“No,” my patient cook in charge responds. “That’s why we’re caramelizing the diced apples.”

Strudel is not limited to heat waves. In fact, most people of German or Austrian extraction enjoy their apfel strudel mit schlag in the winter. But in autumn, cherry strudel has its own charm, especially when that cook has put by some sour cherries, or has access to canned sour (tart) cherries, usually found at a middle European or Mediterranean grocery.

Cherries and I are old besties. As much as I love fresh cherries out of hand, I like sour cherries even more. We’re fortunate to have world leaders in hardy plant breeding at the University of Saskatchewan, among them Bob Bors. Bob was an assistant professor, and retired last year, from the U of S plant sciences department, where he taught classes and ran the university’s fruit program, which has gained renown for its hardy haskap, sour cherries and apples. He collaborated with Sara Williams, who authored and co-authored articles and books on Prairie gardening, and has played a major role in the Master Gardener program at the U of S. In 2017 they co-authored an indispensable book on raising and maintaining hardy orchards, Growing Fruit in Northern Gardens.

READ MORE: Fruit growing on Prairie farms

Back in the early 2000s, when the U of S released some of the sour cherries that have since become famous, I acquired six young plants from DNA Gardens in central Alberta. (They’re still in business, FYI, and have evolved from plant tissue culture and propagation to value-added fruit wines and a seasonal farmgate café. I gotta go!)

I planted two cherry twigs in my sunny yard two blocks from the Bow River in Calgary: one a Carmine Jewel, the other a Juliet from the university’s “Romance” series. I gave the others to friends and family. A year later, I started harvesting. Twenty years later, the sour cherry shrubs are madly producing for my friends, family and the current owner of my former home off the Bow River.

This summer, I found sour cherries at the farmers’ market. After I made jam and strudel, I started wondering why I was buying fish instead of the pole. When I called my local greenhouse, I learned that yes, indeed, sour cherry plants are available, and that I have a good window until the end of October to get them into the ground. So first we eat some strudel, then we discuss tending sour cherry shrubs so they thrive in our challenging climate.

Cherry and apple strudel

Strudel is time-consuming but simple, and the results are so much better than what you can buy! Things to remember: precook the filling to eliminate water and add flavour; use hot water when making the dough to quickly develop gluten that allows for easy stretching; and the dough really does need to be stretched thinly enough to see through it to the floral design of your tablecloth!

Serves 12.

Pastry

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. sunflower oil + extra for the bowl
• hot water
• 1 c. butter, melted, for brushing
• 1 c. almond flour, graham crumbs or bread crumbs
• icing sugar for dusting

Cherry filling

• 4 c. pitted sweet or sour cherries
• 1 c. fruit juice or liquid from the can if using canned cherries, divided
• sugar to taste
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• 1 tsp. almond or vanilla extract

Apple filling

• 3-4 medium tart apples, peeled and cut in ½” dice (about 4 cups)
• sugar to taste
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. butter

To make dough, combine flour and salt in a bowl. Whisk together egg and oil, then add hot water to measure a total of ¾ cup. Mix with a fork until just holding together, then turn onto a floured counter and knead for three minutes until pliable and supple. Lightly oil bowl, turn dough in oil, cover and rest for one to 24 hours.

To make cherry filling, put cherries in a pot if they are fresh or frozen; drain well if using canned, setting aside cherries and saving the liquid. Add half the juice or liquid to the pot, cook for 15-20 minutes, until tender and thick, then dissolve cornstarch in remaining liquid. (Add canned cherries now if using.) Stir in, boil, and remove from heat. Add lemon juice and zest and extract. Mix well.

To make apple filling, sauté apple dice with sugar, cinnamon and butter in a large sauté pan until caramelized. Cool.

Set oven at 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. To assemble, dust a counter with flour, then roll dough into a large rectangle. Remove the dough, cover counter with a clean tablecloth, and flour lightly. Pick up strudel on the backs of your hands and let its weight stretch it, working around the perimeter. Stretch until thin enough to read a newspaper through, and lay flat on the tablecloth. Patch any tears. Shape into a rectangle. Stretch the edges until they are as thin as the centre.

