Anna Kuelken was not even born when I left Fort Assiniboine in the early 1980’s to pursue a life that didn’t include farming. I wasn’t particularly well-suited to it, though for the first 18 yeas of my life, I knew little else.

Anna was raised on a family farm in that same tiny community a few hundred kilometres NW of Edmonton. Her experience may not have differed much from my own; things don’t change quickly in a community of 150 hardy souls more than 200 miles from the nearest city, in this case Edmonton.

Her father Peter and I were of a similar generation.  Although a few years older than me, we grew up attending the same small school, and knowing most of  the same people.  To give a sense of size, there were 19 in my high school graduation class, the 2nd largest in history. Our people farmed for the most part, and almost all had other jobs off the farm to support their habit. Today the notion of the “family farm” is challenged more than ever in its history.

While the family farm I was raised on has been gone from the family for 3 decades, Anna is still very attached to land she grew up on.  She recently submitted this short film she produced about her father’s relationship with the land. It examines the changing dynamic and circumstance of the family farm; at times seeming very much like the now almost 40 years removed from my own day to day experience, and yet, not that different.  Farmers still work off the farm to support their habit, just like my dad did in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. It remains a solitary and noble lifestyle for those who have survived.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the relationship between a farmer and the land they farm.

Anna’s father Peter Kuelken provides some background:

…This  farm and I became acquainted in 1958. I was 2 years old and was the child of immigrant parents who loved us as dearly as they did the country they had come to. It was at a very young age that I was taught about the power of the land. I learned from my parents the importance of the respect for the air the water the soil and the life that flourished there. In my later years returning to the farm was because of the love that had been in my life from my family and community.

My return was because of the sense of security of this life that was imbedded in my soul as a child.   The miracle of life that emerged constantly around us and the curiosity it created was something that my wife and I wanted our children to embrace and have in their lives. We also followed the path of the conventional agriculture but returned to a holistic model that is sustainable.  We now use technology and the tools that it provides to be better stewards of this land.   I am so proud now that my children carry this flag of stewardship in its truest sense.  They now have become like our indigenous people in the understanding of the importance of this land which sustains us. The circle of life continues…”

by Peter Kuelken

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