The way he frames it, when Mike Harris was Premier of Ontario, cutbacks to the public sector caused Jürima's boss to retire early. Despite this, he ended up not gaining the vacated position; instead receiving more work for the same level of pay. To rise any further would require a PhD, which he was unwilling to pursue, after already seven years of post-secondary study. Jürima was looking for a change.
This is when an offer came in from his elderly uncle, to take over two thirds of a 15 hectare manor estate (two thirds of the manor park was given back along with 62 more hectares of land, including the land where the nursery is situated) in Luua, Jõgeva County. This was land that was given as recognition of Jürima's granduncle's bravery during the Estonian War of Independence. His uncle decided that he was too old to move back to Estonia, and because he didn't have any children, he told Jürima, “It's yours if you want it.”
He agrees that this offer was an instance of fate.
(Read more: Estonian Life No. 32 2021 paber- and PDF/digi)
Written by Vincent Teetsov, Toronto