Brush the entire surface with melted butter. Sprinkle with almond meal, graham crumbs or breadcrumbs. Spoon apple filling down the long side about 2” from the edge. Stack cherry filling on top. Fold the dough edge over top, then use tablecloth to roll strudel into a snug roll, stopping and brushing with melted butter after each roll, including the final one. Tuck in ends.

Transfer strudel to pan, using tablecloth or your hands, curving it to fit pan. Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and dust with icing sugar. Serve warm.

The post Cherries, part 2: Strudel appeared first on Grainews.

Although producers such as Dallas Leduc and Corey Loessin in Saskatchewan and Roger Chevraux in Alberta appreciate the fact they can now again use Syngenta and Adama products with lambda-cyhalothrin chemistry to control insect pests on cereal, pulse, corn and canola crops, they say it’s been a tense and somewhat expensive past couple of growing seasons without use of the effective and affordable insecticides.

“We got through the past couple years without any major wrecks,” says Roger Chevraux, who farms at Killam in central Alberta, east of Camrose. “We did have alternate products available, but the issue is when the registration of lambda-cy products changed we had very little notice. If we had had a serious outbreak of some pests it could have been a disaster.”

Corey Loessin, a grain, oilseed and pulse crop producer at Radisson, Sask., credited commodity organizations such as the Canada Grains Council and others for their efforts in encouraging PMRA to review current data that helped to reinstate lambda-cy registration for major crops.

And Dallas Leduc, who farms at Glentworth, says grasshoppers didn’t take a break during drought conditions in his part of southern Saskatchewan. Fortunately he was able to use another insecticide — Coragen, with the active ingredient chlorantraniliprole — which was effective but considerably more expensive than lambda-cy products.

As well, he did discover a cost-effective, made-in-Saskatchewan insecticide that also has become another tool in his crop protection toolbox.

The background

At issue for these and other Canadian farmers was a decision by Health Canada’s PMRA in mid-February 2023 to change the registration of insecticides containing lambda-cy chemistry, saying those products could no longer be used on major crops such as cereals, pulses and canola — if those crops were being used for livestock feed. Lambda-cy could still be used on crops to be processed for the human food market.

The ruling followed a routine review of pesticides in both the U.S. and Canada, which started some years before. PMRA made its determination due to concerns about insecticide residue levels found in livestock feed.

Ultimately the existing lambda-cy products, such as Matador 120 EC and Voliam Xpress from Syngenta, as well as Silencer and Zivata insecticides from Adama, remained available for food crops, with their labels adjusted accordingly.

But as the agriculture industry knows, crops seeded in April and May might very well be intended for human food products, a plan that could quickly change depending on growing season conditions, markets and crop quality at harvest. Any of the major crops could very well end up as part of some livestock ration.

Fast forward to earlier this month: after reviewing the most current research data regarding pesticide residues, PMRA reversed its decision and reinstated the use of pesticides containing lambda-cy chemistry on major crops used for both food and livestock feed.

The 2025 ruling does have a couple of limitations. Lambda-cy products can no longer be used on peach and apple crops. Lambda-cy can be used, but with reduced application, on turf grass — but it still cannot be used on any crops produced for livestock forage, whether that be grazing, greenfeed, hay or silage.

The 2023 scramble

“The PMRA ruling was made in mid-February of 2023, which didn’t leave chemical companies or farmers much time to line up alternate products for that season,” Chevraux recalls.

“And the ruling itself made zero sense. Why could the products be used on and be OK for food use but not for feed? It just didn’t add up.”

Chevraux, a past chairperson of Alberta Canola, says he doesn’t always need to use an insecticide — but in the spring of 2023 he did have a problem with cutworms on his farm.

“Fortunately we found another product that helped control cutworm, but it cost four times as much as the lambda-cy products,” he says. “We did have some flea beetles, but it wasn’t serious. We were just lucky there wasn’t an outbreak of grasshoppers or diamondback moths or some other pest that can blow in from the U.S.

“I get concerned any time we lose a tool from the toolbox, because in agriculture we need as many choices as possible in order to optimize production,” he says. “I believe PMRA needs to operate in a more timely manner. The agency needs more funding, and I don’t believe the agency has a good understanding of the agriculture industry, our modern production practices and some of the issues or challenges the industry faces in any given year.”

More responsive PMRA

Loessin says farmers in his area northwest of Saskatoon fortunately also didn’t have any major insect outbreaks during the 2023 and 2024 growing seasons, and they did have access to alternatives as needed.

