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The snow crunches underfoot; sparkling diamonds in the bright sunlight. Morning temperatures hover between minus 15 and minus 20 degrees Celsius. Despite the cold I’m so thrilled that the sun is shining for the fourth day in a row. I was starting to feel as grey and foggy as the weather outside was for weeks. But not everyone is as thrilled as I am.

What is a normal winter for us Canadians makes the Swiss feel like they’ve been transported to Siberia. That would be even worse. Newspapers report daily on the latest death toll. Over 300 people in Europe have died to date in this extraordinary cold spell, with Ukraine and Poland reporting the highest losses. According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the Ukraine reports 121 dead. Most of those are homeless, but 30 were found dead at home, due to lack of adequate heating.

The Swiss aren’t dying, but many living in old poorly insulated houses are feeling the temperatures keenly. Farmers too are struggling. Margrit Gasser says she would enjoy the sun and snow if she had the time. The Gassers have been battling frozen water lines and calves with Pneumonia. Few livestock setups are equipped for this kind of cold weather. Gassers were – until a fuse went out at night, and the water heaters froze too. Their son Benjamin, who took over the farm recently, is gone for his mandatory annual military training (one week/year) this week. Murphy’s Law!

My cousin Res Lehmann said he was watering cows by hand for the first time in his over 20 year farming career. Thankfully he only has about 30 cows to water. He hopes to get the water lines running again. The cows don’t get enough to drink from the pail, and milk quantity drops drastically.

The manure is piling up in frozen heaps at Markus Stamm’s farm. His father Hans told me the manure scraper stopped working some days ago. The real mess will be when it all starts to thaw. But that won’t happen before the end of the week. There’s no thawing weather in the forecast for now.

The picturesque old village of Schleitheim, tucked between snow covered hills, looks and feels like an alpine ski resort this week. On Sunday many braved the ‘cold’ (minus 10C) to go for a walk in the winter wonderland. It’s hard to believe there were snow drops and the first crocus blooming a week ago. It’s been a warm winter until now, too warm many said. The winter cereals were still a healthy green, even if they weren’t growing.

So I guess we were due for a correction. For those with good heating systems and no cattle, all is well. It reminds me of minus 40C on the Canadian prairies. That’s always a hard period for cattle farmers to get through too – especially if they are calving already. What is cold is a relative number.

What do you get when you mix Canada, Switzerland and Zambia? – the Ukraine! At least that’s the impression I got listening to Franz Stamm. I was at a Fleckvieh breeders association meeting last week. After the business portion, Stamm (no relation) showed pictures of his brother’s farming operation in the Ukraine and talked about the challenges and opportunities involved.

In Switzerland, with intense competition for every available piece of land, Moritz Stamm would never have his own farm. In the Ukraine there are large tracts of very fertile land to be had. After spending two years working on a farm there, he decided to take the risk and start his own business. Today he successfully rents and operates a farm of 1550 hectares.

The farm used to be part of a collective out of the communist time. After that it was given back to its original owners, all 500 of them, who now rent it back to Moritz. It’s not possible to purchase land in the Ukraine; only buildings and machinery.
“Immigrating to the Ukraine is very interesting but it can also be very difficult,” Franz told us. The Ukraine is politically instable. Corruption is rampant.

The Swiss farmers around me kept laughing. The dimensions, the whole situation is so different from their world. They laughed when Stamm said 1550 hectares was small compared to some of the big farms of 10,000 hectares and more. Just as they laugh whenever I tell them we have a small grain farm in Alberta – 550 hectares. Of course. Here the average farmer has 30 hectares. If someone has 100 hectares he’s a really big farmer.

They laughed again when Franz said his brother used to own pigs but the feed kept wandering home with the Ukrainian workers. So he got rid of the hogs. I think of Zambia where theft is so common on farms that it is an allowable expense on the tax return. It’s a strange concept in a safe world like Switzerland, or Canada.

The pictures of the local market also reminded me of Zambia – food, clothing, household goods are all sold under the open sky. There are supermarkets some distance away, but the locals can’t afford to shop there. Most local Zambians can’t afford to shop in a supermarket either.

