inside: 10 Great Escapes in Manitoba s Miracle Samon Run s Beautiful Beets Western Financial ...because we live here.Group

WestWestern Canada's Magazine s Winter 2011

Plus: BC’s Lighthouse Keepers, Amazing Friendship, (mis)Adventures in snowshoeing, Highland Dance and More. Alberta shines in CBC’s Heartland

Have your say visit westmagazine.caWest  1 Advertising Feature Exclusive departure June 4 to 12, 2011 Behind Closed Barcelona,Spain Culinary Adventure doors A hot country-music show is a surefire When the weather outside is frightful, cure for the winter blues and there’s no denying that George Canyon is one of you don’t have to hide yourself away. Canada’s hottest country artists right There’s indoor fun for everyone now. On Jan. 13, Canyon pays a visit to the Bassano Community Hall as part of in the County of Newell. the Bassano Arts Council’s 2010/11 Performance Series (www.bassano.ca). The Newell Concert Association’s series is also in full swing at Griffin Park Package Includes Theatre in Brooks (www.newellconcertassociation.blogspot.com). Upcoming • Roundtrip fl ight from Toronto to Barcelona onboard Air Transat performers include magician Sheldon Casavant (Jan. 14), folksy music duo Dala • Roundtrip transfer from Barcelona airport to hotel (Jan. 24) and piano-man Jeffery Straker (Feb. 18). • 7 nights accommodation at Ayre Caspe, 4 star hotel in city For those who want to get creative, Red Roof Studio (www.redroofstudio.com) centre • 14 meals including Flamenco show during farewell dinner near Duchess offers private and group classes in art and photography. Mean- • Services of a professional bilingual guide while, the Brooks Campus of Medicine Hat College will be displaying the travel- • Tour inclusions as per itinerary ling art show “What Lies Beneath?” throughout the month of January, in which • Private fi rst class motor coach transportation 16 artists offer intriguing interpretations of the world beneath our feet. • Visit to La Boqueria Market, followed by ‘Paella’ cooking class • Visit to Santa Caterina Market followed by ‘Tapas’ cooking class While the arts are a great way to liven up a cold winter night, the County facilitated by Chef Anna & Michael Olson of Newell also supports a number of indoor sports facilities. The Grasslands • Tour the Torres Winery & Montserrat Collin Wildschut Indoor Soccer Society’s arena in Duchess (403-378-3333) has ongoing league • Complimentary bottles of wine or cava at each of the Cava play as well as drop-in games. There are curling rinks all over the County, from Cellars/Wineries • Keepsake Spanish Cookbook Rosemary to Rolling Hills. The Village of Tilley goes curling-crazy starting with an Open Bonspiel Jan. 3-8 (call 403-377-2269 for info). Exclusive Features Then there’s that other prairie indoor sport: ice fishing (a hut counts as • Hosted by Celebrity Chefs Anna & Michael Olson indoors). The County’s big draw is the 18th annual Kiwanis Lake Newell Ice • Escorted from Toronto by Marlin Travel representative • Autographed copy of ‘Anna & Michael Olson COOK AT HOME’ Fishing Derby on Family Day weekend, Feb. 19-20. The winning pikes at this catch-and-release event are known to top the 30-pound mark and there’s a big prize giveaway to anyone who pulls in a tagged fish (for derby details call 403-362-0748). Those who come up dry on Lake Newell can try their luck again in early March at the annual ice-fishing derby on the Crawling Valley Reservoir near Bassano (www.bassano.ca).

Bob Crommwell / Crommwell Ink Old Man Winter can do his worst. When there’s this much fun to be had indoors in the County of Newell, we say, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

• Okotoks: 1.888.887.8108 • Strathmore: 1.866.934.2999 Village of Rosemary • Brooks: 1.888.505.5356 • Drumheller: 1.800.263.0017 Visit www.nrta.ca or email [email protected] www.marlintravel.ca/1422 Advertising Feature Behind Closed doors A hot country-music show is a surefire When the weather outside is frightful, cure for the winter blues and there’s no denying that George Canyon is one of you don’t have to hide yourself away. Canada’s hottest country artists right There’s indoor fun for everyone now. On Jan. 13, Canyon pays a visit to the Bassano Community Hall as part of in the County of Newell. the Bassano Arts Council’s 2010/11 Performance Series (www.bassano.ca). The Newell Concert Association’s series is also in full swing at Griffin Park Theatre in Brooks (www.newellconcertassociation.blogspot.com). Upcoming performers include magician Sheldon Casavant (Jan. 14), folksy music duo Dala (Jan. 24) and piano-man Jeffery Straker (Feb. 18). For those who want to get creative, Red Roof Studio (www.redroofstudio.com) near Duchess offers private and group classes in art and photography. Mean- while, the Brooks Campus of Medicine Hat College will be displaying the travel- ling art show “What Lies Beneath?” throughout the month of January, in which 16 artists offer intriguing interpretations of the world beneath our feet. While the arts are a great way to liven up a cold winter night, the County of Newell also supports a number of indoor sports facilities. The Grasslands

Collin Wildschut Indoor Soccer Society’s arena in Duchess (403-378-3333) has ongoing league play as well as drop-in games. There are curling rinks all over the County, from Rosemary to Rolling Hills. The Village of Tilley goes curling-crazy starting with an Open Bonspiel Jan. 3-8 (call 403-377-2269 for info). Then there’s that other prairie indoor sport: ice fishing (a hut counts as indoors). The County’s big draw is the 18th annual Kiwanis Lake Newell Ice Fishing Derby on Family Day weekend, Feb. 19-20. The winning pikes at this catch-and-release event are known to top the 30-pound mark and there’s a big prize giveaway to anyone who pulls in a tagged fish (for derby details call 403-362-0748). Those who come up dry on Lake Newell can try their luck again in early March at the annual ice-fishing derby on the Crawling Valley Reservoir near Bassano (www.bassano.ca).

Bob Crommwell / Crommwell Ink Old Man Winter can do his worst. When there’s this much fun to be had indoors in the County of Newell, we say, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Village of Rosemary

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4  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011

West Western Canada's Magazine • Winter 2011 Features 1820 14 Manitoba, bottom to top D. Grant Black picks 10 of his favourite Manitoba places from a garden on the border to an old school steakhouse in Winnipeg to a beluga-filled estuary in Churchill. 20 Louise and Conna, friends forever They started in different small towns, bumped into each other all over the West and when Louise needed someone, Conna was right there. Christalee Froese reports. 26 Want to be a lighthouse keeper? Too late. Diane Selkirk journeys to BC’s beautiful and dangerous coast to meet the people who look after lighthouses and keep sailors safe. They’ll be replaced by automation any day now. 30 Love, loss & family values in Alberta Wendy Dudley explores the CBC’s hit series Heartland. It’s about cow- boys, cowgirls, rural and small town life and family. All the things West loves anyway. 36 Slogging through the snow 26 Our Bruce Masterman provides a quick personal guide to the highs and lows of snowshoeing. 12 38 Flying feet in Saskatoon Last summer, Saskatoon hosted ScotDance Canada’s Championship Series. Christalee Froese dropped by to hear the pipes and watch 46 hundreds of competitors from all over. 42 Departments

8 Letters to the editor 49 26 11 Roundup BC’s salmon come back with a vengeance … An Albertan’s porridge wins in Scotland … Small town novelist’s first effort … A great jockey honored in Cardston … plus Short shorts. 30 43 Health Matters Nurse Angela’s advice about sodium in our diets. 99 44 Simply Delicious, Terroir and Winers Cinda Chavich writes a love letter to beets in Simply Delicious and boasts about Alberta barley, a miracle food, in Terroir. Meanwhile, The Winers mull over spicy, warm wine. 48 Backgrounder Maybe we now know why bee colonies collapse … the debate about On the Cover: The CBC’s human-run vs. automated lighthouses … and Hans Tammemagi swims Heartland, starring Amber Marshall with the fishes. as Amy Fleming, is a big hit for all the right reasons. Photo: by Andrew Bako 50 Editor raves Old school, new school – it’s all music and it’s all in the presentation.

West  5 Welcome Western Financial West Group Published by Western Financial Group, 1010 – 24th Street SE, High River, AB T1V 2A7 All rights reserved. For permission to reprint articles, excerpts, or photographs, please e-mail [email protected]

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CONTRIBUTORS: Keith Allison, Andrew Bako, Rob Biron, D. Grant Black, Rick Charlton, Cinda Chavich, Churchill Wild, Nick Didlick, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Wendy Dudley, Darren Gilday, Fort Garry Hotel, Christalee Froese, Hecla Oasis Resort, Angela Hill-QMI Agency, Hockey Hall of Fame, Conna Jones, Mike Kerr, Louise Lerminiaux, Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site, Julie McLaughlin, Penny Marshall, Bruce Masterman, Angela Morrison, Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre, Parks Canada, Stefanie Pletscher, The Queen’s Printer for Manitoba, Remington Carriage Museum/Government of Alberta, Diane Selkirk, Mike Sturk, Hans Tammemagi, The Margaret Laurence House, Fergus Thom, Enrico Varrasso.

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6  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Welcome Welcome back to West hey say you can not a compliment; apparently population was estimated prove almost it mean sly, crafty, devious. at 34,108,800 … during anything with Maybe Disraeli was right.) the second quarter of 2010, statistics and Most big countries keep Canada’s population increased you probably track of all kinds of in- by 120,800 (0.36%) … could if your audience didn’t credibly detailed national Alberta, Saskatchewan and Tpay attention. statistics. There’s FedStats Manitoba led the provinces in One thing I like about stats in the US, the UK Statistics regards of population growth is that it’s the subject of a lot Authority and, of course, our rate during the second quar- of great quotes. Benjamin Dis- own Statistics Canada. ter of 2010.” raeli, a British PM in the late It’s interesting to putter Well, that probably ex- 1870s, is reported to have mut- around the StatsCan website plains all the highway traffic tered about some argument (http://www.statcan.gc.ca). on the Deerfoot Trail. an opponent had made: “Lies, Apparently, our GDP is down damned lies and statistics.” 0.1%, the average income for Rex Stout, creator of Nero married couples nationwide All the best, Wolfe, had one of his charac- is $63,900 but it’s $77,000 in ters say “There are two kinds of Alberta. Federal government statistics, the kind you look up revenue for the 2nd quarter of Scott Tannas, CEO and the kind you make up.” 2010 was about $67,000,000 Western Financial Group I’ve always liked Bobby Bra- less than government expen- gan’s remark (he was a major ditures. Stuff like that. league ball player in the ‘40s Interested in wheat? In 5 and a manager in the ‘50s): seconds on the StatsCan site “Say you were standing with you can find information one foot in the oven and one in like this from a November, an ice bucket. According to the 2007 survey: … the yield numbers people, you should be was off by 2.8 bushels per perfectly comfortable.” acre to 34.6 bushels per acre. Statistics are pretty useful as The five-year average yield “... the science of the collection, is 35.1 bushels per acre. organization, and interpreta- (Bushels and acres? I thought tion of data.” I suppose the art we’d been a metric country of statistics is in the analysis for over 30 years.) Have your say and presentation. (According How about population? Visit westmagazine.ca and post your thoughts and to my dictionary, “artful” is “On July 1, 2010, Canada’s story ideas.

