Raffles, bake sales and smoky bingo halls are all financial staples for volunteer groups. Whether it is the church women’s auxiliary, the local service club or a health support group, money to fund activities doesn’t come as easily as it once did. Provincial governments give gambling revenue to charitable groups, but that can be taken […] Read more
Stories by Diane Rogers
Steer teaches 4-Hers, aids charity
WHITE FOX, Sask. – Blackie is eating his head off for the sake of cancer. The black and white, spotted face steer is spending several months gaining weight on a farm near White Fox, Sask. It will be auctioned off at the Prince Albert 4-H regional show June 3 to raise money for the Canadian […] Read more
Mixed farm softens family’s risks
WHITE FOX, Sask. – The road stops eight kilometres after the Watson farm, the asphalt buried under water 40 years ago when a Saskatchewan dam enlarged a lake. “We’re at the end of world,” jokes Heather Watson from her farm on the forest’s edge in the province’s northeast. Her husband Les bought the farm 25 […] Read more
Poise, control acquired by public speaking
Sweaty palms and quaking voices aside, most 4-H members appreciate the public speaking experience. “The kids say ‘I hate this the most’ but they know it’s the best for them,” said Kathy Hougham, with the Alberta 4-H program. “Most kids recognize the value of it, especially after they’ve left.” The competition starts in each club […] Read more
Survey collects facts on farm work
Are women staying on the farm to run home-based businesses or are they driving into town to do off-farm work? When the children do farm chores, are they paid for their work? Is farming a full-time job for men? The National Farmers Union, which has started a national project to look at farm employment practices, […] Read more
A bar where everybody knows your mother’s name
MEATH PARK, Sask. – Michele Sachowski’s husband knows she is in the bar every night, but he’s not worried. She owns the place. Sachowski runs Humphrey’s Tavern in the northeastern Saskatchewan village of Meath Park. She opened her bar on Friday, Feb. 13, 1998, and figures her luck was running that day since she is […] Read more
Schools alive with community spirit
The students in the Big River, Sask., high school didn’t like the idea of their parents coming to school with them. But seven months into the community school concept, most appreciate it, said Gerry Guillet, director of education for the Parkland School Division. He was explaining to a conference of school trustees, teachers and principals […] Read more
Rural life may be attractive
Everybody laughed at Linda Owens’ comment on how to keep teachers in rural schools. It started seriously. The Thunder Creek School Division trustee said school boards should pick out young people in schools and offer to pay their teacher training at university if they promise to return and work in rural schools. Then Owens drew […] Read more
Friendship grows from the stroke of a pen
When Gloria Allison was a six-year-old Saskatchewan farm girl, she advertised for a penpal. The mailbox was crammed with 50 letters in the weeks after her older sister persuaded her to put their address in The Western Producer. Gloria continued a letter exchange with some of the young writers through their teen years, but she […] Read more
Day-care centre shares success
It is no longer just toddlers who are helped by the Lakeview Children’s Centre in western Manitoba. Teens, parents and other day-care centres are also benefitting from the programs of the 12-year-old centre in Langruth, Man. Centre co-ordinator Jane Wilson said it is trying out new child-care programs in six other farming communities in which […] Read more
