The Rural Voice, 1999-11, Page 24The tents are down, the poles
removed, the water lines
ripped from the ground and the
alfalfa' is slowly covering the last
traces of thousands of feet.
Within hours of the final hand-
shake and quieted engine. the 1999
edition of the international Plowing
Match. held in Dashwood. began to
disappear from the hundreds of acres
it had occupied for days.
For Earl Becker and his family.
host landowners for the match, it was
more than Live years of planning and
preparation come to an end. 1
"It disappeared fast," he says. "By
Sunday, most of the small tents were
gone along with the food and cloth-
ing booths. The heap y equipment
went on Monday."
The extensive grid work of water
lines was pulled from the ground
Sunday with the hydro lines discon-
nected on Monday.
"There was just odds and ends left
by the end of the week."
Less than three weeks after the
September 25 closing. Becker said
tented city was "like a ghost town".
"There are a couple of shed
frames and one or two trailers left."
As the family and IPM volunteers
undertake their work to rehabilitate
the land. Becker says there are some
coarse wood chips. a little garbage
and cement still to be removed.
However. the streets over which
thousands of feet trampled and vehi-
cles maneuvered are already "green-
ing up".
"A week after the match, dew
worms were coming up in the fields
and the roads in the trailer park were
all green. When the alfalfa grows a
little more, you won't notice the trail-
er park was there."
While the residential and display
areas of the event are recovering with
the help of nature's greenery, the
plowed fields will take a little human
intervention.
More than 135 acres of Becker's
home fields as well as land on two
rented properties and a neighbour's
land were used for the plowing com-
petitions. The furrowed ground,
much of which had been no -till for
18 years, will have to be prepared for
spring planting.
"There will be no plowing this
fall," says Becker. "The biggest prob-
lem will be in getting the plowing
20 THE RURAL VOICE
When the plowing's
all done
Organizers look back on Huron's
successful International Plowing Match
By Janice Becker
Visitors watch laying hens at work
(top) in the Huron County tent and
learn more about the breeds of
sheep (directly below). Right, Huron
County entertainment was every-
where including Celebration Square
where Carol Oriold and her daugh-
ter Emily performed scenes from
The Farm Show.
smoothed out." The utilized land will
be sown with wheat this fall.
Becker has a hired man to help the
family get back on schedule with the
autumn work and the rejuvenation is
just part of that. The men have been
spending their time harvesting beans
and conditioning the property for the
spring. Protection from winter ero-
sion is a major concern, particularly
on the no -till acreage.
That care for his land was appreci-
ated by the competition plowers as he
received many comments about the
quality of his land. The no -till land
had nurtured a healthy earthworm
environment, making the soil "quite
loose."
From both organizers and visitors,
the Becker site has been dubbed one
of the best ever for a plowing match.
The smooth, soft, sandy soil made