The expansive fields and wide sky reminded me of western Canada. But the machinery seen on most of the pictures didn’t. It’s old, rusty, from another generation. Franz said much of it is in operating condition and the workers are very good at repairs. One of the first things Moritz did was to import a new Class combine so he could get his first crop off on time.

The risk has worked well for Moritz, but success has come at a price. More than once he’s been robbed. Once he was mobbed and beaten. “You can hardly trust anyone, not even those from the west,” Franz told us. It’s not an ideal place to raise a family; good schools are not readily accessible.

Going back out to the chill of a European winter I thought, “If I was going to emmigrate, I’d go to Zambia. At least it’s warm there!”

“You could spit over the border, you live so close,” Max, our German friend, thinks. Not quite – it’s still more than a kilometre. But Adolf Keller of Dörflingen probably could, if the wind was going the right way. His Swiss farm house is only about 30 meters from the German border, marked by a single cement post at the side of the road.

Kellers have owned land on both sides of the border for several generations, just as many of the Swiss farmers around him have. The border was never much of an issue for him. The people on both sides are his friends and neighbours. Those relationships haven’t changed, but the regulations from the German agriculture department have and they’re making life difficult for Keller right now.

The biggest challenge are crop protection products (I`ll call them CPP) – herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. The Germans, as part of the EU (European Union), operate under EU rules. Switzerland is non-EU. The first verdict was: No CPP are allowed into Germany from a non-EU country. Not even over a border you can’t see right by your house. It’s been downgraded to: only CPP are allowed which are identical to those sold in Germany, not just similar as it was until now. That means many of the CPP Keller has used may not be allowed on his German land. There’s another side to this – most Swiss sell their commodities under the Integrated Production label in Switzerland. That also has stringent rules regarding which CPP can be used.

A large farmer, that’s around 100 hectares here, could maybe run two systems – one for the Swiss land, one for the German. But most of these farmers aren’t very big – maybe 25 to 30 hectares. The fields might be one or two hectares at best, sometimes even less. The border actually runs right through several of Keller’s fields. “What do I spray that will work for both sets of rules?” is his dilemma.

The EU environmental protection rules are getting much more stringent too. Swiss rules have been tight for some time. Germany has been more lax in that department. Now it looks like they’re going to really tighten things up.
It’s hard enough to keep up with constantly changing and increasingly tough regulations in one country. Trying to do everything right according to two sets of rules is downright difficult. And then there’s the paperwork…

But if some Swiss would decide to abandon their German land, the German farmers would probably be quite happy. The Swiss still achieve substantially higher commodity prices in Switzerland. That gives them the upper hand when bidding for land over their German counterparts. The recent sale of some large tracts of land in Germany to Swiss farmers hasn’t gone over well with the agriculture community there. Many smaller Swiss farmers are convinced this new onslaught of tough rules is retaliation. Who knows. Whatever it is, it’s not making life easy for Keller and his friends. Because they’re not abandoning their land – they can’t afford to. And after all, it’s been theirs for generations.

A couple weeks into this New Year, Zambian farmers have one main wish: rain. The rainy season normally starts beginning of November lasting to end March/beginning April. It’s the main planting season for all farmers without irrigation, with planting starting middle of November to Christmas. Main crops are corn and soybeans.

“It has been a very dry start to the season,” writes Rassie du Toit, a large commercial farmer in the Mkushi farming block. “Crops look good in general but a big concern is the low rainfall.” Du Toit irrigates much of his land, so can mitigate the lack of rain somewhat. But he is concerned that rivers and dams fill enough to be able to irrigate the winter crop (mostly wheat), planted in April/May. You can’t irrigate without water. And there’s no water whatsoever in the dry season.

Jessy Mpuplwa from Mpongwe too writes the rains have not been so good. He’s discouraged enough to begin to consider a business besides farming. Jessy is already big enough to manage somehow, but for most small scale farmers a lack of rain is devastating. A small crop or no crop means small food or no food. Many will be looking for jobs somewhere to try to feed their families.

