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Today's teacher 

meets the challenges 

of today and tomorrow 

... challenges for the teacher, and even greater 

challenges for the students. 

Today's students need much more than the basics 

reading, writing, and arithmetic. They must be prepared 

for a different tomorrow. The future they inherit will 

hurtle them into the 21st century ... an era where 

technological developments Of awesome dimensions will 

occur with ever accelerating frequency ... a new world 

where ideas, notions. plans and dreams are assessed, 

analyzed, communicated. accepted o r rejected at 

frightening speed. 

A simple fact of life is that life 

will never again be as simple 

as it is, even today. 

That's something to think abo ut. 

Newfoundland 

Teachers' Association

DICKSavvash 

Volume 14, Number 4, July-August 1985 

To our subscribers 

e don't usually air our concerns in this colum 

n but this time we' re driven to ma ke an 

W 

except ion. 

We a re app roaching renewal time for most subscr 

ibers and we are worried that some of vou. becau 

se you may not have been getting your copies 

of De-cks Awash regularly. may decide not to 

contin ue. 

To cite just one example, a Iady who lives on 

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the reco rds. Her copy had been mai led J une 20. 

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DECKS AWASH - 

lion deficit - yes. S-IOO, OOO. (H)() - we as Canadians 

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Table of contents 

Special Section _ 3 

History 5 

Farming today . 9 

vegetables . _. . . . . . . . . 9 

dairy . 18 

beer cattle .. . . . . . . . 29 

hogs ... .. . . . . .. 32 

sheep .. . .. . .. . .. . . . . . . . . .. .35 

chicke-n and e-ggs . . . .-12 

gre-enhouses .. .. .. .. .. . .. 46 

berries 52 

Iurs 56 

trout . . , 61 

support systems . . . . . . . . . . 62 

editorial .. . . 68 

Features 69 

Home gardening 69 

Actin g to the Power of two . 70 

Ocean Ranger Report .. . 72 

Secr ets down the- Labrador coast. . . 75 

The loss of the Drake . . . . . . . . . . . 76 

Birds or . .ewfoundland _ 1j 

Letter-s 79 

Edi tor : Sally Lou Le ~t essu rier . Writers: Clifford Grinling. Roger Burrows Photographers: Clilford Grinling. Roger Bur 

fO\/Io·S. Sally Lou te Messurie r Production and Advert ising Manager: Anne Conway. Circulation: Hazel Harris. P hotogra pllic 

Process ing: linin"nit)" Photography. Memoriallinin'nity of :"N1ound1and; Chlfon:l.Grinling Layout and Printing: Robinson 

Bla ckmo~ Printing & Publishing Limited. St. J ohn's.• ·F Cover Photo: Yicki Ililliard . ("ape Anguillf'. by Roger Burrows 

For advertising. contact Tom Follett. 737-1H86 or 579-7304 Decks Awash is published six times annually b)' the Division 0{ Extension 

Service. School 0{ Continu ing Studies and Extension. Memorial University 01, 'ewfoundland, Canadia n second-class 

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2 - DECKS AWASH 

n.~ 

~ 

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SERVING THE FISHING INDUSTRY IN 

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Prices quoted are FOB Argentia and St. John's 

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Harve y Industr ial Estat es 

Torbay Road 51.John 's 

Phone 576·4722 

Telex 016·4907

special section 

DECKS AWASH - 3 

Farming in N ewfoundland

Enter the experience oJ. 

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history 

A 

gricult ure in Newfoundland and Labrador has always 

played. a secondary role to the fishery, partly 

because of poor soils and a short growing season, but 

also because of government policy. John Guy at Cupids 

and Sir George Calvert at Ferry land were the first to 

establish fanning colonies in the early 16005.Other small 

settlements followed on the Avalon Peninsula, perhaps 

lured by over-optimislic accounts such as that wr itten 

by Captain Whitbourne in a report to King James I about 

the settlement at Cambrtol Crrepassey) in 1622: 

..the soyle of this countrey...is so Irui teful...the 

summer naturally produeeth.... without the labour 

of man's hands. great plenty of green pease and 

fitches, Caire. round. full and wholesome as our 

fitches in England ... (they' are good fodder for 

cattell and other beasts in the winter. with the 

helpe of bay. 01which there rna)' be made gr eat 

store with little labour." 

There may have bee n local successes with crops, but 

livestock generally did poorly because of a lac k of feed 

and a failure in raising cereal crops. England also opposed 

permanent settlement of Newfoundland. which 

was governed solely for fishery interests. The pleas of 

the few remaining colonists fell on deaf ears so that by 

1700Carbonear and Bonavista were the only remaining 

English agricultural settlements. Some fishermen did 

cultivate vegetable plots and raised a few an ima ls. In 

17.Jl.500acres of cleared cultivated la nd, 300cattle, 200 

sheep and 300 swine were reported , just a dozen years 

after the first governor, Captain Henry Osbor ne, was 

sent to Newioundland in 1729. 

F ree Farms 

For Thousands 

Reminder of a pa~ era allhe Hilliard farm in Cape AngUilie 

The American Revolution was the major catalyst for 

agricultural expansion around St. John's and on the west 

side of Conception Bay. Cutbacks in food imports from 

America forced residents to increase local production 

A similar situation prevailed in the early 18005when Britain 

was at war with France and the United States. This 

brought a further expansion in acreage under cultivation. 

As $1. John's developed into a major trading port 

and military base, the market for farm prod uce grew, 

and local immigrants of Irish fanning stock were idea lly 

equipped to work on the land. A committee set up by the 

British parliament investigat ing the situation in Newfoundland 

after three disastrous fires and a frigid winter 

in 1816-18 still considered farming imp ractical. La nd 

ownership remained insecure until Eng lis h Commo n 

Law was upheld in 1lll9, making it possi ble for man y 

squatters to gain legal title, 

By 1836 the population of Newfound la nd was ap prox i 

mately 75,OOOand ma ny fis he rmen had tur ned to sma llscale 

subsistence farming, having cleared between them 

some 11,200acres of land. There were also a small number 

of wealthy landowners in farming se tt lements 

around $1. John's and at nearby Conception an d 51. 

Mary's Bays. The larger farms were located near the 

forts within a mile of St. John's, but, as roads were built 

in the early lSOOs. commercial farms were established 

at Quidi Vidi, Bally Ha ly, Brookfield Roa d an d Virginia 

Waters. The 18+1Crown Lands Act brought some stability 

to land title and encouraged a further expansion 

in ether parts of the Avalon Peninsula. 

In 1825,Cape Bretoners settled the Codroy Vall e)' and 

the southern shore of Bay 51. George, establishing long, 

narrow homesteads along river valleys. Marketing of 

products from the Codrcy was a major problem, but the 

establishment of a regular trading route with 51. P ierre 

and the remainder of the southwest coast of Newfoundland 

attracted merchants and allowed more rapid expansion 

after 1850. The area still remained largely 

undeveloped by U57, when 42,167acres had been cleared 

on the Island. About half of the Island's 1700farmers 

....ere located in the 51. John's area and half the remainder 

on the southern shore of Conception Bay, The 

well-being of commercial agriculture was det er min ed 

by access to relatively large, local markets. Government 

assistance to the first Agricultural Society founded in


Mare ready 10 loal at Cape Anguille 

1842 was meagre and few farmers were able to main 

tain themselves solely on their farm income. 

Agricultural practices varied according to the status 

of the farmer. Most of the first Irish farmers were also 

fishermen, loggers and laborers on the many road 

projects of the lSOOs.Seventy per cent of the farms on 

the Avalon Peninsula were established by Irish settlers 

who made clearing the land a family affair. It normally 

took three times as long to clear land as it did on the 

mainland and the thin soils required intensive fertilization, 

usually fish offal, caplin. kelp and organic peat. 

Around 51. John's. drainage projects to improve the 

cleared land allowed commercial operations to flourish 

supplying fresh produce and milk to a growing market. 

Elsewhere, farmers raised livestock and grew hay, potatoes 

and turnips for local consumption. Many of the 

planting methods and crop rotations developed in the late 

Spencer Bridge - specialized a

a research station of its own, but the school was discontinued, 

The Commission of Government established a number 

of farming communities throughout the island and 

encouraged existing full-time fanning in the Codroy Valley, 

Deer Lake and Green Bay areas. Pasture improvement 

and animal husbandry schemes helped increase 

the cleared acreage and productivity of Newfoundland's 

farms. 

World War It had a debilitating effect on farming. 

Employment created by the establishment of military 

bases, together with men joining the armed forces 

caused a decline in the number of farmers to just 2,809 

in 19-15. Tbe post-war land development policy. however. 

led to the establishment of many farms in the Humber 

Valley with ex-servicemen laking advantage of a preference 

policy. 

Confederation in 1949 brought a number of changes, 

the most profound and enduring being the removal of 

tariff restrictions on mainland agricuJtural produce.Tbe 

high costs of production on small Newfoundland farms 

and high winter feed costs for livestock made many 

farms uncompetuive with mainland imports. By 1955 

some 50 per cent of the farms in operation in 1945 had 

closed. The only farmers able to compete successfully 

were the dairy and egg producers who also benefited 

from federal freight assistance for feed grains. 

In 1955, a Royal Commission on Agriculture undertook 

a two-year study of Newfoundland agriculture and concluded 

that government programs should be directed 

towards commercial rather than part-time fanning. This 

focus on commercial farming has been the policy of successive 

Newfoundland governments working in conjunction 

with the federal government on agricultural policy. 

The Canada/Newfoundland Agriculture Development 

Subsidiary Agreement signed in 1978brought new programs 

in soil and feed improvements, marketing, landuse 

planning and development, and agricultural facilities, 

About half of the province's farms are located between 

St. John's and Musgravetown. One third are found on 

the west coast from the Codroy Valley to Port au Port 

and inland to Cormack, and most of the remainder are 

located in the area from Green Bav to Gander. A few 

farms are also located on the Northern Peninsula and 

in Labrador. Dairy and beef cattle operations are the 

most common, closely followed by root crop and mixed 

farms. Poultry, hog and sheep farms and a variety of 

specialized operations can also be found across the 

Island. 

Taylors Bay, Burin Peoinsuta In 1969 cuttlVated land reda,imed 

from bog - sacks contain lenllizer and seed potatoes (photo 

Peter Crabb) 

Searslon - 

1969 root cellar (photo Peter Crabb) 

A number of popular myths have been advanced toexplain 

why farming in Newfoundlarx:lhas not grown more 

rapidly. These include the non-farming nature of its 

population and the problem of the French Shore. While 

it is true that the emphasis has always been on the fisher)', 

there is likely more substance to the explanation 

that a short growing season and poor soils have made 

development difficult. Until more land is cleared and 

used for farming, it is hard to determine whether Newfoundland 

could support itself in all but a few farm 

products. 

Soilfonnation and development are inhibited by Newfoundland's 

humid climate, acid bedrock and largely 

coniferous vegetation, all of which contribute to poor soil 

conditions that restrict crop development. Spring is 

delayed by the Arctic pack ice on the east coast and 

by the prevailing westerlies elsewhere. 1be growing season 

is generally delayed until late May and is up to a 

month shorter than in the other Atlantic provinces. In 

addition. drainage is poor, except on the west coast and 

in river deposits in the interior. Most fannlands require 

large quantities 01lime and fertilizer to remain productive. 

raising costs and resulting in higher market prices. 

The major factors that have slewed agricultural development 

include the pattern of settlement close to good 

fishing grounds. the late development of a transportation 

system, the lack of commercial markets, the

8 - OECKS AWASH 

difficulty in obtaining credit and the arrival oftariff-free 

mainland produce followingConfederation. Another factor 

has been lack of a united voice for farmers, partially 

solved by the 1974 formation of the Newfoundland 

Federation of Agriculture. This organization has acted 

as the liaison between the government and about 30% 

of the island's fanners and has been influential in some 

aspects of provincial and federal farm policy. Further 

development would be assisted by the signing and implementation 

of a new subsidiary agreement between 

the federal and provincial governments. 

818I.JOGRAI'II\ 

AlI:riull,,", c......: "'.. I_DIll....

DeCKS AWASH - 9 

farming today 

vegetables 

Give us the same advantages 

om Lester is a big, solid man 

T and looks every inch a fanner. 

He should. The Lesters have 

been farming Newfoundland continuously 

since 1836.At one time 

there were over a dozen Lesters 

farming in the Brookfield Road 

area; now there are just Tom, his 

brother Jim, and Jim's three 

sons. 

" I went to work in 1937. I was 

16," says Tom, "It's changed 

quite a bit since then. In 1938we 

were self-sufficient in potatoes, 

today we are only 15% selfsufficient. 

Confederation knocked 

the vegetable market quite hard. 

Now we get a lot of vegetables 

sent here at lower than our price 

of production. Prince Edward Island 


the costs to us were $375-$400 an 

acre. Our competition, like Nova 

Scotia, gels a subsidy or something 

like $500an acre. 

"It should be possible to grow 

all the forage we need for dairy 

fanning, enough for summer and 

plenty for winter to cut down on 

your grain consumption. Right 

now hay costs us $60 a ton and 

$140freight to bring it in. H you 

have to bring in cattle, hay, and 

grain from outside you might as 

well bring in a tanker load of 

milk, it'd be cheaper. 

"Then there's machinery, 

that's where we really get 

rooked. H your tractor breaks 

down in PEl, there's a dealer 

there ready to supply you with 

one if he hasn't got a part. Not 

here. We have had to wait as long 

as six weeks for parts to come in 

from Europe on a Canadian International 

tractor that was 

made partly in Germany and 

partly in France. 

For a moment words fail Tom 

Big Mac of the Highlands 

ituated on a side road off the 

S Sl. Davids road, Highlands is 

a Scottish and Irish settlement on 

the coast between the Codroy 

Valley and the Robinsons area. 

MC6t of the inhabitants are inshore 

fishermen, but the fields 

lining the road indicate that 

farming also takes place here. 

If you see a tall figure aboard 

a farm tractor near the church, 

chances are you've met up with 

Ed Macinnis. Ed and his wife, 

Elin, are fairly typical of the 

younger farmers in the province 

in many ways. They value the independence 

that farming provides 

them and they realize the 

total commitment that it demands. 

Elin is willing to combine 

her farm schedule with the demands 

of her year-old son, Matthew, 

and is an equal partner in 

every aspect of the farm 

operation. 

"We're just beginning our 

fourth crop year," Ed informs us 

after taking us on a guided tour 

of the farm, which consists of 

several separate areas. "Capital 

is the biggest problem for most 

farmers. We used our own savings 

to buy land that was cleared 

but badly run-down, which gave 

us an advantage over people having 

to clear the land from 

scratch. When we started, a lot of 

vegetable growers were getting 

out of farming. We've increased 

our acreage each year up to now, 

but I don't see us doing any extra 

this year. We started orr with cole 

crops, then two years of potatoes, 

Elln and Ed Macinnis 

out of production for a year and 

then back into cole crops again. 

It could bea better rota tion with 

more land. 

"The sandy soil here responds 

well to limestone and we don't 

have any long, dry spells. Our 

growing season is certainly as 

long as anywhere else in Newfoundland. 

At this point, the third 

week in June, we're on schedule 

with last year. It was a bad 

spring, but we're at the point that 

we can get a lot done in two days. 

We have all our own equipment, 

mostly brought second-hand, and 

there are a few non-essential 

items I would like to get. We can't 

become fully mechanized to the 

point that someone with four or 

five times our land base could, 

but we can cut costs." 

as he reflects on the multinational 

character of his tractor. Then 

he sums the farmer's position up. 

"What we want is the same 

treatment farmers in other 

provinces get. Nova Scotia farmers 

get a fertilizer subsidy and 

their limestone and land-clearing 

subsidies are better than ours. If 

we have to be competitive with 

fanners from Nova Scotia, PEl 

and Quebec, then give us the 

same advantages so we can 

compete. " 

Now the farm is at a point 

where Ed would like to consolidate 

and expand. 

"I'm planning to go with just 

vegetables and hay from next 

year on. We won't have cattle because 

they don't really offer us 

any income and we don't have 

room for sheep here. If there is a 

subsidiary agreement and land 

subsidies become available, I 

would like to get some land for 

hay, which would work in with 

our vegetable rotations. We're 

juststarting land with annual rye 

grass for one year to prepare it 

for vegetables, but I'd like to 

grow a crop of hay before planting 

vegetables." 

Farming is a business and decisions 

ha ve to be made on a 

business-like basis.

"We hire labor at harvest time 

and last year we had someone for 

25weeks," Ed comments. "Quite 

a lot of the work done by hired 

help, start-up and building for instance, 

is not related to field 

work. We're a bit better organized 

now and have cut down 

labor costs as we become a little 

better at what we're doing. It's a 

shame with unemployment so 

high, but you can't afford to take 

onextra costs in this kind of operatjon. 

There's nothing wrong with 

technology and the way I look at 

it. a lot of young people have been 

turned off by the long hours of 

back-breaking work. We have to 

use the technology as it becomes 

available and build up viable 

farms for young people to take 

over." 

Ed sees the knowledge and 

management side of farming 

just as important as the time 

Growing and prospering 

E 

lvis and Marion Gillam of 

Loch Leven are another ... 

young couple who have taken up 

farming fairly recently. With the 

help of Marion's neice, Mary Ann 

Downey. and daughter. Sally 

Ann, they now run a vegetable 

farm and sell their produce in 

Corner Brook. 

"I came from Frenchman's 

Cove 17years ago," Elvis tells us 

after the day's work is done. "My 

father had to retire three years 

early and I gave up my plans to 

go to college. He put the 98acres 

he owned, including 21 acres on 

the river flats, up for sale but he 

couldn't get a decent price, so I 

decided that I would buy it. There 

was $10,000 of pulpwood on it, 

anyway, but I wanted to farm. I 

had to wait until I was old enough 

to borrow money. The money I 

did have in the bank went into 

putting in the road so that I could 

get the tractor in. 

"I started farming about seven 

years ago when the subsidiary 

agreement was in place. I 

couldn't get a farm loan the first 

year because I didn't have 

spent out in the fields. 

"In any type of specialized 

fanning the farmer needs to be 

good at it," he contends. "The 

time I spend on reading about 

hay production and with my 

pocket calculator is just as important 

as the physical work out 

in the fields. If I have a management 

decision to make I'll drop 

what I'm doing and get into the 

filing cabinet. If you have a fann 

that keeps up with the times and 

you can predict with a reasonable 

amount of accuracy how the 

business is doing, then you have 

a business that's just as good as 

any other. It's easy to kid yourself 

you're doing well if you 

don't keep your books up-to-date, 

Elin and I work full time and we 

employ other people through the 

year. We started from scratch, 

but we make a good living while 

some businesses take five years 

to get on an even keel. 

DECKS AWASH _ 11 

"You have to decide what 

branch of farming to get into and 

realize it is your only source of income. 

This year we'll have 

produce to sell year round and 

this is something that the 

province can improve on. In 

winter the weather is not all that 

co-operative and you need good 

storage. We have two stores that 

we have built ourselves and we're 

planning another one this year. 

Communal storage doesn't work 

for full-time fanners. If you have 

a large portion of your income 

tied up in stored vegetables, you 

want to have control over it. We 

get our buildings cooled off and 

sealed if we hear that there is going 

to be a week of warm 

weather. You can't afford to have 

someone open up the storage for 

a few bags of vegetables." ~ 

Greenhouse grown plants in a rocky outdoor environment. 

enough land cleared. Over the 

next two years I borrowed $30,000 

and that doesn't even buy a halfdecent 

tractor. There weren't 

many funds available, but they 

did get us started, 

"We tried to followthe policy of 

clearing what land can beusedin 

a year, but, by the time you clear 

five or six acres of virgin forest, 

you're already in a financial bind. 

You can apply for loans under the 

Agriculture Loan Board in April 

to get working capital and get 

your crop planted. but that fall 

you have to start paying the 

money back. Like any other 

business, you should be given 

some time to get on your feet 

before you start paying back 

funds. I was expected to make a 

mortgate payment from my first 

crop."

PUT Ii. LITTLE CUSS IN YOUR LIFE THIS FALL. 


Finding financing is not the on 

Iy problem new farmers have to 

face. There is only a limited 

amount ofsuitable land available 

and many landowners are unwilling 

to sell or lease land to 

farmers. 

"Land base is our main problem 

and that affects everything 

else," Elvis sighs. " I can't buy or 

rent land in the area. There is a 

lot of excellent land that is 

becoming reforested or infested 

with weeds and the available 

Crown land is not suitable for 

agric ulture. Only about half of 

the land wouldsupport crops. We 

have about 25acres in root crops, 

everything from potatoes to 

Chinese vegetables which we sell 

to families on the west coast. 

"We want to expand; the 

markets are good. We have our 

own farmers market in Corner 

Brook and we sell everything we 

grow there except for the last 

part of the year when we have 

late cabbage and turnips we sell 

through a wholesaler. Our 

customers are Corner Brook 

residents and we're only open 

Thursdays and Fridays and 

maybe Saturdays this year. People 

wait and shop at the end of the 

week. We do impor t apples, 

plums, and pears from Nova 

Division of Con tin u ing Studies 

SCotia, so that we can have the 

variety." 

Elvis has a clear idea of what 

he wants to achieve in the next 

few years, but some problems require 

some help in solving. 

.. If I could upgr ade my 

machinery I could get my yield 

up, which is importa nt for someone 

with only 25 acres under 

cultivation," he reaso ns. "Our 

potato and tur nip yields are 

above the provincial aver age and 

our beet yields are high too, but 

the az-tnch seeder we use for 

- 

ATIEND UNIVERSITY I 

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AT HOMEI AT YOUR CONVENIENCEI 

CORRESPONDENCE COURSES - FALL 1985 

o.or- CredIt eour- In... 

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a.-- Adm< .r-.on 

......... "- 

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ForturttwrIntOJ....eIon•.. 

StJohn'. 

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StAnthOny 

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GoooeBoT 

J 

Manon, Sally Ann and Elvis Gillam 

planting all our crops means 

that the yields on specially crops 

are lower than I would like. We'll 

be moving into bulk bins as well, 

so I'll need a set of forks for my 

front-end Joader. That way we 

can load the bins right in the field 

arxllift them ontoa trailer. At the 

marketing end of things we've 

improved our sales building each 

year to make it more attractive 

to customers. 

"A nother problem fac ing 

farme rs is the limestone policy. 

Five years ago, the crop 

specialists suggested that two 

tons of limestone an acre would 

be enough to b. Lancr the pH. 

That was when limestone was 

$2.50a ton. Right now the lab in 

St. John's recommends using six 

to eight tons per acre and the 

price is $17a ton with the government 

subsidy. Still, that's probably 

one of the best bargains 

around. The only problem is that 

we have to unload the bulk 

limestone ourselves or used 

bagged limestone from the 

mainlan d that isn't the qua lity of 

what we ha ve "nea r by at 

Aguathuna. E ven the bul k 

limestone from Daniel's Harbour 

may come with enough water in 

it to make snowballs! ,- 

Some of the problems could be 

alleviated with some short-term 

help. 

" I would like to see some help 

for small farmers from the 

various government work pro-

DECKS AWAS H - 13 

grams," says Elvis . "I have Ir----------------------, 

about 2S acres we'll probably 

never grow crops on because 

there are so many rocks to 

drip. 

remove. I'm lucky if I can get two 

acres cleared each year ; that 

would mean 12 years to get 25 

acres under cultivation. We have 

a big investment in buildings and 

machinery and the rocky ground 

here is beating up the •• 

machinery; it's not designed for 

the land here . We're taking 30 

loads of rocks off an acre with a 

machine that's designed to take 

off 10loads. Wecan't all be blessed 

with good land, but there is a 

lot that isn't being used for 

agriculture and I would like to 

see the government move to free 

some of that for farming." 

To stay in business, a farmer 

has to be prepared to put in long 

hours and find imaginative ways 

of getting his produce to market. 

" Farming probably went Intoa 

decline here on the west coast 

The s ound of a sick faucet. 

because there was only a limited 

number of markets you could sell 

It's kind of hard on'Reddy when 

to," Elvis surmises. " It was 

the \..ate r he 's heating is wasted 

much cheaper for the storeowner 

through faulty outlets. He'd 

to buy from the mainland. People 

much rathe r~. not an empty 

got out of farming rather than 

sink. were getting the full 

struggle at it. Alot of people who 

benefits of his heating se rvtce, 

received development money 10 

years ago are no longer in farming. 

