Alan Skeoch

Month: May 2021

  • EPISODE 355 WETLANDS RECOVERED 1958 TO 2021 FREEMAN/SKEOCH FARM ERIN TWP, WELLINGTON COUNTY

    EPISODE 355    WETLANDS RECOVERED  1958 TO 2021    FREEMAN/SKEOCH FARM  ERIN TWP, WELLINGTON COUNTY


    alan skeoch
    may 31. 2021

    EDWARD FREEMAN, my grandfather bought this 25 acre farm shortly before World War I started.
    He did not have much money having been burned out of his log cabin home near Krugerdorf  in
    Northern Ontario.   Not many people would want the farm.  Ages ago an ice sheet covered Ontario.
    Beneath the ice was solid rock.  Between the ice and the rock was rubble…millions, billions of stones, all sizes, rounded imperfectly…
    great heaps of unsorted rubble was ground then left in heaps as the ice retreated.  Along with the
    rubble the glacier hollowed out several places on the farm which became wetlands until the farmers
    arrived and attempted to drain the wetlands.   Ed Freeman was successful…partly.  He reduced
    the wetlands but at least 6 swamps could not be completely drained.  He piled the rocks in heaps.

    Since we took over the farm we have reversed the process and expanded the wetlands so that the farm
    today no longer looks like a farm.  It looks much as it must have looked when the ice retreated.


    POND #1: ONLY POND LEFT ON FARM IN 1958…AND MUCH SMALLER…ANDREW AND I BUILT A SMALL DAM THAT
    RAISED THE WATER LEVEL.  THIS POND IS ABOUT 6  ACRES .

    This has been a life long job…getting back the wetlands.  A job appreciated by at least one great snapping turtle, a large cluster of painted turtles,
    families of Canada Geese, one couple of wood ducks, wild turkeys and deer that we rarely see and coyotes who leave their scat laden with rabbit fur
    on the cedar clad forest that surrounds he pond.  The trail gives access to the only field left on the farm.  My flax field.  But this year it will
    be mostly sweet clover if all goes well.   Why clover?  Andrew is raising bees.

    Hopefully, given time, the frogs, leaches, sticklebacks, snakes …the great pyramid of pond life will be reestablished.  Right now the small
    creatures are low in number…but present.

    Lots of birds…this year wild canaries seem more than usual.  No bobolinks though.  The ravens and crows are present …deadly to the
    young song birds nesting efforts.  And high above hover the turkey vultures searching for dead things.

     POND #2: WAS A HAYFIELD UNTIL WE HIRED RON SAUNDERS TO EXCAVATE…NOW OUR DEEPEST POND

    POND #3  WAS A WET PART OF THE BARN YARD UNTIL RON SAUNDERS EXCAVATED.  WHEN EXCAVATED THE POND WAS SOON
    FILLED WITH A DOZEN CHILDREN LAUGHING AND DIVING FROM A WOODEN RAFT AND LATER MARJORIE AND VALERIE TOOK
    A NUDE SWIM WHILE I WAS WORKING NOT TOO FAR AWAY.  WATER ATTRACTS ALL KINDS OF WILD LIFE.

    POND #4 WAS A HIDDEN SHALLOW SWAMP UNTIL JIM SANDERSON BROUGHT HIS BIG EXCAVATOR…AND THE MACHINE SANK
    INTO THE QUICKSAND OF AN ANCIENT BEACH…TO GET IT OUT REQUIRED MANY MACHINES AND A RAFT MADE OF BIG TREES…
    THE END RESULT WAS A HOME FOR AN AGED BEAVER…POND REMAINED HIDDEN UNTIL THIS YEAR, 2021, WHEN THE BRUSH HAS BEEN
    CLEARED.

    SO WE HAVE RECREATED A WETLAND.  AMAZING HOW MANY CREATURES THANK US FOR OUR LABOUR.

