The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

F. Roy Ormiston of Roybrook Farm, Brooklin, has been honoured with a Certificate of Ac- complishment by the Holstein Association of Canada. This award, only the 14th since its in- ception in 1954, was bestowed at the Association's General Annual Meeting of Members held April 10 in Hamilton. Ormiston's outstan- ding contribution to the Holstein breed, which earned him two Master Breeder Shields (1962 and 1987), was noted by speaker, George McLaughlin, who made the presentation on behalf of the President and Board of Directors. He is a former Holstein Associa- tion President (1961) and first Chairman of the Ontario Milk Marketing Board (1965). Roybrook Farm is one of the most highly regarded and well- known Holstein breeding establishments in the world to- day. This deeply linebred herd was crafted by Roy Ormiston who has worked with Holsteins all his life. Ormiston took charge of his father's showstring when he was 16 years old. In 1938, he rented the farm from his father and later purchased it. Starting with seven cows, he had four of the seven in the Honour List in the second year of operation. With the exception of ,seven years, 1944-51, when he worked as a Holstein Association of Canada fieldman in East- Central Ontaio, he has actively developed the Roybrook herd. The cow family synonymous with the Roybrook name is the famous "White Cow Family" headed by Balsam Brae Pluto Sovereign (Excellent, 7-Stars), purchased as a 5-Year-Old. The entire Roybrook herd traces to PORT PERRY STAR REAL ESTATE -- Tuesday, April 24, 1990 -- 15 Brooklin Holstein farm honored this exceptional female nominated All-Canadian Aged Cow six years, with the achieve- ment in 1956. All-Canadian win- ners, Honour List producers, top proven A.l. bulls, Star Brood cows, and a five generation line of Excellents have developed from this family. Roybrook is a popular and priority herd for Holstein visitors to Canada. Roybrook bloodlines, through the sale of females, bulls and semen are renowned global- ly. Bulls have been exported to nearly every country in the world that has purchased Canadian Holsteins, and each year six or seven bulls from the Roybrook herd enter foreign A.l. service. The philosophy at Roybrook has been centred around production and the efficiency of the herd to convert roughage into milk. Cor- Junior Farmers donate $20,000 to advance leadership program The Junior Farmers' Associa- tion of Ontario (JFAQO) hosted a 'very successful conference at the Continental Inn, Barrie, March 16-18 to wrap up their 45th year. Close to 300 delegates represen- ting 42 countries, districts and regions from across Ontario listened to various speakers devoted to the conference theme of "You and I Can Reach the Sky In 1990." A presentation was made to the Advanced Agricultural Leader- ship Program (AALP) as a result of the JFAO fund raising effort. Patricia Mighton, Executive Director of the AALP accepted a cheque for close to $20,000. The annual meeting of the JFAO was held on Friday and Kelley Allen, Prescott County was chosen to lead the association as president. Other executive of- ficers for the 1990-91 year are: Vice President: Paul Nairn, -- -- How to be a Local Hero Think. When you think about all the good causes that need your help, it can be a little discouraging. But think what a real difference you can make to just a few of them. You can make giving a regular part of your budget and | plan your donations so they do the most i good. You can use your special abilities to help a group in your community. Think about it. Be a Local Hero. A national program to encourage giving and volunteering Perth; Past President: Scott Kelman, Brant; Secretary- Treasurer: Dianne Martin; Zone Directors: Don Scott, Grenville; Lawrence Van Camp, Durham East; Donna Goodfellow, Peel; Maria Kelman, Brant; Darlene MacKellar, Lambton; Barb Scott- Cole, Renfrew; Matt Bowman, Temiskaming. Winners of various competi- tions were announced during the weekend. In the Agricultural Awareness Competition spon- sored by Ralston Purina, first place went to the University of Guelph, while Dundas County captured second and the Waterloo Jr. Farmers followed with third. The Junior Farmers' Associa- tion of Ontario is non-profit organization open to people bet- ween the ages of 15 and 29 years. Their motto is "Self Help and Community Betterment" and you do not have to live on a farm or be familiar with agriculture to join. For more information please contact your local Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food office or the JFAO head office at Box 1030, Guelph, Ontario N1H 6N1 Telephone: 519-767-3508. Batty named life member At the annual meeting of the Jersey Cattle Association of Canada, John Batty, Brooklin, was awarded an Honorary Life Ea. ser p= 2, Tr dl A new spirit of giving Fy, tw w pd Membership. This prestigious award was presented to John for his significant contribution to the Jersey breed and the agricultural community. John Batty established the Cre- sent Jersey herd in 1932. John has been president of many farm organizations, including the . Channel Island Milk Producers' Association, the Farmers Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Ontario-Durham Counties Jersey Club, the Ontario Jersey Club, and the Canadian Jersey Cattle Club. He was also chairman of the Canadian National Livestock