It’s Big Iron time in Fargo
NEW EQUIPMENT FOR PAMI
Equipment Show » Pgs 29 to 31
Hoping to foster research » Pg 22
September 4, 2014
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 72, No. 36
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IN THIS ISSUE:
KAP MANITOBA FARMERS' VOICE MAGAZINE
$1.75
FALL 2014 EDITION
The Official Publication of Keystone Agricultural Producers
MEMBER PROFILE
KYLE FOSTER
Taking pride in farming — and in keeping the farm in the family
NEW DRAINAGE REGULATIONS
Why they’re good news for farmers
manitobacooperator.ca
Telecom proposal mixed news in rural areas Wireless frequencies now available to Internet users would be reallocated to cell phone use By Meghan Mast Co-operator staff
P
roposed changes to how telecommunications capacity is allocated could improve services for some rural Internet users, but be a step backward for those living on the outskirts of major population centres. Industry Canada is proposing to reclassify population centres of more than 30,000 people as “urban” and reallocate spectrum currently used only used for high-speed Internet in those areas, known as fixed wireless broadband, to cellular. Governments manage access to radio frequencies, known as spectrum, that can be used for wireless communication, usually through public auction. “People in those areas already have cell phone coverage, but under the proposal they would lose their home Internet connection as a consequence, “ said Allison Lenehan, president of Xplornet Communications Inc. in a release protesting the proposal. Carmi Levy, a technology analyst and journalist, said if the 3500 MHz band is reallocated to include mobile service, people living in cities will have improved mobile broadband See WIRELESS on page 6 »
These eight women make up half the current number of Valley Harvest Maids, a non-profit group of volunteer cooks who’ve been baking and cooking traditional meals at the Pembina Threshermen’s Museum since the late 1960s. Pictured (l to r) are Judy Thiessen, Esther Wieler, Mary Penner, Tina Holenski, Gert Hiebert, Katharina Peters, Mary Zacharias and Tina Friesen. Jake Buhler, in back, is the vice-president of the Pembina Threshermen’s Museum who was helping out in the kitchen last week. PHOTO: LORRAINE STEVENSON
Forty years of ‘oldfashioned food’ Women in the cheerful kitchen of the Valley Harvest Maids at the Threshermen’s museum between Morden and Winkler keep everyone very well fed with the traditional recipes By Lorraine Stevenson co-operator staff / Between Winkler and Morden —
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
W
ould you be calm with 1,000 or more expected for dinner, bringing with them big appetites and even bigger expectations that your cooking will be just as good as it’s always been for over 40 years? You are if you’re a Valley Harvest Maid. On a sunny August afternoon, a half-dozen women from the farms and towns of the Pembina Valley area are gathered in their kitchen at the Pembina Threshermen’s Museum between Morden and Winkler, calmly slicing and dicing a mountain of fruit for pluma moos, making desserts, peeling cucumbers, rolling
out dough and baking fragrant buns. They chat and laugh and make lists. The pace in the k i t c h e n b u s t l e s, b u t i t’s extremely sociable, serene and very well organized. It’s also a scene reminiscent of days gone by. They call the food they’re making “old fashioned” but the lively kitchen of the Valley Harvest Maids is no museum display. Each summer’s end sees hundreds of visitors gather at the Pembina Threshermen’s Museum on Hwy. 3 between Winkler and Morden, for its reunion days weekend. They come to see the live threshing, sawmill and blacksmith demos, antique tractor parades, rope making and corn grinding — and of course, the food. It would probably be, um,
a thinner crowd if the Valley Harvest Maids weren’t serving the meals visitors line up to eat. “Old-fashioned food is what we’re best known for,” said Katharina Peters, who has just taken over the volunteer job of leading the group of 16 women most directly involved in the Valley Harvest Maids right now. They routinely turn out vast quantities of home-baked bread and buns, large vats of borscht and bean soups, and tray after tray of carrot cake and other desserts. What’s the most popular meal they make? Peters says she can’t be certain. Possibly it’s a toss-up between their cottage cheese perogies with rhubarb sauce or their handmade kielke noodles served with creamed gravy, and sausage, corn and fried onions.
What everyone loves is that these mountains of comfort food made by the ladies that doesn’t taste batch made, but homemade. The secret lies with what they quietly talk over together as they prepare and cook these meals — just exactly how much of this or that to put into the recipe. It’s a constant learning experience to be cooking together, says Peters. “It’s very good to be together like this. You always learn more and more from each other. It’s amazing how much you learn from each other.” In a day and age when volunteers are worth their weight in gold, the time the Valley Harvest Maids have cooked together is equally amazing. See VALLEY HARVEST on page 6 »