Alan Skeoch

Month: June 2021

  • EPISODE 37ROBERT ROOT’S EXPERIENCE WITh LYME DISEASE – TICKS

    EPISODE  379     ROBERT ROOT’S EXPERIENCE WITH LYME DISEASE = TICKS


    SUMMERTIME AND THE NATURAL WORLD IS INVITING.





    I love daisies…wild flowers in general.  I also love looking for Monarch Butterflies.  As do you.  Be careful…CAREFUL!



    black legged tick – sometimes carrier of lyme disease -If deer are present then ticks are present.



    black legged female tick swollen with blood

    Photo of two nymphal blacklegged ticks on a hiking boot.
    two ticks on a hiking boot…massive enlarged photo to show how tiny ticks can be




    JUNE 28, 2021

    LETTER TO ROBERT ROOT FRM ALAN SKEOCH

    Hi Rooter,

    I feel duty bound to write an episode on Lyme Disease  as many of
    my stories involve outdoor activity …. sometimes but not many in long grass.
    Your story is very important.  A cautionary tale since many people long for
    a chance to get outdoors.  Chasing butterflies maybe.  Be careful.

    A few years ago a good friend of mine got Lyme disease from a tick bite when
    he walked through long grass on a hiking trail near Ancaster Ontario.  He did not
    notice the tic.   It bit him, sucked some of his blood then dropped off.  Infected him. Rooter
    had no idea he was infected with Lyme Disease so carried on normally until the
    full impact of the disease struck.  It was devastating.  Best said in his own
    words.   A clear warning to avoid long grass.  Easy to say.  Hard to do.




    ROBERT ROOT’S STORY

        
    Sunday afternoon August 22nd 2004 My wife and I went for a walk near The Hermitage in Ancaster. 
    I left the trail and went into the long grass to get to the pinnacle of a hill we were climbing.  A day later a bulls eye rash
    appeared on my left ankle and both ankles were badly swollen.  I lay down and put my feet up and my heart felt like it
    was being flooded as lymphatic fluid poured into my heart from my legs.  The next day I saw my doctor and he put me
    on an antibiotic and Lasix ( a dewatering pill ).  4X a day I put my feet up to drain the fluid.  The lymphatic system
    was badly affected.  I had to stay around the house with my legs propped up and cancelled other activities.
    I sang in a quartet at church but had to cancel that on the 29th and stay lying with my feet up. 
    On the 30th I went to my doctor again and he gave me more antibiotics.  This was a very symmetrical disease.
    When my left armpit was inflamed my right arm pit was too.  Swelling in my left wrist coincided with swelling of the right wrist.
    When I first lay down my heart felt flooded as the great thoracic duct poured lymph into the auricle of the heart.  Wednesday
    Sept 1st I saw my doctor again and received a third round of antibiotics for 7 days.   I stayed home the weekend of
    Sept 5th and rested with my feet up.  Friday Sept 10th I washed the car.  I was now getting more active but still spent a good
    part of each day with my legs up.  Sept 16th I went to choir practice and Sept 18th I attended My son Wesley’s STAG at
    Woodbine racetrack but had to go to the car and prop my legs up to drain for a while. 
    Sept. 29th my doctor prescribed support hose for me and to this day 17 years later I have to wear support hose and put
    my legs up during the day.   I am one of the “Lucky ones” because my doctor got me the correct antibiotics right away.

    Many people who contract Lyme Disease and don’t get the correct treatment right away suffer permanent organ
    damage and have lifelong disabilities.

    My doctor is a frontier doctor.  He has been treating farmers for a good part of his life.  One year he got the record for
    the most home visits in a year.  He initially thought I had spider bites but he did diagnose the correct antibiotic.  Hallelujah!

    We still check for ticks and occasionally find them on us even if we are not out in long grass.





    CAUTION

    Being outdoors after the Covid 19 isolation can be wonderful.  But be careful.
    Long years ago when I worked in Southern Ireland I noticed many cattle herds
    carried ticks on their snouts.  I had never heard of ticks until then.  Our work involved
    crossing and criss crossing Irish fields…climbing over stone fences with lots of long grasses.

         Pushing our way through gorse and bracken…dense.

      So each
    night I carefully examined my body for ticks. Especially my legs.  Never found one
    fortunately.   Irish ticks were ugly but did not carry Lyme disease then but they do now..  In North
    America the situation was dangerous. 

    You would not want to get Lyme Disease as my good friend Bob Root has explained.

    Marjorie picked a tick from Woody our Labrador last week.  No joke.

    alan skeoch
    june 2021


  • EPISODE 378 STONE SILO CIRCA 1870-1880: WHERE DID THEY GET THE STONES?

