Bill Trick’s passion for water power has taken him from his family’s farm, where micro-generation began with his father in 1930, to various projects around the globe where he’s worked as an engineer to develop the green source of energy. He stands behind one of the last set of stones to be used in the farm’s water-powered mill.
There’s a special place, nestled in the heart of Ontario’s Huron County, shaped over the millennia by ice and water and now by the people residing there. It’s where nature, farming and agricultural heritage have come together.
Trick’s Creek Farm lies within the Bayfield River Valley, along the waterway of the same name, the waters of both winding their way westward through the area’s, glacially-shaped rolling terrain to Lake Huron.
About 250 acres in size, less than half is used for livestock and crop production. Much of the rest is wooded and above the historic mill and dam, there’s a long, narrow pond dividing the property into roughly two equal sections.
Members of today’s Trick family, Bill and Thea, along with their son, Tom, and his wife Cherilyn and their three school-aged children, have inherited an appreciation for their property and the sensitivity of its location. Huron County is known for its agricultural soils but at Trick’s Creek Farm much has been deemed unfit for cultivation and so maintaining tree cover has long been a priority.
Bill points to a line of pines. “It was about 1930 that my granddad and my dad planted those,” he says.
There’s been additional tree planting over the years and some areas of the farm are maintained as permanent pasture, helping to keep areas of the farm dominated by blow sand — extremely sandy soil — in place. While there is some heavier ground suited to cropping, much of the rest is composed of drought-prone sections with relatively shallow topsoil over several feet of gravel.
While Bill and Thea have farmed the property, it’s been their off-farm income that supported the family. Both hold degrees. Thea worked as a registered nurse and Bill worked as an engineer, both as a consultant and with a partner to develop and operate three hydroelectric projects, the largest 8,000 kilowatts in size, all of which have since been sold.
For Tom, who holds a commercial pilot’s license, farming has become a passion, but not only in terms of producing food. He sees the farm as an ideal place to raise a family and for everyone living on the property to enjoy the natural areas and abundant wildlife.
Tom’s wife works as a high-school teacher. Tom runs a mini-storage business, and ways have been found to generate a modest income from the property. Firewood sales have been an important component, the children care for a small group of laying hens — the Sussex breed from their appearance, there is grass-fed poultry production and grass-fed beef production, the latter of which is particularly well-suited to the farm.
Tom also grows a small acreage of organically-certified rows crops.
“I don’t feed grain to the cattle at all. For the past three or four years the crops I’ve grown have been edible beans, black beans, white beans and soybeans,” he said.
The beans are in rotation to pasture or hay but Tom doesn’t feel the legumes are particularly well suited to the soils of the farm. In fact, from an environmental perspective, he feels cattle are the better option since they help maintain the soil’s fertility and may even improve it.
“Whenever I hear someone talking about things like the Beyond Beef burger, I see the opposite. I’ve been growing organic beans and beef. If you have a field of organic beans, you’re going backwards for the soil,” he said.
“I would say ruminants are one of the most ecological beneficial animal types for the land . . . We need educated consumers who realize price is not the sole-deciding factor.”
Thea agrees. “I think if we want to help the planet, we need to eat a little less meat and waste a lot less of our food,” she said.
The idea is counter to the support for veganism that’s been popularized in many media circles. Tom says the people demonizing meat production may not understand the difference between the industrial model which is highly reliant on fossil fuel use and sustainable systems that rely on pasture and hay as a feed source.
That said, it’s taken time to build Tom’s market. That includes direct deliveries which deliver the highest margins but take more time and effort. He’s also established a relationship with area abattoirs and small retailers.
Tom Trick has been building up his herd since acquiring six Dexter cows in 2011. The pint-sized breed, which originated in Ireland, is known for hardiness and the ability to convert pasture and forages into high quality beef. Other genetics have since been introduced including, most recently, a wagyu bull, which will hopefully support marbling in the grass-finished beef.
There is a series of paddocks on the farm and Tom uses intensive grazing techniques, though to a lesser extent compared to what some other grass-fed beef producers employ.
“I keep them moving as much as is appropriate,” he said.
That means shifting cattle well before a pasture resembles a closely mown lawn. By moving the animals sooner, pastures recover sooner and the overall amount of forage that is generated can be far greater.
