Heather Latter
Kim Jo Bliss, a hard-working beef farmer who lives in Emo, is one of Ontario’s “Faces of Farming”—gracing September in the 2014 calendar produced by Farm and Food Care Ontario.
“It was a really neat project,” enthused Bliss, who has purchased the calendar for the past eight years.
The ninth edition of the award-winning calendar, featuring this year’s theme of “Real Farmers with Real Heart,” showcases the photos and stories of 13 Ontario farmers and farm families.
Bliss said she got a call from the project co-ordinator back in the spring asking if she’s be interested in taking part.
“Every year different sponsors take on a month and so this year, Beef Farmers of Ontario [formerly Ontario Cattleman’s] and Canada Beef were sponsoring a month, and they had requested I do it,” she explained.
“It’s one of those thing that you really shouldn’t say ‘no’ to,” she added.
“So I agreed.”
Bliss then had to fly to London, Ont. in July for the photo shoot.
“I couldn’t tell anybody about it because they like to do the big release,” she noted.
“I had to keep it a secret all summer, which was really painful for me because I like to tell everybody everything.
“It’s totally something that I would never have done,” Bliss admitted, noting there was makeup and wardrobe to tend to.
“They wanted you to bring your own clothes—five outfits—and they went through your wardrobe and your jewellery, and told you what they wanted you to wear,” she recalled.
“Then the makeup lady did my makeup. And since I don’t wear makeup, to me it was dramatic.
“But they said with the calendar being black and white, it had to be that way,” she noted.
The photo shoot, along with a short video, was taken on a farm in London by Kitchener photographer Terry Scott White.
“One of the neat things was they have never used animals in the background before, but they decided they would use beef cows behind me,” Bliss said.
She noted about 300 photos were taken, which then were narrowed down to 16 or 17. Then they had to choose which one would be used in the calendar.
The selected photo shows Bliss in a simple tank top, denim capris, and sandals, causally propped on a fence.
Her biography below notes that Bliss spent much of her youth on her grandma’s farm and knew at an early age that she wanted to become a farmer.
“Today she still farms that land, raising beef cattle and sheep in the District of Rainy River,” it states, adding she also works at the local agricultural research station.
“Although less active, her grandma still offers lots of good advice,” the bio adds.
“Kim Jo loves talking to people about where their food comes from and writes a farm column for her local newspaper.”
Bliss flew back to Toronto late last month to attend the “Farm and Food Care” gala, where the calendar was unveiled.
“They had the calendar blown up on big prints and pulled the curtain off,” she explained.
“It was a big event.
“I wasn’t so excited that it was me, but I was really excited that they included somebody from Northwestern Ontario,” Bliss stressed.
“We are so far out of the loop and it’s expensive for travel, so it was great that they included us because the calendar is big.
“People forget that we have a lot going on here to, so I was really excited for Northwestern Ontario,” she added.
Bliss said while she enjoyed taking part in the calendar project, she doesn’t think it’s something she’ll likely do again.
The calendar, which is produced annually to introduce the public to some of the province’s passionate and hard-working farmers, shows “there’s no such thing as a typical farmer.”
Again this year, a QR code is found on each calendar page, which allows viewers to scan the codes with their mobile device to “meet” the farmers—connecting them to a short YouTube interview with each participant.
Calendars can be ordered online by visiting www.farmfoodcare.org or by calling 1-519-837-1326.
Bliss also has some calendars for sale, which cost $10 each.
“I’ve sold a whole lot already because people know who I am,” she remarked.
“And it’s a really great fundraising project for them.”
For more information about the calendar, visit www.facesoffarming.ca