Besides water, Murray Sanderson of Kitwe writes: “Farmers who grow cotton, tobacco, flowers or vegetables for export, and who are fortunate enough to have irrigation, are concerned about the exchange rate, which right now is moving favourably for them. Cattle farmers share the same concern, if they export.” What moves favourably now, can change very quickly.

To end this wish list series, I’m going to print Vivienne Mutale’s wish list in its entirety. Vivienne is a small scale farmer who also has a full time job as a private secretary. She spends weekends and holidays on the farm, which provides food and an income supplement for her family and is a two hour walk from the road in the rainy season.

“My wish for my farm next year would be:
1. I should be able to grow enough cash crops to be able to sell and make money.
2. I should have transport to carry the whole lot of my produce.
3. There should be a ready market to buy my produce
4. The climate should be favourable – we seem to be experiencing a great change in our weather pattern. The rain pattern is not as it should be – less rainfall than expected, although there is a possibility of heavier rains at the end of the season which may damage the crops as they get ready for harvest.
5. If I could also have farming implements such as ox-drawn ploughs; or animal power.
6. I should build a better structure for shelters for such animals as cows; pigs; goats and chickens.
7. I should be able to construct some fish ponds.

Well this is a big wish for a small farmer like Vivienne”

Vivienne, we hope that your wishes can be granted in their entirety! And for all you Zambian farmers, we wish you the right amount of good soaking rains, to fill those rivers and dams and grow the crops, and that stop when it is time.

Canadians are notorious for talking about the weather. We can’t help it. Either it’s freaking cold, or bone dry, or blowing a blizzard. We especially can’t help it if we’re farmers and our very livelihood depends on it. No wonder the weather is tops for Canadian farmer’s wish list for 2012.

“I wish we would have got a good soaking in the fall because it’s bone dry where I live,” Peter Zingre tells me from Cecil Lake, B. C. He produces cattle and grain in the Peace River area, which is at the north end of Canada’s arable land. “We’ve had hardly any snow”, he says. “Up here if you don’t get snow you don’t get a good start.” Spring runoff from snow is important to fill the dugouts so there is water for the cattle. It’s important for good spring moisture to get the crop off to a good start. I wish Peter and all his fellow farmers up there some good heavy snowfalls yet this winter!

“A good growing season is highest on my wish list,” says Johann von Rennenkampf, a grain farmer from Pickardville, Alberta. “In our situation, the weather has the biggest impact on the farm. Second is stable prices and economy. If I have these two and my health, I’m happy!”

Paul deChamplain is a 28 year old grain farmer from east of Westlock, Alberta. “Having the weather on our side is always something I am praying for,” he says. “I hope all the farmers across Canada receive good weather for the up and coming crop year, which is sure to be exciting.”

Loren Koch of Westlock can already cross one item off his list: “I think my biggest wish has already been granted- the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) is voluntary for 2012!” Up until this recent ruling the CWB had the monopoly on all sales of wheat and barley for human consumption.

DeChamplain is also happy about the new voluntary CWB. “I am looking forward to having the freedom to sell wheat and barley directly to the elevator or end user,” he says. “I have nothing against the wheat board but having that choice to sell to anybody is going to be exciting.”

Most Canadian grain and cattle farmers are pretty happy about prices right now. Their wish for the coming year is that things can stay that way. “As a young grain farmer, I truly am looking forward to the new crop year and believe that grain prices are going to remain strong and get stronger into the new year,” says deChamplain.

Zingre is a little more concerned. “Prices are unstable because of the European debt crisis. Every time there is new news prices go up or down.”

I’ll close with a few lines from Loren Koch. “It seems that so far in my farming career most of my wishes have already come true! We Are truly Blessed! My uncle and aunt were here with us Christmas day.Uncle Willard said: ‘this year is like a Grand Slam in baseball for farmers in the Three Hills area: real good yields, real good quality, real good prices’. Our crops were also way better than expected! Crop prices are good! Beef cattle look like they have finally turned the corner as well! For a farmer what more can you possibly wish for? Health, Happiness, Gratefulness? One more would be: to be a better steward of ALL the things God has entrusted to me, farm, family and the people I have influence on!”

