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14 - DeCKS AWASH get the high unit price that you can get with the specialty crops. We can't even grow enough carrots to meet the demand. although we hope to have more this year . The market is 60miles away and we pretty well have to be on the road by 6 a .m. to beset up at the market for a 9 a.m . opening. Weoffer fresh farm produce and most of it is harvested the night before, or in the case of broccoJi and cauliflower, the same morning . They have such a short shelf life. "Getting agriculture to the point where Newfoundland no longer needs to import farm products is an unattainable goal." says Elvis. "There just aren't enough funds to put agriculture on a firm footing in Newfoundland. Enough money would have to be put in to bring farming in line with that in the Maritimes and you have to ask if we need agriculture in Newfoundland. People buy at the best price and YOU'll see the price go up as soon as local produce is all sold. Our land use, machinery and technology all have to be The secret is in the storage M elvin Rideout's house is situated in the centre of Cormack, but most of. his farmland is located beyond the end of the paved road that continues on to Sir Richard Squires Memorial Provincial Park. It's one of the largest farms in the area and Melvin just recently took over the whole operation from his father, Sandy, who started the operation nearly 30 yea rs ago. "He retired last year and this will be my second crop year on my own," Melvin informs us as he wails for his fields to dry out from a heavy afternoon shower . "Last year he shared in the hay Melvin Rideout with a transplant crop. but this year it's all up to me. He was one of the first set tlers here after the war. It was hard to make a living with a horse-drawn ploy. and cultivator when he started. so he worked on projects in Labrador and with the Western Pioneer Company when the first chainsaws came to the Island. When he came back to farm again I was still at school and we built up from there . "We started off in vegetables and hay with a few beef cattle on the side - they took care of the hay! As we increased vegetable production, the cattle became a bit of an inconvenience so we got rid of them and made our money brought up-to-date. "The people in Agriculture Canada and the pr ovincial government are doing the best they can with the funds they have and I can't commend them enough, but there has to be more development mo ney made available. A million dollars is not going to be enough to bring our soil fertility up, purchase more machinery, or im pro ve buildings and land drainage. Fifty times that wouldn't do everything that's needed. from hay. We have upgraded our hayfields. but there is still a weather problem with drying the hay. In the Maritimes you can get two good cuts of hay, but here the season is too short to allow that unless the second cro p couId probably be taken for green silage (or 'haylage') by a dairy farm er set up for it. A few people here are trying haylage on a small scale. Most of the hay is sold right here to Woodfords Dairy and I have my hay booked for the next three or four years. Our hay is cheaper than anything that can be brought in and it's the best available. "We usua lly plow down a hayfield, have one crop of turnips or cabbage, then a crop of potatoes and back into hay for 4-5 years. That way the organic matter is high and there is good soil fertility. When we firs t sta rted out we were pressed for land and went with one crop of turnips or cabbage and then four of potatoes, but that made it ha rd to rebuild the organic ma tter . We've been growing a trip le mix of 70%climax timothy grass, 15% alsike clover and 15%doublecut red clover . The last two or three years we've been usi ng a timothy-alsike clover mix that's a little easier to dry. This year I've seeded just timothy grass and dispensed with the clover completely." The 215acres of hay is one half
of Melvin's operation. " This year I have 35 acres of potatoes, 16 acres of turnips and abo ut 10 acres or cabbage planted," he informs us after a moment's reflection. "Marketing hasn 't been a problem for me. Wholesalers prefer to deal with a bigger producer who can supp ly their needs for a crop rather than having to deal with a number of small producers who might be able to meet the demand for two or three weeks. I don't have any trouble getting orders as we store most of our vegetables and sell them over the winter. Weconcentrate on the harvest in fall and use our refrigerated storage if we have to. " We've had up to 65 acres of potatoes, but we weren't making any money on them. Now we ha ve the choice of selling the pota toes or holding them for seeds. This year has been really bad for potatoes and seeds, but I did bette r tha n most because I had plenty of foundation stock seeds. I sold a lot as table potatoes when I went into market with my other vegetables. 