Loading...
The Rural Voice, 1979-12, Page 44short but blissful while it lasts. It could be a special time when my family gets together and just has a good visit. Christmas might mean carolling in town while my toes and fingers become numb with frostbite or it could mean the tantalizing odour of the Christmas turkey that drifts from the oven. It might mean making candy and shortbread weeks before December 25 and hiding it away in crooks and crannies to protect it from my brothers and Dad. Maybe Christmas is watching my brothers put up the tree in the living room; watching them stretch and strain to get it perfectly straight only to find when it's up that despite their care, it is on a dismal lean to the starboard! It could be decorating the house from top to bottom, or watching "The Tommy Hunter Christmas Special" with my family as we usually do. Maybe Christmas means gaining back those fifteen pounds I starved all fall to lose, or it could mean going out the day before Christmas to buy all the presents that I somehow managed to forget until then. Or maybe, Christmas means feeling things more clearly than at any other time of year. It could be the way I feel when I'm at the Candlelight Carol Service singing "Away in a Manger", all solem and bubbly at the same time. Or it might be the tingly feeling I get when I see the look on Mom's face when she opens the present I got her. Perhaps, Christmas is the way I feel all choked -up when I step outside on Christmas Eve to find all the stars out, the sky as clear as a bell, and snowflakes drifting serenely to the ground. Maybe it's the emotion I feel at a Christmas party, excited to the point that I'm just three years old again. Christmas might mean feeling thankful and full of praise when my minister reads the Christmas story, or it could mean being too excited to sleep on Christmas Eve. Maybe it's feeling peaceful when all the guests are gone and all the wrapping paper is cleaned up off the floor. Or perhaps, Christmas means more than that to me. Maybe Christmas is the part of me tltatcries out at injustice, stands up for right and tries to be a decent human being all year long. Maybe Christmas means smiling when I feel like frowning, helping when I'd rather hinder, forgiving when 1 could fight. Is that what it's all about? Ah, Christmas, what makes you so important, so familiar, yet so undescrib- able? And frankly, I don't want to know. If someone were to tell me, in a million words or less, what Christmas is, it would lose it's mystery. Christmas is so much to me and every year it is something different and unique. It means too much to me, is too important to me, to ever be fully defined. Christmas means whatever I or you want it to mean. That's what makes it so special. Christmas is loving, and wanting to be The warm friendly person God wants of me. It's remembering the baby of far far away "The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay." It's laughing with children when Santa they see It's stringing lights and popcorn on the evergreen tree. It's watching the stars shine on Christmas Eve It's helping people, in the power of love, to believe. It's making candy and pudding weeks in advance. It's having fun at the Christmas party or dance. It's singing the carols; believ ing their words. It's feeding the animals; squirrels and birds. It's waking up early on Christmas morn To greet the beauty of the new day as it is born. Yes, Christmas means alot, all the year through Think about it. What's Christmas to you? Those are some things that are Christmas for me - But Christmas can be anything you want it to be. Learning by doing Young farmers raise barrows for the royal BY RHEA HAMILTON Young tarmers who enter livestock into competition at the Royal Winter Fair learn fast the best ways to improve stock and the importance of having high performance in order to make a living as a farmer. Jane and Scott Robinson have spent the last 6 months tending 8 barrows (castrated boars in laymen terms) for their entry into the largest agricultural fair in the country. For Scott, 17, it is his fourth year in the Ontario Performance tested Junior Barrow 'Show and is one more stepping stone in his farming education. For Jape, 15, involve- ment stems from interest in the family farm. Both teenagers help out with the family operation of producing purebred Yorkshire and Hampshire pigs for market and breeding. A representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Gary Curry, weighed the piglets. The weigh-in age is about 6 months and amounts to 15-32 kilograms. The end product will weigh between 86 and 104 kilograms upon arrival at the show, in November. Scott has had good luck with his four barrows but Jane is worried that she may not even have two good ones to enter out of the initial four. "One became crippled and the others killed the second one." Jane said. Al- though she laughed when she spoke of the poor time she was having, she was learning quickly about the mishaps with livestock that every producer worries about. "The whole idea is to produce a good quality animal" said Scott. The Robinson family have been in the pig business for 12 years and have 150 sows producing all the time. The final weigh-in date for the entries is October 31 and then the animals are shipped to the Toronto fair for the competition Unlike cattle or horses, the youngsters are not allowed to handle their entries. "There are too many pigs and only 3 or 4 handlers manage them all." Jane said. The prize market hog is auctioned off with the top twenty and the remainder of the pigs are usually sold to Schneiders or by teletype by the Ontario Pork Producers Marketing board. Judges emphasize average backfat thick- ness, daily gain and live appraisal at the PG. '42 THE RURAL VOICE/DECEMBER 1979 show. All these factors are given points and those with the highest number take the prize money and championships. Although the Robinsons have not been champions they have produced quality hogs that were auctioned among the top twenty winners. While Jane remains uncommitted to being a future farmer, Scott is enthusiastic about joining his father in the operation. proved to be the test that tney hay. ..iting for all summer. Although Sco i ,.idn't make it into the top twenty and missed out on the sale, Jane's barrow came in 11th and ended up selling as second top hog it the sale. Tile price paid was S3.00 dressed weight. At press time the Robinsons had not received final figures Their father, Robert Robinson, noted that there were only two entrants in the barrow competition from Huron, the second largest market hog producing county in Ontario. He issued a challenge to other pork producers to get involved with the program at the Royal and show how well Huron is doing.