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West  7 Letters

Fleam: In your recent issue of West you showed a picture of this odd-looking knife you identified as a fleam. I read with interest your description of this ancient instrument as a blood-letting tool. I have one of these tools in a collection of old knives I inherited from my Dad. I remember as a kid on the farm in Ontario my dad using this I truly enjoyed the 10 (BC) Great Escapes. Having knife, I think to “fix” piglets. Of course we chil- been to 7 of the 10 places, I have to agree that dren were not allowed to see this, but I remem- they are all a definite must to visit! I plan on getting ber the pigs squealing, and Dad cleaning this to the 3 I haven’t with my husband soon! funny looking tool afterwards. Have you ever heard of it being used in this way? Sandy Sommerfeld, Kelowna, BC Helen Finstad, Medicine Hat, AB Dear Ms. Sommerfeld, Thanks for writing. If you get a good photo Dear Ms. Finstad, of you and your husband at one of the three Until a few months ago we’d never even heard must-visit places you’re planning to get to, of the fleam, never mind what it’s used for, but please send it in and we’ll print it. Ed. one of our readers might know. Ed. Dear Ms. Boychuk, GOOD JOB VAL MARIE! I am from an equally small Thanks for the nice words about West. Sounds Thank you for producing such an excellent maga- town! Hazlet, SK. is northwest of Swift Current and like you have deep western roots. Isn’t zine. We thoroughly enjoy reading every article. is fighting the same battles as Val Marie! I love to Suzanna gorgeous? Every dog needs a job However, we think it would be a great benefit hear stories from rural communities coming to- and she has the perfect temperament for what to many readers like us if every article that dealt gether to stay alive! We have had to do a lot just to she does. Ed. with some town, city or region (of a geographical keep our town afloat just like Val Marie. Currently nature) such as the article in the Fall 2010 issue we are setting up a wind turbine to power our rink, In response to the letter from Telkwa regarding entitled ‘Saving Val Marie’ included a small map our community came together to raise money, do hardy cherries, Art Knapp’s in Prince George similar to the one below (but with much less de- labour and plan this project! We hope to be the had the Cupid Cherry in both the shrub and tree tail) showing where this community or park, etc. is first wind powered rink complex in Saskatchewan form. It had another one too, but I don’t remem- located. So many times I have had to stop read- by the end of October! (Maybe early November) ber the name of it. There is also a nursery on the ing an article to find a map or atlas to locate the Keep up the great work Val Marie! And thanks to north side of Highway 16 west of Burns Lake. It is story. Location to me is very important because West magazine for sharing this great story! the Honeysuckle Garden Centre that has carried in many, if not most cases, I hope to visit ‘there’ the Cupid in bush form, not this year, but last, and one day. My wife and I, when traveling around or Lindsay Alliban, Hazlet, SK is ordering in some for next spring both for them- across Canada, have made detours to interesting selves and a number of their customers, including locations as a result of an article we have read in Dear Lindsay Alliban, me. The reason they didn’t have them this year is magazines such as West. Great work in Hazlet. Please let us know how that they changed their source of plant materials, Yours truly, the rink works out. Ed. but have promised to have them next year. Wilbur J. Collin, Edmonton, AB Hello, just to let you know I am receiving the D. Honeyman, Fraser Lake, BC West magazine compliments of Western Financial Dear Mr. Collin, Group. I thoroughly enjoyed the articles I have In response to the letter from the Coupes: we Thanks for the heads up about maps. We try to read already. I loved Suzanna and even blogged purchased a pair of these cherry bushes in get in as many as we can and now we’ll try to about her yesterday... and Pie Wines? People drink Calgary at a Bowness area Market Garden 5 get more in. Ed. wine with their pie?? Who’d a thunk it? The little years ago. The story that came with the cherry map on page 34 I liked because I was to Red Deer trees was that a university student of U of Sask. and county last September to see where my great was looking through an abandoned farmstead grandparents homesteaded which was at Elnora in Northern Saskatchewan, and found a patch of near Lousana on the map. The pictures and article cherries. We really like these cherries since the choices are excellent and I hope to continue fruit makes wonderful jelly. Yours truly, enjoying West for a long time. And, by the way, this (Suzanna of the Mounties) Garnet & Margaret Gibson WEST is always delighted to hear from our readers. Please write Danielle Bernier, is the best ‘dog’ story I’ve read for a long time. Dawson Creek, BC West Magazine, 1010 – 24th Street SE Excellent. High River, AB T1V 2A7 or Dear D. Honeyman and G. & M. Gibson, [email protected] Ruth Boychuk, Weyburn, SK Now that’s what we call an update. Thanks. Ed.

8  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Blog Blog Blog

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West  9 ROUNDUP

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10  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 ROUNDUP

Where were they? n 2009, something like 1,700,000 After a three-year commerical fishing sockeye salmon returned to their ban, fishermen worked in a frenzy and BC spawning grounds. processing plants were overwhelmed. It was the lowest number in Consumers are enjoying lower prices for more than 50 years! Coming sockeye, the most sought after of the five on the heels of a two-decade decline salmon species. Amazing how little we inI the annual sockeye run, it was just know about the oceans and the life cycle more doom and gloom. Last fall, a of salmon. Federal Commission started investigat- Some researchers think that, after years ing the cause(s). of rising temperatures, an unexplained Then in 2010, something odd hap- ocean oscillation caused cooling that pened. 34,000,000 sockeye showed up coincided with the peak of the four-year for the run up the Fraser River. That’s the salmon cycle. A lot of scientists expect most since 1913. a return to poor runs, but who knows? W Nature dances to its own rhythms. NickPhotos: Didlick

West  11 ROUNDUP Calgary writer wields weighty Spurtle

n October the well deserved victory, and 10, World thank her for the ongoing Porridge Day, confidence that she places in chefs from our products,” Tony told West. around the Her competition included world gathered in the Scottish porridges made of salmon OHighlands town of Carrbridge, and scallops, oat fritters, to compete in the Golden vegetable porridge and Spurtle World Porridge Making something called Oatmeal Championships. And in a major Bangers and Porridge Mash. surprise, to the Scots probably, Caldwell competed in last a food writer from Alberta year’s championships and won the specialty division with made the finals in the Special- a porridge called Canadian ty category. Winning recipes Cranberry Apple Crunch. are at www.goldenspurtle.com Catherine Caldwell used Apparently, a spurtle is a Organic Steel Cut Oats made sort of stick used to stir por- by Highwood Crossing Farm, ridge and nothing else. W north of High River, Alberta. Farm owners Penny and Tony Marshall couldn’t have been more thrilled. “We would like Left: Catherine Caldwell holding

Photo: Fergus Thom Fergus Photo: to congratulate Catherine on her trophy and … a spurtle.

Eat your heart out, Captain Jack

Who knew swash-buckling pirates community of Shaunavon, Sask.? ed waters in the West Indies. and high seas adventures could Apparently Shaunavon author The book was short-listed for emerge from the peaceful farming and physiotherapist Dianne Green- the First Book category in the Sas- lay did. Last summer she released katchewan Book Awards, which her first novel, Quintspinner – A were handed out in late November. Pirate’s Quest, written for young Pretty heady stuff for Greenlay, adults. It features Tess Willoughby, a retired EMT and mother of six 16-year-old daughter of a London grown children who writes, di- physician, who, in 1717, goes from rects and acts in Shaunavon’s lo- witnessing a murder to becoming cal community theatre. She plans Quintspinner is available, in betrothed to the murderer. Togeth- to write two more Quintspinner hardcover, paperback and e-Book er, they embark on a treacherous, novels, along with unrelated format, at amazon.com, barnesand-

Photo courtesyPhoto of Diane Greenlay magic-filled voyage in pirate-infest- works of fiction and non-fiction. noble.com and iUniverse.com. W

12  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 So long Charlie, Hello Cardston

ay Wray, star of the original King Kong movie (1933), was born in Cardston, Alberta in 1907. So, in 1910, Fwas George Woolf. Who? Woolf was a jockey, a great jockey. The US thoroughbred Jockey of the Year Award is named after him. He was raised riding horses. His mom was a circus trick rider and his dad rode in rodeos. Woolf started his professional jockey career in Vancouver,

then moved to Tijuana before Supplied courtesyPhoto: Carriage of Remington Museum / Government of Alberta settling in Arcadia, Califor- nia. He became the leading Woolf had replaced Seabis- Woolf’s ride on Seabiscuit Toney, and commissioned by jockey of the 1930s but he cuit’s regular rider, the injured is now immortalized in a Cardston area ranchers Ida is probably best known for Red Pollard, also an Albertan $150,000 bronze statue at and Jack Lowe who’d grown riding Seabiscuit in 1938 in (Edmonton). Coming into the The Remington Carriage up hearing stories of Woolf what is called the most excit- home stretch of “the” race, Museum in Cardston. The and his famous ride. ing stakes race in history. He Woolf turned to his rival and life-sized statue, entitled So Woolf was just 35 when he and Seabiscuit beat Triple said “So long, Charley” before Long Charley, was created died in 1946 after falling dur- Crown winner War Admiral. pulling ahead. by Lethbridge artist Don ing a race. W Short shorts % ew Westmin- the rest of the year which, Cougars were the first west- Last October, the ster’s Justin undoubtedly, accounts for ern Canadian team to win 3.9Conference Board predicted Morneau, the Twins early exit from the Cup as a member of the that Saskatchewan would American the AL playoffs … NHL. They did it in 1925 … lead all western provinces League MVP in GDP growth with 3.9%. and All Star first baseman The smallest, barely, of Here’s hoping BC, AB and forN the Minnesota Twins, the four western Canadian MB catch up quickly … was on target to have his provinces is Manitoba. The big- best season. Then on July gest, by far, is BC. Each of the Gremlins got into West’s 7, in Toronto, he suffered a four is bigger than France… editor’s computer last issue concussion and made us print the wrong in a weird URL for more information accident size of France on the RCMP’s 125th An- while trying The first western Cana- niversary. Here’s the right to break up a dian team to win the Stanley one: www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/de- double play. Cup was the old Winnipeg pot/125/index-eng.htm W He didn’t Victorias. They won in 1896,

Photos: Justin Morneau, photo by Keith Justin Morneau,by photo Allison Photos: courtesyVictorias 1896 team, of Hockey Hall of Fame Winnipeg play again for 1901 and 1902. The Victoria

West  13 by D. Grant Black

great 10escapes On & off Manitoba's Beaten Track

My 10 great escapes 1. International Today, the most impressive attraction Green Thumbs is the huge Bulova clock, a working in Friendly Manitoba On the way to North Dakota for floral replica of the Berne, Switzerland are plucked from the cross-border shopping, check out the original. www.peacegarden.com International Peace Garden just south heartland's mix of rural of Boissevain. In 1930, Dr. Henry 2. What’s at Steak and city attractions. Moore, a noted Ontario horticulturist, If you prefer filet mignon to lentils, envisioned a sanctuary “… where the you’ll love Rae and Jerry’s. Since its Here are my picks, people of the two countries could share 1957 inception at 1405 Portage Avenue, south to north the glories found in a lovely garden and Rae and Jerry’s Steakhouse has served the pleasures found in warm friend- every succulent part of a steer to eager ships.” Dr. Moore selected a site on carnivores. This Turtle Mountain, a 65-km escarpment staple of the that straddles the border near the Winnipeg dining geographic centre of North America. scene defies change On July 14, 1932, with over 50,000 – from the menu attendees, the 947-hectare tribute to flora to the staff to the and co-operation was officially opened. decor – and that's

14  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 NO. 4

NO.3

NO.

