Plus, several heavy thunderstorms (with the odd tornado) have soaked many lush pastures around Manitoba.

This can result in the perfect storm for foot rot in cattle.

It’s not unusual to catch a glimpse of a cow limping away from the rest of the herd during a simple drive-by. That is why I suggest that beef producers do the same and drive by their grazing cattle to catch any foot rot victims and treat them as soon as possible.

Any cow that has been standing in constantly wet pastures for several weeks will have hooves that are soft and pliable. Upon closer inspection, the skin of the coronary band of each hoof and inter-digital area cracks and may eventually be opened to infection by anaerobic bacteria called fusobacterium necrophorum.

As her foot rot progresses, these claws separate and the skin between the toes crack and the tissue dies, thus giving off the classic smell of decaying flesh.

It is also well documented that foot rot is contagious among cattle.

Pus and discharge from infected swollen feet often contaminate muddy pasture or water, which allows another set of healthy hooves to become infected within a few days.

In addition, part of the general challenge of controlling foot rot within a cow herd is its sporadic nature — disappearing for a few years and then all of a sudden coming back with a vengeance.

Fortunately, foot rot is relatively easy to control if caught in the early stages.

For example, I talked to a friend who runs about 400 Black Angus cows, and he checks his cowherd about every few days.

If a cow is limping, she is treated right away with a long-acting antibiotic dart. Treatment is effective within three to four days.

He admits that he is much more vigilant in keeping track of his breeding bulls for foot rot and other foot and leg aliments.

Another friend of mine who calves out about 100 cows in early May also watches out for lame cows. He tries to keep his cows out of swampy areas by fencing off these wet acres.

In rotation, he often moves them onto 80 acres of well-drained sandy pasture after a bout of wet weather. In doing so, he believes that foot rot has not been a major issue on his farm for years. He also treats the odd cow if she is limping.

In both cases, these two producers take a traditional approach when dealing with foot rot — identify and treat quickly.

While there is nothing wrong with their routine, I suggest a different path and try to prevent it by strengthening the cattle’s hooves and preventing the foot rot organism from entering their feet in the first place.

Sound university research performed on both beef and dairy grazing cattle has satisfactorily demonstrated that feeding about four grams (per head, daily) of zinc-methionine reinforces the hoof horn and sole, which makes it more resistant to injury by shutting it off to foot rot and other infectious lameness.

The best way to feed zinc-methionine in such small amounts is to add it to bags of commercial mineral fed on pasture in loose form.

It should cost an extra $10 per 25 kilogram bag, or about four cents per head per day if the well-balanced mineral is fed at 100 grams per head per day. A herd of 400 cows would cost $1,920 for this addition.

This is a good investment, considering that this summer’s hot and wet weather predisposes beef cows, as well as bulls and spring calves, to a high incidence of foot rot.

Therefore, I suggest that producers develop an encompassing plan to effectively minimize foot rot’s negative effects upon grazing cattle. A simple five-point plan might be as follows:

Set up a hoof-strengthening mineral feeding program on pasture.

Look over the beef cow herd, including bulls and spring calves.

Know how to correctly identify new foot rot infections.

Treat each new case with the proper antibiotics.

Return to pasture to see effective treated cases.

This outline demonstrates that not every action plan to control foot rot is complex, but it should be straightforward.

I also know that I can still tell the producers of the limping cows that I see from the highway, but I won’t confirm every suspect by smelling their hooves.

“We had a great catch this year,” said Paul Kernaleguen, vice president of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association (SaskSoil) and a dairy farmer near Birch Hills, Sask.

You can follow all our coverage of Ag in Motion here.

“Just with the rotation of the intercropping versus poly crops and perennials and that, it’s just going to help.”

To highlight ways to improve soil health, the association had plots with polycrops and forage mixes at Ag in Motion for four years. They’ve rotated the blends to give the most realistic application of the practice on farm. This year’s plots featured a check of hard red spring wheat; winter triticale seeded in 2025 and direct seeded with a forage pollinator; a diverse cover crop mix; hard red spring wheat and winter triticale; red lentil and brown flax intercrop; and a perennial mixture plus oats.

The forage and perennial mixes are fairly well accepted amongst cattle producers, while intercropping is viewed more skeptically by grain producers. There are a few more considerations to be made on that front such as harvestability, seeding times and cleaning needs.

Kernaleguen said there are opportunities for everyone to include poly blends in their operations, whether they’re on the livestock or cropping side of things. His own interest lies in the forages as a dairy farmer.

“We’ve got … a nine- or 10-year rotation with perennials mixed in,” he said of his own operation.

“We’ll go for three to four years perennial just to clean up weeds and everything else, bring that soil back to more fungal-dominated versus bacterial-dominated, and then we’ll go in with our annual mixes for probably three years and evaluate weed pressure.”

Those years are followed by a biannual or an annual underseeded with a secondary such as sweet clover, hairy vetch or winter triticale to “move that pendulum” more toward fungal-dominated soil, then one to two more years with an annual before the rotation begins again.

