by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
WESTMEATH — A woman farmer worked hard for the right to be the best farmer she can…while women in the United States protested to ensure the rights they’ve won over the past many years remain.
Trudy Desjardins spoke about her career choice to become a farmer at a time when it was a male dominated profession.
The women in the United States staged protests in many cities throughout the country on Jan. 21, the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the U.S. Jennifer Valiquette spoke about the event. She was just one of thousands of Canadian women who travelled to a U.S. city to participate in a protest.
Both women were guest speakers at the International Women’s Day event held at the Westmeath Community Centre. The event was co-hosted by the Whitewater Bromley Community Health Centre and the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County.
“I am a full time sole proprietor farmer and started 33 years ago, when it was pretty well unheard of and I’d have to say it still is today,” said Ms. Desjardins. “I’m going to talk about the barriers, the good things and bad things, to get me to where I am today.”
As a little girl, Ms. Desjardins knew she wanted to farm when she grew up.
“I’ve always had a passion for animals,” she said. “I just love everything outside. I love working outside, that is what I wanted to do.”
She excelled at school, being an honour student. While people had expectations for her, Ms. Desjardins kept her eye on farming. She applied at two post-secondary institutions … agricultural college in Kemptville and the nursing program at Queen’s University in Kingston.
“I chose agriculture,” she said. “Many people were disappointed. They said you can’t do it, it won’t happen, it’s a long, hard road.”
She graduated from college in 1979, and while not wanting to brag about her time in college, Ms. Desjardins was a first woman at many things while at college. She was the first woman president of The Royal. She recalled when her two-year term ended and she received a phone call asking what type of wood she wanted her jewellry box made of.
“I said ‘my jewellry box?’ quite surprised,” she recalled. “They said, as a woman, we thought you’d like a jewellry box. I said, no, I would be quite happy to get the cattlemen’s cane, and so I got it.” The cane was the usual gift presented at the end of the two-year term.
Her class was made up of 88 males and eight females. Growing up, Ms. Desjardin said she was good at judging cattle. While at college, she tried out for the college team and made it on, but only as an alternate. It wasn’t until the big competition in Montreal that she was able to get onto the team as a competitor, when a teammate became ill.
“Low and behold, we didn’t win the competition, I think we were third, but I was the overall high individual,” she recalled.
Once graduated, Ms. Desjardins returned home and began milking, as she wanted experience working for other farmers. She also became a milk tester for the province.
In the early 1980s, when she was young and naïve, a farm became available, so off to see the bank manager Ms. Desjardins went for a loan.
“I told him how much money I was looking for and he said it was too much money,” she recalled.
When she answered “I don’t have one” when questioned who was her fiancée, who was her boyfriend, the bank manager told her she wasted his time coming in asking for money to purchase a farm.
“I was crushed,” Ms. Desjardins recalled. “I was devastated. I thought I was going to have my first farm.”
More determined than ever to own a farm, she continued to work setting aside money for her future farm. When the federal and provincial milk testing programs were consolidated into one program, it was Ms. Desjardins, with the assistance of a co-worker, who designed the new program and who was going to train others to work the program.
When she realized they wanted her to work at the head office in Toronto, she handed in her resignation and returned home.
Eventually, Brent Clifford called and asked her to manage a M & R Feeds store he was opening in Pembroke. She agreed to work there, and after a year, when she realized she was finding the work lonely and physically challenging, she returned home again.
Throughout these years, Ms. Desjardins also worked at the Ontario Stockyards in Toronto and various jobs throughout the county, such as census taking, co-ordinating courses, and whatever else she could do to make money.
In 1991, the opportunity to purchase a farm came up again. She went to a different bank manager and had a totally different experience.
“He lent me the money without accepting collateral or a mortgage,” Ms. Desjardins recalled. “He just said here’s the money.
“Where the other one crushed me and slammed the door in my face, this next one was different. I promised him I would pay it off in five years.
“And, in five years, I did have it paid.”
While she and her brother Doug are each sole proprietors of their own farms, they work together as well, sharing their strengths.
She is the book-keeper and looks after the cattle.
It has worked for both of us so we could pursue our dreams,” she said.
In 1996 she purchased another farm. She did know there were other farms that were sold, but she never found out about them until after they were sold.
She wrote a letter to a woman who had taken over the family farm when her husband died, advising she would like to be informed if the woman ever decided to sell the farm.
Three years later she received a phone call and eventually became the owner of that farm.
“That’s how I obtained my third farm,” Ms. Desjardin said.
“I really, really, and I say it sincerely, love what I do,” she said. “It’s a hard life. It’s a lifestyle that probably many of you here would not excel at.
“I’m in a commodity of cow-calf. It’s not known as making lots of money, that’ s why cow-calf people have outside jobs.”
