Columns

I talked to my neighbour this morning as we were both dropping off our Blue Boxes for pickup and he was preparing to go on to the barn to feed his cattle. I must admit it was the first time in a couple of months that we'd chatted.

For me, 2023 will go down as the year we lost my Uncle Charlie, about six weeks shy of his 100th birthday. He was doing his daily walking exercises in his residence when he fell, fracturing bones in his spine and hip.

A few years back, a mom and her three children moved into the house next door. The youngest, a little girl who in a few months would be attending pre-kindergarten classes, embraced the idea of having become our neighbour from the start.

Over the last few years, my February columns have been the hardest to write, both because I've written about mental health and because I'm writing from the middle of my own winter slump. But let's just continue the tradition, shall we?

"In case anybody's interested," Molly Whiteside told the guys at Mabel's Grill as she delivered the menus to their table the other morning, "Mabel's made up some cupcakes decorated for Valentine's Day for customers to take home."

In the cold winter season, we look forward to comfort food to sustain and fulfill us. For some of us, vegetables are hard to include in our comfort foods, but quite often, we do need ...

Recently, I attended a workshop that was offered by the Bruce Grey Woodlands Association. The instructor was actually one of the two people that signed off on my Cutter Certification in 1992. This training session reminded me ...

I've been making News Years' Resolutions my whole life. They've moved from a determined stance to stop biting nails and get up everyday at 6:30 to more esoteric announcements...

As I travel in Huron County I'm amazed at how many of the old farm houses have been demolished and replaced by modern structures. Sometimes, knowing the house was small or simply built, I'm not surprised. At other times, knowing ...

December usually finds me reflecting on the year that was. What worked, what didn't work, what remains a mystery, what should have had more focus, and what really doesn't matter ...

When crumbs of soil from prime farmland sift through fingers of my right hand, I conclude that it should be used to grow food crops for human consumption, while maintaining or improving ...

Fruitcake is one of those things where you either love it or hate it. If you are not a fan of dried fruits, there is not much to enjoy. You may claim I am "nuttier than a fruitcake" when I tell you this, but I love the stuff...

You sit down for a minute with acoffee and think, "I'll just watch a few videos" and next thing you know, the coffee is cold and you've wasted an hour. It's not just teenagers who can't resist the lure and addictive qualities of reels.

All around the world, in December each year, there's a good-hearted example of fraud as we raise the fiction of Santa Claus again for the benefit of our own children and the children of our community.

"Heavens, it's only December and I'm sick of winter already -- and it's not even officially winter yet!" Molly Whiteside complained as she delivered menus to the fellows' table the half-light of one morning at Mabel's Grill.

We will soon enter year five of what climate scientists tell us will be humanity's decisive decade. Unless we navigate a global change of course before 2030, they warn, we risk doing such irreversible damage to ...

Brace yourself, this is not going to be a happy good news column.
It is time to talk about yet another scary creature on our doorstep ready to attack our fruit and forest trees. We need to watch for this one as it is looking at our grape vines..

Over the years, I have been involved in many cookie exchanges. There have been many new favourites added to my recipe collection along the way. I have saved many magazines and cookbooks dedicated to Christmas bars and cookies.

My farm is little and part of me felt like the tugboat amongst a sea of freighters with the group taking the Environmental Farm Plan workshop in Kirkton this summer.
Amongst

It's a bright early Fall day shortly before Thanksgiving and it's a beautiful day to be outside. I'm in our yard, doing a little work. It's warm. There's absolutely no breeze. Across the road the neighbour's two horses whinny occasionally...

Checking out what is going on at your neighbours' places seems to be a common thing for most farmers. Whether you messed up planting... or are putting up a new building... or tearing down an old one... you can be sure you will see the slow drive by ...

We had an opportunity to rent a cottage in Shrewsbury, the little hamlet on Rondeau Bay in Chatham-Kent, in early September. There is a canal at the back and a launch nearby, a convenient location for the small wooden sailboat I built ...