Recently one of my granddaughters gave me a lesson in salad creativity. From the serving plate of fresh raw vegetables, four-year old Breanna proceeded to make herself a salad. She carefully broke cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, and cucumbers into small pieces and put them on her plate. She was encouraged to quit playing with her food […] Read more
Farm Living
B&B serves up a look at rustic times
Ghost towns come to life in southwestern Saskatchewan, paying homage to cowboys and tightly knit communities
MAPLE CREEK, Sask. — The notion of cowboys sitting around a campfire, wagons circled, isn’t that far flung at Ghostown Blues. The picture-perfect setting of this bed and breakfast just outside southwestern Saskatchewan’s best-known cow town could be a western movie set. And that wouldn’t be a stretch either considering owner Greg Hisey’s resume. This […] Read more
Son of farm activists finds his way home
On the Farm: Organic farming comes naturally to this producer, who works with parents Nettie Wiebe and Jim Robbins
LAURA, Sask. — Will Robbins’ head told him he would never farm. His heart knew better. Like the slow drip of a coffee machine, the idea of pursuing an agricultural livelihood percolated for years. “I didn’t think of it as a career or a project that was mine really at the time when I was […] Read more
Direct marketing keeps Alberta ranch busy
Long Run Ranch Beef sets brisk pace with online and farmers market sales as it keeps up with demand for local product
CROSSFIELD, Alta. — Kevin and Amy Taks are ranchers for modern times. Based at Crossfield, north of Calgary, the family-run operation began direct-marketing beef and found the demand was so high for local, dry-aged product, they had to build an on-farm freezer to supply their customers year round. “The more we talked to consumers there […] Read more
Conservation survey participation deadline extended
A survey to gauge western Canadian farmers’ and ranchers’ thoughts on conservation programs has been extended until the end of the month. Jeremy Pittman of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, seeks to determine which species-at-risk and endangered species conservation programs are most popular with landowners and has an on-line survey designed to get the […] Read more
Finding a new career requires a pursuit of excellence
Q: We are going to have to give up the family farm. It is too small to be economically viable and I can’t get enough credit to invest the dollars we need to turn everything around. That is OK. We are all right with that. A couple of the larger farms in our area are […] Read more
Bucket lists can make retirement interesting
The term bucket list, which is a list of things you want to do in your lifetime, was probably first used in Justin Zackham’s screenplay for the 2007 movie of the same name. According to Wiktionary, before he had even thought of writing this screenplay, Zackham had created his own bucket list and the first […] Read more
Winnipeg’s Hermetic Code Tour proves mesmerizing
Fancy an adventure the likes of the Da Vinci Code, complete with ancient symbols, hidden clues, and secret society rituals? Then take a trip to Winnipeg. As a bonus, this code-busting experience is for real. The Hermetic Code Tour is the most surprising tour we have taken anywhere. The unlikely setting was the Manitoba legislature, […] Read more
Longer lifespans have produced the third age
The emergence of an extended middle life, the “third age” if you like, can be compared to adolescence. One hundred years ago it didn’t exist. There were no teenagers. You were a child and then you were an adult. Economic, political, educational and social factors created the teenager. Now, longer lifespans have created the third-ager. […] Read more
Early planning eases harvest meal preparation
Whether its rhubarb crisp, round steak with dumplings or cranberry chicken, harvest meals don’t have to be boring
While making a rhubarb dessert for the spraying and reseeding crew, I decided if I froze rhubarb when it was picked, it would be available to make a rhubarb-apple-strawberry crisp for the harvest crew. I made the following recipe several times this spring but not always using the same fruit. The one today has blueberries […] Read more
