Improving soil quality will always be important for farmers, and one option has a possibility for growth for producers and providers.
Brothers Hudson and Taylor Mealy have recently started their new business, Impact Tile Drainage. They have spent some time working with another Manitoba company in the field, gaining experience and mentorship in tile drainage. According to Hudson Mealy, the two boys, who hail from Minto, knew they wanted to be involved in agriculture when they were finished their schooling, but also knew they would have to do it in a non-traditional way.
“The family farm did not have enough acres to justify us joining the farm.” Mealy explained. “Tile draining was just a good thing to get into. I really wanted to run a business of my own, which was something I was thinking about in university.”
They have been involved in tile draining for a couple of years, with this the first full year working on their business full time. Mealy said they sort of got their feet wet over time, purchasing a GPS unit two years ago, and now acquiring an excavator to be equipped to do the work.
Tiling is a process of agricultural drainage that removes excess sub-surface water from fields. Moving water from the surface can be taken off the field by other efforts like pumping, tile drainage is the most effective for under the soil. Mealy said it works like weeping tile put in the walls of a home to keep water out, but expanded to field size. Pipes are laid under the field to get rid of the moisture, and there is typically a main line, which will exit into a ditch or control reservoir.
There are many advantages to doing this. One is simply lowering the underwater moisture tables, especially during a wet year. As Mealy said, it helps with risk management and allows for a little more control, particularly during seeding, by taking away excess moisture earlier.
February 25 will once again see the Feisty Rooster crow at Turtle Mountain Provincial Park.
The event, hosted by Turtle Mountain Nordic Ski Club, is now a annual ski loppet and fat bike race held in the park south of Boissevain. This will be the third event for the club, and as Casey Guenther, one of the organizers explained, everything is falling into place.
“We have a date and are just finalizing the details of the course and the distance of the races,” Guenther explained. “We’re hoping to have the registration up later this week.”
The name of the event might seem a bit strange, but like most things in life, has an explanation. Guenther said several years ago they found a stray rooster out at Lake Adam where the event is now held. He was adopted by a member of the group, and he certainly fit the term.
“Adam the Rooster is our mascot. He is extra feisty, so we named our race after him.”
It has been a long time coming, but hockey has finally returned to the Ninga Rink, and everyone is back having fun.
The program in the small community has been running for at least 25 years, but hit hard times during the COVID pandemic. For the first year, 2020-21, no one was able to really run an indoor kids’ program, even though Ninga did have a return to play plan accepted and ran one practice. The next year, as minor hockey started anew with restrictions, they found they could not do so as they did not have the volunteers to check for vaccinations, as was required. Hopes were high the future would be better.
This year it has been. Duane Thiessen, who coaches one of the 13 and under teams, said they started their year in November with a couple of practices in Boissevain. He added the decision to run had much to do with the changing situation.
Southern Manitoba was treated to beautiful scenes last week as hoar frost turned the outdoors into a winter wonderland. Eight riders, including four from the Boissevain Lions Club, were able to enjoy the feathery frosted landscape in the Turtle Mountains during the annual Journey for Sight ride, raising money for the Lions Eye Bank of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario.
Fighting a lack of volunteers, one board is taking over for two in a building they share in Boissevain.
In February, the new Boissevain Community Centre Board will officially take the reigns, with the old Beckoning Hills Activity Club becoming the new entity. The club, which operated on the upper half of the shared facility on South Railway Street, will be replacing the almost defunct Community Centre Board.
The departing president of the centre, Ernie Crowe, said there were only four members on the board, and only two active.
“I’m resigning to let the ‘upstairs board’ become operators of the whole centre,” Crowe stated. “I’ve been on the board for probably 20-25 years and everything went well up until five years ago or so.”
A Boissevain native is preparing to head overseas to participate in the highest level of competitive shooting yet in his relatively short career.
Scott Kyle, 36, now of Roland, Manitoba, will be going to South Africa in March to compete in the South African Cup shooting competition as a part of the Gun Runners. It will be his first participation outside of North America, although he has been heavily involved and successful in target shooting since starting in 2019.
The sport he participates in is called F-Class shooting, an offshoot of prone target rifle shooting, which Kyle said goes back to 1872 in Manitoba and farther back in England. The “F” comes from its Canadian founder George Farquhrson, a shooter from Kamloops, BC. It started in the Canadian West Coast and moved out internationally. Kyle said he came to the sport through people he knew.
