen the impact of high value plants disappearing, without opportunities to regrow, under spring weekly moving.

Citizens are now pressing scientists to develop a vaccine or a cure for COVID-19. While waiting, we could listen to the scientific results advising us to “reduce the rampant consumption that drives deforestation and wildlife exploitation” (https://bit.ly/ 2DWF1vO ). Perhaps Nature will make us wait for a cure until we practice prevention.

Given the inquisitive creatures we are, we often pursue scientific hypotheses to immediately improve our lives. If a method works, we are tempted to assume that there are no harmful effects because none were evident. My colleague, Bert Christie, was fond of saying “absence of evidence, is not evidence of absence.”

The precautionary principle is to avoid unacceptable harm that is scientifically plausible but uncertain.

It takes time and can be expensive to test impacts, especially interacting and cumulative impacts over time.

Assessing relationships in systems takes perseverance and grit.

Science is a process of learning more about the world and universe around us and how we can live within ecological dynamism. If we keep cutting to the chase of what works for our immediate benefit and ignore long-term impacts, then ecological systems will eventually exclude us. In her book “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson explored impacts and showed how the process of science can teach respect. ◊

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Apples

Modern orchard resembles a vineyard High density planting at Goldsmith’s orchards feature thousands of trees to an acre including Salish, a new variety that harvests late and stores well • By Amanda Brodhagen •

A

Kyle Oakley stands by a row of Salish apples, a new variety that extends the harvest window and promises to have excellent storage capabilities.

It’s one of two new varieties the Oakley family markets from Goldsmith Orchards in Thorndale at their own market. Will Zestar, another new variety, be the new trendy apple like Honeycrisp, which everyone asks for?

18 The Rural Voice

n apple is a favourite snack enjoyed by many this time of year. But did you know that the flavour of an apple can vary depending on where it’s grown?

This is what makes Georgian Bay one of the top apple-producing areas in Ontario and it’s where Kyle Oakley and his family call home.

There are two valleys in Georgian Bay – Beaver Valley (where the Oakley family reside) and Meaford Valley. Kyle’s mom Teresa has roots in Beaver Valley dating back generations. She fell in love with her husband Brad and they started farming together, growing apples starting out on 15 acres of orchard land and had a true mixed farm with veal and pigs – farrow-to-finish in the 1980s.

Their family farm has evolved over the years to where it is now a specialized fruit and vegetable farm. They are also proud owners of Goldsmith’s Orchard Market on Hwy. 26 in Thornbury which they acquired in 2013.

After graduating from the University of Guelph and learning retail butchery as a trade, Oakley returned home to be a part of the family business. “We decided as a family that apples weren't going to support an additional family so we started market gardening and selling out of a tent in town.

We did that for three years and then had the opportunity to purchase the market,” he explained, noting that the market is something that he enjoys overseeing.

Since purchasing the market, Oakley married his wife Debbie and together, they have a four-year-old daughter and an eightmonth-old son. As part of their succession planning, they renovated the orchard on their home farm into 45 acres of high density – which is one of five orchards that they manage. Two of those orchards are on rented ground. High density is a system of growing trees which is easier to manage and more profitable. A traditional high density orchard is about 40 trees to the acre, medium high

density is 200-300 trees to an acre with the highest being 1,000-4,000 trees per acre.

“It looks like a tall vineyard rather than a traditional apple orchard”, explained Oakley. “Trees are supported by wire, bamboo and a variety of systems.” In fact, you can grow any variety on the right rootstock and with the right management of the trees.

The region where the Oakleys farms are located is ideal for growing apples because of the microclimate that exists. Early blossoms don’t get hurt by frost. The warm days and cool nights are what makes apples grown in Georgian Bay taste great, explains Oakley.

“Cool nights help apples form sugars and bring out the flavours that you expect,” he said. In fact, it’s what distinguishes an apple grown in Ontario and an apple grown in Washington State.

Oakley’s favourite varieties include, Cortland and what he calls an “Ontario Spartan.”

“Spartan apples grown in Ontario have a ton of flavour and sweetness compared to other Spartan apples grown in North America,” he said.

It’s thanks to those Georgian Bay warm days and cool nights.

Oakley recounts that after World War II, growers in Georgian Bay shipped apples to England as a goodwill gesture. The apples were highly sought after and therefore shipped around the world because of their intense flavour.

According to the Ontario Apple Growers, the top five varieties of apples grown in the province determined by acres planted include McIntosh, Gala, Honeycrisp, Red Delicious, and Empire. While the Oakleys grow some of those varieties, they’ve also branched out – literally – growing some newer varieties that have proven to be popular at their market: Zestar which happens to be a cousin of the popular Honey Crisp and Salish which is a late apple that will be harvested this month. Zestar was developed by the University of Minnesota, where the Honey Crisp was developed. It is an early apple that is best described by Oakley as a “good hard apple and is crunchy but more tart than the

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Honeycrisp but it bites off the same and has lots of juice.” One of the factors that the Oakleys considered when adding this variety to their portfolio was the ability to spread out their harvest window which allows them to better manage their resources.

The other apple variety that the Oakleys are growing is Salish – a Canadian-bred apple with limited commercial plantings so far. It was developed by Agri-Food Canada scientists and the Okanagan Plant Improvement Corporation – a 31year process but not released to the market until 2012. Oakley says this is a good storing apple and ready for market late fall and early winter. The late harvest window on this apple variety was a selling factor for the Oakleys plus the fact that they can sell it exclusively at their market. ne of the challenges for growers is meeting the consumers’ preferences and what is trendy today. One of the questions that the Oakleys ask themselves is how long is the consumer going to like that variety?

“What the consumer wants is what you’re planting,” said Oakley.

It takes an apple grower 12 years to get the return on investment from planting an orchard, so if you're pulling out apple varieties based on consumer trends after 15-20 years the return is minimal.

It often takes decades to develop a new variety of apple and then bring it to market and everyone is searching for the next “Honeycrisp”. Until then, the Oakleys will continue to monitor trends and use the market as an opportunity to sell directly to the consumer. Oakley says people are happy to buy new varieties that they’ve never heard of before and a little bit of education and sampling goes a long way too!

There are many complexities to growing apples and it’s very labour intensive. “I wish the consumer would

O

20 The Rural Voice

Clockwise: High density apple orchards contain thousands of trees per acre, resembling vineyards: Kyle and his daughter walk the orchard; Zestar apples for sale at Goldsmith Orchards market; the market store the family purchased to support multiple generations of apple growers; a close-up of the Salish apple, a Canadian-bred apple.

know that every apple that they see is handpicked,” he said. “While there’s a growing movement to robots, we’re not there yet and it takes a lot of people working really well to bring an apple to market.”

What’s next for the Oakleys?

“Apples are going to be part of our future and an increased focus on direct-to-consumer,” he said.

Goldsmith’s Orchard Market launched an online store to keep up with the increased demand for local food due to COVID-19. “Generally, people are buying more fresh produce because they’re cooking at home and rediscovering the joy of cooking,” he said.

With so much diversity with their fruit and farming enterprise, it might come as a surprise that Kyle’s favourite thing to grow is pumpkins and gourds because there’s so many funky colours, shapes and sizes and they’re also a great conversation piece with family and friends this time of year. The one that struck me as the most unusual is a white gourd that looks like a UFO that can be purchased at their market! ◊

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October 2020 21

Apples

The first apple: Will it hang on?

Bill O’Keefe is hoping to taste the single apple his rare Bardsey Island tree produced this year. O’Keefe collects and reproduces heritage apples.

• By Lisa B. Pot • Offspring from one of the rarest apple trees in the world, a Bardsey Island, produced its first apple at OKeefe Grange near Arran this year.

“It has one apple. It could fall off early before I even get to taste it,” says O’Keefe Grange’s owner, Bill O’Keefe, an apple picker, tree grafter, researcher, historian and quite possibly the largest collector of heritage apple and pear trees in Ontario.

Bardsey Island is a lonely wind-swept island off the tip of the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales, U.K. It has long been a venue for pilgrims both pagan and later Christian. In 1999, a single, gnarled old tree was discovered near a 13th century abbey. It is, perhaps, all that remains of an old monastic orchard and has been called the rarest tree in the world. On the Island, both the trees and fruit are completely disease-free.

When O’Keefe learned of it, he had to add it to the some 600 varieties of apple and pear trees he grows on an old farmstead he and his wife Lyn purchased 29 years ago. This is definitely not a commercial operation and perhaps the only real way to measure its worth is to attend an appletasting event at the farm. This is when tasters realize what they’ve missed in the drive toward uniformity. One can taste chocolate, pineapple and coffee among other singular flavours in the heritage apples O’Keefe harvest and sells in the fall.

Alas, this year the tasting event has been cancelled; another victim of COVID-19. Most of this year’s apples will be turned into cider, a product they have sold for 15 years. However, Bill and Lyn’s son, Sean and his wife Cathy, are taking the cidery into a new direction with a proposed pizza place as cider and pizza pair very well. Sean is busy developing cider recipes by mixing varieties of heritage apples for fresh, new tastes. A current favourite is called Smack Your Lips and is made of Mother, Glowing Heart (a redfleshed apple) and Sunrise apples.

Change must come even as O’Keefe collects to ensure the survival of heritage apple species. “He needs to make money. I get that,” says O’Keefe, 22 The Rural Voice

Bill O’Keefe has been collecting and growing apples at O’Keefe Grange near Arran for over 20 years. There’s nothing he likes better than to research an apple variety and know its story. If you have time, listening to his stories from the front porch of the farm store is a great way to spend an afternoon.

walking amongst the trees, his legs not as spry as they were in 1991 when they started O’Keefe Grange.

Now 71, O’Keefe says he researches everyday, collecting trees and their stories.

He tells the tale of the apple variety known as Wealthy. In the 19th century, a self-educated horticulturalist named Peter Gideon tried to start an orchard in Minnesota using apple seeds from his former home in Illinois. Most of the trees died or were unproductive and eight years in, only a Siberian crabapple tree survived. Times were hard but the Gideon family had faith and using his last $8, Peter Gideon bought a bushel of apple seeds from Maine. One of those seeds grew into a apple tree hardy enough to live in Minnesota and when it crosspollinated with the Siberian crab apple, the variety he named after his wife, Wealthy, was born.

Half a century later, Wealthy was one of the top five apple trees grown in the United States and Ontario.

“But it fell out of favour as new apples and flavours came along,” explains Bill. “People want something different all the time. But I really like it. It’s a sweet apple.”

The famous Red Delicious apple almost met a quick end as well. The story goes that Jesse Hiatt of Iowa found a stray apple in his orderly orchard and repeatedly cut it down because it upset his straight rows.

However, the apple tree’s persistance eventually impressed him and he let it grow. Ten years later, it fruited a red and yellow striped apple he named “Hawkeye.” Impressed by the apple, Hiatt sent a bushel of the apples to a state fair competition in 1892 and won! However, the label had been lost and Hiatt never learned of the win until he resent a bushel the following year, label intact. Loving the apple, Stark Nurseries bought the rights to the apple and renamed it Stark Delicious before renaming it again in 1914 to Red Delicious to pair with their Golden Delicious variety.

Bill has many more stories to tell as we sit on the porch of the O’Keefe Grange store but I’m curious which apple he likes the best.

He pauses. This is a hard question.

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24 The Rural Voice

Turns out he cannot answer it quickly and I suspect, given time, it’s the tree with the best story that he would pick.

The orchard is a business but profitability hasn’t always been Bill’s chief goal and he worked many years off-farm to support the orchard. The business does profit from apple and cider sales, apple fritters made by Cathy, as well as tree sales. Bill takes orders from clients (usually after the tasting events when customers find a flavour they love) and grafts these varieties onto Russian rootstock, the only rootstock he will use.

“Even at minus 40 with no snow cover, these trees will survive,” says Bill. He learned the art by taking a course at the University of Guelph and can boast a 99 per cent success rate. One year he grafted 700 trees.

Sheep and bees also used to make their home at O’Keefe Grange but as Bill and Lyn age, they are focusing on the apple trees and Bill’s mission to save heritage apple species.

One such variety is known as “Lady”, a prolific apple tree first grown by the Romans to make cider and for Christmas decorations as the apples are red and tiny.

Or Fenouillet Gris and Fenouillet de Ribours, two French varieties

from the first documented apple orchard in Quebec, circa 1632.

Then there is Lubsk Queen, an apple with white porcelain-like skin with splashes and blushes of bright pink and red. “It looks like a porcelain doll,” says Bill.

There are many stories to be shared on this porch on a fall day.

