The Rural Voice, 1994-09, Page 25are grown in the drier Prairie
climate). Sunflowers must be stored
at 10 per cent moisture, but since
they are 50 per cent oil, they are
difficult, even dangerous, to dry.
Custom dryers, worried about fires,
won't touch them.
McKay figures five acres is about
the limit of acreage the family can
handle without finding some way of
mechanically drying the sunflower
seed. They have a shed in which the
seed can be stored and dried for the
limited crop she has now, if
necessary.
Most sunflowers are grown for
oil, with bird seed only as an
alternative if there is a surplus. With
a health conscious population driving
up the use of safflower oil, the
amount left for bird seed is
sometimes short. Last year the price
of sunflowers for bird seed almost
doubled from fall to late winter, she
says.
Something else that bothers her is
the amount of chaff she often found
in sunflower seeds she bought. "We
have a seed cleaner. I hope to have a
cleaner product than some of the
stuff I've bought."
She has developed her own niche
in the market in other ways.
Rather than create more waste
with packaging, she plans to recycle
plastic pails from such things as the
food service industry. People will
then be able to bring their pails back
to the farm for refills. It will also
reduce the cost of her product.
Many people like to buy in bulk,
she says, but it's hard to carry a 50
pound bag. A pail with handles will
be easier to manage.
Taking the REDI course was
wonderful, she says. "I hadn't done a
lot of research (into her idea). I
hadn't thought of a business plan."
Speakers at the course stressed
looking at all the avenues and
possibilities of an idea. There was
information on the financial aspects
of running a business, even on the
effects of running a business on your
family.
Participants learned the "nuts and
bolts" of financing, creating a
business plan and marketing plans,
market research, dealing with
customers and dealing with rejection.
"They teach you the steps you
have to go through before you start,"
McKay says, "whether or not your
business will even work; whether
there is a market for your product."
But the good ideas came not just
from the course instructors but from
the participants. When you have a
group of people together who are all
thinking about starting a business
there's a lot of brainstorming that
goes on. "Even if the brainstorming
is not on your business, it gets you
thinking in a different way," McKay
says. Members of her class continue
to meet on a monthly basis to share
their successful moments, and those
moments that aren't so successful.
ARegistered Nurse who
decided to work only part-
time at Stratford Hospital
after the birth of her daughters,
McKay likes the idea of operating
her own business. "Having my own
business appeals to the part of me
that wants to stay home, have my
own business, help out on the farm
and pursue the other interests I have."
The sunflower business is attractive
because it is seasonal, not something
she must devote so many days to
every week. Planting and scuffling
are the only chores during the spring
and summer.
So far the crop has been better
than she had ever anticipated, McKay
says. The sunflowers have been
taller and have larger heads than she
expected. But she still faces two
main dangers, the Ontario weather
and, ironically, birds.
But sunflowers aren't the only
idea McKay has for a business. "I
have all kinds of ideas. I don't like to
put all my eggs in one basket." The
beauty of the REDI course, she says,
is that the knowledge she gained can
be applied to other ideas too.
She relates the new business ethic
among rural women to the old days
when the farm wife used to get the
egg money for herself. "Rural
women have always done a lot. Now
they're starting out on their own.
This course has been really beneficial
for myself and for a lot of women."0
Janice Toonders: adding value to farm's wool production.
Knitting diverse skills together to
create a new, farm -based business
When Janice Toonders started getting the itch to do something
challenging while staying home looking after her children, she
combined two parts of her background to create a new business.
Toonders, who lives on a farm near Lucan, first took up knitting when
she was pregnant with one of her three children. Later she learned to spin.
Acquiring sheep was a natural move. Toonders had grown up on a sheep
farm near Birr so when she and her husband were unhappy with the returns
on hogs, sheep came to mind as a replacement. They went looking at
various breeds, wanting good Iambs for meat and decent wool. They thought
of Oxfords at first, then read about Polypays. Polypays are a breed
developed in the U.S. in 1976, a result of crossbreeding four different
breeds. As well as producing a good carcass and fine wool, they have the
benefit of breeding out of season.
SEPTEMBER 1994 21