No farm chores for young children
There have been many columns in my 30-year career as a newspaper columnist that stirred up readers to respond by writing letters to the editor.
The spectacular Barron Canyon
The Barron Canyon Trail is on the east side of Algonquin Park. The walking trail itself is a 1.5 km loop leading to and along the north rim of the beautiful, 100-metre deep Barron Canyon and then returning (all downhill) to the parking lot.
Breakfast with MPs
It’s great to have an agriculture minister who has milked cows and tilled the soil.
Farm safety is crucial
It won’t be long and farmers everywhere will be on the land. Some have already started.
Celebrate chickpeas, beans and lentils!
The 68th United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 the International Year of the Pulse. The United Nations, led by its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), launched the 2016 International Year of Pulses to raise awareness about the protein power and health benefits of all kinds of dried beans and peas, to boost the production and trade of legumes and to encourage new and smarter uses of these humble seeds throughout the food chain.
Sales barn day
Going to the local weekly livestock sales barn is a bit like attending church. The farm folks and buyers sit in the same spot week after week, year after year.
Plowing caps the year’s fieldwork
I still remember when our Grade 10 agriculture teacher took the class to a nearby farm to watch a farmer plow a field of loamy soil
The harvest of years gone by
This Thanksgiving, give thanks for the hands that harvested your food – whatever technology they used.
‘Great looking steaks’
Beef is often portrayed as environmentally unfriendly due to concerns about greenhouse gases produced by the rumen and manure, the amount of manure produced in feedlots and the amount of water, feed and fossil fuels consumed in the production, and the processing and transport of cattle.
The number one outdoor activity
What is the most popular outdoor activity? No, it’s not playing golf. And it’s not running. Canadians enjoy gardening more than anything else we do outdoors, followed by our love of walking. As a result, the gardening and horticultural industry does a booming business at this time of the year.
Biddag voor het gewas en arbeid:
Springtime is when farmers wonder what the growing season will be like. Will they get adequate moisture after planting? Will there be windy, hot days with no rainfall for weeks at a time? Farmers have all experienced drought at some time in their lives.
No such thing as hormone-free beef
Hormones occur naturally in all animals, plants and people, which is why there’s no such thing as “hormone-free beef.” Occasionally I see a sign making that claim at a farmers’ market and I will tell the vendor that it’s giving a wrong message to consumers. Promoting the beef as “no hormone implants used” or “no growth promotants used” or, simply, “organic beef” would be more accurate.