Hopefully, when COVID-19 is over, people can join Bill to listen while they drink cider, eat pizza and order a future tree of their favourite heritage variety. ◊

Bill and Lyn O’Keefe (top) get cozy on the bench in front of their apple store near Arran where they grow over 600 varieties of heritage applies. Their son, Sean and his wife, Cathy (middle) are developing speciality ciders and hoping to launch a pizza shop because pizza pairs well with cider. At far left, a list in the store reveals some of the heritage varieties while, at right, Bill checks on one of speciality apples growing at O’Keefe Grange apples.

October 2020 25

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Leadership

Going green in Oxford County Mayor Dave Mayberry is leading by example as he reduces greenhouse gas emissions from 21 to two • By Bob Reid • tonnes after moving off the farm

Southwest Oxford Mayor Dave Mayberry provides progressive leadership in Oxford to protect the environment as he supports and implements programs to reduce waste, reduce energy use and eliminate poverty.

T

rying to keep things like they were yesterday only puts you further behind tomorrow.

That is a philosophy lived by Southwest Oxford Mayor Dave Mayberry over a career in municipal politics spanning almost 30 years.

Perhaps that is why he is slightly uneasy with populist politicians elected in the past decade who believe they can maintain power by prolonging a lifestyle that favoured fossil fuels, careless use of energy and excessive creation of waste material.

This is done by politicians to please people they believe will get them re-elected – those uncomfortable with change – rather

than provide progressive leadership.

This has led to an erosion in leadership, said Mayberry.

“People will follow good leadership if you tell them why you are doing something.”

Mayberry served as Oxford County Warden from 2014-2018, a county that has set a standard in creating a balance between three tenets of society – economy, environment and social responsibility.

“There has to be a balance. The Conservative (federal and provincial) governments tend to lean more heavily on the economy pillar,” said Mayberry.

So far the Provincial

Conservative government has not backed away from supporting waste reduction programs, he added cautiously.

In 2013 Oxford County appointed a 15-member committee – a crosssection of community members that excluded politicians – to create a sustainability program. That resulted in set goals of 100 per cent renewable energy use by 2050 while creating zero waste and eliminating poverty.

Oxford County imports half a billion dollars worth of energy annually. Eliminating that need would keep that amount of money within the community as part of a “circular economy,” suggested Mayberry.

October 2020 27

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28 The Rural Voice

That program took a year and a half to formulate with the county now steadily implementing some of the recommendations. A Canadian first, ambulances are now hybrid vehicles with plans to convert to fully electric in two years; two snowplows have been converted to run on compressed natural gas; 20 per cent of municipal vehicles now run on natural gas; energy efficient social housing operating at net zero energy use has been established in Tillsonburg.

“If you can’t do it (conserve energy) you can’t ask other people to do it,” said Mayberry.

When he and his wife Kathy moved from the home farm to another average size house a few years ago they calculated they were producing 21 tonnes of greenhouse gas with their vehicles and household operation. Over three years that figure was reduced to two tonnes by replacing an oil furnace with a heat pump, converting to smaller vehicles and all electric appliances/equipment, adding solar panels to power everything.

Under Mayberry’s leadership the scheduled garbage pickup across the county went to a new pickup schedule of once every six working days from the previous five-day schedule. Many people told him there would be hundreds of complaints but there were only 14.

One truck for picking up both regular household garbage and recycling replaced two previously used dedicated trucks. Further plans call for electric powered garbage trucks.

“I don’t care if you vote for me I will try and do what is right,” stated Mayberry adding for good measure, “I enjoy everything that I do.”

That includes currently chairing a committee charged with bringing fibre optics to the rural Oxford community and involvement with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank as a past coordinator for Ontario.

Now retired from full-time farming from both dairy and cash cropping, Mayberry, 66, describes himself as a “social conservative” but not in the political context.

Mayberry is a big fan of both electric and self-driving vehicles. An

opportunity to ride in a Tesla autonomous vehicle in San Francisco impressed him to the point that he plans to purchase an autonomous vehicle in the near future for personal use.

He identified farms in Oxford County as requiring an average of 38 litres of diesel fuel per acre to operate, a number slightly elevated by the large number of livestock farms. The county can’t do a lot about that because it doesn’t make or mandate the machinery, said Mayberry who along with son Ian had converted the family farm to zero tillage.

At the same time he estimated that a week’s worth of fuel burned by vehicles on Highway Dave Mayberry looks to international successes for 401 running through the what is possible in Oxford County and says if the county would equal all Germans can make a 100 per cent recyclable car, the fuel used by Oxford then surely Ontario can figure out how to recycle County farms in a year.

Cornflakes cereal boxes.

The county is encouraging contractors A windmill farm has been to build the most efficient energy-use established in Norwich Township so homes possible since heating and while in Germany, Mayberry was cooling homes represent one-third of keen to observe the changes taking total energy use. place there with wind-generated “The material use is not energy. significantly different, only more use He was surprised to find that of insulation.” thousands of windmills first The ever larger livestock barns established are being taken down and going up in the county could all have replaced with bigger models. solar panels for creating renewable “The Germans say the windmills energy, said Mayberry. The price of should have been half as many but panels had dropped significantly twice as big,” said Mayberry. They making solar energy ever more produce more power with less noise competitive with nuclear power. created by slower moving blades.

“It is unclear what the real price Canadians can learn what does of energy is in Ontario,” said and doesn’t work by observing what Mayberry. The province should just other countries have done, he added. set a realistic price and make it public Also, German engineers have so the solar industry knows the managed to make great strides in economics it has to operate under. waste reduction through recycling.

Artificially lowering the price of “If Germans can make a 100 per cent energy doesn’t encourage energy recyclable car, surely we can figure saving either. A realistic pricing out a way to recycle cardboard would allow solar to fit in, said cornflake boxes,” said Mayberry. ◊ Mayberry.

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October 2020 29

Food

Preserving Canadian food history With a collection of cookbooks to rival a library, Carolyn Crawford heads a group of historians advancing knowledge of our food history • By Bonnie Sitter •

C

Carolyn Crawford’s collection of cookbooks encompasses 5,000 titles, including books written by Kate Aitken, an Ontario farmer and farm advisor. Crawford uses the books for her own culinary achievements but is also president of the Culinary Historians of Canada, a group dedicated to preserving Indigenous, cultural and immigrant recipes.

30 The Rural Voice

arolyn Crawford is a cook and a leader and a collector of cookbooks. As president of the Culinary Historians of Canada (CHC) her enthusiasm to inspire appreciation and advance knowledge of Canada’s food history is bubbling over!

Carolyn’s infectious smile and knowledge of food topics made me want to learn more about the group of women and men who are dedicated to research, interpret, preserve and celebrate Canada’s culinary heritage. This includes the food traditions of the First Nations peoples and generations of immigrants from all parts of the world. Programs, events and publications are developed by the CHC to educate its members and the public about the foods and beverages of Canada’s past. Originally they were the Culinary Historians of Ontario but in 2010 they became the Culinary Historians of Canada and they welcome new members across Canada.

Carolyn lives on a farm at Caledon in the municipality of Peel. She has a lovely, big, red-brick home with a collection of cookbooks that wowed me. I took a small Women’s Institute Cookbook with me published by the women of Walton many years ago that I thought perhaps might be one she didn’t have. Sure enough, she knew immediately that it could be added to her collection. At an auction a few years ago she acquired 17 boxes of cookbooks that the auctioneer couldn’t get a bid on.

Five dollars bought them all. Imagine the fun she had with those.

Carolyn estimates her collection contains approximately 5,000 titles, including food history books, and an impressive collection of government publications. She has her favourites and can tell what cookbook, and page number in most cases, that she pulls out of the book case for a certain recipe. I thought the very full bookcases in the kitchen were impressive but then she invited me to view the huge collection downstairs. She mentions her Kate Aitken Cookbooks and comments that Kate was an Ontario farm girl who was admired by homemakers across Canada. My mother was one of her fans. Kate Aitken was food editor for a large weekend

newspaper, an advisor to both the Federal and Ontario Departments of Agriculture and for many years Women’s Director for the CNE. The Five Roses Cookbooks which almost every Canadian generation has used was a massproduced cookbook advertised as being a collection of good recipes, carefully tested and approved under the supervision of Pauline Harvey.

The 19th edition, revised 1960, is the copy I have, and inside the front cover it boasts having over 15,000 users throughout Canada. It was a bridal shower gift in 1966 and was published by Lake of the Woods Milling Company. Inside my copy there are still four coupons to clip and order a copy at a cost of 50 cents.

What a deal for an all-Canadian cookbook which is why it can claim that Five Roses is “Canada’s Most Respected Name In Baking”.

What is Carolyn’s oldest cookbook? She has an original edition of Home Cook Book, published in 1882. The first edition was actually printed in 1877 and besides plain and healthy recipes, there are chapters on housekeeping, etiquette, utensils, and directions for making soap.

Carolyn’s collections are invaluable when she is asked to speak and demonstrate at historic cooking events. In 2017 the Culinary Historians of Canada’s board of directors was invited to demonstrate WW1 cooking in Arras, France as part of the commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge. Carolyn made the trip to Vimy to represent CHC and she demonstrated Canadian War Cake and spoke to over 9,000 Canadian High School students about the rural homefront during WW1.

Carolyn, as a member of the Women’s Institute in Norval, was able to weave the institute’s important contributions on the homefront during both world wars as she spoke and demonstrated the preparation of War Cake. Closer to home, Fort York National Historic Site and Montgomery’s Inn, which was a tavern and a farm before it was an inn, have offered opportunities for historic cooking events as well.

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October 2020 31

Carolyn was both a Girl Guide and a 4-H Club member. Her mom was a 4-H leader so trips to the Ag. Office to get supplies to aid in her teaching, meant an opportunity for Carolyn to tag along and pick up brochures that had anything to do with food, recipes, gardening and agriculture.

As a farm girl, Carolyn naturally became interested in entering baking in the fall fair. After all, her mom and siblings were leading by example.

She was familiar with a rolling pin and pie dough because as a child, her mom usually gave her a bit of pastry to play with as she had a child-size rolling pin. When she got older the lesson was to stop playing with the dough or the pastry would be tough and not flaky! The time came when she announced she was entering six pies in the Brampton Fall Fair. Her mom’s lard pastry recipe was used and the pies, blueberry, peach, strawberry-rhubarb, apple, bumbleberry and pumpkin were entered. The results were five firsts using the pastry recipe on the Tenderflake lard box. ersonally, I depend on Crisco shortening with the vinegar and egg recipe that my grandmother copied and signed. She titled it “Real Good Pie Crust.”

If you have old cookbooks and want to know where to send them, contact CHC for advice. People talk about gramma’s and mom’s cooking and baking and there are many traditional foods people love to eat but they are often at a loss as to how to make them for themselves. The aroma of chili sauce being made in the autumn or bread baking any time of year are topics that come up at family gatherings. Collect the recipes while you can.

Of course the topic of butter tarts came up. I asked when and where the first Canadian butter tart recipe appeared. Apparently history credits the Women’s Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie for including it in their community cookbook fundraiser in 1900.

Carolyn told me that the Five Roses recipe and the Canadian Living recipe for butter tarts are favourites when making the quintessential treat.

Liz Driver’s book, Culinary

Top: Carolyn Crawford (right) and Nancy West (left) of Oxford County compare old cookbooks in Carolyn’s kitchen. Right: Carolyn shows some of the government publications she has collected in addition to recipe books.

P

32 The Rural Voice

A Princess Pat cookstove made in Harriston in 1930 has a place of honour in Carolyn’s home. It was used by her grandmother along with some of Carolyn’s collection of cookbooks (left) which range in publication dates from 1915 to 1967.

Landmarks – A Bibliography of Canadian Cookbooks 1825-1949 says that at the time, “The scheme of a cookbook is not a new one. Many other towns have adopted this way and have been successful.” Today, community cookbooks remain popular and many kitchens have cookbooks from church groups and plowing matches that are extremely well used.

“The best thing about having a great recipe is sharing it ... I’ve never understood why some women don’t want to share a recipe ... for me that’s the fun part!” said Carolyn.

We end our visit in agreement that Home Economics needs to be reintroduced in schools. Students need to know how to prepare meals, efficiently manage households, how to budget and shop for groceries.

Maybe you agree.

Carolyn encourages anyone who is at all interested in cooking and history to go to the CHC website.