In this area the vegetable 

firmly and check your water 

Help him out; turn off faucets 

farmers tried V-Mal and then 

facilities periodically so Reddy 

started a co-operative. If people 

can do the best Job for you - 

had stuck with it, it could have 

heat-wise and money-wise. 

worked, but now the building is 

empty and there's talk of it being 

used for something else. There 

isn't enough produce in the area 

to support a big operation and 

there are no new markets, which 

is the only reason why any 

eNc.w{oundfand 

farmer would want a marketing 

co-operative. 

"The first two years we 

couldn't sell our produce even at 

LIGHT &POWER 

the same price as the Imports . 

That's one of the reasons I 

CO. J:imUui 

started the roadside stand in Corner 

Brook. I was determined to 

stay in farming and we saw the 

potential there. We can sell broccoli, 

cauliflower, spinach and 

string beans in Corner Brook for Remember. Reddy supplies the electricity - only you can use it wisely 

a decent price. Potatoes are still 

our biggest item, followedby cabbage 

and turnips, but you don't I L .J

14 - DeCKS AWASH 

get the high unit price that you 

can get with the specialty crops. 

We can't even grow enough carrots 

to meet the demand. 

although we hope to have more 

this year . The market is 60miles 

away and we pretty well have to 

be on the road by 6 a .m. to beset 

up at the market for a 9 a.m . 

opening. Weoffer fresh farm produce 

and most of it is harvested 

the night before, or in the case of 

broccoJi and cauliflower, the 

same morning . They have such a 

short shelf life. 

"Getting agriculture to the 

point where Newfoundland no 

longer needs to import farm products 

is an unattainable goal." 

says Elvis. 

"There just aren't enough 

funds to put agriculture on a firm 

footing in Newfoundland. Enough 

money would have to be put in to 

bring farming in line with that in 

the Maritimes and you have to 

ask if we need agriculture in 

Newfoundland. People buy at the 

best price and YOU'll see the price 

go up as soon as local produce is 

all sold. Our land use, machinery 

and technology all have to be 

The secret is in the storage 

M 

elvin Rideout's house is 

situated in the centre of 

Cormack, but most of. his 

farmland is located beyond the 

end of the paved road that continues 

on to Sir Richard Squires 

Memorial Provincial Park. It's 

one of the largest farms in the 

area and Melvin just recently 

took over the whole operation 

from his father, Sandy, who 

started the operation nearly 30 

yea rs ago. 

"He retired last year and this 

will be my second crop year on 

my own," Melvin informs us as 

he wails for his fields to dry out 

from a heavy afternoon shower . 

"Last year he shared in the hay 

Melvin Rideout with a transplant 

crop. but this year it's all up to 

me. He was one of the first set 

tlers here after the war. It was 

hard to make a living with a 

horse-drawn ploy. and cultivator 

when he started. so he worked on 

projects in Labrador and with the 

Western Pioneer Company when 

the first chainsaws came to the 

Island. When he came back to 

farm again I was still at school 

and we built up from there . 

"We started off in vegetables 

and hay with a few beef cattle on 

the side - they took care of the 

hay! As we increased vegetable 

production, the cattle became a 

bit of an inconvenience so we got 

rid of them and made our money 

brought up-to-date. 

"The people in Agriculture 

Canada and the pr ovincial 

government are doing the best 

they can with the funds they have 

and I can't commend them 

enough, but there has to be more 

development mo ney made 

available. A million dollars is not 

going to be enough to bring our 

soil fertility up, purchase more 

machinery, or im pro ve 

buildings and land drainage. Fifty 

times that wouldn't do 

everything that's needed. 

from hay. We have upgraded our 

hayfields. but there is still a 

weather problem with drying the 

hay. In the Maritimes you can get 

two good cuts of hay, but here the 

season is too short to allow that 

unless the second cro p couId probably 

be taken for green silage 

(or 'haylage') by a dairy farm er 

set up for it. A few people here 

are trying haylage on a small 

scale. Most of the hay is sold right 

here to Woodfords Dairy and I 

have my hay booked for the next 

three or four years. Our hay is 

cheaper than anything that can 

be brought in and it's the best 

available. 

"We usua lly plow down a 

hayfield, have one crop of turnips 

or cabbage, then a crop of 

potatoes and back into hay for 4-5 

years. That way the organic matter 

is high and there is good soil 

fertility. When we firs t sta rted 

out we were pressed for land and 

went with one crop of turnips or 

cabbage and then four of 

potatoes, but that made it ha rd to 

rebuild the organic ma tter . 

We've been growing a trip le mix 

of 70%climax timothy grass, 15% 

alsike clover and 15%doublecut 

red clover . The last two or three 

years we've been usi ng a 

timothy-alsike clover mix that's 

a little easier to dry. This year 

I've seeded just timothy grass 

and dispensed with the clover 

completely." 

The 215acres of hay is one half

of Melvin's operation. 

" This year I have 35 acres of 

potatoes, 16 acres of turnips and 

abo ut 10 acres or cabbage 

planted," he informs us after a 

moment's reflection. "Marketing 

hasn 't been a problem for me. 

Wholesalers prefer to deal with a 

bigger producer who can supp ly 

their needs for a crop rather than 

having to deal with a number of 

small producers who might be 

able to meet the demand for two 

or three weeks. I don't have any 

trouble getting orders as we store 

most of our vegetables and sell 

them over the winter. Weconcentrate 

on the harvest in fall and 

use our refrigerated storage if we 

have to. 

" We've had up to 65 acres of 

potatoes, but we weren't making 

any money on them. Now we 

ha ve the choice of selling the 

pota toes or holding them for 

seeds. This year has been really 

bad for potatoes and seeds, but I 

did bette r tha n most because I 

had plenty of foundation stock 

seeds. I sold a lot as table 

potatoes when I went into market 

with my other vegetables. 1sold 

3,000 50-lb. bags that way and 

e nded up with some ex tra 

money." 

It isn't that simple, of course, 

as Melvin quickly points out. 

" We ha ve lost complete crops 

to frost. If you get a frost around 

flower ing time you lose your 

stoc k and by the time you 

estab lish it's too late in the growing 

season. Fro sts later on in the 

seaso n might dam age a rew exposed 

root crops , but they a ren't 

so much of a problem. There are 

ways of reducin g the risk and 

avo iding the short-season problems. 

We placed an orde r for 

62,000cabbage transpla nts from 

Barony Nurse ry but the lat e 

spri ng put the count down a bit. 

The ma in thing wit h th e 

transplants for us is the late cabbage, 

which we couldn't grow 

from seed because of the short 

season. The transplants a re 

alrea dy six weeks old when we 

get them and most years you ca n 

get a good crop." 

Melvin's big expense each year 

is for fertilizer and he is trying to 

cut down that cost by mak ing use 

of the soil testing laboratory in St. 

J ohn's. 

"You could use a general pur 

'pose fertilizer for all crops except 

turnips, but I prefer to use special 

ferti lizers for eac h field based on 

the res ults of the soil testing," he 

comments. " We've been able to 

get the testin g done for two yea rs 

now. If you follow the recomendations 

you cer ta inly see a sa v 

ing. This will be the first year that 

I've dealt with each field differently 

. Even if the yield is the 

same the costs are way down. We 

were putting a bout 1,000pounds 

of 12-24-24fertili zer on an acre of 

The Joy of vegetable farming 

hen we catch up with Alex 

W J oy, 37, of Picadilly. he is 

in the process of painting a 

friend's car. As the paint dries we 

are able to learn about Alex's experience 

in root crops and sheep 

farming. 

" My grandfather started the 

farm here and my father followed 

him," Alex tells us. "I've live 

in a number of towns in Newfoundland. 

I was in the fishery 

originally and tried to do some 

farmi ng along with it. I actually 

got into farming through repairing 

equipment out in the fields. 

Eventually I got into fanning full 

time, but I do any kinds of jobs 

that come up except ca rpentry 

work. We had a fire four years 

ago when somebody set fire to the 

bar n. That put us back $70,000 

and we haven't been a ble to 

rep lace a ll the livestock we lost, 

al though we' re building them up 

again. We were just at the point 

of ma king money and now we' re 

back to scratching a living aga in. 

" We have about 500 ac res of 

fa rm la nd in crops, hay a nd 

pas ture. We just have a few beef 

ca ttle for our own use apart from 

the sheep. Our sheep are Cheviots 

hred with Suffolk ram s. I bought 

DECKS AWASH 15 

potatoes and this year most of our 

potat oes are taking 700pounds of 

17-17-17 per acre. There's not 

much difference in the cost of 

each fertilizer and we're saving 

300pounds of fertilizer per acre. 

That will add up, although I don't 

ex pe ct to grow any more 

potat oes. 

" I will have vegetables for sale 

right thr ough the yea r this year 

because I still have some seed 

potat oes for sa le before my hay 

is sold in Ju ly. Most of my cash 

crops are sold in the winter 

months when the pric es are 

higher . The thing with turnips is 

you need refrigerated storage to 

make some money even when the 

pr ice is low as it was last year." 

Melvin's farm is an important 

em ployer in the community a nd 

he hopes it will continue after he 

retires. 

" We have around 600 acres, 

about half of which is suitable for 

root crops in rotation and another 

quarter just for hay," he tells us. 

" We a lready use quite a bit of 

hir ed help at planting and 

harv est times and when we're 

haymaking there's a few jobs for 

the area. I have a 52-week job 

myself that is difficult to fit into 

a year at the best of times . I have 

five boys and one girl and the 

third oldest boy is just finishing 

Grade 12and I think he'll stay on 

the farm." " 

an American ram four years ago. 

We grow ca bbage, potatoes , a littl 

e bit of beets, broccoli, 

cauliflower and a few greens this 

year. The broccoli and 

cauliflower go mostly to Stephenville 

and the local fair and we sell 

in Corner Brook. We produce a 

good amount of wool that is sold 

locaUy and we send the lambs in 

to St. Joh n's." 

At certain times of the year 

marketing is a problem . 

" Here, the first one on the 

market is the one that sells his 

vegetables," Alexsuggests . "The 

biggest problem for a farmer is


to know what the market wants. 

Two years ago people wanted 

small turnips and last year it was 

the medium size that sold. 

"This year nobody knows what 

size wiII be wan ted. At one time 

you could sell lots of cabbage. I 

have a store for my vegetables 

attached to my barn but no 

refrigeration. I've stored right up 

until April. I grow standard 

varieties and some years they 

work out and some years they 

don't. I've had a couple of really 

good years and two not so good; 

it all depends on the frosts . 

"I liked V-Mal" because I could 

load up a truck with whatever I 

produced and it was all sold. 

Even with the lower prices we 

were getting, it was worthwhile if 

you had the volwne, but I was only 

able to use it for a year. Now 

I have to find my own market. I 

find right nowthat early potatoes 

bring the best price and I can gel 

a bit more before the PE l 

potatoes come in." 

Alex is making other changes 

in his operation as he rebuilds, 

but there are limitati ons on what 

he can hope to do in the short 

term. 

"I can put a field into turnips 

two years in a row and then leave 

the field for three years and put 

it into cabbage. At the moment 

I'm changing my hayfields over 

to crops . Transplants would take 

too long for me to put in without 

special equipment," he concludes 

. ~ 

• Vege tabl e Marketi ng Auocia tes Ltd .: a 

vegetabJe marketifllil boerdnoklnge!' inexi5tence. 

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,.=r,CHARTER 

iiIiII1SERVICE 

INFORMATION 

The St. John 's Transportation Commission has been arranging bus charters for well over 25 years. Over 

this time It has earned a reputation for PROFESSION AL and DEPENDABLE SERVICE to the travelling 

puauc Every size of charter both large and small is carried out in a manner which IS tndicattve of a FIRST 

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and safe tnp 

• CALL or WRITE 

(709) 722 ·9400 

St. John's Transportation Commission 

Metrobus Transit Centre 

245 Fresh water Road 

St . John's, Nf 

AlB B3 

Attn Mr Tom Rice 

• 72 buses wi t h 45-se at capacity 

• Two--way radi o com municat ion 

• Som e buses wit h PA systems 

• Professio nal uniformed drivers 

• Lim ited notice needed

DeCKS AWAS H - 17 

Feisty'f ar m er 

ernard Tucker , a vegetable 

B farmer at Markland is a 

man of very definite ideas . When 

he first visited Markland in 1959, 

the inhabitants were convinced 

their community was about to be 

resettled. So Bernard, in his nonconformist 

way, chose that moment 

to buy 34 acres of local land . 

"I got it for a song and I wasn 't 

even able to sing ," says Bernard 

with a chuckle . "I saw this land 

lying idle. there was no electricity, 

the road was only two ruts and 

the people were moving away ." 

At that time Bernard, a native 

of St. Phillips, was working in 

J .J . Baron 's carpenters ' shop at 

St. John's. Two acres of his new 

land was partly cleared, so in 

1960 he set some crops . Then , 

commuting and working part 

time, he gradually took up fulltime 

farming. 

"I started with a $65 mare called 

Queen, an old plow and a 

brand-new $75 cultivator. That 

was my start off. For seven years 

I filled out applications to the 

farm loan board for a tractor. 

Everyone of them was turned 

down. I finally got one in 1973. 

"Turnips, potatoes, cabbage, 

and hay is what we grow now. 1 

own 78acres. 1had a lease on 200, 

but they cancelled it on me 

after 1paid $2,000 to have the land 

surveyed. When 1 took out the 

lease the govenment told me 

there would be lots of funds for 

development, but all I got was 

$625. That was supposed to be 

enough to clear 5acres. 1was expecting 

$500 an acre." 

Bernard persevered, clearing 

Bernard and Win nie Tucker 

22acres at his ownexpense while 

hoping government would adopt 

a more equitable land-elearing 

program. One method he suggested 

was for government to call 

a public tender for contractors to 

clear 50acres for him . That way 

government could choose the 

lowest price. Unfortunately , Bernard 

wasn't able to use the land 

he had cleared. 

"I cleared some land, then I 

needed limestone. "Sorry boy, 

limestone budget is gone, they 

said. Next year I applied again 

and got a car-load in July - too 

late to set out my garden." 

Completely frustrated, Bernard 

refused to sign the lease. 

The government retaliated by 

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after 10years it would, and if the 

farmer were allowed to sell his 

land at $100,000 an acre to 

developers instead of $4,000 to 

farmers, he could afford to improve 

it. 

"What's the point of a St. 

John's dairy farmer having 50 

cows on 5 acres of land and buying 

every bit of feed? Why not 

assist him to move to Bay Bulls, 

even give him 150 acres so he can 

grow his feed?" 

Bernard runs his own farm 

pretty much by himself. 

" I've no full-time employees. I 

hire gangs of 10 to 20 people to 

pick up potatoes and turnips, but 

that's only a week or two a year. 

We grow our own seedlings and 

last year we put out 45.000 cabbage 

and only got 750 sacks. less 

than half the crop we should 

dairy farming 

Keeping a daily dairy 

J 

ack and Daphne Tay lor of 

Cormack now run a farm 

based on dairy cattle after experiencing 

the headaches that 

put their local hog operation out 

of business. 

"It was just a ques tion of not 

getting the support needed,,. 

Jack Taylor and friend 

have. We struck a dry season 

when we were planting. This year 

so far has been so wet we can't 

get any work done. 

"I'd say vegeta ble farmers a re 

the poorest on the Island . How 

much pay can you have from a 

$40,000 crop when you have 

$30,000 worth of e xpe nses? 

You've got to keep a tru ck and a 

tractor going, a nd a full fleet of 

machines. Even with 20acres you 

need enough equipment to farm 

100 acres an d t he re's no 

neighbors handy to borrow from 

around here." 

Bernard's wife Winnie, mother 

of three, has been listening to the 

conversation. She works a t the 

localfishplant. Us he didn' t, Bernard 

is not sure they would 

survive. 

J ack says. " Peo ple were barely 

gett ing enough to keep them going 

and some farmers a re so 

committed financi ally that they 

can't afford to get out. I sta rted 

farming beca use I wanted to be 

indepen dent and not have someone 

else teU me what I should 

"T hat program 'Land and sea' 

they have on CBC-TV, I don' t 

know why they call it that," says 

Winnie. "It's all sea, there's 

never any land on it." 

Bernard, never short of new 

ideas, continues. 

"Most of the problems come 

down to insufficient farm land. 

You've got to have acres. I don't 

have enough land to rotate my 

crops. I've got five jobs to myself 

and I can't afford to pay anyone 

to do them because my farm is 

too small. I'd say 75% 01 Newfoundland 

is unemployed and we 

could make thousands of jobs 

clearing land, but you'd have to 

have money available. If that 

land was cleared, it would be 

cleared forever, then there would 

be jobs for everyone in farming. 

~ 

do. 

"A million dollars isa one-year 

dea l for hog farmers. Those that 

have been in pigs for awhile will 

rea lize that, but there may be a 

few newcomers that will see an 

opport unity to start a business. 

The a bsence of an overall program 

is what is hurting farming. 

You need a five-year plan rather 

tha n something for one year. 

When I was in pigs every other 

province was subsidizing ham 

and bacon producers. Pork 

production in Canada is way over 

domestic conswnption and seIling 

on the American market is 

becoming a problem." 

The situation for dairy farmers 

is a little bit different. 

"Land is the big problem for 

dairy farmers here," explains 

Jack as he is working on putting 

up a fence to contain his cattle. 

"I'd like to be able to grow my 

own hay, but the pig operation 

put us behind as far as keeping 

the land up to par went and now 

I find myself just starting to pick 

up on it now. Growing hay is a big 

problem. We're milking 38 cows

at the moment and there are 6 

other cattle. There are four of us 

with dairy cattle in the immediate 

area. 

" All my milk goes to Corner 

Brook. At the moment not enough 

milk is produced on the Island to 

supply St. John 's and there's not 

the incentive to expand. Island 

production is only about half of 

what Newfoundlanders consume . 

If there was some assistance with 

duce well. You keep a record of 

the amount of milk produced for 

each cow. If you 're selling 

breeding stock you need to know 

things on a daily basis . Ideally, 

each cow had a 305-day lactation 

period with 60 days dry, but 

sometimes one of your better 

cows might have trouble getting 

bred and you have to be patient. 

I have seme cows I wouldn't butcher 

and some I would love to," 

OECKS AWASH - 19 

concludes Jack la ughingly as he 

eyes some of his poorer producers. 

"We've been here 12years and 

I've clea red all the land here 

myse lf. It's a hard way to start 

for a first generation farmer, but 

my son, Robbie, might be able to 

do better. He's still young and has 

lots of time to make up his mind 

about whether he wants to be a 

farmer." 

I!I 

transportalionormilk going to Sl. 1..------ 

John 's there could be 15 dairy 

- - -------------.. 1 

farmers here or wherever the 

major agricultural land is avail 

able . Milk is a very perishable 

product that has to be moved 

fast. What's needed is a fleet of 

large tractor trailers instead of 

the smaller trucks we have now, 

"People shop for dollars and 

cents and there is fierce competition, 

" Jack is the first to agree, 

"Our costs are much higher for 

hay than in Nova Scotia , perhaps 

three times the cost per ton, and 

the growing season for 

everything is shorter." 

There's SO mucb 

to discover 

this summer! 

Jack's dairly cattle are all 

Holsteins , which are the best L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Park 

milk producers in most Newfoundland 

conditions. 

Site of the earliest known attempt to European 

settl ement in the New World. 

"There are a few Ayrshire cattle 

aro und, but Holsteins are very 

good here," comments Jack, 

whose herd has a few red and 

white cows mixed in with the 

more us ual black and white 

SI. Mary's Seabird Sanctuary 

The second largest nesting colony for gannets 

in North America offers a spectacular op 

animals. " The biggest Ayrshire 

her d is nea r Corner Brook. We 

like to breed.our cows for the first portun ity for photographers. 

time when they are 750-800 

pounds in weight and that's 

usually around two years old. Signal Hill National Historic Park 

Youhope to get four or five years' 

milk production, but some of our Originally a signalling centre and later used 

first cows are 7 years old now. to defend the harbour and city of SI. John 's. 

You have to know your cows to 

find out when they are in heat. 

It's hard to know right away , but 

See where Marconi received the first transatlantic 

wireless signals. 

you need to breed them 18-24 

hours afterwards for the best artificial 

insemination program. 

"You sell the calves at four or 

five days old. especially the bulls. 

I've raised and sold heifers, but 

it's really not worthwhile unless 

you've got enough facilities. I 

keep the heifers from the best 

~ Newfoundland 

~ and Labrador 

cows 

ca n be 

for 

fairly 

milk 

sure 

production; 

they will pro-l you l. ..1


The real Jiggs 

e was born Edward Franklin 

Grant Borland III, but 

H 

his schoolday antics quickly 

earned him the nickname of 

"Jfggs" after the comic strip 

character who couldn't manage 

to stay out of trouble. Born in 

Toronto, his family moved to 

Reading, Pennysivania when he 

was six weeks old. Reading was 

a fanning district and his interest 

in agriculture was sparked by 

contact with local farmers. He 

later moved back to Canada. 

Jiggs was among the first 

Canadian soldiers into Dieppe for 

the liberation in 1945 and he was 

present when the first photographs 

were taken of the German 

concentration camps. The experience 

affected him profoundly 

and he looked to farming to try 

to get his mind off what he had 

seen. 

"I came back in 1946 and after 

awhile I decided I wanted to 

homestead," he recalls. "At age 

28or 29 I had to make that one important 

decision in life without 

romanticizing things. My first 

youngster came in 1948. I had a 

farm just outside Erindale, Ontario, 

but I couldn't get my mind 

off the war. I met my wife, Alma, 

in Toronto. The fact that she was 

born in Bishops Falls was one of 

the reasons I chose to homestead 

Jjggs Borland 

in Newfoundland. I asked her 

where we would live and she said 

we could build a log house like 

hers. 'Stand the logs up straight,' 

she said. 

"Newfoundland had 50-acre 

grants, so I came over in 1953 and 

took some soil samples. I went to 

the local wholesaler and found 

out all the local prices and what 

was available. That gave me the 

idea that feed was relatively 

cheap and the sale price was 

high. I couldn't believe it, but I 

checked it and it was true. By the 

end of 1953 I was ready to roll and 

the next year I started buying 

things for the move. Alma left for 

Bishops Falls and I started on 

my master plan. I finally rented 

out my house and lived in a tent 

with an Indian from just outside 

Montreal." 

In 1955, J iggs bought 50 acres 

of land from the Newfoundland 

government for $4. The 186 acres 

he now owns and leases near 

Bishops Falls is worth considerably 

more than that after 30 

years of tough times and hard 

work. 

"I brought everything I could 

from Ontario by rail," Jiggs 

relates with a broad smile on his 

face. "We put together seven 

calves. two cows, a young bull, 

seven ducks, four pigs, 20 

chickens and ISO bales of hay all 

around us in the tent. The day 

after I finished working on 

August 15I started to load a boxcar 

in Toronto and nearly two 

days later I had the tractor, farm 

equipment, the livestock and 

everything else I had collected in 

it. 

"At that time you had to load 

everything on the deck of the 

Burgeo or the Cabot Strait to 

cross from Sydney to Port aux 

Basques. By the time we arrived 

in Newfoundland I had three boxcars 

fuJI, including one that just 

had my bees in it. I can sUUsee 

them unloading that boxcar on a 

forkJift in a tremendous hurry! 

My stakebody truck was moving 

about on deck. The deckhand told 

me not to worry; if it was lost 

they would give me another one! 

It was my first exposure to the 

Newfoundlander's lack of worry 

and haste. The Encyclopedia 

Britannica attributes long life to 

a lack of worry." 

The truck was unloaded onto a 

flatcar and we met it at Corner 

Brook. It took ages to get it of! 

and then there was the drive to 

Grand Falls with the road getting 

smaller and smaller. 

"There was a CBC car and 

driver at what is now the Birchy 

Narrows and he must have been 

checking the reception," Jiggs 

relates. "I stopped and asked him 

if I was on the right road to Grand 

Falls. He looked at the licence 

plate and said, 'Son, if you're on 

any road, you're on the road to 

Grand Falls'. When I got there I 

realized I had forgotten a saw 

and an axe. Four years of planning 

down the drain. 

"The first area I cleared was to 

put the cows in. Three days later 

the boxcars came into Bishops 

Falls and caused quite a stir. The 

old highway ended right here, so 

everything you can see now was 

cleared by us. I guess you can 

call me a pioneer. My friend 

stayed until just before 

Christmas and helped me build a 

shack."

