Thistle Ha’

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Thistle Ha’ is a farm located in Pickering Township, Ontario, Canada. It was settled by Scottish immigrant John Miller in 1839.

John Miller (pictured) and his descendants had a tremendous influence on the purebred livestock industry in Canada and the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Millers were renowned innovators, importers, breeders, exhibitors, judges and promoters of Shorthorn cattle, Clydesdale horses, Berkshire and Yorkshire pigs, and Shropshire, Leicester and Cotswold sheep.

In recognition of the contributions of the Millers to Canadian agriculture, Thistle Ha’ farm was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1973 and a Province of Ontario Heritage Property in 1977. The honours awarded to individual family members including those related to the Millers by marriage for their contributions to the purebred livestock industry are too numerous to list here.

Thistle Ha’ is currently owned and operated by the fourth generation of Millers in Canada.

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Once again, it’s time for the annual report from the Miller family for 2023, a year of a few significant developments in the family. Christopher, Kristin and Felicity will be spending some time during Christmas week at Thistle Ha’, and other relatives and friends will be visiting as their plans permit.

The news of the year is that we welcomed John’s permanent move from Montréal to the farm at the end of August. This was a difficult decision for John. He left behind his life of over forty years in Montréal, losing personal contact with many friends, former colleagues, students and favourite places. The move itself was no easier. It was painful to downsize his many possessions and books to fit into his new living accommodations at the farm.

The lingering effects of the pandemic meant we did not do any travelling this year, so John missed his trip to the Stratford Festival and his usual visit with Martin and Pam Howley of St. Catharines to attend the Shaw Festival. Nonetheless, members of our extended family from far away continue to drop in for a visit, or connect with us via the website.

Due to Jim’s lingering medical concerns, Jim and Charlotte limited their activities to the farm. Jim underwent successful gallbladder removal surgery in March, and his broken left elbow was found to have finally healed in July, nearly 40 months after its injury. He continues to work on strengthening his left arm muscles.

It was a great growing year. Charlotte’s gardens produced bountiful crops of fruits, vegetables and herbs. She spent many days harvesting, processing, canning, preserving, freezing and pickling her produce for use this winter. The amount of apples from her orchard was overwhelming. Many friends came to pick apples. A platoon of off-duty firefighters harvested apples one morning for donation to the local food bank. Cousin Lori Miller organized an apple-picking afternoon involving all nine members of her family in September. Charlotte also donated over 1,000 pounds of apples to the food bank.

A Wolf River apple from Charlotte's orchard. Only about three are needed to make the world's best apple pie. Photo credit: Thistle Ha'. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Kristin, Chris and Felicity were our most frequent visitors throughout the year. Felicity has just turned two, full of boundless energy, ready to take on the world. She is an inherently cheerful child — as her father says, “Every time she wakes up, she brings her A-game.” Charlotte is all smiles every time Felicity visits, especially when Felicity devours Grandma’s endless supply of applesauce.

Work on the house continues. Stonemason Leigh returned to continue replacing the tuck-pointing on the exterior stone wall. Brick mason Bill and his son Dhru completely rebuilt the brick chimneys to make them structurally sound for another 100 – 150 years. We expect completion of the exterior painting next spring. Jim managed to upgrade some millwork in the bedrooms.

Mason Bill and his son Dhru rebuild a Thistle Ha' farmhouse chimney. Photo credit: Thistle Ha'.

The other major infrastructure change this year was the installation of Starlink by Chris, Jim and helpers. This rural satellite internet service replaced our patchwork of cellular internet services and provides much faster speeds capable of streaming video, without a data cap, and at a lower cost. Starlink enabled Kristin to work remotely, including video conferencing, during her farm visits. John has also been able to continue to meet virtually with his weekly book group colleagues in Montréal.

The Millers send warmest Christmas greetings and very best wishes for health and happiness in 2024.

The Potato Project. (Click to enlarge.)

Ms Norland led a group of Grade 3 pupils and Grade 7 mentors from Vimy Ridge Public School Earthkeepers to Thistle Ha’ again this year to plant potatoes on June 12. The Earthkeepers’ two rows of potatoes are on the right, and their row of sweet potatoes is in the middle. This activity’s history is explained in The Potato Project post below.

Click on the 2017 Potato Project link in the Pages column on the right to see progress photos of the Earthkeepers potato patch during the summer.

The Potato Project. (Click to embiggen.)

I had a conversation with a neighbour in April about the success that the naturalist and environmental movements had in making outdoor nature studies part of the local school program. This discussion prompted a question: why wasn’t the farming community providing a comparable learning experience? Most children, particularly those living in urban areas, know little about local sources of their food, or how it is grown. Students from some rural Ontario schools visit a farm or an agricultural fair for a day, but I am not aware of any pupil in this province having the same experience as a farmer going to a farm field, preparing the soil, planting seeds, and then watching the crop grow until they can harvest it for food.

I asked if any local school had interest in participating in a potato growing pilot project at Thistle Ha’. Potatoes are the most commonly grown vegetable in the world. Planting and harvesting fit well within the school calendar. A teacher at Vimy Ridge Public School in Ajax very enthusiastically agreed to participate in our Potato Project this year. So a couple of weeks ago, a school bus came to Thistle Ha’, loaded with 19 willing potato planters and two teachers from the Vimy Ridge Public School EarthKeepers Club. We planted potatoes the same way my ancestors did in hand-made furrows. The first lesson learned was concern about the weather. The soil was just workable due to wet weather prior to planting day. Rain threatened during planting, but except for a few drops, it remained fair, and we planted five rows, totaling over 100 potato seeds, in two hours.

During school summer vacation, I do the hard part, controlling weeds and potato plant eating pests. Provided that we have good summer weather and rains, there should be plenty of potatoes for the EarthKeepers to return to harvest in September.

Click on the 2014 Potato Project link in the Pages column on the right to see progress photos during the summer.