An obituary for the family farm: 1900-2007
The family farm, which has provided Bulkley Valley residents with local food choices for more than a century, has died.
It was 107.
The farm suffered a non-lethal but life-threatening case of Regulatory Disease (RD) in 2004 when the B.C. government enacted its new Food Safety Act and Meat Inspection Regulation. It finally succumbed to complications of RD including corporate land-ownership, globalization, biotechnology and genetic engineering in September 2007.
Those that knew the family farm well remembered it as a generous and environmentally-friendly provider.
“I always enjoyed knowing where my food was coming from, how it was produced and that copious quantities of chemicals and fossil fuels didn’t need to be used to bring it to my table,” said the health-conscious consumer, a close friend of the family farm.
The farm was born in 1900 when Gabriel Lacroix became the first non-Aboriginal settler of the Valley, setting up an operation on the east side of the Bulkley River.
He was soon joined by the Fred Heal family arriving in 1903 to farm on the east side of Tyee (now Tyhee) Lake.
As the area prospered with the founding of Smithers in 1913 as the divisional headquarters of the Grand Trunk Railroad, the family farm flourished.
In 1919, it gave birth to a strapping child, the Fall Fair. It became a grandparent to the Smithers Farmers’ Market in 1992.
The family farm is predeceased by its cousins the pot luck dinner and children’s adventure camp, which also recently passed away from bad cases of RD.
It is survived by brother wild game hunting, although Regulatory Disease is known to be genetically carried and many fear it is only a matter of time before wild game is also diagnosed.
Also barely hanging on are ailing relatives personal freedom and free speech, which are suffering from a particularly virulent strain of RD known as political correctness.
In memory of the family farm, a great-grandchild, the Northwest Premium Meat Co-op, will begin operations later in the fall.
The Co-op intends to honour its deceased forebear by pooling the resources of formerly independent producers to keep local food options available.
An open funeral will be held on Saturday Sept. 22 starting at 1 p.m. at the provincial government building on Alfred Avenue.
In lieu of flowers, mourners are asked to send a letter of protest to Bulkley Valley-Stikine MLA Dennis MacKay.
It was 107.
The farm suffered a non-lethal but life-threatening case of Regulatory Disease (RD) in 2004 when the B.C. government enacted its new Food Safety Act and Meat Inspection Regulation. It finally succumbed to complications of RD including corporate land-ownership, globalization, biotechnology and genetic engineering in September 2007.
Those that knew the family farm well remembered it as a generous and environmentally-friendly provider.
“I always enjoyed knowing where my food was coming from, how it was produced and that copious quantities of chemicals and fossil fuels didn’t need to be used to bring it to my table,” said the health-conscious consumer, a close friend of the family farm.
The farm was born in 1900 when Gabriel Lacroix became the first non-Aboriginal settler of the Valley, setting up an operation on the east side of the Bulkley River.
He was soon joined by the Fred Heal family arriving in 1903 to farm on the east side of Tyee (now Tyhee) Lake.
As the area prospered with the founding of Smithers in 1913 as the divisional headquarters of the Grand Trunk Railroad, the family farm flourished.
In 1919, it gave birth to a strapping child, the Fall Fair. It became a grandparent to the Smithers Farmers’ Market in 1992.
The family farm is predeceased by its cousins the pot luck dinner and children’s adventure camp, which also recently passed away from bad cases of RD.
It is survived by brother wild game hunting, although Regulatory Disease is known to be genetically carried and many fear it is only a matter of time before wild game is also diagnosed.
Also barely hanging on are ailing relatives personal freedom and free speech, which are suffering from a particularly virulent strain of RD known as political correctness.
In memory of the family farm, a great-grandchild, the Northwest Premium Meat Co-op, will begin operations later in the fall.
The Co-op intends to honour its deceased forebear by pooling the resources of formerly independent producers to keep local food options available.
An open funeral will be held on Saturday Sept. 22 starting at 1 p.m. at the provincial government building on Alfred Avenue.
In lieu of flowers, mourners are asked to send a letter of protest to Bulkley Valley-Stikine MLA Dennis MacKay.
