globalfarmerdotcom

That’s my kind of farmer! Kurt Wanner was seeding phacelia, a green manure that blooms lavender purple, and asked his wife Monika for some sunflower seed. Now the field, about one hectare, is a purple haze dotted with golden flowers. A farmer that thinks beauty along with practicality…

Kurt Wanner turns a field into a flower garden, a practical and beautiful enterprise.

Someone told me there might be more practicality than beauty in Kurt’s thinking. The field is along a well used biking and hiking path. The Swiss consumer sees (and pays) the farmer as someone responsible for maintaining the balance of nature, for producing healthy food (which to many means organic), for keeping healthy happy animals. It is in the self interest of the Swiss farmer to do whatever he can to uphold that image in people’s minds. Seeding sunflowers amongst the phacelia might be part of that strategy.

Not only does this field brighten up the passing consumer's day, but also their image of their local farmer.

If it is, it’s working. Most sunflowers are past bloom now, whereas these are lighting up the landscape. The neighbouring village of Beggingen had a reunion and asked if they could cut some of the flowers. Others walking by have asked too. The Wanners are generous. Of course we can cut the flowers. Monika encouraged me to cut some too, and they grace the front of the house where all who walk by can enjoy them.

It often doesn’t take much to go that extra mile, to help improve the farmer’s image. I don’t know if Kurt seeded the sunflowers for the mind or the heart. Whatever he did, it works for me!

“Is this for real, or am I in a calendar page?”

Besides the Matterhorn, these three must be the most famous peaks of the Swiss Alps. From left to right: Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau.

“Pinch yourself,” my aunt Olgi tells me.

It’s a picture perfect day in a picture perfect landscape. Clear blue skies, the low shrubbery turning an autumn red, slate grey rock and glistening white snow peaks; a picnic of Swiss bread and cheese among blooming heather and blueberries. The music of cow bells makes the idyll complete.

Before us rise the three Swiss mountain giants – Eiger, whose north wall many have tried to scale, some failing and falling (the Swiss version of Mount Everest). Mönch (Monk) in the middle, and the Jungfrau (virgin) to the right. The Jungfrau Joch – the pass between Mönch and Jungfrau, is one of the most frequented spots in Switzerland. Over 700,000 visitors a year climb into the rack railway train to the highest train station in all of Europe.

Olgi hikes towards the Eiger north wall, where many an endeavour to scale it ended fatally.

We’re hiking the path from Männlichen, which is reached by gondola, over to the Kleine Scheidegg, from which the train goes to the Joch. Olgi calls it the AHV (senior’s) path – a wide gravel pathway winding 4.6 kilometres a comfortable 192 metres slope downwards. I’m quick to note that if we’d gone the more strenuous way – up – we’d miss seeing the big three before us the whole way.

There’s even a bit of Canada here – hiking around a corner, a group of Inuksuk greet us. There’s no shortage of slate rock to build the popular stone cairns, mostly in human form. But what a Tepee is doing down by the restaurant and train station of the Kleine Scheidegg I don’t really know. Closed now, it’s apparently a beer garden during the ski season.

Inuksuk cairns before the Mönch remind me of Canada's far north.

We hear more English – most of it American it seems to me – than Swiss. Enjoying a pizza with wine along the Interlaken Promenade later, we see many women in head scarves. Olgi tells me the Arabs are bringing the money to the tourist town now. They used to see more Asians – at one time primarily Japanese. There are definitely fewer Germans this year. Switzerland with its high Franc has become too expensive for those with the Euro.

We walk through the commercialized tourist villages of Grindelwald and Wengen. It’s a double edged sword. Tourism brings money, revives the village, makes jobs and keeps the young people home, but it means big changes, a loss of the old way of life. It seems you can’t have it both ways.

Global warming is generally blamed for the alarming rate at which Swiss glaciers are receding. The peak to the right is the Wetterhorn, I believe.

There are other changes. Olgi comments on how much the glaciers are receding. She shows me one glacier that has receded 300 meters since the mid eighties. Most of the Swiss rivers are fed by glacier water. Some fear that by the end of this century 50 to 90 per cent of the glaciers will have disappeared, which will have far reaching consequences for the Swiss river system.

