Happy Birthday Shoal Farm

The Family Homestead at Woodlands, Manitoba

This year, 2010, marks the 100th anniversary of our family home in Woodlands.

Purchased by my parents in 1965, the house is situated on 320 acres (one half of a section) of bush, sloughs and numerous clearings. I lived there until I was 19. At that point, I knew it was time to leave. The lights of Winnipeg, reflected on the clouds to the south east signaled promise and opportunity.

Country life was great – don’t get me wrong. Many of my fondest memories are linked permanently to a childhood steeped in its aura: our border collie, Hamish, chasing thunder, certain it was a wild animal trying to attack; a large, bent maple tree, festooned with branches, draped with bedsheets, that served as my pirate ship sailing across the ocean lawn; the CN freight train lurching slowly northward toward Gypsumville at 10:30 each night (I knew then, I had stayed up too late); the richly sweet aroma of fermenting grain in late summer.

Though my parents left Woodlands several years ago for a less demanding, though no less fruitful lifestyle in Stonewall, the homestead remains in the family. My brother and his wife bought the farm – adding their own signature to the house and property.

How much longer will our family govern the Shoal Farm estate? Will it all be around 100 years from now?

I don’t think that’s as important as what I bring with me after growing up in such a special place.