How two families tackle business decisions

originally printed in AgriSuccess, January, 2010. If you're interested in reprinting this, please contact me at allison@finnamore.ca

How do you make important decisions on your farm? Is there a lack of consultation or, on the other hand, is there so much talking it causes paralysis by analysis?

In the run of a day, there are dozens of decisions to make. From simple, straightforward choices to those that require planning and reflection, nearly every step during the day needs some background preparation before moving ahead.

Now, mix in a team of knowledgeable co-workers who also happen to be related to you – suddenly, even the simple decisions could become much more complicated. Many family farms in Canada seem to have found their stride working together, including Four E Farms in Leamington, Ont., and Steppler Farms near Miami, Man.

At Four E Farms, father Peter Epp and sons Ken, Ron and Ed produce 2,200 acres of corn, beans and wheat, and 240 acres of processing tomatoes. During their years in business together, family members each found a niche in the farm operation. In some instances, their roles evolved over time, while in other cases, the sons were guided by their father.

“Dad recognized some of our strengths and tried to guide some of us to certain areas, Ken recalls. “’Why don’t you do this?’ he would ask. If it worked out and we enjoyed it, then we stayed.”

And if it didn’t, the role changed. Finding each person’s place at Four E Farms took about 10 years, Ken says. Now, day-to-day operational decisions fall to the shareholder who handles that part of the farm.

At Steppler Farms, parents Dan and Pat are in partnership with their sons Ian, Geoff, Adam and Andre. The charolais, grain and honey producers formalized their partnership in 2008. Prior to that, each son was farming on his own, with everyone helping the other out. But they faced an annual mountain of accounting paperwork. When Dan and Pat started succession planning a few years ago, incorporation became part of their plan. The family has now pooled its resources and divided the workload, so decision-making is clear-cut and well-defined.

Since the sons farmed prior to incorporation, they knew their areas of specialty. Dan is chairperson and takes on the role of mediator and advisor. Dividing up the managerial roles between his sons provides each with autonomy.

“As operational bosses, each son makes and enacts day-to-day decisions and has the authority to make essential minor purchases like repairs, medications and so on,” Pat explains. Major expenditures and budget decisions are made by all five, with input from everyone.

Both the Epps and the Stepplers agree that decisionmaking in a family farm business relies on one very important factor: communication.

At Four E Farms, the Epp brothers and their father meet every morning to discuss farm plans for the day ahead.

“Sometimes, not everyone agrees, but you build a consensus,” Ken explains, noting that no matter what decisions the family farm faces, the family maintains a common philosophy. “We work for the good of the company and not the individual.”

The Stepplers, while firm believers in communication, were skeptical when it came to the idea of setting up formal meetings with those who are so close.

“At first the idea of family meetings seemed awkward,” Pat says. “Before incorporation, we talked or planned somewhat individually with no formal structure. Now, we conduct each meeting in a semi-formal manner.”

Dan and Pat set the agenda, including issues brought forward by the sons and matters they want discussed. With each decision, everyone has the opportunity for input.

“Dan actually goes around the table to make sure that each person states his opinion,” Pat explains. Meetings are monthly during the winter, but that changes with
the seasons.

“We hold weekly meetings to plan the work that is ahead of us for that week, as well as long-range decisions on things that have to be fixed or purchased,” Pat says. “Each morning, the four boys meet for about 20 minutes to plan out that day’s work so that when the workers arrive at 8 a.m., the day’s schedule is in place. Over the noon meal, any changes to this schedule are then made.”

Both families also agree that keeping an open mind when working with family helps facilitate decision-making.

“Choose your attitude,” Pat advises. “Recognize when to shrug your shoulders, when to press a point,” she says, adding this advice also applies to older generations, reluctant to release control.

The International Federation of Agriculture Journalists Congress in Belgium is over and life goes on. We're back in the real world now, back to work, back to our routines.

But I'm feeling a bit heavy-hearted. It's hard to say good-bye to new friends, a new part of the world and new experiences. The daily pace of bus tours was exhausting, yet many of us thrive in that atmosphere. To be blunt, daily working life is boring after IFAJ (don't get me wrong, though, I'm still glad to be back home and to see my family).

