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Don is seen here | in front of one of the huge « com silos on one of the Frew family farm: ‘by J. Peter Hvidsten 16 FOCUS - JUNE 2011 JUNE FOCUS. 40 pages.indd 16 Continued from page 15 County in 1953. By now the Frews had three children and when two were enrolled at the nearby Zion school, Don was asked to serve on the local school board. This marked his first venture into local poli- tics. Don says, hard work on the farm, other jobs and wheeling and dealing all contributed to his Hard work on the farm, —_ farming success. working at other jobs during as well as his “wheeling and dealing” paid off. He was able to add to his holdings by buying a neighbouring farm. In 1958 he heard of a farm with a tobacco quota for sale in Cartwright Township near Lake Scugog but he had no idea where the lake was located. With his curiosity piqued, he and his brother Bill set out to look at the farm. They were so impressed with the quality of the tobacco that they quickly arranged to borrow the money and in partnership bought the prope: ince Don and Norma still operated the Scotland farm they placed a manager at the Cartwright farm. After a succession of unsuccessful managers, Don suggested to Norma that they place their Scotland farm under a man- ager and move to Cartwright. Norma was most reluctant to move again, but, as Don says, “I talked her into trying it for a year, and now look at us, we never left.” Their move to Cartwright proved to be a happy one. By then four of the Frew children were ready to enrol in school at Blackstock. “George Bowers used to pick up the kids at the end of the driveway,” Norma reminisced. At the end of a successful year Don bought out his brother’s share of the farm and then sold his farm in Brant “| talked her (Norma) into trying it for a year — and now look at us. We never left.” Don Frew, speaking on his move to Cartwright County. Don and Norma settled comfortably into their life in Cartwright expanding their land holdings until today along with their sons, they own 18 farms with more than 3,000 acres. By the late 1970s it was obvious that the demand for tobacco was rapidly diminishing so they quickly disposed of their tobacco quotas and moved into raising hogs and in buying and selling grain. Don, his sons David and Al, and his grandsons have more than 4,000 hogs and tend to 3,000 acres in corn and 50 acres of beans. Don and Norma’s daughters live locally; Valerie works at the Lindsay Post newspaper, Virginia owns the Marlin Travel office in Port Perry and Nancy has been a nurse at Port Perry hospital for over 30 years. When asked about the future of farming in Ontario, Don became quite agitated. “There is no government strat- egy for agriculture,” he said. 5/24/11 8:58:43 AM