The Rural Voice, 2006-04, Page 3About this issue
A house of straw
There's a long history of farmers building their homes
from the products of their land, dating from the first rough
shanties through the log homes to using home-grown
Lumber (and sometimes field -stone from the rock piles) to
construct the substantial homes we think of as the
traditional Ontario farm house.
Imagine, though, if you could build a comfy, energy
efficient home from the straw you bale after harvesting
your wheat, barley or oats? Wellington County residents
Martin Tamlyn and Cathy Kipp were fascinated by the idea
of straw bale houses and researched the idea. Andrew
Epplett follows the progress of the building of their dream
home.
It's amazing how someone can say something in a
different way that makes you see a commonplace thing in a
whole new light. Jim Gerrish, a former University of
Missouri pasture specialist now with American
Grazinglands Service Inc. in Idaho, makes people see
pastures a whole different way when he reminds his
audiences that an acre of pasture is really a 43,560 -square -
foot solar panel for collecting the sun's rays and turning it
into feed that will produce meat. Once you've grasped that
concept, the entire goal of pasture management becomes
how to build a better solar panel to capture more of the
sun's energy and efficiently deliver it to the the meat -
making factory that your grazing animal is.
Gerrish spoke recently at the Profitable Pastures seminar
in Elmwood and we have a report on his enlightening
ideas.
It's impossible not to realize there's a farm income crisis
in Ontario so what leaders of Huron County farm groups
had to say to Huron -Bruce MP Paul Steckle and MPP
Carol Mitchell was hardly a surprise. Nevertheless the
leaders made some hard-hitting presentations. We have
reports on these.
For a lighter touch in these difficult times, Heather
Crawford visited a Huron County man who wanted
something a little different on his farm and he certainly got
it. Mark Beaven raises yaks.°
Update
Plant needs farmer investors
Farmer investors are needed to continue the progress
toward a farmer -owned beef processing plant in Brussels.
Joe Seili, mayor of the Municipality of Huron East and
president of Huron Feeding Systems in Brussels, told the
Huron County Federation of Agriculture's Members of
Parliament Day in Clinton, March 4, that agribusiness has
stepped forward to assist the proposed plant (subject of a
story in our November 2005 issue) but farmers' names are
needed on the application for government funding for the
next step of the feasibility study. "The plant needs a few
more producers to invest," Seili said.
The idea for the plant, to be built on a parcel of land
adjacent to the Brussels Livestock auction, grew out of a
round -table discussion last April with Andy Mitchell, then
Canada's Minister of Agriculture and Agrifood. Mitchell
mentioned a government program to help farmer -owned
packing plants get established to build Canada's packing
capacity toward self-sufficiency in the wake of the border
closure because of isolated cases of BSE.
A meeting of 40-50 interested beef producers was held
last August and a steering committee was struck. In
December, Giffels Associates, which prepared the initial
phase of the feasibility study, reported to the same group.
The proposal would see initial production of 1,000 head
a week in phase one building toward a capacity of 3,500
head. The plant would cost $20-$30 million to build. The
products would be aimed at specialty, high-end markets
around the world.°
'Rural Voice
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