Leap day, February 29, Home office

While I'm on the topic of chats with readers, last week I phoned Leonard Payment of Fisher Branch, Man. He had written a letter expressing his frustration with me for not responding to an earlier letter about using tractor exhaust as fertilizer. His last line of the letter was, "In case you've missed it, I'm ticked off." So I called Leonard and let him know that I've actually been waiting on an article from Les Kletke about a farm in Souris that is doing just that. While I wait, maybe there are Grainews readers out there who know of other farmers doing this. It must be quite the contraption to capture the exhaust and deliver it to the soil. Send me an e-mail if you have some insight. To get my address, click on "contacts" at www.grainews.ca.

Recycling exhaust leads me to renewable fuels. The Canadian Association of Farm Advisors (CAFA) wrote to tell me about an upcoming conference, the Canadian Renewable Energy Workshop (CREW) March 16–18 in Regina, Sask. You can see the agenda online at www.crew2008.com. On Monday March 17, President of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel, will speak about the benefits of renewable fuels to farm communities. The note from CAFA says the conference will "provide the opportunity to learn about the issues most affecting the industry and will provide a balanced perspective to the angles portrayed in the current popular media."

My final note for today might be old news for some of you (it was announced in January). Canada is no longer the No.1 exporter to the U.S. China has taken over. Canada's exports to the U.S. were up 3.5 per cent in 2007, hitting US$313.1 billion. But China's exports of mostly manufactured goods rose 11.7 per cent to US$321.5 billion. We all know that China's clout is rising, and this is further proof. Not that this really has anything to do with agriculture trade or Canada's relationship with the U.S. in general, but it gives you another sign of China's power.

As promised, here is John Kapicki's article...

Old house takes me back

Deck: School of “hard knocks” taught our parents and grandparents to appreciate what they worked for. The current generation has it too easy

By John Kapicki

Driving to Lamont, I came across this little old house sitting proudly on a hill.  It brought back such memories. I backed up a half mile and took a picture of it.  I am sure, in my time, a family lived in this house. They probably came from the old country to “The Land of Milk and Honey,” and got a homestead for $10 a quarter. Maybe they spent the first winter in a sod house because there was no time to build one out of logs.

These people came with nothing, but a few basics — some clothes, a few seeds, an axe. Some of them had a little money to buy a cow, a horse, a pig and/or a few chickens.

Land with trees and water was important. In Europe, only the wealthy owned land — here it was free — or was it? You had to build your house and clear and seed 10 acres a year. These people had a dream and it was to make a living on their own land.

My grandparents came to Canada in 1901 and built a sod house to spend the winter. They came to start a new life on their own land. And they probably often wished they would have stayed in Europe.

I recall visiting them in their log house. It had a dirt floor, a little stove and a big oven made of clay and bricks. This kept the house warm for long periods in the cold winters and of course was used for baking. It was also used as a bed because it stayed warm for so long.

There was a door in the centre of the wood floor (which they got later) that had a ladder going down to a deep hole in the ground where they stored food for the winter. All houses had this “cellar,” which we have replaced with a refrigerator. At first the roof was made of thatched straw. A few windows, hinges for the doors and some nails were all you purchased to build this house.

As with everything, farm life was simple in comparison with today. The work was all done by hand, horse or ox. I did work with horses in my time. Almost everything they needed came from the land. The farm sold a few hogs and steer, and maybe a little grain to buy the necessities as well as tools and simple equipment. The wife sold a few dozen eggs and some separated cream for her purchases.

It is amazing what these settlers accomplished in a short time.  They were ALL builders and hard workers. They helped each other build barns, cut wood, thresh grain, etc. Most left land for their children to carry on. They were very proud people — proud of their accomplishments, proud of their culture (wherever they came from) and proud of their religion. Now this area is the Church Capital of North America.

Their ways, values and beliefs made their dreams come true and would work for us today, should we choose to live that way. Many do.

Work was instilled in us as we grew up with these people.  They were thrifty and could make things out of whatever was around. Credit was frowned on and bills were paid. They saved for a rainy day.

You looked after your land and livestock so you could see a profit, and savings slowly expanded. Church was important. No one worked on Sundays or holidays — that was the law.  Education for the children was in most cases important. And when you played, you played just as hard as you worked. There were lots of ball teams and dances. Singing and music was everywhere. Now we have radios and TV.

These people built a nice life out of nothing. They knew how to make things work. They knew how to work together to accomplish things. And yes, then a handshake meant more than a ton of paper today.

Most children who came from these farms ended up with good jobs, and many became leaders in their time. In our area just northeast of Edmonton, a few names may bring back memories: Mazankowski, Topolnisky, Stelmach, Zawrusky, Hawrelak, Frunchak, just to name a few. These people were all great leaders and all had things in common: They all grew up in little log houses, milking cows, feeding pigs with five-gallon pails, and cleaning barns with steel shovels.  They knew the hard times and got their basic education from the “School of Hard Knocks.”

It is important to understand the past to appreciate the present times and look on to the future. The new generation needs a lesson in hard work. We have a generation or era of “takers,” not builders.  What parents built up is often lost through stupidity. A deal now takes a ton of paper and yes, the churches are empty.

So often now, what is passed to the generation down can’t even be kept up. These people never realize what they had — or how it came about, until they lose it all. I thank the people for not destroying some of our heritage — The Little Old House On The Prairie!

—John Kapicki has been writing for Grainews for years. He farms near Andrew, Alta. He has a book of stories called “Trials and tribulations of a Prairie farmer.” To order the book, call John at 780-365-2398.