There seemed to be precious little time to visit with new friends during the congress in Belgium. That didn't stop us, though. We managed to find time for chats, whether it was on the bus, over an afternoon drink, while wandering through a barn or during late night walks. I'm happy we made the time to do this -- thankful I had the chance to get to know more about you, your work and your lives.

We shared stares of amazement and awe at the Belgium Blue cattle, wondered about the ethics of breeding such large, muscular animals. We meandered together though La Floralies, impressed and curious with the floral displays, entertained by the police escort and maybe a bit frustrated with the structure of being herded through the show. We shared toasts from our home countries, challenges to pronounce each other's last names and countless laughs. In between, we continued to find time to talk about the world of agriculture from our home countries -- the stories we tell, the farmers we write about, the challenges they face. I think many of us discovered that no matter where it is around the globe that we call home, where the farmers are that we write about -- much of agriculture deals with similar challenges.

This was a unique travel experience highlighted by the eruption of the dormant volcano in Iceland and the resulting grounding of air traffic. Many of us were stranded in a foreign country and, for a short time, had no idea how or when we would get home. The European members worked together to help us figure out alternative travel plans, offered to take us in, drive us to airports, navigate the train system and decipher the language. This touched me deeply. If I had to be stranded, I'm glad it was with colleagues from IFAJ.

I sincerely hope to see each of you again next year at the IFAJ Congress in Canada. I look forward to showing you around my part of the world, renewing friendships, making new ones and sharing more about who we are and the people we write about.

IFAJ 2009 Texas

The Canadian Farm Writers' Federation annual meeting in Edmonton is just wrapping up and if attendees heard about anything these last few days, it was IFAJ - the International Federation of Agriculture Journalists.

It wasn't the only topic of discussion, but 18 CFWF members attended the IFAJ congress in Fort Worth, Texas last month. Many of us were at the CFWF meeting in Edmonton. As well IFAJ President Mike Wilson attended CFWF. So it was top of mind!

I attended as the recipient of the CFWF/Monsanto bursary. The $2,500 prize is awarded each year to a CFWF member who applies to CFWF -- independent judges review the application and use a point system to mark categories of the application.

more later,
Allison

Class action suit settled

From PWAC

CTVglobemedia announced earlier this week that they have agreed to pay $11 million to settle the class action suit launched 13 years ago by Heather Robertson on behalf of thousands of freelance writers claiming their work was reproduced electronically without proper permission or compensation.

"The Professional Writers Association of Canada is thrilled with the news of the settlement. This has been a long ongoing process and we appreciate Heather Robertson taking the lead role in the battle for the protection of writers' rights," said PWAC President, Tanya Gulliver. "As freelancers we want to be fairly compensated for the work that we do, and want to ensure that publishers recognize the value of our work. This settlement, stemming from the Supreme Court decision in 2006 that supported our position that freelancers own control of their work unless otherwise agreed upon, is historic and a great achievement for the freelance writing industry."

PWAC and Ms. Robertson, a founding member of PWAC, are optimistic that the settlement will expedite a positive outcome in other pending lawsuits and set a precedent protecting creators' intellectual property rights and ensure fair compensation for digital exploitation of their work.

Ms. Robertson would also like to thank PWAC and the many individual members who have vocally supported her over the years and provided financial assistance to help cover her legal costs.

Ms. Robertson and her legal representatives will be publishing a full version of the settlement and a notice to claimants in the Globe and Mail and the National Post on Saturday.

Earth Day

My daughter is an Eco Kid at her school. She's not much into sports, so I was thrilled when she joined the environmental club. They meet once a week, discuss ways to make the school greener and, from the sounds of her accounts of the meetings, share a lot of giggles. Shouldn't every Grade 4 event be like that?

To mark Earth Day, the Eco Kids and their faculty advisor organized a fair at the school, transforming the gym into a trade show and inviting local businesses to show off their green wares. I went in on Tuesday night to help set up. One of the booths was a spin-the-wheel trivia game for the students -- spin the wheel, answer a trivia question and, if you get the answer right, win a prize.

Thumbing through environmental trivia cards, I was truly disheartened that the game shed such a negative light on farming and made agriculture producers out to be ecological villains.