1 West  15 comforting in a world of fleeting trends. This is guilt-free dining from a time before smoking bylaws and Particip- Action campaigns. Specialties at this old school steakhouse include calf’s liver sautéed with bacon, melt-in-your-mouth prime rib and that pre-dinner fave, Rae and Jerry’s Old Fashioned cocktail. Open seven days. www.raeandjerrys.com

3. Exchanging Culture Winnipeg’s Exchange District, located near the famous intersection of Portage and Main, was the city’s original centre of commerce. Now it's the cultural centre. This cosmopolitan, 30 square NO. block district of turn-of-the-twentieth- century architecture is home to a mix of the city’s best dining, retail and cultural

Photo: Copyright Parks Canada Photo: Copyright Parks offerings, which include hipster havens 5 like the Albert Street Diner, retro cool shops, the Cake-Ology bakery and the Cinematheque repertory theatre. Visitors to this National Historic Site can also take in weekend entertainment on the Old Market Square stage, guided walking NO. tours that include green retrofitted heritage buildings or The Fringe Festival, which is staged for 11 days, mid- to 6 late-July. www.exchangedistrict.org 4. Winnipeg’s Original Skyscraper Winnipeg’s first skyscraper, the Fort Garry Hotel, opened in 1913 on Broadway Avenue when the city was known as “Chicago of the North.” No longer the tallest, this former Grand Trunk Pacific Railway hotel still serves up oodles of old world elegance with a grand exterior staircase, marble- encrusted lobby, Corinthian columns and sparkling chandeliers. Architects Ross and MacFarlane of Montreal modelled their original hotel plans after Ottawa’s Chateau Laurier yet the Fort Garry's final luxurious structure was a more robust 14-storeys and 340 rooms. Famous hotel guests include Harry Belafonte, Laurence Olivier, Liberace, Louis Armstrong, assorted British royalty and the pride of Floral, Sask., Gordie Howe. www.fortgarryhotel.com

5. Lower Fort Fur Trade If you’re a history buff and want to learn about Western Canada’s early settlement, go to the source at Lower Fort Garry Photo C ourtesy of Ducks Unlimited anada

16  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 National Historic Site of Canada in St. Andrews. Established by the HBC in the early 1840s, the stone stockade at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine RV season is here... rivers served as a major agricultural and industrial supply centre for goods and furs within the Red River Settlement. The HBC constructed a number of industrial buildings that included a gristmill, sawmill, brewery, distillery, blacksmith shop and lime kilns. Today, these stone buildings are largely intact, excellent examples of 19th century fur trade architecture. Visit May–Sept. when it’s staffed by costumed interpreters. www.pc.gc.ca

6. Wetlands Wonder If Winnipeg’s sirens and car horns get on your nerves, lace up the light hikers and head 20 minutes north for a nature fix. Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre, located near Stonewall, has justifiably won Attractions Canada awards for “Best Outdoor Site in Canada” and “Best Outdoor Site in Manitoba.” Operated by Manitoba Conservation, the 36-square-kilometre marsh was designated in 1984 as “a wetland of international importance for wildlife and people” by the Ramsar Convention, an organization that provides framework for conservation of the world’s wetlands. Partake in a guided Ask us about marsh tour, explore over 30 kilometres of nature trails, paddle your own canoe, RV and Marine Financing or catch a nature film in the multimedia theatre (the building with the grass on the roof). Open daily year-round (seasonal Bank West is a western-based federally chartered bank, hours). www.oakhammockmarsh.ca similar to other larger financial institutions. The difference is we are small enough to care. 7. Stone Angel on the Yellowhead For your RV and Marine needs, call us today. Halfway between Brandon and Lake Manitoba, the 2,960 km Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16) passes right through the picturesque town of Neepawa, named Manitoba’s Most Beautiful Town more than

Permission to reproduce this image is provided by the Queen's Printer for Manitoba to reproduce this image is provided by the Queen's Permission any other provincial community and the self-proclaimed lily capital of 403-652-2107 • 1-888-440-2265 the world. A few blocks off that lengthy artery is the Margaret Laurence www.bankwest.ca

West  17 Home at 312 First Avenue. In 1986, Laurence, author of The Stone Angel and The Diviners, whose works have been adapted to stage, radio, television and translated into several languages, gave her approval to this living memorial that includes her typewriter, award certificates, letters and audio tapes. Now a designated Provincial Heritage Site, the childhood home of the First Lady of Manawaka – Laurence’s fictional name for Neepawa – is also a cultural centre for writers’ workshops, book launches and Elder Hostel education programs. Open May long weekend to Sept. 30. www.mts.net/~mlhome

8. Playa on the Prairies A mere hour north of the ’Peg, Grand Beach is the best playa on the Prairies. Located within Grand Beach Provincial Park on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg, Grand Beach is renowned for NO. its 8-metre sand dunes and kilometres of sprawling, sugary sand beaches named some of North America’s best by Playboy 8 magazine. Yet Grand Beach is most famous for people-watching since on Grand Beach is renowned for its one summer’s day you can recline with 10,000 lightly attired sun worshippers 8-metre sand dunes and kilometres of who crowd Grand Beach’s most popular three-km strip of sand. Get a natural sprawling, sugary sand beaches dose of Vitamin D, play some beach volleyball, grab a beer and a burger and savour the fleeting prairie summer alongside Canada’s sixth largest lake. www.manitobaparks.com

9. Nurture Meets Nature NO. This Manitoba destination is a great fit for nature immersion – without roughing it in a tent. Opened in 2007,

ours Hecla Oasis Resort is located two 10 hours north of Winnipeg by car on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. The 90-room (14 pet-friendly), five-star luxury eco-getaway on Hecla Island features an Icelandic-influenced spa and wellness centre, a Viking- theme outdoor water park, a forested ourtesy Mike Macri/ S ea N orth T Photo C ourtesy Mike

18  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 NO. 604-square- metre lobby and, according 6 to Score magazine, the NO. best 18-hole golf course in Manitoba. 3 Self-propelled esort adventures include PROTECT THE LIFESTYLE YOU’VE kayaking, cycling, fishing and hiking on 12 trails over 75 km – or sign up for WORKED SO HARD TO ACHIEVE expert-led ecological and experiential tours to help identify over 200 bird species and larger local fauna. www. With over 300 years of experience in helping our customers, heclaoasis.com RSA provides the finest services and solutions to meet your

Photo C ourtesy of Hecla O asis R 10. Churchill’s insurance needs — whatever your lifestyle may be. RSA offers Sea Canaries home and auto insurance, as well as coverage for your pet, boat, Fresh off a two-day, 1,700 kilometre cottage and much more. journey north on the Winnipeg- Churchill Via Rail train, visitors usually Contact a Western Financial Group broker today to learn come for the polar bears. But during more about RSA. July and August, the Churchill River estuary becomes the “Beluga Belt” when Western Financial Group 3,000 400-kilogram whales come to Tel: 1-866-THEWEST (843-9378) feed while they wait for Hudson Bay www.westernfinancialgroup.ca to freeze. Churchill, one of the best beluga-watching spots in the world, also offers a chance to safely snorkel among these very vocal “sea canaries” while they roam the coastline. If a cold-water wet suit isn’t your style, you can also view these sociable whales from a kayak or a 32-passenger boat provided by local guiding outfits. www.seanorth- tours.com, www.lazybearlodge.com or www.churchillwild.com. West

D. Grant Black, a freelance writer, travel journalist and author of the award-winning, best-selling Saskatchewan Book of Musts: 101 Places Every Saskatchewanian Must See, is a big fan of Friendly Manitoba. He'll cheer for the Blue Bombers – as long as they're not playing the Riders. Check him out at DGrantBlack.com.

Have your say Visit westmagazine.ca and post © 2010. RSA is a registered trade name of Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Company of Canada. “RSA” your thoughts and story ideas. and the RSA logo are trademarks used under licence from RSA Insurance Group plc.

West  19

Docket #: RS 7666 v2 Ad or Trim Size: 4.75 x 9.75” Publication: west Description of Ad: western financial ad 2/3 vertical issue: winter 2011 FILE COLOURS: Client: RSA Bleed Size: N/A DUE@PUB 19 november 2010 C M Y K

Creative Network Contact: Daveral Prins eMail: [email protected] Phone: 416.488.1033 x26 by Christalee Froese Photos courtesy of Louise Lerminiaux and Conna Jones f a t e How something great happened after one small town Saskatchewan girl accidentally followed another around the West.

Louise Lerminiaux Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It took her to her kidney function dropped from 50 When mapped out her Europe, the Amazon jungle and safaris percent to 40 percent to 30 percent. life, the end of the road was already too in Africa. It brought her to the high When it reached 20, her life as a suc- close for comfort. seas where she sailed competitively cessful IT director in California slowed Not knowing the distance between against the healthy and the strong. It to a walk, leaving her cold, tired and now and then, she refused to occupy carried her through intense training anemic. In early 2008, she told her boss herself with illness, dialysis and for a dozen half-marathons and five that she needed to step down as direc- death. What she did map for her full marathons. tor and just manage projects 40 hours future was life itself, a life that knew But by her late 30s, this farm girl a week instead of the 50 to 60 hours no bounds, waited for nothing and who’d grown up in Montmartre, Sas- which was her norm. Little did they stopped for no one. katchewan (pop. 500) could not outrun know, it took all her energy to continue That life lifted her to the 2,400-metre the reality of kidney failure. Having to work. peak of Macchu Picchu in Peru and inherited polycystic kidney disease from “I would sleep for one to two hours the 5,900-metre summit of Mount her mother, she could only watch as after work, get up to eat and be back in

20  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Conna (right) was still living on Vancouver Island when she visited Louise in southern California. Here, they’re in La Jolla, just north of San Diego Photo courtesy of Louise Lerminiaux. Photo courtesy of Louise bed for nine to 10 hours just so I could There would be no time for travelling School walked into a northwest Calgary work the next day and I was sleeping the world, climbing mountains, or run- real estate office and insisted that they under a winter duvet even when it was ning road races. give her a job. plus 30 degrees Celsius. That was the “I told them, ‘I’ll come back every day start of acknowledging I was sick. I In 1989, Conna Pilkey left until you put me on your payroll.’” knew dialysis was near, but I dreaded Kuroki, Sask. (pop. 65). She headed Eventually, they hired Conna as a the idea of it because I knew it would for Vancouver with dreams of travel- file clerk but her firecracker personality change my life significantly.” ling the world and becoming a rock star. was noticed by the office’s realtors who It wasn’t long before 20 percent be- However, her dream was cut short by groomed her for a career in sales. came 10 percent and life as Louise knew reality. After what little money she had By 1992, she was charged with sales it was slipping away. Either a kidney was stolen, Conna was forced to find for a major condominium developer. donor would be found, or dialysis would work right where she was. Her new position required a new office, become a routine that consumed three With dogged determination, the which she was to share with the com- to five hours a day, three days a week. Grade 12 graduate of Wadena High pany’s sales coordinator.

West  21 “I hadn’t seen her for three or four months and I just couldn’t believe it. She was green and grey, the whites of her eyes were gone – even her tongue was a different colour.”

