The Farmboy

This book covers the time period of my public school years from 1950 to 1958 in a small rural community in Ontario. It describes my life during those eight years growing up on the farm. In 1950, at age six I moved with my parents from the city of Toronto along with my two brothers ages three and twelve to start a new life on a dairy farm. My parents would take on a enormous task managing a 100 acre dairy farm, with no prior experience. We had moved back in time to almost pioneer status, and began an adventure through time as we slowly modernized our farm. This book describes in detail how we farmed using only horses for the first three years from 1950 to 1953 and how things began to change when we got our first tractor. I provide many pictures of life on the farm and the equipment we used in the early days c/w with full explanations of how the equipment worked when completing each phase of the farming cycle. The type of farming we did during those early years was very much like how many of the Mennonite and Amish communities farm today using only horses. I would attend a one room school from grade one until mid grade 6, at which time I would attend our new four room school. This book shows what it was like to live in the small rural village of Palermo, Ontario in Trafalgar Township situated at the crossroads of Hwy 5 and 25. (Then Dundas and Bronte Rd.) We take you back in time to see what Palermo, Ontario was like in the early 1950's c/w pictures. The community no longer exists and has now lost its identity of a small rural village as it has now become a suburb of Oakville Ontario. We re-create Palermo as it was in the 1950's complete with descriptions and pictures. We also have included a short history of Palermo from the beginnings when the Empire Loyalists settled the area starting around 1804. We also include a short history of the houses and buildings from their early beginnings. In writing this book I feel that I have helped to preserve a part of history that no longer exists.