The Rural Voice, 1994-10, Page 3R.V.
Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
John Heard, soils and crop extension
and research, northwestem 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, Carl L. Bedal
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
advertising representative:
Anna Vander Heyden
production co-ordinator:
Anne Harrison
advertising & editorial production:
Dianne Josling
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Publishing, Goderich, Ontario
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Behind the Scenes
A time for Thanksgiving
October: traditionally a time of
Thanksgiving in rural Canada. While
the Zink between Thanksgiving and
food has become a tenuous one in our
urban -dominated society, in the
countryside the sense of thanksgiving
is very real.
Once upon a time Thanksgiving
marked the time when the harvest
was safely in the bin and farmers
could relax and count their blessings.
Some of that sense of relief and
satisfaction has been lost in recent
decades as the search for greater
efficiency and profits has driven
farmers to grow crops that mature
much later, bringing worries that the
crop can safely be harvested before
the winter weather closes in. It means
frustration working in wet fields in
cold weather. In addition, the
pressure for greater and greater
efficiency makes it hard for farmers
to be able to relax a little at the end of
the harvest as their grandparents once
could.
Still, Thanksgiving should be a
time to sit back and count the
blessings we do enjoy in this
bountiful land, a time to set aside for
a moment the worries of day-to-day
life.
Thanksgiving is the subject of a
short article by Alberta writer Nicola
Ramsey in this issue called
"Thanksgiving Heritage". Perth
County writer Bob Reid contributes a
story on some of the farmers who are
turning from milking dairy cows to
milking dairy goats in an effort to get
a greater return for their efforts.
Getting greater return is the goal
of many farmers who are looking for
agricultural alternatives. Out Leaders
section this month focuses on a few
of the alternatives.
The log cabin has a strong place in
the history of rural Ontario, being the
first home that rose on most of the
farms in the eastern part of Canada.
But those log cabin builders could
never have envisioned anything like
the large log homes being built these
days. While pioneers could hardly
wait to leave their log homes behind
and replace them with brick, stone or
frame homes, many today see the
beauty of wood as an attraction
they're willing to pay a premium for.
In our Rural Living section we look
at modern log homes.
Gardening columnist Rhea
Hamilton -Seeger looks at clean-up
time in the garden. — KR
Update
Catching up on bits and pieces
One of the stories that has drawn the most reaction of any we've published in
recent years was our May 1994 story called "Requiem for a Giant" on the slow
disappearance of many of the huge old timber -frame barns that once dominated
our countryside. Our cover featured a photo of an old barn obviously in its dying
days. Recently we happened by the site of that barn and saw that it was truly the
last days of the barn. Whether from a storm or just someone deciding it was time
the barn came down, we don't know for sure, but the barn is now gone, a pile of
timbers on one side of the lot.
Speaking of timber -frame, our August 1993 issue (how time flies) featured a
story on Thistlewood Timber Fame Homes in Markdale. In August the company
signed a three-year agreement with a Japanese company to export timber frame
homes and in the same week closed a deal to export its first timber frame home
to the United States. The Japanese agreement could see the company selling 20-
50 new homes to Japan within five years. Because ancient Japanese temples were
of timber frame construction people there have an appreciation of the
craftsmanship and elegance of such homes.
In August we offered a prize to be drawn from the names of those who
returned our readership survey by September 1. Winner of a one-night stay at the
Chestnut Park Hotel in Toronto is Doris Osterndorff, R.R.1, Elmwood. We'd still
welcome completed surveys to help us plan a better Rural Voice.0