HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-07-18, Page 2Sugar. and Spice.
By • Bill
This is going to be a tough column
to write. I'm on my holidays.
'
it's a
beautiful summer day, hot but not muggy,
'and I'm as laxy as the eat;viho is.eurled
up in "her" chair,dreaming.
In Winter, se eats like a hog and
becomes repulsively fat. In summer, She
Subsists principally on bees, ants and
butterflies, and slims out into a tigress,
stalking her domain, the back yard.
Her domain underwent a. big, change
this Week. Two old friends died. YOu might
Say they were cut down -in their prime.
They were twin elms, lefty:and graceful',
I've spent Many an hoUr sliriped. in a
lawn chair watching the birds and the
Squirrels in the elms, listening to the
whispering of the two lovers as they
leaned toward each other and caressed
each other with their limbs. Hey, this
getting pretty Sexy.
' Last spring they came out in leaf, but
by Mid-siiiiitner they were dead of the
Dutch elm: plague WhiCh has blighted my
part of the' country,
I was going to haVe them taken down
this summer, anyway, but my plans were
Spurred a bit When a small limb fell off
and conked my neighbour on the head, And
then a 'large littib cattle doWn and fell
On my neighbotir'S Mute. They're good
{sours,neib but that's Carrying things
a
'lid heard all SertS of hertor stories
about the lantastie prices people. charged
to remove trees. I Was asSitred that it
would tog me a couple of WM:Weddell:art
per tree.
This was nonsense, , AS horror 'MOWS
So Often. are: I ideated a tree surgeon.
who works for the hydro. His estimate
was -$8t.. Eigach thy with titterted i:
and 1 kicked, her sharply 'On the ankle.
She is always worried about any deals
I make. She thinks' 1 have no boiness
sense and Will be diddled at every turn,
She' is tight about the first 'prelate,
but i have never' yet been diddled,- beta fie
I trust people. She doeset and lias been
diddled several tithet,
Anyway, that was -firm • price for
both treeSi and shop itiontid
because I thought it was reasonable..
and thetes nothing 1 detest Mete than,
trying to beat tottiehddy down oh aprides,
Well, it WAS pretty etciting., George
arrived With topes, chain saw and four
husky assistants. Instead, of taking. the
• trees down in pieces, he was going to
fell them in the back yard,: toward the
house,
,It'S a pleasure. to see an expert at
Work. HO sized up. 'the trees by eye and
reckoned they. wouldn't •. hit the, house.
I had to take his word tor it. If he'd
misjudged, one tree WOUld, have Slammed
through the .French dOors 'and right into
Our living-room.
He went up the, tree like a monkey
and. fastened ropes arOUnd The other
ends of .the ropes were snubbed -around
trees: near the house and the., boys stood
by, ready to pull.
Snatil'Went the chain saw, heave went
the boys. WHAMS DOWn came number
one, right Where he'd' lined 'er up. A.
feW initaiteS later, down came number
ttkiialtnost.tnisaing the peony bed..
Then they went to. Work like SO many
beavers, some wielding chain saws, the
others piling brush. In three hours' from
go, the trees were ""'down, saWed into
fireplace length, and everything Cleaned
up; • :
bave ceased worrying about the energy
crisis In this Otitintry, i have enetigh elfin
blocks stacked in wood piles all over the
yard to see us through Until at least the
year '2000, and titer that somebody else
Can worry about it, •
There's something snug and homely
about a Wood pile, NOW, instead of look,
Ing ,out and teeing flower bedS that need
.,:weeditig,, I dMi- Sit and look at my wood,
piles.
I, didn't, lift a f inger myself, ball,
feel AS Siting and: satisfied when 1 took
at that Wood as any ,pi 'ever did
When he'd' lot finished :cutting and stack
'g his' Wood, for the winter.-,
Thereis only One cloud on the horiton.
it's too good to be truei it bet that right
now? 'beady-eyed bureaucrat In the
'Department OrNatitinal Revenue is trying
to figure blit Seine *ay of hotWhitt* tog
on that: wood.
He'd .batiet not ',succeed therell ,
trdublea Rd tin sales WI Mei:int-We
tak the, propertY tat ttie, but if he tries,
to tat thy Wood pile Will the' final
straw and: there'll be murder dem., The
will be a, two-foot
dropped Ire& the batirootii
WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1973
-Serving Brussels and the surrounding community
published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Torn Haley =.• Advertising
, membei Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others
$5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each,
Second class:,mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641,
Commuters in the country
Our farms certainly are becoming
more efficient.. A recently discov-.
ered clipping from The London Free
Press says that while in 1900 the
produced
enough
Canadian farmer
enough food for 5 people, in 1969 he
fed 31. Today efficiency has increa-
sed even more.
It is possible though, that our
increased farm productivity involves
sacrificing some of the old-fashioned
rural feelings of community and net-
ghbourliness. We are seeing a grad-
ual'end to the hundred acre farms,
each owned and occupied by one fam-
ily, as these 100 acre parcels are
bought up by' large larm operators.
' This results in a house being vaca-
ted on each 100 acres and often being
sought by commuters who have little
or no connection with the farming
community. These new rural residents
form one or two acre islands in the
middleiof the productive farm lands.
They ldave their homes for jabs in
nearby cities or towns each morning
and return at night too tired to
participate.in and probably with
little,interest in established rural
institutions like the Women's Insti-
tutes or 4—H clubs. .
The rural commuters often keep
.,the friendships that they make in the
cities and towns and have more con-
nections with the communities where
they work than with their farming
neighbours.
The increasing influx of city people
to the country means that people
whose livelihood may be pretty well
divorced from the farm economy and,
whose commitment to farming is not
very intense are surrounded by
productive agricultural land. Con-
flicts of interest are bound to
arise.
One such conflict surfaces when
city people who live in the country
want all the good features of country
living ,- clean air and peace and
quiet and object to the drawbacks,
like the occasional unpreventable
farffi odours.
* The need to feed the growing Cana-
dian population as well as economies
of scale, make larger and larger
farm units inevitable. Arid the pol-
lution and hectic pace in Our Cities
means that there will be MOre coin-ii Miters seeking a farmhouse and a
few acres as a permanent habitat.
BUt it seems to us that SoMething
a feeling of CommUnitY which comes
out of sharing dothindoil1 ittereSts and
experiences perhaps -- may be lost
in out rural areas.•
Perhaps thdughy a new kind of.com-
munity, with commuters and farMers
each bringing something quite di
ferent and equally valuable-to 'it,
will grow up in place of the old,
close-knit telationship8. What
do you think.? We invite your
comments.