Lots of questions bashing genetic research, fertilizer use and pest controls. One questions asked: "what tools do farmers use that damages the earth?" (Answer: farm machinery, since it compacts the soil and therefore destroys vital nutrients.) No mention of drought resistant crops, no-till practices or pest resistant crops.

As you’ll read in this week's edition of AgriSuccess Express, out later today by email, we have a story about the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and other industry practices that continues to promote the good things producers are doing to care for the earth.

However, we need to ensure that each of us at an individual level is also doing what we can to share the news, so local schools, neighbours and our communities know that producers are the original stewards of the land.

Atlantic journalist wins international bursary

A past-president of the CFWF will represent Canadian farm writers at the 2009 International Federation of Agriculture Journalists congress in Texas this summer. Self-employed communications consultant and writer Allison Finnamore is the winner of the CFWF International Bursary. The bursary, sponsored by Monsanto, reimburses up to $2,500 of the winner’s costs to attend the congress.

A graduate of New Brunswick Community College, Finnamore began her career as a reporter in Grand Falls. That was followed by reporting for The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal and The Fredericton Daily Gleaner.

Her freelance career has seen her work appear in many agriculture and specialty publications across Canada including: Farm Focus of Atlantic Canada, Country Guide, Nova Scotia Business Journal, Top Crop Manager, The Milk Producer, Canadian Poultry Magazine, Fruit and Vegetable Magazine, Country Life in BC, Farmers’ Independent Weekly, Manitoba Co-Operative, Canadian Cattlemen, Canola Guide, Farming A Journal of Northeast Agriculture, Atlantic Construction Journal and The Carleton Victoria Advertiser.

Today, she is the Editor of the weekly Farm Credit Canada AgriSuccess Express and Associate Editor of the bi-monthly AgriSuccess Journal. She also does contract communications work with business and government.

In addition, she has been a tireless contributor to the CFWF in leadership and volunteer positions. She spent five years as a board member representing the Eastern Canadian Farm Writers’ Association (ECFWA) and a year as CFWF President in 2004-05. She’s worked to organize national CFWF conferences, find judges for annual award competitions, and sponsors for events. She says she’s committed to welcoming international visitors to Canada when the Congress is held in Guelph in 2011.

“My volunteer work with CFWF and my freelance business offer me a broad understanding of agriculture throughout the country. The conference being held in the United States, a country with which Canadian agriculture has experienced many challenges and shares many commonalities (BSE, COOL, trade, farm labour, organics), heightens my interest. I relish the chance to be in the heart of American agriculture writers, editors and farmers. I am excited about the trip and look forward to sharing the Canadian experience with fellow conference attendees. I fully expect to stir interest and enthusiasm for attending IFAJ in Canada in 2011,” says Finnamore.

Finnamore says she’ll share her learnings with all who are interested through her already established blog and social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

“I believe there are many more potential CFWF members in Atlantic Canada who may be drawn into the organization when they hear about my experience.”

Canada's Worst Driver makes Moncton casting call

Help to Make Moncton Roads Safer!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto, Ontario (March 2, 2009) - The record-breaking Discovery Channel series Canada’s Worst Driver is on a mission to make Moncton streets less dangerous by rehabilitating the worst drivers in the city. But finding these drivers isn’t easy, so Proper Television, the company behind the show, is enlisting the help of Moncton residents. People in the area are being asked to put forth their Canada’s Worst Driver nomination for the fifth season of the hit show.

To submit a nomination, email driver@propertelevision.com or call 1-866-598-2591.

Every single nomination from the Moncton area will be reviewed immediately. Producers have scheduled a trip to Moncton early in April to meet with the worst of the worst. Final selections for the program will take place shortly after. Drivers bad enough to make the cut will earn a coveted spot at the nation’s most intense training hub, the Driver’s Rehabilitation Centre.

The idea of the program is to resolve the serious and dangerous behaviour of these drivers through a series of challenges based on core driving skills. As each driver shows improvement, they graduate back onto real roads. At the end, one of the eight candidates will be crowned with the dubious title of Canada’s Worst Driver.

“At the end of the show, someone will be given the title of ‘Canada’s Worst Driver’ but more importantly, a handful of the country’s worst drivers will be exposed to skills that they can use in everyday situations,” says Andrew Younghusband, host and writer.