“I’m glad that use of lambda-cy products on crops used for livestock feed has been reinstated,” says Loessin. “But in my view, it just corrects a mistake that shouldn’t have been made in the first place. It appears that PMRA was relying on old data when it made that ruling in 2023, even though there was new or more current data available.

“Commodity organizations actively encouraged PMRA to reconsider and review the new data which eventually led to the products being re-instated for use. The initial review started in 2017 and now it is 2025 — that’s a long review process.

“In general I believe PMRA needs to be more responsive. It took two years from 2023 until now to review the data and reinstate these insecticides. What if it had been the opposite issue — there was chemistry in use that was causing harm to human health or the environment? Would we have to wait two years for that product to be pulled from the market? I’m glad the lambda-cy products are back but I really think PMRA needs to be more nimble and more responsive in its review process.”

Good to have alternatives

Although Leduc says he was able to use alternate products to control insect pests — namely grasshoppers — on his southern Saskatchewan farm, he’s glad to see products containing lambda-cy can again be used on cereals, pulses and oilseeds for both food and feed markets.

“Coragen is a great product, but it is more expensive,” he says. “Depending on the pest and the year sometimes we have to treat whole fields or sometimes just the edges or the headlands. We went into the fall of 2024 with no subsurface moisture so I know that grasshoppers will be a problem again in 2025.”

One other grasshopper control option Leduc discovered over the past couple of years is Eco-Bran. Developed about 40 years ago by Peacock Industries of Saskatoon, it’s a bait made of wheat bran infused with carbaryl insecticide.

Leduc says his spot application system uses a hopper with a fan powered by a five-horsepower Honda engine, mounted in his pickup truck.

“We found that sometimes we just want to treat the ditches or the headlands, or just around the yard for grasshoppers,” he says. “And some of our land is up to 30 miles away. We can mount the blower in the back of the pickup truck, drive 30 minutes to the field, put the Eco-Bran in the hopper and blow the product out in the ditch or along the edge of the field and then drive home. It is a lot simpler than taking a sprayer that costs a few hundred thousand (dollars) and bouncing it along for 30 miles for a 20-minute spraying job.”

What’s more, “it works, too,” he says. “The grasshoppers eat that bran and they’re dead. It doesn’t eliminate them, but it does help to control them. It is environmentally friendly and an effective way to treat strips or patches.”

Eco-Bran comes in a 20-kg bag that retails for about $147.

A cautious approach

Manitoba Agriculture entomologist John Gavloski says the pesticide review process can sometimes result in restricted uses of popular pest management options — but it’s a safeguard against product uses where there’s evidence of potential harm to the environment or human health.

PMRA, he says, wants to make sure insecticides used at recommended label rates do not exceed maximum residue levels in our foods.

“The PMRA is taking a cautious approach when it comes to regulating the uses of lambda-cyhalothrin,” he says. “There was some concern that residuals in some foods were found to be above what is considered safe levels. Now PMRA has reviewed new information and determined that some restrictions on the use of seeds from some major field crops being used for livestock feed can be lifted.

“However, PMRA still has concerns about these crops being used as forages, so the restrictions for that end use is still in place.

“Overall it is good news for farmers, in that they can use these effective insecticides on major crops, such as canola and some cereal and pulse crops, without concerns around marketing grain from these crops.”

Gavloski notes lambda-cyhalothrin use also remains cancelled for sunflowers, which took up about 44,900 acres in his province in 2024, down 47 per cent from 2023.

“Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of insecticide options that can be used to control lygus bug in sunflowers, but producers and the industry were able to obtain emergency registration of an alternate product that could be used,” he says — a reference to Carbine, a flonicamid product sold in Canada by FMC. That emergency registration is still in effect in Manitoba, and for confection sunflowers only, but is set to expire July 20.

“There are now efforts to obtain full registration for this product for use with sunflowers. On the positive side, this new product is very selective in controlling lygus bug and other sap-feeding pests and will not harm beneficial insects. So that is perhaps also a good outcome of this review process.”

System needs a review

Shannon Sereda, senior manager for government relations and policy with Alberta Grains, says Alberta farmers are no doubt pleased with the recent decision by PMRA — but it underscores a need to look at the whole process of how pesticides are reviewed.