“When I walked into the office, I Vancouver in 1996 to become facilities family, which included Conna’s three thought ‘wow, is she neat and tidy. Oh coordinator for BC Gas Utility Ltd. stepchildren Dani, Taylor and Jeremy. my gosh, she’s not going to like me.’” In 1999, Conna, suffering from real Conna was part of Louise’s life, too, estate burnout, sought refuge in the cheering her on at races and travelling But Louise Lerminiaux liked quiet Vancouver Island community of with her when she could. Conna Pilkey the minute she Nanoose Bay. In the fall of 2008, life changes forced met her. “I remember she walked Without planning it, they had ended a lengthy separation. Louise was busy into the office, introduced herself and up just 18 miles apart across the Georgia earning an MBA, recovering from said we were going to be roomies. She Strait. They made the ferry trek often, divorce and coping with deteriorating had the biggest, brightest smile. I think leaning on each other through difficult health issues. At the same time, Conna, I probably thought she talked a lot, but relationship breakups. Then Louise after a difficult pregnancy, gave birth to then I knew she was in sales.” moved again, this time to San Diego, her premature baby, Jake, who was hos- The Saskatchewan transplants worked California in 2002 to become the ecom- pitalized and needed a high level of care. as a team for two years, turning projects merce project manager at a biotech firm. Despite the complexity of their lives, the into financial successes. Their friendship pair knew they needed to see each other. at the office spilled over into afterhours. As fate would have it, Conna Conna packed up Jake, and Louise Even their boyfriends shared common in- met a charming Californian gathered her strength. The long-time terests, making the foursome a cozy social who was in bc on business. In friends met in a restaurant halfway group that did almost everything together. 2004, Conna Pilkey married Scott Jones between their homes. “It was just so easy for Louise and me from Orange County, became Conna “I hadn’t seen her for three or four to be friends. We were never demand- Jones and moved to a community an months and I just couldn’t believe it. ing of each other, we were just there for hour and a half north of Louise’s house. She was green and grey, the whites of whatever the other person might need.” In California, Louise and Conna her eyes were gone – even her tongue Eventually, life pulled them in dif- shared their lives again, with Louise was a different colour.” That’s the mo- ferent directions. Louise moved to becoming an extended part of the Jones ment Conna knew.

2003, December 27 2004, August 31 2007, JUNE 3 Louise, second from the left, with Conna's wedding day Louise after finishing a marathon on her climbing friends at the top of Mount 40th birthday with kidneys functioning Kilimanjaro (19,340 ft.) in Tanzania. at just 18%. Conna and her stepdaughter Taylor are on the left of the photo. Friend Kassie Graves is on the right.

22  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Clockwise from top: Louise (left) and Conna hiking near Canmore, Alberta; Conna (1976) in grade one; Louise (1973) in grade one; The Jones family. Conna is in the centre, husband Scott is at top, daughter Taylor is right. The little guy is Jake, and Jeremy is beside his dad; Whale watching at Vancouver Island’s Telegraph Cove.

Nanoose Bay

calgary Kuroki With her kidneys failing, Louise put the word out to Vancouver family and friends that she needed a Montmartre healthy kidney in order to avoid dialysis. Six friends from near and far agreed to undergo testing. Conna was the first to get through the multi-phased process. Over a month passed before the results were in. The long wait ended with a phone call. Conna was a match. So close, it was as if Louise and Conna were sisters. “I felt like I had just won the lottery,” said Conna, explaining that this gift to Louise would be payback for the gift of life that had been given to Jake earlier that year. While Louise was relieved to have such a promising match, her enthusiasm was tempered with concern. “I told Conna it was too soon after her baby was born to consider being a donor for me.” Orange County Conna hadn’t let life’s obstacles get San Diego in her way before and she wasn’t about to now. Despite the fact that a year is

2008, JANUARY 10 2008, NOVEMBER 7 2010, July 31 Jake, Conna’s little warrior, is Louise, left, has her new kidney and In the 5K race at the USA Transplant two days old Conna is ready to leave the hospital. Games, Louise won bronze in the female recipients category and Conna finished sixth among female donors.

West  23 the recommended wait time to donate a kidney after giving birth, she was in- sistent that she could handle the process just nine months after her son was born. “I didn’t care to know the details. I was going to do it regardless of what it involved. I just needed them to tell me when and where to show up and where A Full Line to lie down.” The transplant process of Products started on November 5, 2008. Conna’s kidney was removed laparo- scopically through her C-section scar to Ease and four small side incisions. Things went smoothly and within hours Conna was conscious and wanting to see the Your Peace new owner of her kidney. As for Louise, the news wasn’t as of Mind good. Conna’s healthy kidney was too large, so, after five hours of surgery, she needed another four hours to get the new kidney to fit in her small frame. As one of the largest property The next morning, Conna was finally able to see Louise. and casualty insurers in “I walked in and we started to cry, Canada, Wawanesa Insurance which was the worst thing we could has the breadth of products have done because our abdomens were all cut up and we were causing ourselves to meet your diverse and more pain. Then we started to laugh. I ever‑changing needs. With told her I had to get out of there before we hurt ourselves any further. But I saw our outstanding claims that she had pink cheeks and white eyes service, policyholders become and that’s all I cared about.”

customers for life. Two years later, Louise is back to her ambitious lifestyle. She competes in sprint Contact your local Western triathlons, most recently in the USA Transplant Games, and runs in local Financial Group Insurance Broker races for organ donation and kidney for more information about disease awareness. She decorated the Wawanesa Insurance products. DonateLife float for the Rose Bowl Parade and she has set her sights on the 2013 World Transplant Games in South Africa. Conna has now become a differ- ent version of the rock star she once dreamed of being. The stardom she found was at this summer’s opening of the USA Transplant Games in Madi- www.wawanesa.com son, Wisconsin. “The living donors marched into the coliseum to this huge round of applause, standing ovations and screaming, pre- dominantly from recipients, and they Auto – Home – Business – Farm – Life and Group just made us feel like rock stars. It was so overwhelming.”

24  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Protect yourself

2010, AUGUST 3 Closing ceremonies at the US Transplant Games in Madison, Wisconson.

Louise and Conna are travelling together again, mostly down the road of creating world organ donation aware- ness. Their mission is to inform people about the ease, necessity, and even the beauty of organ donation. Back at the biotech firm, Louise is the company’s poster child for organ donation, drug discovery, stem cell research and per- sonalized medicine. While they realize their story is a miracle, it’s that very story that gives them hope that living donors can be found for every single person in need. “If you know someone or you want to be a Good Samaritan,” says Louise, “offer to donate to someone on the wait list. It’s the most incredible living gift you can give. To a healthy person it is merely a couple months of healing, but to a recipient, it creates a new wide- open road.” At SGI CANADA, we know you do your best to prepare for For more information on organ the unexpected. That’s why our Western Financial Group donation, visit www.organdonations.ca brokers offer a wide range of products and services that or www.kidney.ca West protect you from whatever life shoots your way.

We’ve got you covered.

Have your say Visit westmagazine.ca and post your thoughts and story ideas.

West  25 by Diane Selkirk Illustration by Darren Gilday Map illustrations by Rob Biron Keepers of the

rolled in suddenly, obscuring the mountains, the LightsThe fog islands and then the ocean itself. We slowed Ceilydh, our 40-foot sailboat, and strained to see. We were close to the Chrome Island Lighthouse at the southern end of Denman Island but it felt like we were miles from anywhere. Then the low mournful wail of the fog horn sounded. Maia, our daughter, shouted “There!” She pointed, “The light is there.” And we knew where we were. Lighthouses have led mariners to safety on our intricate coastline for 150 years, since before British Columbia was part of Canada. Knowing where a light is, and where dangers lie, gives shape to a shore made featureless by fog, storms or night. Sure, modern mariners have chart plotters (which map out their routes like video games), radar, and GPS technology, but nothing will ever take the place of seeing that light.

Before lighthouses

Vancouver Island in the mid-1800s was a treacherous place for ships. The Fraser River Gold Rush was underway and hundreds of vessels filled with thousands of prospectors were making for Victoria and then across the Strait to the Fraser River. The trip up the Pacific Coast of the US was dangerous enough, but, at dusk, after rounding Cape Flattery where the last of a string of lighthouses marked the south- ern entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, there were only racing currents, rocky outcroppings, poorly charted islets, and darkness. The British answer to the danger (which threatened to cut into their profits if too many of their own ships were lost) was to erect two lighthouses to guide ships into Victoria, then just a small dusty fort.

26  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Keepers of the Lights

West  27 Photo: Diane Selkirk

The Fisgard Lighthouse, at the en- By the 1870s BC’s lighthouse building Living in those first lighthouses was trance to Esquimalt Harbour, first shone was underway in earnest and over the anything but comfortable. The small its light at sunset on November 16, 1860. next 50 years about 40 more lighthouses stone houses attached to the lighthous- Then the Race Rocks Lighthouse, just 12 arose on islands and rocky headlands, es were cold, drafty, damp and isolated, miles from the US Coast, was lit for the far from roads and towns. often on outcroppings washed by high first time a few weeks later on Boxing seas and battered by winds. There was Day. The new lights made the difficult little in the way of recreation and they harbour entrance safer, although the Keepers of were hard to get to even by boat. Most Race Rocks light came a few days too the lights keepers communicated by signal flag, late for the tall ship Nanette. She lost her an imperfect system at best. In 1866, way in thick fog and was swept up in the The lighthouses were also home to George Davis, the light keeper at Race currents and lost on the rocks. hundreds of hearty Coast Guard Rocks, became seriously ill. For nine Nanette's mate, William McCullogh, keepers (and their families) who kept days the Davis family flew the station’s wrote in the ship's log: the lights burning and the fog horns Union Jack at half mast to signal pass- “At 8 o'clock saw a light bearing N sounding for the thousands of ves- ing ships that they needed help. But by W [this would have been the new sels that travelled the coast. Despite help never arrived. Davis died shortly Fisgard light]. Could not find the light their job description, which depicted before Christmas. marked on the chart. At 8 1/2 o'clock keepers as human ‘aids to navigation’, Conditions in the lighthouses didn’t it cleared somewhat, and then saw the a light keeper’s role was more than change much through the years. point of Race Rocks the first time, but simply looking after the light. Stories Technology improved and communica- no light. Called all hands on deck, as we of heroic keepers warning ships away tion got easier, but the keepers could found the ship was in a counter current, from dangerous rocks or plucking still only provision when ships could and drifting at a rate of 7 knots toward half-drowned sailors from raging seas deliver – typically in the late spring and the shore. We made all possible sail, but make up much of the marine lore on summer months. Time off depended on to no avail.” Canada’s West Coast. the availability of assistant keepers who

Top Left: The keeper’s house at Race Rocks lighthouse was demolished in 1974. The buildings there now have been an ecological research station since 1997.

Top Right: Chrome Island lighthouse is just off the southern point of Denman Island. The manned lighthouse was built in 1891 and rebuilt through the years.

Left: Fisgard lighthouse at the entrance to Esquimalt harbor was the first lighthouse on our west coast. Built in 1860, it’s still operating and now a National Historic Site.

