Consider how cash management, diversification, risk management and investments could reduce unnecessary struggles faced by your farm.
Farm Life
Common pitfalls in farm finances
Farm Family Coach: Active management in some key areas can reduce unnecessary struggles for your farm
A literary celebration of food
First We Eat: Like a good meal, ‘One Book One Province’ is meant to offer a shared experience
On the Prairies, the month is a hopeful time for food lovers: we’re perusing seed catalogues, planning our gardens and dreaming about salads made from the season’s first greens.
Comfort food for hard times
First We Eat: What foods help you find peace in stressful situations? Here’s one of mine
Hand-pulled Shanghai noodles redolent of wok hei, the near-mystical “wok energy” or caramelized smokiness that has been called the breath of a wok, are a revivifying dish of comfort — soul food for hard times.
Adapt to change with the power of grief
Farm Family Coach: Major changes — even the ones we know are for the better — will come with a surge of negative emotions
When a person goes through a major change in life, they experience a downward trend of negative emotions — often expressed as anger or sadness — before they can fully accept that change.
Help yourself break a headache
Fit to Farm: Certain motions work to help regulate or relieve underlying tension
Most headaches are brief and resolve on their own with rest, a change of environment, good nutrition, and proper hydration.
Cooking Canadian, part 2: Shopping local
First We Eat: In recent years we’ve seen serious disruptions in our culinary supply chains
The eruption of trade wars and tariffs has me looking harder than ever at what we eat and where it comes from, like every other Canadian.
Maintain your pelvic floor function
Fit to Farm: These muscles help keep our posture and vital organs where they belong
An often-overlooked source of common complaints like back pain, hip pain and fatigue lies in the hard-to-access soft tissues of our pelvic floor — the soft tissues within the inner bowl of our pelvic bones.
Grandma, stop hurting your family’s farm transition
Seeds of Encouragement: Hard commitment to a late spouse’s wishes may not align with what’s now happening in the business
The situation: A mom is not willing to consider that her dead husband’s wishes — which she wants to honour – may not be the best direction for the farm or the family in the current situation of 2025.
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.
Get great transition plans in place now and make my heart sing
Seeds of Encouragement: When you let go of things, you need something to move toward
Thirty years ago this week I published my first column with Grainews. It has been an honour to hear stories from readers on the steps they have taken to better their lives.
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