When Ms. Desjardins turned 40, she decided it was time to quit working for others and go full-time farming.
In 2006, her father died, which was a big loss to she and her brother, since he was helping them out following his retirement.
However, their mother, while she doesn’t work the farms, ensures the brother and sister have a good supper.
“I can’t tell you how wonderful that is,” she said. “Because we hardly make wages to pay ourselves, we cannot employ someone else. And also, people don’t realize how dangerous the job is that we do every day.”
Ms. Desjardins said while cows seem to be big and quiet, they can be very dangerous, noting she has been knocked unconscious and kicked several times. She recalls one time when a cow, which had been her 4-H project, knocked her over and she ended up face down on the ground and the cow attacking her back. Luckily, her father was there to pull her to safety.
She also works with equipment that can be dangerous if you don’t pay attention to what you are doing.
“There are many, many dangers, but it’s part of the job, it’s who I am and what I do,” she said. “You have to almost think like the animal. Just anything can trigger them. You have to be careful when out with them, you can be trampled.”
Ms. Desjardins admits that without her brother, she would not be able to farm. There are many things she cannot do, mostly physical things. But, she added, there are also things her brother cannot do. So, working together, they are stronger.
“The only thing I haven’t done, and refuse to do, is castrate,” Ms. Desjardins said, bringing laughter from the crowd. “I don’t want to do that ever. And I’ve never had to do it.”
Ms. Desjardins said she was fortunate she could follow her dream to have a career in a male-dominated world.
“While there were men who have made my life difficult, there are many men who have been my greatest mentors and have taken me aside and have really accepted me in a field that is dominated by men, and continues to be,” she said. “Many organizations I’ve sat on are all men. They respect me and I respect them.”
She has seen a change and noted that women are taking on more leadership roles.
Looking at challenging times, Ms. Desjardins recalled the drought of 1997. They had to purchase feed for their cattle and it was expensive.
“We learned then that we need to have, for whatever number of cattle we have, always have enough feed,” she recalled, adding, “It just devastated our business the amount we had to pay out for feed.”
Worse thing that happened in her farming career was the mad cow disease.
“That has literally changed our industry forever, it will never be the same,” Ms. Desjardins said. “Many people exited the business and overnight our incomes dropped 60 percent. Many of us, you can take one or two years of that, kept going on. It was so out of our control, it was nothing we had done as producers. You felt so helpless. You still have animals to feed, bills to pay, machinery payments to make.
“It was tough. It lasted from 2003 until 2012. It was a long time. That’s why most people are gone.”
The mad cow disease also changed the landscape, as fields that once pastured cattle were plowed and crops were planted, which meant the eco-system was changed, she explained.
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In 2012, the 100-year drought occurred, but this time the Desjardins were lucky as they had hay for their cattle to eat.
“My brother and I both made it through,” she said, not only referring to the drought, but to interest rates. “Young people today don’t know the high interest rates of the ‘80s, when they were 18 and 20 percent. I have concern for young people, because they have no idea how quickly the end can come for many people.”
Ms. Desjardins then pulled three items from a bag, noting they hang on her wall above her desk.
“I kook at them, sometimes more than others, depending on what’s happening,” she said.
The first is a framed print of her name in large print and what it means, which was given to her by her mother. She said what is written on it is describes her perfectly: The spear-loved maiden; Competitive, fierce and a winner. Every ounce is expelled to succeed. A loyal friend and a worthy opponent. Brings her tasks to fruition, working hard to get ahead and prove herself. A leader with wise councel and thought out words.
Another item are her three deeds to the farms, each in a frame, given to her by her sister. Each one of them tells a story, she said. The deed she brought to show the women was to property first owned by a woman.
“It was patented in 1938,” Ms. Desjardins said. “It’s quite remarkable that a woman back then got the first deed to the property. When I’m feeling sorry for myself, this brings me back to reality. I look at these with pride. I have three of them.”
The final item was a small scroll titled Don’t Quit. It was given to her by a senior at Kemptville college when she was a junior. She knew the difficulties I was going to go through, and wanted to show she supported her, even though she didn’t even know her.
But, along with operating a cow-calf farm, Ms. Desjardins has sideline jobs, such as an egg business and meat birds.
She also loves her African violets.
“I have about 100 of them in the house,” she said.
Following a few questions, Ms. Desjardins admitted the farming life is not easy and can be stressful, noting she has about 500 mouths to feed each day, including cows, calves, chickens, birds, barn cats and a dog.
“But, I wouldn’t change anything,” she said, adding, “It’s exciting.
“Nothing gives me greater joy than to go out in the morning, go back and check where the cows are calving. It’s the most beautiful place you can imagine, full of trees that are blossoming. I still get that thrill seeing a newborn calf.”
