Hope in Saskatchewan

I am spending a few days in the home of my youth in Kamsack, Saskatchewan before heading to Regina for a painting gig on Tuesday. When I arrived, I think I was fighting a bug of some kind and was still feeling the after effects of a professional situation that was inhabiting much of my emotional real estate. A few days along and I'm feeling much better. The nagging headache and the lingering stress tainted my view of things.  Usually I spot some things interesting to photograph during the trip through the heart of Saskatchewan, but I didn't pull over once on my entire trip.

Yesterday my oldest friend Warren took me on a tour of his harvest work site, a Hutterite colony near Norquay. He's been driving combine for them for the past six years, usually starting in mid-August and going until all 23,000 acres are done. Harvest was done a few days earlier, but he wanted to make the trip back to get some vegetables. It was a fascinating visit, a rare chance to see the scale of a massive farming operation that migrated from southern Alberta several years ago. I was grateful to George, Phillip, Keith, Mark and others for taking the time to share some insights about farming and for giving me a tour.

Warren took me to see their new base of operations, currently under construction. When it is complete, it will be a mini town with sewer lines, streets, a massive community kitchen and a shop building that is absolutely massive. 

From Crystal Lake Farming Company, Warren took me to lunch in the tiny community of Stenen. He wanted me to experience a Saskatchewan success story. Rawhides is an incredible restaurant and special events centre in the middle of this small village that you would have no idea is there. It attracts customers from near and far by the hundreds. While our late lunch was enjoyed at a time when the restaurant was pretty empty, they were gearing up for an afternoon wedding that would fill the place at dinner time. How small is Stenen? Let's put it this way: more people will attend this wedding at Rawhides than live in the entire community.

It was nice to see some examples of economic prosperity near my hometown. The colony is obviously thriving and growing. They will soon add a chicken barn to their operation that will produce tens of thousands of eggs on a weekly basis.

Rawhides has created an unlikely entertainment destination in a community of less than 100 people. We even drove by the Sunterra peat moss facility near Hyas which harvests and packages peat moss, a 24-7 operation according to Warren.

There are glimmers of hope, examples of innovation and re-invention, a determination to embrace this new Canadian prairie reality. Kamsack is a shadow of its former self, but even here there are signs of hope and opportunity if you look hard enough. 

In the back alley behind our family home on Second Street is the former home of Shop-Easy, previously Shop-Rite and before that, Laimon and Banks. It had several lives as a grocery store, though it's been vacant for quite a number of years. I worked there part-time between 1982-1985. The building was recently purchased by a company called SEK Glass which has outgrown its spot across the boulevard. There is a lot of curiosity about what they will be doing to fix up the space. My Mom observes that traffic has increased a lot in the back alley since news of their renovation intention was announced in the Kamsack Times.