Petrofka Bridge Orchard — A Family Business

The University of Saskatchewan began breeding apples and crabapples decades ago, and has since included farmers throughout the province to assist with the fieldwork. These farmers have become interested in growing apples in test plots while establishing an orchard at the same time. Mike and Anne Noel reside on and operate Petrofka Bridge Orchard, a […] Read more

Focal Points And Decorating Dilemmas

I want to address some common decorating problems that many may have to deal with at one time or another. From awkward, narrow spaces to cavernous, wide-open plans, here are some simple ways to combat common decorating dilemmas. There is a very distinct focal point in the living room photo. A strong punch of colour […] Read more


The Magnificent Betula

We all have personal associations with many things. A time-honoured recipe or indoor plant handed down from one generation to the next. The lasting friendship and faithfulness of a dog or appreciation of a favourite tree. Today, I’m devoting most of my words on this Grainews page to Betula, or the birch tree family. I […] Read more

Why Did Your Interest Rate Rise?

Imagine a situation where your bank or credit union wants to raise the interest rate on your operating line this year. For some it won’t take much imagining because it already happened recently or in years past. If your interest rate has been the same “Prime plus 1” or something similar for the past several […] Read more


Blogs Rise To Legitimacy

Weblogs started out as online journals. Early versions go back to the ’70s, but it was not until about 2000 that we started seeing the steady rise of weblogs — shortened to “blogs.” Now there are 130 million or more of them, according to an article in Inc magazine, November 2009 issue. I do not […] Read more

Profits Made In Greek Tragedy

Buying U. S. Treasury bonds, which pay on average 20 basis points more than Government of Canada bonds for mid and long terms, is looking more attractive in spite of the American economy’s well-known problems. As well, the U. S. dollar is gaining respect. The greenback has been soaring as global investors flee from the […] Read more


Excel Tutorial: Advanced Topics

Excel is a great tool for tracking, monitoring and calculating different operations, expenses and cash flows that occur on your farm. Excel has built in features that can make the its use much more accurate, timely and effective. A few of these features are the autosum, trace, sort and filter options. Having a general knowledge […] Read more

Ask Reena – for Mar. 1, 2010

With such a wide variety of hardwoods available, what works for one floor will not necessarily work for another. Q. Have you found a way to remove orange pop stains on carpet? Whenever people visit they ask me where the orange stain came from. It is very visible and I would like to get rid […] Read more


Yes You Can Make Your Own Cookie Cutters

When people think of cookie cutters their minds usually turn towards gingerbread men and Christmas. In our house they are for any occasion and I find that they lend themselves to crafts quite nicely. Recently my daughter and I were faced with a dilemma. We needed to make some heart-shaped cookies as shower favours, that […] Read more