Here we are—already the middle of January! Time sure does go fast. I should be calving in one month so I need to get myself organized, stuff in place, and supplies ordered. My cows still are living quite contently in the bush and have been much happier these past few […]

It’s safe to say that all of us enjoyed the “tropical” weather that showed up over the past weekend. I know I did! After nearly a month of bitter cold, it’s nice to get a little break from the deep freeze or, as some people have been calling it, the […]

Ever wonder why seniors are so cranky? Well, we have reasons other than regretting our misspent youth (that’s so far in the past, shrouded in the rose-coloured mists of time, that we generally only remember the goods bits). No, crankiness pretty much revolves around current events aggravated, no doubt, by […]

There’s change afoot. Can you feel it? I can—and it has me happily rubbing my hands together and doing a high-five with anyone willing. We’re starting off 2014 with a positive foot forward with the UN declaring that “Small-Scale Organic Farming [is the] Only Way To Feed The World.” This […]

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy, safe, and healthy 2014. As we enter the new year, there is no shortage of political and economic developments to keep tabs on. It may be fitting, then, to look at the year ahead. The main political battle […]

Just the other day, during a quiet moment on the drive home from a wonderful day of snowshoeing, my good friend gently said to me, “And you have an anniversary coming up?” I turned my head in his direction with a curious stare of pause. “An anniversary? No. No anniversary,” […]

Lists are very important in our busy lives, even after retirement. My computer, for instance, is full of lists–lists of what I have to do and lists of what I have done. Shopping lists for my husband who buys the groceries and shopping lists for me. A list of columns […]

Do you know how much your cows are eating? Feed supply for the cows when it gets this cold can be an issue. After all, feed represents the largest single cost (60 percent of total) in a cow-calf enterprise. Science tells us a 1,300-pound dry, pregnant cow in good condition […]

My Christmas card basket was pleasantly full this year. Not crowded but pleasantly full! There were the usual cards–the ones I always can depend on. A card from Esther, my college roommate. Esther is a gentle person, who lives in Richmond, Ind. and is a Quaker. Every year, she updates […]

Moose sent me an e-mail the other day claiming that men are deep thinkers—and supported that argument with the hypothesis that the pain of childbirth did not hold a candle to the male equivalent of being kicked in the groin. A good argument, sure. But since he has never given […]

Winter is raising her icy fist around the country as we Canadians of the middle-aged variety—and beyond—tune into The Weather Network with dreadful regularity. Storms and records of cold and snowfall fascinate us it seems; winter’s entertainment. Here in Nova Scotia, we have had an unusually early winter with dumps […]