They offer a complimentary monthly electronic newsletter called Digestible Bits and Bites. Sarah

Hood, author of We Sure Can! who has a new book to be released next year called Jam, Jelly and Marmalade: A Global History, is the editor of CHC’s newsletter and she is the reason the newsletter is such a success. It is a forum for Canadian culinary historians and enthusiasts to tell each other about their many activities. It is a great place for networking and reading book reviews. If you are looking for a speaker for your organization, this is the place to find a talented and knowledgeable one. You can discover how CHC participates at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair by sponsoring classes and providing judges and how they are also a sponsor for Taste Canada – the Canadian cookbooks awards.

Becoming a member is easy and inexpensive and membership details can be found on their web site http://www.culinaryhistorians.ca/wor dpress/ Culinary Historians of Canada can be found on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ◊

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Gardens

Putting colour into the Grey

Known for their many varieties of hostas, growers Allan (above) and Shirley (left) Kock operate Riverbend Nurseries, a 50-acre property in Howick Township which has been transformed into a botanical paradise where they also raised four children and enjoy 10 grandchildren.

“A “Every night we go for a ride in the golf cart around our property to check the gardens,” says Riverbend Gardens owner, Shirley Kock.

• By Hetty Stuart •

frost came in the night and stole my world…” penned the poet, Cecil Lewis. The countryside’s abundance has been harvested, and the gardens are empty now. And yet, somehow, the Riverbend Gardens and Nursery maintain their beauty into this next season. There is a surreal beauty coming from this nursery, where once there was big, bold, and beautiful colour everywhere.

The Riverbend Gardens is a botanical-like garden in Howick Township, one of the best known nurseries in our province. Even though it is well known for their myriad of hostas, their gardens are also full of other Zone 5 flowers and plants. Dozens of seasonal varieties snuggle together, allowing for regular selection changes for their customers.

Allan and Shirley Kock are the owners of this 50-acre property – “a very weird wedge of land at the end of the concession, with the river snaking through at the back, and fir trees rimming the property,” describes Allan. “It’s the epicentre of beauty, with the river flats bringing all sorts of wildlife to the place, from birds to deer.”

October 2020 35

Almost half a century ago, this couple left the city of Waterloo for “this God-forsaken hole,” says Shirley, fondly looking over their shade-dappled property. “It’s been a great place to raise our four kids and now our 10 grandkids too.” They both see their property and business as their “reward in retirement”.

“There was hardly a flower on the whole property back then, maybe one peony at each corner of the house, as was custom in the day,” explains Shirley.

“We decided to put some colour into the grey.” Every corner of the property has been lovingly tended and nurtured to produce the beauty that surrounds them. In 2003, having tired of retirement, this couple opened their laneway and their gardens to the public, inviting all to enjoy their award-winning gardens.

“Al is a big kid in an old man’s body,” laughs Shirley. “Every night, after supper, we go for a ride in the golf cart, around the property, checking on the gardens. It’s our way to unwind after a busy day of customers, planting, weeding, and general gardening.” his nursery is a hosta-haven, with over 1,200 varieties of hostas. She claims, “We’ll happily plant trees and shrubs to provide them with the shade they need; protect them from frost and slugs; and even as we crawl into bed exhausted from our efforts, we dream of seeing more in our gardens.”

Hostas are definitely Shirley’s passion in this nursery, and there appears to be no end in sight for her hosta addiction.

Meanwhile, Allan’s devotion is the day lily. “Solomon, in all his glory, was never arrayed in so fine a garment as the lily,” Allan quotes with great satisfaction. He dabbles at pollinating the perfect flower: in fact, he developed one specifically for his wife - a bold red and yellow ruffled affair that he aptly registered “The Shirley Koch Lily”.

Surprisingly, as she wandered by her beautiful namesake flower, Shirley reached over and plucked a lush petal and began munching. She

T

36 The Rural Voice

There were only a few scattered peonies on the 50-acre property near Wroxeter when Allan and Shirley Kock left Waterloo some 25 years ago to settle on this old farm. They have since transformed it into a personal paradise and gardening business with a special focus on hostas and lilies.

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Rural Living

explained, “The daylily will bloom for one day only. The taste is quite good – crunchy and satisfyingly salad-like.”

The striking colours of the daylilies – anywhere from the subtle pastels to the shocking combinations of purple and yellow – are beautiful to behold. The varieties are described as “green-throated beauties”, some with “toothy edges” and “beautiful eyes”. Their happy faces always seem to show off after a summer rain, making the decision-process incredibly hard for the customer.

There is a silence now, as the gardens, and their gardeners, prepare for a rest. The sign: CLOSED FOR THE SEASON is hung, and Allan and Shirley are taking the time from the busyness of business to enjoy autumn. Eventually, they will savour winter’s beauty from inside, reflecting on a year full of blessings, and dreaming of new varieties to order for the spring.

The owners at 43846 C Line Rd, Wroxeter feel incredibly blessed to be living in this country. Their website is http://riverbend gardens.net/ ◊

Recipes by Dorothy Brown Henderson

Expanding the pumpkin patch

E

very year millions of Canadians buy a nutritious, affordable, versatile fruit in October, then throw it in the garbage pail or compost bin.

We wouldn’t think of doing this with other excellent fruit such as apples, peaches, plums and pears.

Why do we do this with pumpkin?

Not only are pumpkins cheap and cheerful, they are also loaded with blood pressure regulating minerals, potassium, magnesium and iron. In addition, pumpkin fiber helps to stabilize blood sugars.

Although pumpkins are botanically classified as fruit, we also use them in savoury dishes since they are low in sugar. This is similar to the way we use tomatoes as a vegetable, although they are really fruits, too.

This month, with pumpkins readily available at farm gates, farmers’ markets and supermarkets, it gives us an opportunity to re-focus on this sturdy fruit and, by doing this, we join with millions of worldcitizens who use pumpkin as an affordable, regular food staple.

A friend who lived for many years in Zambia describes a standard economical dish, widely eaten in that country. It is simply called “pumpkin with peanuts.” Chunks of peeled pumpkin, onions, tomatoes and seasonings are stewed in a large pot.

In the last ten minutes of cooking, a handful of peanuts is added, making it a dish loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein.

Globally, pumpkin is widely used in Asia, India, Africa, Central and South America and is popular in Ukrainian dishes.

European settlers in Canada observed First Nations communities growing this fruit and quickly made it a staple food crop to help their family through extended times when no food could be grown. To preserve pumpkin for winter use, they stored it in root cellars or dried slices of peeled pumpkin over the hearth.

Today, the preferred way to preserve pumpkin is by freezing. To prepare a pumpkin for the freezer, cut

38 The Rural Voice

it in half, take out the seeds, turn it upside down on a cookie sheet and bake until soft (about 50 minutes).

There is an added bonus to this: it fills the house with a fantastic aroma.

When the pumpkin is tender and cooled, scoop out the flesh and mash until smooth, adding a little water. I prefer to purée the pumpkin in my

blender or food processor, but that is a personal preference. Freeze in one or two cup portions for later use.

While the pumpkin is cooking, rinse the seeds, sprinkle with salt and put them into the oven to roast as the pumpkin is cooking. They make a nutritious, tasty snack.

You may also buy prepared

No more throwing pumpkins in the compost when decorating is done! Turn the nutrients and fibre from pumpkins into a pumpkin-spice latte using a pumpkinspice syrup or make a ravioli with pumpkin alfredo sauce by adding butter, garlic, chicken broth, milk, parmesan cheese, parsley and sage among other ingredients.

Recipes pumpkin in the supermarket but a word of caution – look carefully at the can. It’s possible to buy either “pure pumpkin” – a basic pumpkin purée or pumpkin pie filling which contains sugar and spices and offers instruction on what to add to make a pie. The pure pumpkin is more versatile.

Annually, according to Statistics Canada, 2,500 Canadian farms grow 30 thousand metric tonnes of pumpkin. Most of us think “pumpkin pie” for holiday seasons. Perhaps it’s time to expand our culinary use of this excellent fruit.

Here are some new ways to enjoy pumpkin.

Pumpkin Soup Ingredients 2 tbsp butter or margarine 2 green onions, chopped 1 small cooking onion, chopped 2 tbsp flour 1 tsp salt 2 cups chicken broth 2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin ¼ tsp ground nutmeg 1/8 tsp thyme 2 cups milk 1 tbsp chopped parsley Directions: Over medium heat, sauté the onion in butter until it is golden and soft (about 5 minutes).

Stir in flour and salt. Cook for 1 minute.

Raise the heat and, stirring with a whisk, add the chicken broth, pumpkin, nutmeg and thyme.

When the soup has thickened slightly, stir in milk.

Garnish with chopped parsley.

This soup may be puréed in a blender if desired. Serves 6.

Ravioli with Pumpkin Alfredo Sauce Ingredients: 1 package frozen ravioli 2 tbsp butter or margarine 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 tbsp flour 2 cups chicken broth 1 cup milk ½ cup Parmesan cheese ½ cup mashed cooked pumpkin ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage or 1 tsp dried sage Dash nutmeg

½ cup chopped, toasted pine nuts or walnuts (optional) Directions: Cook the ravioli according to the instructions on the package. Drain.

Melt butter over medium heat.

Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add flour and raise the heat, whisking while you stir in the chicken broth and milk.

Lower the heat to a soft boil, then stir in cheese, pumpkin, parsley, sage and nutmeg.

Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the cooked ravioli to the pumpkin sauce and, if desired, serve topped with toasted nuts or extra chopped parsley. Serves 4-6 Pumpkin cookies

Ingredients: 1 cup butter or margarine 1 cup sugar 1 cup cooked and mashed pumpkin 1 egg, beaten 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup white flour 1 tsp each of baking powder and cinnamon ½ tsp each of baking soda and allspice or nutmeg ½ cup raisins or dried cranberries ½ cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans or almonds) Directions: Blend together the butter and sugar.

Stir in the pumpkin, egg and vanilla.

Sift together and add the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and allspice or nutmeg.

When well blended, stir in the dried fruit and nuts.

Using a large spoon and your index finger, drop cookie dough onto

greased baking sheets. Flatten slightly by dipping the bottom of a drinking glass into water. Shake off the droplets and press lightly on the cookie dough. Dip back into water if the glass bottom gets sticky.

Bake for 15 minutes in 375° oven.

Makes 36 cookies.

Pumpkin Ice Cream It is possible to make ice cream without a machine but using an ice cream maker gives a smoother product because the churning process breaks up ice crystals, which can make the ice cream grainy.

Ingredients: 2 cups milk 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup sugar 2 cups mashed cooked pumpkin 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp nutmeg ½ tsp allspice ½ tsp vanilla ¼ tsp ground ginger 1 cup cream 1 cup pecans or walnuts Directions: Using a heavy pot, heat the milk over medium to high heat, being careful not to scorch the bottom.

Whisking rapidly, add all the remaining ingredients except the cream and nuts. Cook at a soft boil for about four minutes.

Cool, then add cream and nuts.

Pour into freezer container and process according to the machine’s instructions.

Serves 10.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Ingredients: First, prepare a pumpkin spice syrup.

Boil together 1 ½ cups sugar 1 ½ cups water 4 tbsp pumpkin purée 1 tsp each of cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger and ground nutmeg Directions: To make the latte, heat one cup milk until steaming but not boiling.

Stir in one tablespoon instant coffee crystals and three tablespoons of pumpkin spice syrup. Garnish with whipped cream and a pinch of pumpkin pie spice.

Serves one.

50 – 60 minutes. ◊ October 2020 39

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

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Planning for the early whisper of spring

like hostas and ferns. I have some narcissi planted around a slowemerging hosta but since the bulbs are allowed to die back naturally the hosta has a hard time emerging among the leaves and sometimes looks like it is losing the battle for survival, but that is another story.

It starts here with the delicate, feathery foliage and pale lavender hues of Corydalis solida. It reminds me of delicate bleeding heart but in miniature size. Its cousin Corydalis lutea or yellow fumitory blooms all summer around the patio and along the edges of paths. It delights for a few days and then quietly disappears as the wee hosta emerges.

The Yellow Trout lily near the back door is a sure indicator that spring is here. We see the lovely spotted leaves push through the ground cover and their nodding yellow bells actually last for quite a while before dying back.

Last month I dropped the news of our move to town and we are still grappling with 47 years of collecting and accumulating. As I write this we are in countdown mode before the movers arrive in five days. As the boxes pile up and bundles of recycled garden and science magazines hit the road, I started looking around the garden.

Like many gardeners, thoughts of spring are ever present as the nights get cooler and the days shorter. Some of the houseplants have been gifted and others are getting a repotting and are coming with us. Thank heavens my last four geranium slips never made it to the garden and are potted up and ready for the move. They will provide the basis for my geraniums next spring.

Spring bloomers such as yellow aconites are a One can ease out bits of bright spot in the early, muddy days of spring. hostas and lilies but it is the ephemerals of spring that I will miss.

