HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-08-15, Page 3Librarian helps with
BY SUSAN OXFORD
To help sway people to an un-
common mode of thought education
is an important tool. Often a group
will establish a library concerning
thou particular sn1ctcst and have a
librarian overlooking its operation.
One such library is the mail-order
library for Canadian Organo;
Growers (COG), located in the
Cranbrook home of Kim Yuzwa.
COG is a con -profit organization
founded d in the early 1980's. The
main concern of COG is to help
people get the most from their
garden without causing destruction
to the soil b�r using synthetic
chemicals. COG is involved with
other groups to come up with a
definition for the word 'organic' so
government guidelines can be
drawn. Manbers have access to
information about organic gardening
through its own magazine, Cog-
nition, and its library.
Cognition magazine first started
as a members' newsletter in 1981
and grew into a magazine printed
on recycled paper. Members receive
it four times a year, and is also
available to the public in book and
health food stores. The library
began shortly after COG was
founded. The current president,
Mary Perlmutter, was its first
librarian and Kim is the third. Mary
Perlmutter has been a guest speaker
on CBC Radio Noon discussing
organic gardening, does public
relations work for COG and lec-
tures around the country.
Kim became the librarian Septem-
ber 1989 and brought with her
many years of valuable experience
as both an organic gardener and
librarian. She has gardened or-
ganically 15 years and has a large
garden behind her house. She uses
only compost fertilizer made from
kitchen scraps and uses herbicides
and pesticides made from garlic or
cayenne pepper water solutions. By
plan .;email plants close
together she car, deter certain in-
sects. Sometuiica 1C_ur, goes into the
garden and ehiltUkatai wends and
maws manually. She has observed
that census plains grow well
together, prat: tures rotation planting
and is lean ung which plants grow
well after each other. When plan-
ning her garden dun considers
shade cast by taller plants. Tbts
year she is expenmenung with
plantuig in raised ridges.
"1 do many things that won't
cause damage to the soil," said
Kim. "I'm not a political person by
nature, but I believe in organic
gardening and this (garden) is my
contribution to the expansion of the
cause. Organic gardening is not lust
gardening without chemicals; it's
gardening to be kind to the earth."
For many years Kim worked in
libranes. Currently she works for
the Huron County Library system
and is branch supervisor for the
Ethel branch library. Her first
library work was as security guard
at the University of Waterloo
library and she still works there.
The U of W has one of the largest
libraries in Ontario and many
people have access.
"I've caught people trying to steal
books from the university that are
very old, or rare, and beautiful.
Sometimes I can't believe it."
COG has 2,087 members across
Canada and all of them may use the
library. The main focus of the
library is writings about organic
gardening and Kim has a budget to
buy books and magazines. The
library has periodicals, articles
clipped from various sources,
government publications and reports
(including many from the United
States government recognizing
organic agriculture), technical
reports from various studies and
150 books. She orders books
through book seller's lists and
IN THE YEARS ALONE
from the Expositor Archives
gardens
reviews thew for Cognition.
When the current Liberal provin-
cialovctwnent cancelled the
special mail rates for public;atia a
the COG library was laced with a
huge increase in us madGrates and,
like many other publications,
seriously suffered. GOC won its
fight for recognition for library
book rates, allowing the library to
continue under lessened financial
UMW.
"We have an cuurnlOus amount of
information herr, and must of at
isn't requested," said Kun. "People
still want the classics from the
1930's and 1940's when synthetic
chemicals were coming into vogue.
Edward H. Faulkner's 'Ploug-
hman's Folly' is requested often.
The library is becoming more
professional and I now receive
press releases and information
packages."
Other publications often requested
are literature on orchards and fruit
production, and agricultural reports
especially from Saskatchewan
where more farmers are willing to
try organic farming. In the future
Kim would like to see the library
acquire more information on or-
ganic farming, including livestock.
"The only other place I know of
in Huron County that has infor-
mation about organic farming is the
Ecological Farmers Association
library at the Maitland Valley
Conservation Authority office in
Wroxeter," Kim said.