Not everything survived the 

first winter, but Jiggs was 

resourceful by nature. 

" A lot of what we had was 

thrown out ," he admits, "but our 

wedding presents were packed in 

seven steel ba r rels and stayed 

outside in the woods all winter. 

The first shack was 8 foot by to 

foot and then we started putting 

up one 14 foot by 20 fool. By 

september I coul d move in and I 

The Maidstone milkman 

M 

aidstone is a small fa rming 

community just outside St. 

Davids. On our visit we go by a 

group of goats cropping the 

grass, unencu m bered by the wooden 

collars designed to pr event 

the ir escape through the fence . 

Nex t door is the dai ry farm of 

Wilson a nd Marie Chaffey. 

Wilson has bee n farming for 

abo ut 20 years, but he has not always 

been a dairy farmer. 

"My father was a vegetable 

farmer and I also grew vegetables 

for five or six years when 1 

started a farm at the age of 17," 

Wilson tells us during a break in 

his working day . "I worked on 

contracts for Bowaters at the 

same time. When mechanical 

logging came in, 1 had to decide 

whether to go into farming full 

time and that's how we got into 

dairy cattle. We started with four 

cows and the first few years 1 

continued to do some woods 

work , but eventually the cows 

took over completely. 

" We've been milking cows 13 

or 14 years now. It 's interesting 

work and lots of it, but not much 

money, Still , there's more security 

than in some other types of 

stored the hay by stac king it 

around a big aps (aspen) and 

then sawing off the top . That 

stayed there unti l March. 

..Anyone with a shack in the 

woods was considered a bootlegger 

or hermit, so one night in May 

a ca r came by at 3 o'clock in the 

morning and a guy said he 

wanted some 'fresh' . I didn 't 

know what he meant, but they 

soon made me realize they wanted 

a drink. We were 10 mile s 

away from anywhere, so I fir ed 

off the ri fle a nd they scattered. 

Jack Clark, the local Mount ie, 

came down and he helped me out 

by passing the word that I was a 

wild man. We used to hav e a s ign 

up in the field 'Survivors wiJl be 

Prosecuted'." 

Things are a lot calmer now in 

the self-contained community of 

"Jiggsville". 

"We started off with cattle, but 

finding food for them wa s a 

never-ending struggle," says 

Jtggs. "so we switched the em 

phasis to hens , which remain our 

main business. We have hogs , 

and some ducks out on the pond . 

We have a quota of 6,000 lay ing 

hens and another for our hogs . 

Our products are shipped to 51. 

John's. With pigs and chickens 

we have a Jot of liquid manure to 


be spread and 1 need the 

grassland for that. We keep 40 

cattle on the grass. We also have 

14ponie s, which the children use 

for pony rides and learning to run 

their own business. The pony 

rides started back at the Botwood 

Day festivities in 1969and we enjoyed 

it so much it just sort of 

gr ew on us ." 

Despite his individualism, 

Jiggs likes to maintain a 

longstanding family tradition. 

"All my children's names start 

with B; the three boys have part 

of my name as their middle 

names and the three girls owe 

their middle names to Alma," he 

informs us . " I also plan to keep 

providing a piece of land and help 

in building a house as each of 

them grows up . We have nine 

gr andchildren now and there's 

more to com e." ~ 

Mar ie and Wilson Challe y WIth a happily retired friend . 

farming. If you ran into some 

prob lems vegetable farming, the 

yea r was over before it got sta r t 

ed. At least with cows you can get 

yourself back on stream with a 

few adjustments. We 'r e farming 

350acres and we hav e a lmost 200 

cows, of which around 85 are being 

milked at the mom ent : ' 

Occasionally Wilson will brin g 

in cattle from the ma inland, but 

most are born and rai sed on the 

farm. 

" 90% of our breeding is by artificial 

insemination. but we keep 

a bull for three years that we use 

for heifers and for cows we're oot 

interested in raising a call from ," 

he explains. "\Ve usually pick up 

bulls from other farmers when 

we need them. When we were 

down in Wisconsin on a visit, we 

found out about embryo transplants 

and some time in the future 

it should be possible to pretty 

well guarantee a female calf,

22 - DECKS AWAS H 

which is what you look for in a 

dairy operation. " 

Feeding ZOO cattle is a big ex- 1 ~~~iilIII••"'I!l~_ 

pense and the Chaffeys raise as 

much forage as they can on the 

farm. 

" We plant quite a bit of forage 

for silage and that' s the important 

part for a dairy farmer," 

says Marie , who is also taking a 

break from farm chores. " We 

usually mak e it late August or 

early September, but the wea ther 

is often not good for making anything 

then . We plant hayseed on 

new land for green feed and add 

oats, peas and vetch to the silage. 

The following year we'll cut hay 

when the grass comes up. 

Goats on pasture nexi to Wilson's farm 

" I think this bas been the-worst 

year for weath er that I can May.but this yea r we were about Iearly Jul y had bad weather, 

remember" We usually have our a week later and the grass wasn't though, so we won't beall that far 

cattle on pasture by the end of all that good. Last year. June and behind." 11 

An equal voice in the Cormier destiny 

erard Cormier may not be 

G as well-known elsewhere as 

his singing sister, Loretta. and 

brother . Gordon. but in the 

Ccdroy Valley he is one half of the 

farmers Cormier. Gerard takes 

care of the dairy cattle end of the 

bus iness at Searston, while 

brother Calvin tends the henhouse 

at neighboring Upper 

Ferry. 

As we approach Gerard's farm 

just south of the Grand Codroy 

t -ivermouth, we see his dairy cattle 

obeying the "Ca ttle Crossing " 

sign just as the milk truc k arrives 

to take delivery of tile day 's 

production. Gerard takes us on a 

short lour of the operation while 

the truck is filled. Like other 

farmers he is concerned about 

the lateness of the spring. 

Gera rd Corm ier by Holste in bull. 

"This year we're about two 

wee ks behind schedule with getting 

the cattle out into Ute fields, " 

he expla ins. " Tha t' s because of 

the weather we've been having. 

That meant $5,000more hay than 

usual and , when the cows did get 

out, there was hardly any grass. 

The season is so late this year 

that I'm just putting in my crops . 

This time last year I was getting 

ready to harvest the first hay. I 

grew oats, barley and clover for 

silage, but you can 't get the dry 

content you need , so I'll be going 

wit h haylage this year." 

The Cormier family has a tra 

dition of farming in the area. 

"We'd always farmed the old 

way," says Gerard, " seven or 

eight ac res of mixed vegetables, 

12-t5 head of dairy cattle, :ro beef 

cat tle, 60 shee p, a few hens and 

pigs a nd a horse to do the work . 

Tha t' s the family background in 

fa nning. My father took over the 

fa rm from my grandfather in 

1961 and decided to try the hogs . 

We didn' t seem to begetting anywhere 

with them, so he wrote off 

for a quota in milk . At that time 

all the milk went to Grand Falls 

or Gander. The following year he

got a Quota for 50 gallons a day. 

"He renovated the barn, borrowed 

a little money and started 

milking 12 cows in 1963. wehad 

to wait for the electricity to come 

in. He kept building up the herd 

in the 1960s and I took over the 

{ann in 1971 when I came out of 

school. In 1965he had built a new 

henhouse and put in 7,000 hens . 

He ra n that end of the operation 

until Ca lvin took it over after an 

expansi on in 1976. In 1974we built 

the barn over here for the dairy 

cattle. That year all the dairy 

farmers on the west coast formed 

a co-opera tive, westco, and 

shipped to Corn er Brook . Brookfield 

took it over a few years ago 

and we ship the milk to them." 

Gera rd is a ware of the current 

situa tion in central Newfoundla 

nd. 

"Transporta tion costs are a big 

problem for dairy farmers," he 

stress es. " The Lethbridge fanners 

a re paying 6¢ a litre to get 

their milk to market and it's costing 

us S¢ a litre here. The fanners 

in Wooddale are at least 100 

more miles from the St. John's 

plant, so the Lewisporte plant is 

very important to them. You 

ca n't transport milk that far. 

Milkis coming in from Nova Scotia 

and that milk is almost a week 

old by the time it goes onto the 

shelf'." 

The dairy business does have 

advantages for a farmer. 

"One thing about dairy cattle is 

that your milk cheque is coming 

in once a month ," Gerard comments. 

" Poultry and pigs are 

yea r round as well and don't need 

the sa me kind of help as other 

operations that are much more 

seasonal. Farmers don't have the 

benefit of getting government 

help if the y have a bad year. 

FIshermen don 't have to feed 

their fish either and they 're there 

the next yea r. I'd like to have a 

few bee f ca ttle, but we're only 

85% self-sufficient in hay. You 

can 't afford to bring in hay at $150 

a ton . Beef cattle eat the same 

amount of hay, but you're not getting 

any return through the year. 

"All but two dairy operations in 

"Iewfoundl and are milking Holsteins. 

With a dairy operation yoo 

M 

Holstein call and protective bull 

don 't want twin calves, especially 

from your best milking cows . 

You want them in the best possible 

condition. I keep a bull for 

cleaning the calves off and to 

breed with the heifers and an y of 

the cows that don't take with ar 

tificial insemination." 


Gerard has also branched into 

aoother aspect of farming. 

" We' re growing strawberries 

right now, about six acres, Zl,OOO 

plants, and then there's the old 

field , which we didn 't plow over 

this year. There are so many in 

our family that we can pick them 

ar k Dominey , 68, of Musgravetown has been cutting hay 

grass for over 50 years. We discovered him by the side of 

the road weighing bales of hay . Last year he cut 6696Ibs. 

"I use a scythe. At one time I had a mower on a garden tractor, 

but I gained too much weight, over 200Ibs. This is some exercise, 

I'm down to 190 Ibs. now. 

"A crowd called the Triple G takes this hay , the y are in the dairy 

business. The price of hay doesn 't change much, it' s four cents a 

pound, but it' s something to do.

24 - DeCKS AWASH 

ourselves. This year we may 

have a big crop, perhaps three 

times our usual one - 15,000 

quarts. We've been growing them 

for five years nowand the prices 

are quite good. Wehad gooseberries 

that come out in August by 

the henhouse at Upper Ferry, but 

we haven't had any the last two 

years. " 

A visit to Calvin Cormier's 

farm at Upper Ferry confirms 

this. Also missing is Calvin, who 

is taking a well-deserved fishing 

trip for the weekend. When he 

returns he will be expecting his 

new hens to be ready to contribute 

to the Cormier family income. 

Andthat will be something 

for all the Cormiers to sing 

about! ~ A strategICally SItuated road Sign by Gerard Cormier 's dairy farm 

Dairy farming at M usgr avetown 

W 

e walk up the cart track 

towards Ivan Greening's 

barn, through ruminating Holsteins 

that eye us suspiciously, 

until we reach Ivan who is at the 

evening milking. 

"You walked rig ht past my 

bull," says Ivan. " I'm surprised 

he didn't bark at you." 

We look back and see a very 

large bull. He looks like a host 

who has been trying to decide 

whether to eject an unwanted 

guest. With his mind now made 

up, he lumbers forward. With 

feigned casualness, we retreat 

into Ivan's barn where the last 

dozen or so cows are being 

milked. Heather Greening, a 

remarkably knowledgable and 

pretty to-year-old. tells us about 

the farm while her father finishes 

up. 

"We have 125cows and calves 

including one red Holstein ; 80of 

the cows are milking, but 10are 

dry at present. It depends on 

when they calve as to which one 

is the highest milker. At the moment 

it's number 36, she' ll go 

about 9 1 2 to 10 gallons a day. 

That's my brother Tony, he is always 

working here ." 

"I had3days ofl last year, that 

was my holiday," quips Tony, 18, 

as he walks by driving cows out 

of the barn. 

Heather's mother Katie is 

pushing a cart loaded with feed 

grain. She uses a scoop to drop 

measured amounts in front of 

each cow. Their individual diet is 

ma rked up on each stall as a cow 

occupies the same place at milking 

time. 

"Cows are not stupid, no sir, 

You be nice to her and she'll be 

nice to you," says Ivan as he 

leads us towards the pump room. 

There the last of the fresh milk is 

squirting into a glass sphere before 

entering a 1500-gallontan k 

that agitates then cools the milk 

to:rl F. (3.9 C.) 

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"We were root farming and 

keeping a few cows ." says Ivan. 

"That was back in 1979. We 

milked by hand and sold it door 

to door. Then the Department of 

Health said we had to do one 

thing or the other. Get a licence 

or go out. Root crops was a racket, 

so I said I'm going to be milking 

cows, that's it. 

"We built the barn for $75,000 

-around St. John's it would have 

cost us over $200,000but we had 

a sawmilJ and cut all our own 

lumber. That cost doesn't include 

the equipment. A dealer put that 

in and the milk goes straight to 

the tank, no handling. In 1983we 

put an extension on the barn, 

another $30,000. When I started 

dairy farming here I was by myself. 

Now there's 10 in the area 

and two more every year. 

" For a family operation you 

really need a minimum of 50 

cows. I may get a few more. I've 

got 127acres of pasture and 135 

acres for hay . I'll be clearing 

another 10 acres this year and 

another 100r 20 next year, I hope. 

There's a subsidy of $230an acre, 

when you can get it, but you 

wouldn't get a tractor and driver 

to clear an acre for less than $400. 

Trouble is, government is so slow 

paying that a lot of people give up 

on clearing land. I had 40 acres 

that they were going to take from 

me unless I got it cleared, so last 

spring I bought an old D4 Caterpiller 

tractor and cleared it 

myself." 

Ivan's land is in two blocks 12 

miles and a hall-hour drive apart. 

He's not left with much time to 

work it with morning milking 

finishing at 9:30 and evening 

milking starting at 2:30 p.m. 

When he is bailing hay, he doesn't 

come home at all but leaves the 

family to milk. 

A lew of the Greening's Holsteins 


"Last year I got 10,500bales of 

hay from 105 acres in two 

weeks ," say s Ivan . " I'd be operating 

at a loss if I had to buy all 

my hay. As it is, in a good year 

1 only have enough for my cows 

over the winter, not enough to 

keep any replacement heifers. 

With the extra cleared land I'll 

have close to 200 acres of hay 

land, then I may not have to buy 

any hay." 

Ivan gets 66c a litre for his 

Ivan, Heather, and Katie Greening


milk, less 5.1¢a litre for transpor 

tation to Centra l Dairies in St. 

Jo hn's . The cows are milked 305 

days then left dry for 60 days or 

until they calve again - usually 

every 12-13 months . Little milk is 

lost to the ca lf. They are weaned 

in three days, then they learn to 

drink commercial milk replacer 

from a bucket. Although the cows 

have between 70 and 80 calves 

a year, Ivan kept only 10over last 

winter. 

"Veterinary drugs are really 

expensive. The government has 

a 40%mark-up on drugs and they 

tell us they're trying to help the 

fanner." 

In other respect s the govern 

ment seems more helpful to dairy 

farmers. 

"Starting up, they'll give you 

25% of what you spend up to a 

maximum of $25,000. Say you 

spend $100,000on building, equipment 

and livestock, then they will 

give you $25,000. The government 

also pays 75% on limestone. " 

The Greenings, like most farm 

ers, work hard. Very hard. would 

they go back "to vegetable 

farming? 

"No," says Katie Greening . 

"Dairy farming is not as much 

work as vegetables. People think 

Getting ready for a newseason 

hen we arrive at Art Gill's 

W farm in Wooddale, work is 

underway on the fields in readiness 

for a new seaso n. Art, 

however , is concerned about the 

situation with the dairy plant in 

once vegetables are out of the 

ground you're finished. they don't 

realize you can be 12hours a day 

in the warehouse a ll winter picking 

them over." 

Iva n recently demolished a 

school. He needs the mat erials to 

build a barn for his far m equipment. 

His biggest problem seems 

to be finding time for all he has 

to do. He finishes his evening 

meal and gra bs his ca p. 

"I wouldn' t say we' re making 

a ny money, but we are keeping 

the wolf from the door." he says 

as he sets off back up the hill to 

tend his cows. 

Lewisporte. A month later, the the farm, ., says Art, " and everyfuture 

of the plant and the area's thing hinges on one decision. My 

milk producers is still not clear. second oldest son. Dave, has 

"We've been working for 30 returne d from British Columbia 

years to build up a future for the to help on the farm and my 

children who are all interested in daughter, J anice, is sa ving up to 

t!I


go to agricultural college in 

Truro, so it's very important for 

us that the milk delivery is 

assured." 

Art has been a leading member 

of the farming community in 

wooddale since the area was first 

developed in the 19505. 

"I started farming here with 25 

head of cattle and I now have 

100," Art explains. "About half of 

the herd are milking and the 

other half are replacement stock. 

We grow our own hay for silage 

- from the 4SO tons of hay we 

takeoff the field, we make about 

225 tons of ~y silage. We built 

our own silo for $16,000 - a to.....er 

silo. fully equipped. would have 

cost $100,000. The dairy cattleare 

our major interest. but we also 

keep 10,000 layers as another part 

of the operation." n!


beef cattle 

A little meat and potato s 

lbert and Fred a Bungay are 

Aat work in their "garden" 

planting turnip s when we call by 

the farm on the Trans-Canada 

Highway near Tompkins . The 

"garden" is a vegetable plot of 

land leased from a neighbor and 

it complements the beef cat lie 

operation that is their main 

concern. 

Freda is very much an equal 

partner in the farm and a very 

articulate spokesman for Codroy 

Valley farmers, as participants 

at the recent Futures Conference 

in Stephenville will attest. Her 

com ments there are worth 

repeat ing for everyo ne's benefit 

as they indicate all tooclearly the 

situation that farmers face. 

"Beef farmers have all kinds of 

problems ," she contends . "First 

and foremost , there is no subsidi 

ar y agreement and no encouragement 

to farmers. 

Insurance coverage for our 

animals is poor and so is the 

veterinary service. Costs are going 

up, but the price of beef remains 

the same. Slaughter 

facilities have to be upgraded for 

us to sell our beef. A lot of beef 

comes from underfed dairy cattle. 

That means a purebred beef 

bull gets the same name as beef 

that isn't even bred for meat and 

we can't ask a fair price. 

"Another major problem is the 

soil, which has to be upgraded. I 

Heretord bull and call on a farm near Searston . 

Albert and Freda BunQay of Ooyles 

don't know howmuch money was 

spent on a pilot project where 

there are nowa few strawberries 

growing wild.To top it all off, our 

pastures are infested with ragwort 

brought in from the mainland, 

yet our cars are the ones 

being washed off to cross the 

Cabot Strait. The government 

should take the initiative in upgrading 

the soil, but there should 

be no more subsidies for 

pastureland on the present basis . 

There are two community 

pastures in the Codroy Valley we 

can 't use because we are fulltime 

farmers. We have a farm 

that took us 30years to build up. 

Here we are trying to make a living 

and the community pastures 

are for people who are keeping 

one or two cows. It doesn't make 

sense ." 

Albert was actually born in a 

fishing community, but he left 

Ramea at the age of 11when his 

father died in a boating accident. 

After moving around the 

province, Albert started a farm 

with one cow and a calf 30 years 

ago. 

"I was committed to farming, 

even when other people were taking 

off for the woods," he recalls. 

"You couldn't get bank loans 

then without collateral and I only 

had a few acres of land. Only an 

acre or so was cleared and I had 

to do the rest with a bucksaw and 

axe. The first year I planted potatoes 

and after five or six years I 

had a few purebred heifers and a 

bulJ. In 1955, the highway was 

just being built and I sold potatoes 

in Port aux Basques . It was 

easy enough to grow the hay for 

a few cattl e back then . Now we

30 DeCKS AWAS H 

have to lease land for pasture and' 

hay. 

"You only keep so many breeders 

and sell the meat from 

slaughtered cows to the freezer 

trade all over the island. Wehave 

only top-notch Hereford catUe. 

Beef cattle have a nice white fat 

cover, while dairy cattle have 

yellow. The meat's quite different; 

good beef cattle have fat 

marbled through the meat. 1 

don't use artificual insemination. 

I leave things up to my bull and 

we have calves year round. 

Without the hay I grow I couldn't 

afford to keep beef cattle. There's 

all kinds of land here that isn't being 

used even for hay." 

Freda has been involved in the 

farm even when she was raising 

seven children. 

"The most important time is at 

haymaking. but I'd feel sorry for 

Albert if I wasn't around," she 

laughs. 'I teach at school and 

then have the summer free to 

help. There's lots of things to do 

in the kitchen, too. I do a lot of 

berry-picking. so there are jams 

to make and meat to bottle, all 

things connected with the farm. 

I've had a busy life, but I enjoy 

the outdoors and I hate being 

stuck inside. When I got the youngest 

boy in school, I went back to 

teach full time. it was hard to 

teach when the children were 

home," 

The eldest son is in the armed 

forces and Albert doesn't see 

much chance of passing on the 

Iarm. although Freda hopes that 

he will eventually return to take 

it over. 

"If the young fellows have the 

money today, they don't need to 

farm." Albert says. "The cost of 

equipment is just too much for 

someone starting out. If 1 had to 

find the moeny today, where 

would I get it? Fa rmers are too 

far apart now to share equipment. 

Jerome Downey has a few 

beef cattle as do Bill Sheshan d 

and Len Hines. Young people 

aren't getting into it any more; 

there 's just no incentive. Who's 

going to buy a farm nowadays?" 

"Things look like they might be 

gelling better," adds Freda. "but 

those that work the hardest don't 

seem to get the benefits. The 

fanners association here is getting 

things organized and creat 

ing some jobs. People should be 

working instead of sitting home 

collecting unemployment. Social 

services should be for invalids 

and not there for people not to 

work. We're the ones who are 

paying for it. Let's see them getling 

into something that's good 

for their morale even if it doesn't 

bring in a big pay cheque." I'll 

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rAnimal farm 

he road leading from Victoria 

to Albert Wareham's 

T 

pasture is unpaved. Crawling uphill 

in our car we begin to understand 

why farmers favor 

four-wheel drive vehicles. Final 

Iv we reach Albert's barn, only 

Albert is another mile up the 

road. 

" Is that a government car?" 

asks one of Albert's men. 

"No, it's our own." 

"In that case you'd better leave 

it here and come with us," he 

says with a broad grin. " It' s a 

pretty rough road up ahead ." 

Thankfully, we climb into their 

-1 by -1 and begin a roller-coaster 

ride complete with water splash 

as we ford a brook. At the top of 

the hill Albert, 41, is spreading 

fertilizer on his 

pasture but 

comes over to talk . 

"We've got 100beef cattle and 

-12 spring calves," says Albert. 

" We've also got 15horses including 

a Clydesdale and a Belgian 

stallion, 50 sheep and 20 goats . 

We've been at it for 20 years, 

although on a smaller sca le, The 

skipper, my father Chesley Wareham, 

works at it full time. I come 

up whenever I can get time off 

from the wholesale." 

Albert is proprietor of a wholesale 

grocery business in Carbonea 

r with over 30 em ployees, 

He started the business after failing 

to be accepted by the ReMP 

as a police officer in 1961. 

"I was accepted but you had to 

be 165lbs. and I was 162.Today 

I'm over 100pounds heavier," he 

laughs . 

"We're operating 220acres of 

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she's the prime of the beef a nd 

she's had good calves, a heifer 

last year that I didn't keep and a 

bull this year. We won't be keep- 

1 . ~ . 

enough. 

With these many animals and 

with Newfoundla nd's winters, Albert 

needs a big bam, and he has. 

It's been expa nded three times 

and ca n acco mmoda te up to 150 

cattle, 20 horses , and 50 sheep. 

But it' s not a business to move 

into overnight. The Warehams 

have built it up over many years 

through long hours of work and 

they have bee n fortunate that Albert 

's other busin ess has been 

Iul It' ant he has not 

had to ta ke a living out of the 

fann. Still, a lot of capital is involved. 

Fortunately, Albert is 

good with figures. When he's 

dropping fertilizer all over his 

fields his mind is operating like 

a pocket calculator as he works 

out the cost. 