“Some friends I worked with had started and I came out to a practice and enjoyed the sport,” Kyle explained. “I have developed a network of friends that I travel with to the matches.”
His first formal competition was in Winnipeg in 2019 at the Manitoba Provincials.
Those in southwestern Manitoba who wanted snow for Christmas no longer have to worry after the mid-December storms.
A Colorado Low raged, hitting western Canada and the US Midwest Dec. 11-18, on its way to Ontario and points farther east. Although not as bad as some areas, the southwestern part of the province saw its share of snow, starting on December 13. Originally forecast as a few centimetres, Mother Nature had a mind of her own, and weather networks changed their predictions to go along with her.
In the end, different areas ended up with different amounts, but as much as nine to 12 inches (23 to 28 cms) of snow fell in our region. The storm was at its most vicious on Thursday, as this was when the second round of snow hit, and the wind began to pick up. Even a glance out of Boissevain at the highway showed a big, white wall. Northerly wind gusts were reported up to 60 kms an hour.
The International Peace Garden is hoping to build on the strength of their 90th anniversary and reopen a major part of their attraction in 2023.
Like many areas, and likely more than most, the spot on the Canada-US border suffered a hard couple of summers during the pandemic. By summer of 2022, much of the world had opened up at least a little, and the Peace Garden was finally able to welcome larger numbers of Canadian visitors, albeit with a sometimes cranky app they had to show when returning to their own country. At any rate, last summer was a major experience, said CEO Tim Chapman.
“Well, 2022 compared to the two years that preceded it was much closer to pre-COVID,” Chapman explained. “Overall, we had a pretty good year, we see it as a launching pad to 2023.”
Chapman added they were adversely impacted by the ArriveCan app, which could be complicated. He is happy it was dropped in the fall, wishing it could have happened sooner. This too, points to a good 2023.
One of the reasons 2022 felt a little more normal was the return of the International Music Camp. The camp, which invites young people from anywhere to come and take arts instruction, had not been able to hold an in-person camp at their Peace Garden site since 2019. Chapman said it was hard to explain how much their return added to the overall feel.
Michelle Wipf is the creator of the beautiful birch tree and cardinal window painting that adorns the windows of the Souris Medical Clinic and neighbouring Pharmasave.
She started painting the Pharmasave windows three years ago, which lead to painting the clinic windows and the Souris Chicken Chef. This year she has added more businesses and some resident windows to her list.
“What began with growth charts turned to canvases and the list just kept growing up to windows. I enjoyed challenging myself to learn something new,” shared Wipf.
With the pandemic seemingly behind us, Boissevain was able to fully celebrate the coming of the Yuletide season and welcome back an old visitor last weekend.
From November 25 to 27, the community held an expanded Christmas celebration, getting the season off and rolling. Beginning with a tree lighting and parade on Friday evening, continuing through Santa Day on Saturday and a new addition both weekend days, Boissevain was able to make it all work without restrictions for the first time since 2019.
Melissa Perkins, Executive Assistant for Boissevain-Morton said the whole weekend went well. It started off with the tree lighting ceremony at the new gazebo at the corner of Mill Road and South Railway Street. The gazebo, an accessible space added this summer with help from the Canada Community Revitalization Fund, will be a great space for a number of community events, including the tree lighting ceremony. The ceremony included an address by Head of Council Judy Swanson, the lighting of the tree outside, and Christmas carols by the Community Choir.
A fun night in Boissevain on November 19 not only had a large crowd well entertained; it served as a key fundraiser for the daycare in Boissevain.
Tiny Turtle Playroom hosted an evening with comedian Big Daddy Tazz at the Boissevain Legion. Dinner, drinks, auctions and a high-energy show kept everyone in attendance happy. It also raised funds for important projects in the daycare. Tiny Turtle Board President Kaylee Oliver was thrilled with the event.
“It was a great evening and saying thank you doesn’t even come close to showing our appreciation for everyone who attended our event, sponsored our event or donated a prize,” Oliver stated.
She said they did not have the final numbers in yet, but they were looking at a tally of between $6,000-$7,000, very close to their goal of $8,000.
