The Rural Voice, 1990-01, Page 58RAINY RIVER
Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
Box 416, Emo, Ontario POW 1 E0
807-482-2051
° The Rural Voice is provided to Rainy River
Federation members by the RRFA.
Winter has arrived. The snow cover
is not very deep as yet and there is talk in
the area of frozen septic fields. The
thermometer outside my window reads
-30° C. I'm not looking for the wind-
chill factor. Winnipeg this a.m. said the
wind chill there was 1800, and exposed
skin could suffer frostbite in less than
three minutes. I hope everyone had the
pick-up plugged in overnight.
The Rainy River Soil and Crop
Improvement Association annual meet-
ing was held in Branch 99 of the Royal
Canadian Legion on December 7.
A full slate was elected: Bill Romyn,
Don McCulloch, Karl Van Heyst, Bob
Radbourne, Ken Vogan, Rudy Sin-
ninghe, Rick Neilson, Larry Lamb, and
Dennis Brunn.
They will be electing their executive
at their first meeting in 1990.
There were two guest speakers at the
meeting. John Heard, crop specialist,
reported on the barley and oat trials at
Crop Check and discussed the best per-
forming varieties. Graham Gamble, soil
conservation advisor for Northern On-
tario, spoke about conservation tillage
and land stewardship.
Bruce Ward, agricultural represen-
tative, gave a report on the projects of
Soil and Crop in the District.
The Community Christmas Skating
Party sponsored by the Rainy River
federation was held on Sunday, Decem-
ber 10 in the Barwick Recreation Hall
from 1 p.m. Santa's visit brought excite-
ment for the little ones. Eyes grew as big
as saucers, and the speeds to reach him
would have made a racer turn green with
envy. Santa made it to his chair on the
stage and the race was on.
The potluck supper was delicious. A
special thanks to D. E. (Ted) Corrigan
for the turkeys, T. J. Kacmingh and Sons
for a ham, Don Walton for a ham, and
Fairway Storc for the turkey to raffle.
The winners of the raffles were: Lite
Brite — Bev Hyatt, Crazy Crockodiles
— Sheila Teeple, turkey — Gerald
Gouliqucr.
The "count the jelly beans in the
bear" winner was Dinah Roussy and the
"number of candies in the jar" winner
was Adrienne McCulloch. The Enter -
56 THE RURAL VOICE
tainment Committee and its helpers did
a fine job. Many thanks to Santa Claus
(Don Walton) for coming and making
the day for the little people and young at
heart.
The Rainy River Federation of Agri-
culture directors meeting was held in the
OMAF office in Emo on December 11.
Present were: Archie Wiersema, Den-
nis Brunn, Gertrude Bujold, Paul
Heyens, Kim Hunsperger, Mark
Husscr, Linda Armstrong, Shirley Mor-
rish, Wayne Flatt, George Hyatt, Gary
Esslink, Jacquelyn Hunsperger, and
guest Dean Hodgson.
Mrs. Bujold gave us the information
that Gerry Carey is available for four or
five days in January for director orienta-
tion and membership work. January 21
is the target date.
The Entertainment Committee an-
nounced that the Directors' Apprecia-
tion Dinner would be December 18 at
the Emo Inn.
The committee reports were given
and the Entertainment Committee asked
to have the bills for the skating party
paid. Their expenses were greater than
the income. The jar for the silver collec-
tion was not in a visible enough spot,
was one of the comments heard. The
public should be made aware of the costs
incurred, for example for the hall and the
heat.
The Finance Committee brought the
proposed budget for 1990. After discus-
sion, the directors passed the budget.
Public Relations: We need some
help to go over the Rural Voice sub-
scription list for additions and deletions.
The Rainy River Cattlemen's Asso-
ciation annual meeting will be held
January 17, 1990 in the Stratton Sepa-
rate School.
The Rainy River Milk Committee
brought the news that the proposed
cheese plant is on hold at the moment.
The Ministry of the Environment has
decreed that the Emo system cannot
handle the effluent and the selling land-
owner is no longer selling.
The Community Skills Develop-
ment Committee meeting held on De-
cember 7 was reported on by George
Hyatt. Several courses are available if
enough people are interested. The weld-
ing courses — basic and advanced, are
ready. A computer course is also in the
works. The titles of some others avail-
able if enough interest is shown are:
Herd Health, Basic Electrical and Farm
Mechanics.
These are in the planning stages for
1990-91. If you are interested, we ask
that you please contact: Archie Wi-
ersema — 852-3363, Paul Heyens —
487-2511, George Hyatt — 486-3680.
In response to the column done by
Dean Hodgson on the wolves, a fencing
company contacted George Hyatt stat-
ing a willingness to come and demon-
strate Gallagher Fencing, using field
and video to emphasize the qualities of
their fencing in deterring wolves.
Dean Hodgson brought a copy of the
letter that Lyn McLeod, Minister of
Natural Resources, sent to George Hyatt
in response to our proposal for nuisance
wildlife control. She admitted that there
are problems and that there are different
programs in the different parts of the
province. She and the MNR are willing
to meet with the committee and work to
set up a program for the Rainy River
District.
The committee is to meet with the
Municipal Union and the MNR in Janu-
ary, 1990 to start the process. Also at
this meeting, a brief will be presented
that will include some problems as seen
by the farm community in dealing with
hunters and trespassing. It includes
some positive suggestions for dealing
with this annual occurrence.
The directors, after much discus-
sion, decided to move the monthly
meeting date to the first Thursday of the
month and alternate locations between
the OMAF office in Emo and the Strat-
ton Separate School. Linda Armstrong
will work out the details with the school
and Kim Hunsperger will notify the
OMAF office.
The first meeting of 1990 will be
January 4 in the Stratton Separate
School at 7:30 p.m.
Season's Greetings to all and may
1990 find you closer to the light at the
end of the tunnel.0
Jacquelyn Hunsperger