BARRHEAD, Alta. – Sheep producers across the Prairies are selling their flocks and getting out of the business, but Ronald and Erna den Broeder are doing their best to buy more sheep. The couple estimates it takes 850 ewes to make a viable sheep operation. They have 900 now and plan to reach 1,250. When […] Read more
Farm Living
Couple eager to satisfy appetite for lamb
Complaint about a judge’s conduct – The Law
Q: I had a civil claim and it went to court about a month ago. We don’t have a decision yet but I have to say I thought the judge was the most rude and arrogant person I’d ever seen. He interrupted, wouldn’t let my lawyer ask questions and treated everyone with disdain. What can […] Read more
Smoking tops list in farmer survey
Canadian and Australian farmers have different but equally bad habits. Researchers speaking Oct. 19 at a Canadian Rural Health Society workshop outlined results of their studies. Smoking has a detrimental effect on rural Canadians’ health, said Afshin Vafaei. No other factor was as bad as cigarettes, the Queens University masters student found when crunching the […] Read more
Mother faces abuse – Speaking of Life
Q: I left my husband two years ago. He had been both verbally and physically abusive to me for most of our 12 years of marriage. Now I have another problem. My three children are starting to abuse me, particularly my oldest boy. I am just sick about all of this. I would like it […] Read more
Rural suicide rate puzzles researchers
Mental health researchers have a puzzle to solve. The suicide rate among rural people is higher than for city dwellers even though the reported rates of mental illness are the same. Mary-Pat Dressler, who delivered that information at a rural health workshop, can’t explain it. “There’s gaps in the data so there may be underreporting […] Read more
New book reflects life on the ranch
The Schellenbergs of Endiang, Alta., didn’t see their livelihood reflected in books their children read. So they wrote one. Rodney P. Magee, which they are publishing themselves using a printer from Delburne, Alta., tells the story of a boy who thinks rodeo is only a male sport. He practises bullriding on his dog as his […] Read more
Author finds limited material on history of Mennonite women
When Marlene Epp’s father was asked to make a presentation on the history of Mennonite women in Canada, he was stumped. Where were the sources he could use? So he turned to his daughter, a budding historian, and asked her to take on the project. That initial project from years ago has made her an […] Read more
Senior years can be time for new experiences – Speaking of Life
Q: For the past two years I have been slowing down a bit. My wife says that at 60 years of age I should turn over the farm to my boys and just help them occasionally. That is going to be hard for me to do. The farm has been my whole life for a […] Read more
Farm struggles with succession
LYNNFIELD, N.B. – By his own reckoning, 58-year-old dairy farmer Philip Christie is at the awkward stage in a farmer’s life, planning a farm transition but not yet clear about how it will end. “Basically, we are in a debt pay down mode to prepare the way for the kids to have room to make […] Read more
Soup recipe; safety information – TEAM Resources
While attending a recent home economics conference, I went to a workshop on food plating by Marvin Wesaquate, chef at the Regina Inn. Here are a few of his suggestions for presenting food so that it is pleasing to the eye. Plates frame the food, the same as a photo or picture is framed. Therefore, […] Read more
