Reading Time: 7 minutes Even the most business-minded farmers see their work as also a way of life, not just a job. But this somehow gets put on the backburner when it’s time to make some of the farm’s most important decisions. When it comes to succession planning, for instance, the temptation is to simply hope the logistics of […] Read more
She Said, What!?!
Infections that may be skin deep
Reading Time: 3 minutes Skin infections can occur in hospitals, nursing homes and even the community, and they are regularly in the news. You often think of skin infections as something minor, such as an infected cut, but more recently the microorganisms that cause these infections are becoming more deadly. Serious wounds, chronic problems, and even surgery to remove […] Read more
REFLECTIONS – for Nov. 8, 2010
Reading Time: 2 minutes “Slap. Slap. Slap.” I adjust the propel-lor levers on the twin engine airplane. A steady drone results. The airplane feels like a butterfly as I fly north along the mighty Mackenzie River from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, toward the small aboriginal village of Fort Good Hope. The scenery is breathtaking — huge cliffs, mountain ranges […] Read more
Blood Sports
Reading Time: 3 minutes The people of Petunia Valley are fractious and disputatious by nature. The only thing we can agree about is Toronto. However, we rarely take up weapons and kill each other. We consider it much more sporting to wear an opponent down slowly over half a century. This is one of the reasons we have a […] Read more
Lost And Found In A Haystack
Reading Time: 4 minutes The breeze blows up from Georgian Bay and over Ontario’s Blue Mountains, then swirls down a dusty side road and settles on a small farm with the name “Needles” on the mailbox. In a clapboard farmhouse among the pear trees, pig pens and sheep pastures lives acclaimed author and playwright, Dan Needles. Inspiration surrounds him, […] Read more
Lost And Found In A Haystack – for Oct. 11, 2010
Reading Time: 4 minutes The breeze blows up from Georgian Bay and over Ontario s Blue Mountains, then swirls down a dusty side road and settles on a small farm with the name Needles on the mailbox. In a clapboard farmhouse among the pear trees, pig pens and sheep pastures lives acclaimed author and playwright, Dan Needles. Inspiration surrounds […] Read more
The Anxiety Of Coping With Stress – for Aug. 30, 2010
Reading Time: 3 minutes Everyone has experienced stress or anxiety. Sometimes we experience both. Stress is mainly external. It is felt as the result of an outside event or situation. For example, there is the stress of organizing machinery and labour to get crop operations done on time, or the stress of taking on a new volunteer job and […] Read more
REFLECTIONS – for Aug. 30, 2010
Reading Time: 2 minutes My neighbour asks, “Where are you and Jacqueline headed this time?” I respond that we are off to Nashville, Tennessee where we will attend The Festival of Homiletics. “What is homiletics?” he asks. “Homiletics is the art of preaching.” Silence follows, then incredulity. “Do ‘Festival’ and ‘Homiletics’ go together? I can think of more festive […] Read more
Sharing The Road – for Aug. 30, 2010
Reading Time: 3 minutes Civilization reached the Petunia Valley Sideroad last month. At dawn on a Friday morning, a big paving machine started up from the highway, fed by a series of tandem trucks and by 4:00 p. m. the sideroad was coated in asphalt. After 32 years of bone-jarring trips into town that reduced the life of every […] Read more
Struggle is an inevitable part of farming, but it doesn’t have to tear you or your family apart
Reading Time: 4 minutes Every farm family faces stress on a daily basis. Sometimes though the stress can reach staggering proportions: a barn fire, a farm accident, plummeting markets, disease in the herd, drought, serious illness, a death in the family. Such calamities are democratic. None of us escape. Sooner or later, we’re all knocked off our feet. Even […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
