We Lend a Hand Documentary Screening and Filmmaker Q&A 

We’re joining a special screening of the documentary We Lend a Hand: The Forgotten Story of the Ontario Farmerettes directed by Colin Field at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre  The screening will be followed by a Q&A period with the filmmakers. Opening remarks and Q&A period led by The Brown Homestead Executive Director Andrew Humeniuk. 

The documentary  reveals the true and forgotten story of the Ontario Farm Service Force, which put 40,000 volunteer teenage girls to work between 1941 and 1952, arriving from different parts of Ontario and Quebec to many locations in Southwestern Ontario. They were called The Farmerettes. Their job: to ensure critical food production during the most perilous period of modern history. 

With no prior farming experience, their hardships were tremendous. For long months, they worked under relentless weather conditions and schedules. Yet they single-handedly managed to produce hundreds of thousands of tons of food that were shipped off to the frontlines to feed starving European populations and even prisoners of war.   

Through reenactments and unique archival images, We Lend a Hand: The Forgotten Story of Ontario Farmerettes recounts the story of these magnificent young women, now in their late 90s, bringing back their most cherished memories while reminding us –  perhaps for the last time – that service comes in many forms.

This event is presented by Vineland Growers’ Co-Operative, Historical Society of St. Catharines, and Niagara Federation of Agriculture with The Brown Homestead as a promotional partner. 

Tickets are $12.50 (plus $2.75 handling fee, plus HST).

Seeds of Change: Agricultural History Speaker Series

Discover how evolving agricultural technology has changed the way we grow, harvest, and sustain our food, and also shaped our relationship to our food and the people who grow it, over a series of thoughtful and engaging conservations.