"'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."

"Remember when milk used to be delivered this way? Herbert Fraser used to do the rounds for the entire town of Bradford back in the 1940s and 50s until about 1956. His daughter, Mrs. Doris Church, who submitted these photos, recalls that her father would get up at 2 a.m. to feed the horse and load the wagon. The dairy in town at that time, Cousins (south of the Royal Bank, now Ingoglia's), provided all the dairy products for Bradford. In winter, before the town plowed any of the roads, the sleigh would be pressed into service, Mrs. Church said. Mrs. Carol Lund, Mrs. Church's daughter, is the little girl in the photo."

"Mary Novosad uses an old wooden wheelbarrow to carry two bushels of potatoes from her garden in Bradford. This is a time of hard work as she and her husband, Steve, grow several types of vegetables behind their Morris Road home."

Contains news clippings and articles on Holland Marsh

Contains news clippings and articles on Holland Marsh

Contains news clippings and articles on Holland Marsh

Postcard advertising the large crops grown in Bradford, 1930s.

Postcard advertising the large crops grown in Bradford, 1930s.

Article from the May 31, 1906 - special edition of the Bradford Witness and South Simcoe News featuring local businesses and members of the community. This article provides a history of the grain elevator business previously on the site of the current GO Train Station on Bridge Street. Farmers around town would bring in their grain to the elevators by wagon and sleighs in order to have their grains bought. The highest bidder would then direct the farmers to their specific grain mills to be processed. The building was demolished by the end of the Second World War.

This photograph is of Felicia, bred by Edward Jeffs & Son. The Jeffs were well known stock-breeders who have owned their property on the 6th Concession since 1837. They first started with Shorthorn cattle, Leicester sheep and Berkshire pigs, and by 1906 were breeding show-winning animals.