ATHABASCA, Alta. — Three area farming families were honoured at the Athabasca District Ag Society Fall Harvest Supper and Dance, representing more than 150 years of combined agricultural knowledge.
Over 200 people attended the event in the Agriplex Hall on the Ag Society property located north of the Athabasca River Nov. 5 and celebrated a bountiful harvest as well as Herman and Joanne Freh, Doug and Sharon Miller, and Jim Bowzaylo.
“A bunch of new fibre optic line was laid and that will help make things better for all of us whether we're running our business – because farming has certainly changed – and time in the office is important now,” said Athabasca County reeve Brian Hall in the lead up to the punchline. “I know back in Saskatchewan, the Internet connection on my farm was really quite poor and so finally I moved the modem to the barn and once I did that, I finally had stable Internet.”
Hall brought greetings on behalf of the county and Town of Athabasca mayor Rob Balay, also no stranger to farming having grown up on a farm near Rochester then farming his own land west of Perryvale, congratulated everyone in the room for a great harvest.
“Harvest was the highlight of the year; it was the best time,” said Balay. “Just the smell and the colours … the feeling in the air of the anticipation and the excitement of finally getting to bring in the crop you've been watching grow … there's really nothing like that. Now I help a good family friend of ours, and every year, I spend several hours on a combine, getting my harvest fix. That sort of thing never leaves the boy from a farm.”
Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken, a 40-year farming veteran himself, brought greetings from Premier Danielle Smith and his fellow MLAs.
“I want to thank all the members of the Athabasca Ag Society for the work that you do helping to keep the spotlight on agriculture in our communities. It takes a lot of volunteers to get work done, and anyone that's involved in that, I just want to say thank you,” van Dijken said.
“We have a very large constituency but it's a constituency that is rooted in agriculture (and) has a fair bit of forestry development and energy development. The reality of all of that is we are a constituency that has a lot of impact on the GDP (gross domestic product) of our province and I would suggest that we will – with agriculture being a renewable resource – continue to help this province succeed well into the future.”
The three farming families were then presented with a custom metal sign made by Tizzco’s Riverside Machine and Welding, a certificate from the provincial government, and “gold” rubber boots and pitchfork.
Jim Bowzaylo
Brooke Bowzaylo told the audience her grandfather, Jim ‘Gido’ Bowzaylo was given a choice at 15 to either help his father farm or be sent to anywhere in the world to study and he chose farming.
“He worked for his parents almost 24/7 and (at) 21 years old he started with three quarters he bought out from his parents and one he was given from them for all the work he did,” she said. “He got married in 1969 to our granny, Donna, who came from the city with no farm experience, but quickly became the main operator on the farm. Gido would not have been able to keep their farming operation going if it was not for her.”
He occasionally worked on the rigs to supplement the farming income and at 65 years old sold everything to retire but quickly found it wasn’t for him.
“He bought back into cattle after two years and keeps expanding his herd each year,” she said. “Now that Gido no longer has granny by his side to help him through, he is able to keep his operation sufficient and strong thanks to the help of his grandchildren.”
Herman and Joanne Freh
Herman and Joanne Freh got married in 1971 and started farming east of Colinton while Joanne worked part time as a registered nurse in the Athabasca Healthcare Centre.
“In 1977, we bought a grain dryer,” Herman said. “There was only two years we have never used a grain dryer and that was this year and I forget the other year … and then we all went through that high interest rate in 1980s. We paid as high as 24 per cent.”
In 1980, they became seed growers and continued with that for 30 years.
“In those first days it took us three days to combine 160 acres, now with the two combines (it’s) seven hours for 160 acres,” he said. “When we started farming, we had 440 acres. We went up as high as 3,500 acres and now we're down to about 2,500 acres.”
Over the years they have sold land to their son Greg and grandson Mitch to carry on the family business.
Doug and Sharon Miller
Doug and Sharon Miller’s children Nadine Parant, Kyle Miller, and Scott Miller all rose to talk about their parents.
“They married in 1969 (and) shortly after mom and dad moved to Edmonton and dad started a job as a bricklayer,” she said. “They were in Edmonton for three weeks when Dana, Doug’s dad, called with the news that Charlie May's place was for sale and with the advice, ‘You better get home and buy it.’ So started the farming journey.”
In an ode to strong farm women everywhere, Parant recounted the legend of Kyle's birth.
“She wouldn’t go to the hospital when she was expecting Kyle until all the potatoes were planted. She finished up, washed up, and went to the hospital and Kyle made his appearance that night.”
Eventually the farm expanded to include Miller Rodeo in the 1980s to supply horses and cattle to area rodeos, but Doug also loved using horses for farming.
“Although modern technology has helped improve farming methods dad has always had a passion for farming with horses,” said Parant. “On many occasions, our parents have planted and harvested grain crops with the use of horse drawn equipment.”
The Athabasca District Ag Society wants to honour other farm families who have existed for 50 years or more and invite people to join the annual general meeting Dec. 6 at 6:30 p.m.
Email [email protected] to nominate a family or for more details or look at their Facebook page.