Protesting with millions
Jennifer Valiquette is a registered nurse and the manager of Renfrew Victoria Hospital’s regional assault care program.
She is passionate about her career and women’s rights. She recalled when she went to university and took a women’s study course, “my brain just went wow!”
She has worked as a nurse for 20 years, the past 10 in Renfrew County and devoted the majority of that time to working with women.
On International Women’s Day she was there to talk about the opportunity she had to attend the women’s march in Washington, DC on Jan. 21.
While it was Joanne Brooks from the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre who organized the trip, she had to pull out at the last minute due to an illness. So, Ms. Valiquette found a friend to go with her and the two of them spent 10 hours driving to Washington.
She recalled the march was organized by women who wanted to make sure the Trump administration is aware that women have opinions and are going to share them with this administration.
She warned those at the Westmeath event that some of the signs they would see on the screen were vulgar, but came from a place of humour and anger and being upset, fearing that their choices and rights may be removed.
Pointing to the bright pink hat on her head, Ms. Valiquette said it became a central theme throughout the marches across US and other places around the world. It became known as a Pussyhat.
The co-founders of the Pussyhat, Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman, noted they wanted to embrace pink because it’s very feminine and the name refers to the feminine part.
“This is a day to come together for all of us, to be seen, to be heard,” said one woman on a short video that was shown, adding, “We have our work cut out for us.
“This is not just a movement, it a resource for women.”
Ms. Valiquette’s Pussyhat was knitted by Stephanie Keon, daughter of Donna and Stan Keon of Cobden.
Ms. Valiquette noted that many women can’t believe it’s 2017 and they still have to protest what’s going on. The biggest theme is that women’s rights are human rights and the Trump administration platform infringes on many people’s rights, she said.
While it was expected that about 200,000 women and supporters were going to attend the event, more than a million attended.
On the morning of the protest march, Ms. Valiquette said they were starting to hear about the large numbers of women gathering and decided to head out as early as they could.
“When we went down for breakfast, there was already a sea of pink hats,” she said. “Literally, it felt like everyone in the hotel was there for the march. There were women who were waiting for the shuttle to go downtown, and they were wearing capes and girls wearing t-shirt saying ‘Girls just want to have FUN damental rights.’
People were holding signs that spoke to the causes that were most important to them, she said.
“It wasn’t until we got into the downtown core that we started to realize just how many people were there,” Ms. Valiquette said. “We were dropped off in the periphery and more and more pink hats started to surface. We became part of the pink hat movement.”
It was estimated that close to one million people participated in the Washington march, and there hundreds of thousands participating in other marches that occurred around the US, in Canada and Europe.
“There were millions and millions of people, women and their male allies, supporting women’s issues,” she said.
There were so many people at the Washington march, she and her friend were stuck in one place. It was difficult to hear what was gong on in terms of speeches. So, they mingled and talked with others.”
“There were no reports of violence in Washington during this march, it was peaceful, it was designed to express ideals and share women’s perspectives,” Ms.Valiquette said.
There were photos that showed men were participating in the marches as well, showing their support for the women in their lives.
The crowd was so large and noisy, Ms. Valiquette said she was about 200 feet away from the speakers and she couldn’t see or hear them.
There were very young women and many women in their 80s and 90s participating in the march, she said, as well as women of diverse backgrounds.
“It was a pretty incredible experience to be there and be part of history and continuing forward,” she said. “We need more than just this protest. We have to keep going.”
Organizers have been quite influential around the protests going on related to the Muslim ban that was promoted, she said.
Ms.Valiquette also noted that on International Women’s Day, women were encouraged to go on strike “in order to emphasize the value and importance of women,”
The idea is that it’s a movement, not a moment, and people need to voice concerns, they need to protest,” she said. “We are already seeing results around the Muslim ban and what the protesters were able to accomplish in various locations.
“People are listening.
“It’s important to keep having a voice.
“We’re not going to be put in a box, we have rights, and that motivates me with the work I do,” Ms. Valiquette said.
Gayle Stewart, who was in the crowd at Westmeath said, this was a sad movement to see in this day and age.
“In my lifetime, there were protests, and we listened to Gloria Steinam, and other great women of the movement,” she said. “To see how the Americans, at this point, have to return to the protests, are so unbelievably burdened with this ridiculous man and what he stands for.”
She said, in Canada the movements that sowed the seeds “back in the day,” took root. Ms. Stewart noted Canada has had a woman chief justice, four women premiers, and has a full roster of cabinet women.
“I feel great pain for American women,” she said.
Ms. Valiquette agreed, adding, “We have a feminist who is our prime minister and made a point of making sure that half his cabinet was represented by women.”
She admitted she has a sister and niece who live in the U.S. and worries about them.
“We have a special position here in Canada and it’s important to be vocal,” Ms.Valiquette said.
