FOCUS - JULY 2019 3 Yellowlees’ “Recipe” Serves up a Personal Touch Farming is an ancient and honourable vocation, at the very foundation of our existence. Many people – and to be entirely honest, I’d count myself among them – harbour an old-fashioned view of what farming entails, and the life the farmer leads. But like all walks of life, farming has evolved over the years. Today’s farmer may well seek the same end result as his predecessors, but other than that rather obvious comparison, there’s little to remind you of that outdated image. The modern farm represents a small business like any other. Karen and Dennis Yellowlees will tell you that their farm, like any retail enterprise, is af- fected by forces well beyond their Scugog property. “We’ve become world traders,” Dennis explains. “We can’t just look at our farm, we have to consider global forces which affect our commodity as well.” At the Yellowlees’ farm, sheep are the largest commodity. “We have 250 mature breeding ewes,” Karen reports. “But we do also raise pigs and cattle.” Their farm, Dennis says, is self-sustaining. “Beyond the animals, we grow crops – alfalfa, grass–tofeedthem.Andalso,wecultivatesunflower millet – it’s an ancient grain. We sell this as bird seed to diversify our output.” ...................... Please turn to page 4 Fable, a Scottish Hyland cow, can be seen roaming about the farm. PHOTOS BY MARYANN FLEMING