"We've got 5 tractors, 3 bailers, 

3 manure spreaders and $150,000 

tied up in cattle. Then there's the 

barn and the other animals. I 

don't come here every day , but 

my father is 72 and he puts in' a 

full day , more time than I do, and 

we have three to four men working 

with us. It's a lot of work, and 

you've got to like to do it, because 

to make it work you've got to put 

a lot of love and care into all 

this," says Albert as he waves 

goodbye and climbs back on his 

tractor. m 

hogs 

A Bull in a weaner stock 

olin Bull. 65, of Eastport, 

too. People don't have the pride 

C operates a multiplier hog 

in their work that they used to 

opera tion on the newly paved 

and that's one of our major 

road to Salva ge. Recently, he 

problems. 

visited far ms in Scand inavi a and 

" I can 't seewhere we're heading 

at the moment. We've got 

found tha t famil y farms were the 

norm . Colin wonders why Newfoundland 

doesn 't follow the 

away from the family type of 

operation to commercial corporations. 

I grew up working on a 

Scandinavian lead , considering 

the many similarities. 

fann and I never expected to 

" Wha t impressed me a bout 

make much at it. It was part of 

Scandinavia was that you had to 

growing up, helping your father 

be reall y sick to get welfare," he 

and making things work. I got all 

comments. "There was always 

my training on the job and even 

something to be done and some 

15 years ago it would have been 

one willing to do it. We need to follow 

that example in looking after 

difficult to change jobs . Now you 

have to have the experience to 

the countryside in a proper man 

seek a job. 

ner . Nobody gets a nything for 

"When Sandringham was set 

nothing ove r there. There's 

up as a farming community in 

plenty of work to be done here , 

Colin BlAI 

the 19305, the Eastport area was 

all farming. 1be amount and variety 

of crops grown here then are 

hard to believe. I can 't under 

1IOi__••• 1stand why people don't want to 

... fann anymore. Everyone used to 

have a dozen hens, their own 

sheep and a few cows and a 

horse . Itwas a hive of activity all 

year. You stored what you 

couldn 't sell and then went into 

the woods cutting whatever was 

needed and you could bring in a 

dollar. There was nowhere more 

independent than the Eastport 

Peninsula and it was up to the individual 

how well he did." 

Farming has been part of 0>lin's 

life for a long time now. 

A view of the farm overlook ing Eastport Bav,

"I started with root crops four 

years after I finished school in St. 

John's," he recalls. "I worked 

with the Demonstration Farm at 

MlMmt Pearl and at that time the 

whole area around the city was 

devoted to farming. A lot of families 

were making a real good living. 

As time went on, younger 

people, potential farmers, couId 

see greener pastures on the other 

side of the fence in $20 an hour 

wages, and working on a farm 

just didn't appeal any more. You 

didn't put a dollar value on fanning 

then, but it gave you a living. 

All the farm land has been gobbled 

up by housing units." 

Now that Colin has reached the 

age of 65, he is beginning to think 

about what will happen to his family 

farm and other farms like 

his in the province. 

"Our fann is a little larger than 

the usual family unit," he admits. 

"Looking after 250 sows is a bit 

hefty for a family unless you have 

a lot of sons dedicated to following 

in your footsteps. A lot of 

young fellows look at the doUar 

end of the business. My son is a 

technician with Terra Nova Tel in 

Gander and he's doing really 

well; you can't expect him to give 

that up to get into farming. People 

expect to receive a salary. 

Another son wants to become a 

commercial cook. There's nothing 

to entice people into farming 

nowadays - it has to be part of 

your system." 

Recent changes in the Cabinet 

receive Colin's wholehearted 

support. 

"As farmers, our vote doesn't 

amount to anything in terms of 

numbers," he comments, "but it 

now looks like Mr. Aylward and 

Mr. Ryan understand the importaoce 

of farming. I've known 

Mike Ryan for a long time and he 

knows the problems without your 

having to spell them out. I have 

hopes that this team will be able 

to do something before the portfolios 

get switched again. You 

need some lime to get things organized." 

Ongoing research into producing 

a feed that can be put 

together in Newfoundland at half 

the price of the current high- 

Every job 

of !.he 

a self-portrait 

n ho did it. 

Autog>'l


Hogs second to none in this country 

D 

enis and Frank Galway, 

both 30, are hog farmers 

and joint owners of Shalomar 

Farms Ltd., in the Goulds. Their 

farm consists of two very large 

barns set in the middle of 140 

acres of rolling grassland . Denis 

descri bes the operation to us. 

" My rather was behind it," explains 

Denis. " He owned 35acres 

of land here and he put up a fair 

bit of money to get us started. 

That was back in 1976. I had been 

in univeristy and Frank had been 

working at a local hog farm, so 

we decided to start our own. 

"We started with 50 sows and 

now we are up to 250. We put up 

the shells or the two buildings 

then finished them gradually. 

Sowscost about $250 each, but the 

building comes out to $2,000 to 

$3,000per sow so we were looking 

at about $1;2 million. We cleared 

the surrounding land for manure 

disposal and to grow hay . 

"We don't rear our own sows, 

they come from a government 

breeding station . They are called 

a Yorkland, a cross betwee n 

Yorkshire and Landrace. They 

are bred to a boar that is a fiveway 

cross , Newfoundland's own. 

It produces hogs that have 

phenomenal growth, 1.5 to 2 lbs, 

a clay. It's second to none in this 

country." 

The Galways send 70-80hogs a 

week to market. Their 250sows 

produce an average litter of 10 

piglets after a gestation period of 

114days. The hog's lire from birth 

to market averages 170 days , by 

which time it weighs 220Ibs. Sows 

generally a re kept five year s, a 

quart er of the breedi ng stock being 

replaced an nually. Sows ar e 

bought from the breeding station 

at six months and bred at seven 

months. We wonder how they 

keep track of all the animals. 

"We keep records," says Denis, 

pulling a file from his desk . 

"Look at this , March 1984. We 

bred 54sows that month , 63 farrowed 

cedes it would be pointless for 

them to set unrealistic prices. 

Frank comes into the officeand 

sits down. The two brothers 

recall how they started, working 

se\-en-dayweeks and living in a 

trailer. 

"After awhile the trail er Rot 

sheep 

A Bishop and his flock 

A 

dirtier than the barn ," laughs 

Frank . "Every month or so our 

girlfriends wouldcome in, kick us 

out, and clean the trail er out for 

us." 

" Leslie, she's my wife now, is 

after bailing us out of a few situations." 

says Denis. "She's a 


chartered accountant and she has 

done a lot of work for us. We've 

got a computer for the accounts 

now; that helps a lot. Now if we 

can get a program on it for the 

sows, perhaps we will be able to 

get a better peg on production ." 

~ 

lbert Bishop leans over the 

wire fence and emits a ser 

ies of short, piercing whistles. lie 

is answered by a chorus of bleatings 

as lambs and sheep rush 

towards him, liftingtheir noses to 

sniff him. Albert looks at them 

with obvious affection . 

'T ve got 25 sheep here. I had 

almost 50but I started my house 

and had to sell some to pay for 

it." says Albert pointing down the 

hill to a new bungalow. " I'm try 

ing to build them up again now." 

Alfred lives at Islington in 

Trinity Bay and is one of the few 

sheep farmers in the area. He 

would be a full-time sheep farm 

er if he could, but building a flock' 

and clearing land is a slow 

process . 

"I'm interested in sheep, but 

it's hard to be at it and make a 

living besides. Around here 

there's only 4 or 5 months' work 

a year. Right nowI'm workingon 

a LIP project at the mink farm . 

II would be all right , say, if my 

father had a lot of land cleared, 

I'd have a head start on it. I've 

got 26acres but a Jotof it's brush 

and I've had to clear it myself. " 

The evidence is all around us. 

Huge piles of wood, logs, and 

rocks the size ofcompact cars. It 

looks like a lot of work for a man 

without machines. 

Albert Bishop with his sheep . 

"B uddy at agriculture says 

Whydon't I get a tractor? Sure, 

Alfred could also use a tr actor business. 

I'll get one if somebody wants to 

tocut hay and plow for potatoes , " I'm starting small, but what 

pay for it. You can do a nice bit 

things he does now with a scythe I own, I own. Like the house 

ofwork with a tractor, but I'd like 

and a horse called Princ e. But there , nobody can walk in and 

toget the land ready first. I go in 

Alfred's rea l problem is how to take it away from me. But what 

most evenings after work and cut 

get capital without going into I need is a grant to clear more 

down trees . If [ had a tractor, [ 

debt. Without a regular wage, land. Buddy at agriculture said 

could pull the stumps out." 

borrowing money is a risking there was some money allotted.


brought me an application. That 

was Tuesday and it was over the 

next evening at -I p.m . Some use. 

" I' ve got Suffolk and Cheviot 

sheep - I've had good rams with 

them. I breed all of them at the 

moment, usually in late November. 

That way they'll all lamb by 

the middle of May. It's the only 

month I have home. They start 

orr on green grass so they are 

starting right. Some sheep have 

pairs, but single lambs tend to be 

larger. I usually have a market 

for all my lambs, a fellow comes 

up from St. John's and buys 

them. but I'll probably keep four 

or five this fall. 

"I'd like to build a barn for the 

sheep, about 30by 80 ft. I've got 

the lumber for it. In Nova Scotia 

their sheep barns are all open at 

one end, but if I built one like that 

here it would probably have four 

Rearing sheep call be a problem 

la r ence Gallant. 54, of 

C Picadilly on the Port au Port 

Peninsula is an avid reader of 

Decks Awash and uses its historical 

data to confirm his impressicn 

that the Island's farming has 

declined. 

"I was able to show how the 

cattle and small flocks of sheep 

disappeared as the road system 

Clarence and Jean Gallant 

and lines of communication improved," 

he tells us. "The family 

cow was probably the most 

profitable thing a family owned. 

The highest population of sheep 

in Newfoundlandwas around 1935 

during the Depression. when pe0 

ple were really hard pressed they 

turned to farming. Once they got 

better off the number of livestock 

foot of snow in it, or it would be 

blown out to sea," he adds with 

a \\TY laugh . 

"Why doesn't the government 

help me and the sheep?" asks Albert 

. "There's money in sheep. 

Take those lambs, you can get 

some of those up to 50Ibs. by fall 

and get $100 for it. I'd go at sheep 

tomorrow if 1had 100-150 of them, 

and make a living at it." 11 

dropped. People don't depend 

anymore on keeping a few 

livestock to cut down on the 

grocery bill. Back then, the market 

was the home and neighbors 

would help each other out. Now 

everyone's in competition." 

Clarence spent his early years 

on the east coast and then moved 

to Stephenville and he can 

remember how important farming 

was to outport families. 

"Fifty years ago the whole family 

would be out working and 

learning their living as they went 

along. when 1 grew up as a boy 

on the east coast , 1went in a boat 

with my father from the age of 14 

and learned everything 1needed 

to know about fishing. People 

thought it was a bad thing keeping 

the child out of school, but 

now a child with Grade 12has no 

training for any job. He has to go 

to college to learn how to fish. 

The father was educating his boy 

to the way of life. 

"The interest in the old way of 

life has gone. The old-timers had 

it all figured out, because you 

couldn't afford to make a mistake. 

Wecan grow the crops that 

were grown back then instead of 

going to the stores and buying 

them. I've always been a strong 

believer in the family farm because 

the small farmer can't afford 

to pay labor." 

In Clarence's opinion, government 

subsidies are not the answer 

and he is convinced that the 

whole system has to change if 

farming is to survive in Newfoundland. 

"I don't think the government


should be subsidizing farming, 

but it should be making people 

less dependent on summer 

p",jecls. When I was a boy, people 

went looking for a job, not 

slall1PS. The reason young people 

doo't want to go into farming is 

that normally you only get money 

in the fall . You don't want to work 

six months before you see any 

return. Social Services are giving 

land for a house to young couples 

and they're better orr than the 

farmers. I never got paid for 

what I did as a boy, but you learnt 

something you might make use of 

later. Governments can't legislate 

that kind of experience. 

"If you had a farm apprentice 

program here in Newfoundland 

and right alongside you had a 

program for 12 weeks with VIC 

benefits coming up, you know 

which one would be filled up. The 

problem now is that we can't decide 

whether we 're a capitalist or 

a socialist country. You could sell 

right here at your door in the fall, 

but no one wants to wait that 

long. My son was coming back to 

take over the farm when he was 

killed on his last truck trip. I'm 

ready to turn it over to someone 

else, but there are so many things 

a farmer has to know . • couldn't 

work out a five-year plan like the 

gover nments wants us to. You 

can do things on paper, bu t they 

don't always work out in 

practice." 

The whole attitude towa rds 

work is different now maintains 

Clarence. 

"I remember when I went to 

the Catholic school they did a 

good job of teaching but they always 

downgraded the job of the 

farmer, lumberjack and fisherman," 

he recalls. "It was always 

in the back of our minds. People 

have to realize not every-one can 

get the specialist jobs even with 

all .the education in the world. 

There's only a certain number of 

white-collar jobs to go around. 

1bere are people working beyond 

retirement age that are stopping 

younger people from getting a job 

and they are the ones that are 

saying young people are lazy. It's 

best to let some sectors of the 

economy seek their own level in- 

A sale too big 

to miss. 

We've just trimmed the price of every sin 

new Pioneel1P.lrtner chain saw. Farbel 

everyday low 

tice, 

Uke the Pioneesfartner 400, It's got P 

quality power lind endurance in 

tweight saw. It's got an excellent 

m..extremely low noise level and a 

as standard equipment. 

And, right now, it's on salefor just $329.95. 

Buy any Pioneeefartner befo re 

December 31,1985. And the 

• • • • • saw tha.tgives you more, 

• will c t you less. 

ImlPI8NER 

r: paRTNER' 

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Distributed by: 

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stead of subsidizing those who 

can't compete any other way. Let 

people live where they want to 

live: vou don't tell a bird where 

to build Its nest. We've got too 

smart for our own good. 

"Good solid advice is not easy 

to come by anv more either. The 

only sheep specialist I know of 

was Mack Greening and he died 

several years ago. There's nobody 

I can turn to really. Last fall 

I experimented with a Suffolk 

ram , but the lambs aren't born as 

stro ng as the Cheviots. I can compar 

e the weights of the Cheviot 

a nd Suffolk lambs and both of my 

Suffolk lambs died. A lot of what 

you get is based on what has been 

going on in other parts of the 

world. My neighbor brought 

back some sheep from Cape Breton 

and they had foot rot. It costs 

all kinds of extra money to treat 

the sheep and once the land is affected 

there are alw ays enough 

carriers to keep it going. The 

xova SCotian farmers weren't 

concerned because they could 

just slaughter the sheep and start 

again, but it's a bad thing here. 

I can keep it down, but I can't get 

rid of it. Sheep follow eac h other 

on a trail and all of the m pick it 

up." 

Clarence a lso has his own 

views on rea r ing lam bs for 

ma rket. 

"If you raise ewes for just one 

lamb you're lost," he says. I' ve 

been a firm believer in the twolamb 

cro p, the second one being 

your profit. Some people will tell 

Farming and fishing under pressure 

J 

im Hilliard represents a dying 

breed of Newfoundlanders, 

descendants of the 

fishermen-farmers of pre 

Confederation days. Now Jim, 

who lives in the small community 

of Cape Anguille just north of 

Codroy, is under pressur e beca 

use of policies th at discriminate 

against the part-time 

inshore fisherman. 

"There's a strong possibility 

that. I will lose my salmon licence," 

Jim tells us bitterly. "If 

I lose tha t, 1 might as well quit 

farming as well. I'm a pa rt -time 

fisherman , fishing for three or 

four months a yea r with two 

boat s an d 15 sa lmon nets . That's 

the only money I ca n mak e in the 

vou twin lambs will never reach 

the size of a single lamb, but the 

weight difference betwee n a single 

lamb and a twin is very little 

in the fall. 

"There's no secret to how I ensure 

twins. To start with I Ilush 

my sheep and provide extra feed 

in the fall. In October I put the 

burlap jacket on my ewes a nd let 

the ram loose. He ca n' t do any 

damage but he gets them in better 

breeding conditio n when I 

take the jackets off in tbe middle 

of November. Most of our sheep 

had twins; the only one that 

didn't had a lar ge lamb early, but 

I don't know if it was my ram or 

not. If you' re keeping a few 

sheep, the ext ra meat makes it 

worthwhile." 

summer. I fish longer than a fulltime 

fisherman and,in the winter 

I do some logging, What we mak e 

in the summer, $3,000-$4.000.sees 

us through the winter . If we can't 

fish, we're not going to make it at 

all. We couldn't hope to make it 

on far ming a lone. The few sheep 

and cattle we ca n keep on our 

land and the crops we can grow 

in our ga rde n provide us with 

food, but they don't offer us a 

living. 

"My young fellow ca n't get a licence 

and he's out of school in a 

vear. He can fish for cod this 

).'ear, but I can't transfer my 

salmon licence to him . I can get 

a job in the summer, but wha t is 

there for him? He'll have to leave 

I Iewfoundland to get any thi ng at 

all. I have enough in fishing gear 

and livestoc k for both of us, He 

wants to work on the farm and 

there's a ll kinds of land. but the 

government gives it to people on 

welfare. I could keep 50 head of 

cattle, but I've only got enough 

land to keep 25," 

Jim ca n' t understand why the 

government spen ds taxpayers' 

money on non -productive 

programs. 

"Those that have the jobs don't 

seem to understand the needs of


th()5e who are trying to make a 

living," he surmises. "The decisions 

aren't made in Ottawa. 

They're being made in Corner 

Brook and St. John's. I'm not 

looking to make large amounts of 

money. I'm happy with $4.000 

from fishing in the summer and 

whatever I can make from the 

farm. If I can't fish I might as 

well burn my boats and salmon 

nets beca use there will be no one 

to buy tbern . I just spent $10,000 

on one boat and motor. but it's 

money down the dra in. 

"The way we are, we have our 

QYm fish a nd our own vege tables 

and meat. That keeps your 

money needs down. We make our 

own butter a nd we have wool 

from the sheep, but you can't 

make a go of it alone. Government 

money seems to be there 

for the big farmers to build 

barns, but there's nothing for 

Manpower and horsepower Wlltt a hand plow on the H Ihard farm 

peop le like us. I've done all Ute 

building here myself and it's the US fish and work the land the wayITake away the licences now and 

fishing that pays for it. If the we always have, there's no trou- there'll be no fishermen here in 

government left us alone and let ble to make a living around here. five yean." I!! 

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Sheering at a good clip 

Vicki Hilliard of Cape Anguille, Jim's daughter, 

is only 14years old, but she has a skill that 

few others can master: she can clip all the wool 

off a sheep with a pair of hand shears in a matter 

of minutes. Fortunately for us, one old ewe 

had proved difficult to capture during the week 

and still remains to be sheared when we visit 

the Hilliard farm. 

"I sheared my first sheep when I was 12," 

Vicki tells us as she gets down to business. "I 

watched my uncle doing it and it seemed to 

come naturally to me. I like milking the cows 

and making butter, but the shearing is something 

I have perfected." 

It doesn't take long for Vicki to prove the 

pointand soonthe last sheep togive up its wool 

is back on the hills with her lamb. 11


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chicken and eggs 

From banking to broilers 

IT wo years ago, Harry An-I 

I drews of Whitbourne was a 

bank manager. then after 13 

years of wearing business suits 

and sitting in offices he gave it up 

ard bought a broiler farm. Now 

he has 58,000 birds and he has just 

been appointed to the. 'ewfoundland 

Chicken Marketing Board. 

"Banking has its problems," 

says Harry. "People have financial 

problems and they bring 

them to your office. At least the 

problems I have now are my own. 

Well. not quite - the broiler industry 

has a few. 

"Let's state this right up front. 

It's not economical to grow chickens 

in Newfoundland. People will 

tell you, we should be growing 

chickens in Ontario, where it's 

warmer and feed grain is cheaper. 

Right? Tru e enough. But take 

that argument one step further 

and you shouldn't be growing 

chickens in Ontario either, beca 

use you ca n gr ow them even 

cheaper in the United States. 

" So there's a n established 

Harry Andrews 

broiler industry in Newfoundland 

, and that's why I' m in it. It 

creates jobs for 20 producers, a 

hatcher y, two plants of New- 

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esults of your per formance everyday. 

The birds get bigger , but 

if you do some thing wrong, at the 

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wrong is over and you can 

sta rt all over agai n. In a bank 

your rewards ar e only yea rly. 

You are revi ewed each yea r and 

your salary is negotiat ed each 

yea r. 

" It's also less stress ful, eve n 

though last yea r was aver) 

difficult time. I went in with a 

quota of 43,000 birds but a ll that 

were a vailable were 28,000. 

Chicks here cost 42¢ and in Ontario 

they cost 36(, so on the next 

batch, I decided to sav e money 

and fly them in. The chicks were 

all smothered . Now I use a local 

hatchery. You only get burned 

once." 

Harry works fairly regular 

hours: 8:00 a. m. to 11:00 a.m ., 

2:00 p.m . to 4:00 p.m., and 8:00 

p.m. to 10:00 p.m . - assumi ng 

The hens of Hilltop and other topics 

verlooking the r iver at 

O Robinsons is the farm operated 

by Fred Wells, who has been 

in various branches of fa rming 

for 36 years and can take an objective 

look at the sta te of Newfoundland 

ag riculture. 

" I started with ver y littl e back 

then ," recalls Fred , who now concentrates 

on his 15,000chickens, 

but still has a fe-w other livest ock 

and crops in his mixed farming 

operation. "In 1965I had a laying 

flock of 5,000 hens and I ca n 

remember getting 65 ce nts a 

dcrzen for eggs when feed costs 

were only $60. Nowfeed costs ar e 

$303and I still get only $1.11for 

Grade A large eggs. If you think 

about that kind of production 

cost, you'll realize where agriculture 

has moved in the last 25 

years, at least in the eg g 

business. 

"I never thought I'd a pproach 

60 years old and see the state 

agriculture is in, both provincially 

and nationally. Anyone who 

continues to farm will probably 

wind up being a socialist, because 

agriculture will eventually be 

cootrolled by the state. The sta te 

will plant the corn, put in the hens 

and pay the labor because there's 

no way individu als ca n continue 

in farming under the present 

production constraints. Farmers 

are not involved in the policy decisions 

and it is . not sur prising 

that young people are disillu 

sioned with agri culture." 

Fred hopes that government 

will pay more attention to soil fertility 

and management. which he 

Fred Wells 

believes to bethe most important 

aspects of agri culture. 

"Unless you're in the specialized 

fields of broiler s, layers or 

hogs, where you can put up building; 

on an acre of lan d. the re has 

to be a viable lan d base," he rea 

SOllS, " There's enough land between 

Cape St. George a nd Cape 

Ray to suppo rt all the food requirements 

of the province, but 

it's pathetic to see how it's being 

used . Some farmers are attempting 

to rai se cattle and sheep on 

hay with a protein content of less 

than 1%.The hay is being cut 

from grass grown on poor soil. If 

a farmer's hay production is below 

4 tons per acre, it should be 

brought up to that level with 

money from a soil fertility fund. 

Many farmers are getting less 

than half of that production and 

it is fina ncially impossible for 


1 

nothing goes wrong . If a piece o! 1 

equipment brea ks, he rna) I 

there from 8:00 a.m . until 10:00 

p.m. lie has a full-lime foreman 

and every six weeks he empl oy 

half a dozen people to clea n ou 

the ba rn . Together with his work 

on the Chicken Marketing Board. 

it's a good mix of physical and 

mental exercise. And for hob 

bies? Harry has a few chinch illas 

a nd he's wondering if there isn't 

a business opportunity there ~ 

most farm er s to impro ve their 

soil. Even with the poult ry m 

nur e I have, I can only ra ise Ow 

level to six tons off two acres of 

land ." 

The costs of soil improvement 

a re as tronomical, as Fred's own 

experience shows. 

" I spread 600tons of limestone. 

costin g $17 a ton. on the Robin 

sons community pas ture, he 

points out, "and tha t bare. 

scratched the surface. It neeos an 

injec tion of $300,000 or mor 

get it back into shape art 

farm ers can justi fy that k 

expense. Management of 

is so im portant. but there 

enough funds even to m 

sta rt on the problems. ~l os 

opera tions here are gea rs 

mixed far ming and pE'OP 

produce enough feed to ke 

tle over the winter 'T'1

44 - OECKS AWA SH 

ar ound Bay St. George is starved 

lor limesto ne and a large herd of 

beef ca ttle is just not feasible. 

.Mixed farm ing is a far me r's 

livelihood here and it' s at its 

lowest ebb in history . Until something's 

done you're just not going 

to see a revival at a time when 

ywng people a re crying out for 

employment." 

