The Rural Voice, 1994-10, Page 14Bill Wallace
Candidate OMMB
Member Region II
• 12 yrs. Huron County Milk
Committee, 3 terms as chair
• Past Pres. Seaforth Farmers'
Co-op
• Completing 2nd term as Pres.
Huron County Federation of
Agriculture
• Graduate OAC in Dairy
Science, 1973
• Graduate, AALP
- Committed to Supply
Management but with the
flexibility to adapt to changins>
conditions
- 150 acre 45 cow herd in
partnership with wife Rowena
The
"Pellet
Pro"
• The new alternative fuel stove
• Burns corn or wood pellets
• High Efficiency
• Thermostat Controlled
• Requires No Chimney
• Gets up to 55,000 BTU of
Environmentally Friendly Heat
— SALES REPRESENTATIVES —
Don Fluney Welding
R R 6, SHELBURNE, Ont. LON 1S9
Tel 925-5793
Fax 925-6224
10 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Labour Dag on the farm
Two statutory holidays often fall
when farm work is almost at its busi-
est: Labour Day and Thanksgiving. If
the sun is out and the weather clear,
the combine calls harder than the
thoughts of a day off. Days off come
when the weather dictates.
Labour Day
should not be for-
gotten or passed
over, neither
should Thanks-
giving. There is
no union of farm
families to gen-
erate any national
campaign of
thought or action.
The family unit
itself is possibly
one of the strong-
est unions for self
help and reliance
ever invented. It
is this social unit which is the corner-
stone of our society for which we
should give thanks on Labour Day.
RIPLEY
ELEVATORS
a division of
Thompson Feed & Supply
Buyers of
CORN
SOYBEANS
Elevator 519-395-5959
Mill 519-395-5955
Res. 519-395-5550
Manager
Bob Thompson
Ripley
Unless one is totally self-interested,
it is our family we work for, not our-
selves or our boss. On the farm, the
family often works together, uniting
and bonding this very powerful unit of
community life.
Labour Day suggests we pause to
think of what we want to put into the
family unit. Thanksgiving is the time
to bless what we get from it.
One may not get out of the farm the
returns -to -labour in an economic
sense, relative to what the family
members contribute, but if there is job
satisfaction, and family bonding at the
same time, there are other rewards. To
me there is no better reward than a
united family, a strong family unit, an
extended family through generations
and relatives. It is its own village of
customs and resources.
Strong families don't just happen.
Like a strong corporation, they are
guided and nurtured toward goals. It
is at this time of year when others are
making their voices heard for their
demands that the place of the family
should not be overlooked.
The family can call upon itself to
help itself. It has the resources, the
compassion and the knowledge to
apply whatever skills are needed to
help, to the problem. The family can
do what no government program can
attempt or replace. The family unit
often does its self-help job without
fanfare or without reward, fast and
efficiently.
Many of the social service agencies
that are woefully understaffed, would
not be if the family unit had not
broken down. Although some single
parent families cope very well, the
basic social stabilizing influence is the
traditional family.
On occasions like Labour Day,
Thanksgiving and of course Christmas,
we need to take time to reinforce the
strengths and benefits of family life.
This year you may have been
labouring on Labour Day because the
work ethic was too strong to let you
take the day off. So take time instead
at Thanksgiving to thank your parents
for the strength of your family unit.
Thank your partner and thank your
children. They will thank you for it.0
Robert Mercer is editor of the Broadwater
Market Letter, a weekly commodity and policy
advisory letter from Goodwood, ON LOC IAO.