Judy Swain will be remembered for her energy, joy, practicality and care for her land, animals and friends, say fellow farmers and board members from Direct Farm Manitoba.
“There’s not very many remarkable people like that left in the world,” said Danielle Mondor, a board member with the organization, which represents small-scale farmers and farmers’ markets.
Swain, 73, was found dead on her farm near New Bothwell in southeastern Manitoba on October 27. Her son, Trevor Farley, 37, has been charged in connection with her death.
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Farley has also been charged with the death of his father, Stuart Farley of Winnipeg, and with attacking a Seven Oaks Hospital nursing supervisor.
Swain raised chickens, pigs and turkeys on an 80-acre triangle of land she called Tri-Pop Farm, her farm’s website says. She sold meats at farmers’ markets and directly to customers.
Previously, Swain ran a licensed home daycare and trained as a chiropractor with a focus on nutrition, says her farm description on Direct Farm Manitoba’s website. Swain also previously helped run Steinbach’s farmers’ market.
Of her farm, “I am the sole owner and the dreamer-operator,” Swain wrote on her website. “After 10 years it still feels like a huge adventure.”
Swain raised her animals outdoors and said, “they are as content as I can make them.”
“I believe that is important,” she wrote. “Animals raised in comfort will, in turn, be good for our bodies and our spirits.”
She was in the process of restoring old buildings and turning old pasture land into forages and feed for her animals.
She also did a lot of her own repairs, Mondor said.
Swain was a tiny woman who drove a big truck. She “walked pretty gently on her farm,” Mondor said. Swain had long-range plans made with care and dedication and, no doubt, applied the same concern to her animals, she added.
She was a “very hard-working woman,” said Fran DeRuyck, who farms with husband Dan DeRuyck near Treherne.
Swain was their friend and customer for over 15 years. They met when Swain was looking for an organic feed source for her animals. Over the years, Swain frequently phoned them to bounce around ideas, said Dan.
“(She was) determined in what she set in her mind, and what she wanted to do she was going to find a way to do it,” Fran said.
Phil Veldhuis, president of Direct Farm Manitoba, agreed with this assessment. He said she’d given up city life and got a farm because that’s what she wanted to do.
“That’s kind of Judy in a nutshell,” he said. “She was a person who didn’t just think about stuff. She actually did.”
Veldhuis said he first met Judy some 15 years ago when they were both vendors at the St. Norbert Farmers’ Market.
“My kids were little and probably a little bratty, but she was really patient with them and a very good neighbour at the market,” he said.
Swain was involved with Direct Farm Manitoba from its inception about eight years ago, Veldhuis said. At the time of her death, she was its treasurer.
She brought a great sense of practicality to the board and balanced out members who wanted to talk high-level policy and technology, Veldhuis said.
“She was always great at bringing us back to how is this going to affect the farmer who has 100 chickens, and how are we going to make this real for people,” he said.
At markets, Swain would wear an apron that said, “this chick sells chickens,” Veldhuis recalled.
“If I ever saw her scowl, it was probably when a man gave her unsolicited advice she didn’t need,” he said. “Which I think is probably a career hazard of being a woman farmer.”
Kristie Beynon recalled Swain cooking chicken stew, biscuits and cake for a board meeting. Previously they’d bought sandwiches but Swain wouldn’t hear of that.
“She was passionate about connecting people with local food,” said Beynon, who is executive director of Direct Farm Manitoba.
Swain was part of the team that launched the Manitoba Community Food Currency Program, which provides community organizations with vouchers to buy fresh, local food from markets or to pass on to community members to do the same. This year was the program’s second year.
She cared about people, Beynon said. Every time they talked, Swain would say, “You’re so busy, are you sure you’re not too busy?” and would worry about her, said Beynon.
Last year, a summer intern at Direct Farm Manitoba helped Swain set up her farm’s website. Beynon said Swain treasured her relationship with the intern.
“It felt like she really enjoyed getting to know people,” she said.
“It’s really hard that someone who was just here yesterday is now gone,” Beynon said, adding the board was working through the shock.
“We want to mark her time with our organization in a special way,” she said.
