The Rural Voice, 2006-09, Page 3About this issue
Farming beef, and the wind
Open spaces have always been an additional beneficial
pleasure of living in the country but now those open spaces
have also become a benefit to society, particularly those
places inland from Lake Huron.
The most obviously prospering type of farming in recent
years has been wind farms as huge corporations which
became rich in the Alberta oil fields plow millions into
wind energy by erecting turbines to harvest the steady
winds off the lake.
Those wind farms are still controversial as neighbours
in some areas have complained about setbacks and
expansion of the farms.
A different sort of wind farm may be in the future, one
in which local people have a chance to share future profits.
Countryside Energy Co-operative Inc., based in Milverton,
is already selling memberships and hopes to be selling
preferred shares this fall as it raises the $10 million
required for its first 10 megawatt wind farm at Bervie. We
have a story on its plans and some lessons in the realities of
farming the wind.
September is traditionally our beef issue. This year we
have two stories that look at the final consumer of beef.
Jeffrey Carter explores the use of Canadian beef in
Ontario's restaurants, why some restaurants proudly feature
100 per cent Canadian product, while others are less
obvious in boasting about local product. The good news is
that 90 per cent of the beef consumed in Canada today is
Canadian, up from 70 per cent before the BSE crisis, says
the Beef Information Centre.
The BSE crisis prompted a group of organic beef
producers, centred in southern Huron County, to take their
products straight to the consumer. Today Field Gate
Organics has featured locations at Covent Garden Market
in London and at Windsor Market Square as well as selling
through organic food outlets across the province.
September is show time and we have information this
month on what's new to look for at Canada's Outdoor Farm
Show at Woodstock. As well, volunteers are busy in Bruce
County these days planning to host the International
Plowing Match in 2008.
In her gardening column Rhea Hamilton Seeger deals
with a creepy subject. She battles bind weed and other
creeping vines that haunt gardeners.
If you have a student going off to university or college,
Patti Robertson has advice on how to turn that rented
apartment into a real home.0
Update
A-mazing hemp
We've done stories on mazes before, including a story
last September on the Newton corn maze, and we've done
stories on hemp before, but the newest entry into the maze
game is a one -acre hemp maze.
The hemp maze, located on Dan and Janet Scheele's
farm near Ingersoll, was the centrepiece of the hemp field
day which was to be held August 26. The event was
organized by Ontario Hemp Alliance, whose president is
Gordon Scheifele, featured way back in our April 1993
issue in an article on research he was conducting on
altemative crops at Ridgetown College.
Much of Scheifele's time since then including today as a
research scientist with Ecologistics Research Services, has
been on popularizing hemp as a possible crop for Ontario
farms.
Demonstrations at the field day were to show hemp for
both fibre and food. On the food side, there were to be
pretzels called Hempzels, and baklavas made with hemp
flour and ice cream made with hemp oil. Fibre was to be
demonstrated for paper, clothing and building materials.
For information: www.ontariohempalliance.org. 0
m°Rural Voice
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