Trip to Chesterville Part 2

This is the town where JB grew up. Also, where his family are buried. It's over an hour to drive it, from home.

From the cemetery [🌲Trip to Chesterville Part 1], we went into town. It is a rural farming community.

We visited the Chesterville and District Heritage Museum back in June 2016. JB donated some things he found in Perth at the consignment store.  

This is the house JB moved to when the family moved into town (below). His grandparents sold the farm, which didn't have running water or hydro in the 50s. His grandparents had the room on the right, which could have been an office, back in the day. It is an old house. A new owner said they found old newspapers in the walls. They didn't have insulation back then.

The house is right across from the post office. JB's mother worked here for 30 years, supporting the four of them. As a teenager, JB used to help his mom lift the heavy bags after school. He popped in Friday, with a mask, to check it out. We had a letter to mail! The Post Office has a lovely garden. 

This house, next to the post office, was the Sullivan's house. He was a road contractor. JB worked for him periodically, as he flipped houses. JB would paint the houses for him.

From here, we head to the old farm.  I noticed a wind farm in the distance.

JB's grandparents sold the farm it to another family. The pond was dug by subsequent owners who wanted a pond fish. There were several ducks in the pond.

The pond is where the farm house stood. It was torn down. He doesn't remember the willow tree, it must have been a sapling in the 50s, we surmised. We had a lovely chat with the current owners. A fun couple, with a young child. They liked JB's stories about the old farm house.

This house (below) replaced the old farm house, and the current owners told us that they had moved the bungalow from the flooded homes during the building of the Seaway Project. 

The Seaway project had two purposes. Primarily it was to provide Eastern Ontario and Upstate New York with much low-cost hydroelectric power. Secondly, replacing the antiquated 110 year-old Cornwall Canal, with a system that could handle the larger ocean-going shipping vessels, was needed to provide greater access to the inland ports on the Great Lakes. Read more here: Lost Villages Museum near Cornwall, Ontario. 

The current owners don't own the fields, it's their uncle who does. After JB told them the story about getting lost in the back 40, they sent us back through the new road they built. We said farewell.

First, we waved to the chickens! The old barn, the milking shed, used to be here. 

This is the forest, where JB walked with the dogs and got lost. He must have been 5 years old, he thinks. Victor Moss, a neighbour, heard the dogs barking and saved little JB's life! 

JB 1952

This is JB playing with Cecil Van Wylick.

Down the road is Snowy Mountain Sled Dogs. It's a nice property. 

Back on the road, the geese were still flying in formation.

We quite liked this porch, with the material tied.

When we were house hunting, back in 2010, we stayed in this B & B. [House hunting trip #3]

VANITY PLATES

'OH 2B 39'

'GNTLSOUL'

 🐻SNUGGLE Bears

Family Farmers + You = A Well Nourished World

We live in a vibrant farming community, with family farms dating back for hundreds of years.



Family farmers not only produce nearly 60 percent of the world's food, but they are the essential ingredient in alleviating hunger and poverty throughout the world.

Food Tank's new video, "Family Farmers + You = A Well Nourished World," produced in collaboration with Greener Media, reveals that when farmers have the right tools, they have limitless potential.

Hubby on his family farm

Coutts Store

The video calls upon eaters, business leaders, policy makers, funders, and donors to ensure that family farms receive more attention, more research, and investment.

 The United Nations has designated 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) to help bring attention to the important role family farmers play in feeding the planet.


Please watch and share this new video from Food Tank: The Food Think Tank about the International Year of Family Farming.

Trip through the country

straight rows

everything greening up

Farmers feed cities, all they are all busy in S.E. Ontario! Even landscaping companies. Soon it will be time for veggie gardens. I must get busy...

busy spot

major silos

Handy things

wind was blowing

Hubbies family farm, 1950s 

The old home and buildings are gone

 We drove by Hubbies family farm, 1950s - this is where the house sat, now a pond. At the time, no electricity, plumbing...-they moved into town when he was ten years old (1959). He wrote a guest post awhile back, about life on the farm. Here is a snippet:

One day, I went into town with my grandfather on the buggy. Even in the 50's a buggy in town would draw a crowd. Anyway, my grandfather left me in the buggy while he visited his brother at the mill. The horse got bored or hungry, at any rate, to my embarrassment, he continued the journey around town, with me and buggy in tow, despite my best efforts at whoo. The town itself was a village of 600 or so then, I think.

Read more here: Hubbies family farm

We visited the family gravesite, the town cenotaph, as well as the church where he was an altar boy!