The Webster's dictionary
definition of organic is: 'grown
with only animal or vegetable fer-
tilizers'. Many people define or-
ganic as 'food grown and processed
without the use of synthetic
chemicals.' Some people have sold
'organic' food because it was not
treated with chemicals, but it may
have come from a garden or or-
chard that was not maintained and
therefore is not sustainable. The
Vindictive cat pounces
on area traveller
AUGUST 15, 1890
The wheeled caravan of a scissors
grinder, which occupied a place in
the Royal Hotel yard for several
weeks, was removed from here on
Wednesday. During his stay here,
the old gentleman did a rushing
business sharpening lawn mowers,
scissors, razors and such like. His
present stopping place, we believe,
is Brucefield and he goes from
there to Exeter.
One of our young men reports
that while strolling through the bush
one Sunday afternoon lately, a large
wild -cat pounced upon his head
from the over -hanging branch of a
tree. The youth shook the assailant
off, when it again pounced upon
him tearing his clothes and also
inflicting a few light scratches.
After dislodging it the second time
the cat, cat -like, commenced pur-
ring and spitting and showing other
signs of life when the youth,
thinking that discretion was the
better part of valour, made the best
of his way home, inwardly resol-
ving that the next time he crossed
the bush he would either carry a
"shooter" or go round the road.
Mr. William Rinn, of Hullett, near
Kinburn, has a patch of corn the
stalks of which average thirteen feet
in length. He thinks this is pretty
good for a Tory and wants to know
if any Grit can beat it.
New fall wheat has been
marketed here in Wroxeter, and the
price per bushel being 95 cents.
Harvest is now in full swing, and
the click of the mower has given
place to the rattle -de -bang of the
self -binder, soon to be displaced,
however, by the more musical hum
of the busy separator and the sky -
rending shriek of the pulsating
engine.
AUGUST 13, 1915
The Bell Telephone Company
have planted a row of new poles on
the North side of John Street. If
they would now paint them, their
appearance would be greatly
improved.
Mr. William Leach's delivery
truck in Egmondvillc took a run to
itself on Thursday morning last. In
turning around, the horse cramped
the wagon, and the frightened
animal broke away from the vehicle
and ran down the hill and half way
up the bridge abutment and then
Jumped into the river. Fortunately.
no serious damage was done, al-
though the horse was somewhat cut
up.
Mr. D. Fothcringham of Tuck-
ersmith has replaced the building
burned last sprang by a new steel
and metal structure, which is now
completed and ready for the crop. It
is the first building of the kind
erected in these parts and make a
fine appearance.
The Varna football team was in
Kippen on Saturday evening
•
squaring up with the Kippen "Eye
Openers". The playing throughout
was keen, exciting and interesting
to the large crowd who came to
witness the playing. If the German
war is any rougher the writer would
not like to be there.
AUGUST 16, 1940
While Seaforth school boards
have not as yet considered the
question of delaying the opening of
the schools, as requested by the
Ontario Dept. of Education, the
consensus of opinion is that little
purpose would be served by chan-
ging the opening date. It is pointed
out that any pupils who may be
required to work on the farm may
make special arrangements.
Householders may expect a rise in
the price of honey, is present
predictions are fulfilled. Local
beekeepers report a very short crop
of honey this year, owing to the
fact that bees did not have the full
benefit of dandelions and fruit
blooms owing to rains during the
months of June and July.
Louis Purcell, son of Mr. Thomas
Purcell of Seaforth, will sing his
first Solemn High Mass in St.
James Church, Seaforth, on Sunday.
He was ordained at St. Basil's
Church, Toronto, last week.
AUGUST 19, 1965
Setting out on the first stage of a
trip that will take him half way
around the world, John M. Scott
left Seaforth Thursday for Toronto.
His destination is Indian where he
will be employed with CARAVAS,
Christian Association of Radio,
Audio, Visual Services. The trip
will take two months. Mr. Scott is
the son of Mr. and Mrs. James M.
Scott of Seaforth.
