Hanson Acres

Reading Time: 4 minutes Some guys go to the beach. Some guys go camping in the mountains. I just keep on spraying.” Jeff Hanson was talking to himself as he walked out to the dugout to load the sprayer at 4:30 in the morning. Ever since the Hansons finished seeding, anytime it wasn’t windy, Jeff or the Hansons’ employee […] Read more

Reading Time: 5 minutes Jeff Hanson stood in the May morning sun, eyeing up his seeding crew. “This is going to be something else,” he muttered. Mark Edwards, the Hansons’ farm employee, winked at Jeff. “Let’s get this show on the road.”  Normally, Jeff, his wife, his parents and Mark worked together to get the crop in the ground […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes As soon as he hung up the phone, Jeff knew he couldn’t make this decision on his own. He called his wife. “Elaine, could you come out to the shop?” “Sure,” she said. “What do you need? Should I put on coveralls?” “I need help, but you don’t need coveralls,” Jeff said. “That’s mysterious,” Elaine […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes The truck was empty so Jeff shut the auger off just as his wife Elaine came his way. It was late winter and she had her cross-country skis on, dodging the loose gravel that showed through the snow. Flora, the German shepherd puppy, ran alongside. “Finally finished cleaning the Thompson’s lentil seed,” Jeff said. “Great,” […] Read more

Reading Time: 5 minutes “Good game!” Dale said as he and Donna and their new friends Phil and Marlene took seats around the plastic table next to the pickleball court.  Dale and Donna’s first three weeks in Yuma had been a bust. Trouble with the furnace back home. Good friends not returning for the winter. They found out their […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes When he went inside to change into some “going to town” jeans, Jeff heard his eight-year-old daughter Jenny complaining. “This Rice Krispie cake doesn’t taste right,” Jenny was telling her mother. “Did you use the wrong recipe?” Jenny wasn’t usually whiny, but she’d had a lonely week at home. She didn’t have symptoms, but her […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes When Dale and Donna Hanson drove home from their winter holiday in Yuma in January 2020, the biggest challenge they’d faced was finding a hotel room along the highway during a sudden blizzard.  “Good thing we came back to Canada before COVID-19 hit,” they’d both said many times since then. After spending the rest of […] Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Jeff Hanson was next in line at the Co-op grocery store cash register when he ran into his old friend Shawn. “That’s a full cart,” Shawn commented. Jeff had loaded his shopping cart with a week’s worth of food for himself and his two kids. Shawn, still single, didn’t need a grocery basket, let alone […] Read more

Reading Time: 5 minutes Finally, Elaine thought, life is back to “normal.”  Well, almost. She realized she was still wearing her face mask as she drove alone in her SUV, halfway between Prairieland Park and her hotel. She pulled the mask off and tossed it onto the passenger seat. She didn’t love wearing masks, but as long as a […] Read more