“As everyone says, it is great to have another valuable tool back in the crop protection toolbox,” Sereda says. “This is what Alberta Grains was advocating for all along and it is the outcome we had hoped for.

“But it emphasizes the need for industry to work with PMRA on hopefully revising and modernizing the whole pesticide review process. The process takes years and to have restrictions like this imposed for two years creates a lot of confusion for producers.

“The decision which separates food from feed is a very complex issue for farmers. Often the decision regarding the end use of crops isn’t made until long after a pesticide has been applied. So we feel it is important in making future decisions that PMRA understands the complexity or the ramifications of their decisions and importance of timeliness. These are some of the concerns we as a sector will be looking at with the PMRA review process.”

The issue with lambda-cy also emphasizes a long-talked-about need for harmonizing the whole crop protection product registration process among like-minded jurisdictions and markets.

U.S. authorities, for example, had reviewed data and found lambda-cy products fell within food and feed safety guidelines, whereas PMRA had to conduct its own review and evaluation.

The issue with the part of the PMRA decision that restricts the use of lambda-cy on forage crops remains up in the air. However, one southern Alberta agronomist says it may not have a huge impact.

George Lubberts, owner of Complete Agronomic Services at Nobleford, north of Lethbridge, says irrigated cereal crops grown for pasture, greenfeed or silage usually aren’t treated with pesticides, although pests such as grasshoppers can be a concern for dryland farmers, especially in dry growing seasons.

“Among my clients, I believe the restrictions in pesticide use might be a concern for dairy producers looking to control alfalfa weevil in alfalfa crops, but there are other products available,” he says.

The post Lambda-cy back in the toolbox appeared first on Grainews.

Each summer, one fruit grower, Little Quail Orchard at Oliver, B.C., makes regular long-haul drives with a reefer truck filled with fruit to sell at farmers’ markets in and around Saskatoon. Their fruit is spectacular, juicy, intensely flavoured and worth waiting for — worth going without lesser fruit until the truck’s arrival each summer.

But climate change is dictating shifts in weather patterns: the 2021 heat dome, and several years of extreme cold, have put B.C. fruit and grape crops at a crossroads. In 2024, an extreme January cold snap saw temperatures plunge to -27 C, unheard-of in the fruit belt, killing grapevines and buds on stone-fruit trees. Our Little Quail orchardist told me on their first trip to the Prairies earlier this summer that there would be no peaches, no apricots, no nectarines, no plums this year. Like other growers in the region, they are pivoting, putting in hardier crops. Their tables on that first visit held only cherries. On subsequent trips, new-crop apples, strawberries and melons have appeared.

Peaches such as Little Quail grows are among my favourite fruits, and like other fruit lovers, we have been mourning their loss, and hoping this doesn’t signal the end of B.C. stone fruits. In their absence, locally grown raspberries have become more precious than ever. The glorious rainfall that preceded summer set up the situation for a bumper crop of berries in my mother’s raspberry patch, and like other cooks, I have been casting about for the best ways to make the most of the red berries.

We have enjoyed fresh berries and raspberry syrup on waffles. We’ve enjoyed raspberry and rhubarb cobbler, raspberry and apple crisp and crepes, raspberry and apple galettes, muffins, raspberry and white chocolate scones, raspberries layered in cake, raspberry fool, vinaigrette, coulis, barbecue sauce, salads, jams, and raspberry-ginger lemonade. Bottles of raspberry vinegar are steeping in in my cupboard. But my favourite raspberry dessert to date is the seedless raspberry ice cream I served with flourless chocolate cake to mark my eldest son’s birthday.

First we eat, then we say thank you for the berries, and thanks to the growers who feed us as best they can.

Seedless raspberry ice cream with chocolate flakes

This is a two-day project with chilling time required, so start early. Adding alcohol to the fruit puree lowers the freezing point, making the ice cream softer and easier to scoop. Add too much booze and the liquid won’t freeze, so don’t exceed several tablespoons per quart unless you’re aiming to make a boozed-up slushy. If you prefer, leave in the raspberry seeds, but trust me: the luscious finished texture is worth the effort of removing them.

Makes about 1 quart.

