The prairie grass has grown high near the wall of the farmhouse where they pose for the picture. Halina Zaleski sits on the porch holding her daughter on her lap. Sitting nearby is her partner Chris Mewhort, with the couple’s other daughter perched on his shoulders.
Chris’ brother Richard leans against the wall of a house that sports a red, five-pointed star. It’s the socialist symbol representing the five fingers of the worker’s hand. The photo caption reads: The Self-Reliance and Hard Struggle Co-op, Sonningdale, Sask.
In her 1985 book, Prairie Lives: The Changing Face of Farming, Lois L. Ross put the Self-Reliance Co-op in the chapter called Co-operative Farming: The Mavericks.
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Named for a revolutionary slogan by Mao Tse-tung, the Saskatchewan co-op and its members were all active in the New Democratic Party and the Association of Co-op Farms.
“We were all political lefties,” explained Chris, now living in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The farm sold pigs to other countries for breeding stock and exhibited animals at Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.
Chris and Halina formed the co-operative for $2,000 in the early 1970s. They wanted a farm close to the city because many of Saskatoon’s young political left were interested in being part of the project, but rising land values close to the city forced them to locate at Sonningdale 80 kilometres away.
In the co-op’s 13 year life, it included as many as six members at one time although Chris, Halina and Richard were at its core from beginning to end.
“I think that was the best part of my life, probably,” Chris said.
In Prairie Lives, Ross reported that the pig co-op had the largest registered Lacombe herd in the world, at 174 sows.
“We became one of the foremost experts in Western Canada in raising pigs and that launched the rest of our lives pretty well,” Chris said.
“We were quite famous. People would come thousands of miles to seek pearls of wisdom from us.”
They excelled at raising pigs, but they were terrible at running the overall business, said Chris. One bad decision after another placed the co-op and its members in constant economic hardship.
“We were surrounded by these insurmountable problems at all times. Our fixed costs were way too high, and we didn’t have a clue as to how to run a business,” he said.
Despite the money issues, he looks back on the co-op with fondness.
“Well, we laughed a lot and we had a lot of fun. Our kids were born there and nothing is more fun than little kids on a farm and we had a lot of very close friends among our neighbours,” he remembered.
“And it was a highly satisfying lifestyle. We worked very hard but we slept very soundly at night. I guess carefree is the term.”
The star painted on the house caused a stir in the community.
“They were sure that we were communists from hell,” he said with a laugh.
Others welcomed the co-op with open arms. When their kids came along, the families engaged in more community events and got along well with other young parents.
“They were right-wing conservatives and we were left-wing socialists and we all understood that,” Chris said.
When the bank foreclosed on the co-op, it got only two cents for every dollar of debt they owed.
Chris and Halina took jobs in Naicam, Sask., where they worked on a pig farm for four years.
Halina then returned to university, first getting masters and doctorate degrees from Guelph and doing postdoctoral work in Illinois.
She is now chair of the human nutrition, food and animal sciences department at the University of Hawaii. Chris became an accountant and runs a firm in Honolulu.
Richard studied at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and now works for the City of Calgary in parks maintenance. He lives in Didsbury, Alta., where he also runs a small business.
Chris said his political views have changed little since his days in Saskatchewan.
“But when you’re in the United States, it’s pretty weird, I assure you. Very few of my friends and associates share my political views.”