    EPISODE 378    STONE SILO CIRCA 1870-1880: WHERE DID THEY GET THE STONES?


    alan skeoch
    June 2021

    This stone silo has stood here since Angus McLean built it in the 1870’s.  ( McLean-Saunders-MacLeod-Skeoch, Skeoch, Con…owners)
    Take a close look.  Not one stone is uniform.  Sizes and shapes are never replicated.  It looks unstable yet the silo is now over 
    150 years old.  An unusual piece of Scottish stonemasons art.

    Angus McLean had to use whatever was available.  And in Erin Township, Wellington County,
    Ontario stones were always available.  They still are.  Each year a new crop of stones is pushed 
    to the surface.  “That’s my best crop.”
     





    Stone are available if we decide to make the silo higher.   One factor is missing.  The skill to take rounded irregular stones
    of all sizes  and put them together in such a way that they will stand for 150 years.  Angus McLean died a long time ago.




    Enthusiastic stone pickers.


    Piled on a stone boat.



    Hauled oto a designated spot for the stone pile.  Then unloaded.   There were always snakes ready to take up residence in
    the stone pile.

    Why was this rocky land given or sold to Scottish migrants in the 19th century?  Simple answer.  Scotland is
    full of stone fields.   The land agents figured Scots would like stone fields.  And they did.  Stone houses were 
    a specialty as was the stone house built on the Skeoch farm near Fergus.  Like the silo , it is still standing.











































































































  • EPISODE 376 STRAWBERRIES (and whipped cream…yum yum)



    Begin forwarded message:


    From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
    Subject: Strawberries
    Date: June 28, 2021 at 8:37:52 AM EDT
    To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>


    EPISODE 376      STRAWBERRIES

    alan skeoch
    June 2021

    Yesterday I sent an episode implying that the future of  farming is rather bleak for
    small time operators.  Today I would like to correct that.  Why?  Because today
    we dropped into a tiny farm…perhaps an acre of productive land.  The parking lot
    is bigger than the field.   Yet the production is fantastic.  And the price matches
    the production.  These berries come from the cooler of a strawberry farm
    just a mile or so west of Georgetown…follow he signs on the Fifth Line. NO time
    for us to hand pick,  The field had about 20 pickers already.

    Bring money.   Marjorie bought this flat of fresh berries for $42.  Expensive!
    Yes.  Cheaper if you pick your own and get them weighed.   But these
    berries are the best…big and sweet and ready for big dollops of whipped cream.

    There is a crowd picking these berries at this very moment.  I an hesitant
    telling you where it is located.   But I will.  Turn on to the Fifth line north
    of highway 401 or drive north on Trafalgar Road…look for a hand lettered
    strawberry sign…make a left turn a mile or so north on Trafalgar.  Look for the signs.

    First picture is all green.  Second picture adds lots of red.












    Sent from my iPhone


  • Fwd: EPISODE 376 THE FACE OF MODERN AGRICULTURE….2021



    Begin forwarded message:


    From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
    Subject: EPISODE 376 THE FACE OF MODERN AGRICULTURE – ANTHONY ACRES….2021
    Date: June 26, 2021 at 3:08:23 PM EDT


    EPISODE 376    THE FACE OF MODERN AGRICULTURE – ANTHONY ACRES – 2021



    alan skeoch
    June 2021





    CORPORATE FARMING:  STRIKING A DEAL WITH ANTHONY ACRES


    There are still 100 acre farms here and there in Southern Ontario. Winaries for instance.  They must be economically worthwhile.  But the face
    of modern agriculture is increasingly changing in scale.  That is not really news.   Just a drive in the countryside presents lots
    of evidence.  Empty old bank barns and oversized tractors. We meet the new machines of agriculture every time we drive to the farm.  Imagine the investment necessary for
    corporate farming like Anthony Acres.   How could they  make a profit.  Thousands of acres are necessary.   Anthony Acres rents thousands
    of acres.  Most of their Land is rented not owned.   

    Our two sons and partner Nick own a farm with about 60 to 70 acres of cropland.  They are not farmers.   Andrew dropped in to
    the home farm of Anthony Acres which is just a short distance from their farm.  fifth line, Limehouse, Ontario.  The meeting was a good one.   Perhaps I can
    put the conversation in dialogue form.  (My words)

    “Hi, we own the old McLean – Saunders – McLeod farm up the road and wonder
    whether you are interested in leasing the cropland before the weeds take over.”
    “Might be interested but I’ll have to take a look first.”
    “Now?”
    “Yes…good a time as any…if land is good we can get a cover crop in fast.”