Species include orchard grass, brome, timothy, red and white clover, trefoil and chicory. Tom said his cattle like the chicory and the deep-rooted species does relatively well under droughty conditions.
The herd began with the purchase of six Dexter cows in 2011. The Dexter is a pint-sized breed that originated in Ireland. Tom likes their hardiness, mothering capabilities, ease of handling and other attributes which, when taken together, have built the breed’s easy-keeper reputation.
The smaller carcass size with Dexter and Dexter-crossed animals is a small disadvantage when it comes to processing costs but an advantage for marketing. Tom said portion sizes are smaller — smaller steaks, smaller roasts — making the higher per-pound price of the beef more palatable to buyers.
Angus and most recently, Waygu genetics, have been introduced to the herd.
Tom said his Waygu bull reminds him of a long-distance runner in terms of its composition. However, the breed, that originates in Japan, is known for delivering higher levels of marbling. He’ll be evaluating that attribute next spring with his first crop of Waygu-crossed, finished cattle.
Cattle produced on pasture alone take longer to finish, in the vicinity of 24 months at Trick’s Creek Farm. Tom said that while it’s been theorized that cattle should be taken to slaughter around the point at which forages have reached peak productivity, he’s had good results at other times of the year, including late summer/early fall and in early spring.
This year fewer than 25 cattle were marketed. By the end of 2020, the plan is to market about 30 animals into the premium grass-fed, organic market.
“There are some people looking for specific things and there’s definitely a market for grass-fed beef,” Tom said.
The small flock of laying hens are housed in a coop and allowed to roam
The laying hens which are cared for by the youngest generation on the Trick Farm were operating at about 30 per cent efficiency at mid-November, not a bad number for an outdoor flock. There was zero predation, or close to it, in 2019. Tom Trick said the trees and shrubs where the birds are housed may have helped.
outdoors freely. Tom said predation hasn’t been an issue, perhaps because of the tree and shrub cover in the vicinity of the coop.
The birds are highly curious and alert creatures. Any humans wandering into their territory are soon surrounded as the birds associate people with food.
The meat birds, both broilers and turkeys, are housed in pens that are skidded across a small pasture area with a 20-horsepower lawnmower – essentially a small tractor. The broilers, White Rocks, finish in about 10 weeks. This year the average dressed weight was close seven pounds per bird.
“The kids look after almost all of it. I pick them up and pay for them. They let me know if they need more feed,” Tom said.
There were no turkeys in 2019 but they have sold well in the past. Tom expects he’ll bring them back for the 2020 season.
The current approach to farming at Trick’s Creek Farm is just the latest transformation of the property.
European settlement of this part of Southern Ontario began in earnest in the first half of the 19th Century. While the self-draining aspect of some of the property’s fields may have been an attraction — wheat was the number one crop in the region at that time — the site may have been most highly valued for its water-power potential.
The existing mill was built around 1850. It’s located just a few hundred feet from where Trick’s
The grist mill at Trick’s Creek Farm dates back to the mid-19th century and was once accompanied by a sawmill.
Creek flows in the Bayfield River. Bill said water power along the creek may date back to as early as 1830, five years after an act of parliament in Canada set up the Canada Company.
According to the family’s historical records, “At the time when large trees were everywhere and considered an obstacle to production and a man’s time was quite valuable, boards less than a foot wide were considered not worth the time to use. At least that’s how the story is told and by looking at the lumber that the mill is made of, it’s entirely believable.”
A drawing in the 1879 Historical Atlas of Huron County shows two mills at the location, the existing grist mill and a smaller sawmill on the other side of the creek. There’s even a small sailing vessel on the pond, though that may be the product of the artist’s imagination rather than the reality of the day.
Bill’s great grandfather, his wife and his unmarried sister purchased the property in 1873 from William Charlesworth, the property’s second owner since it was in the hands of the Canada Company.
It was an important part of the community and not just for the milling operations. The mill dam doubled as a bridge, serving as an important transportation link to Bayfield for area residents living east of Trick’s Creek. The area to the north of the farm was difficult to cross.
Bayfield, on Lake Huron, had been laid out as a town site in 1832 and by 1851 was a thriving hamlet, with mills, two blacksmith shops, a distillery, tannery, a wagon and plough-making works and other businesses, according to the Ontario Heritage Trust plaque in the community.
