HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1994-03-16, Page 25Page 8 -Farm Progress '94
How the small town boy became a farm "daddy"
by Tim Cumming
Bart Simpson. that great sage
of television fame, has some
good advice "Don't have a
cow."
This is the story of a small-
town boy divorced from his rural
roots and how he became a
Daddy (figuratively speaking).
The story begins not with my
first work on a farm but at least
one generation before.
My father grew up on a farm
in . Simcoe County where a
young boy in his family could
grow up to be one of two things:
a minister or a farmer. (Only one
of my uncles dared to be differ-
ent and became -honors!- a
journalist).
It was one of my farming
uncles who, as a young man,
sold a prize pig to help my
father get through theology.
college.
If my father finished a sermon
and a parishioner exclaimed
"That swine," I'm sure it was
just paying homage to the pig
which put him in the pulpit.
Today there is a branch of the
Cummmgs synonymous with
stewardship of the land. There's
another branch of the Cummings
known for thick glasses, thick
books and thick heads. I belong
to the latter group.
Had I been born to a different
member of the family today I
would have dirt under my boots
instead of ink stains on my
fingers. As it is, I have trouble
telling a cow from a pig and
combine from a cucumber.
To put my ignorance in per-
spective I will tell you the time
I visited a barn where a breeder
kept donkeys and Irish wolf-
hounds. Having never seen a dog
as big as these creatures, I
remarked to myself: "Is that
really what donkeys look like
when they're young?"
My ignorance could only be
surpassed by my friend from
Toronto who saw Charolais
cattle for the first time.
"What are those white things?"
she asked, having only seen
Holsteins in picture books.
"Cows," I replied. "Perhaps
you've heard of them."
Even though I still thought
Jersey Milk came from a choc-
olate bar, I decided this farming
thing couldn't be so tough. I
embarked on an illustrious
Tim Cumming with his
"offspring".
farming career which lasted all
of three weeks. Agriculture has
never been the same since. If I
were a Member of Parliament I
would probably have 'former
dairy farmer' listed on my
resumd.
The fust day at the farm, when
someone woke me up at 6:00 in
the morning I was dazed and
confused.
"What do you mean it's time
to get up?", I asked incredulous-
ly. "It's still dark out." The idea
of getting up before the time had
reached double digits was
foreign to me.
Well, soon I was terrorizing
the neighbours as driver of a
tractor and rewriting the rules of
modern agriculture. In an epic
example of poor judgement the
northern Quebec dairy producer
was Convinced I was ready to
take over the farm for a week.
While he took his fust holiday in
years I proceeded to figure out
what an udder did.
Before the fanner left he half -
muttered a few words.
"One cow is pregnant, but she
shouldn't have a calf before I
get back," he assured•me. With
my naive town roots I trusted
him implicitly. That's where I
was wrong.
The morning started like any
other. I got up late with my eyes
glued shut and half -considered
putting coffee on my corn flakes.
I stumbled into the barn without
turning on the lights. In an
industry where regular routine is
everything the town boy under
the ball cap proceeded to do his
duties at the wrong times in the
wrong order.
Then I noticed something
through my crusty eye-
lids...something was moving. It
wasn't walking too straight (but
then again I can't see too
straight at 6:30 in the morning).
It was a little calf. But where
had it come from? (My mother
•turn to page 11
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Women meet the
challenge of
rural
revitalization
Rural revitalization is a challen-
ging process that involves com-
munities and individuals. Self-
employment, value-added faun
enterprises and community
economic development (CED) are
ways that rural people and
governments are coping with the
changes.
Women have been relatively
absent from the process but have a
lot to offer if encouragement is
given.
The Women and Rural Economic
Development Group (WRED) has
taken on the task ofoviding that
tie tuagement: Th ... -.step was
the organization of the "Strategies
of Participation" Conference in
Guelph in April 1993, in which
appropriate needs and actions were
identified to help rural women.
Conference participants identified
their vision of Community
Economic Development:
• Balance between economic growth
and quality of life
• Rooted in the culture and resour-
ces of the local community
• Co-operative
• Valuing every person's
contribution to the community
• Respectful of different, inter-
dependent perspectives
• Reflective of the interdependence
of rural and urban communities
• Enhanced by the creativity of
people working together for the
common benefit
Ideas were stimulated about how
to further develop rural community
economic development and the
themes of networking to share
information, entrepreneurial skill
development and community leader-
ship and co-operation were strongly
expressed. Also the strategy of
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