Why would anyone want to put themselves forward for such a title? The training is unlike any driver’s training in the world. The challenges and courses have been designed to improve the driver’s core driving skills by mimicking real life situations on a grand scale.

“The training is truly extraordinary, especially when it comes to helping those who need a more than just a refresher course behind the wheel,” says Guy O’Sullivan, Executive Producer of Canada’s Worst Driver. “Whether it’s a relative, neighbour, colleague or friend, we have the resources to help.“

To give the bad driver in your life an opportunity to learn from the country’s best at a state of the art driver’s rehabilitation centre, email driver@propertelevision.com or call 1-866-598-2591. Filming is slated for June 2009.

For more information and to view past episodes of Canada’s Worst Driver, you can visit www.worstdriver.ca.

Interviews and high resolution stills available upon request

Canada’s Worst Driver is produced by Proper Television, a Toronto based indie headed up by ex-BBC director Guy O’Sullivan. Proper specializes in factual entertainment and specialist factual programming, and has been named among the Realscreen Global 100 indies for 2008.

Media Contact – high resolution stills, information and interviews:

Meredith Veats, Proper Television Inc.
Telephone 416-598-2500 x224 Fax 416-598-2550 Email meredith@propertelevision.com

Feb. 12 is Food Freedom Day

On Feb. 12, the average Canadian will have enough income to pay his or her individual grocery bill for the entire year.

In observing Food Freedom Day, farmers across the country will celebrate their role in providing consumers with one of the safest and most affordable food supplies in the world.

Food Freedom Day is occurring slightly later in 2009 due to the recent rise in the price of food. This bucks the trend of recent years, where the disposable income of Canadians rose significantly faster than the cost of food. However, thanks to farmers, Canadians still get the best deal in the western world for their food dollar.

In many parts of the world, the cost of food is significantly higher. Member countries within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), on average, spend 8.3 per cent more of their disposable income on food than Canadians. Australians spend 12.7 per cent more, the Japanese spend 35.7 per cent more and Mexicans spend over 125 per cent more of their disposable income on food than Canadians.

In 2008, while prices in some agriculture commodities soared, Canadian farmers continued to take only a very small percentage of the consumers' food dollar at the grocery store.

In 2005, a grain farmer received $0.07 for the corn in a box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes and $0.11 for the wheat in a loaf of bread. Even with a doubling in the price of commodities, those costs would then become 14 cents and 22 cents, certainly not justifying the significant retail mark-ups which many consumers complained about.

Given the processed nature of many consumer foods, it is far more likely that an increase in the cost of energy played a much larger role in the retail price increase.

Canadians continued to receive high quality food produced at the highest food safety and environmental standards. To ensure that consumers are able to identify Canadian food products and support our agriculture sector, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture will continue to advocate for effective ingredient-based 'Product of Canada' guidelines that are both informative to the consumer and practical to the agri-food industry.

For more information Food Freedom Day calculations is here

More Food Freedom Day facts are here .

Words to live by

"Interestingly, koi, when put in a fish bowl, will only grow up to three inches. When this same fish is placed in a large tank, it will grow to about nine inches long. In a pond koi can reach lengths of eighteen inches. Amazingly, when placed in a lake, koi can grow to three feet long. The metaphor is obvious. You are limited by how you see the world." -- Vince Poscente

Prince Edward Islanders with a special interest in the work of the local international-development NGO Farmers Helping Farmers are invited to an orientation and information session on Saturday morning.

The session is part of the organization’s semi-annual meeting. Farmers Helping Farmers started in P.E.I. over 30 years ago. It maintains an ambitious and highly successful program of community-based projects, primarily in support of small-scale women farmers in Kenya.

The meeting will be held in the basement meeting room at St. Pete's Church Hall, All Souls’ Lane (off Rochford St.), Charlottetown from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

For more information, contact Harry Baglole at 675-4134.

Wine and Cheese in Nova Scotia

Wine and cheese -- sounds like the perfect way to pass the time during this deep freeze in Atlantic Canada.

And just because there's a chill in the air doesn't mean you should hibernate. The annual Sheffield Mills Eagle Watch is coming up and Fox Hill Cheese House in Port Williams, N.S. is extending its hours during the Eagle Watch. Sunday, Jan. 25 from 1 - 6 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 1 from 1 - 6 p.m.