Wayne Payne, 18, of Hensall, an
employee of Canadian Canners,
Exeter, fractured two bones in his
left foot early Monday morning
when a kettle filled with ap-
proximately 750 cans of peas fell
on his foot.
Fire of undetermined origin
completely destroyed one of
Dublin's oldest landmarks early
Friday morning. The building was
owned by Louis Looby, while the
electrical business that it housed,
Dublin Electric, was operated by
Donald MacRae. Mr. Looby es-
timated loss on the building would
be between $4,000 and $5,000,
while Mr. MacRae said the stock
lost was worth between S10,000
and ,S 11,000.
Some sort of record has been
established by Leslie Pepper's herd
of 17 cows. Four sets of twin cal-
ves, all strong and healthy, have
been born on his farm at R . R . 4,
Walton during the past couple of
months. The calves were all a result
of artificial breeding.
IHE HURON EXPOSITOR. AUGUST 15. 1990 3
LIBRARIAN SEATED IN HER LIBRARY - Kim Yuzwa, librarian of the Canadian Organic Growers
(COG) mail-order library, sits with some of the books available out of her home. The books cater to
organic gardeners, but Kim would like to see more books on organic farming. Oxford photo.
need for regulation in the organic
industry has become necessary and
COG has joined a team to come up
with the definition.
The Canadian Organic Unity
Project (COUP) has received
coverage in Cognition for its efforts
to come up with a definition with
the help of various interest groups
across Canada. Most agree that
minimum standards are needed for
all organic food growers. Agricul-
ture Canada has given COUP a
$68,000 commitment to come up
with a uniform Canadian organic
certification standard and a method
to accredit certification agencies.
This will allow the government to
give organics formal federal recog-
nition.
People interested in obtaining
more information about COG, its
library or Cognition can write to
Kim Yuzwa, RR 3, Brussels, On.
NOG 1H0.
Blyth captures the spirit of the switchboard
BY PAULA ELLIOTT
"It's true to history," says Amy
Wiggins of Blyth Festival's latest
musical offering, 'Firefly'. And
Mrs. Wiggins is in a unique
position to know.
Set in a rural Ontario town of the
early 1900's, 'Firefly' spans eight
years of a young girl's life and the
life of her community at the advent
of the telephone. With a whirlwind
of technological changes, coming of
age and the declaration of World
War I shaping the plot, 'Firefly'
chronicles Emmy McFadden's
coming of age and declaration of
independence as she takes up the
post of Levity, Ontario's first
telephone switchboard operator.
Although Seaforth's Amy Wig-
gins worked as a telephone
switchboard operator in nearby
Dungannon a little later in history,
during the 1940's, the play drew
many parallels to her own experien-
ces, still fresh in her memory.
Just like Emmy McFadden in the
Blyth play, Mrs. Wiggins was the
night operator for the Goderich
Rural Telephone Company's Dun-
gannon switching station. Busy
during the day raising her family,
she kept her bed handy - right
underneath the switchboard. As was
common in the days of independent
telephone companies, the board was
located in the operator's home. In
fact, she notes, the home came with
the job. Not a bad benefit, realty,
considering the money...
"My pay was $1 a night in 1945,
from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.," Mrs. Wig-
gins smiles. "But I didn't have to
go outside to go to work."
"As far as I was concerned, I had
a house and a place for the kids,"
she explains, adding that her work-
week was seven days long. She
wonders how this arrangement
would go over with somebody in
1990.
"If anybody was asked to work
seven nights a week, they'd be
scandalized!"
But in the early days of the in-
dependent phone companies, long
hours were par for the course, as
—were other delights such as the
party line. With neighbours - and
the operator - horning in on phone
calls, the gossip could fly at times.
Rules of the lines dictated time
limits on local phone calls, and
sheer cost kept long-distance calls
to a bare minimum in 1945.
"You didn't make a long-distance
call," says Mrs. Wiggins, pointing
out that a three-minute call to
Goderich cost a nickel and three
minutes of gabbing to Wingham
was a dear 25 cents. Phone calling
was also frowned on between 11
p.m. and 5 a.m. in the interest of
keeping lines open for emergencies.
