Reading Time: 4 minutes For those who work with horses, learning is indeed a lifelong journey. Ten years ago, Gail and Ron Barker made education the cornerstone of a program they brought to Red Deer. The Mane Event, which takes place April 21-24 at Westerner Park, will mark the anniversary by getting even bigger. “For our 10th year, we […] Read more
Mane Event riding high as it celebrates 10th anniversary
The country’s largest horse expo features a host of equine experts, a chance to win a blue roan filly, and an expanded Trainer’s Challenge
Yearning for a taste of home leads to big things for transplanted Albertans
Reading Time: 4 minutes A sense of adventure brought Alan and Nicola Irving from England to Canada — and a yearning for a ‘back home’ taste set the stage for their made-in-Alberta success story. Irvings Farm Fresh’s sausage, hams, and most of all, tasty bacon has made the operation a hit in Edmonton’s farmers’ market scene and with chefs […] Read more
Our bacon ambassador does Alberta proud
Reading Time: 3 minutes Bacon is getting a whole new sizzle on the gourmet scene these days — would you believe chocolate bacon Fudgsicles? — and Russell Bird is making sure Alberta gets its due. The Sherwood Park man represented his country in the bacon category at the World Food Championships in Florida last month and reports things have […] Read more
More and more people falling for the gentle giants
Reading Time: 3 minutes They’re the heavyweights of horses, but their beauty and their brawn has kept them relevant in the ever-changing world around them. Draft horses, whose value was recognized by even Julius Caesar, continue to turn heads and generate business opportunities in the 21st century. A young central Alberta couple is among those farmers who see a […] Read more
Bright future ahead for equine icons
Reading Time: 1 minute They’ve got a rich past, but draft horses also have a bright future. And that was plain to see at the recent World Clydesdale Show, said Bruce Roy. “It blew me out of the water,” said the Cremona horseman. “It was the greatest livestock show I’ve ever been to. Spectators had to be turned away […] Read more
It’s been a very special year in Ponoka
The horse-powered era of farming has come back to life for Foodgrains Bank fundraiser
Reading Time: 4 minutes They brought in the right ‘team’ and dusted off the ‘know-how’ to complete the first stage of harvest for the Growing with Horses project near Ponoka. Sharing the experience of what farming was like a century ago was a big reason why Ken and Verna Pohl came up with the unique take on the popular […] Read more
Open Farm Days: This is how you connect with consumers
Yes, there were questions about GMOs and hormones in meat, but the farm visitors were just ‘amazed’ by what they saw and learned
Reading Time: 4 minutes As farm leaders, Humphrey Banack and Kent Erickson are well aware that consumers are increasingly critical about how their food is produced. So they were expecting tough questions when they put up the ‘Come On In’ sign for this year’s edition of Alberta Open Farm Days. But that’s not what happened. “They were amazed at […] Read more
Want to be part of Open Farm Days? Here’s some tips
Show the link between farm and fork, line up the equipment in the yard, and take people’s breath away by talking technology
Reading Time: 2 minutes Organizers of Alberta Open Farm Days are always looking for more farm families to participate. But what can you offer visitors if you have, as Kent Erickson puts it, a “boring old conventional grain farm” or ranch? Here are some of the things conventional producers did this year. Terry Banack created a display using common […] Read more
The classic part? All of the friends you make at the dairy show
Alberta hosted the Western Canadian Classic Junior Dairy Show and, as usual, a whole batch of special memories was made
Reading Time: 3 minutes Getting experience in the dairy showing world at a young age can open all sorts of doors. The 31st edition of the Western Canadian Classic (WCC) Junior Dairy Show brought 100 participants between the ages of 12 and 21 to Westerner Park in Red Deer for five days of activities. Naturally, the event included showing […] Read more
Nashville didn’t get combines — but fans did
Reading Time: 2 minutes A beloved High Valley favourite called “On the Combine” almost never came to be. The Rempel brothers were about to cut their first record in Nashville when Brad suggested the song. “Back in the day, we were in Nashville, working with some folks. It was the first record deal we signed, and we were trying […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