28  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Photo: Diane Selkirk

could take over. And social visits were available only to those who worked in the most accessible stations. Daily life revolved around keeping an eye out for mariners in need. In 1983, Steve Bergh, President BC Lightkeepers Local 20232 PSAC, and Al- ice Woods, Vice President Local 20232 PSAC, became light keepers at Estevan Point on the remote Hesquiat Peninsula about 35 miles northwest of Tofino. The couple had fished professionally and they wanted to live somewhere near the sea where they could raise a family and contribute to the maritime community. “We’re attuned to conditions 24/7 … I guess you could say we’re the eyes and ears of the water,” Woods and Bergh agreed, as they described a daily routine that sounds a lot like a watch system on a boat. “We call in weather updates every three hours starting at 3:40 am and ending at 12:30 am.” Then important is providing public assis- there’s the VHF radio, it’s never off, and tance. “Safety starts with prevention. We in many situations light keepers are know mariners and aviators rely on our first to respond to distress calls. “We weather reports.” know the local waters and know which Detailed weather reports are vital on the Canadian Coast Guard looks to cut Coast Guard resources are in our area. a coast where thick fog can creep in in costs, BC’s light keepers appear to be There are even times when it was light the time it takes to make a sandwich, more of a nostalgic relic than a relevant keepers who were first to see people in then get blown off in the time it takes resource so their days may be numbered. overturned boats or swamped kayaks,” to eat it. We taught Maia this out in the “But automation’s not that good yet,” Woods said. “I guess you could say we fog near Chrome Island. We showed her Wood said, “The fog detectors, they don’t mind the isolation.” how to confirm location by looking up don’t always see the fog unless it’s right The family moved from Estevan, on to a lighthouse’s signature – every station’s in front of them. We still turn the fog Cape Beale and then to Chatham Point is unique. Then we called the keeper horns on manually.” Station, where they live today. on the radio to say thanks. Maia might Nostalgic, yes. Relic, no. West Their knowledge is something that not be able to do that when she grows many mariners consider vital. “Canadi- up because all the lighthouses may be ans own some old lighthouses and even automated by then. with automation there’s still plenty of Automation has already had a mas- Have your say work that needs to be done,” Woods said sive impact on lighthouse keepers and Visit westmagazine.ca and post of the maintenance required to keep the in many places in the world the job is your thoughts and story ideas. historic stations in good shape. But most long gone. As automation improves and

West  29 by Wendy Dudley

Heartland A hit showpiece for Alberta

Rose province and the cowboy way of Nothing says life. It airs Sundays, at 7 pm, and viewers southern tune in in record numbers to watch the Alberta family saga. Albertans in particular are delighted that their province plays itself like the popular in the drama now seen around the world. CBC-TV series But the program’s roots are far from Heartland. its on-screen Rocky Mountain land- scape. The show is based on a series of young adult novels by author Lauren Filmed around Millarville and High Brooke, who grew up on a Virginia farm River, south of Calgary, the show is a and now lives in Leicestershire, England. billboard for all that is dear to the Wild Since the first book was published in

30  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Heartland A hit showpiece for Alberta Photo: Wendy Dudley Photo: Wendy

2000, the series has grown to 37 novels. Working with her boyfriend and The show deals with love and loss, The ongoing story traces the life of a Heartland stable hand Ty Borden (Van- experiences all of us can relate to Virginia family at Heartland Ranch, a couverite Graham Wardle), Amy is re- whether we live in the city or the home for abused horses. spected for her gentle training methods. country. The show reaches more than The television series loosely follows Now in its fourth season, the program a million Canadians, the first million- the novels, but transplants the setting embraces family values, solid work eth- viewer weekly Canadian show shot to southern Alberta, with a western Ca- ics, and the importance of home. Amy entirely in Alberta. It also airs in nadian cast. Story lines revolve around lives with her older sister Lou, played Europe, Australia, and the US. teenager Amy Fleming (played by Amber by Calgary-born Michelle Morgan, and Episodes are discussed at length on Marshall who now lives on acreage in the their grandfather Jack Bartlett who Internet blogs, and for months fans Okotoks area), who, after her mother is keeps the family on firm ground. His buzzed about the Heartland Christmas killed in an accident, takes over her gift role is played by Shaun Johnston, a na- TV movie, shot in the spring of 2010 and for helping traumatized animals. tive of Ponoka, Alta. aired in December.

West  31 “Since coming here, I have fallen in love with western culture. I have learned how to rope and work around cattle. And my clothes have gone from city girl jeans to Wranglers.”

Above: Heartland's horses running around at work. Photo by Andrew Bako

Left: On September 15, 2010 (a Wednesday) downtown High River got a sneak peak at a big scene in Heartland’s upcoming season. 30 head of cattle were herded down Fourth Avenue, SW. Photo by Angela Hill, QMI Agency

A nice “The economic impact on a communi- involving the key actors was shot, trickle down ty this size is tremendous. A lot of local and more than a thousand autograph- economic effect businesses are in different scenes,” said seekers lined up to meet their favourite Lynette McCracken, executive director Heartland stars at the Spruce Meadows Alberta communities have backed the of the High River and District Chamber equestrian centre during the Masters show, with Heartland film crews often of Commerce. Tournament in September. calling “Action” at the Millarville Race In addition to the cast and crew Track southwest of Calgary, on a ranch buying food, clothing and other items, set west of Millarville, and in High tourists also are attracted to the area to Saving River which serves as the fictional see the sites shown on TV. “They come an antique town of Hudson. Scenes also have been to the area to check it out,” McCracken shot on private ranches, in the historic said. “The show is seen all over the world. A 1950 Massey Harris 44 tractor, known log Millarville Christ Church, along People are seeing downtown High River, as Millie, will also appear in scenes this the banks of the Bow River at the and the foothills and the mountains. It is year, after a deal was struck with the win- Saskatoon Farm, east of Okotoks, and something we are very proud of.” ner of the tractor in a fundraising raffle at the Cochrane Agricultural Society Fans recently lined the streets for the annual Millarville Fair. Millie the riding arena. of High River where a cattle drive Tractor made headlines when commu-

32  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Top: Amber Marshall (Amy Fleming) and Graham Wardle, who plays Ty Borden, her on-screen boyfriend, in a September parade at the Spruce Meadows Masters Tournament. Photo by Wendy Dudley

Bottom: Amber Marshall and a fireman arm wrestle on the hood of Millie, an antique Massey Harris 44 tractor that will appear in a few scenes this year. Photo by Rick Charlton

nity members became concerned that the up steeds for many Hollywood westerns, antique would be used as target practice including the locally shot Legends of the by fighter pilots at Cold Lake. There was Fall and Unforgiven. And when it comes much relief when the winning ticket to arranging stunts, Okotoks rancher landed the antique on the Heartland set. Tom Eirikson is called into action. The While the actors have won interna- rodeo star knows a thing or two about tional fans, the show’s horses are also cattle and horses. Between 1980 and stars with horse-crazy viewers – mainly 1987, he was four-time Canadian all young girls – who chat on various around champion. He was a bronc rider, Internet forums about their love for calf roper and steer wrestler. Pegasus and Spartan. Most of the show's While not a sappy production, Heart- equines are provided by Longview, Alta., land is a cozy quilt of horses, hearths and wrangler John Scott, who has rounded home-cooked meals. Think Anne of Green

West  33 Albertans get a kick out of recognizing the locations, and referrals to familiar place names and rodeos.

Gables, or Little House on the Prairie. Its traditional values appeal to family members of all ages, from grandparents to grandchildren. The family saga is second to Flashpoint for the most watched TV drama in Canada. “It’s a breath of fresh air. You don’t have to worry about the content and whether there will by anything inap- Suddenly you can propriate,” said Marshall, 21, who grew up riding horses near London, Ont., and now surrounds herself with horses, dogs, Plan for the cattle, cats and chickens. “Since coming here, I have fallen in love with western culture. I have learned how to rope and Unexpected. work around cattle. And my clothes have Whether you travel out of province or out of the gone from city girl jeans to Wranglers.” The landscape, she adds, is also a country, once per month or once per year, you want huge draw. And it’s not just Marshall comprehensive protection and peace of mind. who’s under a Rocky Mountains spell. That’s what you get with Travelwell®. Audiences abroad are captivated by the show’s setting, and its vistas of manes Travelwell® has two plans to choose from and no flying and hoofbeats thundering across medical questionnaire to complete so enrolling is foothills ridges silhouetted against a flaming sunset. easy. One annual payment covers multiple trips Albertans get a kick out of recog- and grandchildren are automatically included nizing the locations, and referrals in the plan when travelling with a grandparent. to familiar place names and rodeos. There is also up to $5 million emergency medical Products such as the Calgary Herald insurance and insurance for trip cancellation and newspaper have appeared in the show trip interruption depending on the package. and, throughout this season, the High River-based Western Financial Group also will be mentioned. It is the season’s It’s easy to add TravelWell® to an existing Intact only branded product. Insurance property or home & auto policy. Speak to Whether focused on the fictional your Western Financial Group representative today. ranch’s struggling business, the spirit of the horse, or the highs and lows of young love, Heartland never strays from its apple-pie theme of Home Is Where The Heart Is. West

Have your say The BIP logo is a registered trademark of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC). All other trade-marks are Visit westmagazine.ca and post property of Intact Financial Corporation used under license. © 2009, Intact Insurance Company. your thoughts and story ideas.

34  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Travel Insurance Tips

Whether it’s a dream vacati on to Mexico or a quick daytrip to the US, travel insurance protects you against because each client the unexpected. To fully enjoy your trip with peace-of-mind, here are is unique some helpful ti ps: our products 1. Know what you’re covered for. Ensure your policy protects you for all the are too necessary types of insurance you may need—medical emergencies; rental car; lost, stolen, or damaged baggage; fl ight delays, etc. Your travel insurance plan should be tailored for you and the place you’re visiti ng.

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5. If you have the misfortune of needing to claim while on vacati on, contact your insurance company as soon as possible. innovation They may liaise directly with the foreign medical provider and can review the medical procedures that are planned to In a world that is constantly evolving, you deserve solutions that ensure all work is appropriate. Oft en, your are tailored to your needs. At AXA, we listen. We recognize that insurer will be able to ensure you won’t one size does not fit all when it comes to insurance coverage. face any up front medical costs.

