Gardening season on the northern plains is short. The rule of thumb is: don’t plant before Victoria Day (May 24) and pray the first frosts don’t come until mid-September, preferably later. Assuming the garden isn’t eaten by various bugs or frozen out or dried out or rained out, then comes the task of preserving all that bounty for the coming winter. Continue reading “Stocking the Prairie Pantry, Part 1: What to do with all those vegetables?”
In “Our Bull’s Loose in Town!” Tales from the Homestead, I call this horse “Blacky.” That was not his real name. He was actually called (brace yourself) “Nigger.” He was the second “Nigger” my grandparents owned (they also owned a black horse called Darkey). So why did I change his name for the story? Continue reading “About that horse’s name . . .”
Little did Addie Wright realize what she would face when she came west from Ontario in 1910 to marry her fiancé, Abraham Hanna. Based on entries in Abraham’s diaries, Our Bull’s Loose In Town tells the story of the author’s grandparents as they built their farm and raised a family in the Meyronne district of southwestern Saskatchewan. Through trials and triumphs, sorrows and successes, the horrors of the Great War, the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties and the dark years of the Dirty Thirties, they found strength and courage in their faith, in their indomitable humour, and in their family and neighbours.
This is also the story of the rise and decline of a prairie village, and of the political and social turmoil of a province and country in the first half of the twentieth century, all as Addie lived it.
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“Our Bull’s Loose in Town!” is available in bookstores and as an e-book from the following sources: Chapters/Indigo, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, Scribd, Smashwords and Walmart.com.
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What Readers are saying about “Our Bull’s Loose in Town!”
Margaret was able to present us with a wonderfully rounded, factual account of what it was really like to pioneer near Meyronne in 1911. . . In spite of Margaret Hanna’s outspoken revelations about the darker side [of the 1920s], I still maintain that Our Bull’s Loose in Town is the most realistic look at life in southern Saskatchewan in pioneer days that I have ever seen. Kay Parley, author, The Grass People
[The author has] a marvellous way of making history come alive. I think the secret to her success is having the book told from Addie’s perspective. Not just dry historical facts, but real life drama. Frank Korvemaker, co-author, Legacy of Worship: Sacred Places in Rural Saskatchewan
Margaret Hanna’s story of her grandparents’ journey as prairie homesteaders is a classic! It is cleverly written in her grandmother Addie’s voice. Addie provides a several decade play-by-play of her resilient family. The story unfolds concurrently with the initial settlement and development of rural southwest Saskatchewan. Improved finances, two world wars, a drought/depression and new technology are all woven in. Accordingly, whether you are a history buff, or just someone who grew up in a rural prairie community and can thus relate, “Our Bull’s Loose in Town!” is a must read! David McCaslin, former Meyronne resident
I really enjoyed the voice of Addie Wright/Hanna and her exploits through historical Saskatchewan. I really loved the first person point of view and thought it lent a personal touch to the story. Vanessa Hawkins, author
This was an interesting semi-historical about a family on the Canadian plains. The story is seen through remembrance. There was laughter and sadness, and seeing the history of the recent past through the writer’s eyes fascinating. A good read. Janet Lane-Walters, author
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#OurBullsLooseInTown #HistoricalFiction #FamilyHistory #SaskatchewanHistory #HomesteadEra #Biography #RedCoatTrail #CanLit #BWLAuthor #MargaretGHanna
Highway 13 in southwestern Saskatchewan is officially known as the Redcoat Trail but it might be more correctly called the Ghost Town Trail. Drive west from Assiniboia and you are hard pressed to see many of the towns that used to exist along that highway. Now that almost every grain elevator is gone, what is left seems to disappear into the landscape. A few houses and trees. Possibly a church. Maybe an abandoned school or garage. Maybe a falling-in rink. Perhaps a gas station alongside the highway. Nothing more. Continue reading “Boom and Bust in a Prairie Town”
(In 1917, my grandfather, Abe Hanna, moved the homestead one mile across the section to just north of the village of Meyronne, SK. There, he built a new house and barn. Here’s how Abe recorded the move in his diary.)
June 27: Commenced digging new cellar
July 11: Dug out foundation for barn
July 18: Commenced putting in concrete for cellar wall
July 28: Put in cement foundation for barn
August 3: Put cement floor in cellar in pm
August 6: Messrs Leadly and Hisey with four men commenced building barn
August 7: Put curbing in well in am. Carpenters commenced raising framework of barn at 10:30
September 10: Put in [barn] cement floor in am [this went on for several days]
September 29: Carpenters arrived with tools at 9 pm Continue reading “The New House”
A Prairie Perspective 