Bird lovers can drop in to Fox Hill Cheese House and pick up some of cheese, yogurt or gelato; admire the eagles perched in the tall trees en route!

www.eaglens.ca

Also coming up at Fox Hill Cheese House is the Ice Wine Festival, Feb. 12 - 22.

Velvety, Luscious and Sweet - Tempt your tastebuds with Foxhill Gelato drizzled with Icewine from local wineries

February 14 & 15: Foxhill Gelato with wines from Domaine de Grand Pre

February 21 & 22: Foxhill Gelato with wines from Gaspereau Vineyards

Time: 2 - 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $5 per serving

2009 Nova Scotia Winter Icewine Festival

Ontario food marketing support ramped up

Ontario is boosting grassroots marketing efforts for Ontario foods and
strengthening rural economies by encouraging more residents and businesses to
buy locally grown food.

Ontario is initially investing more than $850,000 in 15 projects,
including, such as:

- A media awareness campaign to raise the profile of Ontario apples.

- A "Nothing Tastes Like Home" mobile educational trailer to market and promote "buying local" through cooking demonstrations and tasting opportunities at industry, community and school events.

- A Grey/Bruce county project to encourage growers to participate in the local food market, and to demonstrate that using local food is a viable option for area institutions and restaurants.

Eating – Is there a solution to the confusion?

Dr. Joe Schwarcz, the Director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society, is set to cut through the confusion when he addresses the annual meeting of the Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association on Friday, Jan. 16 in Saskatoon.

Conventional or organic? Local or imported? The confusion mounts when virtually every day brings news about some “miracle food” that we should be gulping down. One day it's tomatoes to prevent cancer, then flaxseed against heart disease or soybeans for menopause. Then there are the worries: genetic modification, pesticide residues, aspartame, MSG, the safety and efficacy of dietary supplements. We need proper science to guide us through this nutritional maze.

Attendees will learn the proper science behind nutrition which will better enable them to dispel some of the myths driving various diet trends.

Schwarcz writes a weekly newspaper column in the Montreal Gazette entitled “The Right Chemistry” as well as a monthly column in Canadian Chemical News. He was the chief consultant on the Reader’s Digest best sellers “Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal” and “The Healing Power of Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs.”

Working Weekends

When I first started to work from home, I would spend my days goofing off. These were the times before blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and even email, so I really have no idea how I wasted so much time. At least now I have an excuse!

My husband would come home from his office job and reality kicked in -- I still had a pile of writing to do. Yet he was at my office door wondering when I would be finished, if I wanted to go out, what I wanted to do with the evening. "Sorry," I had to say, "I've got work to do. Can't."

I did that maybe twice.

Working 9-5 isn't always possible, especially with laptops and Blackberries and iPhones keeping us connected. It's even harder, I think, when we work at home, since you're always "at the office." Even if you don't work from home, that Blackberry tends to keep humming right through the weekend.

Still, I do my best to watch the clock and keep somewhat regular working hours. I've gotten pretty good at it too -- except this weekend, where procrastination has lead me to my office and leaves me sitting at home working while everyone else is out for dinner.

I guess it's been a while since the fun left me behind at the computer and I needed a reminder. I'm lucky to have family who understands.

But dare I hope my family's dinner host tonight will send a doggy bag home for me??

Prince Edward Island potato farmers and other industry members are invited to attend the upcoming United Potato Growers of Canada seminars on Tuesday, Jan. 13 at the Delta Prince Edward Hotel and Wednesday, Jan 14 at Credit Union Place in Summerside.

The day-long seminars will provide excellent information.
- what’s happening in agriculture worldwide
- financial/risk analysis for potato growers
- how fiancial/risk analysis can be impacted by the decisions made on individual farms and as a province or country
- the U.S. approach to managing the potato market (as growers working together)
- what’s been happening on the Canadian side of the border in terms of better understanding potato market dynamics
- the latest developments in processing contract negotiations in North America.

The association says top-notch speakers from across North America will deliver this information, and, they say, the event will be extremely valuable as producers consider their plans for 2009.