Although created as a reaction to one horrific event, the Boissevain Resettlement Committee has shown how a group can continue to tap into the compassion of an entire community.
The committee has now been in existence for seven years, helping bring refugee families to town to the benefit of them and the entire community. The work continues. Organization Co-Chair Heather Goertzen remembers its beginnings in 2015, with the picture of Aylan washed on to the Turkish shore.
“That Associated Press picture of the Syrian boy on the beach, it captured the world’s attention,“Goertzen explained. “At about that time, my husband Wes (Whitewater Mennonite Church pastor) had a couple of people approach him in church. It was bothering people.”
As of November 8, single use plastic bags are no longer available in Boundary Co-op locations.
Long a staple of retail, the plastic bag has slowly been working its way out of the system in favour of reusable large satchels owned by customers themselves. The single use bags are costly, and difficult to recycle, and end up overwhelming landfill sites. The Canadian government announced last June it would be banning the sale of the bags in the country this December, although stores can use the ones in stock until December 2023.
The Boundary decision was prompted by the government announcement, said Boundary Marketing Manager Cheryl Rushing.
“The discussion about eliminating single-use bags really began in June when the Government of Canada introduced legislation to ban the sale of them this December,” Rushing explained, “and, since the ban affects other Co-op retails as well, we decided as a group to follow the same timeline so we could amplify our messaging. This includes Heritage Co-op, Valleyview Co-op, Twin Valley Co-op and Boundary Co-op.”
This policy has been happening in different stores around the country. Wal-Mart, as an example, decided to stop offering plastic bags earlier in 2022. Rushing said the Co-ops felt pulling the bags from the stores prior to the deadline was a positive move for them as well.
Experienced hands will be involved in opening the cannabis shop in Boissevain in the near future.
Border Town Buds will be located in the former Red Coat Inn on Mill Road. The store is a 50/50 partnership between Leanne Smith of Carnduff, Saskatchewan and Ryan Lawrence of Coulter. It is the first shop of its kind in Boissevain.
Smith has been involved in the cannabis business for nearly two years, starting with Small Town Buds in Carnduff, before moving on to Big Town Buds in Melita earlier this year. Smith said she had always been a business owner and although she is not a cannabis user, she saw it as a business opportunity.
“I felt if the government can make money from this, so can I,” Smith explained.
Nearly 20 years after its opening, a restaurant in Minto is now a daycare. The situation is changed but the building so many have put work into is still serving the community.
On October 21, Mini Mustang Corral held an open house in its new home. It has been a long journey to transition the former Silver Saddle into a functioning daycare, and Stephanie Robertson, President of the Mini Mustang Board, is thrilled to have the task completed.
“It is a really good feeling,” Robertson stated. “It is a big, big project for volunteer board members who were doing it in their spare time.”
Robertson said there were likely 100 people that came through the refurbished building on South Railway Street during the open house. For those who chose to make a donation, they could decorate a tile, which will permanently be on display in the daycare.
“I found people wanted to go out again, and go shopping after COVID. They wanted to try on the dresses and see what they were buying.”
What was started as an online store has moved to “bricks and mortar” in Boissevain. Inge Carey opened Paisley Pockets Emporium on South Railway Street on October 20. It is a unique space with unique product lines, with Carey hoping she can focus on her storefront in the future.
She said she started Paisley Pockets online back in May 2022. Carey, who wears wigs herself saw there was not a lot of selection of them in the area, and wanted to get involved in selling them, in particular to people who were going through chemotherapy.
From this, it grew into offering foreign made women’s fashion. She has always been interested in fashion, and particularly wanted to offer higher end clothing from Europe. The store moved into other products, and became a true “emporium”. Always a fan of the iconic paisley design, a business name came to be.
It might take a little longer, but Desiree Devloo is determined to add to Boissevain’s Outdoor Art Gallery this fall.
The Somerset, MB native, and current Calgary, AB artist has been working on the telephone office mural on the west wall of the Boissevain Dental Clinic this past week. It has not been the friendliest weather for such a project, but she is working when she can to complete.
“It was the way it worked out, I was so busy all summer,” Devloo stated. “I booked a one way ticket out here to give myself a window. I told them hopefully, it would take seven to 10 days of actual painting. With the one-way ticket, I can get as much as I can done. But if it’s raining or snowing, I will probably take a break.”
