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June 14 The day before the opening. Joe gets his first aerial view of his horse. |
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He was pleased and excited to see it from the best possible vantage point, where you can appreciate not only the scale of the work but also it's accuracy. |
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Greg and Joe pose while our pilot Martina takes a shot. I was holding the controls and I wish I could tell you that I enjoyed the chance to fly, but unfortunately it was a bouncy flight and I was more than a little queasy. |
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Solid ground at last! Flight crew: Martina Wassmer, Greg Amann, Roy Hickling, & Joe Fafard. |
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June l5 A beautiful sunny and breezy day for the official opening of the project, although the word official somehow seems out of place for such an informal, relaxed and enjoyable event. Charles Meanwell marched the perimeter of the horse playing the pipes and lent just the right amount of formality. Families arrived with packets of soybean seeds that we had distributed with the Barrie Examiner and then casually walked around the horse and planted their seeds. We estimate as many as a thousand people came, and truly enjoyed the experience. Allow me to quote from a note that my friends Diane Mackie and Paul Stewart sent a couple of days after the opening. "There was something so special happening on Sunday…I can't quite put my finger on it but it has to do with the beauty of this creation and the fact that you are working with living matter. Just awesome!"
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L to R Joe Fafard, Rebbeca Truax (Media Relations, MacLaren), & Trish Jordan (Communications coordinator, Canadian Foodgrains Bank) |
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L to R Trish Jordan, myself, Laurel Lane-Moore (Barrie Examiner), & Paula Pick (committee member and MacLaren board member) |
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Donna & John Lister (Director of Development, MacLaren) & son |
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We had a tent set up
in the shade at the corner of the field. A welcome stop
after a leisurely walk around a horse. Be sure to look closely at the June 15th aerial photos, you can see people walking around the horse. |
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Joe doffs his hat at the end of a busy afternoon and weekend. He'll be back during the plowing match. |
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July 10 The late start to our season, followed by three weeks with no rain may limit our yield somewhat but it certainly hasn't interfered with the aesthetics of the crops. Thin areas in the crop have added texture and visual interest, and the delayed maturity of the canola will give us colour, while the wheat is at a later stage of maturity - not something you see every year. In this shot the canola is just coming into flower in areas that were a little ahead, making it look as if the horse is wearing a yellow feedbag. |
