The Rural Voice, 1992-04, Page 3Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
John Heard, soils and crop extension
and research, northwestern Ontario
Neil McCutcheon, farmer, Grey Cty.
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Adrian Vos, Gisele Ireland, Cathy
Laird, Wayne Kelly, Sarah Borowski,
Mary Lou Weiser -Hamilton, June
Flath, Ian Wylie-Toal, Susan Glover,
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Darene
Yavorsky, Peter Baltensperger, Sandra
Orr, Yvonne Reynolds, Dorothy Smith
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
production co-ordinator:
Tracey Rising
advertising & editorial production:
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Anne Harrison
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THE RHYTHM OF THE SEASONS
April— At last the sun has some
warmth as it beats on your face. It
rises earlier too, and goes to bed at a
more leisurely rate as if it has finally
caught up on its sleep over the long
winter and now feels ready to stay
longer.
The sound of trickling water is
heard everywhere as the remnants of
the winter's snow slinks away,
shrinking into ever -smaller piles until
at last it can be found hiding only in
the shady nooks where the sun can't
penetrate. Once it has finished with
the snow, the sun begins to dry the
land and the mushy footing firms.
The days that were quiet a month
ago except for the howl of the wind
or the squawk of the blue jay, now is
filled with a chorus of different
voices: the hoarse call of the crow,
the cackle of the red -winged
blackbird and finally, the cheery song
of the robin, the true sign of spring.
But there is something in humans
that signals spring long before the
first robin dances across the lawn.
There's a restlessness as the days
lengthen, that sends the farmer to
kick the tires of the tractor or adjust
the cultivator. It's not confined to the
country. In living -rooms and kitchens
across the country people thumb
through seed catalogues, planning
gardens large enough to feed their
entire neighbourhood. Nurseries are
gearing up to the flood of
suburbanites who will descend the
first warm Saturday, ready to buy
more shrubs and trees to cram into
their tiny, already -crowded yards.
But what is a primal instinct for
most people is an inescapable
addiction for country people. While
he drives to the local seed dealer to
pick up his seed and fertilizer, the
farmer knows long hours are ahead.
He knows there will be too little
sleep, days when there will be
equipment problems that will make
him use language he's glad his
mother doesn't hear him using. He
knows that there will be nights of
worry about weather and days of
worrying about prices. Yet this is
what he has waited for since fall. This
is what he lives for.
He is a farmer.0
BEHIND THE SCENES
Well, here we are back where it all started nearly 17 years ago. With this issue
I have stepped back into the editor's shoes at The Rural Voice, a job I last held in
1978 when I sold the magazine. (Special thanks to DareneYavorsky for doing a
great job filling in for the last three months until I could clear my schedule.
The magazine I take over today is a lot different than the one I edited then as
it struggled to find its feet. Thanks to the imagination and hard work of people
like Sheila and Lise and Merle Gunby, Gerry Fortune, Bev Brown, Tracey Rising
and Jim Fitzgerald, The Rural Voice has a proud place among the farm press of
Canada. I was first struck by how far the magazine's fame had spread in 1986
when Country Canada came to interview Anne Chislett and myself about the
play Another Season's Promise, which we'd written about the crisis in
agriculture. In theatre circles Anne, who won the Governor General's Award for
drama, was well-known. I wasn't. With the Country Canada crew, I was the one
who was known because they read my column in Rural Voice.
So it's a big challenge to step into these shoes. We won't fiddle with success
too much. There will be some new features such as a regular travel column
where farmer/tourists tell us of agriculture in other lands. That starts this month
with Merle Gunby's observations on agriculture in Grenada. We plan a few other
additions, and as few as possible deletions. Most of all we look forward to
meeting the people that have made this neck of the woods the bread -basket of
Ontario.0
-Keith Roulston