So those are the thoughts of a few of my Canadian farm friends. Next week we’ll close this little series with the wish list of my Zambian friends.

If any readers have their own thoughts, I might put together a fourth blog with a wish list from blog readers!

Weather and prices dominate the wish list of many Swiss farmers for 2012. 2011 was a difficult year weather-wise. A warm dry winter and spring caused a major drought. Feed was scarce for livestock, and crops were stunted. A rainy cool July reversed some of the damage, but made for a wet harvest. Heavy hail in many areas devastated grain crops.

“A rainy day a week, then sunshine,” was Markus Stamm’s first wish. That would make for a much more relaxing situation for farmers. Benjamin Gasser, a nearby young farmer, agrees heartily. He too hopes for a year with less turbulent weather changes; a bit more leeway to work with.

“I’d like a little time just to live,” was Stamm’s second wish, “that I’m not just running from one thing to the other.” The Stamm crops are grown according to IP (Integrated Production) specifications, and his cattle produced as Natura Beef. Both labels are highly regulated, with clear specifications that must be met, and recorded. All this means a lot of extra work. Markus also renovated his barn last summer, doing most of the work himself. In 2012 he hopes to be able to take a week of holidays in the summer and more time off.

Ernst Spengler lives and works on the mixed farm – dairy, broilers, and crops – of his son-in-law. ”I wish for better milk and pork prices,” was his immediate response. With the demise of the milk quota system production rose too high, with an inevitable drop in price. He’s thankful they invested in a broiler barn instead of into the dairy. The broiler operation is doing well.

Pork producers are struggling hard to make ends meet, Spengler told me. A longer period of high prices had farmers producing more pigs, which too resulted in a drastic drop in price. Many mills are now feeling the crunch because farmers don’t have the cash to pay bills. It reminds me strongly of the recent situation for western Canadian hog farmers.

Christoph Hafner sits on various agriculture and community boards. He just turned the responsibility of running the mixed family farm over to his son, but continues to live and work there. “I wish that commodity prices would be calculated differently – from below, and not from above – so that farmers would get a decent wage.” He is referring to the fact that prices are dictated by the big companies buying the product, and not by the farmer. He feels farmers don’t get enough of the ‘cake’, often only crumbs, leaving them with slender pickings to live off of.

Government agriculture policies should be geared more towards encouraging the production and consumption of domestic food, Hafner says. That would be real development. It would mean higher grocery bills, but reflect the true value of food, and benefit the farmer. “So many people think we don’t need the Swiss farmer at all,” he laments.

Sadly, weather and prices aren’t something individual farmers have much control over – which is probably why they are the highest on the wish list! I wish you Swiss farmers (and all farmers everywhere) all the best in 2012, and that your farms and families may prosper!

Next week we’ll hear what my Canadian farm friends wish for 2012.

Daniela is back from a short, intense visit to Albania; to her daughter’s partner’s family. It’s the sense of family, of the importance of community that really impresses her. We’re such an individualistic society (Switzerland), she laments. She loves the hospitality, the blessing they were received with and sent away with. She tells of her host who was dealing with some real problems when an auntie comes to visit. The problems are matter-of-factly set aside and the auntie hosted as if she was the most important person. The ‘we’ is more important than the ‘I’.

Tatjana listens. She’s Swiss and married for 15 years to an Italian from a traditional background. “I first thought it was great too,” she says. But there’s a flip side. The ‘I’ is often squashed. “I’ve learned to appreciate the sense of community in these cultures,” Tatjana explains. “But I also appreciate the Swiss culture for allowing me to be me.”

I’m intrigued with this conversation. These are old European cultures. But they seem to have more in common with the African family model than our North American one. I remember a conversation with Loveness from Mpongwe, Zambia who was struggling with the demands of family in her village, especially her in-laws. They seemed to expect her to share everything with them. They resented her husband`s encouragement to her to improve her economic and educational situation.

