A sneak peek of Rural Delivery September 2011

Blue sky among the clouds
What a difference a mill makes. NewPage Port Hawkesbury, in Nova Scotia, shuts down and a thousand families are immediately out of work, another two or three or more thousand – truckers, loggers, store-keeps, etc. – lose out variously. Across Nova Scotia mid-August was a dark cloud, what with the NewPage announcement coming on the heels of the failure of the Enligna pellet mill. A dark cloud that carried hail as well, to cut up crops in the Annapolis Valley. Hail put my parents out of the. . .



Feed them well
RD: I’ve been living in a new, less rural place now for two years. Although I know that it’s for the best and there are lots of wonderful people here, whenever Rural Delivery comes, I read it from cover to cover in one sitting, even the classifieds. Then I get a bit maudlin, remembering the “old life.” It was hard work, but I loved it. Your story about Lawrence Andres’ nurse cows reminded me of my father’s attitude towards animals - feed them and . . .



Hay, what’s your hurry?
by Frank Macdonald
According to a recent news article, farm vehicles don’t go faster than 40 km per hour and many lack brake lights and turn signals, fuelling a thing known as “rural road rage.” I can empathize with these irate drivers because in my own little hometown, around the third week of July, the traffic gets so heavy that I might have to wait. . .


Ovations for ovine milk
Island sheep dairy finds a niche
by Nina Linton
When Avondale, Prince Edward Island, dairy farmers Allister and Margaret Veinot sold their small Jersey herd and hung up their milking units, they considered their days in the milking parlor over. But a decade later the couple found themselves back in the barn following the familiar routine with another type of four-legged livestock. “We milk sheep,” says Allister, referring to Avondale Meadows Farm’s . . .



Aroostook County rising
Light industry comes to northern Maine
by David Greenberg
Fourteen years ago Norman Kauffman and his family, along with several other families, moved from one of the largest Amish communities in Iowa to a sleepy town in Northern Maine, on the New Brunswick border. Like so many other towns that depended on forestry for its economic base, Smyrna Mills was experiencing hard times. There were many affordable homes . . .



Canada wins environment marathon
New Brunswick places fourth in high school competition
by George Fullerton
Canadian teams did very well in the 2011 Canon Envirothon, held July 24-29 in Sackville, New Brunswick. Envirothon is considered the foremost environmental education competition in North America. Students participate in educational tours, oral presentations, field training and testing, as well as some social and leisure activities. Eight Canadian teams and 45 teams from . . .


Fiber processing from flax to linen
Local artisan revives a vanishing craft
by David Boehm
I have been curious about flax and linen for some time now, wondering how it is that we are able to recognize the need for a local food industry but the near absence of local textile production seems to pass without remark? How is it that we can insist on organic fair-trade coffee, yet sleep like innocents between sheets of chemically treated cotton of dubious provenance? The flax flower on the logo for Colchester Historical Museum’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the . . .



Chop, freeze, repeat
This issue we have tips from some of our readers, and great cooks, about putting their garden bounty away for winter. We are delighted to share them with you. The first letter comes from Bruce Blakemore, Purgatory Point, N.S. “Haven’t had a problem with squash being in with the onions, garlic, and potatoes. The Acorn squash seem to spoil the fastest. “Our summer is good so far - garden doing surprisingly. . .



Ronnie and the cow
A tale from the wilds of Kent County, N.B.
by Beth Saunders
To say that young Ronnie was “quite laid back” would be putting it mildly. The genes came directly from his mother, Eva, who could take a nap while you were asking her a question, then come up with the answer five minutes later. Ronnie and his brother, Dwayne, were in charge of the dairy barn whenever their father Russell was selling butter and lamb in the Moncton Market, as was the case this particular day. It was my first year teaching . . .



Nova Scotia celebrates small-scale farming
Northville Farm Heritage Centre shines
by Olivia Finley
Not so long ago a drift began in the agricultural industry, away from small, family-owned and operated mixed farms that were the foundations of our communities, toward the creation of large, commodity-based operations. The drift continues, but so does another, seemingly incongruous one toward the small-scale family farm. The Northville Farm Heritage Centre hosted a celebration of small-scale farming this past July in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. The event was put . . .



Way to mow! Scythes reign at New Ross
Owen Bridge from Middleton, N.S., clipped by Carmen Legge, Kentville, N.S., to take first place in the eighth annual Maritime Hand Mowing Championships at the Ross Farm Museum in New Ross, N.S., August 27, in what turned out to be a truly international competition.
Jonathon Zeidman of Mabou, N.S., winner last year, came in third in the field of 24 mowers in the open class. Jasper Shattuck, age 11, from Richmond, Vermont, was the winner . . .



Patricia Bishop wins local government seat
by Rachel Cooper
Two candidates on opposite sides of the contentious land-use issue squared off in a municipal by-election on July 23, 2011 in Kings County, Nova Scotia. The winner of the county council seat was Patricia Bishop, a young farmer and advocate for preserving farmland for agricultural use. Bishop defeated Peter Elderkin, a farmer who has lobbied hard to have some of his own farmland rezoned for development. Kings County is one of the few areas . . .



“The Calgary Kid” rides again
by Fred Isenor
British Archives in England has issued a great CD by Allen Erwin, “The Calgary Kid.” Over the years I have had more enquiries about him than any other artist. He picked up the nickname at The Calgary Stampede where he was a rodeo performer. Through the years, he was constantly on the go at a variety of jobs, even as an RCMP constable. He appeared in movies as a stunt man and can be seen doubling for Johnny Mack Brown in some of the Monogram westerns. He had several. . .