We have had hepatica here but if Those sparkling wee herbaceous conditions are not right they perennials that grow in deciduous disappear like so many others. Their woodlands. We like to think they Latin name of anemone acutiloba enjoy the shade but in reality they helps you picture their lovely sixlove the sun and have a rushed petal simple flowers and three-lobed season to bloom and set seeds before leaves. Some varieties have mottled the tree canopy shorten their season. leaves (sharp-lobed liverleaf). They Once they have achieved producing require a more moist environment seeds they quietly withdraw into the than what we can offer. garden soil.

The last one on my list is Virginia These woodland lovelies thrive in bluebells, Mertensia Virginia. I had moisture-retentive, humus-rich soil often seen photos of them and just with lots of organic matter and leaf the name makes me smile. So litter. (Think about leaves gathered in imagine my delight when this lovely the fall and added to this part of your spray of blue trumpets shows up in garden.) the early spring garden. I knew When planting dig in some wellimmediately what it was and was so composted manure and pop them surprised as I had not planted it! under deciduous trees and shrubs or Since then it has travelled around the in among slow-emerging perennials garden to a couple of other spots. It

Gardening reaches to about 30 to 40 cm (16 to 18 inches) tall with several stems laden with a number of one-inch skyblue flared bells opening from pink buds. Once finished blooming it too quietly dies back waiting for next spring.

All of these plants arrived via friends or local plant sales and can be tricky to find on line to purchase.

To create an early spring sensation in your garden look to some of the “minor” bulbs. These little fellows enjoy the same slightly moist, welldrained soil in full to part shade.

Water them well. I always add bone meal to the soil and, if I think of it in the spring, I add a bit more on the surface of the soil just after blooming. Gotta make sure those leaves feed the bulbs in preparation for next year!

Snowdrops are always a favourite and you can find ruffled doubles, tall ones and some with green ribbons around the edges of the petals.

One of my favourites is winter aconite. It is the sweetest bright yellow buttercup-like flower that hugs the ground with its pretty green ruff around each bloom. I just got two patches looking nice this past spring. The yellow is really electric after a winter of snow and, in some cases, mud. Another reason we like daffodils, the colours!

We have a lovely patch of Grecian windflowers that have travelled from the garden out into the lawn. They are about 15 to 25 cm high and have both white and blue flowers. There is also a rose colour. They have lovely daisy-like blooms and fern-like leaves. It does not take long before they die down and the grass can be cut.

And last, but certainly not least, is the Checkered Lily or Guinea-Hen flower, fritillaria meleagris. I use the Latin so it is not confused with the large crown Imperial that is also a member of the fritillaria family. Each delicate stem has two or three wee nodding flowers. Mine are only about 12 to 16 cm high. It will take a few seasons to multiply and look impressive, but for now simply finding their wee blooms with the delicate markings is a treat. ◊

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Advice • Lisa B. Pot •

Learn to identify growth stages Identifying growth stages is key to great crop stands advise cereal specialists during virtual Diagnostic Days demos

L

earning to stage your wheat crop lets you make the most money out of your crop, said Joanna Follings, Cereal Specialist with OMAFRA who teams up with Peter Johnson (Wheat Pete) in a video series explaining growth stages.

Created by OMAFRA, the University of Guelph and the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, Diagnostic Days are normally offered in Ridgetown in July. This year, they went virtual when bi-weekly videos were posted on the RealAgriculture website. In an early September episode, Follings and Johnson can be seen in a wheat field, teaching viewers about wheat stages using the Zadoc scale.

“You’ve likely heard Pete and I talk about growth stage 32 or growth stage 15 but what the heck does any of that mean,” asked Follings. “The Zadok scale refers to growth stages 0-9 as being the germination stage.

Stages 10-19 is where we get into seedling growth. The first number means seedling and the second number means leaf stage so if a seedling has four leaves, that is stage 14.”

Following the seed stage, the scale takes the plant through the tillering, boot, inflorescence, anthesis and milk development stages onto ripening and maturity.

“We want to talk about what growth stages mean in terms of the decisions you make in terms of your management,” stated Follings.

Johnson said at the seedling stage, farmers are looking for 25 plants per foot of row. “Does that mean we get 25 plants. Not a chance!” admitted Johnson.

However, this is the time to do the counts to assess what is going on.

Key management strategies at seedling growth 10 to 19 are:

42 The Rural Voice

In a still photo from their virtual presentation on growth stages of cereal crops, wheat expert Peter Johnson (left) and Joanna Follings (right), a Cereal Specialist with OMAFRA, were just a few of the speakers sharing advice during Diagnostic Days, a series of videos available on the RealAgriculture website.

• Assess for uniform emergence • Herbicide application • Early disease scouting • Assess for grub feeding and cereal aphids • Apply nitrogen to spring cereals by GS14 Planting time is critical. If planting in September, growers can achieve a 75 per cent seeding rate no problem, advised Johnson. However, if they wait until November, then growers can expect a 60 per cent successful seeding rate and as such, will need to up their seeding rates to get enough hits.

Nitrogen should be applied in the early growth stage before the tillering stage commences.

Tillers are the most important part, said Follings. “You want to go out and check this fall because we want to see at least two to three good

tillers before winter.” Multiple tillers improve chances of survivability and fall tillers produce more yield than spring tillers. To identify them, dig up some plants and get to the main stem. Then count the tillers coming off the stem.

“This is where decisions need to be made in regards to nitrogen,” advised Follings. “If you have no fall tillers, then in spring you want to get out there to put nitrogen on. If you have lots of growth and tillers in the fall, you can pull back on the nitrogen application and wait until further along the growth stage before making an application.”

Stem elongation is another critical time to make the right management decisions, advised Johnson. When wheat gets its “good posture” by standing erect, that’s when the growing point starts to

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move. You can dig up a plant and slice it open to see the head moving away from the base of the plant.

When the head is half an inch away, that is growth stage 31. It's a good time to look at growth regulators and nitrogen timing.

When you feel two growth bumps, that is stage 32 which is “extremely critical” said Follings. At this point, all the herbicide applications should be made and farmers should have good weed control in the field. This is also the critical point for the second nitrogen application. “All nitrogen should be applied and wrapped up by GS32.” If you see a fourth leaf, known as the flag leaf, then no more herbicide. It’s just too risky, said Johnson.

However, now is the time to talk about fungicides. When that flag leaf emerges, that’s a good time to apply fungicide.

Once wheat gets to the heading stage, it's time to look for Day Zero.

Day Zero is when 75 per cent of the heads have fully emerged. It’s also a fungicide window that may be larger than previously believed. “You may have heard us say to target Day 2 after Day Zero but we know that you can time T3 fungicide application up to Day 3 and Day 4. In some instances we may have to go to Day 5 but we really do want to target Day 2 to Day 4,” said Follings.

Lastly, sometimes a farmer needs to burn down a field if it has intense weed pressure or a crop is not dying down as evenly as it could. Or perhaps new tillers are emerging.

“This stage is so critical because we do not want to get uptake into that crop.” said Follings and Johnson.

The trick is to look for the peduncle, which is the uppermost stem just below the head of the wheat. Once the peduncle turns from green to gold, then you know you can safely apply herbicide.

“It can’t be just a little yellow,” noted Johnson. “It has to be golden across the field.” ◊ You can watch Follings and Johnson’s wheat stage video at this link: https://www.realagriculture. com/2020/09/ontario-diagnostic-day5-staging-crops-for-yield-andproductivity/

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Advice • Lisa B. Pot •

Emergence scores need a close look Corn Warrior Dan Luepkes of Illinois grows 330 bushels of corn to the acres with daily checks on the crops When Dan Luepkes’ corn comes out of the ground it is green and raring to go.

“My corn does not get yellow.

Once it comes out of the ground, it comes out screaming,” said Luepkes, a seven-time National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) corn champion with top-rated 333 bushels per acre corn Also a competitor on Corn Warriors, an American show pitting corn growers against each other to win the title of Corn King, Luepkes grows 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans on his farm in Northern Illinois with a 2019 yield of 289 bushels per acre. He shared some of his tips with viewers of the 5th Annual Great Ontario Yield Tour, a virtual event hosted by Farms.com Risk Management Inc., an agricultural commodity marketing company which is part of the Farms.com group of companies.

Using both till and no-till, the process begins in the winter when “we go to extensive depths to make sure everything is perfect on the planter so it will perform as it should.”

In terms of tillage, he said they do till in wetter grounds but are trying to get most fields into no-till for cost savings in terms of the amount of equipment needed on the farm. He’s also experimenting with strip-till and sees a lot of promise for the practice on his farm.

He likes the new Precision DeltaForce planter, which replaced a different airforce planter. “It is by far a better system because it immediately changes between different ground pressures,” said Luepkes. His former planter would take 100 feet to change air pressure and that just wasn't good enough for him. “One of the biggest keys to having a great crop is getting an even 44 The Rural Voice

Dan Luepkes of Northern Illinois shared his corn-growing techniques with viewers of the 5th Annual Great Ontario Yield Tour which was held virtually in September by Farms.com Risk Management Inc. Luepkes is a great believer in spoon-feeding nitrogen to his corn fields by applying it up to six times during the growing season. ~Photo courtesy of Corn Warriors

stand. If the planter bounces a bit, even two inches or so, it won’t help you get higher yields. Those plants need to come out of the ground at the same time.” Slowing down the planting also helps.

During planting, he likes to sidedress in a Y drop, using 32 per cent sulphur with the product Humix (specialized fertilizer) and micronutrients. In terms of fungicide, Luepkes said he “is religious” about its application. “I am a big believer in fungicide and maximize its use with a strategic approach and knowledge of critical growth stages.”

In terms of growth stages, Luepkes highlighted some management strategies at key stages: “At V6 our goal is to keep that plant healthy. We cut a lot of stalks

open at that stage to find the ear leaf way down in there. The genetic potential is to have an ear on every node.”

“We don’t apply fungicide at V5V6 unless it is a really disease-ridden area. We just didn't see any bang for the buck so we wait until V12 and we kinda like doing that.”

“V6 to V12 is when we like to see nitrogen uptake. That is when the plant is developing the girth of the ear.”

When choosing corn varieties, Luepkes says he looks at emergent scores very closely. If all factors are the same but the emergent score is one or two points higher? “I know the one I would pick,” said Luepkes.

During harvest, Luepkes has learned to run a bit wetter. “Down

Advice here we have ghost yield loss and by that, I mean when we dry corn down too much, it sucks the nutrients back in,” he said. All the energy has been pushed into the ear at 26 to 28 per cent moisture but as the plant dries, the stalk starts cannibalizing. So we combine early and hope for warm days for drying.

“When we have 60 to 70 degree fahrenheit days outside, our dryer will dry a lot more grain at 28 per cent moisture than it will on a 30 degree day at 21 per cent moisture corn,” explained Luepkes.

Factors limiting high yield according to Luepkes, include: Poor stands. “You aren’t in control if you have a field with a seed emergence issue.”

Compaction: “Even where I drove the planter to the fertility system there was some compaction and I got crap growing there right now.”

Insects: “You gotta scout for insects and stay ahead of them.”

Sunlight: “This is a huge deal.

You can’t control it but sunlight is every bit as important as fertility and water.”

Maximize yield to the environment: “Choose your hydrid wisely or you're gonna lose your ass.”

Factors Improving Yield: • Scout: “I am in my fields every day. Some might say I am obsessed and I do get myself all worked up sometimes. But I figure out what to do if there is a problem and I never give up on a corn crop unless it has turned against me.”

• Irrigate: “You guys don’t really need to do that in Ontario as much but it works well here.”

• Foundational Fertility: Luepkes recommends testing the soils and adjusting the fertility levels.

• Nitrogen: Luepkes makes three to five passes of nitrogen on the fields. The first application is on the planter, next is combined with a herbicide pass and the third is with a Y drop. The fourth and fifth go on via the irrigation system. “I try not to give the plant too much at one time to prevent burning. We try to spoonfeed the nitrogen, that’s what we do.”

• Aggressive sulphur program:

“We are finding this is a key to high yields. We used to have free sulphur from diesel emissions. Now we add quite a bit of it.”

Ultimately, Luepkes said that

X

corn plants need to be fed adequately.

“I call it the relay system. When you apply five or six different bands of fertilizer, then your corn never misses a lick,” he said. ◊

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Soybeans

Crop growers can relax at R6 Going through the stages of soybean growth, soybean specialist Horst Bohner offers agronomy advice • By Lisa B. Pot •

R

ecognizing and understanding growth stages takes some practice and experience but it can play a huge role in effectively managing your crop fields. To help farmers identify growth stages in beans and wheat, Ontario Diagnostic Days offered a series of videos on the topic as part of their virtual video series airing until October 21.