Zambians lament how they have to make space for family members who visit for long stretches at a time; of having to stretch food or even go without to be able to adequately provide for those visiting. At the same time they are disturbed when their young people no longer show the proper amount of respect to their elders. They think it is wrong that we put our aging parents in homes instead of taking care of them ourselves.

Having to conform to the opinions of the larger group, which are often dictated by tradition or the family matriarch or patriarch can be a situation rife for conflict. But those problems are often balanced by a strong sense of security, of belonging that tends to get lost in an individualistic society.

I read about an increased sense of loneliness in our western World. Being an individual is great, but we still need each other. Can we learn to revive the ‘we’; to live more in community?

The folks in Zambia are struggling to find ways to become individuals, while not losing the security and power of family and community.

Maybe we can help each other, share our experiences. Our increasingly multi-cultural societies give us some great opportunities for this, often right next door!

Still don`t know what to give someone? Buy them a goat! They don’t need a goat? But someone in Zambia or another country does. Most of you probably got the same envelopes in the mail I did – from NGOs (Non Government Organizations) like World Vision or CARE, or similar. You can give the gift of a cow, a goat, sheep, or chickens to someone in dire need. Do it in the name of someone you don’t know what to give to. It’s a win/win situation!

Driving around rural Mpongwe while visiting Zambian farmer’s corn fields, we often have to veer around free roaming goats or chickens. Some are gifts from overseas donors. It`s always pretty cool to see firsthand what donor money is doing, especially if it is doing something good. Goats and chickens are generally a good thing. They breed quickly; they provide meat, milk and eggs, and an income. Most programs stipulate that the first kids or chicks go back to the community, to a new recipient to keep the program growing.

The gift of a goat through World Vision costs $100. At first glance that seems like a lot. But I’ve met the people who manage some of these goat projects. By the time World Vision gives someone a goat, there’s been a fair bit of work done already. Someone has been there to access the situation. Someone has provided training in animal husbandry and bookkeeping, among other basic life skills. Someone brings the goat. Someone follows the family up, to see how they made out. As World Vision pays its employees fair market wages, it’s easy to see why the goat costs $100. But all that work ensures that the goat will bring more than a quick fix.

The odd time the donated goats or chickens do get eaten instead. I think of our good friend Harold Huising who’s gone to Zambia with us for several years. He never worried about whether something he gave had long term consequences. He just felt good that they had a good meal at least once. And this is one time when I might agree with him.

Think of what happens with many of our Christmas presents. Do we need them? Do they have long term impact? Maybe some do. But many don’t. It’s just one more thing hanging around. So what if the goat you gave ends up on the BBQ pit? At least someone had a good time with your money! Or the chicken goes to feed the honoured guests, because it would be terribly rude to not give them food when it is walking around outside.

Fact is: most recipients really do look after their animals properly. In time they have a sizable herd or flock. They can now sell an animal when it’s time to pay school fees or buy medicine for a sick child. They can sell eggs and buy food. Life has greatly improved. And it’s because of your gift. Pretty good, eh? Now, let’s hope that ‘someone’ on your list thinks so too.
Check http://www.worldvision.ca
Or http://www.care.ca

Sneeze! It was drizzling lightly yesterday while I wandered around the Christmas Market in Schleitheim. Good thing I have some Artemisia leaves! Nothing beats inhaling Artemisia steam for curing a head cold.

I first became excited about Artemisia when I read about its ability to cure Malaria. Since then I know it has been tested for use in cancer treatment and AIDS, and that it is a powerful immune system booster. (For information on Artemisia check out this website: http://www.anamed.net/English_Home/english_home.html

I’ve taught Zambians how to grow Artemisia for several years, and started hundreds of seedlings. But I’d never followed the whole growing period through to harvest and storage. Last spring my cousin Kathy asked for seed and started some plants in northern British Columbia. Mom gave me three of them when I got back to Canada in June. Here in Switzerland my sister-in-law Ruth and husband Freddy grew a very successful plot of Artemisia out of the seedlings I brought back from the Anamed Natural Medicine Seminar in Stuttgart last February. I saw them grow and harvest the crop while here last fall.

