Cooking Canadian, part 1: Rediscovering cabbage

Cooking Canadian, part 1: Rediscovering cabbage

First We Eat: As Canadian food staples go, cabbage is cheap and plentiful

Cabbage and its bitter cousins — brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli — can be eaten raw, roasted, grilled, braised, stir-fried, steamed or simmered, best with something equally pungent, like garlic and onions, or salty, like anchovy or bacon.



Direct seeding and continuous cropping have meant plant residues are returned to the soil every year.

Soil organic matter and carbon sequestration

Changes in cropping practices over time have significantly improved soil quality

Prairie farmers have done an excellent job shifting to direct seeding, continuous cropping, using much more diverse crop rotations and fertilizing crops adequately, along with various other good agronomy practices. This has very positively improved soil organic matter levels and improved soil health across all the soil zones of the Prairies.

Editor’s Rant: Thanks, Elaine

Editor’s Rant: Thanks, Elaine

Much of Elaine Froese’s life has been devoted to helping farm families communicate in healthy and productive ways

Thanks to our friend and longtime contributor Elaine Froese, whose final Seeds of Encouragement column appears in this issue. It takes a special kind of person to want to help people navigate their way through conflict.



Build strength to prevent hand pain

Build strength to prevent hand pain

Fit to Farm: Pain in the hands is a common problem — but don’t write it off as normal

Many hand issues actually originate in the tissues higher up in the arm. To keep our hands functioning well, we need to care for our shoulders and neck too.



Adding wood ash to soil both practical and cost-effective

Adding wood ash to soil both practical and cost-effective

Practical Research: Too often headed for the landfill, ash can reduce soils’ acidity and enhance cropland fertility

Here’s a perfectly good organic source of lime, with plant macro- and micronutrients, being taken from the woodlands and virtually thrown away. Wood ash is an excellent source of magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphate and micronutrients, which can very effectively raise up acid soil pH levels.


Pitura becomes NK soy’s supplier

Pitura becomes NK soy’s supplier

Syngenta Canada has named seed growing and processing company Pitura Seeds of Domain, Man. as its distributor for NK traited soybeans in Western Canada, to start with the 2026 season. Syngenta says this marks a move to a new model for distribution of NK soy, “to respond more quickly to market needs.” Both Pitura and […] Read more

Powdery mildew on a squash leaf.

Plant-based plant protection

Crop chem firm Gowan Canada has picked up registration for its first biological product in the Canadian horticulture market. The product, called EcoSwing, is approved for control of mummy berry in high-bush blueberries and powdery mildew in cucurbits such as pumpkins, squash and cucumber. It’s also approved for suppression of apple scab in apples and […] Read more