Life on the farm goes way too fast

Have you ever noticed how life speeds by on the farm? One day your children are terrifying you because they want to run under the cows’ bellies, the next they are half a foot taller than their dad and buying their first house. Our latest development has really been one of those moments. Our oldest […] Read more

Pears for the Prairies

Today, I’m writing about pear trees for the very first time, but first please read the following carefully. Here’s one more reminder. The tomato varieties I wrote about in my January 23, 2012 column are NOT free. They are for sale by Upper Canada Seeds in Toronto. Please do not write to them asking for […] Read more



Easy-to-build hen feeder

Hens can be easily upset if things deviate from the expected norm, therefore they should never run out of feed once laying has begun. Taking this into account I built an efficient automatic feeder that is simple and inexpensive to construct. Dimensions are flexible, but the one I built is 27 inches wide, 24 inches […] Read more


Clear, concise communication

Elaine, I am feeling paralyzed and overwhelmed with this farm transfer thing.” “How do I talk to the kids without emotions running wild?” “We do fine until we try to get a sit-down family meeting with an agenda, then no one is really honest with what is going on here.” Communication that is clear and […] Read more

Making memories — one stitch at a time

Henriette Schultz of Debden, Saskatchewan is a farmwife who enjoys doing cross-stitch, providing her with an opportunity to create realistic cross-stitch portraits. Having learned the art in 2005, Schultz now creates projects that are picture perfect. She began cross-stitching with a kit and upon completion thought that there must be a better way to create […] Read more



The gift of contentment

As part of the redecorating project of my flooded basement, I took an ancient (faded) mountain print gold-framed picture to the glass guys, and had a mirror put into the frame. The print had faded to blues, but the story behind the picture prompted me to “repurpose” what other designers might label “junk.” This was […] Read more


Our House Rocks…

Recently, I found myself uttering the following sentence to my two-year-old: “We, as a family, don’t sneak into the crib and slick our baby brother up like a seal with Daddy’s Old Spice deodorant.” Now this got me to thinking — I often find myself making reference to the collective “we.” We don’t do that […] Read more

Cucumbers, roses, seed sources…

A hybrid cucumber that’s cool as a breeze; a new rose from the Canadian Artists group, a source where gardeners can buy heirloom and open-pollinated tomato seeds and seed potatoes… plus a shrub fit for a queen. Do you mind if I cram a lot of information in this Grainews issue. How be it if […] Read more