PICTON, Ont. – Vicki Emlaw laughs when she recalls the bright lights, the unexpected onlookers and the complications that arose the night she and her girlfriends doffed their tops for the cause of agriculture in Prince Edward County.
As part of a “naked farmers” calendar project to raise money for training young county farmers, Emlaw agreed to pose with friends at her “Vicki’s Veggies” stand in Picton. Vegetables would be strategically placed to hide certain body parts.
But it was a dark day so two cars had to be positioned behind the vegetable stand to create enough light for the photographer.
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“Suddenly there are these lights on us and traffic is backed up because the cars are on the road and here my girl- friends and I are, semi-nude and wondering what we got into,” the 35-year-old market gardener said as she recounted the day.
“But I had no regrets. It was a fun project and I believe in raising the profile of farming as much as possible.”
Emlaw appears as one of the calendar’s July 2006 poster girls, all upper torsos provocatively hidden behind props, hair and veggies.
Elsewhere in the calendar, tractors, cows, sheep, horses, grape vines and cans of maple syrup are used as props as 53 people over an age range of almost eight decades took off at least some of their clothes for the cause.
Janice Hickey, producer of the Faces of our Farmers calendar, marvels at the willingness of conservative county farmers to take part in the project inspired by a Cornish fisherman’s calendar she saw during a visit to England.
Of course, flesh calendars have become common for environmental and other causes, a movie has been made about the original English “calendar girls” and the Cornish fishermen showed much more skin than Hickey expected or wanted from her local subjects. Still, the farmers of Prince Edward County were quick to embrace the idea.
Hickey recalled the day they visited Gavin North’s bee and herb farm near Picton. During the shoot, Hickey began to tell North, who was standing between wife Bay Woodyard and sister-in-law Elizabeth Woodyard, that his jeans were showing.
Before she could suggest that North “move a little to the left so they can’t be seen,” he dropped his jeans.
“That was a lot of information,” she laughed.
The final photo for May 2006 has North covering exposed parts with his beekeeper’s glove.
The project was conceived by Hickey to celebrate Prince Edward County farmers, raise the profile of the industry and raise money to create bursaries or scholarships to train young or entrant farmers.
The calendar costs $15 and $10 of that goes to a committee of local farmers to figure out a way to help attract and train new farmers.
“With 3,000 printed, the best case scenario is that they all sell and there is $30,000 for local farmers,” Hickey said in an interview. She put her own money up to pay the original costs.
The first 1,000 calendars sold quickly and 2,000 more have been printed. “It’s a gamble.”
Sue Millar, president of the Prince Edward County federation of agriculture, said it is a great promotion for area agriculture.
“It will raise money for farmer education and there aren’t many funds available for that these days,” she said. “But it also raises the profile of the industry. And farmers do have a sense of humour.”
Lyle and Irene Hagerman saw it exactly that way. The 77-year-olds posed with family and staff at their vegetable stand on the highway between Picton and Bloomfield.
“We had a laugh and it’s for a good cause,” said Irene.
The calendar is available at jh1361@ aol.com.
