The Rural Voice, 2005-07, Page 14The
world's
problems
are
solved
daily
'round
the table
at
Mabel 's.
"Why wasn't my dad a chicken
producer?" moaned George
McKenzie the other day. "Instead of
wondering if BSE is going to force
me into retiring in poverty I could
have sold my quota and have one of
those big houses in Muskoka."
"Yeh, but if you were a chicken
producer you'd have Pamela
Anderson after you," said Dave
Winston.
"I could take having Pamela
Anderson after me," said George.
"No not after you, after the
chicken industry," said Dave. "She
and People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals want to shut down the
chicken industry."
"I'm sure Swiss Chalet and KFC
Mabel's Grill
are making plans to shut down right
now," said George. "Pamela
Anderson may be the only human on
earth to have an IQ that would allow
her to converse with a chicken."
"Hey don't knock it," put in Cliff
Murray. "Who else can turn being
picked out in a crowd shot at a BC
Lions football game into a multi-
million -dollar career?"
"Well it sure wasn't her IQ that
got her all the attention," said
George. "Too bad she couldn't get
her IQ enhanced as easily as her
chest."
"Where's my toast and coffee?"
growled Dave to Molly Whiteside as
she passed the table.
"Shhh," said Molly. "You've got a
new waitress this morning and she's
still learning the job."
"What's this, is Mabel trying out
the slow food movement?" wondered
Cliff.
"What's this slow food movement
thing, anyway?" wondered George.
"It's this international movement
that's promoting taking time to enjoy
your food, not just in eating it but in
making it," said Molly. "I went to a
Managing a farm is never easy
Each year the business of farming gets tougher You need professional advisors who
make sense of the big picture while acting on the key details. BDO Dunwoody LLP is that
kind of advisor We offer a wide range of services — from tax and business planning to
accounting, bookkeeping and CAIS application assistance — that a modern agn-business
needs. Our fees are competitive, our service is personal
Collingwood Kincardine Mount Forest Owen Sound Stratford Wiarton
705.445.4421 519.396.3425 519.323.2351 519.376.6110 519.271 2491 519 534 1520
Hanover Mitchell Orangeville Port Elgin Walkerton Wingham
519.364.3790 519.348.8412 519.941.0681 519.832.2049 519.881.1211 519 357 3231
Woodstock
519.539.2081
For more information on what BDO
can do for you, visit us online at
www.bdo.calagribusiness
Assurance I Accounting I Taxation I Advisory Services
I 3DO
BDO Dunwoody kJ,
Chartered Accountants
and Advisors
10 THE RURAL VOICE
meeting."
"Great, does that mean we can
expect slow services from you too?"
asked Dave.
"Hey, you guys should like this
slow food thing," said Molly.
"They're trying to get people to eat
food produced locally instead of
shipped thousands of miles."
"Except if the people in Japan
decide they're going to eat locally
they won't be eating my pork," said
Dave. "Which means I won't have
money to leave any tips."
"Who'd notice?" said Molly.
"I don't see this slow food thing
catching on," said Cliff. "I mean who
even knows how to cook these days?
My daughters think a recipe is
complicated if they have to open a
can of soup to put in it. Everything
that can't be heated in a microwave is
gourmet cooking."
"They're just trying to get us to
appreciate old-fashioned values,"
said Molly.
"Hey I remember a lot of fast food
when I was growing up on the farm,"
said Dave. "I remember eating
sandwiches while I drove the tractor
because we couldn't afford the time
to stop. I think people are fooling
themselves about how good things
used to be."
"What I want from the 'good old
days' is the same share of people's
income spent on food as back then."
said George.
"Yeh, but if people spent more on
food do you think we'd really get any
of it?" wondered Cliff. "Everybody
from the grocery store owners to the
people working in the food plant
would want more and by the time
they got through, we'd still be getting
what we get now."
"Yeh, everytime I hear about there
being three cents of corn in a.
cornflakes box I think if we could
only increase the price of cornflakes
by three cents a box we could double
farm income but I don't think it
would ever work that way," said
Dave.
"And if it did, our inputs costs
would all go up faster than you could
say 'increased overhead" and soak up
any increase we got," said George.
"There's what we need instead of
a slow food movement," said Dave.
"A slow price movement."0
1