Farmerettes Helping At Home

Asked to ‘lend a hand,’ these young women did their part for the war effort

- Bonnie Sitter, Exeter, Ont.

The young women who answered the call to work on market garden farms and orchards in Ontario during World War II have been largely forgotten, but that is about to change.

I decided to write a book about their significant contribution to the war effort after several things fell into place.

I was sorting through old photos after my husband passed away in August 2016. Among them I discovered two small black-and-white photos with the same three girls in each one. On the back was written simply “Farmerettes,” but no individual names. I was sorry I’d never asked my husband about the Farmerettes who worked on his family farm. He was under ten at the time so I imagine he wasn’t particularly interested in what they were doing.

I decided to start researching their story, as I was curious. From the research I wrote an article for The Rural Voice, which is published monthly in Blyth, Ont., and after appearing in June 2018, it garnered a good response from its readership. In the August issue, there was a letter to the editor written by Shirleyan English of London, Ont.