Beekeeping, goat milking and soap making are high-demand skills for modern homesteaders

Beekeeping, goat milking and soap making are high-demand skills for modern homesteaders

They may be packing up mini-vans and trucks, not covered wagons, but a new wave of homesteaders is striking out in search of a nearly lost way of life

Turn down the narrow lane leading to Nourished Roots Farm on most days and you’ll find nothing more than a quiet stretch of gravel. But earlier this month, the Interlake farm just south of Fraserwood hosted 350 people seeking to escape the consumer trappings of modern life during Manitoba’s first-ever DIY Homesteader Festival. “I’m going



Struggling Farmers’ Markets Association faces uncertain future

With no funding for an executive director and a shortage of volunteers, the association in danger of folding, says its outgoing chair

The room fell quiet as outgoing chair Jennifer Morrison made her plea “not to let this organization fold” to the 40 people attending the recent annual meeting of the Farmers’ Markets Association of Manitoba Co-op Inc. “We need support from the membership,” said Morrison. “We can’t run this organization on a small volunteer board.” But

Professor decries local-food movement and praises the ‘10,000-mile diet’

Local food is mostly a fad that won’t last because it’s inferior to the “10,000-mile diet.” That was the message University of Toronto geography professor,a Pierre Desrochers delivered at the recent Alberta Beef Industry Conference in Banff. “It really has become a way to protest against ‘the man,’” Desrochers said. “Backwards is the new forward.”



Conference board food strategy consultation a smokescreen

Why the National Farmers Union won’t be participating in the conference board discussions towards a national food strategy

For those of us who care deeply about locally based food systems and who recognize the role food can play in strengthening our communities, ecosystems and economies, it can be tempting to jump at each and every opportunity to get a piece of our vision mentioned in larger discussions about food and agriculture. As part


Why farmers should care

The debate over backyard poultry taking place inside Winnipeg these days seems far removed from the real world of agriculture. A coalition of citizens is asking the city to reconsider its refusal to allow urbanites to produce eggs in their backyards. They aren’t being taken very seriously. If Councillor Grant Nordman is any indication, the

Why have hens in your backyard?

I spent my earliest years growing up in the north end of Winnipeg on Alfred Ave. My memories of that time are of a rich and vital neighbourhood life. We lived next door to Mrs. Lomow’s grocery store, which in addition to stocking fresh produce, seemed to a young boy to be a centre of


Growing local gains new ground

Digging up knowledge: Manitobans sign up to eat local and 
reap the rewards of local know-how along the way

Deb Versluis and her family aren’t just digging in — they’re digging deeper. The Tyndall-area family of four is taking part in Food Matters Manitoba’s Dig In Manitoba Challenge. The goal is to have participants spend $10 of their weekly food budget on locally produced food, while taking part in new activities. “Eating well and

Food strategy missing from ag committee report

The Commons agriculture committee is backing calls for a national food strategy, but says there’s not time to develop one before the launch of the Growing Forward Two program next April. “It’s really a different issue from Growing Forward, which is a slate of programs to help farmers,” said Tory MP Larry Miller, the committee’s