Cities are eating up our prime farmland at the rate of two acres per minute 24-7-365. This loss of farmland leads us to ask…

How can we save enough farmland to maintain our food chain? (#619)

This Saturday at 9am Pacific, Michael Olson’s Food Chain Radio hosts Ellie Kastanopolous from Equity Trust and Jody Bolluyt from Hudson Valley’s Roxbury Farm for a conversation about holding on to farmland.

Listen on your radio, computer or IPOD: www.metrofarm.com.

Topics include whether enough privately-owned farmland can be saved to maintain the nation’s food chain; what alternatives exist to private ownership of farmland; and what results to these alternatives yield?

Cleaning up the cell phone

I was deleting some photos from my cell phone last night and it's interesting to see what images I felt I just HAD to take when I didn't have my camera with me. Some are of friends and family, others from shows I attended. And other, just curious images from the place I'm in at the time.





In hindsight, I should have been at a different angle to capture this awesome tree house in Nova Scotia. There's the tower with a bridge that crosses to a balcony that surrounds the tree. It was amazing. I bet that dad's a carpenter!







I was driving my daughter and her friend home from swimming lessons one night when I just had to pull over and take this shot of the atrocious spelling on this grocery store sign. I suspect it's a bilingual sign, combining Acadian and English. Whatever the reason, it made for a great discussion with two young, keen girls in the back seat.








This jacket was just too ugly not to record! I was at Value Village one day -- it never hurts to know what's out there! -- and found this jacket. It was the most curious piece of clothing I've ever seen. The ribbons, the satin applique -- yeesh. No wonder it was at Value Village.

Right to Know -- forgotten?

I received this news release today from P.E.I. Wouldn't it make more sense to send out a news release before Right to Know Week? And what about Right to Know Day -- why mention that when it was last week? Seems like someone forgot to say anything about our right to know...


October 2, 2007

ATTORNEY GENERAL PROCLAIMS RIGHT TO KNOW WEEK

CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI -- International Right to Know Day is recognized worldwide as an opportunity to raise awareness about the right of individuals to access information held by public bodies.
In recognition of International Right to Know Day, September 28, and planned local activities, Attorney General Gerard Greenan has proclaimed September 28 - October 5, 2007 as Right to Know Week in Prince Edward Island.
“I hope this declaration of Right to Know Week will help to raise public awareness about the public’s right of access to information,” said Attorney General Greenan. “Islanders expect their provincial government to operate in a manner that is both transparent and accessible. We are responsible to ensure Islanders know they have a right to request information held by government departments.”
The Minister said, in the past year from November 2006 to September 2007, provincial government departments have received 51 requests for information.
The Attorney General thanked Karen Rose, Acting Information and Privacy Commissioner, and the local Right to Know steering committee for organizing local activities in recognition of Right to Know Week. Activities include an essay writing contest, poster contest and public information forums.
More than 60 countries have legislation promoting access to information, and more countries are in the process of developing such laws. The Prince Edward Island Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act was proclaimed on November 1, 2002 to make government more open and accountable, and insure that Islanders’ personal information held by government is protected. The Act covers the records of provincial government departments, agencies, boards, commissions and crown corporations. School Boards were added under the Act in November, 2003.


Weblinks:
Right to Know Canada -
PEI FOIPP page
PEI Information and Privacy Office

Working the networking

Are you a networker?

I think for some people, the gift of gab comes easily, while for others, it's a chore. Plunged into a room full of business contacts, sometimes we don't have a choice but to strike up a conversation with the person beside us. It's better than standing over in the corner looking like a wall flower.

I attended a cocktail party in Ottawa once (sounds so glamorous!) and I noticed one man standing by himself for quite some time. Been there, done that, hate the unease of it all, so I went over and started a conversation. My journalism background probably makes it easier to jump into a conversation, but I wasn't asking any probing questions -- where are you from? What do you do? -- that kind of stuff. Turns out he was a politician (Ottawa, go figure) from Atlantic Canada. When I made that link with him, we began to talk about bars that we hung out in during college years. We were likely in many of the same places at the same time, it turns out.

Finding that one nugget of shared commonality is the key, I think, to opening someone up in these kinds of sitations. Do you work in the same field? Have kids ths same age? Play similar sports? Vacation in the same places? Asking the other person about their job and their passions is always a good idea, giving you the chance to let them do the talking.

The worst thing you want to do is walk away feeling like it's been a one-sided conversation and you've done all the talking.