Horst Bohner, Soybean specialist with OMAFRA started right at the beginning as the seed absorbs water and issues a little radicle, then primary root and then a hypocotyl which pushes the seed through the soil surface.

“When 50 per cent of the seed emerges, that is the VE stage,” explains Bohner, in the video, while standing in a soybean field. Crusting of the soil at this stage is detrimental because the hypocotyledon can break off at this stage.

As the cotyledons open up, the first unifoliate opens. This is called the VC stage. Next are the trifoliate stages. “Those early cotyledons are important because they store a lot of energy for the future seed. We don’t like to see it broken off because then we will have a yield reduction of up to 20 per cent,” said Bohner.

Trifoliates are counted as they unfold. Before the plant goes to seed, Bohner said you want to see six trifoliates on the plant. “In Ontario, that is ideal but it’s one of our challenges – to get those nodes built before flowering begins.”

When the soybean has its first flower, it is in the R1 stages. R2 stage is when there is an open flower on one of the top two nodes. R3 is the beginning pod while R4 is when one pod is three quarters of an inch long. R4 and R6 plant stages are when the soybean really starts accumulating dry matter in pods and seeds, producing the oil and protein that are the soybean plant's ultimate cash product. “It’s the most crucial stage of yield development and when

Horst Bohner, Soybean Specialist with OMAFRA leads viewers through the stages of a soybean crop.

the plant is most susceptible to stress. So if the plant gets hit with drought or aphids or spider mites, that’s when you will see a major reduction in yield,” said Bohner.

Going back to R5, Bohner suggested that it's the worst time for hail because at this stage, maximum growth height has been attained.

Defoliation at this time from a hail storm would be disastrous for the crop.

If the crop manages to make it to R6 without major stress, then farmers can relax because there is nothing growers can do at this point in terms of management. The seed pod is fully developed and the plant is drying down. Farmers like to see a pod with seeds from one end to the other at this point.

The R7 stage sees the seeds in the pods turning from green to a brown or tan. “That seed is considered physiologically mature,” said Bohner. Now it's a matter of waiting for the R8 stage when 95 per cent of the seeds on the plants have turned to brown and tan. It will still take a week or two before the combine can get in the field because the plants can

still be at 60 per cent moisture when 14 to 18 per cent moisture is ideal for harvest.

Bohner listed these key strategies to maximize yield: • Protect the soybean flowers from disease by spraying a fungicide early in the R1,R2 or R3 stage • If spraying twice, have the second spray on by R4 at the very latest but R3 is ideal in order to protect the whole plant • Don’t give up on management strategies until the R6 stage Diagnostic Days are created by OMAFRA, the University of Guelph and the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association. Normally offered in Ridgetown, they were held virtually this year on the RealAgriculture website due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can watch Bohner’s soybean growth stage video at this link: https://www.realagriculture. com/2020/09/ontario-diagnostic-day5-staging-crops-for-yield-andproductivity/ ◊ October 2020 47

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

Crop prices rise as China stockpiles agricultural commodities Generally, the economic recovery is occurring quicker than once expected. In Canada, household spending has moved sharply higher reflecting the pent-up demand of consumption that was restrained during the lock-down stage of the pandemic response. To support this momentum the Bank of Canada is continuing its quantitative easing program to the tune of $5 billon each

48 The Rural Voice

week. This large scale program is designed to support household spending and business investment.

Inflation continues to be near zero and remains well below the inflation target of two per cent. From this the expectation is that interest rates will remain persistently low in an effort to assist in the recuperation in the long and potentially choppy recovery. The policy measures are well calibrated to provide the economic stability and flexibility required to assist in a continuing recovery.

With all this in consideration, the outlook for recovery still has a wide amount of uncertainty. Everywhere there is a concern of a second wave of infection, and many areas of the world have seen cases moving higher once again. While economic growth is occurring quicker than expected both here and in the U.S., there are negative headwinds that may continue to arise and lower confidence in the markets strength.

China continues to pursue a restocking of key commodities. In their five-year plan commencing in 2021, they set out a strategy of

increasing the stockpiling of various goods. The shipping delays that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic response demonstrated to China the need to continue to stockpile the important goods necessary to sustain domestic consumption. This goal is an attempt to isolate themselves from supply disruptions, if they were to occur again with further virus concerns or deteriorating relations with the U.S.; an important commodity supplier.

Some key commodities include crude oil, strategic metals and agricultural commodities. Some reports state that China’s goal is to build storage capacity of crude oil to 90 days of imports, with an eventual build of storage to 180 days (over the long term). On the agricultural commodity side, China has been purchasing vast volumes of soys and corn. China’s purchase intentions are very important, as China is the largest commodity buyer in the world.

Following from this discussion above, the demand of some agricultural commodities is large.

China has purchased in the range of 19 million tons of beans for the new crop year. These purchases extend into winter 2021, into the South American shipping season and this was unexpected. Because of the extent and size of these purchases it is now within reasonable likelihood that China will meet the purchase commitments that they have agreed to with Trump – in the $45 billion dollar range. From this demand pace soybean futures have recently rallied aggressively. As of this writing, soy rallied and closed higher every day for 14 of 15 trading days. As long as China was buying the market was rallying.

It is not just beans that China has been purchasing, as they are also deficit a lot of corn this year. China has experienced some powerful typhoons in large swaths of cropping areas – bringing up to nine inches of rain to some fields. Even before cropping losses China was poised to see their corn ending stocks fall.

These production losses are occurring while the nation is looking to rebuild their hog numbers after the severe swine flu culling losses that devastated the Chinese herd. As their

Markets swine herd is rebuilt there are expectations that feed demand should increase by 10 per cent. It is also estimated by some analysts that China is expected to be deficit 17 million tons of corn, and this shortfall will be covered by imports.

Currently China has around 10 million tons booked for the new crop season. Keep in mind there are other regions of the world that will be willing sellers to China also.

The September 11 USDA crop report attempted to reconcile the crop losses in the U.S. that occurred because of the derecho storm that drove through Iowa in August. At this date, grower reports were uncertain as to whether crops would be harvested or not from many fields. As the harvestability of these fields was uncertain, the USDA had to make harvest assumptions, and list a special note along with the report.

For corn they lowered harvest area by 550,000 acres and for soys they left acreage unchanged. Because the storm losses are not quantifiable at this stage, harvest data will be gathered and reflected in the October 9 production report. Therefore we can expect harvest acres to be potentially adjusted into the next report. For the corn market to continue its recent up-trend it will require a drop in production and a hike in demand.

The world wheat pile continues to be one of plenty. World ending stocks and the world stock-to-usage ratio continue to grow year over year. Both are record high! By the end of the 2020/21 growing season the world is expected to have 154 days of supply. Russia is forecast to produce their second largest crop ever, in the range of 78 million metric tons. Australia is also forecast to stabilize wheat production after last year’s difficult cropping year in the region.◊

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Deadline for the November issue of The Rural Voice is October 13 October 2020 49

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

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50 The Rural Voice

How does the timing of a forest thinning happen? Is it all part of a plan within the seasonal calendar or does it just randomly take place?

Firstly, the timing of forest thinning could be necessitated by: the stocking level within the forest and the need for more space to encourage increased growth or the removal to maintain forest health due to insect or disease outbreak. Unfortunately, thinning is often chosen in times of financial difficulties.

Typically, forests within our area of Ontario have stocking levels that require thinning every 15 to 20 years.

This time span is only relevant to forests that have not been over harvested in the past. Forests that were over-harvested may take many decades to reach a stocking level that could warrant a thinning. If the forest has not been over-harvested historically, there is a possibility that up to one-third of the trees could be removed every 15 to 20 years. It is important to note that this is only possible if the trees that are selected for retention include trees of all size classes and these trees of varied size are spread throughout the stand.

Much more can and will be discussed on this in another column as this column is about timing not tree marking.

Tree removal due to an insect or disease outbreak will occur as necessary within the planned harvest cycle, or outside of that timing.

Emerald Ash Borer has provided us with a great example that even the best plans need to be broken sometimes. When a pest or disease like emerald ash borer or Dutch Elm Disease occurs, trees can be removed in a salvage cut to make use of the material before it is lost.

Each season has pitfalls and opportunities for successful forest thinning. These positive and negative

factors have been changing throughout the last 20 years and require some revisions to traditional planning.

Late summer and early fall, when most crops have been harvested there is always a large amount of timber harvesting being completed. This timing is largely based on the availability of open land for forest access and a landing or timber laydown area. It only makes sense to harvest your forest crop when it does not damage an agricultural crop.

It is important to consider forest inhabitants and users when planning the time of a thinning, such as hiking use or the spring breeding season for birds.

Late fall and early winter are quite often very wet and harvesting within this time can lead to ruts in trails as well as soil compaction. Operators harvesting in these conditions often need to shut down operations for a short period of time to let the forest dry up a little before continuing.

Late winter and early spring would never have been grouped together when looking at forest conditions that were present 40 years ago. Now, we see winters that do not allow for the building of snow roads, only have short periods of frozen trails, and snow levels that are so low that there is no opportunity for travelling over snow-pack to minimize ground disruption. This

Woodlots was once my preferred time for harvest activities as it had the least impact on the forest floor and forest trails.

Late spring and early summer is most often another very wet season and requires care similar to late fall and early winter.

It is important to be mindful of forest inhabitants, dependents, or users when planning the timing of a thinning. To minimize the effect that a harvest has on these forest users, we need to attempt to identify the users at least by their user group.

The forest users that are most vocal about forest management activities are humans. We use the forest for an exhausting list of undertakings or interests. Each of these activities must be identified within harvest planning in order to minimize the negative effects.

Many species of wildlife depend on the forest for at least a part of their survival. For this reason, it is important to limit tree removal during breeding seasons. In forestry, we typically focus on bird breeding seasons as that encompasses most of the other wildlife breeding seasons as well. Most of our bird species breed between a March and end of July window. An example of a species that breeds outside of this window is the Great Horned Owl. These owls breed in January so that they will be of the appropriate size when their prey is born which happens to be within the window of March and the end of July.

Forest vegetation can also be greatly affected by forest harvesting if timing is not carefully planned.

Besides the obvious potential for vegetation to be crushed during a harvest, there is also the chance for increased availability for a seedbed through the creation of exposed soil.

These newly exposed patches of soil can assist in both tree and plant growth in areas where the leaf litter has accumulated. The concern with the disruption of soil is the potential for invasive species to advance their populations. It is wise to ensure that all equipment be cleaned to remove any hitchhiking seeds, bits of plants, or soil prior to entering a forest from another site. We have witnessed the explosion of invasive species within

forests following a harvest. The combination of increased available sunlight, exposed soil or seed bed, and occasionally introduced seed caused by a harvest can lead to the demise of the forest understory.

With all of this in mind, the date of harvest is most often determined by the operator. Most operators want what is best for the forest as they truly do want to make the forest better with each successive harvest.

Many of these operators know how to interpret the forest’s needs and that of the forest owner or steward and can meld the two together to ensure healthy productive forests into the future. For this proper planning to occur, the forest owner or steward must speak with the operator and express their desired outcomes.

I started this column with a question that does not have a simple answer as you may have gathered from all the above. In summary though, there should always be a plan for the timing of a harvest, but the actual date of the harvest often just happens. ◊

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Agrilaw

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In the oft-cited case of Toronto Area Transit Operating Authority v.

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It follows that the power of an expropriating authority should be strictly construed in favour of those whose rights have been affected. This principle has been stressed by eminent writers and emphasized in decisions of this Court.

The presumption is that there will be no expropriation without compensation, and expropriation statutes such as Ontario’s Expropriations Act are to be read, as noted by Justice Cory, “in a broad and purposive manner in order to comply with the aim of the Act to fully compensate a land owner whose property has been taken.”

Full compensation is normally understood to include reimbursement of the reasonable costs incurred by a landowner in the determination of the amount owing for the expropriation.

The landowner will not be “made whole” if he or she is left out of pocket for legal, appraisal and other costs expended in disputing the amount of compensation offered by an expropriating authority. Section 32 of the Expropriations Act requires the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (the statutory tribunal that arbitrates expropriation compensation, formerly the Ontario Municipal Board or “OMB”) to order payment of a landowner’s reasonable legal,

Agrilaw appraisal and costs â&#x20AC;&#x153;actually incurred by the owner for the purposes of determining the compensation payableâ&#x20AC;? where the compensation amount recovered by the landowner is â&#x20AC;&#x153;85 per cent, or more, of the amount offered by the statutory authorityâ&#x20AC;?. If the amount recovered is less than 85 per cent of what was offered in compensation by the authority, the Tribunal has discretion to award costs as it sees fit.