Records, and has been Deputy Reeve of Whitby Township. John has earned 5 Constructive Breeder Awards, and was presented the Master Breeder Award in 1975. In addition to his accomplishments with Cresent Jerseys, he has also been a breeder, exhibitor, and judge of Clydesdale horses. The Cresent Jersey herd con- tinued to excel under the manage- ment of John's son Bill. The herd had a 1989 composite BCA of 195.3, and is noted for success using sires in the Young Sire Proving Program. rect type, of course, is essential for longevity and the dairy cow's ability to stand up to heavy pro- duction year after year. At Roybrook these goals have been foremost in both its breeding and management programs. Roy Ormiston has recently made the decision to dispense his top quality herd. The sale is scheduled for October 1 at the farm. The Environment ORGANIC GARDENING, PART I by Michelle Bull Even though it may seem that we will never get our gardens in this year, it ig time to start thinking about gardening anyway, and especially about how we garden. For the next few weeks, we will be looking at organic gardening in the environment column. . First of all, what is organic gardening? Anything that has ever been alive is organic. All plants and animals are organic; manure, bone meal, peat moss, compost and all other plant and animal derivatives are organic. Organic gardening or lawncare means using organic matter to make our plants grow, rather than using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Gardeners know that plants need certain nutrients, especial- ly nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, to live and grow. (The three numbers on fertilizers refer to the percentage of these nutrients contained in the fertilizer). These nutrients can be fed to your plants either organically or chemically. The organic way ideally involves having your soil analyzed at a soil testing lab (send a sample to Nutrite, Box 160, Elmira, Ont., N3B 2Z6, ph. 1-800-265-8865), to see what it is lacking, and then digging in organic matter, or using it as a top dressing, to correct deficiencies. : If it is lacking nitrogen, you can add fish meal, blood meal, hoof and horn meal, or canola seed meal. If it is lacking phosphorous, add bone meal. If it is missing potassium, add kelp meal and liquid seaweed or wood ashes. In any case, you can add composted manure and peat moss, and, best of all, compost. These organic fertilizers contain plenty of what your soil needs in a slow releasing form which the plants can use. They help to build up your soil as you add them year after year. Chemical fertilizers, on the other hand, contain quick releas- ing nutrients, especially nitrogen. In order to use the nitrogen, the microbes in the soil which convert the nitrogen to a useable form have to take energy from the organic matter in the soil. This is then gradually depleted until you are left with lifeless sand or clay. You have to add more and more chemicals to make anything grow, and you initiate a vicious cycle. Furthermore, the worse the soil, the more likely that the highly soluble chemical fertilizers will wash away. Again, you need moré and' more, as your soil becomes more and more lifeless. And the more you use, the more likely you are to kill the beneficial bacteria and other bugs in your soil, which protect your plants from harmful pests and diseases. This brings me to the use of chemical herbicides and pesticides. Pesticides are general pesticides. That is, they kill everything, good and bad. In large enough doses they will kill you, your children, and your pets. They were first developed for chemical warfare during World War II. If this isn't scary enough, go and read the instruc- tions on one of the packages under safety precautions. Once you've killed the "good bugs' they are no longer there to kill or inhibit pests, which will soon be back, especially the flying ones. So you'll need more and more pesticides, too: a cy- cle of chemical dependency is established: Once your pesticides have killed everything in your garden (by the way, if you do spray, you shouldn't let children or pets play in your garden for several days), the chemicals are wash- ed into the ground water. From there they go, you guessed it, into our drinking water. If you think I'm being alarmist, think about this fact: pesticides have been found in the bodies of polar bears. Think about it. Polar bears do not eat sprayed grass. They are nowhere near sprayed fields. They eat fish and meat, thousands of miles away from the nearest garden. so what are the odds that you have plenty of pesticides in your body, too? The good news in all of this is that you can have a perfectly lovely, healthy lawn and garden without using any chemical fer- tilizers or pesticides. Remember the famous lawns in England and at Versailles. They were famous for their health and beau- ty long before chemical fertilizers and pesticides had been invented. In the next few articles, we'll be talking about how to do this. In the meantime, you might want to read How To Get Your Lawn and Garden Off Drugs, by Carole Rubin, published by Friends of the Earth, and available from them at 701-251 Laurier Ave. W., Ottawa, Ont., K1P 5J6, for $12.95 plus $2.00 postage. Then start digging in that manure and compost! 3 == Crownl.ife PARTICIPACTION CHALLENGE Wednesday, May 30, 1990 PaARTICIPALTION 'PITCH-IN | WEEK MAY 7-13