    MAYBE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE WHAT THE FARM LOOKED LIKE WHEN EDWARD AND LOUISA FREEMAN ARRIVED IN 1914.
    COMING IN ANOTHER EPISODE

    alan skeoch

  • EPISODE 354 ROY MAXWELL SENT ME A NOTE…REMNDER OF THoSE GREAT CBC DAYS ON ‘RADIO NOON’


    EPISODE 354     ROY MAXWELL SENT ME AN EMAIL….IMAGINE THAT!
    (WE WERE PART OF CBC ‘RADIO NOON’ FOR 
    A FEW YEARS LONG AGO)

    Alan skeoch
    May 29, 2021

    Who could resist purchasing a machine like this?  This will make sense as
    you read my email letter, Roy.


    Well what a great surprise…You Maxwell…the man

    who did a farm report imitating Foster Brooks and no doubt
    caught hell for doing so. (Foster Brooks was a comedian who imitated a drunk person….slurred his words)


    Roy Maxwell did the farm prices and related information for Ontario farmers. What
    is wrong with this picture Roy?  You must know.

    Great to hear from you Roy.

    YES, I am still writing stories

    When Covid 19 first hit Toronto I decided to do 14 stories…one a day…until
    the crisis was over.  To entertain those in isolation.  We were assured 14 days of isolation would be enough…remember?
    Well now I am writing my 354th  story…one a day…except for two sojourns to hospital with
    gall stone attack. They gave me morphine Roy.  What an experience.  

     354 stories.  Back when we did Radio Noon… CBC expected 1 story a week which I enjoyed doing in
    that magnificent old Parliament Street studio.  The new CBC building was never
    as good…as quaint…as real.

    Who was it went out in the back alley for a smoke and talked to another smoker who turned out to be a dead guy ?

    Drunks drifted into the old movie theatre and offered their words of advice on occasion.  One particular
    inebriated person even joined one of our broadcasts…some charity show.  His comment…loud
    and clear went over the air waves.  “If it’s free, it’s for me!” He kept hollering that as our den mother
    whose name I have forgotten tried to hustle him away from the microphone.  God, those
    programs were fun.

    Radio Noon was just great.   My first producer Doug Koupar (sp?) let me
    do 3 or 4 broadcasts before calling me into his office.   “Just great, Alan, just great…!!!….What is the next word
    when someone says that?   the next word is ‘but’….”But Alan, you must remember the attention span
    of the audience is one minute if you are lucky.  Put the big idea out fast, Alan.”

    That was great advice.  Cut the crap in other words.  I applied that to teaching as well.
    Cut the bull shit…let’s talk about something meaningful.  

    So many great memories…I still have the tapes…but never listen to them.

    I did the shows on my lunch hour.  Racing from Parkdale Collegiate to Parliament
    Street and back was no easy task.  On one of these jaunts a guy jumped on the back
    bumper of my  truck.  When I opened my door he wedged himself right on top of me.
    “I am going to fucking kill you!” he yelled.  I had to think fast.  I looked at my bare wrist
    and told him “No time for that, I am late for class.”   He stepped back and let me go.
    I have never had a watch…my wrist was bare.  Those were the days that some very disturbed
    people were cut loose from the psychiatric hospital in Mimico.  Sad people.
    Why did he want to fucking kill me?  I have no idea.  Maybe he was a CBC listener
    and was offended by something I said.  Funny thing, Roy, even now 40 years later
    I remember what his running shoes looked like.  He had big feet…shoes were all worn.

    The end came suddenly.  “We don’t need you anymore” which I was prepared for by another
    CBC journalist who said….”Alan, remember we all have a shelf life.”

    So Roy…I am going to send you some stories…just random.   They are found on Alan Skeoch.ca   …something like that.


    FOLK ART: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?  I HAVE NO IDEA.

    Life leads us in strange direction Roy.  David Shatsky noticed a hug threshing machine being
    hauled up Parliament Street to Riverdale Farm.  “Whose machine?”   Marjorie and I had donated
    the thresher.  Had it trucked on a flat bed by Gorden Hume to Riverdale Farm in the heart of Toronto.  David then
    asked me to describe the machine to the radio audience.  Sounds boring, Roy, but not so. The
    machine is the size of an 18 wheeler and covered in professional folk art…done about 1890…
    a snake, an alligator, several lions and lots of garish paint swirls.  On my first CBC broadcast 
    I asked David why a snake was painted on that threshing machine.  “Why,David?”He turned the question to me.
    “You must know, Alan?” “I have no idea…let’s think about it.”  And we used our imaginations.
    I think a lot of radio listeners must have done the same.  Let me ask you Roy.  Why would a professional
    sign painter put an alligator on a 19th century farm threshing machine.  There is an answer
    but I have forgotten it   Use your imagination.  I love open ended questions that are sincere.
    There are so many things in this world that need explaining.   Think of the ex-President of the
    United States for instance. “How could he happen?”