The impassive rock and snow peaks before us comfort me. There are still some things that don’t change, much.

     Something irritates me about this picture – I’m sure now it’s the colour. Everything is so green! The corn fields are dark green, the sugar beets a lush green, the regrowth on the pastures and hay fields – it’s all green, as is the germinating canola crop.

September in Schleitheim, Switzerland. Dominant colour is green, with patches of brown - freshly plowed or seeded fields.

     “Do you miss harvest in Canada?” Michelle asks me. I do. The expansive golden fields of wheat and barley under the deep blue Alberta sky; the long straight rows of olive-turning-brown canola laid on the swath. Those are the colours of September for me. There’s green too – of the John Deere 9600 combine I operated these last years. I have always loved harvest time in Canada – loved being an integral part of it. The smell of just chopped barley straw; the way the dust hangs silver in the still air just before sunset; suppers in the field with Teryl’s wonderful pies.

September in Westlock (Dapp), Alberta. Chris and Michelle Rottier combine golden wheat under the blue Alberta sky. (Photo courtesy of Michelle Rottier)

     The whine of a corn chopper reminds me what September harvest is in Switzerland – corn silage time. But it’s all so different. The small fields (rarely more than five acres, and often on hills) are harvested in a few hours. Then it’s on to a new job – plowing down the green manure field, cultivating the plowed field in readiness to seed barley or wheat, mowing the third cut of hay, putting out the liquid manure.

     Chatting with the mother of the farmer who bought our land 20 years ago, I wondered aloud what we would be doing if we hadn’t moved to Canada. She thought our then medium sized farm (30 hectares) wouldn’t be big enough for a viable business anymore. Her son now owns what used to be three farms. She says he runs all the time. The fields haven’t grown substantially in size – he just has more of them. When we say a farmer here has 100 hectares, we have to remember that means many small fields scattered throughout the community. That’s a lot of extra time.

Fields in Switzerland come right up and inbetween residential areas in the village. Walter Stamm gets off the tractor to rake in those last wisps of hay.

     Harvest in Schleitheim starts in late June with the first barley. Then comes wheat and canola in July, maybe into August. Corn is silaged in September, sugar beets harvested in October, sometimes into November. Some have potatoes or onions, which are mostly harvested now.

     Seeding starts in August with winter canola, then the first wheat and barley in September. The last wheat is seeded after the sugar beets come off, sometimes in November.  Sugar beets are seeded in March, and the last is the corn in early May.

     It’s a very different routine from that of a western Canadian grain farmer, who seeds in May, sprays June-July, harvests in September and October. Farmers here in Switzerland often ask me what we do there all winter…

   “They finally have some business again,” my father-in-law notes as we drive past a gas station just over the border in Germany. For years Germans have crossed the border to purchase their gas in Switzerland, where it was cheaper. With the high Swiss franc, they’re staying in Germany now.

Swiss retailers would prefer this customer was parked in their lots. Instead this Swiss is shopping at a German retailer, taking advantage of the low Euro.

     The problems in many European countries and the stock market have driven investors back to the franc. For several years the franc was on par with our Canadian dollar. Now we pay about $1.25 for a franc.

     Coming back to Switzerland on Canadian money, that wasn’t good news. My reaction was, “Well, I guess I’ll do more shopping in Germany than in Switzerland.” Living within a few kilometres of the border makes that easy, especially with a good sized town nearby. Regrettably for Switzerland, I’m not the only one thinking that way.

     Mr. Loosli, CEO of Coop Switzerland (one of the biggest retailer chains in Switzerland) says that Swiss retailers will lose three billion francs worth of business this year to the EU countries around them. Last year it was 1.9 billion. That hurts.

     The Schleitheim folks have been crossing the border into Stuehlingen (about three kilometres) for a long time, and vice versa. The Germans came to buy gas and pasta, the Swiss went to buy meat, go to the dentist and optometrist. Now the traffic is mostly one way.

