The Pantry

With 7 dogs, 4 of which are over 100lbs, we use lots of dog food! Having been in the dog business since the 70’s, both Border Collies and guardians, we sought out the best deal for dog food - palatability, nutrition and moderate price being our criteria. We had a bulk deal from the local feed mill but the dogs stopped eating it after a while. We partnered up with another dog owner and trucked a large quantity from southern Alberta but storage began to cause problems. We gave most of the moderately priced name brands a doggy taste test. In the end Kirkland’s (Costco) lamb and rice won out. So at least once a month and often twice we head out on a dog food run to the city. Two hours there, two hours back, time to shop, and storing away purchases makes it a long and tiring day. 

Costco knows how to attract buyers, I’ve made many spur of the moment purchases there. All the stuff you simply must have is right at the door as you come in, next comes the electronics, followed by candy. They have quality meats, gifts, clothing, books, cheaper gas... Needless to say we load up on lots more than dog food on our city trips.

When we get home the work begins. Those large quantities must be broken up into smaller ones for freezing, room must be found in the fridge, and cupboard space for the rest. I believe in having a spare of nearly everything and a whole flat of things like mushroom soup, so when I start using the spare its replacement goes onto my grocery list. Between my stocked root cellar and my spare keeping habit we could probably eat well for a month or two and never leave home. But product back-up requires storage space and I was running out!

“I need another pantry,” I announced to my unresponsive-connected-by-bluetooth- deep-into-the-news on his iPad husband.

“Hmmm,” he mumbled.

That sounded like ‘yes, good idea’ to me. 

We have a small room we’ve called Grandma’s room ever since it was my mom-in-law’s bedroom when she stayed with us 6 months at a stretch many years ago. Grandma’s room has gradually become a storage/utility room, a catch-all for everything we couldn’t find a spot for. I moved a bookshelf upstairs, wiggled a few things around and made a place for a pantry about two feet wide. I was ready! I delved into some of the big box store’s websites on the Internet to see what I could find - size and price being my search parameters. I placed my order on a pantry cupboard 24”x11”x 60” from Home Depot - reasonable price, free delivery. Two days later I received an email saying my pantry had been shipped. For my shipping address I used the street address of a small business in the village as per usual, because there are no trucking outfits that bring goods out to the farms.

I phoned to check on my parcel several days later - not there yet. A week later, still not there. “This makes no sense!” I said, “UPS sent an email and it should be here by now.”

“Oh, it was shipped by UPS! Don’t you know they don’t deliver out here anymore, haven’t for quite a while.” Time to get serious about tracking down my pantry. I found a phone number for UPS, patiently listened to a recorded voice giving me many options to solve my problem, and finally found a human to tell me my pantry was in their warehouse and that they were looking for a trucking outfit to bring it out. Right. Suspecting they would not find anyone I suggested we re-route the package to the northwest side Home Depot. They and Home Depot agreed. But the pantry never got there.

On contacting UPS again I discovered it was still in their warehouse. “Okay, we’ll come and get it,” I said. “Where are you?” Their location on 28th Ave.N.W. turned out to be on the SE side of the city...?? (Am I the only one who finds that odd?) Off we went, clocking the distance at 192km from home! Free delivery, yep. Oh well, the south side Costco was a hop and skip away from UPS, so we picked up dog food too.

After a couple of days sitting in the shop in its box, my husband put my new pantry together and I filled it up with my spares and some less frequently used kitchen appliances. And I’ve learned my lesson about buying large items on the Internet when you live in the disconnected boonies - ship to the store for pick-up or shop the old fashioned way.

Out of Luck and Out of Pocket

The gradual demise of rural services

First we lost our postal outlet, located in the General Store on the edge of a hamlet about 5 minutes down the road from our farm. That was many many years ago. I remember we protested for all the good that it did. I even wrote a protest song! The post office was the life blood of the store and the local farming community. It provided revenue for the store’s proprietors and brought everyone in our area there to fetch their mail and maybe have chat with the neighbors too. And heck, while there you may as well pick up that pound coffee or jar of mayo you forgot to get in town last time. 

The store did manage to survive for quite a few years after the demise of the post office though. They sold gas, cigarettes and liquor - life's little essentials - and the post lock boxes were right out front. But I guess it was inevitable. The store is no more. The last owners found it insufficiently profitable for the amount of work it entailed.

The post boxes have been moved up the road a bit. We receive mail twice a week. The old store has been torn down. We can receive smaller packages now due to the addition of a few larger lock boxes. When a package arrives we get a key to unlock the box it’s in. We can, if we have stamps, mail a letter. For any other services provided by Canada Post we have to drive 4 times as far, to the closest village (30km).

I am not a grain farmer so the removal of the rail line and the grain depot in the nearest town (65km) did not affect me, but grain farmers now have to truck their grain to the city (175km), a not so environmentally conscious decision causing stress, time, trucking long distances and increasing costs.

The Auction Mart in town has been closed for quite a few years. It used to be a gathering spot for farmers. Every Thursday they’d be at the sale, poking around the odds and ends up for auction; watching, buying, selling cattle and sheep; giving away kittens, sometimes rabbits. It was always hard to find a place to park in town on auction day. Now we have to travel an additional 30 minutes to the next town to sell our lambs or find a buyer that will pick them up.

The feed store moved to the next town as well (an additional 30km). The time required to go to town to pick up feed or other essentials has increased by half an hour. Local co-ops have tried but not entirely succeeded to fill the gap. The loss of this service is felt by nearly everyone who farms.

I already wrote a blog about the federal gov’s new law saying vets must visit your farm annually if you expect to be able to purchase antibiotics for your livestock. Mileage charges make this law repressive for farmers who live in outlying areas.

We’ve also lost our high school, making longer bus rides necessary for young people who want to complete their grade 12.

The bus stopped coming to our area a few years back.Those of us who depend on the bus for freight or transportation have had to drive to town to access this service. As of November 1st Greyhound is discontinuing service to pretty well all of western Canada. Supposedly some smaller bus lines are stepping up to the plate, but minimal ridership out here may make even minibus lines think twice about feasibility. Lack of bus freight hurts many local businesses and alternative shipping options, other than a few couriers, do not exist.

I recently ordered a pantry from a large outlet that has numerous stores in the city. Easy on-line shopping with free delivery! They shipped it by UPS. Oops! UPS no longer comes to our area. But that’s another story.

My-oh-my do we ever have to drive a lot. Kind of hard to be climate conscious and use less gas. I remember asking the gov when the carbon tax came in, “What about those of us who live long distances from the services we need?” 

“You will be compensated,” they said. Right. Rebates are given to lower income people, but those of us who must drive long distances to acquire essential services (requiring fuel, maintenance, and time) are not part of the compensation equation.

I suspect that our rural district is not alone. Country folks who have a connection to the land and a love for the lifestyle are dwindling in numbers. The slow demise of rural services and amenities helps to create an environment conducive to the rise of gigantic corporate farms and feed lots with absentee owners and hired managers. Laborers on such farms have little stake in the local community.

We may be out of luck and out of pocket when it comes to acquiring services, but there is an upside. Self sufficiency! We by necessity have developed awesome organizational skills! We must remember to stock up on everything from gas to plumbing supplies, from livestock minerals to toilet paper, from stamps to diesel fuel, from coffee to fencing staples... We must be Jack’s and Jill’s of all trades and make sure we have the tools and parts we need to get the job done. We may be more and more isolated from the mainstream but we know our neighbors and understand the meaning of being neighborly. We value and strive for a sense of community. We are resilient. We need to be.