The Rural Voice, 1978-02, Page 28Country Thoughts
by Keith Roulston
Farmers aren't, by confession anyway, very romantic people.
We hear a good deal about the pull of the land, being in rhythm
with nature and such but usually it comes not from farmers. but
romantic city dwellers who have fond memories of experiences
they've had on a farm. Farmers are more interested in terms like
"return on investment", "stabilization funds", and other parts
of the technical jargon of modern farming.
Yet I think those deep feelings, that mysticism about the land,
is still a part of the modern Canadian farmer no matter what he
might try to pretend. I saw a slide presentation recently about
life in Ghana including a good deal about agriculture there.
Many of the farms are just clearings in the jungle. The tools the
farmers used were often only a hoe and a huge knife for
chopping. (There had been large tractors and trucks donated by
industrialized countries but these stood abandoned for want of
parts to fix them when they broke down). It was farming reduced
to its simplest terms: man. seed, earth, growth, harvest. And yet
I think, uneducated as they were, primitive as they were by our
standards, these Africans had more in common with the
Canadian farmer than the Canadian farmer has with the city
dweller of his own country. The Ghanain farmer had to fight
snakes and jungles; the Canadian farmer worries about weather
and surplusses and low prices, but they both have a common
bond, the bond of making the earth produce.
So many traditions in farming still survive. Things change in
so many ways yet remain the same. The other day in the middle
of a two-day storm, I found myself picking up the seed catalogue
and planning what I would grow for the coming year in my
garden. I wondered at the time how many farmers, warming in
their kitchens across the snowbelt, were dreaming of what crops
they would grow in what fields come spring. Should they try
beans again or grow more corn? It's been going on in
winter -bound kitchens for as long as there have been farmers in
Ontario. I remember my father and my uncle sitting around the
kitchen table dreaming about the spring ahead, my father
scribbling on an old envelope with a stub of a pencil. If you asked
him what he was doing he'd answer "oh just figurrin". (It was
the only time my father ever made money in farming, while he
was figurin').
Farmers today (at least those who are left) are a lot more
prosperous than dye farmers of my father's day and many can
afford to take a trip to the sunshine of the south. Yet 1 wonder if
they find anymore warmth in their dreams about Florida than my
father did in his dreams about the coming spring on the front 10
acres or the 15 acres behind the bush. I know that in the middle
of that storm that seed catalogue made me feel a lot warmer than
any brochure for Jamaica could have.
Operation
L'tfertigie
Lifestyle is knowing how to
avoid accidents at work, at
home, at school or in sports.
It's obeying safety rules.
PG. 28. THE RURAL VOICE/FEBRUARY 1978.
BRUSSELS STOCKYARDS LTD.
Where buyers and sellers meet
every Friday at 12:30
Stockers and Feeders arriving regularly
FOR COMPETITIVE MARKETING
PHONE 887461 BRUSSELS
Attention Farmers:
•Custom General Machining -
•Welding
•Spray Welding for worn surfaces
*Custom Railings
CENTRAL MACHINING
Steven Rathwell Edgar Rathwell
Phone
482-3523
R.R. #5, Clinton
Next to Base Factory Outlet at Vanastra
Farmatic introduces
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The Vertec Continuous Flow
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Efficient features include:
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•small batch operation
•continuous flow - no screens
•portable
•and REDUCED ENERGY
CONSUMPTION - a big factor these days
They're Canadian made. Therefore, there's no waiting for
parts. Servicemen can be at your farm in no time. So save
time and money. Call us...and ask for Bruce McDonald.
Quantities are limited for this year, so inquire early.
Farmatic Automatic
Feeding Ltd.
Gorrie, Ontario
(519) 335-3542