The men, women, elders and children who work the land to feed our families are quiet in their profession. It often gets mistaken for a lifestyle, when being a farmer is actually a job that goes around the clock with revenues coming in in fits and spurts, expenditures always threatening to run off the bottom of the balance sheet, weather as much a risk as production costs, and much of it done out of the public's view.
The work is too hard and the business plan too complex for most people to dive into, but for those who do, it is rewarding beyond words.
A local post-secondary student was willing to publicly applaud local farmers, ranchers and food growers. Eric Depenau put pen to paper when the BC Association of Farmers' Markets called for poetry that celebrated the people who coax food from the land. He was the regional winner and this was his submission, entitled Homestead:
Generations have called this home
This land has built our families' tome
Clearing timber and raising hay
Up from dawn until the days grow grey
Building stables, cleaning coops
Cows grazing in drifting groups
Bailing hay tangled in colourful loops
Baking bread to dip in grandmas soups
Sowing seeds, tilling earth
A generous harvest is given birth
More than pay this bounty's worth
Our character is shaped by this familial turf
Joining our neighbour in work and play
Skin hardened under the summer rays
As our forefathers would gruffly say
No way I'd rather spend the days
Raising life with tender care
Something so precious, fragile and rare
This place and people my only prayer
The dream continues and with you we share
Depenau is recently a resident of Prince George after growing up in more southerly Cariboo communities. He moved here for post-secondary learning and has made a name for himself in the area for winning a seat on College of New Caledonia's student government and earning respect in his municipal election bid, though unsuccessful, for board of school trustees.
People may not have realized he also has a creative side.
One of the truisms of the literary arts is "write what you know" and he was moved to poetry by his own experiences on the land.
"I spent a lot of time on my grandmother's farm in Quesnel when I was growing up," said Depenau. "My grandparents started the farm and homestead in the 1940s. Their son Bill, my uncle, took it over and I am involved as much as I can be when I am home in Quesnel."
Touching these kinds of nerves and triggering creative reactions is exactly what the Ode to A Farmer Poetry Contest intends to touch.
More than 120 submissions were made across the province, some of them free-form poetry and some more traditional. There were as many variances in the odes as there are in the agricultural landscape.
"This year's crop of poems, from across British Columbia, revealed a depth of insight into the world of farming, and the people who work the land," said author Rene Sarojini Saklikar, one of the celebrity judges (along with Tamara Leigh and Ronda Payne).
"Poems ranged in topic from farmers to migrant workers, from the love a wife has for her partner, to food poems about fruits, vegetables, and animals. Kudos to BC Farmers' Market Association for encouraging us to write about our passion for this place we call home."
The overall winner ($150 in Farmers' Market cash) was Taylor Theodore of Langley, and five others including
Depenau picked up regional prizes.
"I have $50 extra bucks to spend on carrots," said our local winner, but he also hinted at bigger plans for his future earnings, however they may happen.
"I would like to invest in cattle down the road and help keep the tradition and life style going," Depenau said.
