VEGREVILLE, Alta. – Buried beneath the snow at Ken and Jackie Farion’s farmyard is a pond, a stream running toward a playhouse, a bridge over the stream and a perennial garden.
To the right, horses soak up the winter sun.
Further back behind a row of spruce trees, an old Alberta Wheat Pool elevator peeks above the branches and a red hip roof barn stands bright against the winter snow.
Creating a beautiful farmyard is as important for the northern Alberta farm couple as growing good crops.
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“It’s where you spend your time, why not enjoy it,” said Ken, who moved the elevator to the farmyard in 1979 from the railway siding of Inland before he built a home.
The couple would rather take winter holidays somewhere warm than be away from the farm in summer when the flowers bloom and the weather is at its best.
“Why can’t your home be a vacation spot,” said Jackie.
“I like gardening. That’s my thing in the summer.”
Her flowers come mostly from friends or relatives.
“It’s not a flower garden, but a friend garden.”
A few years ago, they seeded their front yard to echinacea, a combination garden project and agricultural experiment. The plants were ripped up when the moose discovered the patch.
“It’s cat nip for moose,” said Ken.
Their four children couldn’t walk out the front door to the school bus some mornings because the moose were blocking their way.
Experimenting with crops, equipment and micronutrients is Ken’s passion, and Mineral, Nutrition and Plant Diseases is this winter’s reading.
Among the 50 articles in the American book is one on how to cure ergot.
The disease is a serious problem for prairie wheat farmers this year and Ken is looking for answers.
He’s also experimenting with his “witches brew,” a combination of micronutrients to make crops grow better. Alberta Agriculture employees plan to test it this year.
“I’m always trying to do new treating and testing,” said Ken, who worries about what has been lost and depleted after 100 years of farming prairie soil.
Trying new and unusual farming methods isn’t new for the farming couple, who seeds about 5,000 acres.
For example, they became uncomfortable decades ago with continual cultivation and tillage of the soil.
“We were cultivating the heck out of the land,” Ken said.
They decided to do something about it, planting their first zero tillage crop in 1992 to much ribbing from neighbours.
“We were ridiculed for a long time for what a mess we had in the field,” he said.
Farmers were used to straight rows and black summer fallow rather than ragged rows and last year’s stubble. Zero tillage is now the norm across the Prairies as a way to reduce costs and increase moisture retention.
Their early work with zero tillage introduced them to agricultural scientists and specialists who encouraged and developed Ken’s passion for research and experiments.
The latest venture is the joint purchase of an Agroplow, a type of deep ripper the family bought with three other farmers to eliminate plow pan, the hard surface created under the cultivator shovels.
The goal of deep ripping is to allow improved water filtration and improved yields. Two years ago, Ken ripped part of a field and planted peas. They stayed green one week longer, allowing increased yield.
Depending on this year’s harvest, he plans to deep rip an entire quarter section.
It’s not all work at the Farion farm.
Jackie and her daughter spend hours riding their horses along the roads and through the fields.
When their four children were in school, the yard was an informal petting zoo, with local schools coming for educational and farm fun days.
They also held mini threshing bees to let schoolchildren see what harvest was like and allow all the children to play in the straw pile.
Family and friends pitch in to help during harvest. Equipment is shut off during the supper hour to allow everyone to take a break, eat a good meal and enjoy the camaraderie of the harvest season.
At the end of harvest, the family rents a hall and hosts a party for the families that helped out. The Farions say it’s a way to ensure farming stays fun.
