NEILBURG, Sask. — It took the deaths of parents to help Joanne and Trevor Marshall assess what happiness meant to them.
“When Trev’s Dad passed away, we sat down and he said, ‘I’m so miserable. We’ve never had so much money in our lives. We’ve never had to worry about paying bills but I’m miserable. I miss the farm. I miss my land,’ ” Joanne said.
“We had to re-evaluate what happiness meant to us. It wasn’t about stuff or providing a lifestyle. It’s about living the lifestyle.”
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The Marshall’s farm sits on 1,500 acres of rolling land southeast of Neilburg, Sask. It includes the original half section homesteaded by Trevor’s great-grandfather in 1908. Their three children represent the fifth generation: Rory, 20, Chloe, 16, and Wyatt,14.
Selling the entire cattle herd and a half section of pastureland to switch to grain was the first major step last December.
“We decided to kind of put all of our eggs into one basket. All of our machinery seriously needed to be overhauled,” said Trevor.
“We thought if we focused on one thing and did a really good job of it, so that’s what we did.”
Until then, Trevor and Joanne worked off the farm while struggling to maintain the daily needs of the farm since the death of Trevor’s father, Don, in 2006 and mother Joyce in 2007.
Trevor held various oil field jobs while Joanne, originally trained as an interior designer, did blueprints for a homebuilder and drafting for a survey company.
“We kept getting spread more and more thin. Two hours a day I would spend in the car and then I would get home and make supper and then the kids would have to be wherever they had to be,” she said.
“Our kids were turnkey kids. That wasn’t the lifestyle we had envisioned. Slowly as our lifestyle changed, I guess we got caught up in the dollar value of making money and acquiring stuff. We kind of lost sight of having that time for supper as a family,” she said.
“We are old school that way and we really felt the lack when those traditions started to disappear. So did our happiness.”
About the same time that the cattle were sold, Joanne said she left her corporate job. She then indulged her creative side by creating SimpleFarmer, a line of home decor collectables reflecting farm lifestyles.
She breathed new life into old things left to rust or rot on farms. By reclaiming old barn boards, window frames and hardware, she initially made vintage signs and then expanded to a variety of decorative pieces.
“It comes back to seeing the value in what you have even if it is old, discontinued or dilapidated,” she said.
Corrals behind the barn that once penned cattle are now being recycled into collectables like signs, shelves, bookcases, end tables and vases.
“I like to switch it up. Take something that’s reclaimed or vintage and put a new twist or modern twist on it.
“I think my pallet is memories. I’m selling memories. Sometimes they are my own and sometimes I borrow them and sometimes I just see something that reminds me of someone and then I try to gather pieces that complement that feeling.”
Joanne said business is now at a point where sales are beginning to surpass last year’s corporate salary. She sold out of items she hauled to a recent craft fair in Lloydminster in the old cattle trailer.
“Mostly I find the people that buy my product are feeling that same disconnect that they are far away from where their roots were, who they are and where they came from. It just reminds them of a happier time,” she said. “I’ve had several customers come in and say, ‘I love this and I’ll tell you why,’ and it’s always attached to some happy memory from a time in their life that wasn’t so ridiculously fast paced.”
While she scours the country, going to country estate sales and auctions, Trevor helped transform an old unused garage near their house into a cozy studio and workshop.
“It’s grown into something that’s becoming more of a full-time job. The great thing is that it’s flexible. I don’t have to brush my hair. I can just go outside and create,” Joanne said.
The Marshalls agree that a lifestyle spinning out of control can be reined in.
“We’re starting to enjoy the joy of farming again. Before we weren’t. We were just going through the motions. We were lost basically,” said Trevor.