Fred does not accept the idea 

that farmers in Newfoundland 

The quota's the problem 

F 

rank Bartlett, st. has a layer 

operat ion at Goose Cove, 

Trinity Bay. His 5,000 chickens 

produce about 360 dozen eggs 

da.~%y fath er started' with 100 

birds 30years ago and gradu all y 

built it up," says Frank . " We 

replace all 5,000birds every year. 

Ideally , we would replace them 

aUat one time but because ] mar 

ket my own eggs, tha t would 

leave me without a ny eggs to sell 

for a few weeks , an d those would 

all be small. People want larg e 

eggs , so we only repla ce a third 

of the birds at a time. It would be 

Frank Bartlett wIth " Patsy" and son Stephen 

cannot compete with those on the 

ma inland. 

"Newfoundland farmers could 

compete in every root crop except 

potatoes," he contends. 

" What's needed is a policy that 

prevents the kind of dumping 

that 's going on at the moment. 

We can 't continue to allow 

second-grade produce to come 

her e and undercut local produce 

th at is better and fresher. 

all right if I lived near 81. John's 

an d could put the eggs into a 

grading station. Then they would 

have the headache of marketing, 

but around here if I were to stop 

producing for a few weeks somebody 

else would step in and I 

wwld lose my market." 

Fr ank' s farm is a family opera 

tion. His father died 15 years 

ago but he has help from his wife, 

his mother, a cousin, and occasional 

part-time labor in the summer. 

Fortunately, the layer 

opera tion is mostly mechanized. 

The birds are housed in a 32 by 

100 tt. building, six to a cage. 

However you look at it, we can 't 

exist without food and there's no 

industry tha t provides the 

benef its agriculture does. For every 

$1invested there's a return of 

$9, not to mention the number of 

jobs that could be cr eated along 

the way. The ma jor urban areas 

could easily be supplied by rural 

Newfoundla nd and many of the 

housing an d socia l problems we 

have would be solved." ~ 

Feeding them is a matter of push. 

ing a butto n, the eggs roll out 

(rom under the ca ges but haveto 

be collected and graded by hand . 

"We had brown eggs last year, 

but by rights you need 15-201' a 

dozen more for them . They are 

more expensive birds , heavier 

eaters, and there 's extra sorting. 

It wouldn't be so had if they were 

all brown, but then you are in 

competition with the fellow who 

has all white eggs and his are 

cheaper. Usually brown hens lay 

brown eggs and white hens lay 

white . 

"We hav e our customers built 

up over the years, a lot of smalJ 

stores from here to Bonavista. 

I'm on the road one full day a coupieof 

part days a week. The economy 

a ffects us, like last year the 

fishing st rike and the draggers 

not sa iling made a difference of 

15or 20cases of eggs which for a 

sma ll opera tion is a nice bit. 

"The egg marketing board controls 

the farm-gate price, but on 

top of that is the cost of cartons 

and delivery. We pay a subsidy 

for those little sta mps they pUton 

the cartons and the board is supposed 

to take surp lus eggs off the 

market. [ try to get rid of my sur 

plus eggs to another producer 

who's short because I get a better 

price. 

"One of our big problems is the 

part-time farmer. Anyone, if they 

want to, ca n put in 499 birds 

tomorrow an d do what they like 

with the eggs. Over 500birds and 

they have to get a quota . The 499 

limit is too high. If (our or five 

people ca me into my area with


499 chickens that would be half money down and you could never Newfoundland is self-sufficient in 

my production and they would be keep up with the interest payments. 

Take a barn and equip 

"Now da iry farm ing, there's 

eggs. 

unregu lated. My quota is 5,000 

birds and I can't go beyond that. ment, it's no trouble togo through all kinds of su bsidies there... " 

We're not against a man wanting $100,000 and that's only small says Frank as he strokes his cow 

25or 30 chickens for his own use, compared to some. And there are Patsy. We leave him to mull over 

but even that is more eggs than no government grants because the idea. 

I'!I 

you can use. At the las t meeting 

we tried to get it down to 100. 

Look, a man with a licence can be 

fishing next to meand I'm not al- 1...------ ---------------.., 

lowed to put out a single lobster 

pot, but he can put in 499 birds 

and cut into my production." 

Frank also keeps a few cows. 

He brought in some Guernseys 

from Prince Edward Island and 

has three milking and six heifers. 

Guernseys are smaller than Holsteins 

and produce creamier 

milk, but in smaller quantities. 

His cows are scattered over a 

number of pastures and he cuts 

no hay preferring to buy good 

quality hay. Guernseys are quiet 

and gentle cows, but most are dehorned. 

Even among cows there 

is usually one bully that will 

damage others when they cannot 

get away. 

Frank would like to get more 

land cleared but the present 

government policy of only leasing 

land is a deterrent. 

"You can lease the land, never 

own it," says Frank. "That's all 

right if you have a young fellow 

to take over, but if you're working 

all your life to clear a piece 

of land and you get up to be 50and 

want to sell it and retire, you 

can 't do it. I see the point the 

government is making because 

there's not a lot of farmland in 

Newfoundland and they want to 

discourage making it into subdivisions 

in Kilbride and the 

Goulds. But around here it 

wouldn't matter. Besides, there's 

not an acre of good land in one 

spot." 

Frank had not intended to be a 

farmer. He studied electronics at 

trades school then suddenly inherited 

his father's farm. On 

reflection he wishes he had 

studied welding. The knowledge 

would have been useful on a 

fann. 

"If I had to start this business 

tomorrow I wouldn't even look 

into it. You'd have to put so much IL- 

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46 - DECKS AWA SH 

greenhouses 

The realm of th e Barony Nursery 

s we drive a long the road 

A thr ough Cormack we see a 

sign announcing the presence of 

the Barony Nursery on a side 1 --1 -' ~"",~ 

road . After a few mintues we are 

at the Van Koetsveld farm and 

soon we are at the door of the 

gr eenhouse . Linda Van Koetsveld 

takes time off from a busy day of 

moving plans and vegetabl es to 

explain how the operation she 

runs with her husband, George, 

developed. 

"Geo rge is Dutch and was born 

in J ava. Indonesia," she tells us. 

" After the war he had his training 

in horticul ture in Holland and 

then emigrated to the United 

States when he was 23. I was born 

on a da iry (arm in upstate New 

York and moved to California as 

Thank s for t he 

wood to build our 

homes , our boats 

and our wha rves. 

Thanks for firewood 

to keep us wa rm. 