• 6-8 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen
• pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. brandy
• 1 ½ cups milk
• ½ cup whipping cream
• 6 large egg yolks
• ½ lb. dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil

Freeze the ice cream maker’s cannister at least one day in advance.

Combine the berries, salt and ½ cup sugar in a large bowl. If the berries are frozen, break them apart, mix well and let stand. When thawed, macerate in the sugar for an hour. Mash thoroughly. Put the mixture through a food mill or fine-mesh sieve, using a rubber spatula to press down and extract the pulp and juices. Use the spatula to scrape the sieve’s outside to capture all the puree. Discard the seeds. Add lemon juice and brandy to the puree. Cover and chill overnight.

Heat ½ cup sugar with milk and cream in a heavy-bottomed pot. Bring to a simmer. Whisk the remaining sugar with the yolks in a medium bowl, beating until thoroughly blended. Set a fine-mesh sieve and a large bowl, two-thirds full of ice water, close to hand.

Add one-third of the heated milk mixture to the yolks and whisk vigorously, then add the remining milk mixture. Pour the mixture into the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spoon or spatula, not a whisk, until the custard thickens. Do not allow to boil: the temperature should not exceed 180-185 F.

Strain custard through the sieve into a clean bowl and position the bowl in the ice bath. Stir the custard as it cools. Cover and chill overnight.

Combine chocolate and coconut oil in a heatproof bowl and microwave on medium power for 2-3 minutes, stirring several times, until melted and blended. Set aside at room temperature.

Mix together the custard and the puree. Make ice cream as per your ice cream maker’s instructions. Stir in the chocolate and coconut mix at the last minute as the ice cream sets. Transfer to a freezer-safe container, cover and freeze overnight. Bring to room temperature for 15 minutes if necessary before serving.

The post Harvest, Part 2: Cherries and peaches and berries, oh my appeared first on Grainews.

Vegetable seeds — with some exceptions such as potatoes, beans and peas — are not grown in Canada. Some of our seed comes from the United States but the bulk of it originates in Europe. Consequently, when you buy vegetable seed from different catalogues, the seeds, such as a variety of carrot, could have come from the same seed farm in the south of France. The same carrot seed lot could end up in 10 different seed catalogues. Another factor is the number of seeds in each package. Some companies are generous; others, not so.

Farm gardens as well as colony gardens should undergo periodic soil tests, just like your cropland. Soil testing has shown me more than a few gardens have high levels of salt, low fertility or high nitrogen levels. Saline soil meant it was time to set up a new vegetable garden. In moving to a new garden site, you will also leave behind many soil-borne diseases, particularly with those vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Herbicide residue

A significant and recurring problem I saw very many times over the years was herbicide injury to garden crops. The prime culprit in this instance was picloram.

Picloram is an herbicide used on roadside vegetation in all three provinces and perhaps more so in Alberta. This herbicide gives municipalities a low-cost method of controlling vegetation such as large perennial weeds and tree and shrub seedlings. The picloram does an excellent and inexpensive job and is of little consequence to good provincial highway maintenance. The problem is that farmers will take hay cut from major highway embankments. The hay is perfectly edible and safe for livestock, but unfortunately the resulting manure retains the picloram herbicide. If this manure is spread on vegetable garden land it can be devastating. It only takes a few parts per million or less to wipe out sensitive potato, bean or pea crops. Other crops such as carrots, beets, onions and cucumbers can also be significantly damaged. This manure-carrying residue may now take several years to disperse in garden soil, so it may be prudent to seek a new garden site right away.

Picloram can also find its way into farm gardens when pasture or hayland is treated with a combination herbicide that contains picloram. If a compost is made of this cattle manure, using it on a vegetable garden would be disastrous. So the word, on farm gardens in particular, is to avoid any use of cattle manure unless you are absolutely certain it is picloram-free. Poultry manure or alfalfa pellets are an alternative if you must go organic.

When we use peat moss mixes to start garden crops, or perhaps to grow them for a while in the greenhouse, do not take it for granted that this crop starter soil mix is squeaky clean. On a few occasions I have found corn herbicides in the peat mix that have been very toxic to seedling establishment. I must admit, though, this problem is not very common.

