Looking back at the legacy of one antique Aultman Taylor 30-60 tractor in Manitoba.
Once king of the field: Tales of an antique tractor
Looking back at the legacy of one Aultman Taylor 30-60 tractor in Manitoba
Summer of the swallows
The ups and downs of bird watching, from nest to fledgling
In our front yard, there is an old barn. It’s a little smaller than its full-scale cousins that still smatter Manitoba’s landscape. This one is in a tree. Small changes to a long-abandoned birdhouse was all it took to attract new feathered residents. A remnant of a school project from bygone years, the barn’s red
The life of Rowley
How an injured dog found its way into the heart of a Hutterite colony
You can’t change a dog’s past,but you can rewrite the future.– Agnes Carass Looking out any window of our house, I’m bound to see one or more of the dogs that live at our Hutterite community in southern Manitoba. The dogs are all shapes, sizes, colours and breeds: collie, terrier, poodle, German shepherd and American
Work of our hearts
Trying times like these mean small comforts can take you a long ways towards greater inner peace
“When our eyes see our hands doing the work of our hearts, the circle of creation is completed inside us, the doors of our souls fly open and love steps forth to heal everything in sight.” — Michael Bridge With COVID-19 hanging over the entire world like a depressing grey cloud, I am quite content
An heirloom harvest spurs memories
Some of my fondest memories as a young woman are of helping my Aunt Kate Basel and Uncle Josh Vetter in the colony garden
As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.” — Genesis 8:22 On a Hutterite colony, typically one couple is in charge of the vegetable garden. They’re the ones who decide what will be planted, when the garden needs weeding or produce is
Maple syrup ritual spurs childhood memories
When my sister makes maple syrup every spring, she also recreates treasured memories from my childhood
Every spring a corner of our backyard is transformed into a scene that could be from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. Two columns of bricks create a makeshift stove, over which giant rectangular pans sit atop a steel table-like structure. Barrels of scrap hardwood, collected throughout winter at our carpenter shop especially for this,
Earth Day should be celebrated every day
A Manitoba Hutterite Colony takes on the challenge of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’
“I think I’ll be counting bags in my sleep tonight,” a seventh-grader chuckled. A group of us were on the floor in my classroom, around a mountain of plastic bags we were counting for the Bag Up Manitoba program. Since getting involved in this program some years ago, the most our school ever collected was
Thy Neighbour As Thyself
The disturbing news that our provincial government had decided to breach the Hoop ‘n’ Holler bend in order to take pressure off the weakening Assiniboine River dikes raised mixed feelings. “Why do we have to be the scapegoats?” one area resident protested. Another wondered, “How can they decide to sacrifice my land to spare others’
Flames Force Flourishing Cabinetry Factory To Rebuild
It was well after midnight on Oct. 20, 2010 when a woman looked out the window, and saw flames at the Millwork shop. Minutes later most members of Elm River Colony were at the site, trying to extinguish the blaze or watching in disbelief as years of investments and building up burned to a mound
Potato Harvest On The Colony
Trucks are waiting! Everybody welcome. Thank you!” The crisp message rings from the public address system, inviting colony members to a shift of picking weeds and lumps of dirt out of newly harvested potatoes travelling by conveyor into the shed. “This is a recorded announcement!” one of the young women deadpans. Grabbing gloves and a
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
