Diane Rogers

When Deb Farden studied the murder of women 10 years ago as part of her master’s thesis, one fact stuck out. In nine out of 10 cases, she discovered, women were killed by their spouses rather than strangers. In other words, the deaths were preventable. As a result, Farden set out to ensure fewer women […] Read more

Thousands of kilometres from the ocean, the iridescent sparkle from a long-dead sea creature is creating a business opportunity on the Prairies. Ron Robak from south of Rimbey, Alta., has created a wholesale jewelry business based on fossilized ammonites. While ammonite shells are found around the world, only Alberta has the dramatic colours. Robak said […] Read more

OSLER, Sask. – It looked like snack time but it was really a test for teachers. The 16 Saskatchewan educators on a tour July 9-11 to learn about agriculture were asked if they could tell the difference between traditional and low fat potato chips and Oreo cookies. Arlene Pederson, who teaches home economics at Allan, […] Read more

Even though decades have passed since they had heard Yiddish, two brothers who farm near Estevan, Sask., were able to recall familiar phrases when spoken by recent guests. The brothers were visited by two rabbinical students from New York City who spent three weeks in the province in June and July re-establishing ties with Jewish […] Read more

Holding only two meetings a year is not an efficient way for the Canadian 4-H Council to work, says the past-president. So Marie Logan, a farm woman from Lomond, Alta., who just finished as president of the council, dedicated her term to improving the process. “We needed to be able to make decisions quicker and […] Read more

LLOYDMINSTER, Alta. – Kim Heyman knows what the problem is with Alberta’s child-care system. She said the child-care centre in her town has run an ad for two months to find new employees, “but when McDonald’s offers the same wage as our day care, with no responsibilities …” Heyman, who is the administrator for the […] Read more

Petting zoos have become a popular attraction now that fewer prairie families have relatives on the farm and access to livestock is less common. But with the popularity have come rules from public health officials to deal with contact between children and animals. Carol and Al Borys of Thistle Hill Farms in Hay Lakes, Alta., […] Read more

High speed internet won’t save rural communities, says a sociology professor from Newfoundland’s Memorial University. Ivan Emke told a session at a recent national academic conference in Saskatoon that if he was prime minister he would increase support for traditional forms of community media and spend less on new technology. He said local weekly newspapers […] Read more

The Saskatchewan Co-operative Association has decided to document the history of its youth program, now entering its 80th year. The program has been credited with educating 42,000 young people in the province about the co-op movement. Chassidy Puchala, who is spending the summer researching the development of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Youth Program, said in the […] Read more

ABERDEEN, Sask. – Mary Uzelman and Kevin Porfoun have split their life in two. On one side is a quiet time with nature and on the other is a business abuzz with hungry people. Their orchard on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River produces the fruit that they turn into muffins, scones and desserts […] Read more