The Rural Voice, 2006-10, Page 55h
A
i
n
RAINY RIVER
11*
RR 1, STRATTON, ON POW 1NO
807-487-2387
' The Rural n me is provided to Rainy
Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
RAINY RIVER VALLEY River Federation members by the RRFA.
One of the challenges in writing
this newsletter is that conditions may
have changed from the time it is
written in the middle of the month
until The Rural Voice is in your
mailbox at the beginning of the next
month. In August it looked like the
drought was over when Rainy River
District received a few good rainfalls.
The weather then turned hot and dry
again.
At the time of writing, we are
again receiving some rain and cooler
weather and the outdoor fire ban has
been lifted. Long-range predictions,
however, are not promising a great
deal of precipitation. Many people
are starting to worry that they may be
hauling water this winter. Rainfall
amounts for 2006 are about half of
normal.
Kim Cornell reports that with 135
in attendance, the D -Rangers barn
concert was a success. The high
energy bluegrass band had everyone
stomping their feet, not just against
the coolness of the evening.
Passports for the Tour De Fort
concert series are still available.
Contact Kim at 486-3477 if you are
interested in a passport. The
Townshend Theatre is a great venue
and enjoying live music with friends
and neighbours is loads of fun.
Small game hunting season
opened on September 14. The dry
summer has resulted in a large
population of ruffed grouse, so many
so that there has been a disturbingly
large number being killed on
roadways. These birds are much too
delicious to end up as raven food.
Most of our municipalities have
requested that the Ontario hunting
regulations include RRD in the areas
Things change so quickly
where road hunting is prohibited.
These changes are inching their way
through the bureaucracy and,
according to an MNR official, should
be in place for the 2007 hunting
season. Next year we will all feel
safer.
Harvest Moon Festival
A small delegation of RRD
residents attended The Harvest Moon
Festival on the weekend of
September 14 in Clearwater,
Manitoba. This was the fifth annual
musical celebration of the harvest
held in the small farming community
two hours south of Winnipeg. Seven
hundred people were on hand to
enjoy the music, food and workshops
which included such varied topics as
drum playing, adobe oven baking,
small farm challenge, story telling, a
nature walk, shamanic healing and
belly dancing.
A few years ago, Clearwater, like
many prairie towns, was dying.
When the local grocery store closed,
the people of Clearwater decided that
they were not going to let their town
die, so they bought the store and
turned it into a co-op, and when the
local school closed, this same spirit
of determination and co-operation led
to the formation of the Harvest Moon
Society which bought the school for a
dollar and turned it into a learning
centre focusing on sustainability.
Connections to the University
of Manitoba have brought
graduate students to the area to
research various aspects of rural
life and sustainable agricultural
practises.
The first Harvest Moon Festival
was attended by 50 people. Its growth
has been due to interest from young
idealistic urbanites who feel a need to
make a closer connection to the land
and the food that it produces. Many
of them aspire to become food
producers or at least to be personally
connected to the people who are
producing their food.
Young people who have grown up
in the country have learned the harsh
reality that farming is a difficult way
to make a living, that prices are
determined by global markets and
that the only way to survive is to
produce more. Often they are being
told to get an education so that they
do not have to farm.
In a party setting it is almost
inevitable that these two perceptions
of rural life will clash, and
quite a number of festival goers
sleeping in the campground were
awakened late Saturday night when
these urban/rural youth
tensions found expression in raised
voices.
Knowledgeable urbanites realize
that if they are to make a satisfying
connection with rural residents, they
must approach it with the awareness
that not everything is groovy in the
country, and wise country residents
will realize that the interest in organic
and local food and small farming
represents an opportunity for the
survival of small towns and rural
communities.
The desire of these young people
to reconnect to the land is very
similar in many ways to the
movement in the mid-70s that saw
many people moving "back to the
land". If rural communities are
willing fo embrace them, this time
they will stay.0
— Submitted by Rick Neilson
Check out: http://s 14.invisionfree.com/rainy_river_agforum
OCTOBER 2006 51