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Escarpment Magazine Harvest & Holiday 2013
Ralph Jolley remembers harvest-time with
the warmth of rose coloured glasses,
and it has stuck with him as one of the
highlights of his childhood.
Harvest
is an exhaustingly busy time for farmers. It is the
culmination of all their efforts during the growing season. It is
also a time for camaraderie with neighbours and friends, when
they come to share the workload of harvesting each other’s
crops. Ralph Jolley remembers harvest-time with the warmth of
rose coloured glasses, and it has stuck with him as one of the
highlights of his childhood. Ralph grew up on a farm just west
of Meaford and for him that childhood was idyllic.
Even though he loved the life of a farmer, Ralph’s life path took
him in a somewhat different direction. At 14 he bought his
brother’s bicycle business that was located in the drive shed
at his family’s farm. Ralph never looked back from there, mov-
ing the business into a storefront in downtown Meaford then
out on Highway 26 just west of town. At the new location he
also sold farm toys to help sales in the winter… and to satisfy
his yearning to be back on the farm.
Though both sides of the business flourished, Ralph’s interest
grew closer to the farm toys. In the 1970s he bought his first
pieces as a collector. These were NewHolland implements at
1/16” scale. He was fascinated with the detail of these toys
and the memories they brought back of his childhood. Ralph’s
wife, Joanne encouraged him to buy them and he hasn’t
looked back. “I thought in two or three years I could collect
every farm toy made… boy did I have my eyes opened!”
Ralph laments. But that hasn’t stopped him from collecting
more farm toys. He has over 5,000 tractors, combines, ma-
nure spreaders and the like catalogued and displayed in glass
cabinets in his basement.
Today his son Shane has taken over the bicycle end of the busi-
ness and moved it to Owen Sound while Ralph maintains the
Farm toy operation from a warehouse outside of Meaford. He
and Joanne also sell their products at farm toy shows across
North America. At those shows, Ralph takes the opportunity
to seek out pieces for his own collection. He loves Canadian
products like Massey and Cockshutt as well as unique and
hand made items that are one of a kind.
Ralph also frequented local auctions in his quest to find farm
toys and got to know auctioneer, Elwood Snider as a kindred
spirit and a lover of anything to do with farming. Elwood would
spend his winters in Florida and Ralph asked him what he did
in his spare time down there. Elwood said, “Well I don’t golf
so I made this.” As he pointed to a beautiful hand carved
replica of a horse-drawn carriage. Elwood explained that he
made all the parts by hand. He carved each wheel out of raw
wood and pounded the brass to make fittings around the top.
Ralph told him that he should carve some horses to go with it,
so Elwood carved horses then made the leather harnesses out
of old purses he picked up at his auctions.
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COMMUNITY
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ralph jolley’s toy harvest
