Every year we take some time to reminisce about happenings over the last year as we enjoy great food and drinks with family and friends. This year was very trying for all of us.
With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic came changes that we never even dreamed of. Most world travel ground to a halt. Our air, water, and the hole in the ozone began to repair and return to normal. Life as we had became used to like going to work, eating, socializing and exercising out of our homes, almost stopped.
We learned that because of the computer age, we could do . . .
a lot of very efficient work from home. We learned that the best meals are prepared at home. We learned to appreciate little phone and computer chats with friends. We realized that walking or gardening was excellent exercise and growing our own food was good for our health to. Because we couldn’t attend concerts or shows, thousands of new musicians and singers were discovered on Facebook or in the kitchen. Dependence on fossil fuels dropped dramatically. Insurance claims also went down with fewer vehicles on the road and most people at home to put out small fires before the house was gone.
We noticed the return of more pollinators and song birds, maybe because of cleaner air? Because of more people eating at home instead of in restaurants there was much less food waste. (Restaurants don’t serve leftovers. They also serve larger portions and throw out what is not eaten.) Because restrictions on movement of people made it difficult to access foreign workers to harvest fruit and vegetables thousands of acres of crops had to be plowed down.
Because of a change in where meals were eaten there quickly became a surplus in milk and other foods and reductions of farmers productions also happened very quickly.
Some people had their jobs terminated and some businesses were forced to quit. This caused an increase in use of food banks. Rather than dump milk or destroy crops many of these foods were sent to food banks to help out. Many people can adapt to working from home, taking college education via computer or even children doing school from home.
There are some people who have a hard time adapting to different conditions while others can. I had a neighbour who became crippled with polio but spent the rest of his productive life working with his hands in his little woodworking shop making everything from sleigh tongues, to baseball bats. I have several farmer friends who have lost a leg, an arm, a foot, an eye, several fingers, had a partial stroke, or continued on with bionic knees or hips. They could drive tractors, combines, dump trucks, excavators, bulldozers, do electrical work or continue as an expert mechanic.
There was a dairyman who became totally blind but continued to milk his cows, breed his cows AI and do other barn work like washing the milk room, sweeping, etc. When the neighbours heard the milker running with no lights in the barn, they knew that this blind man was milking his cows. He also kept all cow records in braille. Some folks adapt while others don’t.
We can all give thanks for what we have left.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