The 85 per cent rule, which is a common one across Canadian jurisdictions, means that the landowner does not need to accept the compensation offered by the authority solely out of fear of the costs of arbitrating the compensation.

The landowner will still be entitled to recover his or her reasonable costs even if the Tribunal determines that the compensation payable is up to 15 percent less than what was offered by the expropriating authority. Only where a landowner turns down an offer by the expropriating authority that ends up to be more than 15 per cent higher than the actual compensation payable (as found by the Tribunal) does the landowner risk not recovering his or her own costs and perhaps having to pay costs to the expropriating authority.

Where land is taken by an expropriating authority, Section 25 the Expropriations Act requires that the expropriating authority serve on the registered owner of the land â&#x20AC;&#x153;an offer of an amount in full compensation for the registered ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interestâ&#x20AC;?. In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal for Ontario confirmed that this mandatory offer is not the only offer that may be relevant to the determination of costs under Section 32 of the Act. It is open to the expropriating authority to make subsequent offers to settle the issue of compensation, and a landowner will have to consider those offers reasonably on an ongoing basis. The landowner cannot sit back and reject an updated offer that ends up being more than 15 per cent higher than the actual compensation awarded on the assumption that his or her entitlement to costs is safe because the initial offer was too low. At least not without putting that entitlement to costs at risk.

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54 The Rural Voice

Agrilaw Writing for the Court of Appeal, Justice Hourigan explained that, “the objective of full and fair compensation cannot be divorced from the objective of the efficient resolution of claims.” He rejected the landowner’s position in the case on appeal that only the Section 25 offer counted. In Justice Hourigan’s view, the landowner’s proposed interpretation: … would permit the prospect of an unreasonable claimant delaying proceedings, running up legal costs, and wasting the [former] OMB’s resources, all the while safe in the knowledge that unreasonable refusals of subsequent offers cannot adversely affect its entitlement to legal costs.

Put another way, “the statutory protection provided by the Act is not a blank cheque that permits a claimant to act unreasonably.”

And it must be remembered that unreasonable conduct by a landowner does not only put the landowner’s entitlement to costs at risk, but also exposes the landowner to possible liability to the expropriating authority for its costs. In the case before the Court of Appeal, the landowner was appealing a decision by the OMB (upheld on appeal by the Divisional Court) that awarded the expropriating authority its partial indemnity costs incurred after the date of its offer to the landowner that ended up being far more than 15 per cent higher than the expropriation compensation awarded.

Landowners facing expropriation can take comfort in knowing that the costs recovery rules are designed to afford them a fair chance to dispute the compensation amount offered by the expropriating authority.

However, the trade-off is that landowners must conduct themselves reasonably throughout the full course of the dispute.◊ ______________________________ John D. Goudy’s law practice includes real property and environmental litigation, expropriation law, energy regulation, and regulatory offences.

Agrilaw provides information of interest to the farming community, not legal advice. Readers should consult a legal professional about their particular circumstances.

The

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Bus: 519-357-2222 Cell: 519-531-0252 Email: nixon@execulink.com Web: www.stevennixon.com

Need listings for houses and farms

249 Josephine St., WINGHAM, ON N0G 2W0

INSTALLATION & PARTS

www.beloretrailers.ca

Jamie Belore

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

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

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

Wa n t e d to buy

O L D BA R N S FOR SALVAGE CALL STEVE

519-523-4523

Galvanized Roofing For Sale

Est. 1991

B U S I N E S S

SALES & SERVICE

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

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

It’s a Seller’s Market

Maitland Welding & Machining

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

63 North St. Wingham

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

October 2020 55

C E N T R E

MANUFACTURING STEEL ROOFING SIDING & TRIMS

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

519-363-3757

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

Also Supplying Other Building Accessories

Want to know how to achieve top value in this seller's market? I'm local, knowledgeable and your call will be confidential.

Also have someone looking for crop land to rent.

PACKERS: WE BUILD RUBBER TIRE PACKER SPECIALISTS

ROBERT HULLEY Sales Representative (Cell) 519-440-8602 roberthulley@royallepage.ca Helping you is what we do.™ 1 Albert St., Clinton, ON N0M 1L0 www.rlpheartland.ca

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

STEFFEN WELL DRILLING 519-531-0355 TEESWATER, ON

mike@steffenwelldrilling.ca

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

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

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

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

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CONSTRUCTION -------------------------------------------------WE POUR: liquid manure tanks, bunker silos, foundations and pads.

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

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

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

-------------------------------------------------Custom big square baling, rotocut, $1.10 per foot, no knives; $1.20 per foot with knives. Also custom combining, 519-377-2303.

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

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

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FARM EQUIPMENT --------------------------------------------------

Blue Water Angus Sale October 17, 2020 Viewing 9:00 am Sale Time 1:00 pm Cargill Auction Barn - Cargill, ON If you wish to consignee contact Sale Manager Mike Early 519-661-8713

56 The Rural Voice

601 Con. 6, Chesley, ON

519-363-0009 Harvesters, Balers, Discbines New & Used Parts, After Market & OEM

-------------------------------------------------FARM FRESH -------------------------------------------------Arranhill Garlic Farm, Table Garlic, Scapes and Shallots plus Garlic Seed for fall planting. 110-12 Conc. East, Allenford. 519-270-0022. Email: acowan@gbtel.ca -------------------------------------------------FENCING -------------------------------------------------Cedar fence posts for sale, plus three large cedar gate posts. Phone 519-666-0525.

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CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

FIREWOOD -------------------------------------------------Debarked Hardwood Slabs – 16" cut $30 face cord, $10 cord deliveries or pickup in Auburn. huronfirewood.com Call 519-5243493.

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HORSE BOARDING -------------------------------------------------Spring Creek Riding Facility at RR 5, Wingham has an opening for short- or long-term boarding. We offer an indoor arena and outdoor ring with riding trails on and near the farm. For more information please call Donna at 226-222-2044.

-------------------------------------------------IRON & STEEL -------------------------------------------------DISCOUNT STEEL: New second grade steel sales; 1" - 8" square tubing; 7/8" - 14" round tubing; Rectangle tubing, discount plate; New and Used I-Beams; Bar grating, rebar, angles; Custom cutting, welding, punching. Listowel. Phone Aden 519595-7775.

-------------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK BEDDING -------------------------------------------------MIRACLE FIBER Livestock Bedding.

Also, coarse wood mulch for horse and cattle walkways, wet areas around water troughs and bush lanes.

Also available is dairy pack starter bedding. 1-877-773-8004. Sittler Grinding. Rick Sittler.

-------------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------Hypharm Genetics rabbits breeding stock now available in Ontario. Order your PS19 does and PS40 bucks. CuniON@tcc.on.ca -------------------------------------------------LIMOUSIN – quality fall born young breeding bulls for sale. Delivery included. Posthaven Limousin, John Post 519-766-7178. www.posthavenlimousin.com -------------------------------------------------Limousin bulls, open and bred females available. Smart Limousin, Meaford 519-372-7459. smartlimo@ bmts.com www.smartlimousin.com -------------------------------------------------Red Angus, Simmental Heifers bred to a Red Angus bull. Silver Springs Farms. James and Joan McKinlay 519-599-6236. jmckinlay@bmts.com -------------------------------------------------LIVESTOCK WANTED -------------------------------------------------Hereford or Hereford Angus Cross, preferably with calves. Phone evenings 905-983-9331.

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MULCH SALES -------------------------------------------------Morrissey Mulch & Storage, RR 1, Exeter, 70180 Airport Line, 519-872-8925 Bob; 519-872-0010 Rob. Sawmill wood only; no demolition material used. Delivery available.

-------------------------------------------------RESTORATION -------------------------------------------------The Olde Tyme Radio Centre – antique radios, clocks, gramophones, telephones; sold/restored. (vintage autoclock radio, speedometer, tachometer repaired). Belgrave 519357-4304, www.oldtymeradio.ca -------------------------------------------------RETAIL & GIFTS -------------------------------------------------Stitches with a Twist – 404 Queen St., Blyth, 519-523-9449. Yarns, needles, notions, patterns, books and lots more yarn.

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

PAL & HUNTER ED. Ongoing courses available.

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

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

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

Call 519-859-0097 or 519-871-0300 townsleypainting@hotmail.com -------------------------------------------------Barnhem Farm Services. Solid manure spreading; variable rate precision application (optional).

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

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Bodywood • Slabwood Quantity Discounts Serving

519-441-2085 Southwestern Ontario for over 10 years!

519-656-2057 ------------------------------------------------FOR SALE -------------------------------------------------Rosco grain bins for sale – 19' and 14' diameter. Parts available. Used grain bins wanted for parts or reuse.

Closed Sundays, 519-338-3920.

-------------------------------------------------Mixed grain, bin run, Kincardine area, 519-368-5581.

-------------------------------------------------Martin’s Nursery & Bee Supplies Etc. Large selection of flowering trees, shade trees, fruit trees and hydrangeas and other shrubs. We have the plants you need to make a living “privacy hedge” or snow fence or windbreaks. Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce, White Spruce, Pine and Cedars. Also… a Complete line of Bee Supplies for the commercial or hobby beekeepers. Order your (Nuc) Bees for spring 2021. We stock all wooden-ware (bee-hives) foundation, assembled and unassembled frames, smokers, suits, jackets, gloves, mite treatments and some extracting equipment. Honey containers, jars, pails, custom built wooden-ware.

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

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Discount Steel Great for barn posts, stabling or other build-your-own projects

Custom Welding & Machine Shop Custom Stabling Mfg. Open Tues. & Thurs. ~ other days by chance John A.M. Martin 1467 Grey Ox Ave., Lucknow

October 2020 57

CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

SERVICES -------------------------------------------------Cronin Poured Concrete Ltd. Since 1976. Liquid manure tanks to 200'.

Heights of 8'-14' (1-pour). All jobs engineer specifications/inspections guaranteed. Best firm quote in Ontario. Mark Cronin, 519-348-9062.

Cell 519-274-5000. www.cronin pouredconcrete.ca --------------------------------------------------

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

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DONALD A ANDREW ACCOUNTING

GLAVIN BARN & COMMERCIAL PAINTING

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

519-748-7422.

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

-------------------------------------------------Young farmer looking for land rent, sharecrop, or custom work opportunities. Good environmental stewardship and professionalism.

Short and long term. 519-200-7845 or hundt.chris@outlook.com -------------------------------------------------Farmland – Long or short term.

Cash rent, share crop. Contact Paul at Hill & Hill Farms, 519-2333218 or 519-525-3137 or email: paul.hillhill@tcc.on.ca -------------------------------------------------Scrap Cars Wanted – 20, 30, 40 yd. scrap metal bins available. We sell quality used auto parts. Wanted to buy – scrap cars, trucks, farm machinery, heavy equipment.

Kenilworth Auto Recyclers. 519-3231113.

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CLASSIFIED

Accounting & Income Tax Services for FARMS, BUSINESSES & INDIVIDUALS 296 Ross St., Lucknow

Ph. 519-528-3019

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

Specializing in on Farm Pest Management Serving Southwestern ON, Golden Horseshoe, GTA

SEAMLESS EAVESTROUGHING

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

Email: info@sgsltd.ca

519-692-4232 www.sgspestmanagement.ca

London 519-268-8500 WILD GAME

PROCESSING Sausage • Pepperettes • Bologna Summer Sausage Bring your boneless wild game and have it processed Call: 519-848-5201 WHAT LIQUID RUBBER SEALANT DOES Stays flexible in all weather Expands and contracts Won’t become brittle Won’t crack or develop holes Sticks to almost any surface Won’t release from concrete Protects metal from rusting 3 year warranty

DURABLE AND FLEXIBLE SEALANT Liquid rubber sealant is unlike any other sealant.

Our rubber sealant stays flexible in all weather allowing it to expand and contract while bin foundation ring moves.

It eliminates crop spoilage, seals any air and water leaks, keeps concrete floors dryer which reduces cracking and chipping of foundation. Our sealant also prevents bottom ring from rusting unlike tar sealants, spray foam sealants, and white or grey elastic sealants which cause damage to bin by releasing from metal allowing water to lay between bin ring and sealant.

Stop wasting your money and damaging your bins with other sealants. Liquid rubber sealant is the only proven sealant to actually work and last!

