April 1, 2017
Getting started doesn’t have to cost a wing and a leg One morning I woke up thinking that I would like to have chickens, laying hens, specifically. I just couldn’t get the idea out of my head, so I went ahead and did it. Now it seems like everyone wants to raise their own backyard chickens and, since I’ve been…
March 1, 2017
Siblings launch Heatherdale Wholesome Goods line of organic products PEI’s organic food scene has scored a major win with the recent entry of Heatherdale Wholesome Goods to the local market. Heatherdale joins a growing number of Island farmers and producers providing consumers with organically-grown food products. This new kid on the block is unique in its product line. While shoppers…
March 1, 2017
Growing better not bigger with Little Victory MicroFarms Forget about “making it big.” Micro is the new macro, nano the new giga. For mother- daughter duo Tara Callaghan and Debi Stevenson, when it comes to growing high quality produce, small is mighty. In fact, little IS the goal! With small plots in New Glasgow and a large backyard in East…
March 1, 2017
Data is an important weapon in the fight against antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, but collection in the Atlantic provinces has stalled The global issue of antibiotic resistance, more accurately called antimicrobial resistance (AMR), can be overwhelming. Often people feel there’s nothing they can to do to change the situation one way or another. But with the severe impacts of AMR on human…
February 1, 2017
Veg PEI serves up plant-based education, events, and restaurant challenges “You don’t win friends with salad.” Or so Homer Simpson tells his daughter, Lisa, in a 1995 episode of The Simpsons when she decides to become a vegetarian and is ridiculed by her family and schoolmates for her dietary choices. Feeling alone and frustrated, Lisa’s resolve to stick to her…
January 1, 2017
Nancy Sanderson offers visitors a glimpse into sustainable farming at Hope River Farms Nancy Sanderson’s 98-year-old grandmother still works the family farm in Saskatchewan on a daily basis. When I ask Sanderson if she herself ever takes a break or a vacation from her farm in Hope River, she replies that she’s just not the kind of person that particularly…
January 1, 2017
Antimicrobial resistance not limited to prescription overuse in humans “Antimicrobial resistance continues to be a serious public health issue in Canada and internationally. Common and treatable infections may once again become deadly.” These are the first words in the introduction of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s report Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (CARSS) – Report 2016 published in September…
January 1, 2017
Atlantic Beef Products successfully developing new markets for Island beef industry When we talk about how beef makes it to our kitchen table or our favourite steak house, we like to conjure up images of cattle grazing on green pasture, friendly grocers or butchers packaging up our favourite cuts, and chefs firing up the grill. Where we rarely let our…
January 1, 2017
Island farmers and fishers are sharing their stories through social media, and people are eating it up What if today’s youth were inspired to consider a career in farming or fishing because today’s innovative farmers are sharing their experiences and livelihoods with the world in all their visual glory? A breathtaking view of an Island sunrise on the water, the…
November 1, 2016
Charlottetown’s Urban Beehive Project marks first milestone. If you have a vivid imagination, you might initially mistake the two unique structures at the far edge of the Legacy Garden for alien pods. Upon closer inspection, you’ll see the hexagon-inspired structures are of this world and offer an essential function in food production as dwellings for nature’s most revered pollinators, bees.…