Thanks for furniture, 

Only you 

~~~~ ~ ~~~~ brushes. ;:::~oliiiiii_~!C:> ~~~~:,~~ 

violin s, gu itars, and cellos. Thanks for boo ks 

and penc ils and paper. Than ks fo r map le syrup and sleds , park benches and 

shade on a sunny afternoon. Thanks for fruits, jams and jellies. And a spec ial 

thank s fo r the oxygen we breathe . 

This message from your 

Newfoundland Forest Protection Association

a teacher. We met there and 

came to Canada four years ago 

last May. Neither of us liked the 

urban environment as we'd come 

from rural backgrounds. My 

father was on vacation visiting 

his cousin at the base in Argentia 

when he became sick. George 

and I came with our 4-year-old 

daughter and moved him to a 

larger hospital in St. John's. We 

fell in love with the province and 

decided to move here. 

"We realized that the island 

has not been self-sufficient in 

fanning and there's no reason 

why it shouldn't be except that 

for years the emphasis has been 

on the fisheries and the forests. 

Agriculture has been ignored by 

all the political parties. In Holland 

90%of the produce is grown 

under glass and they are on the 

same latitude as we are. The season 

is a little shorter here and the 

winter is harsher, but the light intensity 

is the same." 

Linda and George spent their 

first year working on building a 

house and providing enough food 

for themselves, so their second 

year was really their first growing 

season. 

The first year we came here we 

had 80 acres of land, 30of which 

were cleared, and we had some 

cows," Linda recalls. "The first 

two years we were more concerned 

with building a house and 

by the time we got going we had 

our vegetables and began the 

business of selling transplants. 

The first year I had a few packets 

of flower seeds just for myself 

really, but we soon realized that 

the flowers were being sold more 

than the vegetables in our first 

growing season. 

"Our initial intention was to 

grow vegetables like cucumbers, 

tomatoes and zucchinis that have 

to be imported but we discovered 

that Newfoundlanders had not 

yet started to acquire a taste for 

such exotic things as zucchinis. 

To avoid starving to death we 

decided we had better get into 

something more secure and got 

into the flower business. The following 

year, Sandy Rideout, a 

fanner here in Cormack, came to 

us and said he thought there was 

DECKS AWASH - 47


that time. The average Newfcundlander 

buys whatever is 

cheapest at the time . The oldfashioned 

root cellar with proper 

ventilation and a few impro vements 

is a viable alternative for 

small farmers who want to hold 

their produce for a short amount 

of time at minimal cost." 

Linda and George are looking 

forward to a summer project in 

Cormack this year. 

"Glenda Garnier, who runs the 

craft shop in Deer Lake, called 

me one night about the Canada 

we-ld Youth project. " comments 

Linda with characteristic enthusiasm 

. " The project is 

designed to improve the working 

knowledge of prospective farmers 

from the Third World. I 

thought it sounded interesting, especially 

since George is from the 

same part of the world as the Inthat 

farmers are hard put to grow 

winter keeper cabbag e like 

Houston Evergreen," Linda explains. 

"Fa rmers can only get up 

to 65% yield . We grew cabbages 

as our first vegetable transplants 

and sandy's son Melvin is still 

one of OUf best customers (or 

them. 

"We now have a num ber of 

major customers for transplants. 

but it can't support us by itself , 

so we're growing vegetable and 

flower transplants for the home 

gardener and carrying bedding 

plants (or four or five flower 

shops. When the bedding plant 

season is over by the middle of 

Jul y, probab ly a little later than 

usual this year, the greenhouses 

are filled with tomatoes. cucum 

jacketed stora ge, whereby insulated 

sheds are used , is marvellous 

for vegetables, but the price 

tag is too high for most small 

farmers. However, a farmer 

can 't afford to sell his vegetables 

only dur ing the peak season, especially 

since the importers 

thooghtfully lower their prices at 

Review Article 

dians and Sri Lankans included itt 

this particular group. We are one 

of the few families in the area 

with a large house and em pty 

rooms and the farm will provide 

a really valuable exprience. 

'" talked to one of the regio na l 

co-ordinators about the projec t 

and the relevance of fanning to 

the Sri Lankan economy in pa r 

ticular . We're probably providing 

an ideal environment for them in 

that we're only just above their 

level of techno logy and they will 

be getting experience that will be 

usefu l to them when they return 

home , I may also be involved in 

helping with teac hing Eng lish. 

The community seems to be accepting 

the project very well. The 

group arrives at the end of Jul y 

and will bestaying until well into 

September, so they will be here 

for the main harvest." 

Just as George is suggesting 

that it's cold enough to get the 

snowmobile ready again, down 

comes a torrential outburst of 

rain that threatens to deluge 

everyone and it's lucky we're under 

cover . It's another reminder 

bers , green peppers and 8 few 

specialties like zucchinis , squa sh. 

hot peppers and eggplants. 

"Outdoors we grow the usual 

vegetables and some specialized 

items like broccoli. cauliflow er . 

snow peas for the Chinese market, 

pea s and beans . We are trying 

to keep the vegetable market 

in Deer Lake going. If the new 

mar ket ever gets finished it w;11 

of the fickleness of our Newfoondland 

weather. 

I."\'l 

be a centra) place for the fanners 

here a nd I hope it will be an 

open market with other items on 

sale as well." 

Although the nursery has always 

been a family operation, 1....---------------------, 

Linda is quick to acknowledge the 

help they have received. 

"At the moment we have only 

one full-time employee, but this 

year we have part-time help ," 

she points out. " Ca rol and Derek 

Hillier are helping with moving 

plants right now and Glen Prince 

is with us too, The Agriculture 

people at Pynns Brook helped 

me out on several occasions and 

I couldn't have done without 

them, both the federal and I 

provincial people. 

"The only complaint I have is 

with the policy of megatarmmg. 

which is just not suitable for New 

Ioundland. Our fields are broken 

up by bogs, streams and stony 

areas and our markets are just 

too sma ll for that kind of thing. 

Even the short time I've been 

here I can see that the mega 

NEWFOUNDLAND STUDIES 

N_foundl,nd Studi n , a twice-~ , r l y publi ca tio n, inviln IlUbscriphons from instilutions 

.and.llbroad t"r.ll Ncrwtoundland Srom Ihrou,gh Prints 

;and Eft«rilVlnp from 1M Srwnlftnlh, Eignlftnlh .lind N'nr1rft1lh Cntlurin- 

Pnrr Nrouy 

G.-t Bril..." and lhorfu lUl'


Transplanted far mer 

B 

ob Striah, 39, runs Still 

Meadow Greenhouses 

Limited at Markland on the Avalon 

Peninsula . A native of British 

Columbia with a master's degree 

in chemistry, he entered farming 

in a roundabout way . 

" I came to Newfoundland in 

1970 as a research chemist for the 

Federal Department of Fisheries," 

explains Bob. " But the aca 

demic life didn't really turn me 

on. I saw the opportunity for 

starting a family farm here 

without having half a million dollars 

, so I took it. 

" We started off dirt farming. I 

rented a couple of acres and grew 

a lot of what were then specialty 

crops - cauliflower and broccoli 

- then sold them to people 

from the United States base near 

Placentia. we survived but we 

didn't have too many luxuries. 

" I built a greenhouse in 1976 

and grew tomatoes. That led to a 

second and then a third greenhouse 

until today I have seven . 

There was no way to do everything 

, so the field crops went. 

They were back -breaking work. 

Over the years we have grown 

I a lmost every greenhouse plant 

you can name and we have ended 

up with bedding pla nts , 

vegetable transplants, and ornamentals. 

" It' s a seasonal operation. Beginning 

March rst. I transplant 

seedlings bought from Ontario 

into pack s to get them going, it 

saves heating the greenhouses in 

January and February. Then my 

own seed is germinating to become 

my second crop . Vegetable 

transplants are sold in packs 0112 

to the consumer, and by the thousand 

to farmers - 75% of our 

sales are wholesale . Conception, 

Trinity, and Placentia Bays are 

my main markets, although we 

delivered to St. John 's for the 

first time last year . I also act as 

delivery boy. It's the only way I 

get to meet all my customers personally 

. 

" The farm orders are all 

finished by June and we close to. 

the public in July, but the work 

doesn't finish. We do a lot of 

pro pagation work of trees and 

shrubs during the summer for the 

following year. I took $60,000 

worth of stock through last winter 

which is risky. A big storm could 

tear the plastic off your green 

house and destroy the lot and 

ther e's no insurance for greenhouses. 

I work up until December 

each year then take a couple of 

mooths olf. 

" Weather can be a re al 

problem. This year my flats were 

ready to go May 6th, but there 

was still snow on the ground so 

the farmers weren 't buying. I 

only make about a dollar profit on 

a flat a nd it costs me an additional 

:IS( a week to keep them . ITI 

had kept them until Jun e 6th my 

enti re profit would have gone. 

But I have to have my stuff ready 

a nyway because if I'm a week 

late I've lost my market. " 

Bob's farm is neat and clean , 

but it's the result of a lot of work 

and experimentation. Last yea r 

he worked 1825hours - that' s 46 

norma l 4O-hour work weeks 

but he did half of it in just two 

months. He also visits mainland 

greenhouse operations to borrow 

ideas . His transplanting operations, 

supervised by his foreman 

Willie (Wilhelmina ) Gosse, ar e 

models in time and motion work. 

" If you figure it ta kes roughly 

one second to take a ste p, you can 

use up a lot of time just strolling 

up and down 700 feet or gree n 

houses every day. For tr ansplanting 

we set up portab le tables 

wherever we need them a nd the 

girls use what we call a dibble 

board to push 72 or 96 holes in 

eac h fiat to receive transplants. 

The girls can do a better job than 

I could, their fingers a re sma ller 

a nd they have a lighter touch. 

They are paid by the flat and they 

can make up to $6 an hour ." 

For Bob, having an adva nced 

education does have benefits. It's 

tau ght him where to find informat 

ion when he needs it and he's 

not intimidated by government 

specialists. Even so, when it 

comes to filling out forms he is 

about as lucky as the next man . 

It took him a year to complete 

one proP9S31 to the satisfaction of 

government. Still, he managed to 

recover 50% of the ca pita l costs 

of his greenhouses and get a loan


for the balance on very favorable 

terms. He muses on farming and 

farmers. 

" It' s a difficu lt business to 

enter. The government asks you 

if you have farmed before and if 

you ha ven 't, they don't want to 

look at you . Once you have 

proved you are serious it gels bet 

ter. I think farmers a re loners by 

nature. They do everything the ir 

own way a nd say to hell with 

every body else. They are also ingenious 

in fixing things and making 

stu ff work, per haps not the 

way it was intended to be, but 

they mak e it work . 

" I th ink there is potential for 

farming in Newfoundland. I've 

certainly see n some very good 

fanners here . Of course you can't 

do anything a bout the wea ther , 

but. th ink the ma in thin g is that 

a commitment must be ma de by 

government to the farming industry 

and so far that commitment 

has not been mad e," concl udes 

Bob . 

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Greenhouses need less lend 

B 

illy Eales runs 

Nursery on Brookfield 

Rosebank 

Road, St. John's. The Eales are 

one of two remaining farm fam i 

lies in a once thriving agricultural 

area now gradually being 

encroached upon by creeping 

sub-divisions. Billy is sitting on 

an upturned box by a shed. cutting 

up potatoes for planting with 

a well-honed knife. 

" I was born here," says Billy. 

"My father. William John Eales. 

inherited the farm from his lUI· 

c1e. Dad's almost 70 and has 

farmed here nearly all his life. He 

still has 25- 30cows. but I grow 

English and Chinese vegetables 

and I ha ve a greenhouse 

operation. 

" I've been setting about 10 

acres of mixed vegetables: turnips, 

potatoes. car rots, a couple 

of types of lettuce. and a dozen or 

more types of cabbage. Broccoli 

and cauliflower are the two big 

ones, they've really come on the 

last 10years. I grow a big variety 

because 80-85% of my customer 

s come right to the farm. 

When they come in Saturdays 

you want to have everyt hing they 

could possibly want. I charge a 

bit better than wholesale but not 

as much as retail. Some things I 

sell only in bulk, like broccoli and 

cauliflower. That goes for $6 a 

shopping bag, abo ut 7 or 8 

pounds. Some people take 8 or 10 

bags and I've never yet had 

enough of it to last me a complete 

season. 

"Then there's the Chinese 

vegetables. I've grown dozens of 

different types for about 10years 

now, but I've got it down to three 

kinds. There's Chinese cabbage 

or Nappa. Bok Choy which is 

something like our Swiss chard, 

and La Bok a radish the length of 

your arm." 

Billywaves hispotato knife for 

emphasis and we lean back lookingdown 

our nose to see if it's still 

intact. It is. Billy continues. 

"Ninety-nine per cent of the 

Chinese vegetables go to local 

Chinese people. I only have about 

half an acre but it's a good paying 

crop and the people come and 

pick it themselves. Of course, 

there isn't room for many farmers 

to beat it because the market 

is so small ." 

Billy usually starts planting 

English vegetables in June and 

Chinese vegetables about mid 

J uly becau se they must mature 

Billy Eales In me greenhouse 

dur ing coo l weather. Many 

Chinese people also keep a 

vegetab le garden, but Billy 

hasn 't had toask their advice. fie 

uses specia l Amer ican hybrid 

seed which generally produces 

bigger plants than the traditional 

Chinese seed. 

Although Billyproduces a lot of 

field cr ops. he finds that greenhouse 

work is taking up an increas 

ing amount of his time. 

"The greenhouse has bedding 

pla nts such as pansies and 

marigolds. and holiday plants 

like Easter lilies and Christmas 

poinsettia. I didn't build it for 

that, I intended to grow cabbage 

plants. but I had space left over 

so I grew 500or 600boxes of flowers. 

My two daughters sold them 

off by the side of the road , so next 

year I cut back on the cabbage 

and went mor e into flowers. The 

following year a company gave 

me an order for 1500 boxes of 

flowers and I had to extend the 

gree nhouse. Now I plan to build 

anot her exten sion. 

"The business is probably 50/50 

divided between plants and 

vegeta bles. We start planting 

seed, primula the 1st of January I 

pansies the ist of February 

they all start at different datesbut 

you want them all blooming 

about the same time. The green 

house is heated by an oil-Iired 

furnace and we have a wood 

stove hooked into it for January 

and Feb ruary, but the seedlings 

are also on heating pads to get 

them going." 

Inside, the greenhouse is redolent 

of exotic flowery perfumes 

and dam p heal. High on a sheHin 

the middle is a small record player. 

The music improves the flowers 

perhaps? 

"No," laughs Billy, "That's lor 

me. It can get quite lonely in here 

when you're tran splanting all 

day,


"The plants are all finished by 

mid-July, so then I grow cucumbers 

and tomatoes in here . In late 

August I start my poinsettias. I 

had 1100 pots last year and that 

took up every bit of space in here. 

If I had another greenhouse I 

would probably grow 2,000poinsettias." 

Billy finds himself leaning increasingly 

towards the greenhouse 

operation because 

compared to field crops the 

return. relative to ground area, is 

high. But he cannot abandon his 

vegetable customers either, so he 

continues to tend his fields using 

a multitude of machines. 

"I'm cutting these potatoes up 

for that potato planter there," 

says Billy. " It's a borrowed piece 

of machinery, you only use it two 

days for the whole year. One guy 

has it and we all borrow it from 

him . That little tractor would cost 

$13,000. that bigger one $25,000, 

and now it almost costs you as 

much for parts as it used to cost 

for a tractor." 

Billy stands in his field and 

looks towards Kilbride at the 

spread of new homes covering 

the hillside, yearly coming 

closer. 

"Ten years ago all that was 

farmland. Once it was all farmland 

as far as the eye could see. 

Now there's only two farms on 

Brookfield Road and I can see 

that one day we're going to run 

out of land . That's why I am 

gradually changing over to 

greenhouses - something you 

don't need much land for." 

I'!! 

berries 

It's a two-year cycle for blueberries 

A 

bout 15 years ago the 

Newfoundland government 

set about creating a commercial 

blueberry industry in Newfoundland. 

Regulations were passed 

forbidding the export of unprocessed 

berries and blueberry 

management units were set up. 

These units consisted of parcels 

of blueberry-producing Crown 

land pruned by government workers 

then leased to private farmers. 

Martin Sharpe, of 

Shearslown, Conception Bay, applied 

for a unit in 1982and ultimately 

leased 42 acres. 

"Our first crop of blueberries 

Martin Sharpe 

was in 1983," recalls Martin. 

" The average blueberry yield on 

Crown lands was 500lbs. an acre, 

but ours was 2200 Ibs. an acre . 

The following year was way down 

though . We had frost in June, the 

pollination month." 

Marlin's example illustrates 

that properly cultivated blueberries 

can be harvested in far 

greater quantities than if left to 

nature (producers in Maine grow 

as much as 6,000lbs . per acre), 

but production still depends on 

the weather. 

" We prune the bush in April or 

May by burning it to the ground . 

It doesn't damage the roots, in 

fact it makes them spread. Next, 

we apply herbicides that kill off 

the grass and weeds making sure 

the nutrients in the soil are all 

used by the blueberry bush. We 

pollinate the following summer in 

June using honey bees which we 

rent. If the weather is bad then 

there won't be too many blueberries. 

Harvesting is usually early 

september, we wait until the berries 

are 80%to 90%ripe and pray 

there won't be any frost." 

It 's a two-year cycle from 

pruning to harvesting so Martin 

harvests only half of his land at 

a time. This two-year cycle 

makes it very difficult if not impossible 

to match production to 

markets. The actual picking is 

carried out by his family and 

friends in the neighborhood. They 

employed 30people for two weeks 

in 1983to pick a total of 87,OOOlbs. 

from 30 acres. 

"For harvesting you line off 

your ground in 100foot widths with 

string," explains Martin. "You 

have one person to each lane and 

he is supposed to pick it clean. 

They use a berry rake which 

picks up a fair amount of dirt and 

leaves with the berries, but that 

acts as cushioning while they are 

being taken to the plant. In 1983 

a good picker collected 600 lbs., 

an average picker 400 lbs. and

children 100-200 Ills.a day. At that 

time pickers were getting 35¢ a 

pound. 

"We sold the berries to Brtgus 

Frozen Foods. They use suction 

toc1ean out the leaves and twigs, 

then the berries go through a ripple 

tray to get rid of rocks . They 

are washed and then frozen individually 

on a cushion of air. 

They are all bubbling and moving 

along so that when they come out 

they are like marbles. After that , 

they go through a cage, part of 

the grading system that grades 

them fancy, choice, standard and 

substandard. Then the stem is removed. 

Finally they go over a 

picking table and are watched for 

foreign objects. Wheneverything 

is running smoothly, they can 

move 100to ISO Ibs. of blueberries 

a minute." 

It sounds impressive, and it is. 

Unfortunately the machinery is 

very expensive and receives on 

average only 6 weeks' use a year . 

Worse, since 1983 the world price 

of blueberries has dropped 

drastically. Last year pickers 

rece ived 12 cents a pound, just 

over a third of the 1983rate. 

"As I understand it, the world 

market for blueberries is around 

60million lbs. a year and in 1983 

the supply was only 40million. In 

1984 production was about 80million 

creating a surplus," says 

Martin who sees most of his berries 

shipped to Germany. 

"This yea r looks like it will be 

I 

Blueberry harvest at Martin Sharpe's farm . 

good for blueberries. We have 15 

acres to harvest, but because of 

the market we willonly have five 

acres next year. 

One serious problem blueberry 

farmers face is in persuading the 

public to stay off their farm land. 

"Most of the berry units were 

traditional berry-picking areas. 

When the government made 

them into units and gave farmers 

leases they became private 

property. We've fenced them but 

people still figure they can go 

there. Some are not even after 

berries. For example, three people 

who walked abreast up to a 

trouting pond and back trampled 

10%of one blueberry field. We've 

Comparing apples to strawberries 

T 

here may be a question 

about how to pronounce his 

name, but there is no question 

that Gerard Beaulieu, 35,of Reidville 

is an innovator in the field of 

small fruits. At the time of our arriva 

l Gerard was in the process 

of connecting up a sprinkler system 

just acquired from central 

Newfoundland and had just 

rigged up his own frost-warning 

system. Some of his desire for innovation 

probably comes from 

his engineering background. 

'I ] was educated in New Brunswick 

and graduated in 1973with 

a degree in mechanical engineering," 

Gerard informs us. " I 

worked in New Brunswick, Quebec, 

Labrador and Hibernia on 

construction and travelled 

wherever I could get work. With 

the money I saved from engineering 

I decided to start a farm right 

here around 1975. I bought 15 

acres of land and then went back 

to work at Sept Isles and Baie 

Comeau for a couple of years to 

get enough money to build a 

house. In Newfoundland that's 

the only possible way to start a 

farm and hope to keep it. I now 


had to take a few people to 

court." 

Martin went into blueberry 

farming because it filled a slack 

period in the sawmilling operation 

he had started after being a 

wholesale food salesman for 20 

years. A father of five, and vicepresident 

of the Blueberry Growers 

Association of Newfoundland 

and Labrador, he also works as 

foreman at Brigus Frozen Foods. 

Asa friend remarked, "Martin is 

a lucky man, he has a place to 

work and a place to sell his berries 

too." If the market goes up 

again, we're sure Martin will 

agree with that. 

have 50 acres. 

"There isn't enough money to 

build a big house and starta large 

family. That's a fact. On my 

father's side there were eight 

generations of farmers along the 

St. Lawrence River. On my 

mother's side there were Acadian 

subsistence farmers and lobster 

fishermen near Moncton. 

Even though my parents didn't 

farm, it seemed like a natural 

thing for me to do." 

Ten years ago Gerard made his 

move to Newfoundland. 

"When I finished university I


decided to have a holiday before 

going to work," he remembers. 

"I jumped on a motorcycle and 

drove to Florida, then to Alaska 

and back to the east. In September 

I arrived in Newfoundland, 

and after a bit of travelling I realized 

I would like to live here. 

Looking at the maps, Deer Lake 

looked like the place to live. It 

had an airport and it was at the 

crossroads of the two main roads 

to Newfoundland and Labrador. 

The scenery was fantastic and 

the soil was among the best in the 

province. There were lots of 

moose, trout, friendly people; I 

couldn't see living anywhere else. 

The fact that Indians lived here 

4,000 years ago shows that this 

area has always been a rich one. 

"I came here thinking I could 

buy 100 acres of land with 20 

acres cleared and maybe an apple 

orchard on it for a few thousand 

dollars. I was flabbergasted 

by the price of land here, which 

was unnaturally high. It wasn't 

an agricultural area and I could 

only get 15acres for what I had 

saved. The same year I turned 

down 80 acres in New Brunswick 

for a quarter of the price. The 

price of land is still outrageous 

and you can hardly justify buying 

any land at 2.000 an acre if you 

want to farm it. Of about 50 landowners 

right here. only t\\u VI 

three are actually farming the 

land." 

Gerard was not the first strawberry 

farmer in the area, but he 

learned fast. 

"There were two people planting 

strawberries here and it 

seemed to be the only kind of 

farming I could hope to make a 

living at with just 10 acres of 

cleared land. I found out a little 

bit about strawberry fanning and 

started out at that instead of 

growing hay as I had planned 

originally. Strawberries are intensive 

farming on a three-year 

rotation. I'm into a three-acre 

system killing off weeds on one 

field, growing off plants from the 

mother plants by picking off the 

Gerard Beaulieu with the first of this year's crop of strawberries (photo by Dave 

Hoover). 

Apple blossom time on the farm 

flowers on another. and then 

producing fruit from the plants 

on a third field. If I did. my job 

properly you'lI get a second, and 

maybe even a third. year pick until 

the weeds overrun you. In reality, 

I now have five three-acre 

fields. three of which are producing 

fruit. There's a thousand 

ways to lose in farming. A bad 

winter could kill all my growing 

plants and a summer frost could 

kill all the flowers and I'd lose 

another crop." 

Strawberries aren't Gerard's 

only crop. 

"I first planted apples nine 

years ago," he confirms. "I came 

from an apple-growing area and 

I wanted to have apples to eat. I 

realized how long they take to 

grow, so I planted an acre of apple 

trees even before I started on 

my house. I tried 13 varieties and 

I feel that the Viking is the bestsuited 

to the climate here. I can 

only get that from Michigan or 

Nova Scotia; it's a Mclntosh-type 

apple. The other verities will do 

well but a bushel a tree is a good 

enough crop to plant another acre 

arxl a half of Vikings. Once 

they're coming up I might put in 

another acre of miscellaneous 

fruit trees. 

"Apples can take frost better 

than almost anything else, but 

you have to pick the variety that 

will fit the growing season. It's 

the same with any crop. Having 

different flowering seasons

spreads the risk of frost so you 

don't lose everything. Last year 

was my longest strawberry sea 

son ever at six weeks. 

" I'm also looking at cherries, 

raspberries and other fruits on 

other parts of my land. Nova Scotia 

has a very active strawberry 

industry and they're shipping lots 

here , but we can sell ours fresh 

and we cater to the Ll-Pick market. 

We don't sell to the super 

markets. Here we are trying to 

grow and sell turnips for i t-rze a 

pound and down by the brook 

there are fiddIeheads growing 

wild tbat you pick that are going 

for $3 a pound. Everybody likes 

to be self-sufficient and I filled 

my two freezers to the top with 

produce from the farm . It's a 

wonderful feeling having your 

food with you and being able to 

pick up your moose and cod. I 

could hide in my root cellar for 

awhile ." 

Lest anyone gets the idea that 

farming is that simple . Gerard 

has a few words of advice for 

would-be farmers. 

" You don't go into farming to 

make money," he insists . "So far , 

I've spent 10 times as much as 

I've got from the government. 

Farmers build their own houses , 

repair their own cars and grow 

their own food. You have to be a 

marketing expert and know what 

you're doing. Then you have to 

manage your money like never 

before; one month's money has to 

do me for a wholeyear, Youhave 

to be a mechani c and a car 

penter, an economist, a tax expert 

and a business manager . 

Miss one of those and you're 

gone. 

"Farming expertise is not as 

advanced as elsewhere because 

the technology changes yearly, 

As an engineer I love the newness 

and the experimenting. The 

fisherman is in the same position 

as a farmer with respect to capital 

, but he is considered to be 

working for a fishpJant and can 


receive unemployment. The 

profit margin in farming is very 

low and I put money into my apples 

10 years ago. If [ hit a bad 

year, I'm not allowed to collect 

an ything . In every aspect of the 

labor force there is a safety net 

that farmers don't have ." 

Then there are the expenses 

that come from Newfoundland's 

location and soil conditions. 

"The soil is already acid and 

with the acid rain that faUs on 

western Newfoundland you have 

to use 1,500 pounds of lime per 

acre per year just to neutralize ," 

Gerard sighs. " You need 300 

pounds per year to neutralize the 

fertilizer, almost a ton per acre 

in all and that's 50 tons of lime 

per year for me just tostay where 

Jam . There is a lime subsidy, but 

yoo have to watch the magnesi 

um or calcium content. The magnesium 

competes with the 

phosphorus in fertilizers and I 

have so much magnesium that I 

have to use calcium limestone to 

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balance things out. I've had to 

shovel 75 tons of lime on my 

fields. Farming is definitely not 

a lazy man 's job ! I've invested in 

boron and molybdenum to increase 

my yield and it seems to 

have worked over the years. 

furs 

" I have my own beehives becau 

se I don' t feel there are 

enough pollinating insects here 

for growing crops. There is a n unnatural 

occurrence of (Jowers for 

the normal amount of insects. 

Tbe field next to the beehives had 

Shirley M cE ntegart, f ox farmer 

S 

hirley and Jimmy McEntegart 

have three German 

shepherd dogs and 400 faxes. We 

meet the dogs as we drive onto 

the McEnlegart property near 

Whitboume. Cautiously, we lower 

our windows as three long 

nosesspeculatively sniff the car 's 

interior. No growls, no raised 

hackles . So far so good . Perhaps 

they can smell the scent of our 

I own dogs. Carefully , we open 

the door, but the dogs push in, one 

climbing into the back seat while 

another sits on the passenger seat 

and stares at us. We abandon ship 

clutching cam eras and notebook 

and head off 10 find Shirley 

McEntegarl. 

Kathleen Crane (l)and Shiriey McEntegart (A). Clean ing ~ after evening feeding 

the highest yield. It might be 

coincidence, but I'm not moving 

the beehives . There are native 

bees four times the size of mine 

and they'H visit three times as 

ns 

many (Jowers, but there aren't 

enough of them ." 

Shirley and her friend Kathleen 

Crane are feeding faxes . Shirley 

lugs a five-gal lon plastic pail 

filled with feed, spooning dollops 

of it into each cage. The cage 

looks empty , but on a high shelf 

at the back lurks a silver fox. As 

Shirley leaves , it darts forward 

and grabs the food . Three 

smaller heads peer from a doorway, 

they 're the fox's hungry 

pups. 

"Faxes are more like cats than 

~ ," says Shirley. "We brought 

in 25 females and 8 males from 

Nova Scotia in 1981. Now we are 

up to tOO breeding females . They 

breed once a yea r, between 

February and April, and the 

gestation period is 52days . They 

are picky about who they will 

breed with, that's why we have 33 

males." 

"There is a danger period after 

the young are born. Ifthe female 

is frightened she may eat her 

young, so you can 't go ham mering 

or anything aro und the cages. 

"They a re skittish animals, 

hard to raise, and ma ny breeders 

have low production. The Canadian 

average is only about 2.8 

pups per fox. Ours is four. We 

send the furs to the Hudson's Bay 

Company for their auction each 

February. The average Canadian 

price last year was $156 a fur , 

ours was $218. The highest price 

paid was $300. 

Shirley raises aU silver faxes, 

but there are variations in color: 

light, medium, and dark . Last 

year light was popular . The three 

qualities a good fur must possess 

are color, silkiness , and density . 

A lot of planning goes into the 

production of good furs, from the 

select ion of breeding partners to 

specialized diet. Food may be a 

mixture of liver, chicken, horse 

flesh, beef, eggs ,cereal, and fish 

together with some highly concentrated 

additives made from 

molasses , beer malts, and sea 

weed. 

" Diets change with the sea-

too attached to faxes because you 

know they will chew the ha nd off 

you if you let them . We used to 

have sheep and cows and I've five 

children so the kids used to have 

riding horses. But then they 

moved on to girl s and cars so it 

was goodbye to the horses ," she 

says with a re signed grin . 

"The only trouble with 

livestock is somebody has alwa ys 

got to be there. We don't tak e vason," 

say Shirley. " A high energy 

diet before the mating season 

so they won't get too heavy.then 

liver , chicken and vitamins in the 

