The Rural Voice, 1998-11, Page 3R.V.
Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
John Heard, soils and crop extension
and research, northwestern Ontario
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Gisele Ireland, Mary Lou
Weiser -Hamilton, Ralph
Pearce, Bonnie Gropp,
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Darene
Yavorsky, Peter Baltensperger, Sandra
Orr, Carl L. Bedal, Janice Becker,
Allison Lawlor
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
advertising representative:
Merle Gunby
production co-ordinator:
Joan Caldwell
advertising & editorial production:
Dianne Josling
Anne Harrison
printed & mailed by: Signal -Star
Publishing, Goderich, Ontario
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Rural Voice at the address listed below.
Published monthly by:
The Rural Voice,
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Telephone: 519-523-4311 (fax 523-9140).
e-mail: norhuron@scsinternet.com
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Behind the Scenes
Keeping the rural community together
There's growing concern and
anger across rural Ontario because of
the possibility schools may close.
School boards say the province's new
funding formula that allows so many
square feet per student, penalizes
rural school boards that are spread
out over a wide area. Politicians like
Huron MPP Helen Johns, on the
other hand, argue that local school
boards are getting more money now
than in the past. So who's right?
Janice Becker, who covered the
education scene for several years,
tries to sift through the heated
emotions of the issues throw a little
light on the situation.
Unsung heroes in rural Canada for
generations have been the rural mail
carriers. Through sleet and snow and
bureaucratic meddling they keep the
mail going through. We've come to
expect the mail to be in our box on
time every day. If the carrier is a few
minutes late, we're apt to grumble.
But while getting good service from
dedicated carriers is an unchanging
part of our rural life, the rules under
which carriers operate keep changing.
Bonnie Gropp talked to two rural
route drivers for a story this week.
Hog prices stink these days — one
more odour for hog farmers to worry
about. With returns the way they arc,
few farmers could afford the cost of
putting a concrete top on their liquid
manure tank to reduce odour drift to
neighbours. But a Seaforth company
has come up with an alternative: a
greenhouse -like bubble that's much
less expensive to install. Allison
Lawlor visited the company and with
farmers who have put the new Geo
Air -Dome to the test.
The rise in hardwood prices in the
past few years has meant that farmers
can make as much money growing
trees as they can from their cash -
cropping acreage. But who wants to
put land into trees when you have to
wait a lifetime to reap the rewards?
Researchers at the University of
Guelph have been looking at an
alternative: intercropping trces and
field crops. Begun several years ago,
their experiments arc now starting to
amass a wealth of statistics about the
practical applications of the theories.
Recently a tour was arranged for
interested parties. We went along for
the details.
Just in case the depressed prices
pork farmers arc getting show up at
the meat counter, Bonnie Gropp has
plenty of pork recipes in her recipe
column. In decorating Patti
Robertson talks about the latest hot
colour — ycl low.°
Update
Looking to the future — at age 91
He plants trees to benefit another generation. — Cicero quoting ('accilius
Statius who lived from 220 to 168 B.C.
As Andy Dixon leads a party of visitors around the farm he ran for many years
before turning it over to his son Jim and his wife Mary Lou, he points out
different tall, straight trees and estimates their value when they're ready to
harvest. Using his techniques hc expects some of the trees to be harvested in
much shorter time than the 60-70 years usually needed for a hardwood to reach
maturity, yet at his most optimistic prediction of their growth rate, Andy Dixon
will never reap the financial rewards. But then hc knew that whcn he planted
most of these trees in the first place. Andy Dixon is 91 years of agc.
And yet as you watch him march around the farm, or as he drives a wagon load
of visitors around, he seems to have already benefited from the trees. Here's a
man looking to the future. "There's one thing I know for sure — in 25 years from
know we're going to sec a tremendous shortage of hardwood logs," he says.
Staff from The Rural Voice have been enjoying the company of Andy Dixon
for almost 15 years now, doing several diffcrcnt stories on his tree -planting and
tree -pruning endeavours. It was delightful this month to once again visit this
fascinating man. — KR