SOUTHEY, Sask. – Others may regard Don Scott as the king of the gnomes, but he considers himself a person who likes to keep busy.
He, his wife Millie and son Daniel have been turning out lawn ornaments for four years and selling them from a Regina greenhouse which they also own. The lawn and garden sculptures are a project they began four years ago when Don came back from Alberta to the south-central Saskatchewan farm his dad had run near Southey, Sask.
Son Daniel laughingly said it was supposed to be a winter project and that “this is the way my parents retire.”
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His dad said the two quarters he inherited from his father were not enough to live on so he bought some moulds from various companies and began making concrete lawn statues. They now have 400 different moulds and churn out creatures and critters from a small barn on the farm. The Scotts use sand from a gravel pit on their land and buy pea gravel and cement from the Pilot Butte area.
“There’s lots of things to diversify into,” said Don. “These farmers that sit and cry about how poor they are, … they don’t have the business knowledge or work skills, or sometimes it’s the money.”
The Scotts continue farming their land, putting in wheat and canola this spring, but it’s the ornament business that keeps them so busy they are considering hiring some help.
The ornaments include gnomes, birds, fountains and birdbaths – “tame animals to wild animals.” The most popular item is a fox planter, but Don is anticipating some success with the latest venture. It’s an 800-pound bison that stands a metre high, so “he won’t blow away in a Saskatchewan breeze,” said Daniel. The original was sculpted this spring by Don’s brother, an artist in Saskatoon. They have made five of the concrete grazers to date.
Why bison?
“There’s a lot of farmers buying bison these days,” said Don. “If they’re willing to pay $4,000 for a live bison,” he hopes they might buy a concrete version to advertise at their driveway.
When he’s not out helping his parents, Daniel is in front of their computer creating a worldwide web page on the internet for the family business.