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West  35 I

Photo: Bruce Masterman O’er t O’er thing you can do it in deep snow or or snow deep in it do can you thing I 36 

West . ISSUE 21 face-planting falls. Good Good falls. face-planting and cramps leg of series think. I kidding, workshoes for They you.were snow other,the let the and said. they snow, on dancing like t’s S Justputfrontoneof foot in nowshoeing can be a be can nowshoeing . W S i tory byBruceMasterman nt e r 2011 r we g we fiel - of of what unnatural, is feet your to strapped rackets tennis ing your ego. your ing bruis of top on nose, your break you’d 1787 cruel and unusual punishment. punishment. unusual and cruel thing very amusing. very thing whole the find snowshoers perienced The problem is that walking with with walking that is problem The R ights and the the and ights E ighth ighth h d A mendment refer to as as to refer mendment E US ngland’s 1689 1689 ngland’s

C o onstitution’s onstitution’s s e E B x ill ill - - Premierof H and temperatures freezer blast winds, blendsnow,ofdeep north howling central central frustration. blubbering of mass frozen a was I cocoa, steaming and hotdogs L brushes. with drum snare a playing someone like sounded walking so solid froze and soaked got uninsulated, also whatsoever. insulation no rigueur de instantly. almost froze they because though, far, not flowed, icicles. little into fingers little turned retying constant The again. over and over loose came then and froze, wet, got that material wicking a were bindings The awkward. and large were snowshoes wood-framed a was whenI nightmares mywinter all nearly tubing with neoprene, nylonwith orpoly tubing steel orstainless plastic ofaluminum, butpeoplemostprefer models modern webbing,ofrawhidelatticework decking and ash white of frames traditional word,winter. ofthe sense loosest the enjoy,outget toand wayforurbanites in a tohunters around get toand trappers snowshoeshavewayforevolveda from it. from snowshoes.without snow covered terrain through walking can’t imagine that I is truth The shoes. snow without winter through getting imagine can’t I that friends told even western western of foothills and mountains the in ing snowshoe like I that myself convinced andoff sinceDuff (mostly off) Winnipeghaveand in beendoing it on you know are wretched, indeed. indeed. wretched, are know you a through lived ever you’ve if which, days, wretched most ong before we reached the campfire, campfire, the reached we before ong imalayan terrain. terrain. imalayan These people seem to enjoy a devil’s peopleenjoy to seem These devil’s a From their noble beginnings in in nobleFrom beginnings their then. It’sdifferentwas That now. S O Far case. the hasn’t That alwaysbeen O snowshoeing started boyaactually Ias O lippery-soled lace-up moccasins were moccasins lace-up lippery-soled lder, and certainly no wiser,noI’ve now lder,certainly and ld school snowshoers still use the the use still snowshoers school ld ur intrepid leader chose winter’s winter’s chose leader intrepid ur C A ub S A sia, maybe 6,000 years ago, years 6,000 maybe sia, nowshoeswere responsible for , probably because they had had they because probably , lberta near where I live. I’ve I’ve live. I where near lberta S M cout. anitoba.hatedI it at first. B racing, they call it. call they racing, M anitoba winter, winter, anitoba lue jeans, jeans, Blue R T oblin was ears ears O ur ur - - - Opposite page: Karen Masterman and her friend Penny Marshall look back on their snowshoe trail. We connect

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Photo: Penny Marshall Photo: Penny back, arms and legs flailing, custom content and communication as I struggled to get up. But at needs under one roof. Contact us propylene decking. Some snowshoes least I wasn’t worrying. At some point, - we’ll help you take your message further. even come with anti-slippage cleats or I had an ah-ha! moment when I real- crampons onto which fleece-lined snow ized snowshoeing was downright fun. boots easily lock. A few years ago, my wife and I gave redpointmedia.ca Add proper clothing, roughly what each other high-tech, heavy plastic Antarctic explorers wear – snow and snowshoes for Christmas. On our wind-proof pants and tops layered over first excursion, on New Year’s Day, we breathable underwear – and a set of trekked with friends up a remote creek trekking or ski poles to help keep your valley tucked away in the mountains. ENTER ON-LINE FOR YOUR balance, and suddenly walking on snow We reveled in the new snow, enjoying CHANCE TO WIN! is oh so easy. the freedom and ease of mobility and That might help explain why snow- watched quietly as a herd of tawny elk shoeing has become the fastest-grow- ran onto an open hillside and stopped to ing winter sport in North America, look at us. at least among those of us who don’t We paused for lunch on a ridge over- winter in Arizona. looking the frozen creek. As we sipped My relationship with snowshoes hot chocolate, we struggled to stay on started turning around not long after a plastic tarp that kept sliding off the my Cub Scout days. After high school, crisp, fresh snow. We want to hear from our I spent five weeks helping a friend When it was time to go, we packed up West readers and how we tend his winter trapline in northern our gear and headed off. We hadn’t gone can make West Magazine Manitoba. Henry used dog teams and far when suddenly my snowshoes caught increasingly better. snowmobile for transport. I relied on a concealed tree root and I sprawled snowshoes. face-down in the snow. Most days, I tromped alone across Ever so briefly, I found myself flashing Go on-line today for several miles of a frozen (snow covered back to those Boy Scout days. I started your chance to win a and windswept) lake and deep into a to laugh. At least I think it was me, but it forest blanketed in several feet of snow could have been an elk. West $2,000 VISA to check traps. Occasionally caribou GIFT CARD! and wolves watched, undisturbed by my *Contest rules may apply. silent approach. Contest closes on March 30, 2011 at 12 a.m. Just as I did as a Boy Scout, I fell a lot, Have your say http://survey.westernfinan but now at least there were no witnesses. Visit westmagazine.ca and post cialgroup.ca//LoginSurvey. Not human ones, anyway. Who knew your thoughts and story ideas. asp?SurveyID=105 caribou could laugh?

West  37 Story and photos by Christalee Froese

Brigadoon in Saskatoon

endra Beland was just four years old when a group of Scottish dancers performed in her home town. She was hooked the minute she saw them. “That’s the kind of dancing I want to do,” she told her mom. KGetting to dance lessons presented a small problem back then, especially when Madison, a year younger than sister Kendra, quickly took to Highland dancing as well. There simply are no dance lessons in their small town. The Beland family (Mom Karri, Dad Joey and their four children) live in tiny, pop. 800, St. Walburg, Saskatchewan, an hour’s drive from anywhere with regular dance lessons. So the Belands began driving their daughters to Lloy- dminster, Sask. every week, spending two hours on the road to help the girls pursue their passion. Now they can hardly believe how far their daughters have come after just three years of lessons.

38  West . ISSUE 2120 . Wfallint 2010er 2011 Left: Kendra and Madison Beland

Story and photos by Right: Amanda Ross of the Shetland Christalee Froese Islands getting last minute costume help from her mom, Phyllis.

Competitive little grandparents’ anniversary, but I never several top-place finishes throughout dancers now did get to take lessons” says the stay-at- their years of competitive dancing. home mother. “I wanted my daughters One day, reserved for the Canadian Sitting in the stands of the Saskatoon to dance but I didn’t want to push them championships, features Canadian danc- Field House at the ScotDance Canada or live through them, so I’m just glad ers who have earned the right to compete Championship Series in July, 2010, the that it’s something they chose.” by qualifying within their own provinces. rural couple can hardly contain their Despite the facts that the event is ex- enthusiasm. tremely competitive and some of the best Their girls are among 600 dancers Competitive dancers in their respective provinces and gathered here for an event that attracts but friendly countries are on stage, Ross says she is competitors from throughout Canada, the amazed at the friendly atmosphere. United States and the United Kingdom. Amanda Ross, a 21-year-old “premier” “People just come up and talk to “I didn’t really know much about it dancer, made the two-day plane, train you, and all of the dancers chat and when the girls got started,” says Joey and automobile journey from the Shet- are very friendly, even though we’re Beland, an energy industry worker who land Islands. She says the ScotDance competing against one another.” In the sometimes helps his daughters with Canada competition is one of the best UK, she says, competitions are a little their costumes. she’s ever attended. “They make such more serious, complete with ‘snobby’ “What I like is that they’ve learned a big deal of Highland dance here, behaviour backstage. more about their heritage (on their whereas back home in Scotland, it’s just Ross’s mother, Phyllis, was surprised Mom’s side), and the Scottish culture a normal part of life so there are very by how at-home they felt at a competi- in general, which I think can only help few ceremonies, and not this much ex- tion in a foreign country. “I just love this build who they will become in life.” citement around the competition itself.” atmosphere – it’s brilliant. Everybody Joey Beland, being of French descent, The five-day event is a celebration of shares things and helps one another out, doesn’t have a Scottish bone in his body Highland dance with three and four which makes it more like an extended but Karri sure does and she still has year olds in the primary category, family. I was even at the dance shops up- relatives in Scotland. then beginners, novices and interme- stairs and they let me sit down at a sew- “My mom did teach me some steps diates up to “premier” events which ing machine to show me some stitches. and she made me an outfit for my are for dancers who have earned That wouldn’t happen back home.”

West  39 Karri Beland agrees that even though this is an international competition, the atmosphere is one that you might expect at a smaller, local event. “The highland dance community is very supportive and tight-knit and even though this is a big competition, people were still doing things like lending shoes to someone … or helping each other get dressed.” Kerilyn Vogt, a ScotDance organizer, says creating a family type of atmosphere was a major planning goal. Vogt, who danced for many years, says one of the most striking parts of the Sas- fling during the impressive grand Hosting the katchewan highland dance community is opening, it is evident that these danc- competition in how friendly and inclusive it is. ers have come together in an extraor- Saskatoon “As organizers, what we wanted to dinary way. has been an honour achieve is to make everyone feel a part “I have to admit,” says Vogt, “I tear for the organizers of something bigger than themselves, up just thinking about the opening and to make them feel like they’re part ceremonies and the mass fling. That It will be another 24 years before the city of the global highland dance family.” dance is just a real celebration of is likely to host the ScotDance Canada With the emotion-stirring bagpipes Highland dance, so to bring everyone Championship Series again. filling the auditorium, and 300 danc- together to dance it was just a special “For people from rural Saskatch- ers jointly performing the Highland moment.” ewan, having this big of an event come

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40  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 to Saskatoon gave them an opportunity to see what happens outside of the province and, hopefully, it’ll inspire Get it or Regret it them to take part in other competitions AMI Autoglass Insurance protects you from high replacement glass costs. to see where Highland dance might Please contact your Western Financial Group broker for more information about AMI Autoglass. take them.” Having danced as a youngster in North Battleford, Vogt said being part of an international dance competition some 20 years later has been extremely rewarding. The communications special- ist spent two years assisting the main 1-800-416-4082 • www.ami.ab.ca Autoglass Insurance organizing committee with advertising and sponsorship, a task Vogt says has created many life-changing moments. “Helping with this event reminded me how much I love highland dance, and it brought back all these terrific memories of both competition and camaraderie from my dance days.” For the Belands, the memory-build- ing years lie ahead. As Kendra and Madison wait anxiously for their results, Better than ever. each adorned in the Stuart clan tartan that their mother hunted down, there Sign up today for Buyer’s Guide+, the wine are twinkles in their eyes. With their lover’s must-read newsletter…FREE! grandmother having lovingly sewn their plaid kilties, velveteen vests and laced The new BuyER’S guidE+ features exclusive tasting bodices, the Highland dance tradition is notes from Canada’s most respected wine experts as much about heritage as it is about the and weekly tips from the world of wine. physical sport of dance itself. “My mom totally fusses over their costumes and she always wants every- thing to look just so,” says Karri. The Belands are thrilled that their young daughters have already learned many dances, like the sword dance, which was traditionally danced by young men before they went to war. “It’s amazing to think that people have done this for hundreds of years before them, and now they’re learning those traditions,” says Karri. The wine lover’s The Belands, Rosses and Kerilyn Vogt must-have, will never forget the ScotDance Canada FREE electronic Championship Series in Saskatoon. wine resource In fact, for anyone who witnessed the spectacular dancing, grand ceremonies and celebratory riverbank ceilidh, the memories will last a lifetime.” West

Have your say Visit westmagazine.ca and post Visit wineaccess.ca to sign up your thoughts and story ideas.

