Tyler Kilkenny (left) and Todd Sawyer step behind the coffee bar of their giftware/coffee shop in Russell.

Small businesses face not-so-happy holiday due to pandemic

COVID-19 closures have taken a big chunk out of normal small-town holiday shopping income

It’s been a rough few weeks for Tyler Kilkenny of Russell. Kilkenny, who owns coffee shop and gift store TinHouse Designs and Coffee Co. with his partner, Todd Sawyer, would normally expect to make enough this time of year to cover a good chunk of their first quarter in 2021. Like most retailers, November and

Three gifts at Christmas for you

Three gifts at Christmas for you

I don’t think anyone in agriculture will dispute 2019 was a year for the record books. The challenges kept mounting throughout the growing season – all of them beyond our control. Drought followed by untimely, excessive rains and snowfalls. A long, difficult harvest with conditions causing many crops to be left in the field. Poor


Where will the best Christmas weather be on the Prairies?

Where will the best Christmas weather be on the Prairies?

Where’s your ‘perfect’ Christmas most likely to be found? We’ve got the data

Every few years I like to revisit the topic of the “perfect” Christmas holiday weather. As I went through a couple of the older articles that I’ve written on this topic, I found a rather interesting coincidence. Each year we’ve looked at this topic, December has started off warm and dry with little snow cover


Erny and Bev Hladun of Shoal Lake put commercialism on the back burner
 at Christmas.

Home for the holidays

For this couple, Christmas is all about family togetherness and fun

Stepping into the home of Erny and Bev Hladun is like stepping into Christmas itself. Evergreen garlands trimmed with red bows grace every possible space, and the smell of Christmas baking is in the air. In front of the living room stands a Christmas tree covered in an eclectic mix of decorations collected throughout the


cartoon image of a family seated at a table

Post-Christmas gift discussions

The Jacksons from the December 20, 2018 issue of the Manitoba Co-operator

Sure smells good in the kitchen.” Andrew Jackson seated himself in the armchair next to the brightly decorated Christmas tree in the living room and cradled his coffee cup in his hands. “Smells good out here too,” said Rose. She sat up on the couch and pulled the comforter she had been napping under up

Jicama with avocado and
cilantro dip.

Beautiful vegetable platters for the holidays

Add a delicious, attractive and healthy option to your holiday season fare

Happy holidays! If your holiday season is like ours, food will be a common theme in your festivities. And rightly so. Sharing good food with loved ones is a way of celebrating our good fortune and passing on our traditions, culture, religion and family rituals. In our family, big, beautiful vegetable platters have become part

According to Davis Instruments, this Vantage Pro2 station — mounted on a 21-foot pole on the north coast of the Caribbean island of St. Barts — survived Hurricane Irma, during which it recorded a wind gust of 320 km/h.

Late weather-related holiday gift ideas

With weather stations, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for

With fairly quiet winter weather across the Prairies and as we head into the holiday season, it can be a tough time of year to come up with weather-related articles. I have to thank one reader who reminded me that I didn’t do my usual article on weather-related gift ideas, and while it might be


Lori and Art Gibson of Neepawa take a packed sleigh for a spin through the homesteaders’ village at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum Dec. 14.

PHOTOS: A pioneer Christmas

The Manitoba Agricultural Museum hosts this annual event

The Manitoba Agricultural Museum has been celebrating the Christmas season with its annual Christmas Homesteaders’ Village event at Austin. For more than five years the group celebrates the season with the annual event to give attendees a glimpse into the lives of the early rural pioneers on the weekends leading up to Christmas. For many