The dismal weather of the May long weekend is now a bad memory, but the two very cold days may have dealt your backyard rhubarb patch a lasting blow. Rhubarb stalks can become poisonous when Mother Nature decides to drop her temperatures below freezing after their leaves have emerged. Any stalks with wilted leaves after
Frost-touched rhubarb can be poisonous
Wait for the plant to produce new stalks, says fruit specialist. Frost-touched rhubarb can have the toxic oxalic acid in its stalks as well as leaves
Women’s Institute calls for action to protect antibiotics from overuse
The Manitoba Women’s Institute held its annual meeting earlier this month in Winnipeg
The Manitoba Women’s Institute has added its voice to the growing concerns expressed about overuse of antibiotics in both humans and animals. At its May convention members strongly supported a resolution calling for the federal government to take action before a health crisis develops. Newdale farmer and retired nurse, Enid Clark, spoke to the matter
PHOTOS: 4-H kids take out the trash… from Manitoba ditches
Manitoba’s roadways are a lot cleaner this week, thanks to hundreds of young 4-H club members who donned gloves, boots and high-visibility vests and set to work last Saturday morning with supervising parents and adult volunteers to gather up garbage in the ditches.
Let’s cover rural Manitoba with ‘barn quilts,’ say Ag Museum staff
Inspired by other barn quilt trails of southern Ontario and Iowa, staff with the Manitoba Agricultural Museum at Austin hung out their own barn quilt on Mother’s Day and are working with other communities to piece together a map of where more will eventually be found
Eunice and Doug Pratt were heading south through Iowa for a U.S. holiday when they spotted the first ‘barn quilt’ — a brilliant-coloured quilt block affixed to the front of a barn. But it wasn’t made with fabric. It was a large, colourful wooden eight-foot-square painted replica of a quilt block, and one of many
Prairie-wide innovation fund for organic grains soon underway
Demand for organic grains increasing while maintaining the supply poses problems
A new development fund sponsored by organic food companies will soon support associations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta trying to expand the number of organic farmers. The Prairie Organic Development Fund (PODF) is a multi-year fund that organic food companies have pledged to support, while the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative (POGI) will be its first funded project,
Ag documentary on Red River Selkirk settlers released
2012 celebrations of the bicentenary of the Red River Selkirk settlers inspired the documentary’s creation
A four-part documentary made for Prairie Public Television that spans the beginning of farming in Manitoba to present day and looks to what the future holds premiered in Winnipeg last week. “Built on Agriculture” is the culmination of more than three years’ work to produce a compelling and engaging television series telling a story of
2015 last summer for Canadian 4-H Museum in Roland
Museum worried about the dampness in the old 1902 brick building on Roland’s Main Street currently housing the collection
After 25 years on display inside a former Royal Bank building on Roland’s Main Street, the 4-H Museum is looking for a new home. At the end of this summer they will pack everything up, whether they have a new site to move to or not, say Roland residents tasked with finding it. It’s a
Farm succession plans lacking, poll shows
Just 30 per cent of farms have done formal succession planning
Most farmers expect to retire and hand over the farm to family, but few appear to be doing anything to ensure it happens, according to results of a newly released Ipsos Reid poll of Canadian farmers. Just 30 per cent of 455 farmers polled for the 2015 Canadian Agricultural Outlook Survey said they are doing
Women’s Institute focuses on food literacy
Gardening, food preservation and cooking come easy to its members so why not share those skills with others, say Woodmore WI members
Last spring they planted an extra row of vegetables in their gardens to donate to food banks. This year, members of a local Women’s Institute are going an extra mile to teach others to grow their own. The Woodmore WI held the first of three planned gardening workshops last week, and hopes to bring participants
Weather watchers keep eyes on the rural skies
Steinbach’s Storm Ready volunteer weather-spotter pilot program has been active since 2010. EMO and Environment Canada are working to see it expanded and taken up by more communities, say EMO officials
You’re a true weather hound if you volunteer to have a siren go off in your house whenever a storm is brewing. Blumenort resident Amy Ginn gets a rush of adrenalin every time she hears it — especially when it goes off in the middle of the night. “It does get your attention when it
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
