Reading Time: 3 minutes Years ago, I met two men, Steve and Martin, preparing their cows for a show. Both very proud of their cattle, and also proud to help bring this prestigious livestock event to their area. They told me how passionate they were. If there is one common characteristic shared by all entrepreneurs and leaders, it is […] Read more
Are your activities defined as passion or obsession?
“Our passions are the winds that propel our vessel. Our reason is the pilot that steers her. Without winds the vessel would not move and without a pilot she would be lost.” — Anonymous
Farming families and communication skills on the farm
There are times when it’s best to treat each other like business associates instead of family
Reading Time: 4 minutes While everyone seems to agree that good communication is essential for success on today’s multi-generational farms, many of us don’t seem to be making much progress. That’s not surprising to Reg Shandro, a Lacombe, Alta. mediator who specializes in helping farm families. After all, we get very little education on how to become good communicators, […] Read more
Guide Health: Helping the medicine go down
Trouble swallowing that pill or capsule? Here's a few tips that may make it easier
Reading Time: 2 minutes Lack of medication adherence (that is, taking your medication as you should) is called “the other drug problem.” It’s thought that one in four people fail to take their prescribed medication, with half doing so because they struggle with compliance to their medication regime. Some don’t take their prescriptions because of drug side-effects. Others may […] Read more
Culture of thankfulness works, even for farming
Guide Thrive 2015: These practical tips will help your farm tap the proven benefits of gratitude
Reading Time: 4 minutes Your parents might have taught you to always say thank you, but even they couldn’t have known how powerful a lesson they were teaching. In order to thrive, you must be grateful. Farmers can be skeptical, but research has proven it time and again. Gratitude is essential for living a life that is experienced as […] Read more
Make your health a priority
Guide Thrive 2015: It’s easy to manage your health so you can better manage your farm. Here’s how to get started
Reading Time: 4 minutes Often farmers overlook the first requirement for successful farming — good health. It’s too important to take it for granted. And it’s also at risk. Farmers, their families and their employees work amid myriad occupational hazards, points out Kendra Ulmer, a registered nurse with the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture at the […] Read more
This is thriving?
Guide Reviews: Maybe there’s something we can learn from a media darling after all
Reading Time: 4 minutes THRIVE By Arianna Huffington, Crown Publishing Group, $31.00 In her new how-to on how to succeed, and how to know you are succeeding, Arianna Huffington emerges at her ironic best, calling one chapter “Sleep your way to the top.” The irony isn’t really a surprise, but perhaps the message is (or, at least, the growing amount […] Read more
Guide Health: Smart use of antibiotics
Guide Health: Use your prescription as intended so it's fully effective
Reading Time: 3 minutes With the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928, people were able to effectively treat diseases that once killed them. While this marked the birth of modern antibiotics, the actual use of a substance derived from one living organism (i.e. mould on bread) to kill another living organism (i.e. a bacterial infection) is considerably […] Read more
Sing and read with your child
... it sets them up for a life of farming success
Reading Time: 4 minutes When you play pat-a-cake with your baby, you might think you’re just enjoying a fun game. However, child experts say rhymes, songs, and finger play actually help our children develop early literacy skills and build the foundations for a lifetime of learning. Language and literacy do more than open up the possibility of academic achievement, […] Read more
Are you a ‘one-man show?’
Most farmers are entitled to feel proud. But what happens when your ego won’t fit through the door anymore?
Reading Time: 3 minutes We were starting into a critical phase of succession planning on a family farm, and the farmer had something he wanted me to know. His son wasn’t cut from the same stuff that he was, Paul told me. “He will never be able to succeed like I have.” Paul’s pride, unfortunately, had reached an unhealthy […] Read more
Need to get more done?
Fit more into your day with these time-management habits
Reading Time: 5 minutes Too many of us spend our days frustrated because there is so much to do and so little time to do it in. That frustration can even make us impatient to the point where we dismiss the advice of time-management experts, and we say, ironically, “I just don’t have time to get better at using […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