519.859.0097 519.871.0300 townsleybarnpainting.com

58 The Rural Voice

For carcass cutting and wrapping Call: 519-323-2864 Wesley G. Bauman 519-848-5201

9349 Conc. 2, RR#2 Kenilworth, ON N0G 2E0

Logging & Timber Appraisals / Forest Management Consulting

BRUCE KROPF R.R. 1, Shakespeare, Ontario N0B 2P0

Telephone 519-655-2703 Mobile 519-748-7422

“Always Buying Standing Timber and Cut Logs”

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

Post-pandemic food and farming Among the many things COVID19 has done, it has exposed the many problems in our social and economic systems, such as the circumstances in long-term care, how dependent we are on foreign manufacturing, who is an essential worker (and how underpaid many of them are), the fragility of our food system, how close many of us are to financial crisis, and the gaping holes in our social safety net.

Everything we know about the origins of the virus remind us of the importance of prioritizing climate resilience in agriculture. As industrial agriculture has grown to support a global population nearing 7.8 billion, it has also become the leading cause of global deforestation, permanently transforming landscapes for commodity crops, sacrificing ecosystem biodiversity, and increasing our exposure to zoonotic diseases, like COVID-19.

Many food and farm organizations have answered the call and continue to make policy recommendations for positive change in our post-pandemic recovery. As Farmers for Climate Solutions (FCS) said in their report, “COVID-19 recovery is an opportunity to create change in a sector that has seriously lagged in its climate response.”

Recently, FCS applauds the government’s “rapid and admirable” response to the COVID-19 pandemic but is critical of the temporary and short-term nature of policy solutions, like debt deferral and increased access to credit, that don’t account for the root causes. FCS proposes a five-tiered approach to COVID-19 recovery that focuses on supporting the next generation of Canadian farmers and putting those farmers at the forefront of a green energy transition.

Food Secure Canada is also weary

of the “piecemeal approaches” to addressing the systemic inequities ingrained in our food system. Their vision for a post-pandemic recovery addresses the root causes of food insecurity, things like poverty, income inequality, and lack of access to affordable housing. Their policy action plan imagines a harmonized approach to building food system resiliency by creating national standards for food workers, food policy implementation, and food literacy education.

The National Farmers Union, too, has contributed to the conversation, envisioning a “postpandemic food system standing upon the three pillars of sustainability: ecological health, social justice and economic viability.” Our road map for recovery describes how the coronavirus exposed the cracks in the food system but reminds us that those cracks predated the pandemic’s emergence in March 2020.

The NFU’s report urges that the broken systems, which offload the social, economic, and environmental debt costs on vulnerable people and rural and remote communities, be rebuilt and reimagined in a way that centers food sovereignty and agroecology.

These reports and policy recommendations

are critical to affecting change.

Municipal, provincial, and federal politicians need to hear from people who care about food and farm policies to motivate the action that will improve the food system for all Canadians. It’s important to take the time to learn about and evaluate these recommendations, and to advocate for the ones that are important to you.

We’ve seen what happens when the lobbying gets left in the hands of the big corporations, and it’s clear we can’t let that happen any longer.

Read the reports here: Farmers for Climate Solutions: https://farmersforclimatesolutions.ca/ policy-solutions Food Secure Canada: https://food securecanada.org/2020-growingresilience-equity National Farmers Union: https://www.nfu.ca/policy/ envisioning-a-post-pandemicagriculture-and-food-system/

A subscription to The Rural Voice is one of the benefits of being an NFU-O member October 2020 59

Grey County Federation of Agriculture

446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: greyfederation.ca

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA

The best strategy is only a hope without strong commitment Editorial articles submitted and published on this page are the views of the author(s) and are not meant to represent the position of the Grey County of Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

Part 1) The Elephant and the Mouse: The elephant and the mouse were in business together and were struggling to prosper in uncertain times. They decided to contract a strategy expert to give them advice. After some time, consulting and consideration of their mutual and distinctive attributes, the elephant’s size and strength along with the mouse’s agility and craftiness, the strategic advisor suggested that the elephant and the mouse should think long term and combine their strengths by starting a family together, thereby leveraging their respective genes with some super-offspring.

The mouse and elephant looked at each other and then asked the adviser, yes but how?

The adviser replied: I specialize in strategic ideas, not implementation.

Part 2) Policy vs Implementation: We’ve all had some big ideas and even dreams about how we might build our farm businesses. So often the practical realities of implementation, whether they be the shortage of time or financial resources, we usually get refocused on just getting through the current year successfully. In any case, an idea needs to have a plan and resources to execute. If none exist, it’s just a hope or a dream with no likelihood of success.

Grey County Federation of Agriculture

2020 MEETINGS

October 14 - GCFA AGM November 12 – Directors’ Meeting November - OFA Convention/OYFF December - Christmas Social DUE TO COVID-19 GCFA Board Meetings have become conference/video call format. Please contact the office if you are interested in taking part.

Part 3) The Government and the Farmer: When COVID-19 hit and the world began to realize the impact, government began to think about how to keep the citizenry safe and keep the economy floating. In Canada we began to hear about CEWS, CERB, RRRF and more. Policy statements were made at the political level to announce support for people and business during the uncertain time.

Farmers as one of many business groups whose markets had succumbed to the uncertainty linked to COVID19, applied for these supports and many began to feel the gap between the well-intentioned announcements about policy for support and realize that the implementation plan didn’t fully contemplate. The nuances of running a farm business, the threshold minimums, the nature of farm expenses, the way farmers bank are examples of how a farm application would be derailed. In some cases, the government has reviewed the prerequisites and modified, in other cases not. The system has been overwhelmed with applications and it’s become clear to some that those charged with the implementation of these policy announcements have not

been adequately staffed up, trained or motivated to respond to queries.

The implementation of CERB for example has been contracted to applicants’ financial institutions to act as the interface. It’s this writer’s personal experience that the financial institutions’ staff have only grudgingly agreed to take on this interface/facilitation role and are quick to defer queries to “helplines” that seldom get answered. Or worse, defer again and back to the government bureaucracy who quickly defer again back to the financial institutions. The circle can be exhausting when there are other time-constrained farm priorities but the helplines are only open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In summary: The best strategy or policy idea is only a hope without strong commitment of resources and a plan to implement it. While it may be unpopular to criticize a wellintentioned strategy, it’s worse not to point to these serious implementation flaws. Worst-case is that farmers who need and should get support, will fail after giving up on the bureaucracy or after being disqualified by a broken implementation plan. ◊ – Submitted by Hugh Simpson President, GCFA

We’re connecting virtually for OFA Regional and GCFA Annual Meetings Due to the COVID­19 pandemic, OFA Regional/GCFA Annual meetings will be held virtually on October 14 at 7:00 p.m. starting with GCFA Annual Meeting and following with OFA Regional ***** GCFA Annual meeting includes elections for directors and executive members for the local Grey County Federation Board. These positions are for a one­year term with monthly meetings.

The deadline to register for this year’s GCFA Annual Meeting is October 12 ***** OFA Regional meeting includes elections for delegates and alternates to OFA’s Annual General Meeting and Policy Advisory Council (PAC) members. These positions will be representing Grey County at OFA’s Annual Meeting on November 23, 2020.

Deadline to submit intentions is October 7 or seven (7) days prior to meeting date Please contact your local Member Service Representative Joanne Hughes at joanne.hughes@ofa.on.ca or 226­230­2359 to register or for more information.

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA.

60 The Rural Voice

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

446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA

Members in Bruce County by the BCFA NEWSLETTER Bruce Federation Board is looking for new directors

Any opinion expressed is that of individual County Directors or Representatives and may not necessarily reflect the views of the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture or Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

It is no surprise that the discussion around board renewal has arisen around the BCFA board table. In fact, nearly half the people around the board table are Past Presidents. These fine folks should be commended for their dedication to BCFA members across Bruce County. As for the rest of the current board, we are extremely confident that the future is in great hands.

Having recognized that we must reach out, BCFA remains very involved in the community and much of our outreach occurs at events throughout Bruce County. You may have noticed our Board members attending events pre-COVID-19. It is one of the ways to get a sense of what the concerns are in Bruce County.

We attend farm shows, plowing matches, equipment demonstrations etc. We also attend them because we are farmers too. “Who has the time?” is a valid question you may have.

With the hope that each municipality in Bruce County is represented, there are many board members that are available to attend these functions. In fact, many of them are attending these great events anyhow. If we strike up a conversation with you, don’t be surprised!

The BCFA offers its board members great opportunities to

DUE TO COVID-19 BCFA Board Meetings have become conference/video call format.

Please contact the office if you are interested in taking part.

expand their skills in public speaking, conflict resolution or just being able to express yourself to others.

The best reason to join BCFA is to help local farmers. OFA is available to all farmers across Bruce County who are in the need of conflict resolution (ie. tile drainage, property assessments etc.), but we are also available to all of the agricultural groups wishing to promote agriculture to others. 4H groups, Junior Farmer groups, student scholarships, and environmental

groups all benefit from the involvement of the BCFA. So, it is time to address the need for our younger OFA members to become involved at the county level.

It is an opportunity not only to engage our colleagues, but also a way to promote our way of life to those who may have never seen a farm animal in their lives. We hope you will consider joining us at the board table. Please contact our office if you are interested in joining our dynamic group. ◊

We’re connecting virtually for this year’s OFA Regional Meeting Due to the COVID­19 pandemic, OFA is conducting this year’s regional meeting in a virtual format.

The virtual meeting will be hosted on October 28 at 7:00 p.m OFA regional meetings offer the opportunity to support your local agricultural community.

Transitioning to a virtual format ensures we protect the health and safety of our staff, directors and members.

The event includes elections for delegates and alternates to OFA’s annual General Meeting and Policy Advisory Council (PAC) members. These positions will be representing Bruce County at OFA’s annual meeting on November 23, 2020. These opportunities allow members to bring concerns and suggestions to provincial OFA leadership.

The deadline for a member to submit their intention to run for one of these three positions is October 21 or seven days prior to the meeting date.

The deadline to register for this year’s OFA Regional meeting is October 26.

Please contact your local Member Service Representative Joanne Hughes at joanne.hughes@ofa.on.ca or 226­230­2359 to register and for more information.

We’re connecting virtually for this year’s BCFA Annual Meeting in conjunction with the OFA Regional Meeting Due to the COVID­19 pandemic, BCFA is conducting this year’s Annual Meeting in a virtual format.

The virtual meeting will be hosted on October 28 at 7:00 p.m prior to the OFA Regional Meeting.

The event includes elections for directors and executive members for the local Bruce County Federation Board. These positions are for a one­year term and meetings are held monthly.

If you are interested in becoming involved please submit your intention to become part of the BCFA Board by October 21, or seven (7) days prior to the meeting date.

The deadline to register for this year’s Annual/Regional meeting is October 26.

Please contact your local Member Service Representative Joanne Hughes at joanne.hughes@ofa.on.ca or 226­230­2359 to register and for more information.

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

October 2020 61

Perth County Federation of Agriculture Email: perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com Website: www.perthcountyfarmers.ca Sue Shafer, Office Administrator 1-833-229-6834 Tim Halliday, President: 519-292-9533

To Zoom or not to Zoom I hope you are all doing well as we move into another season. I must say this year has developed into something that will be marked for generations. I believe years from now people in conversation will reference things from memory as “pre-covid” or “post-covid”, just as generations before us use post-war to describe a period-in-time.

Like in the past, a major event changes how we function in our dayto-day activities. I’m sure some good ideas have been or will be, lost forever due to unfortunate timing in their release to society. Others are unable to keep up with the pace that consumers are buying them. Who would have thought the old box of paint masks on the shelf would be something you dust off to wear to church?

Perth County Federation of Agriculture, with the lead of Ontario Federation of Agriculture, has been meeting and discussing issues via online platforms. These platforms have served many people well during these times. Unfortunately, it has put a massive strain on the systems that deliver this technology to our homes.

It is very common for one or more people to drop in and out of the

meetings, highlighting why OFA has been lobbying for increased capacity in rural broadband or fibre installations. I think the governments heard about this loud and clear when schools attempted to go online this spring.

PCFA is now approaching six months of meeting online. I must say, when forced, we can learn new programs and technology fairly quickly. Many of the Board members seem to be longing for in-person meetings again. I believe this is human nature. Most of us like to interact with others, especially those who sit on the boards or volunteer in our communities. It’s part of our DNA. The stress of being isolated and two-dimensional online meetings do not seem to satisfy the need to interact or get relief, challenging one’s mental health and wellbeing.

Please do not be afraid to reach out to friends, family, or a help line. OFA has resources and testimonials at this link: ofa.on.ca/issues/mental-health.

