I went to E.D. Smith’s farm today. We were picking cherries. I can’t tell you what an interesting and wonderful day it was! For those who don’t know, this is an old highly respected farm family who have been producing fruit for what I understand is now the eight generation! The farm is in Winona, Ontario a little town which is best known for it’s Peach Festival.
I was interested in going to the farm, not as much for the fruit as for the historical connection and the experience. I actually did my university thesis on the daughter of E.D. Smith when I was studying. She has not as far as I know really been researched by anyone except me, so I am probably the foremost expert on the her, which is pretty cool really! When I started digging into Elizabeth’s life, I found that I quite liked the family. They had good ethics and E.D. Smith stood out as a very significant historical figure!
E.D. Smith was not only a farmer, a jam maker, an MP and a business man he was a exceptionally progressive man when it came to the women in his life. This is likely due to the fact that his mother Damaris Isabella McGee (married to Sylvester Smith in 1853) was a force to be reckoned with and according to the family’s website, a pivotal person in the diversification of the family farm – into fruit and canning. This strength that E.D. Smith’s mother showed him, was sent on through the generations to his daughter Elizabeth, who with his blessing, was sent off to University. He did not send her to study English, which was the only acceptable area of study for women of this time. No, she wanted to study medicine and did. It does not end there, of course, so much happened to this young pioneer while at school! But year after year he sent her back. The Smith’s you see, believed that women must be strong hold up thier heads and get on with it.
For me the visit today was so amazing. Lucky for me, I got the opportunity to see the family integrity first hand when I met Llewellyn Smith’s lovely and startlingly busy, wife Susan who hand in hand with her husband runs and manages the farm. Today she was, not surprisingly, busy, smiling and out in the fields directing the huge crowd as well as the staff, while her husband saw to their children’s needs. She was nothing short of amazing. A smile, a hand shake and a direction of purpose that very few have. I was not in the least surprised that a Smith would be married to such a powerhouse, but still I was humbled.
This said, there was something too that was very special about being at the farm. I could feel the energy in the land which was carried through from the people who farmed it. This topic is discussed in “The Embers and the Stars” by Erazim Kohak, but basically it is that a person puts all his or her energy into the land and that careful observers can find out a lot by paying attention. In the case of the Smith’s gorgeous property, by looking around I could see that they understand the importance of good business but they do not do this at the cost of the trees or the land. They ask that you do not litter, harm the trees, they check to be sure that you do not carry potential pollutants so that the land will last and be something that they, as a family can take pride in. You can see by the well done fence lines, the careful pruning of the trees and the wonderful staff that each decision they make is weighed. After all these years, they carry a HUGE pride in ownership that is for the most part lost and not understood by city dwellers.
I am thankful that I have a life which allows me to experience things like this!