     Swiss retailers and businesses are doing all they can to get customers into their buildings. The automobile dealers have Euro exchange deals, and the big Swiss retailers Coop and Migros reduced pricing on a large amount of items.

     The whole thing reminds me very much of the scenario a few years ago in Canada/USA when the Canadian dollar rose to par with the USA dollar. Canadians were going to the USA to buy trucks and toys because they were so much cheaper. Eventually Canadian dealers had to lower prices to compete.

     The ones hurting the most of course, are the businesses who produce in Switzerland and export to other countries. As Canadian farmers who export most of their product, we know all about that. Swiss farmers sell most of their products within the country, so don’t feel the effects as much. But that opens a whole other can of worms – a limited market has its own issues.

     But I just remembered – I’ve got to go to Stuehlingen this afternoon for some groceries…

August 30, 2011: “Who’s going to start the show this year?” Every year farmers in the Schleitheim valley could count on Hans Jürg Meier to be the first to seed canola. The village is still reeling from the death of this young farmer and father of two, after a fall from a high roof several weeks ago. So this year Hans Tenger started the seeding operations.

It's time to seed the winter canola. This farmer is seeding 'huckapack' - the seed drill is attached to the cultivator, which is hooked up to the three point hitch.

     Farmers have been busy cultivating and plowing the last week or two, preparing for seeding. In western Canada almost every farmer does some form of minimum or no till soil management. We repeatedly tell our Zambian farmers not to plow. And yet even the young progressive farmers in Schleitheim still plow. Why?

     My 89 year-old father-in-law’s answer was, “In the heavy Schleitheim soils it is best to plow and leave the soil to dry out a bit again.” The answer from the younger farmers isn’t much different. Schleitheim soil is a very heavy clay. Here they say, “Canola thanks you for plowing”. The yields are almost always better than with just cultivating.

     One problem with minimum tillage is straw management. Canola doesn’t germinate well if there is too much straw cover. Slugs, often a big problem, like to hide in straw.

     Some consultants will recommend plowing to control diseases. Another farmer, who tried no-till methods, went back to plowing to control weeds.

It's hard to believe the tiny canola seeds could ever germinate in these lumps. But another round or two with the cultivator will eventually break them down.

     It’s not that the Schleitheim farmers are regressive or ultraconservative. Many farmers have tried it at some time or other. They purchased equipment as a cooperative, and farmers occasionally give it a try again, if conditions seem ideal.

     Markus Stamm plows less than many others. He mulches the field after harvest to break down the straw, then cultivates. Doing so gives him extra points towards one of the government subsidy programs – biodiversity. It seems to work well for him most of the time.

     Yesterday I went out to check where a farmer was cultivating a plowed field. I wondered how anything would ever grow in those big heavy lumps behind the cultivator. But they do – the grain crops around here are usually excellent. Markus tells me they cultivate two or three times after plowing. If they’re lucky, they’ll get some light rains in between, then the soil breaks down better.

     It just goes to show that you can’t make the same rules for everywhere. There’s a time to plow, and a time not to plow.

     Canola is a winter crop in Switzerland and seeding starts around August 20 with the open pollinated varieties which have a longer growing season. Hybrid varieties are seeded a week or two later. Markus Stamm plans to seed the next day or two.

     I wish the Schleitheim farmers good luck as they seed – and the Canadian farmers safety and favourable conditions as they harvest their canola!

August 22, 2011:  It’s hot in Switzerland. So hot that even this water shy girl joined her friends at the outdoor pool in Schleitheim yesterday. “Finally it’s summer!” everyone here is saying. It feels just like Zambia to me. So it seemed only natural to take President Banda of Zambia with me to the pool.

Chitenges such as this are often given as gifts by presidential candidates. They don't usually air out in Swiss villages though!

     Just before I left Zambia, my nurse friend Margaret gave me her newest chitenge (wrap skirt fabric) to remember her by. The print is a huge picture of President Banda, in blue. This is an election year. The print was certainly made with that in mind, and probably given free as propaganda material. President Banda should be flattered, to know that his picture is being laid out in Switzerland at the poolside!

