{"id":8273,"date":"2021-03-21T09:45:08","date_gmt":"2021-03-21T13:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=8273"},"modified":"2021-04-15T06:35:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T10:35:56","slug":"episode-288-farming-with-john-and-eleanor-calder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=8273","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 288 FARMING WITH JOHN AND ELEANOR CALDER"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 288:  FARMING WITH JOHN AND ELEANOR CALDER<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 2021<\/div>\n

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FARMING in Ontario has changed.  Many farms have been combined into large holdings of several thousand<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

acres.  Corporate farms.  These farms specialize in production of various grains\u2026wheat, oats, flax, corn, soybeans.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometimes corporate farmers have large holdings of animals as well but many others market grain on a grand scale.<\/div>\n

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John and Eleanor Calder had a diversified  farm.  Successful.  Depends how success if measured, does it not?<\/div>\n

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Milk was the best income producer I believe.<\/div>\n
Sheep for John were a matter of the heart.  He was a shepherd\u2026and not just a shepherd of sheep.<\/div>\n
His vision went far beyond that.   John and  I formed a natural bond of shared  interests and some<\/div>\n
shared values.  19th and 20th century machines.  He knew how they worked.  I knew how they looked.<\/div>\n
  Eleanor (Townsend) Calder is a keeper of the clan.   She, like her mother Elizabeth (Skeoch)<\/div>\n
Townsend,  undertook the task of keeping a massive extended family in as close a contact with each<\/div>\n
other as possible.  That meant opening up the Townsend\/Calder farm to all of us.  I cannot think of<\/div>\n
anyone in our family that Eleanor did not greet with open arms.<\/div>\n

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Today, March 20, 2021, he task of bringing a huge extended family together is just about impossible.  Why?<\/div>\n
Because none of us farm anymore.  We are an urban clan spread across he world from Woodruff Farm to distant<\/div>\n
points in Canada to New Zealand to England to South Korea to God knows where.    When I was a little boy<\/div>\n
that was not the case.  We had many farms in the family.  So many.  Most of them in Wellington County but others<\/div>\n
in Saskatchewan.<\/div>\n

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But the Skeoch Townsend farm was the hub in the wheel.  Why should you care?  Because these pictures should<\/div>\n
make you understand just what we have lost in the 80 years or so.  For many of us the rural roots have been<\/div>\n
severed  so long ago that sometimes you may feel they never existed.<\/div>\n

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John and Eleanor made sure that never happened to us.
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Eleanor is the big sister\u2026oldest of the the four Townsend children\u2026and the hardest working in my opinion.  Jim and Owen will be<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

offended by that remark.  So be it.  If a  cow had to be rolled helped with a calf.  Eleanor was there.  If kittens got out of control\u2026.I counted<\/p><\/div>\n

30 cats in the dairy barn once\u2026someone had to keep that population in check.  Enough said.<\/div>\n

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She met John Calder at the OAC where Eleanor thought of becoming a veterinarian. She would have been a natural except for one problem.<\/div>\n
She was female.  Tough sledding.  But all was not lost for she and John fell in love.  Enduring love.  Love that triumphed over minor blips in<\/div>\n
the human journey.  First they farmed near Carluke, south west of Hamilton, but something went wrong and they had to trek back to Bellwood.<\/div>\n
Trek ?<\/div>\n

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John was a collector of machines.  Particularly Threshing machines.  He had five or six of them\u2026.each as big as a transport<\/div>\n
truck.  All had to be hauled by back roads from Carluke to Bellwood.  Along with ancient tractors, hay wagons, mowers, plows,<\/div>\n
\u2026etc. etc.   John did this alone.  His tractor hooked to one thresher.  Slowly making way, trip after trip.  Until the Carluke<\/div>\n
farm was stripped bare.  I wish I had known.  I would have traced him down on some gravel road inching his way north with <\/div>\n
all his machines.   Eleanor was busy making a new home on the Bellwood \u201cnew property\u201d her dad had purchased across<\/div>\n
the highway from  Woodruf Farm, the home farm.  <\/div>\n

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John Calder\u2019s face seemed to always be locked in a smile.<\/div>\n


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Six of the Skeoch \u2018kids]\u2019\u2026left to right,  Marguerite (Skeoch) Metcalfe, Lena (Skeoch) Tosh<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Elizabeth (skeoch) Townsend, back row\u2026John Skeoch (Saskatchewan farm 3,200 acres), <\/p><\/div>\n

Norman Skeoch (younger, got the Home farm), Arnold \u201cred\u201d Skeoch (my father, tire bullder)<\/div>\n
Stories about Red  Skeoch are featured in several of these episodes.  He will either offend<\/div>\n
or amuse.   Missing  Arthur Skeoch (tire builder), Sarah Skeoch (teacher, died in 1918-19<\/div>\n
Spanish Flu epidemic). <\/div>\n

