We were watching a television show recently called Property Virgins that chronicles the experience of those shopping for their first home. It highlighted the information needed and the many decisions that must be made when making that first huge investment. It seemed to us that watching several episodes of this show should be a requirement […] Read more
Farm Living
Financial literacy skills last lifetime
Chickens aid research into human epilepsy
Two researchers will soon be studying some rather unusual subjects: epileptic chickens. “Very little research had been conducted with this unique strain, and due to our interest in developmental ethology, we proposed a study to examine the learning abilities of these chickens and how learning might change across lifespan,” Inga Tiemann said in an e-mail […] Read more
New organic rules apply to out-of-province sales
Q: I produce vegetables in fairly large quantities, grown the old-fashioned way. I sell them at farmers’ markets and advertise them as organic. I am now told I cannot do that any longer. Is that true? Why can’t I do this? A: Your issue relates to the fact that after years of regulatory void, national […] Read more
Wife’s hoarding habit may stem from feelings of insecurity
Q: Next week is my wife’s birthday and I am just dreading it. She will get a bunch of small presents from our children and a few more from our neighbours. That would be fine if we did not already have a house jammed full of presents and stuff my wife has collected for 54 […] Read more
Fruit and honey combo sweetens bottom line
TOFIELD, Alta. – Like many farmer inventions, Verry Berry Honey, developed by Sam and Sandra Thiessen, grew out of the collapse of crop prices. Honey prices fell a year after the grain and sheep farmers bought a honeybee business, and they needed to add value to their honey. It was through “prayer and research” that […] Read more
Seed business taps everyone’s talents
OAK RIVER, Man. – Eric McLean has an important job to do in his village – driving the Zamboni at the rink. His boss is easy on him. It’s his wife, Marnie, who is on the local southwestern Manitoba village’s rink board. Both jobs are voluntary, and back on their farm where they make their […] Read more
Flax straw home first step to more ecological living
DRINKWATER, Sask. – Yars Lozowchuk says he is changing his lifestyle before depleting world oil stocks do it for him. The Regina resident built a new home that meets his commitment to a more environmentally sustainable life in the tiny community of Drinkwater, population 65. Work began in 2008 and continued through 2009 on a […] Read more
Connecting rural and urban communities
The gap between rural and urban Canada is well recognized, whether it is health services, infrastructure spending, access to the internet, political preferences or values. But there also are proposals and initiatives aimed at closing that gap. In the second of two special reports on the rural-urban divide in Canada, Ottawa-based reporter Barry Wilson explores […] Read more
Life returns to historical convent
LEIPZIG, Sask. – The sounds of conversation and music can once again be heard in the hardwood hallways, high-ceilinged rooms and expansive grounds of the Sisters of Notre Dame convent in Leipzig. Dan and Ardyth Clark and their friend, Gary Corkum, bought the four storey concrete and brick building set on six acres of spruce, […] Read more
Busing issue sees solution
Parents from Glenavon, Sask., have won a two-year-long battle. The Prairie Valley School Division board has agreed to provide a bus for their children to attend school in Wolseley. The parents had been paying for busing, on their own and through fundraising, since the division closed their school in 2007 and announced that the students […] Read more