     Elections have now been called, for September 20^th. The USA has issued an alert for tourists planning to travel the country before, during, and just after the election. Zambians are protesting – they’ve always been a peaceful country. But there have been some outburst of riots here and there already. Some of our friends were worried this election could be ‘hot’, while others were certain Zambians will remain peaceful, like they always have been. We’ll see.

     Small farmers have their own reasons to be concerned. Many have sold their maize to the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) – the government maize agency, but not all have been paid. The government kept the price up artificially high; some say to keep voters on their side. There has been a surplus of maize for two years now. The domestic market is too small to handle all that, and export markets are not lucrative. Zambia tends to produce more expensively than its neighbouring countries, partly due to the fact that it is land locked and transport costs are higher.

     Farmers are worried they won’t be paid before the election, and who knows what will happen after. Is there even enough money in the coffers to pay farmers what they’ve already delivered? Here an excerpt from the Zambian Post online from August 17^th to that topic: “North Western Province FRA regional marketing coordinator Sunday Mwelwa said his office had so far received K7.86 billion of the projected K28 billion for the purchase of the 438,000 (delivered) bags.” That’s only one quarter of the money needed, and more bags to come.

     I worry then about our farmers, the ones we work with. It’s one thing to read such stories in the news. It’s another when the stories have faces and names to them. I know those faces will suffer if they don’t get paid. Where will they get money for other food (especially if they sold maize to pay bills, that they should have for food)? Or for school fees, or for medicine? Or to repay loans?

     Farmers are suffering here in Schleitheim, Switzerland too. And Robert told me that our neighbouring Canadian community was wiped out with hail recently. But I’m not worried any of those people will go hungry. My Zambian friends may. That’s sobering. And no matter who gets in as president, that isn’t going to change.

August 16, 2011: Stone rain, they call it in Africa. The damage it did here in Schleitheim, Switzerland does the name justice. The old folks say they’ve never seen such a hail storm in their life. It was the timing – in the middle of the night; and the size of the hail – golf balls; and the amount. Margrit Gasser says whenever lightning would light up the sky; the scene was like one out of winter. Pure white everywhere.

Threshed by hail instead of the combine, most of the grain in this field landed on the ground instead of in the hopper. (background: Schleitheim)

     It wrecked havoc with the harvest ready grain crops. Canola was a 100 per cent write off. Markus Stamm’s son Simon insisted on going out to combine theirs, but didn’t get enough to pay for the fuel. The barley was mostly off already. Some wheat fared better, other fields were a full write off too.
     The corn is frazzled. It has cobs, most of it, but will have more trouble filling out. The sugar beets are recovering.

This battered ear of corn has survived drought, frost and 'stone rain'. It has some time to recover before silage time in October.

     At least it was raining again. For dairy farmers such as Christoph Hafner, the growing pastures and hay fields are more important than the loss of grain. Some dairy farmers had started to sell cattle, because they ran out of feed. I remember a similar scenario out of Alberta, Canada some years back. 
     Monika Wanner says she doesn’t remember such a farming year as this – first frost, then drought. Then some hail. Then rain when the crops were ready to harvest. Then that disastrous hail storm. It’s hard. I wrote in an earlier blog about the problems farmers will have with the short and thin straw this year. Cattle and hog farmers are required by animal rights laws to provide bedding for their animals on a certain percentage of the pen area. That’s going to be really tough this year. Not only was there hardly any straw, much of it fell on a thick fast growing thatch of sprouted grain from the hail, making it almost impossible to bale.

These passing hikers were delighted when Monika offered to share her prune harvest with them.

     It’s not a year I’d want to be a farmer here! But I did enjoy an afternoon in the prune trees with Monika yesterday. Although many were rotting because of hail damage too, there was still more than enough there. Many of the prunes we picked will go to the local care home, where residents will be delighted to prepare them for the freezer or for pie. That’s the best form of occupational therapy.
     Grandma and Grandpa Stamm prepared my prunes. As you see, I’m back in Switzerland, much sooner than expected. I’m here to support Robert’s aging parents, which have been struggling, until we find a more permanent solution. That could be some months.

