The Ontario Plowmen's Association (OPA) has announced the location of the 2020 International Plowing Match and Rural Expo will be Kawartha Lakes, at the Lindsay Exhibition Fairgrounds.
There is something about a drive through the country that is deeply satisfying. Green fields divided by tree lines or split rail fences. The occasional dry stone wall. Cattle or sheep dotted in the fields and cozy farmhouses flanked by wooden barns. An idyllic picture of a pastoral farming way of life.
When the first settlers came to Canada and encountered the Indigenous people of these lands, they did not realize that the land they were looking at also reflected a pastoral, farming way of life. There was so much lush greenery. The woods seems so thick and the animals so abundant. This was nothing like the farms they had left behind in England and France and Spain. This land didn't appear to be managed. It didn't look controlled. And it certainly didn't look as though anyone was trying to raise crops or breed animals.
Keith Thurston, left, and son, Jeff Thurston, right of Thursthill Farms in Kawartha Lakes. Photo: Erin Smith.
Jim Callaghan was just 8 to 10 years old when the family loaded up the cream they expected to sell to Silverwood's in Lindsay, a now defunct dairy company. But on that day the company officials shook their heads and sent the Callaghan's on their way. There would be no dairy sales for the family on that attempt, since Silverwood's had a glut of supply that day. These were the days before 'supply management,' the admittedly boring name for the system that has brought financial stability to Canadian farmers for decades.
Keith Taylor and his son, Josh, at Nature Cures.
Ask Keith Taylor about his ideas on farming and food production and you will no doubt receive a passionate and detailed response. The former traditional farmer is a practitioner of permaculture, a method of food production that aims to be completely sustainable and attempts this by trying to mimic the way things grow in the wild.