Outstanding farmers go from grain growing to spirits, flowers operation

I love traditions, and as my father’s family was

Ukrainian, we always enjoyed Ukrainian Christmas at my auntie’s house. She was the matriarch of a family of 11 kids and because grandma died when I was only five, all her siblings and their spouses and all the kids went to her house for celebrations. It was the best time ever! Auntie Helen never missed a beat introducing culture into the festivities and they were always very traditional.

The Ukrainian people take great pride and place great importance in their preparation for the revered holy days of Rizdvo (Christmas). Rizdvo is a festive occasion that ends the six-week Lenten period (Advent). Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper) on Christmas Eve takes place on January 6th in the Gregorian calendar.

On the Holy Night, the menu is meatless, consisting of twelve Lenten dishes, symbolic of the twelve Apostles at the Last Supper. No milk or animal fat may be used in the preparation of the food. The main dish is Kutia, cooked wheat flavoured with honey, crushed poppy seed, nuts and apples. It dates back five thousand years when the Ukrainian people first cultivated wheat. Others believe this dish symbolizes family unity. Other dishes for the Holy Supper include borsch, verenyky, holubtsi, fish, marinated herrings, mushrooms, beans flavoured with garlic, stewed dried fruit, pampushky, medivnyk, nuts and christyky.

The table is strewn with hay (in memory of Christ’s birth in the manger) and covered with a richly embroidered cloth. A “kolach” round braided bread with a lighted candle is the centrepiece. The kolach symbolizes prosperity and the candle signifies the star. A “didukh” (sheaf of grain) is brought in and place in a corner and sometimes hay covers the floor under the table to symbolize the stable birth.

The traditional Ukrainian greeting at Christmas is “Khrystos Rodyvsia” (Christ is born), to which all reply, “Slavim Yoho” (Let us Glorify Him).

It makes me a little sad that as the years go by, traditions like this seem to go by the wayside, as the older generation passes on. For many of the newer generations, they don’t get a chance to partake in wonderful experiences like this.

These family celebrations served to knit our hearts together with a sense of pride from where we came. In whatever traditions you uphold, be blessed in who you are and where you came from. Every year, millions of people across the world participate in events and actions that seek to promote, reinforce and protect human rights. Monday, December 10th marked International Human Rights Day.

For Human Rights Day, many people across the world send a letter or email on behalf of someone they’ve never met whose human rights are being infringed upon in numerous ways.

This year was no different as Amnesty International hosted a global a writeathon online and in groups — Write for Life where individuals are asked to write a letter to change a life or bring justice and awareness to a human rights case. Amnesty International’s Moose Jaw chapter also participated in the writeathon where they chose to write letters on behalf of several cases this year which Amnesty International has been working on. Lorna Arnold of the Moose Jaw chapter explained the importance of participating in this important action.

“The group promotes and protects human rights and make people aware of Amnesty International. This year, we wrote letters that will be posted to respective countries, lending our voices and taking actions to reinforce how important human rights is to everyone, not just a select group or country but everyone, everywhere in the world.”

She said that, by taking action, it helps to make the world a more just place for everyone, one letter or Canada’s outstanding young farmers of 2001 have forsaken grain growing to cultivate flowers and make award-winning gin.

The path from operating a 5,000 acre grain farm near Leask to the Black Fox Farm and Distillery was outlined by co-owner Barb Stefanyshyn Cote to the Saskatchewan Irrigation Projects Association conference in Moose Jaw. “There are opportunities in the province for many more operations like our own. There’s no reason why there shouldn’t be,” she said noting the proliferation of craft wineries in B.C.

Following the 2001 award and a later Nuffield global ag study scholarship, she and her husband John rented the family farm for two years and took their children in 2006 to live one year in Mexico, one in Chile.

On return, they realized farm expansion plans were limited by supply of land and looked for another option. The option became an 80-acre parcel of irrigated land along the south Saskatchewan River on Valley Road near the berry farm and strawberry ranch at Saskatoon. Their success only came with tribulations from not knowing anything about their new crops, she said.

“The first year we grew an acre of corn… As smart as we are, we didn’t set up a place to sell this corn. We sold a few hundred cobs” at roadside. The rest was donated to the food bank.

Five acres of corn were planted the next year, but corn-borer worms damaged the crop beyond salvage. We decided that vegetables sucked.”

That fall she planted 28,000 tulip bulbs bought on a “fantastic deal” but lost 95 per cent due to poor winter sur- step at a time.

“We wrote letters to Venezuela, India and Iran asking governments to take steps in protecting human rights of those who are being harassed, threatened and intimidated for taking a stand on issues they believe in. All of these letters are sent via email and or posted by mail. We haven’t written many letters this year, but we strive to take personal actions to continue promotion of human rights by getting involved as much as possible. We want to make our world a more just place and we encourage others to get involved.”

To get involved with Amnesty International in Moose Jaw, you can contact Lorna Arnold at 306690-8739 or email lorarnold@hotmail.com. Find out more about promoting and taking actions to protect Human Rights at www.writeathon.ca; www.amnesty.ca or www.amnestysaskatchewan.ca. vival.

They turned to growing seven acres of cut flowers with markets at local grocers, flower shops and from visitors. A distillery built with German equipment in 2015 produces handcrafted premium gin, vodka and liqueurs. Events attract customers, usually also buyers of spirits. The couple holds four major events every year plus private events like weddings.

The three-year-old pumpkin festival grew from 1,000 people the first year to 2,000 in the second year in “crummy weather.”

A highlight of the festival is the pumpkin rolling contest down a hill.

This year’s pumpkin festival was a bust. Weather caused cancellation for the first of two weekends. A minus eight-degree frost just before the third weekend destroyed the pumpkins.

Farm events included a July Lily Festival, August Gladiola Festival and World Gin Day in June.

Their oak-aged gin won world’s best gin award in 2017. “We are proud to say we grow 90 per cent of what goes into our bottle. What a lot of the other distillers do is bring in pre-made alcohol. They add water to it and call it their vodka.

Or they’ll soak juniper berries in it and call it gin. That is not the way we have chosen.”

The premium vodka varieties are made from wheat, oats and triticale. Liqueur brands are raspberry, honey ginger and sour cherry.

The operation, which now ships to Europe and China, won Saskatchewan Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018.

Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net