Like real estate, the key to successfully growing fruits, vegetables and flowers comes down to three things: location, location, location. If you’re seeking the best apples, potatoes or wheat in western Canada, it’s all a matter of knowing where to look.

Pollinator gardens are springing up across the country, and around the continent. One group, Bees Matter, has distributed 250,000 garden seed kits to start pollinator gardens, since 2015. Many other groups are jumping in to support our declining bees. Canadians are getting it. Bees and pollinators need help, now.

First, gather everything that you need for both stages of the recipe:

There is a huge push on to plant hazelnut trees in Ontario, as a large corporation producing chocolate and spreads is hungry for the nuts. They are sourcing 15,000 acres of the plants, and that is just the beginning of a growing Canadian market, as the local food movement and wildlife managers embrace nuts as nutritious options. In addition, Portland University has discovered hazelnuts contain the active chemical of the anticancer drug Taxol®. The researchers said, “This is the first report of the potent chemical, generically known as paclitaxel, being found in a plant other than the yew tree. This finding could reduce the cost of the commercial drug and make it more readily available.”

More Canadian grains, oilseeds and pulse crops than ever are being stored, handled and moved to markets around the world each year, thanks to new technology, and advanced engineering and design in grain handling facilities that farmers a short 100 years ago could not even have imagined.

The family farm has long been considered one of the most viable ways to properly operate a farming enterprise in Canada. It’s also very important for the rural economy.

The family farm – the cornerstone of western European agriculture – is the Canadian model we know. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, planning for the International Year of Family Farming in 2014, defined family farming as being managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on family labor. They suggest the family “Dairy farmers may feel somewhat betrayed, but Chrystia Freeland did her best,“ says Tom Koostra, a Ponoka area dairy farmer and Chairman of Alberta Milk. “For some already considering exiting the industry, one or both of these may be the blow that makes them decide to leave – but none of them is critical.”

Recent trade negotiations have led to Canadian dairy farmers losing some of the trade protection they have under the supply management that has served them well for almost 50 years. And the new Canada Food Guide has cut Health Canada’s longstanding promotion of milk and dairy products as sources of bone-building nutrients.
“Dairy farmers may feel somewhat betrayed, but Chrystia Freeland did her best,“ says Tom Koostra, a Ponoka area dairy farmer and Chairman of Alberta Milk. “For some already considering exiting the industry, one or both of these may be the blow that makes them decide to leave – but none of them is critical.”

Not only are potatoes one of the easiest crops to grow in containers, there are also benefits to doing so over traditional gardening methods. These include fewer pests, earlier harvests, the added flavor of fresh new potatoes, and the growing fun that containers provide.

A Boler camper may be old – built between 1968 and 1988 – but it attracts attention. The rounded shape is at odds with today’s steep angles and odd corners. It looks like the camper that would fit with a child’s picture of a house. In an age of houses on wheels for holidays, a Boler trailer is for camping.