West  41 2_1_4x10StutterFdtnStossel:PSA 1/15/10 9:20 AM health Matters Stuttering ENTER ON-LINE FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN! We want to hear from our West readers and how we can make Didn’t West Magazine increasingly better. Silence Go on-line today for your chance to *Contest rules may apply. win a $2,000 VISA GIFT CARD! Contest closes on March 30, 2011 at 12 a.m. His http://survey.westernfinancialgroup.ca//LoginSurvey.asp?SurveyID=105 Story. CANADA’S WINE MAGAZINE

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68 $5.95 health Matters by ANGELA MORRISON, RN Can we shake the salt habit?

anadians eat a lot of salt and that’s quickly becom- ing a pressing health issue. The problem isn’t salt itself. We need salt, at least we need the NaCl (sodium chloride) salt toC live. The problem is that we ingest too much of it, specifically the sodium part. One teaspoon of salt is about six grams and 40% of that (2.4 grams) is sodium. Sodium contributes to high blood pres- sure (also called hypertension). Hyperten- sion Canada’s recommended daily intake of salt is 1.5 grams. Right now, Canadians are consuming 3.5 grams a day. Even if we were to throw away our salt shakers, we’d probably still eat ‘way too much salt thanks to prepared foods that account for 77 percent of the sodium in our diets. This sodium saturation is almost always high in convenient and children- and teen- preferred foods such as pizza, poutine, sandwiches, subma- rines, hot dogs and soups. This has resulted in 90% of Canadian

children between four and eight eating a Illustration: Julie McLaughlin lot more sodium than the recommended upper limit. Excess sodium is the reason 30% of Canadians have been diagnosed with increased blood pressure. The dangers of high blood pressure are well document- But we do need salt. ed. It’s the major cause of cardiovascular disease and a risk factor for stroke and Salt is one of the very few truly inorganic parts of our diets, but it’s necessary for a healthy life. The kidney disease. Mayo Clinic website states clearly that the human body needs salt for the right balance of fluids and Our kidneys balance our bodies’ to help absorb other nutrients. It helps transmit nerve impulses and influences the contraction and sodium levels. If the kidneys can’t get relaxation of our muscles. rid of excess sodium, our blood volume Salt is a key component of the sports drinks our society consumes so much of these days. Just one increases and that makes our hearts regular sized bottle of a popular drink contains more than 10% of the suggested daily sodium intake. work harder to move the blood through And commercial sports drinks probably aren’t even necessary. My son and I recently attended a our vessels and that increases pressure nutrition clinic at which a registered dietician suggested that a glass of half orange juice, half water and on our arteries. a pinch of salt could replace a sports drink. This would replenish lost fluids and essential body minerals Too much salt has also been linked without adding unnecessary sodium. It’s inconvenient, of course, but worth it. to obesity, stomach cancer, accelerating A Sodium Working Group commissioned in 2007 by Canada’s health minister to develop solutions to asthma and heart failure, negative impact our sodium intake problems came back with a 75 page report of recommendations including the decrease on bones and the development of kidney of the average daily intake to 1.8 grams a day from the current 3.4 grams. The decrease would prevent stones. West 23,500 cardiovascular events a year and result in a direct annual health care savings of $1.38 billion.

West  43 Simple & Delicious by Cinda Chavich

Gold in the Cellar often yearn for a spear of fresh THE RAW MATERIALS I plant in my garden – were apparently asparagus in the middle of winter Beets have been cultivated for more than neither exotic nor unknown to Depression- but I’d rather root around in 2,000 years, at least that’s what it says in era prairie cooks. My book matter-of-factly the cellar for something more my copy of Agriculture for Public Schools, states that, “… when cut across, some beets seasonal. a little textbook used by Grade 8 students are red, others are white or yellow, and oth- Root crops grow well in the west, store in Alberta in the 1930s. I like to collect old ers are banded red and white.” Iperfectly in a root cellar or a corner of the books about Canada and this one’s a keeper All grow well in deep soils with lots of refrigerator, and taste just as fresh as the – an incredibly detailed look at how to set water and you can eat both the beets and day you pulled them from the ground. up a prairie farm and grow a wide variety the tops or beet greens. Potatoes and carrots are always staples, of fruits and vegetables. Choose the right beet for your recipe. but don’t ignore beets when you want to I refer to this little book whenever I Red beets will bleed their red juices which serve something special. encounter a bug or disease in my garden, make beautiful soup but stain counters and Look around at the best restaurants but I was particularly fascinated when I got fingers. The beauty of the yellow or pink these days. Top chefs, committed to serv- to the part about growing beets. striped beets is that they have great sweet ing seasonal and regional cuisine, have What I now consider fancy heirloom beet flavour and no juices to stain. And pretty red, yellow and striped pink beets beets – the sweet golden yellow or pretty they look quite colourful alongside a steak, on the plate. pink and white striped Chioggia varieties chicken or fish dish.

44  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 Beet & Cabbage Soup

Borscht is a classic soup wherever Ukrainian immigrants are found. In Alberta, that means east of Edmonton, in towns like Vegreville, home to the country’s largest Ukrainian painted Easter egg, historic sites like the nearby living Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, or in one of Calgary’s copper-domed Ukrainian churches that tower above the Bow River. Borscht is the perfect way to utilize the root vegetables that can be stored in the cold room during the winter. Serve it hot or chilled, swirled with cool yogurt and sprinkled with fresh dill. Some versions of this beet soup start with beef or pork soup bones or spare ribs to make a meat broth base. This one is vegetarian. From High Plains: The Joy of Alberta Cuisine by Cinda Chavich.

3 medium beets, scrubbed but unpeeled 2/3 cup cubed carrots 175 ml 1 medium onion, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic minced 2 cups shredded green or purple cabbage 500 ml 1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cubed 14-ounce can tomatoes, pureed 396 ml 8 cups water or beef bouillon 2 L 1 cup cooked small white beans 250 ml 1 Combine the whole beets, chopped carrots, beans, lemon juice, sugar and paprika and 3 Tbsp lemon juice or red wine vinegar 45 ml onion, garlic, shredded cabbage, potato, pureed simmer 10 minutes. 1 tablespoon sugar 15 ml tomatoes, water or bouillon in a soup pot. Bring 1/2 teaspoon paprika 2 ml to a boil over high heat then reduce heat to low, 3 Whisk together the flour, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons flour 25 ml cover the pot and simmer the soup for 1 hour. cream or sour cream and whisk into the soup to salt and freshly ground black pepper thicken. Heat through but do not boil or the soup 1/2 cup cream or sour cream 125 ml 2 Remove the beets from the soup, peel and will curdle. Stir in fresh dill and serve immediately. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill 25 ml chop or grate back into the soup. Add the white Serves 6-8.

THE PROCESS ¼ inch of water, cover with foil and bake. You can drizzle beets with a little Cellar As my little book notes, “… the skin should When they’re tender, and still warm, slip balsamic vinegar or sherry vinegar, not be broken” when cooking beets, “… off the skins and discard the tops. while they’re still warm, or toss them and the stubs of the leaves should be left on with butter and chopped fresh dill. so that there may be no loss of food value.” THE EQUIPMENT Once they’re cooked and cooled, you That’s how I cook beets – simply scrub You don’t need any special equipment can slice or chop the beets and use them off any dirt, put them in a steamer and to cook beets – just a regular saucepan in a variety of dishes. Consider making steam until they’re easy to pierce with a with a steamer basket for steaming, or a a beet risotto (red beets turn the rice a sharp knife. Then run them under cool baking dish and some aluminum foil for lovely fuchsia colour), a chopped pink running tap water, rub off the skins and the roasting beets. beet and potato salad with fresh rose- stem and serve immediately (they’ll still be You can cook a lot of beets quickly in mary, or a stack of roasted beet slices warm on the inside), or set aside and reheat a pressure cooker – just use about a cup with creamy goat cheese. with a little butter just before serving. of water and cook at high pressure for To quickly pickle beets, boil together Another great way to cook beets, to 15-20 minutes. a brine of cider vinegar and brown concentrate their sweet flavors, is to roast sugar (2:1) with salt and spices, pour them. You can wrap each beet in foil and THE EMBELLISHMENTS over roasted or steamed beets, and let sit bake it on a baking sheet at 350F for about Beets are very versatile – they can be overnight. Keep in a jar in the fridge for an hour, until tender. Or you can place all served on their own or added to soups longer storage. West of the beets in a baking dish with about or even salads.

West  45 The Reign of Terroir by Cinda Chavich

Barley Days

t’s not clear what came first – the province’s barley is used as feed in the feed or the forager – but there’s no $4 billion cattle industry, giving Alberta doubt, Alberta is barley country. beef its characteristic marbling. But it Barley fattens famous Alberta also feeds chickens, pigs and people beef and makes the province around the world. perfect for craft brewers. In fact, Alberta’s Because it is a great source of energy, IHarrington variety of malt barley is complex carbohydrates, protein, fibre or hulled barley, has more of the healthy considered the world standard, and goes and that miracle ingredient – beta fibre intact. into barley sandwiches from Milwaukee glucan, a unique soluble fibre that helps There’s also a new product, devel- to Munich. regulate blood glucose and cholesterol – oped by the Agriculture Canada Cereal Alberta’s six million or so acres of barley is gaining popularity with people Research Centre in Winnipeg, that’s been barley produce more than five million looking for a healthy whole food diet. steamed and dried so it cooks in just 10 tonnes of grain, over half the barley Barley is low on the glycemic index minutes (compared with the usual 40). grown in the country, and Canada is a (good for diabetics) and low in gluten, It’s the Minute Rice of the barley world. world leader in barley production. too. Oprah listed barley as one of the At The Jungle, a U-pick farm in central Driving along almost any road in cen- world’s top 10 superfoods. Alberta, Leona Staples sends her barley tral Alberta on a summer afternoon, you’ll The barley grown in Alberta comes in to Manitoba to be processed to create see the nodding heads of barley crops, the two different varieties: feed barley and this quick-cooking barley. It’s a perfect long elegant beards rippling in the prairie malt barley. The latter is sold to brewers product to replace rice, or to add to westerlies like swells in the sea. around the world. soups and stews. You can buy it directly It’s the black soil and the cooler climate Barley you find in the supermarket from Staples at her farm outside Innisfail, that make Alberta a prime barley- has been processed to varying degrees. or through the Innisfail Growers Co-op producing region, but it’s also the wild Both pot and pearl barley are polished to at farmers markets throughout Alberta. fescue rangeland in the foothills, perfect remove the inedible hull, but pearl bar- Another central-Alberta product, cattle country, that offers a ready market ley has more of this layer removed. Pot found in supermarkets across the prov- for all of that grain. About 80% of the barley, sometimes called Scotch barley ince, is Hamilton’s Barley Flour, created

