For Brenda Simeon, it all started when her father decided he wanted a farm sign. He had seen signs while travelling in Western Canada and decided it was time to make one for his own farm in Ontario.
That sign went up 40 years ago and launched a business that now sees Simeon crafting and shipping signs around the world — orders come from as far as Italy and Germany. Today the business includes signs for a range of commercial business, homes and cottages and churches but 90 per cent of the signs produced by Simeon’s Brenwood Signs stand proudly on farms.
At the Canadian Dairy XPO in Stratford, Ont., this week, Simeon talked about the labour and the love that goes into every sign. In this interview with RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin, she says it typically takes 40 hours from start to finish for each sign, which are made with western red cedar. To make a four foot sign, eight pieces of cedar are glued together and detail is sandblasted into the sign.
Simeon explains how a rubber stencil of the design is cut and put on to the wood to create the design: “The part where the rubber stencil is will stay raised and the other part is dug away by the sand.” After the sign is complete a durable clear outdoor paint is applied to protect the finish. Cost for the sign featured in the photo above is around $2,500.
Caring for the sign is key to its longevity. She says if a new clear coat finish is applied every three years, farmers can expect a sign to last for 25 or 30 years. Watch the report below.
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