Farm girl. Farm wife. Farmer's daughter. Agriculture advocate. Ag marketer. Ag volunteer.
Going around the table and having each person say what they were thankful for was a Thanksgiving tradition at my extended family gatherings growing up. As a child the answers usually were friends, family, toys and food, especially food. We were, after all, waiting to dig into a delicious spread that always included turkey and all the... Continue Reading →
A true farm girl isn't afraid to get down and dirty. I put my Agriculture in the City work gloves to good use this weekend helping my mom clean up part of the garden. (To learn more about the Ag in the City event read this blog post I wrote last April). In the photo... Continue Reading →
What does it take to get that loaf of bread into your hands? Wheat grown by a farmer is ground into flour and used to make that bread. Rewind the process and you begin with a wheat seed. Wheat is the cornerstone of many of the world’s most basic foods. This spring I decided to... Continue Reading →
On Day 2 of our IFAJ ag tour we made our way through Toronto to Niagara Falls stopping at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. If you missed Parts 1 and 2 of my Lake Ontario ag tour click here and here. The Vineland Research and Innovation Centre was established in 2007 and is funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food... Continue Reading →
This week I'm inundating you with blog posts about my IFAJ experience while it's still fresh in my mind. And I'm also making up for my hiatus last week! Click here to read Part 1 of my IFAJ ag tour recap if you missed it. Now on to Part 2 of the Lake Ontario ag tour during... Continue Reading →
During last week's International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) 2011 Congress I participated in the two-day Lake Ontario agriculture tour. The tour took us east of Toronto to visit a bison farm and a maple syrup business. From there we drove to Prince Edward County, a piece of fertile land jutting into Lake Ontario, where... Continue Reading →
Last week I participated in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Congress in Ontario, Canada. The congress theme, Experience New World Agriculture, showcased how Canada’s relatively young agricultural sector (compared to many other IFAJ member countries) is making a place for itself globally. The event began in Guelph, a hub of agricultural research and innovation,... Continue Reading →
Canola is often referred to as western Canada's Cinderella crop because of its humble beginnings and fast climb to multi-billion dollar status. The oilseed is my favorite crop because of its bright yellow flowers. The countryside around my family farm is a sea of yellow during the summer. Here are some photos from our recent canola harvest. We... Continue Reading →
I can jump out of a plane at 13,000 feet and jump off a ledge from 47 metres up (sky diving and bungy jumping in New Zealand last winter), and yet I had to work up the courage to climb to the top of the new grain bin on my family farm. I finally did it this past weekend... Continue Reading →
On the Prairies winter wheat is planted in the fall and harvested the next summer, as opposed to spring wheat which is planted in the spring and harvested in the fall. Last week we harvested approximately 400 acres of winter wheat on our farm. Here are some photos from our winter wheat harvest. This year... Continue Reading →
Rural Route Ramblings 