Last week, the Citizen ran a story about a collection of groups requesting the city purchase Queensway Farm for the community and hold it for future generations for food security.
But not a museum in the traditional sense. What I mean is a living, working testament to that crazy time in history when we actually grew our own food! When potato kings like John Ryser were winning potato seed championships year after year, 13 in total. When we not only made our own ice-cream but we supplied the entire north with dairy and egg products.
A problem with agriculture today is it has left the local, human-scaled model behind. Maybe too far behind. Big operations with their biotech, GPS tractors and pesticides have reduced the Canadian farmer to just 2% of the population. The average Canadian farmer isn’t really even a farmer anymore. They are more like a chemical company employee.Fellow columnist and PG old-timer Eric Allen remembers one of the farms on the river below the cemetery.