"'For the fun of it.' That's the reason Grade 9 student Sandra Smith gave as she and about 180 other young people from Bradford District High School (BDHS) pitched in last Wednesday to help six Holland Marsh farmers with the harvest. Sandra and her co-workers came to the rescue after hearing that many farmers are behind in their work because the wet summer and fall limited the use of heavy harvesting machinery. The students worked free of charge and earned the gratitude of the farmers, including Jack Van Es who asked some of them back on Saturday to work for pay. Walter Yarmoluk said the students harvested about $2,000 worth of onions for him, focusing mainly on land still too wet for machinery. Mr. Yarmoluk said he has never experienced such wet conditions in 32 years of farming, from 1938 to 1955 and from 1962 to the present. This year he lost three acres of carrots and two acres of beets because of the rain. The project had to be approved by the Simcoe County school board superintendent, according to Carrol Good, guidance teacher at BDHS. It was considered an emergency situation that is not likely to be repeated this year, she said."

"The South Simcoe Plowing Match held Friday, September 20 was a complete success even though only two horse teams were entered, all other categories were based on tractor pulled plows. Anthony Featherstone of Milliken is shown here with his prize winning team of greys. He came second in the plowing competition."

Store underwater in the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel

The interior of a store after hurricane Hazel.

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The interior of store after hurricane Hazel.

If you have more information about this photo, please contact the Library at 905-775-3328

The hamlet of Springdale taken prior to the flood caused by Hurricane Hazel (Oct. 15, 1954) Photo is taken facing north.

Photograph from the South Simcoe Plowing Match in September 1992.

Photograph from the South Simcoe Plowing Match in September 1992.

"To save 32 million acres of food-growing land is to interfere with the delicate buyer and seller relationships of the marketplace. Massive state intervention in the marketplace does guarantee absolutely that the productive capacity of Ontario's farmers will be severely restricted by a new host of governmental restrictions and directives. If you examine the food growing capacity of certain totalitarian nations such as the Soviet Union, the state of that country's agriculture is nothing short of national disaster."

A metal and wooden sickle. Similar to a scythe, a sickle is a hand held tool for agricultural use, specifically used to cut things like grass or hay.