Mrs. Wiggins had the power to cut
off the connection, and exercised it
more than once. She laughs as she
recalls connecting two clandestine
callers late one night during
'prohibited' phone time.
"The one fellow kept whispering,
'Get off the line! Just get off the
line! You'll get the line cut off!'
I listened for a while, then I just
pulled the plug."
There were also special emergen-
cy rings that the operators could
activate. If someone's farm was on
fire, for instance, there was a single
buzz that could be rung over all the
lines to notify the neighbourhood.
"Phones were very precious, for
the simple reason that you could
talk to your neighbour," Mrs. Wig -
gins points out, and a fire or ac-
cident could keep the lines hopping
long into the wee hours. She recalls
a bad car accident near Kincardine
during one of her shifts. "The
Ripley operator and 1 were up most
of the night, putting through calls
and talking to each other."
One scene in 'Firefly' has a group
of family and friends huddled near
their newly -installed, newfangled
phone, the air thick with terror. The
phone rings! The women shriek!
Men cower! Mrs. Wiggins chuckles
over this scene and confirms that,
even in the mid to late 1940's, the
telephone was still a bit of a
frightening thing for many Dungan-
non area folks.
"People were terrified of the
telephone," she says. "People also
had a very bad habit of talking far
too loud on the phone."
But working the switchboard
system, Amy Wiggins knew
everyone in the area - out of neces-
sity. Just as in 'Firefly' where Em-
my McFadden knows everyone in
the town by the sound of their
ita
voice, Mrs. Wiggins was blessed
with same talent.
"You get to recognize voices off
of the telephone," she says, adding
that a good memory for numbers
and places was also paramount for
a telephone operator. When school
was called off due to the weather,
for instance, a telephone relay
would quickly have to be set up,
starting with the switchboard
operator.
Whether for emergency or social
use, the telephone is the main
unifier in the world of com-
munications today. But being as
common as it is, the telephone is
often taken for granted. In the era
of its advent, and for a number of
years afterwards, it was seen as
almost miraculous, linking friends
and neighbours in a way that they
would never have dreamed possible
before. 'Firefly' traces the birth of
this miracle and its effect on a rural
town and one girl in particular. The
play runs at the Blyth Festival until
August 25, and is well worth
seeing.
AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE - Emmy McFadAen (Paulirw Gillis), as
the only switchboard operator - and working woman in her
hometown. faces the future with the help of her father (Jerry
Franken) in the Myth Festival's production of 'Firefly' (James
Hockings photo)
t *-•
A RICH HISTORY Seaforth's Amy Wiggins could relate to the
Blyth Festival musical 'Firefly' in a personal way, having worked
as a telephone switchboard operator in rural Dungannon in the
1940's. Elliott photo.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
N you're organizing s non-profit event of Interest to other Besforth area
reekSents, phone the recreation office 827-0882 or the Expositor at 527-0240,
or mall the information to Community Calendar, The Huron Expositor, BOX
ell. $saforth, Ontario, NOK 1W0 well In advance of the scheduled data. Free
Nstb� Include• date, time, name of event and location only. Spec* for the
Cseemunity Calendar le donated by The Huron Expositor.
Wed. , Aug. 15
1:30-4:00 p.m. — Senior Shuffleboard
at the Arena
6.30-7:30 p.m. — Minor Soccer M the
Optimist Park
Thurs., Aug. 16
12:00 noon — Aqua Flt st lions Pool
8:00-10:00 p.m. — Men's Ball Hockey
at *MC
8:00 p.m. — Hogs vs. Beachwood
0:00 p.m. — BoNrrernith vs. Topnotch
Sat., Aug. 18
All l)ay Jr Mttr Softball
Tournament
Mon. , Aug. 20
11 00 noon -- Aqua Fit at Lions Pool
Wed.,
1 30-4:30 p m
SDCC
Aug. 22
Shuffleboard at
Wed. , Sept. 5
Huron Oen•aloglcal Branch of the
O.O.S. will meet In the Board Room,
Ood•rich Assessment Building.
Topic: Photos, care and preservation
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