Robert Cuerrier, affectionately known as ‘Farmer Bob’ in the Sault and area as owner/operator of Mockingbird Hill Farm, first announced his semi-retirement Monday.
“(But) people have been asking, the phone’s ringing, people are coming in since they heard,” Cuerrier said, speaking to SooToday.
Mockingbird Hill Farm, a popular local attraction, includes several historical buildings, a petting barn, hayrides, a wildflower walk and a corn maze.
While owing an explanation to no one, Cuerrier exclusively provided SooToday with the following written statement outlining the reasons behind his semi-retirement decision:
“Folks have been asking about my retirement. I guess it is because I am feelin’ the tug of my old rocking chair now that I am pushing 74 and seemingly just waiting for the end to come along.”
“Got a few health issues too: arthritis, dyspepsia, chronic fatigue, a hard used liver, an atrophied right leg, wear a brace on the other, cancer, one ear that don’t work, failing eyesight, tendons gone to mush on my right shoulder, cognitively arrested from a head injury that near killed me, then there’s the stuff that horses done to me…I have been variously kicked, bit and stomped over the years, have flat feet and all my hair is grey.”
“Now I am not a complete spent force but I am slowing down some.”
Cuerrier said he won’t sell Mockingbird Hill Farm.
“I’m going to stay right here until the end,” he said.
The farm, like pretty much everything else around us, is closed “until things clear up,” Cuerrier said, referring to COVID-19.
Once the virus blows over, Cuerrier said he plans “to have some trail walks, photography sites, I might do some tractor-driven hayrides. I’m just going to do what I feel like. The farm will be open to drop-ins but there’ll be appointments if you want a hayride or something formal.”
“I’m playing out (exhausted). Now we’ve got the coronavirus on top of that, and because of the uncertainty I lost my farm helper who was invaluable here over the years.”
Cuerrier owns three acres of property, which is surrounded by 70 acres of land owned by the Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority (SSMRCA).
Cuerrier lives on the farm, which attracts all ages, all year round.
“In wintertime, we’ve had Christmas trees and horse-drawn sleigh rides, for years we made maple syrup, and in the summer we’ve had market gardens, farm walks, weddings, company picnics, wildflower walks,” he said.
“It’s been the most satisfying work I’ve done in my life, and I’m going to stay right here until the end. I’ve loved it.”
Cuerrier said he does not wish anyone to be sorry about his physical limitations or his semi-retirement.
Rather, he reflected on his time at Mockingbird Hill Farm, and his previous employment before purchasing the property in 1984, with great wit and no sense of loftiness.
“I cleared land, planted crops, and did everything for the first 25 years or so (at Mockingbird Hill) exclusively with horses. We had no motors on anything, other than the chainsaw,” Cuerrier said.
“I figure, over the years, I’ve been the equivalent of around the world one and a half times staring at a horse’s rear end,” he said with dry humour.
Cuerrier was born on a farm in Moose Creek, near Ottawa, moving to the Sault with his family in 1953.
“We had a big dairy farm but Dad wanted to do something different, so we sold the farm and came to the Sault because it was a burgeoning steel town at the time.”
Educated locally, Cuerrier attended Teachers College in North Bay.
However, he didn’t find teaching a rewarding profession, relaying his memories of it in a comical way.
“I taught school here until I realized what school teaching was. To me, it was a sea of waving little hands, most of them wanting to go to the bathroom,” he quipped.
His last teaching assignment was at the former Bawating Collegiate.
“I looked around one day and I realized ‘I don’t really care for this.’ But, I had enough money to buy cigarettes. I didn’t have to use my mother’s milk money she gave me,” Cuerrier said with a chuckle.
He left teaching in the mid-1970s.
“I spent four years in the bush, building wilderness log cabins near remote lakes. I started out with nothing. Pawnshop tools, a clunker canoe and a chainsaw. I enjoyed that, but I got tired of sleeping beside tree stumps,” Cuerrier said.
He returned to the Sault and went into retail, being the owner/operator of Ogidaki Mountain General Store and Wildflowers, a ladies' clothing store.
“It was a lot different from the bush.”
Then, Cuerrier jumped at the chance to buy the Mockingbird Hill Farm property in the mid-1980s.
“I always wanted to be a farmer. The opportunity came along so I went back to what I like to do,” he said.
“I’ve had to work hard. Very, very hard, but I was my own boss and I’ve loved the farm because everyone who comes here is in a good mood. That’s why they come to the farm. They bring little kids who they want to entertain. They pick up on the vibe right away, on the peacefulness of the place,” said the father of three and grandfather of three.
“Meeting people who are friendly and in a good mood when they come, people who are happy...how many jobs do you get where the majority of your contacts are content, and you’re providing some of that contentment? It’s a good feeling.”