I understand better now why so few Africans successfully grow this medicinal plant. It’s finicky, more even than tomatoes I think, and wants a committed gardener. Kathy found it difficult to start the plants from seed. Making cuttings (the only way to propagate this hybrid without seed, which is not readily available everywhere) isn’t so easy either. My cuttings aren’t doing well but Mom’s look great. She used her proven method of making longer cuttings and slicing the stem right under the leaf node. Once growing it’s important to keep the plants moist and fertilized.

Artemisia must be harvested before it begins to flower for optimal medicinal value. It should dry within three days if possible, and preferably not in the sun. It should be brittle dry; something not always easy in tropical regions.
Our plants were small – they had a late start, survived drowning, and were harvested early to escape the first frost. Robert hung them upside down near the heater and they maintained a healthy green colour, which is an indicator of good quality. We stripped the leaves and ground them through a sieve, ending up with over 100 grams of fine powder.

Freddy takes some leaf powder daily to help fight his auto immune system disease. Kathy takes some of the leaf powder whenever others around her have the flu or colds. She feels she is healthier, and wonders that others aren’t more interested in the plant.

We ourselves mostly use Artemisia for malaria prophylaxes while in Zambia. We wouldn’t openly recommend this to others travelling to malaria infested countries. It seems to work quite well for us, but especially for new and short time travellers please take the drugs recommended from your doctor. We still sometimes get malaria, but in a lighter form, and then we take the standard recommended chemical treatments. The Africans successfully using Artemisia as a malaria treatment have much higher rates of antibodies against the disease. Even they must still sometimes resort to a chemical treatment.

If you’re interested in growing some plants yourself you can contact Anamed at the above website. Or leave me a message if you would rather.

We missed the birth of our twin grandsons by two days! We are first time grandparents to Janosch and Fynn, born four weeks early, 4.3 and 4.7 pounds respectively, but doing well. Fynn’s fine fingers look pretty tiny hooked around Granddad’s farm hand. What perfection. Somehow the Christmas story takes on new meaning for me. God come to us, in the form of a baby. I can understand that better now, somehow. There is something of God in these two very special bundles, in each new baby.

But the analogy ends there. Janosch and Fynn were born far from a barn! They’ve been carefully monitored for some time now, in a modern Swiss hospital, especially because they’re twins. When Janosch seemed to stop growing, it was decided it was time for them to be born. Everything was there to make sure they would have the best possible start in life. A whole team of doctors and nurses were ready to spring into action. Thankfully they did well from the start and needed little extra intervention. What a contrast to some of the hospitals we’ve visited in Zambia where even the most basic of materials is lacking, and many babies die that would unquestionably live in the ‘Western’ world.

On the other spectrum are Robert’s parents, who are 89 and 88, and getting frailer. Grandma rarely knows who I am. But she understands a smile and a hug, and loves to laugh. Today, December 6th, is St. Nick’s day in Switzerland. It is custom to eat special bread boys, mandarin oranges, peanuts and gingerbread cakes for supper. Together with Grandma I decorated the table with a few pine greens, red candles and oranges. She was delighted. We lit the candles and sang the favourite German Christmas carol, ‘O Du Fröhliche!’ It takes so little to make another person happy.

We arrived back in Switzerland last Friday, December 2, to the first proper rain in a month. “You brought the rain,” someone laughed. It is a joke – when you think that in central Alberta, where we left home last Thursday, people were skating on natural ice rinks. If we brought anything, it would be snow! I thought the dry spell would be hard on the winter cereals just planted in Switzerland, but the fog that brings those dreary days that foster depression were wonderful for the wheat and barley. Our first day here the sun shone again for a bit and the countryside was a bright green. What a contrast to the frozen white and brown landscape we left behind in Canada.

 
So here we are for the winter, busy between babies and aging parents and part time jobs. I’m trying to write a book, and will take over some of the maternity leave of an agricultural journalist – in German! (I’m glad there’s a German editor working with me.) Life continues to be very interesting!