Christalee Froese

I remember meeting her at a rural development conference many years ago and thinking, “there’s something different about this lady.” Maybe it was her enthusiasm for her small town? Maybe it was her ability to make those around her feel like they’d been friends and neighbours for years? Maybe it was her unique capacity to […] Read more

Slightly skeptical… and absolutely terrified. That’s how I felt as I stood anxiously in the middle of Cain Quam’s horse-riding arena. Sure, I was happy that the horse-training guru and his wife Roberta had invited me out to their brand new equine centre for a ground-breaking workshop that they developed with counsellors Judy Wright and […] Read more

When the temperatures drop to -40 C, Jody Luster’s equipment always starts. And when the snow is deep, his two main engines can be trusted to plow through. That’s because Luster’s primary farm equipment consists of two horses — Socks and Sally. “The nice thing is I know they’ll start in any weather and I […] Read more

Two days after the meeting we painted the skating shack yellow and black and everyone said, ‘what’s going on here?’” If you ask what’s going on in Scandia, you’re going to get a rather lengthy answer. And most of it will revolve around bees. The 125 townsfolk of Scandia, Alberta have hitched their hopes and […] Read more

It’s a concept called “cluster muster” and it’s taking rural Alberta by storm. While the idea of grouping or clustering like-minded stakeholders has been around for nearly two decades, this economic development idea is now having a greater impact than ever on rural Alberta. Clustering, which was introduced in the early 1990s by Harvard professor, […] Read more

The hamlet of Candiac, Saskatchewan, located 115 km southeast of Regina, has all but disappeared. However, one thing has kept it on the map — the Candiac Auction Mart. Hundreds of auction-goers drive from miles around to attend monthly horse sales and weekly cattle sales at the lone business still in existence in the tiny […] Read more

An article in October 2009 FarmLife told of the Quams’ devastating fire. Now their centre is rebuilt and reopening. Cain and Roberta Quam can hardly believe their eyes as they survey their new riding arena, heated barn and spectator mezzanine. In the last few months, the Quams and their friends and family have poured sweat […] Read more

The smell of fresh paint greets visitors as they walk through the front doors. With hallways in cranberry red and sandy taupe and rooms in mushroom brown and sage green, this building does not bear any resemblance to its former life. A wrought-iron wall clock in the hall, potted plants sprinkled throughout the interior and […] Read more

One Saskatchewan community has its heart set on attracting tourists to its park, golf course, restaurants and shops. And it’s using the Eiffel Tower to do it. It all started in the middle of a Montmartre wheat field with a farmer on a tractor who had hours to think of ideas for his town. Local […] Read more

At the age of 20, the Saskatchewan native began packing a lifetime of adventures into as few years as possible. When Louise Lerminiaux was diagnosed with an incurable kidney disease in 1987, she vowed to live life to the fullest. At the age of 20, the Saskatchewan native began packing a lifetime of adventures into […] Read more