Salinity

I had mentioned in earlier articles that garden soils can become saline from irrigation with saline ground water and previous use of cattle manure high in salt. Remember, when you are raising garden seedlings in particular, you must use rainwater or melted snow or pond water of low or very low salinity. Often a few good waterings of saline ground water on pot-grown tomato plants can kill or severely damage them. The use of ground water, for example, on potted houseplants is a sure way to kill them off in a few months and make you believe you have a black thumb.

Another point is that if you have a greenhouse, never use it for storing herbicide — or for that matter, never store herbicide in your house. Volatile herbicides, particularly when spilled, can wipe out a greenhouse or house plant population, especially if herbicide spillage occurs.

Orchard sites

If you intend to set up a fruit orchard for your personal or commercial use, it should be situated on a well drained area, preferably facing north, west or east, and should be separate from the vegetable garden. Remember, the B.C. fruit growers — apple trees are now planted five to eight feet apart, north-facing, and treated as bushes. Who wants a 20-foot apple tree?

What I’m trying to say is that your fruit tree orchard needs very different conditions from your vegetable garden. For convenience, though, your strawberries and raspberries should be rotated every two to three years in your vegetable garden. Please check out my article on fruit growing in a previous issue.

Frequently-grown farm fruit crops such as raspberries and strawberries are normally at their best when grown inside or alongside the garden vegetable crops. This is due to the fact that for best results, both raspberry and strawberry planting areas or rows should be renewed every second or third year. In an ideal garden situation, you would plant out new rows of both strawberries and raspberries. Not doing so leads to sluggish growth and poor berry yields in both these crops in their third and fourth years. Just like their companion vegetable crops, they should then be rotated — perhaps not annually, but certainly by the third year.

The post More on Prairie vegetables and fruits appeared first on Grainews.

In my graduate years in central Florida, surprisingly there was only a short window for growing most vegetables and fruit from February after the winter frosts until early June when it became much too hot even for tomatoes to survive outdoors.

As far as Prairie gardening is concerned, we have essentially from April for frost-tolerant crops and mid- to late May for tender vegetables followed by four to five full months of long, sunny days hopefully in most years with adequate rainfall and perhaps access to irrigation in dry summers. We, in fact, due to our northern location and very long summer days, have some of the world’s best vegetable- and fruit-growing conditions.

During the early 1970s in Ontario as a diagnostic plant pathologist, I learned a lot about vegetable and fruit crop production as well as working with the provincial field crop industry. I was a frequent visitor to “Bradford Marsh,” Ontario’s intensive muck soil vegetable production cropland where micronutrients were every bit as important as macronutrients for optimal vegetable crop production.

In my five-acre garden just west of Edmonton, I grow a very broad range of fruits and vegetables. I have done a lot of plant breeding and selection over the years, and I am sure that many, if not most, of you have heard of the very popular Evans cherry, perhaps 10 million or more of these cherry trees are now grown across Canada and the northern United States. If you check the seed catalogues you will even find Evans Extra Early Tomatoes.

Vegetable-wise, I grow runner beans, peas, fava beans, potatoes, leeks, onions, asparagus, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, carrots, parsnips, corn, garlic, tomatoes, tomatillos, all of the cabbage family as well as herbs and some exotics.

In the fruit department, aside from cherries, I grow apples, apricots, pears, plums, grapes, melons, cantaloups, raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb, strawberries and lots of figs. I supply apple, pear and plum fruit budwood for propagation periodically to commercial nurseries from Ontario to British Columbia.

In my 20 or so years of active association with Robert Saik, formerly the president of Agritrend Agrology, I often gave talks on vegetable and fruit growing to Hutterite colonies in both Canada and the United States. There were very many times when I helped solve fruit and vegetable production problems at Hutterite gardens, particularly in Manitoba. I helped the colonies with tomatoes, onion, potato and asparagus on the vegetable side and, fruit-wise, with apple, raspberry, strawberry, rhubarb and cherry production.

The Hutterite colonies in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, North Dakota and Montana have a significant effect in their Prairie jurisdictions, particularly on vegetable production for the general populace via farm market gardens.

To put the Hutterite contribution into perspective, there are around 370 colonies in Canada and 140 in the United States. Each colony is around 100 individuals, making a total of more than 50,000 personnel. On the Canadian Prairies, there are 175 colonies in Alberta, 110 in Manitoba and 70 or so in Saskatchewan. Most of the U.S. colonies are located in either Montana or North Dakota. Each colony farms around 10,000 acres, with a range of three to 20,000 acres, making the Canadian total of cropland holdings by the colonies around 3.75 million acres.