Different sectors in agriculture have been affected in very different ways. Even some in the same sector have had very different effects depending on marketing conditions or contracts. Some farms have been

affected by the inability to access workers that travel to this country to provide a very important and often overlooked service to our industry.

Others have been trying to protect workers and keep them safe, slowing production and efficiencies. OFA has compiled a list of programs available to farmers. Take a look and something may help your farm. https://ofa.on.ca/resources/summaryof-government-financial-assistancefor-ontario-farm-businesses/ The growing season thus far has been favourable to most parts of our county with some small pockets of prolonged dryness here and there. I wish all of you a safe and rewarding harvest. I hope to see you in person at a meeting near you soon and if it must be virtual so be it. We can handle it. ◊ – Submitted by Darryl Terpstra, PCFA director.

Perth County Federation of Agriculture

DIRECTORS’ MEETING Thursday, October 15 8:00 p.m.

Call 1-833-229-6834 to participate

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

62 The Rural Voice

Index Apples ......................................19,23 Argyle Marine & Small Engines ....55 Artisanal Chicken Program ............12 B Kropf Forestry ............................58 Belore Trailers ..............................55 Bernie McGlynn/SB Flooring ........51 Bervie Supply ................................33 Bio-Ag ............................................46 Blue Sky Marine ............................34 Blue Water Angus Sale..................56 Buddsteel Architectural Products ....8 Bushell’s Auto Sales ......................15 Canadian Co-op Wool Growers ....34 CG Farms ........................................2 Chalmers Fuels..............................34 Cliff’s Plumbing & Heating ............53 Clinton Sporting Goods..................51 Design, Build, Improve & Renovate ........................7,9,11,13 Easy Lift Doors ..............................10 Fall Harvest......................................4 Fall Stocker & Calf Sales ................3 Gerber’s Workwear ........................56 Gerrit’s Ag Service ........................53 Greenville Liquid Plant Food..........45 Grober Nutrition ....................Cover 4 Hanover Honda..............................14 Harold Jones Enterprises ..............56 Hill & Hill Farms....Inside Front Cover Hunter Steel ..........................Cover 3 Huron Perth Public Health ..........6,34 Keith Siemon Farm Systems ........55

KMM Farm Drainage ....................16 LAC ................................................49 Lakeside Shelving & Racking ........37 Lands & Forests Consulting ..........51 Layton Steve ..................................55 Lisa Thompson MPP ....................41 Live Landscape..............................40 Maitland Welding & Machining ......55 Mapleview Agri ..............................24 Marquardt Farm Drainage ............52 Martin Farm Wagons ....................49 Marvin L. Smith ..............................51 McIntee Real Estate - Steve Nixon ..55 Metzger Meat Products..................40 Michael’s Stabling Developments ..54 Morris Sachs Silo Construction......63 Nature’s Wave Inc ........................52 Northern Flyer Designs & Promos 33 R.T. Bolton & Son ................Cover 4 Ridgeway Metals ..........................56 Royal LePage - Steacy Den Haan 15 Royal LePage Heartland Realty ....56 Rural Living ....................................37 Rural Voice Books ................Cover 5 Sauble Beach Motorsports ..21,45,54 Schmidt’s Farm Drainage ..............63 Schweiss Doors ............................63 Seifried Farm Equipment ..............46 Sew & Save Centre ......................41 Sharp’s Creek Forge......................29 Steffen Well Drilling ......................56 Stihl Limited ..................................17

Stratford Agri Analysis ..................48 SWO Diesel Inc ....................Cover 3 Sylvar Technologies Inc ................29 Synthesis Agri-Food Network ........21 The Brew Shop ..............................37 Townsley Barn Painting ................58 Tree Planting & Maintenance ........................26,28,31 Triple P Consulting ........................43 Trouw Nutrition ................Back Cover WD Hopper & Sons Ltd ................43 Welbeck Sawmill Ltd......................50 Wesley G. Bauman ........................58 White Carnation ............................41 Williams Drainage ..........................43 Woodstock Sewing Centre ............46

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HURON

42 First Avenue, Clinton, Ontario N0M 1L0 519-482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135

County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER

Huron OFA Regional meeting held virtually The Huron OFA Regional meeting was held virtually on September 2.

Election results are as follows: Huron OFA Policy Advisory Council: Marinus Bakker, Erica Murray and Rob VandenHengel.

Please contact them if you have any questions or concerns.

Convention Delegates: Huron can send nine (9) delegates to the OFA Annual Convention and will fill the remaining delegate positions prior to November 19. The slate of delegates this year include: Ethan Wallace, Joel Brodie, Carol Leeming, Neil Vincent, Murray Workman; Alternates: Mike Colclough, Jeff Klomps and Paul Klopp.

Are you interested in becoming an HCFA director?

Are you currently an OFA member in Huron County with a passion for agriculture? The HCFA advocates on behalf of agriculture in Huron County and you can contribute to strengthening agriculture in Huron.

The entire HCFA board meets approximately 10 times a year (usually at 8:00 pm on the fourth Monday of the month). If you are interested in seeing what we are all

about please join a meeting or discuss with one of our board members. We all bring different skills, personal insights and backgrounds and we have a strong group that advocates for you. Please also let us know what you would like to see us working on.

Thank you for supporting agriculture Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh has brought a resolution forth; asking that the federal government of Canada (the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Honourable MarieClaude Bibeau, the Federal House of Commons Agriculture Committee, our Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau) support the broad based call to exempt farmers from paying the carbon tax on farm use propane and natural gas. This motion was sent to all lower-tier municipalities in the County of Huron and the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus for their consideration.

Thank you to all the municipalities that have already endorsed this resolution and we hope that all the other municipalities will show their support.◊

Website: www.hcfa.on.ca Email: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca

Upcoming Events October 12 –

October 31 –

Huron County Federation of Agriculture

BOARD MEETING October 26 at 8:00 p.m.

Due to COVID-19 the board meeting will be a video/ conference call format.

Please contact the office if you are interested in joining the meeting Ontario Federation of Agriculture

2020 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING will be held virtually Monday, November 23 9:00 a.m.

Huron County Federation of Agriculture

ANNUAL MEETING Friday, October 23, 2020 – 8:00 p.m.

This year the meeting will be held virtually Mental Health in Agriculture in Huron – Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health Presentation Please contact the office if you are interested in joining this meeting.

At the Annual Meeting we will discuss possible resolutions coming from Huron County to the OFA Convention.

We can submit resolutions at any time during the year but ones submitted at the meeting may be presented at the OFA Convention.

We will also have our elections held at this meeting.

OFFICE UPDATE due to COVID-19 Please call before visiting the HCFA office to determine if the office is open.

Please be assured that we are still available to address your concerns by telephone: 519-482-9642 or email: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/huronfedofag and Facebook at Huron County Federation of Agriculture

The Rural Voice is provided to all OFA members in Huron County by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture

64 The Rural Voice

Happy October

The Rural Reading Room Specializing in Rural Living & Local Authors

MIGHTY MACHINES – Tractors and Farm Vehicles Tractors hold a fascination for farm kids. Large coloured photographs and text show modern tractors doing various tasks on farms. For young children. $5.95

THE LITTLE BOOK OF WOODLAND BIRD SONGS Brings the sounds of the forest to life. Learn and recognize these bird sounds - from the hermit thrush to the downy woodpecker. No walk in the woods will be the same again. $19.95

THE HANDMADE MARKETPLACE: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally and Online Kari Chapin has worked in marketing and publicity and managed a retail store selling artisan goods. Now she helps crafters sell their goods with this manual. $22.95

The Old Farmer’s 2021 Almanac This 229th edition aims once again to fulfill your expectations with its fun facts and forecasts.

Also includes news, novelties and a little nonsense to carry you through another year. $7.99

FROM IRELAND TO THE QUEEN’S BUSH Author Arnold Mathers’ Irish roots run deep in these stories which weave a pattern about the romantic pioneers that were his ancestors. His greatgrandfathers came from Ireland and settled in Huron County. His mother’s family farm was called Queen’s Bush Valley Farm. $24.95

ON THE TRAIL OF JOHN MUIR John Muir is one of North America’s greatest conservationists, father of the U.S. Parks system. But he spent time in Ontario in the Grey County area after being born in Scotland. Follow his fascinating story. $19.95

OUT OF THE BLUE: Further Discoveries in Huron County History The second book written by David Yates is an eclectic collection of stories about Huron County’s people, places and events between 1884 and 1939. This volume covers an era just before the social welfare state that emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War. $25.00

WALKING HOME The former CP Rail line from Guelph to Goderich is about to become the 127 km. Guelph to Goderich Rail Trail. In 2014 Lynda L. Wilson and her husband Doug walked the future trail and this book tells of the adventure and the people they met. $19.95

Check out huroncitizen.ca under Marketplace for more books Total

Qty.

MIGHTY MACHINES - TRACTORS & FARM VEHICLES THE HANDMADE MARKETPLACE THE OLD FARMER’S 2021 ALMANAC OUT OF THE BLUE THE LITTLE BOOK OF WOODLAND BIRD SONGS FROM IRELAND TO THE QUEEN’S BUSH ON THE TRAIL OF JOHN MUIR WALKING HOME

$5.95 $22.95 $7.99 $25.00 $19.95 $24.95 $19.95 $19.95

Total for Books Shipping & Handling $9.00 Add 5% GST on subtotal Order Total

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

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

Natural Pools

Pool gets natural makeover Deb Johnston’s grandkids share the natural swimming pool with plants, frogs and fish: no chemicals needed

• Story by Lisa B. Pot • Photos by Deb Johnston

N

The former chlorine-managed pool at Deb Johnston and Kurt Halmer’s Goderich property has been transformed into a natural swimming pool where aeration, circulation and the roots of plants keep the pool clean.

atural swimming pools are a popular feature in Europe but not so well-known in Ontario.

Thanks to Deb Johnston’s photos of her grandkids swimming, catching frogs and chasing fish in their natural pool, people are wondering how to make one for themselves.

Featuring rainwater, a gravel deepend and filtering plants, Deb and her partner Kurt Halmer transformed their chlorine pool into a nature haven outside their home near Goderich.

When they first purchased the place seven years ago, they shared the large, yellow-brick home with her son and family. The existing pool was neglected but her son fixed up it for his kids to enjoy. It was lots of fun for the grandkids but when her son and family moved to their own home, Deb and Kurt were left with the maintenence of a pool they did not want to swim in.

“To me, a pool just wasn’t interesting. But a natural pool filled with things I could take photos of? That would be interesting,” says Johnston.

Kurt, who grew up in Austria, knew about natural swimming pools since his own family had one. He set about transforming the large, traditional pool into a natural haven.

The process involved creating a cedar post wall, filling the deep end

with gravel, installing an aeration system and planting bare root water plants into the gravel. It’s the roots of these plants that will serve as the primary filtration system to keep the water clean while the aerator and pump circulate the water through the stones.

He then designed a mini water trough to funnel rainwater from the roof of the house into the pool to maintain the water levels.

Both Deb and Kurt did lots of research online, trusting in the experience of natural pool designs in the United Kingdom while transforming their own pool.

It’s the first year for the pool and so far, it’s been a dream. Johnston says she loves it for two reasons: it’s still a swimming hole for the grandkids and it has attracted even more wildlife to the natural river-side acreage.

“We have set this place up as a destination that the kids would want to play. I want my grandkids to be raised how we were raised,” explains Johnston. Exploration, nature and wildlife were key characteristics of her childhood which continue to today.

She keeps a kayak in the back of her van for almost-daily excursions to photograph birds and wildlife.

Her grandkids have the option to wade in the river or the natural pool to catch frogs while cooling down in the summer heat. The pool water (in late August) was clear and warm, with all sorts of interesting bugs, tadpoles and fish swimming in the depths.

Until the plants get established and their roots do most of the filtration, there is routine upkeep to manually net the algae growth. It will be a process learning the balance of plants, animals species and aeration that will be required to maintain the natural swimming pool. So far, so good. The water is very clear and all the plants and aquatic creatures are thriving.

As fall approaches and the water cools, there will be less swimming but more photography. Deb is an avid birder and routinely posts pictures of her close-up photos of Ontario’s birds on Facebook sites such as Ontario Bird Photography. The river, woods, naturalized spaces and wildflowers gardens already attract many bird species and the natural pool is an added bonus. ◊

Deb Johnston (top) wants her grandchildren to explore nature as much as she does. An avid photographer and naturalist, it made sense to Deb to transform the family pool into a natural pool (middle) where her grandchildren could play among the plants and wildlife. Above, a Common Yellowthroat, one of the extensive collection of bird photos Deb shares on Facebook.

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