Devloo applied for the project under the name Kerzeka, with her partner Tiziano Lombardo. She herself is working under the artist name of Zeka. She chose it because she liked the letters, but later found out it was a Hebrew girls’ name meaning “remembered by God”.
Devloo said she has loved art her whole life.
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The move of Eddie Stackhouse and family to Boissevain might have an element of the unexpected to it, but it should be serendipitous for them and the community.
The new manager of FitStop, the fitness centre located in the Junction on South Railway Street, and part of the Copperman Electrical team of the same building, is happy to be in Boissevain. He will soon be fully into his new position, and has a lot of experience in helping people get fit and meet their goals. It is just his arrival that is a little different.
Stackhouse grew up in Hastings, Ontario, a small town 30 minutes from Peterborough. Coming from a big hockey family – his father Eddie was drafted by Boston and his uncle Ron had a long NHL career - he was definitely into Canada’s winter sport. In his 20’s, he moved up to Thompson, Manitoba where he ran his own electrical business for 12 years. As it was cold in the winter and there was not too much to do, he started into fitness.
“I thought my athletic journey was over because I didn’t make it to the NHL,” Stackhouse explained, “but after meeting some individuals who motivated me, I started competing in bodybuilding competitions.”
His first competition was in Winnipeg, placing fourth in his first show, but he was named most inspirational athlete. Once he gained the knowledge about athleticism and training, he converted it into hockey. He started training hockey teams, and noticed how much fun kids had working out. Stackhouse felt he could develop a system to help people.
The return of live performances helps spotlight an important music organization in the area.
On Thursday, September 22, Jerry Hu of Saskatoon performed an evening of classical piano in the Whitewater Mennonite Church as a part of the Western 2022 Young Artist Concert Tour. According to Dianna Neufeld, president of the Brandon & Westman Registered Music Teachers’ Association, which helped organize the event, it was a special performance.
“It went very well - Jerry Hu is a very well prepared performer,” Neufeld stated. “He played major works by Marjan Mozetich, Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin.”
She said about 80 people attended the show, including young musicians who were inspired by his performance. Neufeld said the concert series comes from the winner of the Young Artist Series, organized by the Canadian Federation of Registered Teachers Association. An audition is held and the winner is chosen by a panel of jurors. He or she is awarded the opportunity to perform in the winner’s tour across Western Canada.
“The Brandon & Westman RMTA has hosted this concert series for many years. The last concert in this series, due to COVID, was held in Killarney, the fall of 2018.”
Although September 17 was cooler and damper than many might have wanted, the second Street Fest in Boissevain was a success.
The event drew strong crowds for the many activities, mostly held on South Railway Street. Several enthusiastic entries kept the pie eating contest exciting, with outdoor vendors, bingo, a magician, live entertainment, kids carnival everyone hopping throughout. One of the organizers, Melissa Perkins, said there were last minute challenges, but overall everything worked well.
“There were many happy faces roving up and down the street and people were grateful for the opportunity to have this special event as an attraction here at home in downtown Boissevain,” Perkins stated. “The cooler, misty weather did keep some people away, but overall there were good crowds of people.”
Despite September 11, 2001 being two decades past, the impact can still be felt, and the results can still be seen at the International Peace Garden for those who wish to remember.
On the 9/11 anniversary, the Peace Garden welcomed visitors back for their commemoration ceremony. This event has been held off and on since 2002, beside the twisted wreckage of the World Trade Centre located by the formal garden. A full slate of speakers were introduced by Peace Garden CEO Tim Chapman, all remembering the fateful day, the aftermath and the lessons learned.
There were also remembrances of someone very special, particularly on the northern side of the 49th parallel. Queen Elizabeth II, who passed at the age of 96 on September 8, was mentioned early in the ceremony, with Chapman holding a moment of silence. The memory of the queen breaking protocol on September 12 and playing the Star Spangled Banner during the changing of the Buckingham Guards was very prevalent in thoughts.
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said they were there to honour not only the nearly 3,000 lives lost on the attacks on the WTC, Pentagon and United Flight 93, but also those who sacrificed all to save lives on that day. The bonds between Canada and the US, forged over more than a century, were strengthened during that time of trouble, and continue today.