gestation period. This time of the 

year the diet is 50% fish protein 

to put length on lhe pups, around 

August you start to beef them up. 

Newfoundland has an advantage 

since most of our food products 

THE WilEIEURORl[5 

Seethem today. 

Canon 

rl(fTRCNlf,,""NlIfRS 


-, 

cations very often. Of course you 

are qu ite dirty a lot of the time, 

too. It' s nice to dress up and go 

dan cin g occasionally. We have a 

live fox show each November 

a round the 9th or lOth with a dinner 

and dance. 

"Yes, Jlmmysays he is a lucky 

man to ha ve me here looking


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Making a go ofmink 

T he Upp er Trinity South 

Development Associ ation 

has a number of interesting 

agricultural proj ects to its credit. 

One is the mink farm at Islington. 

Local co-ordinator Ray Jerrett 

describes the operation to us. 

"Mink farming was commonin 

this area in the '50s a nd '60s, but 

it died out when fur prices 

dropped. We thought it would be 

interesting to revive it. so in 1978 

we put in a proposal to government, 

did a feasability study, 

then started a m ink farm . It wa s 

an expensive busin ess to get into, 

total funding over the yea rs ha s 

been $3/4 million, most of it for 

labor. We wouldn' t hav e been 

able to do it without government 

grants. 

"Right nowwe have 6100minks 

including kits . Originally. we 

• 

Ray Ja rrett with new mink cages . 

brought in 600minks from Nova 

Scotia but our breeding stock is 

up to 1200 now. The pelts we get 

are dark, pastel , sapphire, and 

demi-buff which is a cross between 

dark and pastel. Minks 

average four kits to a litter 

although some have as many as 

nine. 

"The pelts are auctioned off by 

the Hudson's Bay Compan y in 

Toronto. Last year, our average 

price was $40 a pelt . Five years 

ago , when we started, we were 

getting $45 a pelt but pr ices 

dropped to $26a pelt since then. 

There's a price cycle in furs , it 

will probably peak this year and 

then start to drop again ." 

Although this particular ranch 

was heavily capitalized, Ray believes 

it is possible to start on a 

more modest basis . 

,.If I was going into it by myself 

from scratch, I'd do it over a twoyear 

or three-year period on a 

part-time basis starting with 

about 50 breeders. A good one 

would cost you about $150. I'd 

keep at it until I had it built up to 

400 - 500 breeders. Working on a 

four kit average, that would give 

you 2,000 pelts a year. For a family 

operation, $20a pelt would 

enable you to survive and anything 

over that would bemaking 

yoo a profit. TIle sheds are not too 

expensive to build, but cages and 

feed are when you are starting 

off. 

"There's government help too. 

The federal and provincial 

governments have a joint program 

and you could probably get 

up to $50,000, half of which would 

be a grant to start up. There are 

also low interest loans available . 

That's how we operate here . 

Provincial agriculture gives us a 

loan of $30,000each year for feed 

and we pay it back in December 

once the pelts are sold. Hudson's 

Bay will also send you advance 

money once the kits are born, 

then take it out ofyour sales later 

in the yea r. " 

When we visited the ranc h, 20 

people were temporarily employed 

building 5,000 rep lace 

ment nesting boxes. The 

Association employs an Ontario 

mink rancher on a consultant basis 

to suggest imp rovements in 

sheds and cages. 

" We are trying to get the opera 

tion up to 1500 breeders, then 

we'll lease it out to private enterprise. 

It will be more efficien t 

that way . With the Development 

Association running it you have 

to get 28or 30 people together before 

you can make a decision. 

That 's not really practical because 

sometimes you need to 

make decisions right away . We 

will be bringing in 50 breeder foxes, 

too, because generally when 

the price of mink is down the 

price of fox is up . I think whoever 

gets the place should be able to 

make a goo! dollar at it." I!


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trout 

Aquaculture, a promisingindustry? 

A 

bout seven yea rs ago . the 

Upper Trinity South Development 

Association constructed 

a trout farm at Hopeall . It 's 

the only one in Newfoundland. 

The Association has been at 

tempting to lease the farm to private 

enterprise. We spoke to the 

present operator. Leon ard 

Lahey. 

" This farm has two separate 

stocks," says Leonard. "Your 

brood stock and your Iry that you 

feed.up and sell . This brood stock 

was brought in from Ontario as 

fingerlings. but it takes two or 

three years to get brood stock up 

to size. By then they are four or 

five pounds. 

"The harvest is a two-year cycle. 

We inseminate our own eggs 

using two or more males for each 

female to make sure they are fer 

tilized. The problem is to make 

sure the female has come to 

peak. If you are a little early or 

late your yield drops off. 

"Once the fry have grown to 

fingerlings (average 6 in.), we 

put them in large cages (20 x 20 

x 12 It.) and transfer them to 

Scotch Pond at Green Harbour. 

The water there is brackish, 

slightly salty, which is supposed 

to help the trout's growth. But the 

move is also stressful and quite 

a few have died . I'm hoping to 

change that. By the time they are 

two years old they average a 

pound and a quarter. Then we sell 

them. You may have seen trout 

being sold by the waterfront inSt. 

John's . They are from thi s 

farm." 

Leonard shows us around the 

farm , mostly a series of large 

buildings containing concrete 

raceways fiIJed with rushing 

water, trout , and large tanks containing 

fry. 

"You have to have a good supply 

of water. We have the river 

dammed up and a couple of 

6-inch pipes bringing in water. 

:TROUT 

Leonard Lahey 

FARM: 

Chlorinated water near citie s 

would beno good, but most Newfoundland 

water is OK. Temperature 

is important and ideall y it 

should be around 15° C. for rainbow 

trout. If it goes above ia-C. 

for extended periods you are in 

trouble because it diminishes the 

effective oxygen level. " 

This particular fish hatchery is 

large. Leonard does not think it 

is necessarily a model to copy, especially 

not for a small family 

operation which is how most 

Rambow Trout 

Canadian and Norwegian trout 

farms operate. 

..A lot of the operation can be 

built using fairly ordinary building 

techniques . The raceways are 

concrete, but some people put in 

plastic liners to save wear and 

tear on the fish fins. In a family 

operation, it might be better to 

buy fish from hatchery when they 

are 5 or 6 inches long and not 

bother with a brood stock. 

"It's also a question of scale. 

You either have to be large, get 

a couple or hundred thousand 

pounds of finished product a 

year, or aim at something much 

smaller. I'm looking for 

50,000-60,000 pounds a year. 

Providing I can keep my costs in 

line, I should do all right. Fish 

food is one of the biggest expenses. 

We use fresh male caplin, 

caplin meal with flour as a 

binder, and vitamin and mineral 

additives. It costs approximately 

GO¢: a pound and it takes three 

pounds to produce a pound of 

product. Last year trout sold for 

$2.50lb. small, $2.70medium, and 

$2.90 large." 

Leonard, 43, is from St. John's 

although his father was from 

South Dildo. He and his wife Linda 

moved back in 1970. Linda 

does the bookkeeping and also 

operates the fann's fish-outpond. 

Fishermen pay $2 to fish at the 

pond for two hours or six troutwhichever 

comes first - and 

they pay $2.50a lb. for what they 

catch. 

Havtng the only trout farm in 

Newfoundland (although another 

is being built at Bay d'Espoir, 

mainly for salmon) makes 

Leonard something of a pioneer. 

Fortunately he has done a fair 

amount of background research 

and has a number of fresh ideas. 

Perhaps aquaculture, as it is 

called , will become an important 

industry in the future.


support systems 

Women ,working for farm support 

J udy Peddle, 32, is petite. 

charming, a nd chatty. In a 

big city she would probabl y make 

an ideal public relatio ns officer 

for a larg e corporation, however , 

asa Lethbridge fanner 's wife she 

bas found an outlet for her talents 

as president of the Goose Head 

Farm Women's Associat ion. 

"Some people have the idea we 

are a women 's ass ociation going 

after women 's issues . We'r e not. 

Our interest is farming issues . 

One of our advantages is we have 

more time than meri for things 

like lobbying government. For 

example, the agricultural agreement 

between the federal a nd 

provincial governments expired 

a lmost two years ago . Ther e's no 

federal funding at all , just the little 

bit the provincial government 

came up with. So we've writte n to 

the prim e minister , our premier, 

to MPs a nd to our MHAs, a ll on 

behalf of the farm ers a nd the associa 

tion. We have n't had much 

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Visit our new prem ises at 

42 KENMOUNT ROAD 

(west Side 01 Kenmounl. next ooor 10 HOWSE OF FLOWERS) 

Branch offce: Maryslown, Crescent Bouktvard (corner 01 Crescent alld South) 

Telephone: (709) 279-3663

come in and get the moose in our 

fields." 

So why should women be suddenly 

taking on what was tradi 

tiona lly a man 's role ? 

"I think the women have seen 

that there is a need for somebody 

to be organi zed. There is a feder 

ation of agri culture for men, but 

it doesn 't seem to be doing too 

much , I don't know why. Some 

people say that women speak out 

more than men - I'm not sure 

whether that's good or bad - but 

in this area it is generally true . At 

meetings women will speak out 

a nd say things that men at times 

won't ." 

Judy 's aims appear not so 

much to compete with but to complement 

the men's efforts to obtain 

recognition and 

improvements for agriculture. 

After all , many of the association's 

members are married to 

It's a question of m oney 

"I 'm delighted to have this 

portfolio, " declares Bob 

Aylward, provincial Minister of 

the Department of Rural, 

Agricultural and Northern Development 

(RAND). "We haven't 

nearly reached our potential in 

agriculture. It's one area where 

we can grow . 

"We have to rationalize our industry, 

get rid of subsidies and 

get a market-oriented, selfsupporting 

agricultural society, if 

possible.', 

what are some of the subsidies? 

" Right now, Newfoundland 

Farm Products, which caters to 

the chicken and hog industries, 

receives approximately S3 millioo 

in subsidies ," Bob replies . " I 

wa nt to get them working as a 

business with the least possible 

subsidy. We are doing a study to 

see how we can improve marketing 

and efficiency at Newfoundland 

Farm Products. 

" The cost of production in Newfoundla 

nd is high and we don't 

have enough 'through-put' into 

the plant. For example, if we had 

farmers. The women brin g Fresh 

viewpoints, new methods, and organized 

political pre ssur e. 

"I 'd say we have the support of 

the men. If we hadn't we wouldn' t 

have got ver y far. • think they 

were skeptical a t first, but I haven't 

heard them saying anything 

bad about us, so that 's a good 

start. One woman from a nother 

area said her husband thought it 

was all foolishness . I told her to 

go ahead and organ ize a nyway, 

perhaps later he'd cha nge his 

mind. If you are going for something, 

the more people looking for 

it the better." 

Judy's association duties are in 

addition to her full-time job of 

raising two children a nd helping 

her husband Wayde, her brotherin-law 

Bond, and her fath er-inlaw 

Ronald work their sts-acre 

farm. She also handles the farm's 

bookkeeping . They hav e about 

Bob Aylward 

more hogs, the cost of the plant 

would go down, but then we 

would have to market the extra 

production... 

An example of improved marketing 

is the production of chicken 

for the fast food outlets . 

" Five years ago we had no 

share in the market; the chicken 

being produced was too heavy . 

Fast food outlets have to sell at 


275acres cleared for root crops , 

and they grow strawberries that 

provide some income before the 

first vegetables mature. Between 

50 and 60 acres are in hay and 

3040 acres provide pasture for 

the Peddles' 75-100 head of beef 

cattle. 

. Organizing group activities is 

not exactly a new experience for 

Judy. For several years she and 

other local women have organized 

an annual August 

agricultural fair featuring 

produce and livestock held at the 

Peddles' farm . It's a family affair 

with prizes for children's 

produce and a even a calf show 

where the children walk calves 

around on a leash . It's the social 

event of the area, but don't take 

our word for it. If you are in the 

Lethbridge area on August 24th, 

go to it. Call Judy (467-2439), she 

will give you the details. 

rD 

the national price and they can 't 

afford to pay for a bigger chicken 

. We're now geared so that all 

the fast food chic ken is locally 

produced." 

It's not surp rising that Bob Aylward 

is interested in agriculture. 

His parents grew upon a farm in 

Kilbride and his uncle, Anthony 

Murphy , now retired from dairy 

fanning, still has 10 ac res of 

vegetables. 

" I didn't actually grow up on a 

farm, " adds Bob, "but my grandfather's 

farm was next door and 

I spent a lot of time there." 

Bob admits that a main concern 

of his department is the protection 

of agricultural land. 

" It' s a problem because the 

landowners aren't necessarily 

farmers, but you 've got to 

remember that if we were to lift 

the freeze on agricultural land a 

lot of land would suddenly come 

on the market. Land prices would 

faD and you'd have a buyers' 

market because there would be 

too much land for building sites . 

" We are gelling into landbanking 

because it is in the public 

interest to do so. When you con-


sider that just 1%of our land has 

agricultural potential. we must 

ensure it is reserv ed for farming. 

I hope to set up an independent 

board to negotiate land prices 

with landowners. The government 

would also give its opinion 

as to what the price should be, 

then the board would make a rul 

ing. If the landowner wants to se ll 

at the negotiated price that 's OK, 

if not, that's OK too," 

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At present, agricultural Crown 

land can be leased at $4 per hectare 

(2.471 acres) per year. The 

rent on land-banked land 

presumably would be at a similar 

pri ce depending on the 

demand. 

With peoplelooking for shorter 

working hours , do young people 

want to get into farming? 

"Yes, they do," maintains Bob. 

"There are young men who 

would like to get started if suitable 

land were available. Farming 

doesn't have to be a 24-hour, 

r-days-a-week job. Young farmers 

are setting up partnerships, 

so, if you want the weekend off, 

your buddy will work for you and 

vice versa . But there's no ques 

tion, it's still hard work and long 

hours ." 

Bob Aylward's enthusiasm 

rises to the surface. 

"Look, you've got to have an 

agricultural industry ," he stresses. 

" We need local competition. 

Just look at the prices charged 

for produce in Labrador. Have 

you notic ed when our local 

vegetablesgo to market how the 

quality of the imported stuff in 

the supermarket increases and 

the prices go down? Without the 

local farm produce , which is so 

much fresher and thus better, we 

would not get any good produce 

at all and the price would be even 

higher. 

"There's room for a lot of 

growth in farming in Newfoundland, 

and growth meansjobs. We 

should try to increase or production 

of hay, say in CodroyValley, 

as this would help our dairy industry. 

We could possibly raise 

cattle for dairy herd replacement. 

We already have a good 

dairy marketing board and we 

needa goodvegetablemarketing 

board. I'd also like to see a 

produce market set up in 81. 

John 's, where people could rent 

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vegetables, fish and crafts. 

There's definitely a market for 

them." 

But, for now, some government 

money is necessary. 

"We need a little more development 

money to put our agricultural 

industry on a sound enough 

fooling to support itself, " Bob admits. 

"I'd like to have the new 

federal-provincial subsidiary 

agreement signed, and then I 

could pla n for live years. It 's a ll 

a question of money. The SI million 

a gricultural developmen t 

fund anno unced in the 1985 budget 

was vel") well received by 

fanners. but we had appli cations 

over $2 million . 

The fund provided for productivity 

incentives , soil and land development. 

access roads. hydro 

services and land drainage. 

"There seems to be a greater 

- A perspective on Newfoundland farming 

I 

t's a misty Monday morning 

as we rush along to meet a 

senior public official. Not the best 

way to start the week. 

"Good morning!" says Mike 

Ryan, assistant deputy minister 

responsible for agriculture. "I'm 

not sure what I can tell you," he 

begins. But once be starts it is obvious 

he can tell us a great deal 

and we're in for an interesting interview. 

"Let's go back a few years to 

get some perspective," he suggests. 

"Before t949 you couldn't 

sell a truck-load of cabbage on 

the Southern Shore because 

everybody grew their own," explains 

Mike, 55, a native of calvert 

on the Southern Shore. "We 

had an agriculture industry that 

could pretty well take care of local 

needs. The dairy industry was 

catering to 51.John's and we bad 

a lot of subsistence farmers. By 

Confederation there was more 

cash; more jobs became available 

during the war and afterwards. 

Money flowed in the '50s 

aOO '60s when you compare those 

years with the '305 and '405. 

"But the trade barriers came 

down - you can't restrict inter 

provincial trade - and local 

farmers found it hard tocompete. 

It wasn't just the farmers - shoe 

factories, boatbuilding, foundries 

- all local industries look a 

knock. Then highly developed 

mainland industries, many of 

them subsidized, took over." 

By the '60s the farming industry 

had started to turn around. 

People began to see that there 

could be a decent living in it. 

Federal-provincial agreements 

made it easier for farmers to succeed. 

A hard core of commercial 

farmers emerged. 

"The num ber of commercial 

farmers today is about 450, not 

greatly increased since the '60s, 

but their farms have increased in 

size and productivity," continues 


awa reness of agriculture both within 

government circles and 

among the general public . For instance, 

we had Rick Woodford, a 

full-time dairy fanner, elected as 

MHA in the Humber Valley district. 

This shows the raised 

awareness of farmers. 

" Agriculture now puts $40 million 

into the economy and there's 

the potential to grow to $90 million," 

concludes Bob. t! 

Mike. 

"One particulararea where we 

have succeeded is the dairy industry 

where we are producing 

60%of our needs and within the 

next five years it should reach 

about 80%-that's our goal. Not 

more than that because during 

peak production we would be 

over-producing and we don't


want to get into dumpin g." 

There is a hay shortage in Newfoundland 

but Mike believes that 

more can be grown locally which 

would be cheaper than importing 

from the mainland . Siloscan also 

help overcome the difficulty of 

drying hay in Newfoundland 

weather conditions. 

Mike has high praises for the 

Milk Marketing Board whose efforts 

have put milk into the 

univers itv at cost as well as a 

school milk program scheduled 

for the fall of this year, This. of 

course, will substantially increase 

the demand for milk. 

Mike has definite ideas on 

agricultural development in 

Newfoundland . 

" We should produce the commodities 

we can produce competitively. 

That is the policy of 

our department. We can grow 

turnip , cabbage, carrots, parsnips 

and beets and we can grow 

cauliflower, broccoli and brussels 

sprouts . We should try to improve 

our yield and quality with these 

crops. Wecould, for example, be 

self-sufficient in potatoes, but do 

we want to be? We have to compete 

with the dumping of mainland 

potatoes - we've been able 

to buy a SO-lb. bag of potatoes for 

$3.99 retail when the cost of 

production is $5.50 - that's 

dwnping. 

"We grow the best turnips in 

North America," maintains 

Mike, "and I've eaten turnips in 

lots of places . We should aim at 

self-sufficiency there ." 

The Agricultural Branch for 

which Mike is responsible has 

offices in three areas: Corner 

Brook, Bishops Falls and St. 

John's , with sub -offices at 

Clarenville, Harbour Grace, 

Gander, Pynn's Brook and 

Robinsons . In total , there are 

about 130 staff including 

representatives and specialists. 

" We have a lot of potential in 

'cole' crops: lettuce. cauliOower, 

broccoli and sprouts . It's true the 

season is short but we are not in 

this just for production, we are interested 

in how much the farmer 

can make off it and there's 

money to be made there . A good. 

vegetable markeling board could 

Agric ultural research station on Broold leld Road, 51.John 's. Provincial agriculture 

offices are located at right side. 

promote the nutritional value of 

these crops which should increase 

demand. We have formed 

a new board with sandy Rideout. 

a retired farmer from Cormack 

as chairman." 

Mike turns to other areas of 

farming. 

"Let's see , we're self-sufficient 

in eggs, and we produce 50-60per 

cent of the chicken that's needed 

and our hogs have the best health 

status in Canada. Hog production 

has been a problem though because 

of competition and the high 

CC5t of feed." 

The problem of high feed cost 

may , however, soon be solved . 

"Bill Moores, a Newfoundland 

inventor. has developed a very 

high protein animal feed from 

fish meal, potatoes aod peat. It's 

being tested by the federal 

research station at Nappan, Nova 

Scotia. It looks very promising. 

If it tests out, the feed should cost 

50% of what we're paying now. 

Who knows, we might even get 

into exporting it." 

Mike is anxious that we over 

look no areas of agriculture and 

believes there is a future in fur 

fanning. 

" It's true it was a hot area in 

the '50s but world markets went 

soft and there were problems 

with feed so it feU nat," Mike 

recalls , " but in the last five years 

it has really come up. It doesn't 

cost an awful lot of money to get 

into. We now have a lot of in- 

dependent farms and some of our 

furs are rated very high on the 

Montreal market, partictilarly 

foxes bringing in as high as $300 

for a single pelt. We consider fur 

fanning to be so important that 

we have filled a position here 

with a man , Blake Cryderman, 

whospecializes just in fur farms. 

There's a concentration of fur 

farms in Trinity Bay but there 

are others like Jim Wall who bas 

100foxes near La Manche Park 

and he also has a couple of wild 

lynx that he's trying to breed." 

Mike, with the department for 

30years, has had a heart bypass 

operation in 1982. 

"The doctors told me to go 

home and become a retired PUDlie 

servant. I Jasted two weeks 

and back I came," he confesses, 

and because he's so anxious to 

see increased farm produce, it 

looks like he'll be around for 

awhile yet. . 

" Look," he says, pushing his 

shirtsleeves above his elbows, 

"our best potential is to make the 

best use possible out of our limited 

land base by raising the fertility 

and maximizing use of the 

land. While we didn't yet get a 

federal-provincia) agreement, 

our province felt strongly enough 

about agriculture that they gave 

us an extra million 'dollars to be 

spent on land improvement and 

fertility. We believe we can increase 

our yield significantly," 

he concludes. 11

Thinking small may have a big impact 

griculture is a joint responsibility 

of the federal and 

A 

provincial governments and relations 

between the two departments 

in Newfoundland are very 

harmonious. Agriculture Canada, 

the federal body, has responsibility 

for research and health 

inspections and shares some of 

the broad term development 

programs. 

Tom Espie, the Director of 

Regional Development in 

Agriculture Canada, is a refreshing 

change from the media 

representation of a federal 

bureaucrat. He greets us in his 

office above the General Post 

Office on Water Street in St. 

John's and makes us feel right at 

home. 

Tom sees no need to change 

the general direction of agriculture 

in the province, but he suggests 

there may need to be some 

changes in focus. 

"We need at least a five-year 

period to get Newfoundland 

agriculture competitive with that 

on the mainland," Tom says, 

"and there may be real opportunities 

that have been missed 

where the local producer does 

ha ve an edge. Oddly enough, at a 

time when governments - quite 

rightly - are so keen on creating 

jobs, the fact that agriculture is 

such a modernized. productive 

industry puts it at a bit of a disadvantage 

in attracting government 

assistance. This is 

especially true of the major sectors, 

for example dairy. 

"Particular opportunities for 

youth might lie in the highly 

specialized crops where big operators 

don't compete. We tend to 

think big where there are other 

economic opportunities in less oovious 

smaller areas. " 

Tom offers some suggestions 

AgriCultural Research Station. Brookfield Road, Mount Pearl 


for prospective farmers, young 

and old. 

"Innovative young people may 

playa key role in any revolution 

that's going to take place in 

agriculture here," he says. 

"They might need some help with 

capital from government, but I 

wouldn't want to see development 

grants made available 

without very careful scrutiny of 

the business prospects of the enterprises 

involved. Some farming 

enterprises have been set up in 

the past with no chance of viability 

and that doesn't help anyone 

in real terms. An operation like 

that isn't a real business at all. 

Subsidies, unlike investments in 

development, are a bit like drugs. 

They can give the illusion that 

everything's going great, when 

the reality is the complete opposite. 

"There are some things we 

can't grow in this province, but 

there is a whole range of marketable 

products we aren't growing 

at the moment that could 

provide a living for a fair number 

of people. You can go into a supermarket 

and find brussels 

sprouts, broccoli and spinach in 

the produce section. All of them 

are brought in from the United 

Sta tes but they could be grown 

here. Then there are things like 

mushrooms that are being sold in 

the stores in less than perfect 

condition. They could be grown 

here, too. The specially shops, the 

health stores and delicatessens, 

these are places the small grower 

could sell his produce." 

As a federal government 

department, Agriculture Canada 

has access to ag ricultural 

research all around the world. 

some developments might be of 

interest to Newfoundland 

fanners. 

"Newfoundland isn' t the best 

place in Canada for app les," Tom 

admits, "But even with apples 

there are possibilities . For example, 

the Swedish government has 

come up with a special variety 

called 'Silva' that might do quite


well. They tried out different ap- berries or raspberries. There is 

pie trees in northern Sweden and also a market for fresh bakeapthat 

particular dessert apple pies in Boston and the price s are 

proved to be best suited to the cli- very attractive. People in Finmate 

and soil conditions . And, of land are producing a liqueur 

course, our Research Branc h is from bakeapples and selling it 

developingsome equally exciting right here in St. John 's . Surely, 

new apples varieties in Canada . we could come up with a better 

"There may be some interest- product. Even if we didn 't, the 

ing market possibilities for such research could be a lot of fun! 

things as black currants, goose- Honey!s another good example 

we could produce . As a federa l 

government department, we 

have the network to find out 

what's going on in other countries 

a nd the expertise to check 

whether it's feasib le here." 

If there 's anyone out there with 

a farm product in mind, give 

Tom Espie a call and he' ll beglad 

to discuss the possibilities with 

m 

you. Something small could be 

the sta rt of something big! 

Editorial 

here are some 450commercial farmers in 

T Newfoundland - 450people who make their 

living from fanning. We have been able to visit 

only a few of them but we believe we have a good 

sampling. Wethank them for giving us time from 

their work. 

Fa rmers work long and hard at their tasks ; 

sixteen- hour days, seven -day weeks are not unusual. 

They must deal with Newfoundland's rocky: 

acid soil, a short, unpredictable growing season 

and mainland competition. Added to these 

problems are those facing farmers everywhere: 

weather, insect pests and disease. to name a few. 

Farming is a difficult and risky business in most 

places . even more so in Newfoundland . Further, 

most farmers have only seasonal income - that 

must last yea r round. Fa rmers are ineligible for 

unemployment insurance - they have few 

safeguards against a ra iny day . 

Then why do people farm in Newfoundland '? 

There are number of reasons. As we've learned 

(rom the farmers, once fanning is in your system . 

there is no other life that appeals. Some farmers 

have inherited their operations or their interest 

from a family farming tradition. Some like the independence 

and the challenge. Others see the IXJSsibility 

of making a decent living. 

Whatever the reason we should encourage their 

commitment. There is a need for local produce 

regardless of seasonal gluts caused by mainland 

produce . The agricultural sector is one that has 

potential for growth . and growth means jobs . Anything 

that offers jobs in a province with such a 

high ra te of unemployment deserves attention. 

This potentia l for growth, however, depends uIXJn 

the availability of cleared, improved land. Land 

leasing is not attractive to farmers because the 

cost and effort of making and keeping land fertile 

cannot be redeemed for cash when fanners need 

or want to retire. Unless they have children who 

want to take over, they have no equity to show for 

their lifetime of work. Purchasing land is becorning 

more difficult as alternative land uses increase 

. While no one will dispute tha t 

Newfoundland's one per cent of arable land should 

be reserved for agric ulture, should this policy be 

at the farmer's expense'? In many cases , farmi ng 

can provide a living but leaves little for sa vings. 

As one farmer put it, wecan have good agrlcultural 

land but it takes money to ma ke such land . 

Also, there is capital needed for farm equipment. 

Many farm ers have told us that were they to start 

from scratch, they could never afford the sta rtup 

costs . . 

Agriculture depa rtment officials point out that 

the farming should be self-supporting. In time, this 

should be possible barring unforesee n problems. 

Our land costs more to clear than that in other Atlantic 

province s, but our farme rs must compete 

in our markets. Yet Newfoundland is the only Atlantic 

province without an agrt -tood development 

a greement. By some standards our far ms are 

small , but aren 't 5,000acres owned by several peer 

pie just as impor tant as 5.000acres owned by one 

person ? Sweden, for example, has effective policies 

which recognize that 10people eac h growing 

10apple trees contribute just as much to the economy 

as one person growing 100ap ple trees . Initially, 

some money. either in direct start-up grants 

or in the form of low interest loans, is necessary. 

Once the la nd is ready. it would then be up to 'the 

farmer to mak e it productive. 

Not since the Commission of Government days 

(1934-49) has government placed priority on farming 

and then it was because people were in the 

midst of the Great Depression and a lternat ives 

were few. Successive governments ha ve turned 

their attention to fishing, mining, paper making, 

offshore oil and gas exploration - the so-called 

"bigger" sectors. The provincial government is 

beginning to recognize the contrib ution the farm 

ing sector makes but more support is needed. The 

ns 

public should buy local produce - it's fres her, it's 

delicious and it's made in Newfoundland.

features 

Home gardening 


Q: It was late July before I had a chance to plant 

a vegetable garden. What type of vegetables 

can be grown in the fall? 

A: You could try quick maturing crops like lettuce, 

turnip greens, spinach and beets. In fact, 

for spinach it's always a good idea to seed a 

crop in early to mid-August for fall harvest. 

Radishes are very quick to mature laking four 

to five weeks to get a crop. You can extend 

your growing season late into Ute fall If you use 

a frame covered with plastic in the garden to 

protect the plants from early frost. Another 

technique is to start transplants to beset in the 

garden in mid-August. If you grow early cabbage 

plants and set them in late summer, you 

will have a mature crop by October. This cabbage 

is great for use right away but is not 

suitable (or storage. Lettuce plants that are not 

completeJy mature can be taken up just before 

