Reading Time: 5 minutes By Thanksgiving, the Hansons still hadn’t solved the mysteries of Labour Day Monday. And they certainly never discussed them. It had started when Jeff’s phone rang. After a half hour of shovelling long-spoiled grain out of an old wooden grain bin with temperatures in the high thirties and a sky filled with smoke from northern […] Read more
Hanson Acres: What the heck… where’s my truck gone?
Nobody’s saying anything on the Hanson farm, which seems just fine
Hanson Acres: Trading places, like it or not
Harvest finds the Hansons catching up with the season, and the season catching up with them
Reading Time: 4 minutes The Hansons were close to the end of harvest on the Monday morning when Donna stopped in at her daughter-in-law’s house to drop off her empty lunch cooler and thermos from the evening before. “The canola on the Richards’ quarter is yielding way better than I thought it would,” Donna told her daughter-in-law, Elaine. “Great,” […] Read more
Hanson Acres: Scooting around the old farm never felt quite like this
When Aunt Trina comes for a visit, it’s hard to keep your feet on the ground
Reading Time: 4 minutes Eight-year-old Connor was happy to see his aunt Trina when she came to visit the Hansons in July. Connor’s mother Elaine was happy to see that Connor managed to wait almost a full 10 minutes before asking, “Did you bring us anything?” Connor wasn’t generally greedy, but since Trina had started working for an ag […] Read more
Hanson Acres: Dale and his auto-steer… the second day
Somehow the technology wasn’t thinking quite like an old farmer
Reading Time: 4 minutes Dale was breathless. He leaned against the tractor tire, using one hand to pull his phone out of his inside jacket pocket. He took a deep breath, then let it out with a sigh. He didn’t want to make this call. He squinted down at his phone, cursing the way his self-darkening glasses made it […] Read more
Hanson Acres: Four men, a boy and a dog, and the toughest job of all
It’s spring on the farm, almost. The equipment is ready, the seed is ready. So...
Reading Time: 5 minutes It was such a bright spring day outside that it took Dale’s self-darkening glasses a few seconds to adjust to the lighting inside the Hanson farm shop. Even so, he could hear shouting and sense movement in the building in front of him. As he hesitated in the doorway, a sudden dark shadow flew toward […] Read more
Hanson Acres: Time for one more load before spring gets real
Across the country, it’s called beating the ban. Jeff isn’t likely to forget (again)
Reading Time: 4 minutes When Jeff rolled the semi to a stop at the Hanson’s farmyard gate before he pulled out onto the grid road he thought he heard shouting. It didn’t take him long to find the source. There wasn’t a lot of mud in the Hanson’s yard this spring, but his kids had found it. Five-year-old Jenny […] Read more
Hanson Acres: A call for help
They hadn’t seen Tara for a while, but it’s good she came today
Reading Time: 4 minutes “Your husband’s not home to help out?” The trucker who’d just pulled his semi on to the truck scale in the Hanson’s yard looked a little uncertain. “Shouldn’t you call somebody?” Elaine bit her lip to keep from saying anything she’d regret. “Don’t worry,” she told him. “I know what I’m doing.” With her husband […] Read more
Hanson Acres: So much to do
In which the idyllic farm lifestyle meets too much reality
Reading Time: 4 minutes Elaine was rushing to get her four-year-old daughter Jenny out the door so she could pick up her son Connor after school. “Come on, kiddo. Connor will worry if we’re not there when the bell rings,” she said. By March, Elaine was counting down the days until the end of hockey season. Two practices a […] Read more
Hanson Acres: Only in Canada, in deepest mid-winter
What was that noise at the curling rink?
Reading Time: 4 minutes “Good luck Dad,” seven-year-old Connor said to his father as Jeff tied his curling shoes. “I’ll need it,” Jeff said, looking to his wife, Elaine, for reassurance. “It’ll be fun,” Elaine said. When his friend Shawn had called to ask Jeff to curl in the local Farmers Bonspiel, Jeff had refused. “I haven’t stepped onto […] Read more
Hanson Acres: Big decision at the farm machinery show
Apparently, change comes to everyone, so you might as well be ready for it
Reading Time: 4 minutes “See you at 4:00,” Dale nodded as he shut the back passenger door of his son Jeff’s truck and stepped out into the cold January morning. This was great, he thought, getting dropped off at the door at the Crop Production Show. He wouldn’t have to circle the parked trucks looking for a space, then […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
