Beatrice Zueger graduated from the Ag Program in 1988. Her “Trip Down Memory Lane” shows us how versatile Kemptville College grads can be.
I was born and raised in Switzerland on my parents small Dairy Farm, in 1979 my family immigrated to Canada where we continued Dairy Farming. When we arrived in Canada, Like a Lot of immigrants, we didn’t speak any English or French, so that brought its own set of challenges. I remember my Dad sitting by the phone with the Dictionary, writing down words on a paper to put together a sentence, so he could call the vet. We quickly adapted and made Canada our home.
I went to Kemptville College because I had planned to take over my parents Dairy Farm. After College, I worked as relief milker on different farms and I did 2 international Ag exchange programs through IAEA. I was working on a dairy farm in Australia for 8 months and spent another 8 months on a sheep farm in New Zealand.
I married a Farmer who had his own Dairy farm and I moved to his farm in Berwick, we had 4 children. But eventually we got divorced and I found myself raising 4 children on my own. I was trying to figure out how to navigate being a single Mom and finding a career that allowed me to spend as much time at home with my kids, which was not easy. One of the wonderful things of being on a farm is that it’s a family affair, farming and raising a family go hand in hand.
I made the choice to go back to college and become a Registered Massage Therapist with the goal of eventually having my own clinic. Raising 4 kids alone and going through college at the same time was not easy and there were times I felt like giving up, but it was my children who pushed and encouraged me to keep going. I graduated and became an RMT in 2013, I worked at a couple of different clinics, while also trying to build a clientele at home. When COVID started, we were forced to shut down for about 3 months. Once we were allowed to reopen, it came with a lot of new rules and regulations we had to follow, I knew I no longer wanted to work in another clinic, and I took a leap of faith and quit my job at the clinic and started working from home full time. Having that control again felt a little bit Like being on the farm. I was my own boss again.
l love my work and being able to control my hours, allows me to spend time my grown children. I Love traveling and I spend a lot of time birding.
Farming is something that is still part of me, even though it’s been 16 years since l left the farm. I still check what the corn and beans look like when I go somewhere and every spring when the neighbour starts making hay, that wonderful fragrance of the hay brings back wonderful memories of being on the farm.
Kemptville College has been a great part of my Lite and was a starting point to one of the best friendships I have still to this day. Even though I am no Longer part of that farming community I will always be a farmer at heart.