FARMER FEATURE

Kirk and Arlene Wannop of Walter’s Falls Farm have been involved in agriculture all of their married life doing market gardening, cash cropping, livestock and agricultural field research. Their latest venture is found on their farm between Walter’s Falls and Bognor. It is a year round commercial greenhouse producing leafy greens. They say they love the greenhouse and growing food, especially leafy greens because Arlene always taught her family that their plates should be at least 1/2 salad!

The greenhouse was built by Kirk, Arlene and a friend in 2021 and it employs NFT (nutrient film technique) hydroponics technology. It has the capacity to grow 1000 heads of lettuce per week using sunshine and pure mineral water from their artesian well to produce beautiful, green, nutrient rich products. trucks travel millions of miles to deliver us food that we can grow at home; and that when grown at home it would be fresher, safer, healthier and more delicious. They are ardent supporters of the ideal that small scale, locally grown food is better ecologically, better for the local economy and helps support strong communities.

Walters Falls Farm lettuce is working to expand its market, but is currently available at Markdale Foodland and The Market Shoppe in Markdale. It can also be purchased at the farm.

Call Arlene for directions at (519) 212-1949.

They were inspired to venture into the greenhouse business because it troubled them that hundreds of thousands of

Last was crazy for Paul and I. We were all facing a second year of a new way to socialize and operate a business. I don’t know about you, but it seemed to go by in a flash. December is truly one of my favourite months for the closing and ending of a long year, and then BANG! January starts off in a flash. Unfortunately, January can also lead into winter depression, anxiety, disappointment and blahs. That’s probably because it’s right after the rush of the holidays - you start to feel isolated, tired, cold and lonely, the kids are driving you to drink, the dissatisfaction of having to go back to work and overall doom and gloom.

The third Monday of the new year has been known to be called the most depressing day of the year. SPOILER: it’s not true. That is, if you don’t make it the worst day of the year. But, it is different for everybody. As usual, I set my number one goal in mind for a brand new start of a healthy lifestyle, weight loss, less alcohol, more exercise…blah, blah, blah. I have started writing down a list of what I would like to change and I don’t have much on it so far. Last January seemed like a pretty good start to understanding that I will not be returning to my full time job and focusing all my attention on Pure Music Garlic products. I introduced a new product called Ranch Seasoning, I continuously wrote monthly for Hello Country Magazine, (although I’m always late), And I also worked through a whole garlic harvest and planting last year and thought, “oh my goodness, that’s hard work”, but so rewarding.

I also devoted all the time to work in the new commercial kitchen and started to ask for help when I truly needed it. That was very hard for me. There wasn’t much time to dance with Paul in the kitchen, but we sure did at all the Farmers Markets we attended.

I’m hoping there will be the fast pace of garlic festivals coming back in 2022 and spread out my wings to supply to more amazing local stores in Ontario. I enjoy my glass of wine or more when I deserve it and glad I have my health and well-being with my family and friends surrounding me. I should just say, “I’m truly thankful. As those who know our garlic family, we are also welcoming a new

PAUL & LORRAINE IRWIN

son-in law into the fold and we couldn’t be happier.

Don’t promise to join a gym unless you want to and certainly don’t set impossibly high standards that aren’t obtainable. Talk to your friends daily, and never pass up a soft, creamy butter tart that has been placed in front of you. Just breathe..

LORRAINE IRWIN

Lorraine Irwin is a mother, a wife, a theatre buff and the owner of Pure Music Garlic Products. She makes all of her gourmet garlic products using Organic Garlic grown on their farm (Boars Rock Farm). Check out her ad on Page 7.

PURE MUSIC GARLIC PRODUCTS puremusicgarlic@gmail.com puremusicgarlic.com @puremusicgarlic (519) 942-5410

BOARS ROCK FARM 136407 Grey Road 12, Grey Highlands boarsrockfarm.ca @boarsrockfarm

Health and wellness is about personal change. Without the readiness to change, no tip, trick or article will help you achieve the level of health or wellness that you want. The underlying assumption here is that you are not at the level of health and/or wellness that you want to be at, so to get there, something must change. At the start of a new year, during a time when new starts and the interest to change are fresh in our collective minds, how can you make the change that you want seem less daunting and more achievable? I used to think that making changes and new habits was hard. I’m going to share with you the principles that you can evaluate the topic of change that you want and break it down simply so you can start moving and taking action.

The model of Logical Levels by George Bateson and Robert Dilts is a way to evaluate and breakdown the various factors that affect a particular change that you want to make. This model describes a hierarchy of six interrelated levels: 1. Purpose; 2. Identity; 3. Beliefs and Values; 4. Capabilities; 5. Behaviours; and 6. Environment. Changes on the higher levels almost always result in changes on the lower levels. Changes on the lower levels may affect the higher levels, but the magnitude of that effect is much smaller.

Starting at the level of Environment, this has the least amount of influence on the changes that we want to make, and also is the easiest to change; however, many people get stuck on this level. Environment is everything external to yourself, including physical location, the people that you spend time with, and the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of others about you. One of the most common manifestations of getting stuck on this level is finding external reasons that a change does not stick. If the reason a change doesn’t happen is because of something external, then you are stuck on blaming your environment for the inability to achieve your goals. Ask yourself “what can I change about my external environment to move me towards my goal?” Behaviours are often the focus of change through instilling new habits as a means to make changes stick. From a 2009 study in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it was found that it takes an average of 66 days for a new habit to become automatic. Focusing only on behaviour can be a large time investment and success requires consistency. Luckily, there are other factors that can make this change easier. Improving your Capabilities will help make behaviour change easier. It’s easier to do something if you understand the why, how, and what to do.

Now we have arrived at the level of Beliefs and Values. This is the level that is easiest to explore and can have the most impact, if you are able to look critically and let go of beliefs and values that hold you back. Henry Ford was quoted as saying “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t - you’re right”. When you find that you’re telling yourself that you can’t do something, ask yourself “How is this belief serving you?”. Look carefully at your limiting beliefs and examine how much (or how little!) truth they hold.

What about your Identity? There is the level of your identity that is core to your being, and yet on another level, there are labels that you apply to yourself and mistakenly use that label as your identity. Consider someone who says “I am a smoker”. Is being a “smoker” an identity? Or is it a mislabeled shorthand description