Feeding calves is a job that even the littlest can 'help' with. Micah and Naomi ride the rails as Rebekkah watches the calves.

     It’s an idyllic picture: a large boisterous family gathers around the big wooden kitchen table of this organic farm. The food is from the family garden – fresh carrots, a big bowl of salad, potatoes and meat. There’s always room for one more. Today it’s a neighbour with health issues and her autistic son who’ve come to spend the day with them. The help is mutual – the neighbour assists Jane with the never ending work in garden and house.

Sarah Rottier wants to make sure the new calf gets that all important first colostrum from the dairy cow mother.

     “Dad, did you see there’s a new calf?” No, he hadn’t. Sarah, just graduated from high school, bright blue finger nails, long blond hair, decides the cow should be milked out right away for that precious first colostrum milk. I follow her out to watch as she gently guides the cow into a shute. Strong deft fingers draw the milk from the swollen teats into a bottle.

     After supper it’s time to go feed the calves with milk – this is Rebekkah’s job. The milk is in pails on a little wagon. She ladles the milk into smaller pails, which her younger brother Micah brings to each calf as she directs him. One ladle goes into a bowl for the farm cats which have gathered around, waiting.

     Three year old Naomi squeals – the calf, having finished its pail of milk, is now sucking on her arm and clothing. Rebekkah pulls her out of the pen, comforting her.

     It is a feel good evening, and many would say it’s a feel good farm. Karl and Jane Rottier and their seven children operate one of only a few organic dairy farms in Alberta. When the Alberta Milk Board made an appeal for organic milk to fill the growing demand of the market, the Rottiers were ready. They’ve always tried to operate their farm as naturally as possible. Various health issues in their wider family had made them sensitive to the importance of producing healthy food.

     It isn’t always so feel good though. There are many challenges. Trying to make hay in the usually moister Westlock summer to comply with organic regulations of 25% hay, is trying. Especially this year! Not being able to use antibiotics freely means finding other ways to keep cows healthy – usually more expensive ways. Everything seems more time consuming. It means hiring an extra person for all the extra work. There are no quick fixes. Organic farming is more about prevention, than healing. And then there’s the bookkeeping. What a headache, they say.

     But it’s still worth it. “I wouldn’t even think of going back,” Karl says. And it seems the whole family is happy about it too. At least tonight.

     We talk about tribalism in Africa. “What tribe are you from?” can be a good, or a dangerous question. During the riots after the election in Kenya in 2007 tribal affiliation decided your life. In Zambia, it reminds me more of Canada – your ‘tribal’ roots give you a feeling of belonging. So the Swiss tribe in northern British Columbia gathers every year in the Fort St. John area, to celebrate the Swiss national day, August 1.

Maya Wenger and her daughter Esther dress up for the party - many of the girls will braid their hair (like Heidi?), with the white of the swiss flag stenciled on their cheeks.

     The center of the celebration is the big pyramid of wood stacked up for the fire. It goes back to the legends of the founding of Switzerland, when the signal for victory was a bright fire on each of the high hills. There are drought years, when the fire can’t be lit for fear of lighting the forest or nearby grain fields. There was no fear of that this year!

We're all glad for the warmth of the fire on this cool evening. Watch out kids - those logs are coming down!

   Daniel and Susi Rötlisberger joke that most people come just for the bratwurst. Every year the two of them bring enough Bratwurst and Cervelat (this is the Swiss version, the ‘right’ one…) and grill them to perfection for the hundred or more people present. Others bring the Zopf – the Swiss bread, to go with it. Salads and Desserts – a mix of Canadian and Swiss recipes – round out the meal that’s laid out on a hay wagon.

     Most people come from a two hour radius. Others, like me, plan long trips home to coincide with the event. My nephew initiates his new Canadian girlfriend into the rite.

     There are visitors from Switzerland, who will go home to tell their compatriots that the Swiss in Canada have more fun celebrating the national birthday than those in Switzerland.

     Almost all the old timers were there this year. The initiators of the event, they’re in their seventies and eighties now. Most of them were pioneer dairy farmers. They began with nothing, carving out an existence in this wilderness. They’re old and frail now, coming with grand children and great grand children, who wouldn’t miss the August 1 party for anything.