Alberta has 52 million acres, of which 25 million is arable and 27 million acres are grazing lands or permanent pastures. Saskatchewan has 37 million arable acres greater than both Alberta and Manitoba combined. It also has 30-plus acres of pasture lands. Manitoba comes in third with 11.5 million acres of cropland and hay crops with considerable acres of permanent pasture and grazing land. In total, the Canadian Prairies have 74 million acres of cultivated cropland out of a national total of 94 million acres in Canada. A final statistic before I deal with specific topics on vegetable and fruit crops growing on Prairie farms is that in Canada only five per cent of our country’s total acreage is actually farmland.

In my next four columns, I will deal with farm and colony vegetable and fruit production along with the problems of production and, to my knowledge, solutions to known problems.

Farmers and Hutterite colonies have distinct advantages over vegetable- and fruit-growing small holdings and market gardens in their ability to move to new cropland for crop rotations. All have, when necessary, the right to use pest-appropriate control products for weed, diseases and insect problems.

Move garden to new growing area

A vegetable and fruit crop-growing problem that I was able to look at on both farms and colonies was the fact that despite having hundreds or thousands of acres of cropland, the “garden” had been in the same location for 20 to 40 years or even more. In several instances for both colonies and individual farms, I recommended it would be most beneficial if the garden, or gardens, were moved to a new growing area. Oftentimes, in the “old” growing area, the garden had become saline from using groundwater with a high mineral content combined with repeated livestock manures that had high salt levels. Besides, there were also more than a few soil-borne diseases at these old sites that could damage virtually every crop that was grown on the “old” garden.

I will begin the series with vegetable production and end with effective fruit-growing strategies, which can bring income and pleasure to our long and hot Prairie summers.

In all horticultural enterprises the quote “He or she who fails to plan, plans to fail,” could apply.

Seven Prairie farm vegetable crops I will cover will be a broad range of vegetables grouped according to family, for instance, vegetable crop plants that are closely related to each other.

1. The cabbage family — cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips, rutabaga, kale, sprouts and kohlrabi
2. The potato family — potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and tomatillos
3. The cucumber family — cucumbers, squash, melon, pumpkin and zucchini
4. The carrot family — carrots, parsnips and dill
5. The beet family — beets, Swiss chard and spinach
6. The bean family — dry beans, pole beans, runner beans, peas, lentils, fava beans and soybeans (edamame)
7. The onion family — onions, shallots, chives, green onions, leeks and garlic

Rhubarb will be treated as fruit and, of course, tomatoes, peppers and melons as vegetables despite being fruit.

I came across this thought recently, “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Intelligence is not putting it in a fruit salad.”

There will be some vegetable or fruit crops I may not deal with in detail, but I will certainly mention them in context.

The post Prairie farm gardens appeared first on Grainews.

One time I asked Grandma to make a saskatoon pie. She said, “not today,” as she smiled down at me. “I think it’s time we had a raspberry cobbler.”

As a result, I acquired a liking for her favourite dessert served warm from the oven, topped with vanilla ice cream.

What is a cobbler? My dictionary says a cobbler is a mender of boots and shoes, a cooling beverage of fruit juices or a mean person (not my grandma). There’s also a cobbler fish found in the Atlantic.

I found no reference to cobbler as an edible dessert, so I consulted Grandma’s recipe book, where cobbler is described as a deep-dish, single-crust, fruit dessert. Grandma has now gone to her reward, but I can still thank her for teaching me how to make raspberry cobbler.

Well, as I live and breathe, August days have arrived and they continue to get shorter. I’m told as human beings begin to age, we also become shorter. Do you agree?

I’m never short on something to write about, so let me thank you many times over for your emails, phone calls and gardening questions. I do appreciate hearing from you. I have a wagon loaded with welcome to everyone along the words trail with a tip o’ the hat.

Powder stems bleeding

A patented starchy powder made from potatoes appears to clot blood very quickly. “It works like a sponge for water molecules in blood, allowing platelets to clot almost instantly,” says Mark H. Ereth, an associate professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

The powder is said to sidestep problems associated with other clotting agents during surgical procedures and is less expensive as well. Made from purified potato starch, it consists of tiny absorbent particles that can help surgeons sometimes avoid blood transfusions by preventing excessive bleeding.

