Lögberg-Heimskringla - 03.06.2005, Qupperneq 16

Lögberg-Heimskringla - 03.06.2005, Qupperneq 16
16 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 3 June 2005 ‘I’m where I want to be’ Danny Thorsteinson thefourth ofsix generations onfamilyfarm PHOTO : STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON Danny Thorsteinson speaks at the Recent INL Convention in Wynyard, SK. Joan Eyolfson Cadham Foam Lake, SK £ Then I finished \/\/ school, I wanted ▼ ▼ to farm. Mom and Dad insisted I go to univer- sity. It was the best thing I ever did — I took agriculture. Then I worked for someone else, nine to five, looking at the clock. It reaffirmed what I wanted to do. You have to appreciate what you’ve got. We have a great ex- panse of land, with fresh air, and it’s not packed with people.” That’s how Gary Thorsteinson explains why he is content to be the fifth generation of his family on the same land near Foam Lake — with son Tryg- gvi, born Aug. 10, 2004, mak- ing the sixth. Gary farms with his father, Danny, who also never wanted to do anything else. “I would sit in West Side school [a one- roomed country school west of Foam Lake], look out, and watch the guys doing what they were doing. That’s where I wanted to be. When I got to high school, Bill Gushulak promised that, if I stayed home, he’d ensure that I got my Grade 10.” Danny has been farming for 40 years. “Dad was sick. Either I took over the farm, or it would have been disposed of. It was 1964.1 was bom in 1942.1 was 22.” The Thorsteinsons seed 6,000 acres. They are breeding 500 cows. “We don’t have to look for winter work. We have a totally rounded operation,” says Danny. They’ve come a long way from the day August 30, 1907, when Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson filed for a homestead on NW 32-30-12 W2nd. Thorstein and his wife, Anna Ingibjorg, immigrated to Canada from Iceland with three children in 1892. Six more were bom in Canada. They lived briefly in Churchbridge and Whitesands before they home- steaded in the post office district of Fairlands, later to become the district of Leslie. The family squatted on the west side of the marsh (origi- nally Foam Lake, now the Foam Lake Heritage Marsh), down below the present ranch site, in 1898. The children sailed across the lake to school. Guðbjargar Sigurðardóttir, widow of Thorsteinn, had filed on NW 32-30-12 when she was 70. As improvements she cited a 14 x 18 log house with a frame roof worth $700, and a log stable, 12 x 12. By time of claim, they had cultivated 37 acres. Her son, also Thorsteinn, known as “Stoney,” spent the growing season on the land from 1903 to 1905, settling permanently in 1906, with his wife and nine children, in a two-storey house, made of lum- ber, with a shingle roof, worth $2,000. He also had a log stable with a shingle roof, another 14 x 30 stable with a straw roof, and a granary, the total worth of his outbuildings being $500. The Thorsteinsons always had livestock — Stoney had 80 cattle, 12 horses and 25 sheep. He had cultivated 80 acres and had them two-wire fenced. The land was worth $80. The generations followed — from Stoney to Einar Skul- mundur who married Beatrice- Aurora Thorlakson of Winni- peg, to Johann Daniel (Danny), who married Judith Ann Gray, to Gary, who married Tara Bolt and, when he’s old enough to take his place, young Tryggvi. Thorsteinn apparently had a bout of homesickness, left his wife and children on the farm, and went back to Iceland. How- ever, he came back. According to the Foam Lake history book, They Came From Many Lands, he was very happy to get back to his family and his farm work. Later generations have had no pressing urge to go any- where. It wasn’t necessarily easy. Danny’s mother was bom in Winnipeg. “She was used to all the amenities. She came to the farm — no water, outdoor facil- ities — it must have been hard,” says Danny. However, he says, look at it Pickerel • Salmon Shrimp • Lobster • Crab Harðfiskur • and more! WE PACK FOR TRAVEL 596 Dufferin Ave. 589-3474 VISIT OUR NEW LOCATION 625 Pembina Hwy. (1 block south of Grant) 477-6831 this way. “Most people have a job working for a living. They look forward to the weekend so that they can do what they want. I’m farming. When I go on a holiday, I look forward to getting back to work. I’m doing what I want. Life is too short to live any other way. The only time we complain on the farm is when we are worried that we can’t continue doing it.” Danny’s father worked the land in tandem with John Bjar- nason. When he left, Frankie and Ella Reynolds farmed with him. “Dad never drove a trac- tor,” said Danny. “John was the tractor man.” Dad picked stones with horses, but he did drive the grain truck while John did the field work. “I was 18, seeding my first field. Decisions had to be made because of my father’s ill health. I was working lake bot- tom, spending an eternity with small equipment, and fed up. Dad had dropped me off with my lunch and a barrel of gas. I saw my neighbour with three disks together, and a big trac- tor. I said to myself, ‘One day, that’s where I want to be.’” Danny has gone that far and further — all from the same part of prairie that he holds dear. And Gary? Gary is 32. He plans to stay on the farm. “I’ve wanted to farm as long as I remember,” he says. “My first memory is riding on the floor of the tractor, and sleeping there. I’m where I want to be.” The þerfect investment in your heritage... Lögberg-Heimskringla Your icelandic connection since 1886 Subscribe today! Call toll-free 1-866-564-2374 in Winnipeg: 284-5686 or visit www.lh-inc.ca nMHaflHaHMMawaaManannnwMiMi 1-866-314-4423 or 780-481-3502 e-mail: snorri@icelandic-goods.com Check out our imported products online www.icelandic-goods.com Oneofourmainsuppliersis vVell known GL^FI family owned lcelandic producer of high quality knitted goods www.glofi.is Visit us on the web at http://www.lh-inc.ca

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