I'm just back from a train trip from Belleville, Ont. The nearly 24 hour trips is excruciatingly long, but I'm glad I had a room to lounge in, pulling a bed down and night and allowing myself to be rocked to sleep by the trains movement along the tracks. I was also jolted awake each time the train came to a stop throughout the night.

Train travel gave me an inside peak at the outside world. I was detached and withdrawn from contact, unlike traveling in the car, where if I wanted to talk to the people we passed by, I could have simply pulled over and struck up a conversation.

As we pass by the back doors of houses along the way, I wonder what stories are inside. Lavish homes by lakes, dilapidated shacks by the tracks, farm houses away from the city and condos in the thick of down towns. Workers of the land, offices and homes, why do you live where you do? Why did you choose the train as your neighbour? Do you get along with your neighbour? What's going on in your life to bring you to this home? I hope the people living in the run down apartments and shacks can find the inner strength they need to find a better home. No one should have to live like that.




Before I booked my ticket, I debated over whether to get a room. I did, and, cocooned inside, I spread out my books, papers and clothes in my own little space.

Through the woods of Northern New Brunswick at dusk on the way to Belleville, I anticipated the chance to see some wildlife, but the closest I came was when the stench of a skunk seeped into my little room during the night. I guess it tried to outrun the train and lost. However, there was a certain comfort in knowing that air is being circulated in from outside, and not just recycling smelly feet air.

The graffiti along the route is amazing. Sometimes it’s right near the train station, on the backs of retainer walls or on the slanted sides of overpasses. Fat, round letters in black and white spray paint but there are many colourful ones to see too. At Dorval Station, vibrant blues, yellows and reds create words. I can’t make out what it says, but it doesn’t matter. I can instead admire the simple beauty of the artwork, knowing the white stucco was probably a very inviting canvas.



I changed trains in Montreal, leaving the wrapping of my private room to regular seats. I treasure solitary time, but human contact is interesting too.

In the seats, we're certainly closer together. Maybe even too close. The old woman beside me has fallen asleep. She's snoring softly and her relaxed arm is increasingly creeping into my space. I lean closer to the window just a bit.

The crying baby is finally asleep. I was getting tired of hearing other passengers heave sighs of annoyance, as if the mother was pinching the boy, keeping him awake and fussy on purpose.

Remember the little movie cards we has as kids? Hold the deck with one hand and flick your other thumb quickly through the edges on the outside. The fast movement makes the pictures on the cards come to life. I always loved the little “zip” noise as my thumb passed over the cards.

Corn fields flick by and their straight and narrow rows make me think of the movie card. There’s no movie, though, although I’m sure the farmer growing the corn has some fabulous stories to tell.

There are many stops along the route and it’s fascinating to watch reunions at the train station.

Happy children bound off to meet awaiting relatives, or run across the yard to greet disembarking grandparents. Middle aged husbands efficiently whisk luggage out of the hands of their wives or extend a friendly pat on the back to young men.

At one stop, several young adults, probably around 15 years old, were greeted with deep, strong hugs from who I presume were their parents. One girl gets off and nearly falls into her father’s arms and sobs. As she melts into her mother's arm, the older woman takes the girl's face in her hands and wipes away tears with her thumbs, smiling reassuringly to her at the same time. The young adults were hugging each other too. Long, compassionate hugs that clearly showed a strong bond between friends.

What’s going on? My only guess is they’re a sports team, but they don’t appear to have any equipment with them. I wonder if they won or lost. I search their faces for clues, but I really can’t tell.

The whole scene is gripping. Despite only being a few feet away, since I’m still on the train and they’re on the pavement outside my window, we seem worlds apart. I can’t ask them what’s happening and I can’t hear what they’re saying... it’s like watching a silent movie.

The hugging continues as the train pulls away and I turn backwards to catch a different point of view, maybe see a clue on someone else's face. It’s only after they’ve disappeared from sight that I realize I’m crying too. I’ve never seen such an obvious display of affection.

It was a long ride, but enjoyable. Peeking into the backyards of homes along the way, wondering about the people who live there and catching just a peak of another world.

I took some other photos, but they're on my cell phone, which I left on the train. I'll have to make another trip down to the station later tonight to pick it up.