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 Cousin Eleanor picked up the responsibility for the Skeoch clan<\/div>\n
from her mother Elizabeth in the picture.   a very strong willed woman.
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John Skeoch (Art Skeoch\u2019s eldest son, spent his youth at the Skeoch farms as<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

we did.  John and I had the thankless job of being executors at the sale of the home Skeoch farm.)<\/p><\/div>\n

No joy in mudville doing that job.<\/div>\n
, Owen Skeoch Townsend (computer specialist\u2026entered the industry when the word<\/div>\n
computer meant adding machine, James Skeoch Townsend (agronomist, University of<\/div>\n
Manitoba\u2026potato specialist among others).  Owen Townsend\u2019s son Dirk is responsible<\/div>\n
for this Blog\u2026he set it up for me.  (Mary, the youngest died a few years ago. We are<\/div>\n
the same age.  Mary wanted  me to play house with her on one visit.  Drinking from make<\/div>\n
believe cups of tea, eating from make believe dinner plates, cuddling dolls to put them<\/div>\n
to sleep.   I was most uncomfortable that day but did what was expected.<\/div>\n
 Seems a Townsend is always in the right place at<\/div>\n
the right time.
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All of my pictures of Eleanor Townsend seem to show her at work.  She is a<\/p><\/div>\n

sure fire multi tasker.   I am proud to call  her my cousin.  Admire her much.
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Alan Skeoch \u2026 holding a lamb \u2026taking credit for the work of others\u2026i.e. the ewe, John<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

who cornered the ewe on a cold  March evening, Eleanor who helped the ewe put out the lamb.<\/p><\/div>\n


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When most farms were switching over to combine harvesters, John and Eleanor insisted on taking<\/div>\n
the crop off using a binder to cut and tie the sheaves, then each sheaf had to be \u201cstoked\u201d in the field<\/div>\n
to dry, then loaded on a wagon,  hauled  to John\u2019s best Threshing machine powered by an ancient<\/div>\n
Rumely Oil Pull tractor.   The threshed  grain was blown through a long tube into the<\/div>\n
granary deep in the bowels  of the barn.  <\/div>\n

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When Eric and  I were 10 and  12, we were told to crawl into the granary and keep<\/div>\n
pushing the grain to the back.  It was a race with death.  Push the grain back or die.<\/div>\n
We kept sinking in the grain\u2026die smothered we felt\u2026so we fought that steady<\/div>\n
stream of wheat that showered us.  We fought to stay on top.<\/div>\n
We did what we were told but got scared as our backs began to touch the ceiling<\/div>\n
of the granary and  there was only one tiny escape hole.   The noise of the thresher<\/div>\n
and the humping of the Oil Pull tractor was deafening.  Had we been forgotten.<\/div>\n
Then SILENCE.  \u201cCrawl out boys, time for dinner.\u201d   Big spread,  More pies  than<\/div>\n
I ever saw in a bakeshop\u2026.Rhubarb, apple, blueberry, mincemeat, cherry\u2026so much<\/div>\n
pie that we were not sure we could crawl  back in the granary through that tiny hole.<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s over boys.  Threshing is done.\u201d We looked  at each other.  We had been part<\/div>\n
of something great\u2026something we would never forget.  We had lived through it.<\/div>\n


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There is no money in raising sheep I am told.  No one told that to John and Eleanor.  They loved the <\/p><\/div>\n

role of shepherds.    Fleeces are hard to sell.  Mutton  is  not the best kind of meat.  Spring lamb meat<\/div>\n
rings of murder.   <\/div>\n

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I have one enduring memory of those sheep.  One bright sunny late spring day I wheeled into their farm<\/div>\n
\u2026met Eleanor who seemed a little non plussed. <\/div>\n

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 \u201cWhere\u2019s John?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDown in the back field burying his sheep.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDogs got into the sheep last night\u2026ripped them bad.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWild dogs?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so.  Likely some pet dogs that were allowed to run loose.\u201d<\/div>\n

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I hiked down the lane and there was John burying his sheep.  Not all of them<\/div>\n
but many of them.  The corpses lay around  like limestone boulders.   John was<\/div>\n
not a man to curse but he cursed that day.<\/div>\n

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\u201cAlan, the dogs did not even kill the sheep.  Just ripped them to pieces. I had to <\/div>\n
shoot them.\u201d,  then i saw the rifle leaning against the tractor as John hauled a ewe<\/div>\n
into the pit he had dug.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhose dogs?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot sure.  I do not want to talk about it.\u201d<\/div>\n

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I got the feeling that the rifle would do double duty if a dog showed  up that day.<\/div>\n

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The story of this farm house will come as a separate Episode.  The house, to my mind, demonstrates<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

the triumph of the human spirit.
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EPISODE 288:  FARMING WITH JOHN AND ELEANOR CALDER alan skeoch March 2021 FARMING in Ontario has changed.  Many farms have been combined into large holdings of several thousand acres.  Corporate farms.  These farms specialize in production of various grains\u2026wheat, oats, flax, corn, soybeans. Sometimes corporate farmers have large holdings of animals as well but many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}