The Rural Voice, 1990-11, Page 32PARADISE OIC EARTH:
Portrait of a Family Farm
by Peter Baltensperger
"I have great hopes," Mathew Staehli says, "that the
family farm will break through again and eventually
succeed as a viable way of life. I firmly believe that
the family farm is still the most efficient operation in
agriculture."
Mathew and Cathy Staehli
emigrated from Switzerland to Huron
County nine years ago. They spent
the first seven years in their newly -
adopted country milking a herd of
dairy cows on a farm near Carlow.
Two years ago, when their contract
was up, they bought a 100 -acre farm
of their own in Lucknow where they
hope to be able to continue the Staehli
tradition of the small family farm.
"This is paradise on earth," Cathy
says enthusiastically. "I'm doing what
I've always wanted to do, and I'm
sure we can build this into a viable
operation for ourselves."
Mathew emphatically agrees with
her. "I have great hopes," he says,
"that the family farm will break
through again and eventually succeed
as a viable way of life. I firmly
believe that the family farm is still the
most efficient operation in
agriculture."
For both of them, their ultimate
desire is to be able to live on their
hundred acres without having to work
for anybody else, make a comfortable
living, and raise their children in a
rural environment with a healthy
respect for nature and for lite.
For now, Mathew has to work as a
feed consultant for a local feed mill to
supplement the farm income. On the
farm itself, he grows grain and hay for
their own use as well as for cash crops
and raises veal calves, sheep, rabbits,
chickens, ducks, and geese.
A Brown Swiss supplies the
Staehlis with milk for themselves and
their 16 -month-old son Dominique,
and for butter and cheese production.
Six to ten Holstein veal calves a year,
a flock of 50-60 Suffolks, and the
rabbits and fowl provide them with
their meat requirements as well as
with additional income from direct
sales to a growing list of customers.
Cathy also grows her own veg-
etables, berries, some fruit, and var-
ious herbs for cooking and for teas.
She bakes bread and pies and cakes,
makes her own preserves, and looks
forward to the day when she can take
her home-grown produce and baked
goods to a farmer's market to increase
the cash flow of their operation.
"There's something extremely
rewarding in self-sufficiency," she
says. "I derive a deep satisfaction
from growing my own food and
providing for my family. It's very
important to me to find my happiness
and contentment in everyday life, in
my own work, without having to look
to the outside world for rewards."
Although her family background
is not in agriculture — she grew up in
an urban area near the city of Basel —
she recalls always having been
interested in animals, in making things
grow, and working with her hands.
Supported by her parents'
encouragement to do what she liked
doing best, she entered a College of
Agriculture where she met her future
husband. After graduating from
college, she went to work on a dairy
farm in B.C. to get her practical
experience, then returned to
Switzerland to get married and figure
out how to realize her dream of a farm
of her own.
For Mathew, on the other hand,
the small family farm was always an
integral part of his way of life. His
parents owned and still operate a dairy
farm in the Bemese Oberland with
summer pasture up in the Alps and
produce their own milk, butter, and
cheese. "It's a small operation by
Canadian standards," he says. "But it
was always a good life, and I have
nothing but good memories of
growing up, tending the animals, and
helping to make everything work."
For him, the College of
Agriculture was a natural choice. He
worked in various parts of Switzerland
after graduation while Cathy was in
B.C., then lived on a farm for a while
after they were married. "It's
practically impossible to start a farm
of your own in Switzerland," he
explains. Land prices are forbiddingly
high, and many young couples can't
even afford their own house, let alone
a farm. So when they heard about the
dairy operation in Carlow, they
decided to emigrate and try their luck
in Huron County.
"Canada is a good country to
come to for farming," Mathew says,
and Cathy adds, "I had always been
dreaming of Canada, and my time in
B.C. was a great life, so we decided to
come over here."
Needless to say, the prospects of
turning a 100 -acre farm into an
economically viable operation aren't
exactly the best these days, what with
growing numbers of farmers having to
supplement their income with outside
work. Yet the Staehlis are confident
that it can be done.
If they could build up a 40 -cow
dairy farm, they would be able to
manage the investment such an
operation would require. They could
then both be farming full time without
Mathew having to work at an off -farm
job as well.
28 THE RURAL VOICE