    Note: Roy, you might wonder why I would give such a great machine to Riverdale farm.
    there is an easy answer.  I bought  FOUR of the machines at an auction then wondered
    what Marjorie would say when I got home.  “For the museums!” was my answer.


    Well Roy, I still collect those old machines and now the movie industry is based in Toronto. They
    need those machines often.   Old rusting hulks are great props. All those little threads in life lead somewhere, Roy.
     
    Remember you doing Foster Brooks…made me laugh….and, Roy, some farmers must have laughed
    as well.   

    alan skeoch
    May  2021

    On May 29, 2021, at 5:52 PM, Roy Maxwell <rmaxwell20@cogeco.ca> wrote:


    Alan,

    I rediscovered you quite by accident (hay tedder story in an Oakville park) and I cannot resist the temptation to say hello.

    Radio Noon was a long time ago! I am still in contact with several of the old CBC gang. Sadly, we recently lost my good friend, Glenn Powell (national Agr. News Reporter), but many of the other folks are still here and doing well.

    I am so pleased to learn that you have stayed active and been so successful in pursuing your love of history and farming.

    Good on you, Alan.

    Roy


  • EPISODE 352 ROUNDING UP A LOST HERD OF CATTLE…MAY 27, 2021, FIFTH LINE, ERIN TOWNSHIP, WELLINGTON COUNTY

    EPISODE 352      ROUNDING UP A LOST HERD OF CATTLE…MAY 27, 2021, FIFTH LINE, ERIN TOWNSHIP, WELLINGTON COUNTY

    alan skeoch
    May 28, 2021




    ALAN MEETS THE ‘CATTLE WHISPERER’

    I was pitching stones into the rock pile when Jim Sanderson’s daughter approached me.
    “At last we found the remaining three cattle from the herd that got away three days ago. Mr. Skeoch.”
    “I have not seen any cattle.”
    “Neither had we until now.   Do you want to see them…take a look at Anthony Acres winter wheat field on
    your son’s farm…over here.”
    Jim Sanderson’s daughter is known locally as the Cattle Whisperer because she has a way of settling
    down animals who might be easily startled.  She seemed amused by the adventure.  She seemed confident although I
    could not see how these cattle could be rounded up and led like lambs back home…miles away.



    “Can’t see any cattle…”
    “See that white dot way in the distance?”
    “Well, I’ll be damned.  How did they get there?”
    “No one knows.”
    “How long have they been gone?”
    “Three days.”
    “Where did they come from?”
    “Farm on Trafalgar Road near Ballinafad.”
    “That’s several miles from here…maybe 3 or 4!”
    “We got the others but these three were a mystery until now.”

    PAUSE HERE FOR A MOMENT:  Study the picture.  See if you can
    find a tiny white dot.  Do it now.


    “There got them on my telephoto lens…got them munching water wheat.”




    As we looked, trucks began to arrive.   One truck had an ATV in a trailer.  Sort of a suprise to me.   I was brought up when cattle round ups were
    done with horses.   And done by cowboys.  Jim Sanderson’s daughter soon disappeared on the ATV sneaking in behind the cattle.   I thought that
    would be done by John Wayne …or Roy Rogers on Trigger…or The Lone Ranger on Silver…”Hi Ho, Silver, Away!”   Instead, and probably better,
    Jim’s daughter would whisper, “Time to go home, let me show you the way.”


    This began to look like an illegal Covid 19 roadside party


    This was not my best picture but does credit to one of the cattle wranglers chest.



    Then the owner of the herd appeared with his cell phone.  Maybe the cattle were wired!   Maybe they would respond
    to the cattle call….’Co boss..co boss’ which I remembered from the past.

    He seemed a little startled as I clicked my camera.

