ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — 4-H clubs for post-secondary students are helping make the transition from high school easier, while creating opportunities for youth to stay involved. Breanne Durie, a third year agriculture student, helped establish the Collegiate 4-H Club at the University of Alberta that is currently evolving from a 4-H alumni group into the Future […] Read more
Stories by Karen Morrison
Lending firm teaches youth about business financing
ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — A Community Futures loan program is helping 4-H members purchase project supplies while also introducing them to the world of high finance. Shelagh Pemberton, loans manager with CF Thompson Country in British Columbia, said the program gives youth a chance to participate who might not otherwise have been able to afford it. […] Read more
Quality food sought for needy
Farming sustainably | Holistic management central to goals of non-profit group
Farmland Legacies will deliver its first hamburgers to Saskatchewan food banks this fall, served up with a lesson in sustainable farming. The non-profit organization operates a seven quarter section organic farm near Wynyard, Sask., called the Home Quarter, donated by the Gillis family. Duane Guina, program manager, said the farm will provide food for the […] Read more
Muenster hits home run with baseball
Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame inductee | For more than a century players have donned caps and gloves, eager to yell ‘batter up!’
MUENSTER, Sask. — Baseball is a rite of spring for this community of 500 people. “As soon as there is a dry spot on the diamond, there’s somebody throwing a ball around,” said Jim Korte of Muenster, longtime baseball player, coach and organizer whose car sports the licence plate, YUROUT. This summer, the community will […] Read more
Family careful to build markets before expanding
200 goats for milk and meat | Sustainability, animal welfare and producing good food are goals on family ranch
NAICAM, Sask. — A toddler’s severe eczema and allergy to cow’s milk have brought his parents to the RobLynn Ranch this spring day to buy a goat and learn how to milk it. Mother and daughter operators Lynn and Tanis Colyn explain how the demand for their dairy goats has outstripped their current supply and […] Read more
Farm production driven by consumer demand
RESOURCE, Sask. — For Mark and Susan Hodgson, it’s the little farm that grew. Their quarter section farm in northeastern Saskatchewan came with a small market garden when they bought it almost a decade ago. The farm has since grown to include more fruit and vegetables, meat processing and agritourism. “You follow your passion and […] Read more
Preserving past for future generations
EDAM, Sask. — Glen Foulds takes in a sweeping million dollar view from the porch of his rustic wooden cabin high above the North Saskatchewan River. “My best holiday is just being out here and sitting on my chair watching the river and the animals,” he said of the farm, aptly named Paradise Acres. Branding […] Read more
Health-care costs soar for lower income earners
Poor see biggest jump | Increased costs affect self-employed workers such as farmers
Canadians in the lowest income brackets saw the greatest increase in out of pocket health-care expenses, according to a 12 year survey. The study, based on Statistics Canada data on household spending from 1997 to 2009, found that costs increased for all Canadians for insurance plans, dental care and prescriptions, but the lowest 20 percent […] Read moreSerious drive to write tickles her fancy
Author wins award for humour Array of life experiences and cast of characters give author fodder for fiction
ESTON, Sask. — A pair of blue velvet stilettos with five inch heels sits boxed on a shelf like a trophy. They belong to Saskatchewan writer Cassie Stocks, who wore them when she picked up the Stephen Leacock medal for humour for her first novel, Dance, Gladys, Dance, in Ontario last year. To say the […] Read moreBirds get TLC from chicken man
Treated like pets | Bill Bryan raises heritage varieties and markets the meat and eggs
NEVILLE, Sask. — Bill Bryan dreamed of owning a pool surrounded by a bunch of chicks. As an adult, the chicken farmer found his Shangri-la in a 25 acre parcel of heavily treed land in southwestern Saskatchewan. Today, his free-range chickens peck at bugs and grasses in a fenced area with a filled-in pool when […] Read more
