No one seemed to need one before, but now they say a vision statement can be good for the farm. Dale isn’t sure. Even Donna isn’t convinced, but the kids are already talking...
Reading Time: 4 minutes It was only mid-morning when Jeff and Elaine walked across the farmyard to his parents’ house, but his Mom and Dad already looked exhausted. “We thought you’d never get here,” his dad Dale said with an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Sorry,” Elaine said, setting her laptop down in the kitchen. “We thought about picking him […] Read moreThe vision thing
Reflections, January 2012
Reading Time: 2 minutes Bert Gillis loved to fly but never earned his pilot’s licence. For most of his life he farmed north of Wynyard, Sask. in partnership with his two brothers and sister-in-law. During the Second World War he was a mechanic in the Air Force. His job was to repair training planes at the air base in […] Read more
Learn to let go
Reading Time: 5 minutes Retirement always used to be a dirty word on the farm. Retirement meant washed up. It meant useless. Basically it meant you were ready to be carried out of the house in a box. If that’s still your attitude, though, you might be well advised to spend a minute thinking about your better half. Are […] Read more
Managing your headache
Reading Time: 3 minutes Almost all of us know the symptoms of headache. According to studies, 90 per cent of Canadians have experienced the pain, tightness and ache. Almost all of us also know that the majority of headaches come and then are gone, apparently leaving no lasting effect. Despite being so common, however, there is no one single […] Read more
The gleaner
Reading Time: 3 minutes Many years ago, my wife picked up a cast-iron, hand-cranked corn sheller at an auction, just about the same time Bob Pargeter passed over his cornfield next door with his new combine. I noticed there were all sorts of intact corncobs lying on the ground at the corners of the fields where the machine turned […] Read more
HANSON ACRES
Reading Time: 5 minutes Jeff gulped. He could feel sweat breaking out on his forehead, but he wasn t about to wipe it off, not with the whole family watching. This had been his idea. But now it seemed like such a big decision. Well? Jeff s dad Dale asked. Are we going ahead with this variable-rate fertilizer or […] Read more
Your Amazing Gastrointestinal Tract
Reading Time: 3 minutes Almost all of us take our gastrointestinal tracts for granted. We shouldn t. Starting at our mouths and continuing all the way to our nether ends, our GI tracts are amazing, essential systems, that take the food we eat and convert it into energy that our bodies use. The process begins in your mouth with […] Read more
REFLECTIONS – for Nov. 22, 2011
Reading Time: 2 minutes Do you see the glass as half full or half empty? It s a familiar question. The pessimist says the glass is half empty and the optimist says the glass is half full. The illustration suggests other questions about life. What if someone asks you to share whatever is in the glass? Are you blessed […] Read more
Baby, It’s Damp Out There
Reading Time: 3 minutes Our family Christmas can happen either side of the 25th by as much as 45 days. Spread out across the country as we are, with a sister or a brother-in-law or an aged aunt in every province, we use Facebook to track the movements of relatives in space and time. Then, when we sense an […] Read more
It’s Your Turn Now
Reading Time: 4 minutes Elaine clapped her hands over her toddler s ears. Look out, her father-in-law Dale warned. It s that time of the month. Then he explained. Donna s got the month-end bank statements. Looking up from her computer, Donna said, Oh no! Is it 9:30 already? I ve been so busy trying to reconcile this damn […] Read more
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