The Rural Voice, 2000-12, Page 3l
Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Gisele Ireland, Lisa Boonstoppel-
Pot, Bonnie Gropp, Ralph Pearce
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Janice Becker, Andrew Grindlay,
Mark Nonkes, Larry Drew
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
advertising representative:
Merle Gunby
production co-ordinator:
Joan Caldwell
advertising & editorial production:
Dianne Josling
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Behind the Scenes
Offering a helping hand
When Ontario's pork producers
were suffering the most two years
ago, they were still generous,
beginning a program of donating
pork to food banks to help those who
were struggling even more than they
were. Now the "donate a hog"
program has become an established
part of the Ontario Pork program and
there are programs at the county level
as well. Last year over 6.2 tonnes of
pork were donated to foodbanks.
The programs truly show the spirit of
giving. We have a story on the
program and the good it does.
The Royal Winter Fair can be a
thrilling spectacle for people of all
ages, but what's it like when you are
a young person showing livestock in
this, the biggest league in Canada.
Mark Nonkes visited the fair to find
out and reports in this issue.
Will this be the winter that
reminds us of the "real" winters of
the past instead of those sissy winters
of the last few years? Certainly
snowmobile owners (not to mention
snowmobile dealers) are hoping
there's enough snow around for long
enough so they can get true
enjoyment from their machines. But
enjoying snowmobiling requires
access to farmers' fields and
woodlots so that trails can stretch out
across the countryside. Surprisingly,
this situation generally works out
well. Bonnie Gropp spoke with both
trail masters and the farmers whose
fields they cross and found things
usually go smoothly.
With electrical power and huge
horsepower tractors and the miracle
of hydraulics, we take for granted the
power we have at our disposal to get
things done in a hurry. You don't
have to go back to pioneer days,
however, to realize it wasn't always
that way. This month Greg Brown
brings us the story told to him by
Grey County resident Gerald
Cornfield about cutting down "the
biggest tree in the valley" back in
1941. It will truly give you a reality
check about how far we have come in
modern, labour-saving devices on the
farm.
Meanwhile, Bonnie Gropp gives
you some recipes to help you get in
the Christmas spirit in her recipe
column. Patti Robertson, helps you
stay in the Christmas spirit with some
tips on how to deal with the rush and
crush of the season in decorating your
home.0
Update
It was a year of `intense rainfall events'
Back in our June issue's article on the effects of climate change on farming,
Jack MacPherson, hydrologist with the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
said evidence of climate change included "more isolated, short duration, high
intensity rainfall events". That certainly described the summer of 2000.
Though the figures haven't been tabulated yet, MacPherson says visual
plotting of the precipitation shows nearly all the rainfall in his watershed during
the year came in cloudbursts rather than gentle rainfalls. Total volume of rainfall
for the year was pretty much normal, he said, but the short, heavy downpours
meant the ground never got a chance to dry out. It was bad for pollution of the
streams because the rainfall 'wasn't able to sink into the compacted soil and
therefore ran off, taking with it soil particles. The soil particles in turn carried
along fertilizer and soil nutrients which overloaded the streams with nutrients.
The cloudbursts caused stream water flows seldom seen. In the Saugeen
watershed, MacPherson says, there were two or three 100 -year water flow
events. In Listowel area, one severe storm caused an all-time recorded flow in
the Maitland River — probably a 150 -year event.
The good news is that despite the run-off, water tables have been slowly
recovering, though October's dry spell, at a time when there's normally a lot of
rain, reduced the effect. What's needed is a year of good snow cover that allows
slow melting into unfrozen ground, MacPherson says.0