Boys on hay bale

Is the farm a healthier place to grow up on?

Prairie Palate: Get Well Soon Meat Loaf

As we head into the winter cold season, I am feeling quite smug. I rarely get colds. I have no allergies and a stomach as impervious as a cast iron pan. I attribute the healthy state of my immune system to growing up on a farm. Mucking about in the garden, eating bugs and dirt, […] Read more

Farm life tension audit — time to fix your stress mess

Farm life tension audit — time to fix your stress mess

Complete this checklist to see how you could help fix your tension this year

Recently Mike Lipkin offered me a checklist of champions, and it encouraged me to think about being more intentional about identifying how to be a champion. Here is another checklist of what might be creating tension on our farms when you don’t feel like a champion! Take a few moments for self-care and self-awareness to […] Read more


How to prevent divorce on farms

Divorce can wreak havoc and is one of the biggest threats to farm family legacy

A new year of possibilities. My parents married December 27, 1955. My brothers each chose to marry that same week in 1984, and 1990. I, being the rebel got married on Independence Day, July 4, 1981. Wes and I have outlasted Chuck and Di who married the same year, same month. Divorce is one of the […] Read more



Working towards a bully-free farm culture

Author offers insight if your the target of bullying and what you can do about it

She came up to me quietly after my presentation, looking tired and sad. “Elaine I haven’t been off the farm in months, and I don’t know who is going to help us with seeding. I am 70 and I cannot take this anymore. My husband is very verbally abusive and won’t get help for his […] Read more

Lentil cookies

Long legacy of lentils in cooking

Prairie Palate: A favourite food of ancient Greece finds new flavours in Canada

There’s an old adage in Greece about not adding “myrrh to the lentil soup” because myrrh is too fancy for a humble bowl of lentils. A culinary overkill. Ancient Greeks preferred more simple flavourings such as vinegar and sumac (which grew wild) or olive oil and salt. They boiled the lentils until they were soft […] Read more


children in back of a truck

Raising kids down on the farm

It’s not all one long Disney movie, but there are also many lifestyle benefits

It’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché because there’s some truth to it. Farms are great places for kids to build character. I asked farmers on Twitter what they thought about raising kids on farms. Work ethic kept coming up. Terry James, an Alberta farmer, said some employers value former farm kids for their work […] Read more

group of young farmers

Young farmer connects to the world on social media

If you want know how the farm year is progressing in the Filmore area of southern Saskatchewan, check out Jake Leguee’s blog at southsaskfarmer.com. The young Saskatchewan farmer has been writing about farm life for the past couple years. It’s not a lot of drama or earth-shattering news, but just about the every day trials, […] Read more


Too frosted to forgive?

Forgiveness is an issue that farm families need to take a look at

Man, I can’t believe that guy, every time I make a mistake, he just can’t accept my apology, and he keeps really good track… for years!” Does your farm team have the ability to apologize, and accept mistakes? I was saddened to hear a young farmer confide with me that in all his years, he […] Read more

Harvest widows

The editor's column

In the December issue of Grainews we ran a story by freelance writer Marianne Stamm about “harvest widows” — women coping with the strain of having their husbands out of the house for long hours, day after day during the harvest season. When Marianne submitted this story, I was excited. Everything in the article rang […] Read more