    “How can I help?” I said.
    He looked me straight in the eye and said “The best way you can help is by staying out of the way.”
    Now that sounds like a mean thing to say.   There was no malice in his comment.   Cattle can be
    startled by strangers.  Sort of ignored his advice anyway but did keep my distance.



    The cattle were on the move.




    They burst onto the road for a while and then were herded back into the wheat field while the
    trap…the corral…was being assembled and baited.





    So, as nightfall approached the corral trap was set and baited.   I do not know the end of this story.  Which would be the happier
    ending?  Either the cattle remained in the field until next fall or the cattle enter the corral and someone closes the gate.
    As we drove down the road there was no one there to close the gate.  And the cattle were back in the field beyond our vision.



    Steer Talking:  “What do you think Elsie?  Is that grain in the trough  trap?”
    Heifer Talking:   “I think we should just stay here…whole field of fresh wheat
    and lots of water in he swamp.”

    Alan Thinking:  “I do not think anyone in this drama appreciates my presence with my camera…
    except, maybe, the guy whose bare chest I managed to snap…and neighbour Jamie who 
    got same advice I did…”Stay out of the way…block the hole in the fence in the back field…out of sight.”


    CONCLUSION

    Alan ; “What was the best picture I managed to take of the Great Cattle Round Up?”
    Marjorie: “No doubt about that, Alan.”
    Alan: “The telephoto of the cattle?”
    Marjorie: “No, the picture of the owner of the cattle telling you to STAY OUT OF THE WAY!”



    Years ago when our boys were young Marjorie and I and the boys would sing our hearts
    out replicating Eddie Arnold’s Cattle Call.   Great days were those.  If only we could
    remember the words maybe Jim Sanderson’s daughter would ask us to join her on
    the ATV in the big Fifth Line round up.


    “Cattle Call”

    [Moan]
    The cattle are prowlin’ the coyotes are howlin’
    Out with the doggies bawl
    Where spurs are jinglin’ a cowboy is singin’
    This lonesome cattle call [moan]

    He rides in the sun till his day’s work is done
    And he rounds up the cattle each fall
    [Moan] Singin’ this cattle call

    For hours he will ride on the range far and wide
    When the night wind blows up a squall
    His heart is a feather in all kinds of weather
    He sings his cattle call [moan]

    He’s brown as a berry from ridin’ the prairie
    And he sings with an old western drawl
    [Moan] Singin’ this cattle call… [moan]







  • EPISODE 351 THE RhODODENDRON GARDEN (HANCOCK FAMILY of Mississauga) IN FULL BLOOM MAY 26,2021

    EPISODE 351    THE RHODODENDRON GARDEN (HANCOCK FAMILY OF MISSISSAUGA) IN FULL BLOOM MAY 26,2021


    alan skeoch
    May 26, 2021



    HOLD on to your socks!   We visited the Hancock rhododendron garden today.   Full bloom here and there in the climax forest.
    Something few people have ever seen and yet the garden is open to the public.   If you live close by then pack up your camera
    and hike over there right now.  There was only one other couple there today.  Seemed like a wonderland designed just for us
    alone.  Marjorie organized our visit.  I had no idea such a fairyland forest existed in heart of Mississauga.

    It will really knock your socks off!

    Camilla Road…QEW and Hurontario…one block east of Hurontario on North Service Road…small parking lost for 10 cars…free.

    Put your socks back on and hustle over to the Hancock Garden right now.  

    alan

            

    This CUTE little brown snake was hustling across a pathway in the garden.  You should hustle as well.


    Why take this picture?  To show how the Mississauga Parks system has protected the Hancock forest with the very
    best cable and couplings.   Do not jump the fence and trample the woodland.



    Here is a mystery for you to solve.  Why is this Hancock Woodlands garden shed featuring Japanese script.  There must be a reason.  
    My high school chums at Humberside in the 1950’s may have known…Takasaki and Hayashi may have known but not said much
    about it…actually said nothing about the sudden presence of Japanese families in Toronto in the Second World War.  The Hancock
    story is complicated and heart warming if you take the time to read the signage.   Makes the blooms all the more powerful. 

  • EPISODE 341

    LILACS AT ANDY. KEVIN, ANDY, AND NICK’S FARM