Robin Guard is perhaps best known to COG members as the author of "Worm’s Eye View", COGNITION’s popular humor column. Barbara regularly reports on the Niagara chapter’s doings for COGNITION. But their contributions to COG and the organic movement go much deeper and wider than what meets the (worm’s!) eye.;

Robin and Barbara first met at London University in England in 1947, at a time, coincidentally, when agricultural chemicals were starting to achieve the status of a new world religion. Both were just beginning undergraduate degrees, Robin in electrical engineering and Barbara in geography. Shortly after graduating in 1950, they married and headed for Edinburgh where Robin was working on the construction of a power station. Soon after that he was trained in nuclear power and continued to pursue a career in that field, in Great Britain and after 1965 in Montreal, for nearly 30 years. Their four children were born during the ’50s and ’60s; between babies, Barbara taught mathematics, dabbled in local politics and acquired two more degrees.;

The nuclear bubble burst for Robin in 1979, and the next year the family moved to Ontario for work. It was here their interest in organics began to grow. "We always had a chaotic garden, never used chemical sprays and always had a compost heap," says Barbara. "But I don’t remember hearing the word 'organic' till we moved to Toronto in 1980.";

By 1983, Robin and Barbara decided to abandon their professional lives and move from Toronto to the five-acre farm they had bought with a view to retirement in the Niagara Peninsula. "We joined COG and started reading everything we could about small-holdings," recalls Barbara. They acquired an interest in another 15 acres across the street and decided that their future lay in raising sheep and organic vegetables.;

Thus began Gwennol Farm. Gwennol means swallow in Cornish and Welsh, appropriate because the barn was full of swallows in the summertime. It also means shuttle, an allusion to Barbara’s newly developed spinning and weaving skills. They ran 40 sheep on 15 acres and used the remaining five as a market garden.;

Ten years of hard work followed, with very little financial reward in the first few. But the joys of watching the land come to life, the soil gain tilth, the trees grow strong, and abundant fruits and vegetables flourish eventually overcame all the negatives. ;

In 1993, as Barbara neared senior citizen status (Robin had taken the plunge in 1989), the Guards sold the sheep and "retired" to five acres of intensive market gardening, which includes nearly an acre of blueberries to be picked, many herbs, fruits and salads, and poultry.;

While developing Gwennol Farm, the Guards were also very active in the organic community. From 1987-1989, Robin was President of OCIA and regularly reported its activities in a column in COGNITION. During this period, he initiated the idea of joint regular meetings between all the organic movements in Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. He was also a delegate to the early meetings with the federal government which led to the COUP project.;

"Worm’s Eye View" was born in 1989 when, after Robin wrote some provocative general articles for COGNITION, editor Dee Kramer invited him to write a column. And, in 1990, Robin and Barbara wrote the first COGNITION article examining the implications of the new technology genetic engineering.;

In 1989, the Guards were instrumental in starting up a new Niagara chapter of COG; both served on the executive. Barbara became chair of the chapter in 1990 and held the position for four years. She also chaired a committee which successfully sought an Environment Week grant that was used for activities such as public open days at organic farms and the publication of the first Niagara Organic Directory. With winter meetings and many other activities, the Niagara Chapter is strong and successful.;

The Guards have served on COG’s national executive, Barbara as an ex officio member and Robin as recording secretary. Both are in regular demand as speakers to community groups and educational institutions. They have been interviewed many times by local media and Robin has appeared twice on CBC television.;

"When people discover I once spoke on behalf of the nuclear power industry," says Robin, "and that I now give talks in support of organic farming, they assume I’ve had some sort of conversion. I don’t see it quite that way.;

"We have chosen to forget that oil and gas will run out one day and that we’re using them as though there were no tomorrow. Although there are unsolved problems with the disposal of spent nuclear fuel, at least the nuclear industry isn’t causing environmental damage today, as carbon fuels are doing.;

"What we’re up against, with electricity as with everything else, is simple human over-consumption. What we have done to the cod, we are busily doing to the soil. And that’s why I’m an organic activist." ;