“It’s particularly useful for combat doctors and paramedics who need to stabilize massive wounds to prevent shock and other complications from a major loss of blood,” Ereth says. Just think — all of that from a lowly potato.

Go fishing with a raw potato

A friend and I planned a fishing trip. He once asked me if I had any raw potato, and of course I did. I knew he wouldn’t want it for fishing bait, so curiosity directed me to ask its purpose. He said he “had a sour stomach” (from too much of what, I never inquired further).

Anyway, I wasn’t surprised when he took a piece of raw peeled potato, chewed it up and gave a swallow. A few minutes later he reported relief from his acidic stomach and indigestion.

I’ve known for years that diced raw potato applied directly over sunburn brings quick relief too.

Tips for successful fishing

Fishing is a pure joy of relaxing in the outdoors. As humans, we develop patterns of behaviour, and seldom do our patterns coincide with those of fish. Success in fishing means being versatile, so here are a variety of approaches you can try.

Fish are captive to their environment and are closely attuned to weather and water, the season, time of day and other factors. All this has a bearing on whether you catch fish at a particular time.

From sunset to one hour after the sun goes down during summer months, fishing can be great. During the cooler months, fishing is best from noon to three in the afternoon.

Generally, July is the worst month for fishing.

One of the best days to fish is on a cloudy day following a bright moonlit night the evening before, so look to the sky.

According to moon lore, the best days for fishing include the day before and the day after a quarter moon change as well as the day before and the day after each full moon.

Winds can affect fishing too, with the most favourable winds being from the south, southwest and west. East winds are unfavourable.

According to folklore, fish can sense weather changes, and on the day of the actual change, they mostly will not bite. Fish are said to be particularly active three days before a storm.

A wise old fisherman said to watch for a storm if insects are flying low and fish are jumping from the water to catch them. He also said to take note of the type of insect and try to catch some to use for bait.

Fish have no eyelids, but they have remarkable sight and can see up to 50 feet and more away. On cloudy days there is no bright light to distress fish, so they will feed near the surface. However, on bright sunny days any sudden light thrown on fish will cause them to quickly leave the area.

Fish also have a keen sense of smell and don’t like strong odours. A closely guarded secret, though, is that bait rubbed or mixed with anise oil or garden-grown lovage leaf juice is to their liking.

It’s also worth noting that some fish will feed on only one kind of insect or bait for lengthy periods. When that happens, it’s almost impossible to lure fish with any other bait.

After filleting your catch from a successful day of fishing, remember to bury fish guts deep into garden soil.

There’s so much more to say about fishing, but I’ll leave this section with the following, called the Fisher’s Poem:

When the wind is in the north,
The skillful fisher goes not forth,
When the wind is in the south,
It blows the bait in the fish’s mouth,
When the wind is in the east,
’Tis neither good for man nor beast,
When the wind is in the west,
Then fishing’s at its very best.

Something to remember about melons

I planted melons this year, and it’s a good thing because I really enjoy ripe, juicy cantaloupe. Early ones can ripen by mid-August and others will follow in hot pursuit.

Some people don’t like cantaloupe, not even the smell. The words, “eat melon alone, or leave it alone, because if you don’t, your stomach may moan,” apply to some folks who experience digestive problems when eating melons with other foods.

If melon does agree with you, it is best eaten with an empty stomach. Resist the urge to combine cantaloupe with yogurt or ice cream, unless you know such a combo agrees with your system. This info does not apply to eating watermelon.

Wood ash and soil pH

What does too much wood ash do? Wood ash has the ability to raise the pH of soil, that is, to sweeten it. Because of this, wood ash isn’t a good choice to put around acid-loving plants such as pine trees and other evergreens, azaleas, hibiscus, hydrangeas and blueberry plants.

The pH scale runs from 1 (very acidic) to 14 (very alkaline), with 7.2 designated as neutral. Much of the time in nature, soil pH values range from 4.0 to 8.3.

When testing for pH, take samples from various areas of the garden or field. If the results are too acidic or too alkaline, your crops may disappoint you.

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