If you want to build trust, you need to show care for the values of others, show up with competence and do your job well.

Froese: Stop the micromanaging

Farm founders can have a hard time letting the next generation take charge. Here are some tips that can help

Men and women who are farm founders must eventually let go of being the ultimate decision makers as they mentor the next generation to be the main farm managers. This is not an easy dance. They need to learn to let go of being in control of every part, however small the enterprise or activity […] Read more

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

PHOTO: SIMONSKAFAR/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES


‘You are not alone’

Don’t try to hide what’s really going on. Reach out to folks who can help you

Years ago as I flipped the chart of papers from the young farmers’ seminar in St. John’s a phrase caught my eye. A young producer had shared that one of the key insights of the day was “I am not alone.” Farm families are quite surprised to hear me affirm them with the words “you […] 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

Nestled atop cuttings of fresh thyme are pieces of that wonderful Icelandic and Swedish torte known as Vinarterta. A soft dough is thinly rolled into five equal portions, pricked with a fork and baked about 10 minutes until light golden brown. A cooked prune filling with other key ingredients is spread between the baked layers of Vinarterta dough sections.

Why every gardener should grow some thyme

Plus, a bit about cakes and country music and wild lettuce

So how’s everybody out there in Grainews country doing anyhow? Continuing research reminds us that home garden veggies, herbs and flowers, orchards and backyard-grown fruits along with field grains and wild forest plants all contain many powerful disease-inhibiting and healing nutrients. Reaping their protective benefits requires a lifetime of sensible eating and drinking habits while learning […] Read more


Award-winning Cascadia shows both flowers and forming snap peas. Green edible pods are a nice length, crunchy, sweet and juicy.

Sweet peas, snap peas and shelling peas

Plus, understanding acidity and alkalinity of soil

Let’s plant some edible snap peas and shelling peas. Plus — a bit of this and a bit o’ that. Gardeners phone, others write and I always appreciate face-to-face meetings. Here’s one gardener’s experience with Epsom salt. Tells me he sprays tomato and pepper plants at blossoming time with a weak solution of Epsom salt […] 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


PHOTO: SIMONSKAFAR/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES

The power of perspective

By putting yourself in another person’s position you will gain many insights

One of my favourite Irish sayings is “Every front door looks beautiful!” You never really know what is truly going on in someone’s life until you get to the kitchen table and develop a relationship. The skill to put yourself in someone else’s shoes is called “perspective taking.” Recently during a family meeting as we […] Read more

Canadiana classics — Part 2: Rhubarb, a great spring fever tonic

Canadiana classics — Part 2: Rhubarb, a great spring fever tonic

Most Prairie gardens have a patch of rhubarb and it is one of the first plants to emerge in the spring

Most Prairie gardens have a patch of rhubarb and it is one of the first plants to emerge in the spring

Few ingredients say “Canada” — or spring — as insistently as rhubarb. Rhubarb thrives in cool climates and is among the first plants to emerge in spring. My mom has a rhubarb patch, like most Prairie gardeners. She can’t keep up with it once it hits its stride, so I am the lucky beneficiary. The […] Read more