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Agriculture in the Gatineau Valley

Upon their arrival in the Gatineau Valley, new settlers had to begin by clearing a few acres to build a house. Once settled in their new log house, a farmer and his family were able, year after year, to clear more land and increase their acreage. Farmers in the Gatineau Valley generally grew wheat, oats, potatoes, and peas. In the region, a lot of farms raised cows, chicken, sheep, and pigs to supply the lumber shanties with food during the winter. As well, horses were raised as draught animals for use in the winter lumber camps and farms provided homes for the horses in summer. Later, these farms would grow vegetables to supply the shanties with fresh products. In summer, the woods manager visited the farms that would supply the shanties to make sure everything would be ready for the winter lumbering season (see John Mather's diary in the exhibit).

Farming was a lonely job. For certain activities, several farming families would join together and help each other, forming what we now call work bees: to saw the wood in late winter or early spring, to bring in the grain and the corn at harvest time, to process the wool from their sheep into clothing, or to build new barns.

Bibliography:
Hughson, John Ward and Bond, Courtney C. J.: Hurling down the Pine: the story of the Wright, Gilmour and Hughson families, timber and lumber manufacturers in the Hull and Ottawa region and on the Gatineau River, 1800-1920. Chelsea (QC), Historical Society of the Gatineau, Third Edition, 1987, 130 p.
Parson, Helen E.: "Land use history of the Gatineau Valley, 1800-1850". In: Up the Gatineau! Vol. 9, 1983, pp. 5-9.