    (Visit to farm)


    “Let’s strike a deal…we need a three year lease at least…and will pay $90 an acre yearly…about 60 acres.”
    “That will help pay the property taxes…for sure.”
    “Should cover about 75% of the cost.”
    “We  want to keep one field and the barnyard.”
    “Fine.”
    “I overheard a conversation once that claimed rented land was just being mined…corn, year after year,
    until the land was exhausted.  Hate to think of that.”
    “That’s pure hearsay…not true.  We care for the land.  No till agriculture…always keep the top soil covered
    …cover crops like clover…nitrogen fixing.  We improve the soil.  Crop rotation…corn, soybeans, wnter wheat…
    top soil never gets exposed to wind.”
    “Did you notice the stones?”
    “I did.”
    “Won’t they be a problem?”
    “Lots of the land around here is stony…ancient ice sheets 10,000 year ago pushed and ground stones as the ice
    age advanced.  Then, when the ice retreated, the land was strewn with rocks.”
    “One of my dad’s uncles ruined his Massey Ferguson combine when one rock got into the cylinder…bent it all to hell.”
    “We are super careful.   I will send in a rock picker to go over all your fields before planting time.”
    “Rock picker?”
    “Tractor with steel forks…gets all the big rocks.  Where do you want them dumped…we’ll send one of the boys
    up here next week.   Fields will be safe for combines after that.””
    “But the  rocks get pushed up every year by the frost.”
    “Then we’ll do another picking.  Part of the business.”

    “Did you noice the old stone silo>?”
    “Sure did.  Not many of those around.  Made out of the stones gathered by the Mclean family in the 1870’s.  Never saw
    one before.”
    “Used for Sileage, I think…Chopped up corn….stalks and all…fine dining for cattle n winter.””
    “Yes. Some people think our silos are used that way.  Not true…our steel silos are filled with shelled corn….moved around with elevators to 
    get the kernels dry.   Eliminate any chance of mould.    No relation to your fieldstone silo.  Better get a roof on it if you can.”

    “All those machines must set you back a fortune…all John Deere except for the tractor trailers …”
    “That’s why we need a lot of land…thousands of acres.”

    (Unspoken thought:  “One of those tractors with attachments would cost a small fortune.
    If Anthony Acres tried to buy all the land they needed the business would not be viable.  Renting, however, made good sense.)





    NOTE:   BELOW IS A SHORT EXCERPT FROM ANTHONY ACRES WEB PAGE


    Where and how we operate

    Anthony Acres Ltd is a Canadian company operating in Southern Ontario within a large region from the Greater Toronto Area in the south, to the Dundalk Highlands in the north, from Guelph in the west to Caledon in the east. This area, inclusive of the Regions and Counties of Halton, Peel, Wellington and Dufferin, represents some of the best farmland in all of Canada.
    By means of Best Management Practices and Precision Agriculture, Anthony Acres Ltd is dedicated to conserving, preserving, protecting and improving the farmland and the environment in which we work.
    We are vertically integrated, with all facets of the business being done in-house.
    This includes:
    • crop marketing and sales
    • agronomy
    • seed cleaning and treating
    • field cropping and crop protection product application
    • equipment maintenance
    • trucking
    • cropland improvement and protection.
    We have 2 elevating, drying and storage facilities, one in the Greater Toronto Area and on the border of Wellington County and Dufferin County.


  • EPISODE 375 1957 THUNDERBIRD ON HOIST…PINK1

    EPISODE 375    1957 THUNDERBIRD ON HOIST…PINK


    alan skeoch
    June 2021



    I am not much of a car enthusiast but this car got my attention.
    All I could see from the passenger seat where we got gas at $1.32.9 cents
    a litre was the back tail light.  Unusual. Jutted out and had a fin.

    “Marjorie look at that car up on the house.  Odd!”
    “It’s a 1957 model.”
    “”How would you know that?””
    “Says so on the licence.”
    “Oh!”
    “What is it?”
    “Man pumping gas says its a 1957 Thunderbird.”
    “Pink”
    “Those were the years…the 1950’s…when cars were not bland…turquoise and white…or pink like this.”
    “Our old 53 Meteor was Double Brown…others were bright red and white.”
    “Same colours as popsicles.”

    “Ask if I can go into the workshop.”
    “He says you can.”

    NOTE   A lot more could be said about 1957.  I think my Uncle Frank Freeman still had
    a team of horses for instance.

    “Wasn’t there a cosmetic company that gave away pink cars to its best salespeople.?  Mary Kay, I believe.”

    alan skeoch