the frost and put in a cold frame in a greenhouse, 

and it will keep on producing, probably 

up close to Christmas. Thus , you can get good 

production even if you plant a garden late in 

the season. 

Q. Should I cut the bottom branches of my white 

spruce trees that are growing in my front 

yard? 

A: Generally speaking it's not a good idea to remove 

the Jower branches of evergreen trees 

unless they are damaged or it is necessary to 

see underneath. Sometimes if you remove the 

lower branches you can stunt the tree; spruce 

and fir grow best if the surface around the tree 

is mulched with an organic material like peet 

or leaf mold. Sometimes if the lower branches 

are removed the soil dries out and the plant 

suffers. 

Q: My cabbage plants are not growing as they 

should, the lower leaves are turning yellow and 

the plant is rather stunted. What can I do? 

A:Cabbage and most leafy vegetables should be 

fed a nitrogen source during the growing season. 

If you like to use commercial fertilizer, 

then ammonia nitrate is the most common 

source of nitrogen but you should be careful not 

to touch the leaves with the fertilizer or it will 

burn them. If you prefer an organic source of 

nitrogen then you should use caplin or fish 

offal. Again, becareful not to touch the stem 

of the plant. 

Q : I have a willow tree with shiny green leaves. 

Our resident garden expert is Ross Traverse who also is supervisor 

01 crop prodlJCtionWith provincial agriculture. He was 

01 great help in the preparation 01 this special section on 

farming 

I believe some people call it "laurel willow". 

This year just after the leaves came out some 

of the leaves on the branches turned black, 

dried up and dropped off. What would cause 

this and how can I help prevent it? 

.\ : This sounds to me like willow-leaf blight, a very 

destructive disease of willows, easily spread 

especially during rainy, damp weather. Control 

methods are not very effective, but do 

help . You should prune out the dead twigs and 

branches to eliminate the source of the infection 

. Also, if you spray with a Bordeaux mixture 

at to-day intervals when the leaves begin 

to emerge in the spring it will help control the 

disease. Bordeaux mixture is available 

through garden supply centres. 

Q: I have a peony bush I planted two years ago 

but it still has not produced any blooms, 

although there has been lots of leaves and the 

plant is spreading. What can I do to encourage 

blooming? 

,\ : Peonies,like any perennial flower, should be 

planted in a good fertile soil but the trick with 

peonies is to plant them not more than two 

inches below the surface. If they are planted 

too deep they will produce leaves but no blossoms; 

this may be your problem. Take some 

of the soil away from the crown of the root or 

lift it up and replant it. 

I"I:l

70 - DECKS AWA SH 

the art s 

Acting to the Power of two 

hile we were in Port Saunders interviewing 

W for the last issue of Decks Awash. we ran 

into Ann Power of the Carol Pla yer s just before 

the theatre group left for a festival in Dunda lk. 

Ireland. Ann and husband . Kevin, had become involved 

with the theatre group and its play Mass 

Appeal while working in Labrador City.. lOW, 

we're in Corner Brook and they're back with news 

of the group's success . 

"Once we were on stage. people reali zed that it 

wasn't going to be a repeat of the last Canadia n 

production in Dundalk." Kevin comm ents . "We 

did well for the province and for the country. 

There were nine groups in the festival a nd each 

group tried somethingdifferent. It was interesting 

to see the approaches that were used . The 

overall winner according to the adjudicator was 

the group from Donegal. but we won the awa rd 

voted on by the audience. which was, in a way. 

The Search 

Ends 

~=~::~;j Here. 

For A 

Great 

Marine Enamel 

-: ;:.~ _ .: 

=~ :.::..-::....."'-:,'= F 

I._"" lI'.. 'fOVI_, .... 

___ ... -"_V_ -..eta_ T 

BOTTOMS 

ATCHLESS ,PA INTS 

Ann. Adnenne and Kevin Power with mementoes of the trip 

to Ireland 

even more satisfying because we had only two actors 

on stage in Mass Appeal. They won the acting 

award and we also won honorable mentions 

for direction, sound and best decor (set and 

costumes combined ). 

"Gerry Huddy, a Festival Council member, did 

quite a good critique of Mass Appeal. He felt that 

the play was very creative and not overdone. He 

liked the atmosphere and the setting and said that 

everybody liked the play. The fact that the two actors 

sustained the interest throughout the play was 

an indication of how well the play was produced 

and directed." 

Winning an award was not the only reward the 

Carol Players received. 

" Our festivals here are restricted to drama, but 

this festival had musicals and the whole atmosphere 

was very allive and exciting," enthuses 

Ann. "Dundalk. with about 25,000people. is only 

an hour and a half from Dublinand two hours {rom 

Belfast. It's amazing how the town can support so 

many theatre groups and musical societies. Every 

night they would have an evening theatre. 

which would include all kinds of performances. 

" The hospitality was comparable to anywhere 

in the world . There was nothing our sponsor 

wouldn't do for us. Our daughter, Adrienne. 

celebrated her first birthday there and the owner 

of the Imperial Hotel baked a cake for her. Many 

of the people knew all about the history of the local 

area and we got some very nice tours while 

we were there ,"


"We had day trips to different places , including 

Galway Bay, and we could easily have spent 

another three weeks in the area," adds Kevin, who 

had lived four yea rs in Dublin a nd was happ y to 

be back in Ireland for a visit. 

The controversy a bout govern ment funding for 

arts compared with sport s concerns Ann a bit. because 

it might make people more set in their ways 

as far as funding is concerned. 

"We paid ourselves for what we didn't get funds 

for," she explains . "It's too bad we didn't get help 

initially, but all the fuss now leave s a sour taste , 

We're happy that we went and did so well. 

Labrador City is a small place to raise funds, but 

we got over $13,000 in funding . You can't say 

enough about the job that Stella Doyle and the 

other people did for us raising money in Labrador 

City, When we got to Ireland the Dundalk Festival 

paid for accommodations for a week, including 

meals, for six out of the nine who travelled to 

Dundalk ." 

Now Ann is moving to St. John 's with her job 

in the provincial department of education and she 

and Kevin are both looking forward to new 

challenges in theatre. By a ll accounts it appears 

unlikely that anything will compare with the time 

they spent in Ireland last May, 11 

~~.. 

Bound copies : of DECKS AWASH containing 

the 1984 issues of the magazine, 

To buy a copy, please fill in the form below, 

enclose a cheque or money order payable 

to Memorial University and send to: 

Decks Awash 

Extension Service 

Memorial Univ ersity 

of Newfoundland 

St. John's, NF Ale 557 

NAME 

ADDRESS 

__ POSTAL CODE 

AMOUNT ENCLOSED S 

'umltoo number avalfable 

$15.00 

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Z 

Yo ur local air earner. providing 

scheduled and charter serv ices In 

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Ch art er service IS also avauabte 

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P.O . BOX 13485 

STN, 'A', ST. JOHN'S 

NEWFOU NDLAND 

CANADA Al B 488 

TELEPHONE: (709) 834 -2127 

TELEX: 016-3285

72 _ DECKS AWA SH 

Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger 

Disaster, Part 2* 

ince the tragic sinkin g of the Ocean Ranger, 

S 15 February 1982. the commissioners and staff 

of the Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger 

produced Report (me : The l.oss of tht' Semisubmersibte 

Drillilig OCf'81J RalJJ(f'I'


possible? You know that even if you live in an urban 

area, if you're in an accident, you have to wait 

for an ambulance and much longer in many rural 

a reas. There are many things to consider." 

Has David Grenville any general observations 

on the Ocean Ranger Inquiry ? 

"A Royal Commission is the process as well as 

the result. Ofcourse , you have a report which the 

commissioners present to the government to say 

they've done what they were asked to and here are 

the findings, conclusions , and recommendations. 

The government's prerogative is to act or not to 

ac t as it sees fit. 

" But while the Commission is actually going on, 

there is the knowledge that the matter is being 

studied and people will scurry around and look at 

the problems themselves and say, 'Look, we'd better 

get our act together to see if we, ourselves, can 

impr ove things '. People do not wait to see what 

the report will say, they actually try to anticipate 

the report. 

" Many of the most obvious improvements such 

as the provision of survival suits on the rigs , have 

already been done. That's good, but [wish that after 

the Commission is all finished , the process 

could continue ." 

Some things, however , will be ongoing. The 

governments of Canada and Newfoundland have 

crue t Justice T. AJexHickman 

decided that the information centre should not be 

dispersed. 

When contac ted in mid-July, Chief Justice Alex 

Hickma n, Commission Chairman said , "We have 

assembl ed the best information centre on safe ty 

in offshore oil exploration in Canada, and it's situated 

right here in St. John 's." The Ocean Ranger 

Information Centre has been moved temporarily 

to the Institute of Marine Dynamics at Memoria l 

University , until the newly-formed Canada New- 

NTV: NEWFOUNDLAND'S FIVE STAR NETWORK. 24 HOURS A DAY


foundland Offshore Petroleum Board can determine 

whether absorbing the centre is consistent 

with the aims of the board . 

The final report was presented to government 

Jul y 2nd, and was released to the public July isth. 

just before we went to press. 

Briefl y, the report makes 70 recommendations 

in addition to the 66already made in Part I of the 

enquiry. They cover environmental factors, 

regulatory control. evacuation systems. training, 

resc ue. and occupational health and safetv. In addition, 

there are further recomme~dations 

designed to ensure that workers have an effective 

mea ns of expressing safety concerns, that an independent 

agenc y be established with statutory 

authority to investigate defined categories of accidents 

arising during offshore drilling operations. 

that there be a biennial conference on offshore 

safety, and, finally. that government a nd industry 

fund and increase support for studies on the 

effects of pollutants on the marine environment 

and find means to reduce the likelihood of and 

minim ize the effects of pollution. 

Many of the recommendations will take much 

tim e and money to implement. One of the more 

outstanding concerns is that of rig command. The 

Commission states that the person in charge 

should be neither the toolpusher nor the master. 

Instead, it is recommended that the offshore insta 

llation manager be the person in charge of the 

semisubmersible at all times and that he be 

knowledgeabl e and experienced in both drill ing 

and marine matters. 

The decision on whether to implement the 

re commendations now rests with Ottawa and 51. 

John 's. It is to be hoped the governments will find 

it possible to act quickly. 

It is impossible to summarize the document in 

a few paragraphs. This report.Hke the first report. 

is ver y readable and is available from public 

librari es. Par ticularly interesting is the historical 

review descr ibing offshore drilling since the late 

18th centu ry to today. 

In conclusion, we quote from page 147: 

..It is apparent that the hostile nature of the rnarine 

environment particularly on the Grand Banks 

and north ward leaves no room for complacency. 

Fog, freq uent storms. ocean currents. severe icing. 

icebergs, bergy bits. grow lers. and pack ice 

combine to present the offshore drilling industry 

with what may be the greatest environmental 

challenge that it has yet faced anywhere in the 

world. Wha t is needed is reliable information 

about the physical environment, advance warning 

of environmental hazards and a co-ordinated 

system to manage environmental data to meet the 

needs of both operators and regulators. What is 

needed even more is a method of assurance that 

rigs oper ati ng offshore are fully capable of meeting 

these environmental exttemes. But the safety 

of a rig depends not only upon the quality of its 

structure but also upon the quality of its manage- 

David Grenville 

ment and the train ing and competence of its crew. 

It is a lso apparent that no evacuation sys tem yet 

devised ca n, from a rig, cope with the ra ging seas 

of the Northwest Atlanti c or the North sea. nor 

does there yet exist a rescue sys tem tha t is effective 

during combinations of emergency systems 

of which a storm is one... The regulatory regimen 

controlling offshore drilling operations must 

be firmly based on legislation. on mandatory regulation 

s to the extent deemed necessar y. but also 

on guidance notes to maintain essential flexibili 

ty. Its purpose is to provide the criteria against 

which performance can be measured and to ensure 

the accountability of those responsible.". 

• Part 1 appear ed in the November -December 1983 edi 

tion of Decks A",'ash, volume 12. Number 6. 

It 

Melhod leancapehn and boneif desired). Combine 

flour tsalt and pepperIn a clean beownpeper 

bag. Beat eg: ina bowl and mix In added water. In 

a second bowl mix togethet"crackercrumbs, Parmesa 

n cheese and sa lt 

Dip eachcapelin 111lemon Juice. then shake In seasoned 

Gour het"oredipping into egg mixtureand then 

coating with crumb and cheese m xture. 

Preheat ,. oil to 350'F In a Irytng pan and cook 

capeuc ebocta mtn es eechsldeuntil brown serves 

6.


Secrets down on the Labrador Coast 

b)" Steve -'lills. Parks Canada 

I 

n 1977, the village of Red Bay on Labrador's 

coast began to reveal its secrets. Archaeologists 

explored the area with historical geographer 

Selma Barkham, seeking evidence to confirm her 

research which had pointed to Red Bay as the site 

of a 16th century Basque whaling station. 

Since then. archaeologists have uncovered the 

remains of three Basque galleons. several small 

boats . whale oil tryworks. domestic dwellings, 

cooperages, and a cemetery containing the remains 

of 125skeletons. 

Blessed with three islands which gave shelter 

from the wind. Red Bay was considered the best 

harbor on the Labrador coast. As a res ult. it was 

frequented by Basque whalers drawn by the 

prospect of great profits to bemade from the sa le 

of whale oiL At its peak period in the 1560sand 

15705 Red Bay was home to nearly 1,000men dur 

ing the five-month whaling season. producing as 

much as a half million gallons of wha le oil. 

Shipped back to Europe , the oil was prized as 

lighting fuel. as an additive to drugs and as an ingredient 

in everything from soap to pitch. 

Among the archaeological finds. perhaps the 

most exciting is a shipwreck of a 4OD-year -old 

Basque galleon. The ship is lying in 30 to 40 feet 

of water just off the landward shore of Saddle Island, 

which protects Red Bay harbor from the 

Strait of Belle Isle. Due to the sub-zero water conditions 

and severa l metres of silt overlying the 

ship, its preservation was remarkable. Several 

thousands of barrel staves were recovered from 

...and underwater at Red Bay. Labrador (photo courtesy Parks Canada)


the shipwreck, suggesting that it may have been 

fully loaded with whale oil at the time of its disaster. 

Some of the more spectacular relics recovered 

from the shipwreck were the sh ip's 

compass and an hourglass Icoated in the binnacle 

as well as an etching of a galleon found on one 

of the interior planks. Some of the larger artifacts 

include the ship's anchor and a small swivel gun 

that was still loaded with a charge after 400years. 

The remains of the three-masted 9O-ft. whaling 

galleon are precious, as the vessel is the first, 

largely intact, 16thcentury merchant ship discovered 

in the Americas, and the oldest of its kind 

north of Florida. 

The land site yielded numerous artifacts that 

can give an insight into the 16th century Basque 

life in the NewWorld.Such everyday domestic artifacts 

as crudely made earthenware jugs and containers 

were intermixed with the finest of 

Venetian glass and richly decorated majolica porringers. 

From the wide range of domestic artifacts 

recovered, archaeologists can speculate 

that the class of people who inhabited coastal 

Labrador in the 16th century were as varied as 

they were in the Basque country with the common 

working man living close to if not alongisde the 

more affluent members of this maritime society. 

Archaeologists from Parks canada in conjunction 

with the province of i 'ewfoundland, the National 

Museum. and the government of Spain's 

Basque region are continuing their work in 

Labrador. What other secrets Red Bay hides still 

remain to be discovered. 

The loss of H.M. brig Drake 

hen the Drake under the command of Captam 

Baker left Halifax for 51.John's onJune 

W 

20, 1822, the weather conditions were perfect for 

sailing. This situation continued untilJune 23when 

the ship met a thick fog about 90 miles off Cape 

Race . A fresh west-southwesterly breeze cleared 

the fog briefly at noon and allowed a reading to 

be taken. Six hours and about 60miles later, there 

was no cause for alarm, although the fog had 

closed in again. 

At about 7:30 p.m., brea kers were reported 

ahead and the ship was hauled to the wind. This 

ma nouevre was unsuccessful and the crew tried 

to stay the ship. While attempti ng to ride out the 

seas, the stern took the breakers and caused the 

vessel to fall broadside on. The crew cut the masts 

in hopes of making the vessel lighter and saving 

the men, but the heavy seas almost immediately 

inundated the brig and sank the cutter. 

The last hope lay with the gig, which was 

launched from the forecastle of the sinking vessel 

with the bo's'n aboard. Although the boat was 

broken on the rocks, the bo's'n managed to scramble 

onto the rocks with a few feet of line. The captain 

and crew were hanging onto ropes in the 

forecastle when the brig was lifted onto another 

rock. At this point, most of the crew were able,to 

escape from the doomed ship to the rocks, but a 

few of those on board, including Lieutenant Lord 

Stanley, were dashed against the rocks. The 

bo's'n swam to the rock in spite of the surf and 

used his line to rescue 44of the 50who had made 

it from the ship. 

Captain Baker refused to leave the rock as the 

tide rose until the last crew member was rescued, 

but the tide and surf made the rescue of the last 

six survivors impossible, despite valiant efforts 

by the officers and crew. In all, 19people died in 

the shipwreck, but the loss wouldhave been greater 

without the order and discipline of the captain 

and crew. 

On the morning of June 24, the -I5 survivors 

found the two halves of the broken frame of the 

Drake piled on top of each other on the rocks with 

no sign of any more survivors. Their landing had 

been made on the eastern head of S1. Shott's, 

which was soonreached. The survivors were then 

taken to Trepassey and picked up by H.M. 

\'aJorou5. ~ 

• weaekno'


Birds of Newfoundland: a unique resource 

by Roger Burro.....s 

I 

n the last five yea rs, birdwa tching has grown 

into a major industry in North America and the 

island of Newfoundland is rapidly becoming 

known as an excell ent place to see birds. 

The cold, rough waters dividing Newfoundland 

from mainland Canada are a considerable barrier 

to birds . The power of flight cannot overcome 

the hazards of a journey most of us take for granted 

in the relative comfort of a ferry boat. Many 

birds that ar e common as close as Cape Breton 

and southern Labrador rarely find their way to 

Newfoundlandand are usually only deposited here 

by storms during migr ation periods. 

Newfoundland lies on the edge of continental 

and ocean storm syst ems and the wildly fluctuating 

winds result in bird arrivals from totally unexpected 

sources. It is possible to find birds from 

the Arctic , from continental Canada. from the 

southeastern United States or from Europe within 

days of each other , as hap pened this summer on 

the Avalon Peninsula . In recent years, Newfoundland 

has welcomed many European vagrants, 

some of them for the first time on Nort h Amer i 

can shores. Many other birds may have simply escaped 

detection because of our long coastline and 

too few qualified observ ers. 

The growing number of sightings, perhaps as a 

result of an increase in the number of resident and 

visiting birdwatchers, gives a hint of much higher 

numbers than expected . A history of isolation and 

the occurrence of many unique hab itats in Newfoundland 

add up to an inter esting set of circ um- 

Indigo Bunung 

one of many "exotic species" 

more or less regula r 

in the Southwest 

BJuewinged Teal 

still a rath er local and 

decidedly warm weather 

visitor 

stances. Many species ar e still missing, but there 

are signs tha t this situation is rapidly changing . 

Long-time residents will have seen for the first 

time in the last 20years bobolinks, with their bubbling 

song, red winged blackbirds, with their flash 

of red on an otherwise black plumage, and evening 

grosbeaks, a welcome splash of yellow and 

black at many feeders . 

Other songbirds are also beginning to arrive in 

larger numbers, first being seen on the west coast 

and then gradually extending their range. Some, 

like the black and white eastern kingbird , the brillian 

tly colored scarlet tanager and rose-breasted 

grosbeak, and the equally colorful indigo bunting, 

are easy to recognize in one-of the many field 

guides on the market. Others , including many of 

the flycatch ers and warblers, are harder to distinguish 

and may be more common than the 

provi nce's bird checklist suggests . 

More recognizable, perhaps, are the ma ny 

western ducks now finding their way here . The 

ringnec ked duck , which prefers the seclusion of 

woodland ponds, began its invasion of Newfoundland 

aro und 1940and now ranks as the third most 

abundant freshwater species . A similar range expansion 

has been shown by the northern pintail , 

which is now widespread throughout the province 

and very common on the west coast. Other 

western ducks, such as mallard, gadwall , American 

wigeon and bluewinged teal, are regular in the 

Codroy Vall ey and increasingly observed 

elsewhere. 

The province is also attracting more and more 

shorebirds in spring and fall. There are still areas 

of fres hwater and saltwater marsh with ample 

food to susta in small flocks of northbound 

migrants in spring and much larger flocks in fall. 

Severa l European vagrants have been found in 

Newfoundland in recent yea rs, making it a very 

popular destination for professional birdwatchers


from the United States and mainland Canada . 

The Labra dor Current is the engine that energizes 

the great seabird colonies of Newfoundland's 

east coast - The Funks, The Cabots, The Penguins, 

Baccalieu, Witless Bay and Cape St. 

Mary's, all names with an exotic ring. Once home 

to the great auk, The Funks now support nearly 

one million common murres (turrs), some puffins 

and 8,000northern gannets , Three islands in wtt 

less Bay - Gull, Great and Green - are home to 

three-quarters of the total western Atlantic puffin 

population and over million Leach's storm-petrels 

(carey-chicks). Anda dome-shaped rock at Cape 

St Mary's is the site of the largest of three northern 

gannet colonies in Newfoundland, Here, 10,000 

birds spend the summer in amazing security considering 

that onlya narrow chasm separates them 

from an increasing number of human visitors, 

Such observations make Newfoundland one of 

the most exciting places in North America to 

watch birds , as an increasing number of people 

are now doing, Armed with a pair of binoculars, 

a field guide and a notebook, anyone can become 

an expert. By becoming a member of the Newfoundland 

and Labrador Natural History Society, 

you can find out about the birds around you. It's 

an interest that will last a lifetime and all the family 

can become involved, 

f\IJ 

I 

foodfor all 

OCTOBfA 1& 0CTtJBR( 

WORLD FOOD DAY 

POSTER COMPETITION 

October 16 has been declared WORLD FOOD DAY by 

the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the 

United Nations as a day for everyone to draw attentipn 

to the problems of world hunger . The theme for World 

Food Day 1985 is "YOUTH AND FOOD". 

The Newfoundland World Food Day Committee, in conjunction 

with the Newfoundland Milk Marketing Board, 

is holding a poster competition for primary and elementary 

school students to help commemorate World Food 

Day this year , 

Who may enter: 

All students enrolled in any school in Newfoundland and Labrador from Kindergarten to Grade 6, 

1 Theme: 

Posters should contain scenes which are related to youth involvement in f~uming and/or in the 

distribution and marketing of food in either Canada or in less developed countries in the world. 

I 

I 

i 

I 

Rule s: 

Posters should be no larger than 14 x 18 inches, Any medium, including oils, water colors, pastels, 

crayons and poster ink will be accepted . 

On the back of your poster , write the following information: 

A) Title of the poster ; 

B) Your name, address and telephone number; 

C) Name and address of your school, your grade , and your teacher's name. 

Judging & Prizes: 

Posters will be judged for how well the theme is represented, as welt as for composition. A first 

and second prize will be offered in two categories, 

Category A includes students from Grade 4 to 6, 

Category B includes students from Kindergarten to Grade 3. 

First prize in both categories is $100. 

Second prize in both categories $50. 

Posters will become the property of the Newfoundland World Food Day Committee, Winning 

posters will be included in an exhibit at the Avalon Mall , October 11 and 12 as well as at other 

events thro ughout the year , 

Closing Date; 

Entries must be received by October 4, 1985, 

c- 

How to enter: 

- - - -------' 

Send your poster to: WORLD FOOD DAY POSTER COMPETITION 

P. O. BOX 1878 

ST. JOHN 'S, NEWFOUNDLAND, A1C 5R4

letters 

R ~~~ ~~i~:~i~~: ha lt;~ i~ 

welcome treat. My wife Lorraine 

(Bragg) was born in Greee nspond. 

Newfoundland. but we now live in 

Pasad ena , California. 

Ha ving just returned from a vaca 

tim in cooler climates , we can appreciate 

your latest issue where you 

talk of Plwn Point where " they never 

get any heat " . When we tr avel 

throughout Newfoundland again , we 

will certainly try to get ther e. 

I also saw a letter in that issue mentioning 

the bare survival of Decks 

Awash. Please accept our renewal in 

U.S. dollars and use the exchang e for 

any extra costs involved in sendi ng it 

such a distance. 

JOt'I Daskal 

South Pasadena. California 

Y 

our rece nt issues fea turing 

Clarenville and Plum Point were 

ve-y interesting. 

Do you think a similar issue could 

be done on the Ferryland Distri ct ? 

That area has a very interesting history 

of place and family names. My 

special interest lies in the Bay Bulls. 

Witless Bay and Tors Cove histories . 

Plea se advise . 

Jerome E, Carew 

Toms River, xcva Scona 

Decks Awash , volumes. Number 2, 

April 1980 had a special section 

featuring the Southern Shore which 

includes the communities mentioned 

stove; a copy is already on its way . 

I ~=ew~~7:'a~~ e·~ :·::~a~~ 

aod have since become a subscriber . 

It is now lime to renew again . 

I love the maga zine and would li ke 

to see an arti cle on myoid home town 

of Tri nity, Trinity Bay, or on my 

birthpl ace, Catalina. My father was 

in politics there and it is so good to be 

able to revisit the places he loved 

through your stori es and photos. 

I wish you continued success with 

your magazine . Uis an important link 

for those of us whohave nofamily left 

in our beloved Newfoundland. 

Audrey Herterton sweeney 

. Tampa. Florida 

A copy of Decks Awash , Volume 8, 

Number 2, April 1979 which featured 

a special section on the Bonavista 

Peninsula is on its way . 

u ~:r: r~:rn~:i:~d"~m~~~ c~: 

Awash. Weenjoyed it immensely and 

rea d it from cover to cover. As a 

resu lt, we were amazed at how little 

we know abou t our native Newfoundland. 

Since our retu rn, our friends Ron 

DECKS AWASH 79 

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and Sheila Maher from 51. Jo hn's 

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Many than ks to you and to them . 

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w ~~~~~~~v:a~~~i~~t~~~~~ 

have gathered over the years, I noticed 

a correction letter by Nellie 

Moores of Harry 's Harbour about the 

crew of the ill-fated schooner Warren 

M . Colp. It brinks back to memory 

when I was a boy living in Wop:lstock, 

White Bay. A short time after that 

tragedy a poem was circulated in a 

newspaper called The Family 

Fireside . 

The words were as follows : 

Attention friends and countrymen 

A few lines I'll relate 

About a schooner in distress 

Aoo how she met her fate . 

The WaITen ,'\t. Colp was her name 

From Herring Neck set sail 

Captain Randolph Batstone 

Belonged to Silverdale. 

She was one hundred fifteen tons 

Six was her total crew 

She met a gale . likewise thick snow 

As she passed Baccalieu. 

On the fifteenth of December 

It was an awful sight 

At two o'clock she went ashore 

Out here , off Job 's Ccve Bight. 

She left the port of Herring Neck 

For St. John's she was bound 

But owing to the heavy storm 

Cape St. Francis could not round. 

The people all around the place 

Had got an awful shock 

To hear about the schooner 

That smashed against the rocks . 

The people here around the place 

And all the places near 

Did work all day with willing hands 

Their time they did not spare. 

The work, my friends, it was quite 

hard 

Two only could they save 

The other four were left behind 

To have a watery grave, 

Four of the crew from Silverdale 

One from Round Harbour too 

The other lad from Herring Neck 

Had lately joined the crew , 

His name was William Atkinson , 

A friend we all knew well 

The Joss of these four seamen 

No human tongue can tell . 

That is as far as my memory will 

take me. but thanks to Decks Awash 

for bringing me in touch with the people 

who helped during the crisis, and 

with those who were saddened by the 

tragedy in December 1930. 

Fred C. Pack....ood 

lIo....-lr)-, SF 

AFTER HOeJRSCAll 

FR.UIIK MURPHY 134.- 

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11'2 C chicken broth or stock 

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I I soy sauce 

®s~ 

/'/'/'/'/'/'/'/' 

For all your agricultural products 

Suppliers of day-old chicken and turkeys 

Makers of formula feeds 

Distributors of farm equipment 

Suppliers of feeds for • poultry • sheep 

• cattle • dogs 

TOPSA l FlOAD AND TFlA,r-" ",,..ADA "" GHWA'f 

• horses 

60X 1000 DONAVANS NE ....."O NDlAp"jO . ~09 368 3193 

LOCAL OR LONG DISTANCE 

:100 O'CONNEll DR. CORNER BROOK 

P.O. lOX 411 

A2H IE3 

634-3345 

retbod: Cut pork into thin strips . 

and brown II] a pan in shortening 

or salad oil, drain off fat. Add sail', 

broth and omon. Cover and cook 

for 10 minutes. Ad celery and 

broccoli, trimmed and cui in 1 

inch pieces. Cover and cook forti 

minutes. so that vegetables are. 

tender but still a litLiecrisp. Blend 

corn starch with cold water and 

soy sauce. Add to meat mixture 

and cook until thickened. Serve 

with rice, Serves 3 or 4 

~ _.hood 

\!!!) ~ltlfoods 

-~ .- 

SER V ING 

AL L 

OF NEWI' OU NDlANO

NATIONAL PARKS CENTENNIAL 

Celebrate 

Canada's 

Heritage 

Canada's Na tional 

Parks are having a 

birthdav this vear 

and you're in~ited . 

6 :- 

o .:_~" ,L----------, 

," 

o o 

o o 00 

:: 

o 

00 

In 1885 , Banff National Park 

was founded . No w, 100 "eMS 

later. in Atlannc C.lnild.l ',l]one 

there .HE ' se ve n nationa l parks. 

twenty-one nationa l h istoric 

parks. and OIH' heritage canal . 

Visit t he se heritage places thi s 

year. The y offer e njoymen t 

for evt'ryont' - hiking 

challenges, canoe ra ces , old 

fashioned picni cs. heritage 

fa shion shows, ca ndleligh t 

lours. ht'rita~ e festivals and 

more! 

Canada 

Recor d yo ur travels: 

Pick up a fret' He ritage Log 

Boo k.and have it stamped w ith 

t he svmbols of the park s yo u 

visit. There are a total of .3t 

s ym bols hl collect. Heritage 

logs art' a vailable at national 

pa rks , from tourist bureaus Of 

from Park s Canada. 

Free Ca lenda r of Events: 

Be Informed - get yo ur own 

copy of the Nationa l Pa rk s 

Ce nten nia l C alendar of Events 

for Atlantic Ca nada from 

nationa l parks. tourist bureaus 

or Park s Canada. 

1885 

W1985 

To re ceive your fr ee Heritage log 

and /o r C ale ndar of Events fill out 

this coupo n and mail to: 

Parks Canada 

Hisloric Properties 

Uppe r Waler Street 

Halifax, Nova Scotia 

BJ) 159 

AdJr('~~ 

Ch eck Boxes 

o t1 t>r iI J !,:t' L ( ,~ Book 

r u. ,,,1Code

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