Small-town retailer aims to create a central hub for all that is local with a store, commercial kitchen and catering service
EMERALD PARK, Sask. — When Audra Hill completed her master’s degree with a project on the local food movement in 2020, she knew a fire had been lit. Equipped with a master’s in business and 15 years of experience in the corporate world, the then 34-year-old Saskatchewan native decided it was time to start an […] Read moreStories by Christalee Froese
Despair turns into kids’ book about mental health
After hitting rock bottom, including a suicide attempt, Sask. man writes book to help children with mentally ill parents
INDIAN HEAD, Sask. — It was a very dark night that eventually led Todd Rennebohm out into the light. In the middle of a drinking and smoking binge in his garage, Rennebohm began thinking about how his kids, then aged 10 and 12, viewed his emotional struggles. Rock bottom had come after many challenges with […] Read more
Centre unleashes horses’ therapeutic power
The Empower U Equine Centre offers riding lessons, kids camps, equine assisted learning, and most recently, retreats
NIPAWIN, Sask. — Barbie Harder and Shannon Dickey have always known the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a human being. Their own four-legged steeds have long been the grounding forces to get them through life’s trials. “My horse Ace basically saved my life,” said Dickey, outlining her battle with breast […] Read more
Business incubator takes rural focus
Mashup Lab, which began in Nova Scotia as a way to help rural entrepreneurs, recently offered a course on the Prairies
It worked in Nova Scotia, so why not try it on the Prairies? That’s the idea behind a business crash course from a Nova Scotia entrepreneur who has helped harness the power of rural innovators across the Maritimes. “A lot of people have great ideas, but they just get overwhelmed by the process of having […] Read more
Flowers in demand – photo essay
Sandra Lipsett started YS Plant Ranch in 2014 with one greenhouse. Her bustling prairie business on the family ranch three kilometres north of Montmartre, Sask., now boasts three large greenhouses that are full to the brim in anticipation of one of its busiest seasons due to COVID-related demand. | Christalee Froese photos
Sandra Lipsett started YS Plant Ranch in 2014 with one greenhouse. Her bustling prairie business on the family ranch three kilometres north of Montmartre, Sask., now boasts three large greenhouses that are full to the brim in anticipation of one of its busiest seasons due to COVID-related demand. | Christalee Froese photos
Producer settles down after life on the road
On the Farm: Blake Brownridge spent 12 years harvesting other producers’ crops before deciding to start a farm of his own
ARCOLA, Sask. — Blake Brownridge didn’t have your typical start in farming. His entrance into seeding and harvesting his own land came at age 30, after 12 years of harvesting other people’s crops. The Arcola farmer began travelling on the custom-harvesting circuit when he was a teenager, spending every fall season in places like North […] Read more
Sask. cattle producers return to their roots
On the Farm: Randy James made the decision to leave the business for which he had so much passion but then found a way to come back
ARCOLA, Sask. — It all started with 4-H. At the age of eight, Randy James joined a local beef club. It was a fateful event that has taken him to cattle shows around the world. Growing up on a mixed farm with a commercial herd, it wasn’t a natural fit for the family to have […] Read more
Sask. town gets innovative
RADVILLE, Sask. — It started with several local farmers and a school. It is now Innovation Centre and it features a regional library, a fitness centre, a yoga studio and a daycare, as well as business offices for a hairdresser, massage therapist and optometrist. This thriving hub of activity began to take shape eight years […] Read more
Christmas light display brings cheer
A Saskatchewan man uses his annual winter wonderland to raise money for the mental health unit of a Regina hospital
MCLEAN, Sask. — The goal is simple. “I just want the lives of patients who stay in 1D (mental health unit) to be a little bit better,” says Ian Moats as he sits by a crackling outdoor fire on his expansive rural acreage surrounded by 55,000 Christmas lights. The 59-year-old contractor first decorated a single […] Read more
Rural couple sells solar to prairie producers
Jennifer and Shane Hunter promote solar energy as good for the environment but also as beneficial for the bottom line
RADVILLE, Sask.—Southern Saskatchewan gets more than 2,300 hours of sunlight per year, and as far as Shane Hunter is concerned, that’s a valuable resource that is going to waste. The journeyman electrician established Meridian Solar and Electric Inc. with his wife, Jennifer, in 2016 to show business and farm owners that the power of sunlight […] Read more
