Farmer’s Blog

Straight From The Farmer's Mouth

(Well, from the Farmer's laptop technically.) Here's what agricultural producers around Alberta are doing with climate solutions to build successful and resilient farms and ranches.

Farmer's Blog

The Healing Power of Collaboration – Timber Ridge, Stavely, Alberta

Glen and Kelly Hall have been managing Timber Ridge Ranch, a 480-acre farmland situated an hour south of Calgary near Stavely, Alberta, for over 40 years. Their approach to agriculture involves regenerative practices and the conversion of their land back to perennial coverage, including the cultivation of multi or polyculture crops for swath grazing. Their operations primarily consist of a cow-calf program with approximately 200 mother cows, and they also custom graze calves from fall to spring.

Since 2018, the Halls have been on a mission to collaborate with local organizations to rejuvenate their land, which was previously subjected to conventional farming methods involving fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Over the last four decades, they have seeded an impressive 5,000 acres, aiming to enhance biodiversity both above and below the soil.

We spoke to the Halls about the challenges of ranching in Alberta’s drought-prone “banana belt” and how they’re adapting their practices to “drought proof” against increasingly warming temperatures and extreme conditions.

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Farmer's Blog

Regenerating Humility

Will widespread adoption of regenerative agriculture automatically lead to the rejuvenation of rural communities? Derek, Director of Rural Route to Climate Solutions, shares the insights he’s gained while travelling Canada, interviewing agricultural producers about regenerative agriculture.

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Farmer's Blog

Regenerating Rural Opportunities

Will widespread adoption of regenerative agriculture automatically lead to the rejuvenation of rural communities? Derek, Director of Rural Route to Climate Solutions, shares the insights he’s gained while travelling Canada, interviewing agricultural producers about regenerative agriculture.

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Farmer's Blog

Planting the ‘Prairie Berry’ — Solstice Berry Farm, Crossfield, Alberta

The Gelowitz’s kept a garden on their farm where they grew several saskatoon bushes. Rick, who grew up in Calgary, but spent quite a few summer vacations on his uncle’s farms in Saskatchewan, has had a lifelong love for the native prairie berry. “It was my wife’s suggestion that we try to grow Saskatoon berries,” he recalls. “And that’s how it started.”

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Farmer's Blog

Organic Gardening & Beekeeping for Better Community Health

Norma Wolfchild, a member of the Blood Tribe, has spent nearly 20 years helping her community develop small business ventures, working with the Blood Tribe Economic Development as a small business development officer. After her husband was diagnosed with diabetes, she was determined to establish a healthier lifestyle with organic, nutrient-rich foods. She now has a thriving garden, a small horde of livestock and honey-producing bees.

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Farmer's Blog

Farming With Nature — Redtail Farms, Castor, Alberta

While Ian Griebel grew up on his family’s mixed farm south of Castor, Alberta, he never thought he’d one day become a farmer. Griebel studied carpentry and pursued his journeyman certificate, and envisioned a life away from the farm. But in his late twenties, he and his wife, Dana, realized they wanted “to get back to the land”, and that his family’s farm in Castor presented an opportunity.

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