46  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 the Winers by the Hamilton family near Olds. This soft, nutty flour is low in gluten, so you can substitute only about ¼ of the wheat flour in yeast bread recipes. But in quick breads, pancakes, cookies and other reci- pes that call for flour, you can substitute barley for flour 1:1, adding healthy fibre and a rich toasty flavour to baked goods. Research is also ongoing at the Uni- versity of Alberta to “fractionate” barley – that is, break out the healthy beta glucan – so it can be added as a food supplement to everything from breakfast sausages to orange juice. You may associate whole grain barley with a big steamy bowl of beef and barley soup but there are many other uses for this low-gluten grain. Whole grain barley risotto is turning up on the best restau- rant menus across the prairies. With a spoonful of butter and cream and a little Parmesan cheese, or a bit of yogurt and dried fruit, a pot of plain barley can go from an elegant side dish to a hearty break- fast. Cooled and tossed with fresh vegeta- bles, it’s a healthy stand-in for couscous in tabouli or the base for a spicy Jambalaya. Mulling So prairie barley is gaining new respect, even if you’re not in the beef or beer business. It’s another whole grain to enjoy for both its 100-mile, Western Ca- nadian provenance, and its great, healthy Wine flavour. West ormally, our Winers’ task is to sample Next choice: which recipe? We had no idea. Barley sandwich is slang for beer. I had and rate a half dozen or so wines – Only one of us could remember having any to look it up. Ed. Nwestern Canadian if possible – that mulled wine recently, so we tried two approaches, complement one of Cinda Chavich’s recipes Canadian and German. in West. The Canadian way of mulling calls for apple cider, Alberta Barley Commission Facts: For this we assemble westerners with average perhaps cranberry juice, fewer spices and honey. We palates and, guided by recommendations from found a recipe online at the Canadian food network, • Barley was one of the first cereals grown Tom Firth of Wine Access magazine, we buy the www.foodnetwork.ca, and got to work, first substi- by humans. wines and start tasting. If we like them, we figure tuting maple syrup, the real stuff, for the honey. • Barley came to Canada with French settlers. you probably will, too. The original German Gluehwein recipe has more • Most people are familiar with pot barley or But in this issue, Cinda is writing about beets. spices such as mace, allspice, cardamom and star pearl barley. But did you know barley also How do you match wines with beets? anise wrapped in a bag, crushed and steeped. It comes in the form of flour, flakes or grits? It We were stumped, so we decided to give mulled tastes better with a little berry schnapps added. can be used to make pancakes, muffins and wine a shot. It’s an old time seasonal favourite. Careful, though, too much schnapps and you’re as a tasty ingredient in breads. Fortunately you don’t need expensive wine. sitting in the corner mumbling. The recipe was at Mulling involves sweetening, spicing, and www.ehow.com • A bushel of barley yields a bushel of malt. A heating so a half-decent inexpensive wine The vote? Either mulling approach is fine when bushel of malt yields a barrel of beer. That’s is fine, perhaps a fruity pinot noir, cabernet, you’re outside in the cold and, of course, all the 333 bottles. or merlot. Usually mulled wine is red but we wines, white or red, taste pretty much the same. • Barley kernels are polished to remove the thought we’d try a few whites like gewürztra- Inside? Plain old wine straight from the bottle tastes inedible hull part of the grain. Pearl barley, miner and Riesling. better and they all did on the day we tested. the smaller of the two types, is polished three Mission Hill, Peller, Cedar Creek for the reds But mulled wine is festive and fun to make. times longer than pot or scotch barley. and Summerhill, Grey Monk for the whites. Once. W

West  47 backgrounder

Bee Mystery Solved? n early October, The the fungus reproduce in cold, army scientists were research- New York Times ran a wet weather, and, somehow, af- ing ways to protect soldiers story about something fect the bees’ digestive systems. from biological agents. that has puzzled us for Normally, scientists would The complete New York theI last few years: what is kill- perform bee autopsies to learn Times story was here last ing off honeybees? more but that’s a problem time we looked: http://www. Well, apparently US military because when a bee gets sick nytimes.com/2010/10/07/ scientists and insect experts it flies away from the hive and science/07bees.html?_r=3 W may have an answer. The dies by itself. problem is caused by a fungus The cooperation between and a virus, neither of which military and academic scien- would harm bees all by itself tists isn’t all that unusual. It’s but, together, they’re lethal. been going on at least since The virus and fungus were World War II. Even the bee both found in every collapsed angle wasn’t something new. bee colony studied. So far, It turns out that a group of they don’t know how the fun- scientists at the University of gus/virus team kills bees but Montana had been working on they’re working on it. They do a way to use honeybees in de- know that both the virus and tecting land mines. Meanwhile,

No humans need apply?

In September 2009, the Coast Coast Guard maintains that Guard announced that it would technology has improved dra- restart the process of destaff- matically and lighthouse keepers ing BC’s lighthouses beginning in automated lighthouses are with Dryad Point, Cape Mudge, expensive redundancies. Those Entrance Island and Trial Island. who argue in favour of manned The remaining 23 manned light- lighthouses have a longer list houses would all be turned over to that, roughly, insists that manned automation within five years. lighthouses are a better way Then the you-know-what hit (quicker and more accurate) to the fan and the Coast Guard put provide safety for mariners, avia- the plan on temporary hold while tors and the environment. it undergoes a Senate review. If you have an opinion on The review has no specified this issue, we’d love to hear it. timeline for completion. Please email Danielle.Bernier@ It’s a complicated issue but westernfg.ca W the gist seems to be that the Illustration: Enrico Varrasso

48  West . ISSUE 21 . Winter 2011 backgrounder

Big photo: Swimming down the Campbell River following thousands of Chinook.

Small photo: Jamie Turko floats along after Hans.

its creatures. I feel as though I’m swimming inside the artery of a giant living organism. We pass the piled stones of an abandoned fish weir, one of several where natives once used cedar nets to capture salmon. Fly fishers cast their lines into the river, pursuing the elusive Tyee, a Chinook weigh- ing more than 30 pounds. Through the bushes I glimpse the home of the late Roderick Haig-Brown, a noted conserva- tionist, magistrate and writer. An avid fisherman, he was one of the first to snorkel the river to inves- Large photo: Stefanie Pletscher. Small photo: Hans Tammemagi Hans Small photo: Pletscher. Stefanie photo: Large tigate what damage dams were causing and, of course, to find the best places to fish. Swimming with salmon Tall, stately, dark-green Douglas firs line the shore, inter- ncased in a wet suit the biggest and sportiest of the five so we can traverse a particularly rupted by the bright fall yellows and a life jacket that salmon species. They range from fast and tumbling stretch of water. of big-leaf maples. An eagle’s nest the guide has cinched two to three feet in length and Then I plunge right back in. and then a heron’s nest punctuate up too tight, I’m from 20 to more than 50 pounds. Hundreds of Chinook pass by, the sky. A hawk soars. Turko Ebobbing in an inflated raft on the I’m in ecstasy. some right beneath me. About describes the black bears he saw Campbell River on the east coast I start floating down the river 8,000 spawn in the Campbell Riv- on a previous outing. of Vancouver Island. like a cork. The raft hovers close er each fall, explains Turko. “But As we approach the sea, the It is a perfect, cloudless day in behind like a mother duck. With that’s nothing. In August about heads of harbour seals occasion- late September and the river is recent rains, the river has swollen 800,000 pinks (another salmon ally poke above the waves. A running fast. I’m nervous because and the flow is about three times species) crammed the river.” seal passes underwater, slower I’m about to snorkel downstream faster than usual. There is an edge, Floating along, I ponder and more languid than the among spawning salmon. a rush of adrenaline. Seaweed on this phenomenon. At this very Chinooks, but still smooth and Lowering myself onto a rock the river bottom all point down- moment, salmon are struggling graceful, making me feel like a ledge, I adjust to the shock of the stream like weather vanes. I race up thousands of streams and hippo trying ballet. cold (8°C) water and then push past cobbles and boulders. rivers along the entire BC coast. Too soon it is over and I strip into the river. Shafts of light angle Our destination is the estuary, Often they swim hundreds of off the wet rubber suit, grinning down through the bluish, silty about four kilometres down- kilometres inland, where they and happy to have been part of water like an array of laser beams. stream. Occasionally, Jamie Turko, begin and end their life cycles, this vital coastal heartbeat. Large fish flit into view and then the river manager of Destiny River with their bodies providing vital quickly exit. These are Chinook, Adventures, hauls me into the raft nourishment to the forest and Hans Tammemagi

West  49 West’s editor raves…

Music Notes The Nexus of Old School and New School

don’t know how many Canadians Elvis singing and a third have seen a 2007 documentary with the great Buddy called Young@Heart. Probably not Holly singing Every Day . a lot. Those guys have been The movie follows a choir of dead an average of 39 very old folks from Massachusetts who years! Why bring them Kerr Illustration: Mike Isurprise audiences around the world back? What’s with the with a repertoire that includes songs lingering influence of the originally recorded by people like Cold- singers and the songs from play and James Brown. Imagine your the old days? grandfather screaming “Oeowwww, I Perhaps the best oldie feel good …” you hear in commer- They’re pretty entertaining and they cials – and it’s in a lot of get a lot of smiles but every now and then them – is Etta James’s At Young@Heart can break your heart with, Last, which she recorded for example, Forever Young, sung in a in 1961. Beyoncé did a prison yard, and Fix You, sung in a small pretty good version of it concert hall somewhere in the Berkshires. when she played Etta in the You can find them both on YouTube. movie Cadillac Records. Forever Young has been recorded by This retro stuff isn’t just show- just about everyone from Bob Dylan to ing up in commercials either. On Broad- Jay-Z. It’s a good song but it becomes way, right now, there’s a huge hit, called music but the way it’s presented. great when the old folks perform it for a Million Dollar Quartet, about the day back Most of the pop music from the ’50s crowd of convicts. in the ’50s when Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee and early ’60s was pretty bad. It was Coldplay’s Fix You, is, to me anyway, Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash got the heyday of jazz, especially bebop, as mildly annoying. It’s sung with minimal together at Sun Records to make music. guys like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis impact by a skinny guy in what seems Jersey Boys, about Frankie Valli and and John Coltrane carved out legendary to be a natural falsetto. Young@Heart’s The Four Seasons, is still knocking them careers. Compared to them, very little “Fred” does it better. dead in New York and in touring com- pop was worth listening to. A basketball-shaped old guy with panies all over the world. But some if it was and much of that tubes running into his nose, he can In the last few years I’ve seen plays was great. Even today it sounds alive, barely move. He has to sit in a folding about Hank Williams who died on New unique and authentic. And the Young@ chair to sing his version of Fix You – in Year’s Day, 1953 and Patsy Cline who Heart choir deconstructs the manu- a much deeper voice. Backed by the per- died in the crash of a small plane ten factured music we get today to make cussive clicks of his oxygen machine and years later. it sound the way the way it might have the gentle voices of his fellow old-timers, A friend insists that all this is caused sounded had Buddy or Hank or Elvis he turns the song into a miracle of emo- by Baby Boomer nostalgia. Maybe, but done it. tion. Fred doesn’t sing well at all but he’s old Fred of Young@Heart made me Better. somehow perfect. wonder if there might be something else The night I saw Young@Heart, I going on. Mike McCormick started reading after the movie and, at The Young@Heart geezers, Hank Wil- the same time, sort of following a foot- liams, Howlin’ Wolf, Patsy Cline, Buddy ball game on a US channel. Holly and Elvis aren’t Boomers. They’re Shortly, three commercials in a row got a lot older. So are the doowoppers who my attention. I have no idea what any of occasionally turn up in sold out concerts FEEL LIKE SHARING YOUR THOUGHTS ON them was selling but their music made you see on TV. A ONE-SIDED ISSUE? We'd love to hear me sit up; first there was a commercial I suspect that what attracts us, old and them. Drop us a line, snail- or e-mail, to that opened with an old tune by Howlin’ young alike, to the music of the best of West at either of the addresses on page 6. Wolf (Chester Burnett) then a spot with the old timers isn’t so much the actual

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