     Canada allows us dual citizenship. This party celebrates that. The Canadian flag is present along with the Swiss. People eat their mix of Canadian and Swiss food in Canadian folding chairs. Eavesdropping in on conversations, I hear a mix of English and Swiss – often in the same sentence. They call that ‘Swinglish’.

These multicultural Swiss/Canadians proudly swing their lampions to the Swiss folk songs.

     I see Ruth Osterwalder brought her guitar. Later, she’ll lead the children in a ‘lampion’ parade – the kids swinging their paper lanterns in Swiss patterns with the candle light shining through, and singing the Swiss folk songs. Out in the pasture beyond, someone will start a soccer game, the Swiss national sport.

     But the mainstay of the party will be visiting. It’s like a big family reunion, and really that’s what it is, a tribal reunion. Sort of like the Kuombuka celebration in Zambia with the Losi tribe in May, just not as big. Maybe we should start selling souvenirs?

    The place we know the least about is often the place we live. The hidden gems are as much the people as the places. At the end of this year’s Westlock County tour, July 20, Dennis Mueller said to us, “Note the importance of volunteers in this tour visit…and of individuals with a vision and purpose and drive.” It’s those people that have provided the county with five or more places of interest to tour, for 26 years in a row.

Dom Kriangkum is so excited to see the Canadia men's gymnastic team training in the world class athletic center he's built.

     Dom Kriangkum, a private entrepreneur, is realizing his dream of building a world class athletic center at the tiny hamlet of Tawatinaw. We had the awesome privilege of watching the Canadian men’s gymnastics team train as they prepare for the Olympics qualifications. Wow, right here in Westlock County!
     Our county covers 12,000 square miles. Les Breadon’s job is to keep its many culverts free of beaver activity. We gathered around one culvert through a creek as he pulled up a beaver in a live trap. He says he traps around 200 beaver a year. Thanks Les, for keeping our roads safe!

The new Redwater bridge, built entirely by volunteers, connects the historic Athabasca Landing Trail running through Westlock County.

     At an adhoc camp ground near Bouchard Lake, Adam Esch shows us what happens when such places aren’t managed. A ceramic toilet up against a spruce tree is used to set off fireworks into the bush. Quad trails run all over, and the ground is strewn with broken glass. It’s a beautiful place, but could be destroyed quickly. The country is working on a management concept for the recreation areas, especially on crown land.
     We stand on the new Red Water Bridge the Athabasca Landing Trail society has built, all with volunteer labour – mostly 10-12 older men. This trail was used to transport goods from Edmonton to Athabasca, where it was transferred to boats to Fort McMurray. It’s an important part of Alberta history, and is being restored in its entirety.
      Homemade soup and sandwiches are served at Half Moon Community Hall, which was the evacuation center for the Opal fire victims a year ago. Nearby is the Half Moon campground, run entirely by volunteers after the Thorhild County wanted to sell it. We’re glad this beautiful lake is still accessible to the public.

These boys have fun at the Half Moon campground, which is still open thanks to the tireless efforts of local volunteers.

     At Erdmann’s Gardens and Greenhouses we loaded up on garden fresh carrots and other produce. This is Rony Erdmann’s 29th season. He and his family grow vegetables and strawberries on 62 acres.
     Rainbow Equitation Center offers 27 kilometres of riding and hiking trails in natural habitat. Richard DeSmitt’s passion is much of what made this possible. There are several well fenced staging and holding areas for horses; even one riding area especially for handicapped.

This beautiful church in the tiny community of Waugh is another testimony to what can be done where there is vision and drive.

     And the gem of the tour? – The Ukrainian Catholic church at Waugh. The outside facade is impressive enough for a country church with its large silver dome. But it’s the inside that surprises one – the large paintings over the walls remind one of old European churches. Each painting was donated by a family, and dates back to l957-58.
     Like many other tour participants, I didn’t know most of these places existed. I have a new appreciation for our county and for the people that make it the fascinating place it is.