Celebrating matters more as we age — I think it’s the law of diminishing returns that shows us so clearly as our years diminish, we are moved to make the most of every celebration- worthy event, which naturally includes the season’s firsts.

Celebrate the firsts of summer

First We Eat: New potatoes, apricots, cherries and peaches are just some of the ingredients that can really jazz up your summer cooking

Gardeners, cooks and farmers all know, respect and sometimes love the cycles that circulate throughout our lives. Those cycles — the annual return of summer, for instance — mean each year we experience a whole boatload of firsts all over again, and if we’re hip to the general wonderfulness of life, we’re open to celebrating […] Read more

Next time you’re struggling to fall asleep, try one of the breathing exercises below.

A good night’s sleep is important to quality of health

Fit to Farm: But if you struggle to get to sleep, these exercises will be worth a try

Do you struggle to fall asleep on a regular basis? Sleep, or rather, quality sleep is one of the most important factors to quality of health and quality of living. Regularly going with six or less hours of sleep per night has been proven to produce mental states similar to being intoxicated. The negative effects of […] Read more


The sweet story of ginger beef

The sweet story of ginger beef

First We Eat: Sticky, chewy, gingery, sweet and spicy — what’s not to love?

Ginger. It’s my favourite flavour, deliciously lemony, woody, earthy, with a backbite of spicy heat. I eat crystallized ginger every day. Plus it’s good for me — it soothes gastric upsets, lullabyes an overstuffed belly, calms nausea, eases arthritic inflammation, and perhaps offers antioxidant resistance to heart disease. When cooking, I put one or more […] Read more

Take a spring fling with asparagus

Take a spring fling with asparagus

The season is very short so make sure you enjoy some asparagus while it’s here

This year, May arrived suddenly, without fanfare, but with enough warmth for bare arms. Like many Prairie gardeners relieved to finally — and abruptly — exit winter, I spent the sunny first day of the month cleaning up my garden beds. To my delight, I found furled red knobs in the rhubarb patch, and sprigs […] Read more


Scholar L.L. Newman, who exhaustively researched the history of the Nanaimo bar, learned that the sweet was first mentioned in print in the 1947 Vancouver Sun...

Canadiana classics, Part 1: Nanaimo bars

First We Eat: This favourite has been around for years and was likely developed by a member of the Nanaimo Hospital Auxiliary

I lived in Vancouver in my 20s. Yaletown didn’t exist yet, other than as hulking rows of empty warehouses to be bicycled past quickly. Granville Island was an industrial wasteland, the Fairview Slopes didn’t exist, and False Creek was still a reclamation project. Elsewhere in town, the Ridge Theatre became known as the city’s repertory […] Read more

Froese: How to write a will with joy

Froese: How to write a will with joy

Even the best-laid-out transition plans are derailed when new documents are not signed

I want you to read this column and act. I recently did a virtual presentation with 120 farmers and many of them did not have wills in place. Stop procrastination now! I’ve encountered folks who are all dealing with different kinds of loss. One a husband whose wife is suffering from a stroke. One a […] Read more


Was the planting of lentils by an early immigrant family the forerunner of today’s crops?

Was the planting of lentils by an early immigrant family the forerunner of today’s crops?

First We Eat: In 2020 Canadian-grown lentils generated over $2 billion in export sales

In 1923, Jirys Ya’qūb Sallūm kissed his wife and young sons goodbye in the town of Qar’awn, located in the Biqa’ Valley, in the French protectorate of Lebanon and Syria. Speaking only Arabic, he travelled to Canada to work for a relative who had a farm in southwestern Saskatchewan. He wanted a safer home for […] Read more

Do you experience back pain? It’s one of the most common adult complaints

Do you experience back pain? It’s one of the most common adult complaints

Fit to Farm: Here are three easy exercises to try that may help your spine

Back pain is one of the most common complaints among adults, and there’s a few good reasons why. The spine is one of the most mobile sections of the body, as well as an area responsible for quite a lot of force absorption. We use it a lot, in various ways, daily.  Pain and stiffness […] Read more


Why do we cook?

Why do we cook?

First We Eat: Cooking needn’t be just a chore we do every day – it could help us improve our metal health and well-being

When bad news hits or good news shows its smiling face, I head to the butcher block and start chopping. When my neighbour or my kids visit. When we need comfort. When Dave remembers another in his wonderfully long list of our anniversaries. The reasons we cook are many, and often have nothing to do […] Read more

The debt of the parents needs to be settled before the next generation can start charting their debt servicing and equity purchases as they learn how to manage and start to gain ownership in equipment, shares, land, or other farm assets.

Froese: Help! My parents have loads of debt we don’t want!

If your attitudes towards debt are very different from your parents, do you really want to be business partners with them?

Every front door looks beautiful” is one of my favourite Irish sayings. It came to mind in Deadwood, South Dakota, the Black Hills where I was listening to the woes of a young ranch couple. They have a strong desire to ranch as “debt free” as possible, but her parents, the owners are stuck on […] Read more