> On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 Farnk penned > Back in the '70's, one of my best friends in high school used to live > on the family farm, which had been in the family for three > generations. As the city grew, it encroached on the farm. Family > farms became less and less profitable, and my friend's dad finally > gave in, and accepted an offer from a developer for the land.
> cheers, > frank > -- > "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson > I have meet a lot of farmers since moving up to cow country,and they are mostly ready to retire,the kids have no interest in making $2.50 and hour running the family farm,so they sell them for a good chunk of change and have a nice nest egg for retirment. Unfortnunatly this is happening at a very fast rate in the area north of Toronto,some of the worlds best soil for farming are now Walmarts and Home depots and what one home builder calls"Wide lots"(i dont call 32' wide anymore.LOL) It will be harder to do that in my area as the Provincial Government(dont get me started)has introduce a bill to close development on what is known as "The Oakridges Morraine" a very sensitive haed water are. Now the farms can only be sold as farms and noone wants to buy that way. Catch 22 at its best. I unfortunalty work in a business that relies on this "progress" and in such do it as its my job,but deep down it really hurst to see thes lovely old houses and barns go the way of the dodo bird. This probably explains why i spend a lot of my free time doing rural photography so future generations can see what was. Actually there are a few photog types in this area doing the same,as well as a few paint artists painting old farms and barns. I am trying to convince my SO and Daughter to let me sell this house and move a bit further north into a smallish farm and maybe set up a small riding school for daughter,but i'v hit a brick wall so to speak. Oh and thats another thing in regards to the tax man.Our tax people(Mpac)want to reassess riding schools and boarding facilities from Agriculture to Commercial which has seen tax increase of 600-1000% in some of the first cases. If that happens i'll be forced to just let the old girl go free and fend for her self as no one would be able to aford board rates. My Mom always said(rip)that i was born a 100 years to late.LOL Sorry for the long rant. Dave