1sold 3,000 50-lb. bags that way and e nded up with some ex tra money." It isn't that simple, of course, as Melvin quickly points out. " We ha ve lost complete crops to frost. If you get a frost around flower ing time you lose your stoc k and by the time you estab lish it's too late in the growing season. Fro sts later on in the seaso n might dam age a rew exposed root crops , but they a ren't so much of a problem. There are ways of reducin g the risk and avo iding the short-season problems. We placed an orde r for 62,000cabbage transpla nts from Barony Nurse ry but the lat e spri ng put the count down a bit. The ma in thing wit h th e transplants for us is the late cabbage, which we couldn't grow from seed because of the short season. The transplants a re alrea dy six weeks old when we get them and most years you ca n get a good crop." Melvin's big expense each year is for fertilizer and he is trying to cut down that cost by mak ing use of the soil testing laboratory in St. J ohn's. "You could use a general pur 'pose fertilizer for all crops except turnips, but I prefer to use special ferti lizers for eac h field based on the res ults of the soil testing," he comments. " We've been able to get the testin g done for two yea rs now. If you follow the recomendations you cer ta inly see a sa v ing. This will be the first year that I've dealt with each field differently . Even if the yield is the same the costs are way down. We were putting a bout 1,000pounds of 12-24-24fertili zer on an acre of The Joy of vegetable farming hen we catch up with Alex W J oy, 37, of Picadilly. he is in the process of painting a friend's car. As the paint dries we are able to learn about Alex's experience in root crops and sheep farming. " My grandfather started the farm here and my father followed him," Alex tells us. "I've live in a number of towns in Newfoundland. I was in the fishery originally and tried to do some farmi ng along with it. I actually got into farming through repairing equipment out in the fields. Eventually I got into fanning full time, but I do any kinds of jobs that come up except ca rpentry work. We had a fire four years ago when somebody set fire to the bar n. That put us back $70,000 and we haven't been a ble to rep lace a ll the livestock we lost, al though we' re building them up again. We were just at the point of ma king money and now we' re back to scratching a living aga in. " We have about 500 ac res of fa rm la nd in crops, hay a nd pas ture. We just have a few beef ca ttle for our own use apart from the sheep. Our sheep are Cheviots hred with Suffolk ram s. I bought DECKS AWASH 15 potatoes and this year most of our potat oes are taking 700pounds of 17-17-17 per acre. There's not much difference in the cost of each fertilizer and we're saving 300pounds of fertilizer per acre. That will add up, although I don't ex pe ct to grow any more potat oes. " I will have vegetables for sale right thr ough the yea r this year because I still have some seed potat oes for sa le before my hay is sold in Ju ly. Most of my cash crops are sold in the winter months when the pric es are higher . The thing with turnips is you need refrigerated storage to make some money even when the pr ice is low as it was last year." Melvin's farm is an important em ployer in the community a nd he hopes it will continue after he retires. " We have around 600 acres, about half of which is suitable for root crops in rotation and another quarter just for hay," he tells us. " We a lready use quite a bit of hir ed help at planting and harv est times and when we're haymaking there's a few jobs for the area. I have a 52-week job myself that is difficult to fit into a year at the best of times . I have five boys and one girl and the third oldest boy is just finishing Grade 12and I think he'll stay on the farm." " an American ram four years ago. We grow ca bbage, potatoes , a littl e bit of beets, broccoli, cauliflower and a few greens this year. The broccoli and cauliflower go mostly to Stephenville and the local fair and we sell in Corner Brook. We produce a good amount of wool that is sold locaUy and we send the lambs in to St. Joh n's." At certain times of the year marketing is a problem . " Here, the first one on the market is the one that sells his vegetables," Alexsuggests . "The biggest problem for a farmer is
Page 2 and 3: Today's teacher meets the challenge
Page 4 and 5: 2 - DECKS AWASH n.~ ~ HARVEY FISHER
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Page 8 and 9: 6 - DECKS AWASH Mare ready 10 loal
Page 10 and 11: 8 - OECKS AWASH difficulty in obtai
Page 12 and 13: 10 - DECKS AWASH the costs to us we
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Page 22 and 23: 20 - DECKS AWASH The real Jiggs e w
Page 24 and 25: 22 - DECKS AWAS H which is what you
Page 26 and 27: 24 - DeCKS AWASH ourselves. This ye
Page 28 and 29: 26 - DECKS AWASH milk, less 5.1¢a
Page 31 and 32: DECKS AWASH - 29 beef cattle A litt
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Page 35 and 36: "I started with root crops four yea
Page 37 and 38: cedes it would be pointless for the
Page 39 and 40: DECKS AWASH - 37 should be subsidiz
Page 41 and 42: DECKS AWASH - 39 th()5e who are try
Page 43 and 44: DECKS AWASH - 41 25% TO 50% SAVINGS
Page 45 and 46: esults of your per formance everyda
Page 47 and 48: OECKS AWASH - 45 499 chickens that
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Page 51 and 52: DECKS AWASH - 49 Transplanted far m
Page 53 and 54: DECKS AWASH - 51 Greenhouses need l
Page 55 and 56: children 100-200 Ills.a day. At tha
Page 57 and 58: spreads the risk of frost so you do
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Page 61 and 62: DECKS AWASH - 59 Making a go ofmink
Page 63 and 64: OECKS AWASH - 61 trout Aquaculture,
Page 65 and 66: come in and get the moose in our fi
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features Home gardening DECKS AWASH
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DECKS AWASH - 71 "We had day trips
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DECKS AWASH - 73 possible? You know
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DECKS AWASH - 75 Secrets down on th
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DECKS AWASH - 77 Birds of Newfoundl
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NATIONAL PARKS CENTENNIAL Celebrate
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