What is now Trick’s Creek Farm also served as a gathering point for area residents who delivered both timber and grains for processing at the mills. Bill said sawing of logs most likely occurred in the spring when the power of the creek was at its height but with the dam in place and spring-fed headwaters, milling work could be carried out at any time of the year.
“My grandmother told me that during her time, a barber would set his chair on the mill porch in the spring and in the fall for a week and cut everyone’s hair. While many deals were negotiated on the steps of the local churches, many too were done at the mill while the clients waited for their grist,” he said.
“The mill pond was also a source of clear, clean ice for icehouses in earlier times, and we have relics picked out of the pond such as ice saws and tools that were used for the purposes but lost through the ice by a misstep.”
Trick’s Creek still flows on a year-round basis but the volume of water is less than in the old days, having been impacted by aggregate extraction in the vicinity of the creek’s headwaters, Bill said.
“There has also been a marked increase in intensive agriculture on the watershed, with deterioration of the quality of the water by erosion and silting during rainfall events.”
As Tom puts it, “After a heavy rain, you can watch the pond turn colour, like putting cream into coffee.”
Water power still serves the property. It generates electricity meeting the needs of the mill, outbuildings and the home where Bill and Thea reside; Tom and Cherilyn’s home is connected to the grid. A solar panel, recently installed, is to be used as a backup and there’s fuel-powered generation backup as well.
Thea hangs clothes to dry on the line at back of the house and firewood is used for heating. The wood-fired, kitchen stove is a McClary Pandora model that was reconditioned and re-nickeled by members of a Mennonite family from the area. There’s a second stove in the basement and electric backup heating as well.
Bill’s grandfather, Robert and father, Elmer, demolished the sawmill around 1910. About 10 years earlier, the mill that still stands today was changed from producing flour to grinding feed for area farmers.
“Around 1900, they had seven hired men when things were busy,” Bill said.
Elmer, a farmer and business man, first began generating electricity from the flow of the creek in the 1930s. It was a direct-current system pre-dating the establishment of the rural electrical grid in the area and was used to provide a bit of lighting and for refrigeration to store the meat that was used for the farm’s mink operation at that time.
An extraordinary flood breached the dam in 1943 and took the mill out of operation until 1969 when the dam was replaced. Bill and Thea, after assuming ownership of the property, installed the present alternating current system in the 1970s.
It uses an 18-inch turbine built by (Charles) Barber Turbine & Foundries Ltd. of Meaford, Ontario, which also supplied turbines and other equipment to many other water-powered mills in the province. It generates about 12 horsepower.
“This is an off-grid system, requiring control of both voltage and frequency. The voltage is controlled automatically by the generator voltage regulator and the 60 cps (cycles per second) frequency is maintained by a Woodward water-turbine governor that senses the speed of the generator and increases or reduces the waterflow through the turbine to match the load on the generator,” Bill said.
A second turbine with about double the horsepower serves as a mechanical drive for the farm’s shingle saw but with the low demand for cedar shingles and less costly ways to make the expensive roofing material, it hasn’t been used for a couple years.
Connecting to the local utility would be certainly more convenient and Bill feels the system is too small to be truly financially viable. However, he and Thea have another motivation.
“We continue our operation here because we wish to preserve a family heritage, and the activity is consistent with our desire to live a conserving, non-polluting life, for ourselves and our families,” Bill said.
“There are a number of old mill sites with more capacity which have been connected to the grid and sell power viably.”
The farm’s wildlife serves as a reminder of the region’s natural heritage. A significant population of fox, deer, racoons and other wildlife native to Southern Ontario have all been seen on the farm.
“This spring, I ran across three different (snapping turtle) moms laying eggs in three different spots,” Tom said.
“There are lots of beaver and muskrat but this year was the first time in my life I saw a river otter. He was fooling around in the pond.”
The Trick family enjoy their privacy and so it was a rare opportunity in August 2019 when participants of a woodlot bus tour had an opportunity to view the mill, mill pond and other features of the farm, including the stand of pawpaw trees planted by Thea. The homes, mill, barn and other buildings from the property are not visible from the road.
To connect with the Trick family or to purchase organic beef and poultry, visit Tom’s website, www.trickscreekfarm.com or send an e-mail.
— Jeffrey Carter