The Rural Voice, 2000-05, Page 45i
Book Review
Down ort the farm antics
Reviewed by Deborah Quaile
It's not always possible to keep up
the same level of creativity when
you're working on the topic a third
time, but author Marsha Boulton has
served up another helping of
hilarious down on
the farm antics with
Letters from Across
the Country.
The tales are
sure to please those
either living or
interested in the
rural life. Boulton
has a flair for a
good joke and an
entertaining story.
Once again the
episodes are divid-
ed more or less seasonally. In this
volume, she's incorporated stories
derived from letters received from
readers across the countryside —
"constructed, combined and constru-
ed as I envision them," she remarks.
"Many names and places are fact,
others are up for the guessing."
In her latest book, Boulton has
had several photographs taken by
John Reeves, which allow the reader
to put a face to the voice on the
CBC's Fresh Air program and see
what the farm actually looks like.
These stories are less dedicated to
complete farm humour, although that
premise still forms the strong basis
for the gathering of tales. Her keen
and witty observations are about life,
not just farming.
Particularly funny is "Anti -Noah's
Farm," in which two Reverends with
a small animal rescue operation
pamper and care for only one of
everything — hence no breeding
headaches. It's a truly heart-warming
story about this remarkable sanctuary
for all unwanted creatures.
"That Championship Season"
details Wally the Bull Terrier and his
funny antics in the show ring,
throughout which he wore white
clown makeup to conceal the buildup
of splinter wounds and a thick callus
on his nose. At that point Boulton
realized to what ungodly extents
people go when trying to win a
ribbon at a show, no matter what type
of animal it is.
There are also plenty of other
laughable details, such as how
Boulton's partner, Stephen "Moose"
Williams, mistook Wally the Wonder
Dog's Snausages — classy cocktail
wiener type dog treats — for human
snacks. Boulton discovered his
mistake after she found the tin, a jar
of mustard and an empty beer bottle
left on the kitchen table.
A master of description, Marsha
Boulton puts a delightful spin on
rural and small town life. There are
also continuing stories of well loved
characters, like Webster, the revered
black barn cat, who is definitely not a
kitty litter type of guy and whose
more than nine lives have entitled
him to reach a corresponding human
age of 120 years old.
Letters from Across the Country
will no doubt charm farm folk and
city dwellers dreaming of the escape
al i ke.0
Letters from Across the Country
Marsha Boulton, McArthur &
Company, Toronto, 1999
ISBN 1-55278-026-0 $14.95 p/b
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News
MPs hear plenty of
complaints over on-
farm milling issue
Western Ontario farm groups are
asking their Members of Parliament
to intervene to halt new federal
government regulations that would
prohibit farmers from mixing feed if
drug additives are involved.
At both the Grey -Bruce Members
of Parliament dinner and the dinner
in Huron, producers, led by the pork
sector, complained about the
hardship the changes would bring.
And it seems obvious the legislation
caught everyone by surprise.
At the Huron meeting March 25,
Huron -Bruce MP Paul Steckle and
county farm leaders all expressed
dismay at the new regulations, to be
administered by the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency. The issue was
raised by Dave Linton, Huron
County representative for Ontario
Pork.
"This has the potential to greatly
reduce the competitiveness of our
independent family farms," Linton
said in a written brief to Steckle and
Huron -Bruce MPP Helen Johns.
"One of the greatest advantages that
most of our producers have is the
ability to grow their own crops, (and)
store them until manufactured into
feed on farm."
Moreover, Linton told Steckle, if
food safety is supposed to be the big
issue, the regulations won't have
much effect because 98 per cent of
drug violations are the result of the
wrong feed being fed to the wrong
animals at the wrong time, not from
mistakes in mixing additives.
Farmers can still add drugs to their
water supply and avoid the
regulations, he said. "This is not
doing anything to improve food
safety."
Steckle expressed surprise at the
recent deluge of opposition for the
regulations because they had been in
development for eight years. Because
of the outcry Agriculture Minister
Lyle Vanclief has postponed
implementing the new regulations for
30 days, Steckle said. He later told
the Grey County meeting that the
MAY 2000 41