If the emotional factors in your farm dynamic are keeping you stuck, now is the time to grab the bull by the horns and say, “Enough!”

Froese: Too much farm drama?

Here are some tools to help you get better at fixing farm fights

As this is Heart Month (February is a time to bring attention to the importance of cardiovascular health), I hope this finds you living a wholehearted life on your farm, not living with a broken heart. The deep emotions we carry as “stoic or stubborn” farmers need to come to the surface and let healing […] Read more

Mixed greens are gaining popularity in both menus and markets.

Tips on growing leafy greens indoors

First We Eat: Get a head start on salad days of summer

To most of us, salad is the ultimate summer fare. We wait all year for freshly harvested salad greens, making do through fall, winter and early spring with the robust and sturdy greens of those seasons, but summer means salad. We love the tenderness, the crunch, the colours and the very idea of lettuce. It […] Read more


Delicious fresh apples picked in late September 2022 from the same Kerr apple-crab tree that has produced a bountiful crop annually for more than 30 years. If trees could talk, what memories and stories they could tell.


My amazing Kerr apple-crab tree

Singing Gardener: Plus a useful breathing technique to help you sleep

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then it sounds reasonable that two apples a day are even better. Yes — apples are on the agenda of words today and I’ll tell you about my amazing Kerr apple-crab tree. While I was a youth at home, it was common for friends or neighbours […] Read more

Regulate your nervous system

Regulate your nervous system

Fit to Farm: Turns out “shaking it off” can really help if you’re feeling stressed out

Nervous system regulation is becoming a common term nowadays when discussing emotional and physical well-being. To best understand what nervous system regulation means, we first need a basic understanding of how our nervous system works. The nervous system as a whole is essentially our biological operating system. It controls our biological functions, movements, sensations and […] Read more


It can be an interesting journey to graciously let go of control and mentor the next manager of your farm business.

Froese: Reduce friction on the farm

Seeds of Encouragement: Transitioning to the next generation may be difficult at times. Here are some tips to help farm founders and their successors with the process

Recently, I participated in an AgvisorPro webinar looking at the risk factors in farm transition. Dean Klippenstine, a partner and agriculture business advisor with the accounting firm MNP in Regina, Sask., was another one of the speakers, and something he said really hit me: “I’d rather have really good management than lots of old money […] Read more

Ted Meseyton among the plum trees

Have a plum tree but no plums? Here are some tips to help it bear fruit

Singing Gardener: Plus advice for getting an amaryllis plant to rebloom

Is the melody of your life without some of the right notes or is there a barrier standing between your health and happiness? There’s an old saying that a person with his health has a thousand dreams but a person without health wants only to get well. More and more gardeners of all ages are taking greater responsibility for […] Read more


Swiss-French author Sylvie Bigar writes about her obsession with the south of France and cassoulet in Cassoulet Confessions.

Vive la Cassoulet

First We Eat: Many different ways to serve this classic French bean dish

I just read Cassoulet Confessions: Food, France, Family, and the Stew That Saved My Soul by Sylvie Bigar. Bigar, a Swiss-French writer, is obsessed with the south of France and cassoulet, the classic southern French bean dish. Her Jewish Ashkenazi family (diaspora Jews who settled in the Alsace region of France, and before that, Poland) […] Read more

Strong families celebrate. Think about how great you are going to feel when you embrace the power of target dates and timelines.

Froese: The power of target dates

Seeds of Encouragement: Setting timelines for action can be key in planning your farm’s future

There’s nothing scarier for farm families who are trying to gain control over their lives than to have no clue about what the future holds. As a coach I call this “the pain of not knowing.” Time has a way of slipping quickly by, something like the toilet paper roll that spins faster as it […] Read more


Smooth Volcano carrots are known for strong, upright tops and easy pulling, and they are tolerant of late harvests.

Lots of good reasons to grow carrots

Plus, Happy New Year greetings

Well, howdy folks howdy! It’s a brand new year. 2023 has arrived. I once entered a song I wrote more than 25 years ago into an international song writing competition. It became one of 10 songs chosen that received “honourable mention” from among thousands of entries received. I still sing all verses of that song […] Read more

Duck breast roulade from Steve Squier, chef at Picaro in Saskatoon.

Food influencers

First We Eat: How to translate culinary art into home cooking

In a pivotal moment of the 2006 movie The Devil Wears Prada, the protagonist Andrea, a fashion novice played by Anne Hathaway, snickers as she watches her icy boss Miranda, played by the iconic Meryl Streep, make decisions for a fashion shoot. Miranda, reputedly modeled on the equally iconic Anna Wintour, head of Vogue magazine, […] Read more