12 The South Marysburgh Mirror a in special Grow Your Own By Nancy Butler & Sarah Moran Collier "Your mind has to be wide open and welcome to opportuni(cid:415)es," says Don Hudson, as he explains how he and Deb think about farming at Valleypine Black Creek. In a way, it's how they came into farming in the first place. Change presented an opportunity. Don had been ed. teacher in Brighton but was no longer needed at a shrinking school, and Deb's family wanted to re(cid:415)re from the farm. It seemed like an opening for them to embark upon farming themselves. They sold their home where they'd been living in Codrington for a down payment on the farm, and because it was a dairy farm with some stability and good expecta(cid:415)on of revenue, they were able to get a mortgage from the Farm and Credit Corpora(cid:415)on. Don, (coming from Toronto originally,) had lots to learn. He'd been in the county as a teenager; by helping out, he at least "knew hay" he says. He and Deb came down from Codrington every weekend for four months to appren(cid:415)ce on the farm before taking it on full (cid:415)me. Deb recalls, "It wasn't easy, but anything worthwhile isn't. Don had to work really hard." So, they started out with a dairy farm. Deb was the only extra hand; she would "work with the first baby in a carriage, with mesh over it to keep away the flies, in between the rows of cows, while I was milking." As (cid:415)me rolled by they wanted the farm business to be able to support some help, "so we could go to a wedding if we wanted to, or stop for a break." However, the land base wasn't big enough with dairy, so they evolved to beef. Then, a(cid:332)er a surgery each, Deb and Don were finding the beef ca(cid:425)le were a bit much to handle and they adapted again. It was "a li(cid:425)le spark" of an idea that took them down a new track. "Andrew Miller and Kevin Thompson at Cherryvale asked us to grow buckwheat for Stonemill Bakehouse… and a wonderful rela(cid:415)onship began with Go(cid:426)ried Boehringer." - BAKERY & VARIETY SHOP - All-Day Breakfast from 8:30 to 5:00 Fresh Baking All Day, Every Day Catering & Pre-Ordered Picnics Propane Ice Firewood Worms Bag Tags Open 7:30 to 7:00 Monday to Saturday Sundays 9:00 to 6:00 3020 County Road 10, Milford, ON 613.476.3425 or 613.885.3510 Hot Coffee, Hot Lunch, Hot Gossip! Hours "Don't forget what your parents and grandparents They were on a new learning curve, "Going organic, because that is where consumer demand was and there wasn't enough cer(cid:415)fied land in the market." Stonemill needed Rye and wanted it locally sourced to avoid the environmental footprint from transporta(cid:415)on. Don and Deb had now discovered a way of farming (with his own seed and no need to purchase chemicals) "which reduced input cost per acre to $60 from about $250." Ever curious, Don experimented with crop rota- (cid:415)on and reduced diesel fuel use by cul(cid:415)va(cid:415)ng only every other year. By going back to a frost seeding method, and capitalizing on the ac(cid:415)on of nature, he can further re- duce the use of fuel. I am struck by how crea(cid:415)ve farmers are, to adapt and thrive. Some of these "new" prac(cid:415)ces come from the past. Deb hopes that there will be more "smaller farms, mixed farms; I call it back to the future." knew," adds Don. They are a very posi(cid:415)ve couple, talking about the "silver linings" they see. For example, when hasty com- bining appeared to have wasted grain a(cid:332)er bush hog- ging, the rye came up a second year and become a crop that cost very li(cid:425)le. They are op(cid:415)mis(cid:415)c about the possi- bili(cid:415)es for farming to support quality nutri(cid:415)on and to con(cid:415)nue to be the producers of food security, providing a good base for thriving communi(cid:415)es. They willingly shared their valuable (cid:415)me to talk with me and see the farming community as a generous one. "Farmers are generous with their knowledge. You don't have to have a mee(cid:415)ng to decide whether we're all in this together - because we're all in this together." Even though Deb and Don have much knowledge to share, they will always be "listening to and observing" others and their own land. Their minds are definitely s(cid:415)ll "wide open" and Don, at the age of 70, obviously enjoys being called "Junior" by his more experienced neigh- bours, like Bill Creasy, Ken Marise(cid:425) and Wilbur Miller.