For Kerneleguen and others, these plans have been working well. But the blends and strategy did have a bit of a learning curve.

“When these mixes first came out, guys were trying to grow them indefinitely, and eventually weed pressure started to be an issue,” he explained. “Once you realize what drives that weed pressure is just your bacterial-dominated soil, well, you’re just fighting a losing battle like every other annual farmer.”

Healthy soil requires balance of bacteria and fungi; domination of one over the other brings different weeds.

For example, by incorporating perennials into a bacteria-dominated situation, the annual, nitrate-seeking weeds dissipate.

Benefits of the blends

Each mix will offer something different to the soil. Producers should be making considerations for their soil health goals when picking a route of adoption.

The hard red spring wheat paired with winter triticale offers the benefit of a living root continuing in the soil after the spring crop is harvested, which offers great seeding prep for the following year. The cereal pairing makes spraying simple.

The lentil and flax intercrop is a typical intercrop, with the two helping one another grow, providing canopy cover and supports. SaskSoil seeded it on their plot as the mix is a low-carbon residue combination, and previous crops on this plot were fairly high carbon, showcasing the rotation for carbon soil management.

In the perennial mix, oats provide a bit of a nurse crop to help the forage stand get a strong start. The mix offers green feed before grazing dependability.

For the forage mix with winter triticale, there’s an insurance factor. The mix seeded at Ag in Motion included warm- and cool-season plants that offer certainty that something will grow, no matter the weather.

“This year, everything’s growing,” Kerneleguen said of the plots. “It’s just kind of been that hot, wet, lots of rainy, just really good jungle-like conditions, which everything grows in.”

The mix provides nitrogen fixation and root depth variation for the soil health goals, and assures that nutrition goals are met with high protein and good starches.

The oats could also be interchanged with barley, that can then be harvested.

“You harvest based on your starch content to try and get the most of that,” Kerneleguen explained. “Then you probably have some multi-cut species in there that are going to regrow, and then you have the option for grazing it later in the fall.”

Seeing results

Inclusions of intercropping can have benefits short term or long term. Depending on the mix and diversity there will be positive changes to the soil right away.

But the different system does require a different approach in management and the steps taken to include it. Producers have to make considerations for their own operations, harvest patterns and what their area is like.

Geography, weather, rotation history and soil zone all play a part.

For example, in northern Saskatchewan the goal may be to reduce bush and trees trying to reclaim pasture or cropland boundaries. A bacteria-dominated mix would be a good choice, as that area has more fungal-dominated soil.

In central Saskatchewan the greater issue is likely annual weed pressure, which means a different approach and varied mix.

“I am just recently back from a fishing trip, and it’s the classic, ‘don’t quit your day job. It’s just for fun.’ Welcome to the pumpkin patch,” he told visitors with a grin July 9.

Waterer, a retired University of Saskatchewan horticulture professor, was one of several researchers presenting their work during the research overview tour at this year’s Outlook Irrigation Field Day at the Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre.

His stop focused on two pumpkin research projects aimed at helping Prairie growers capitalize on changing markets while identifying varieties suited to Saskatchewan’s short growing season.

One project is evaluating approximately 20 jack-o’-lantern pumpkin cultivars, while the second is searching for processing pumpkins capable of supplying a made-in-Saskatchewan pumpkin pie industry.

Standing beside an acre containing roughly 10,000 pumpkin plants, Waterer quickly put the two-year trial into perspective.

“What we have here is one acre of pumpkins. That’s about 70,000 pounds,” he said.

“One of the things to think about with any crop is, what on earth am I going to do with these things?”

Pumpkin pros

Fortunately, he said pumpkins have plenty going for them.

“They’re a great crop in Saskatchewan,” he said.

“There are almost no insect pests, very few diseases. They don’t take much fertilizer. They don’t take much water. They don’t take much care.”

However, the catch is timing because today’s marketplace demands pumpkins much earlier than it once did.

“We all know when Halloween is,” he said.

“The growers are now being asked to deliver fully mature pumpkins into the supermarket in the first week of September.”

That creates a significant challenge in a province where warm growing days are limited.

Adding to the complexity, pumpkins have become very fashionable.

“The pumpkin industry, and particularly the jack-o’-lantern industry, is very fashion-forward,” he said.

“You have to have this year’s look. Last year’s look is just not going to cut it.”

Consumer preferences

Consumers now expect pumpkins with specific shades of orange, preferred shapes and, perhaps most surprisingly, oversized stems.

“The thing you grab.… It now has to be as big as your arm for reasons that make no sense in any way, shape or form,” he said jokingly.

Those changing consumer preferences explain why CSIDC researchers are comparing commercially available cultivars rather than relying on seed catalogues.

“I have 20-odd varieties of pumpkins,” he said.

“Approximately the right shape, approximately the right size, hopefully approximately the right colour. Counting on them being early (and) that’s why we do this type of work.”

The two-year trial measures emergence, plant vigour, yield, maturity, market appearance and storage life.

Waterer said growers need independent information because glossy catalogue descriptions don’t always match field performance.

“The other reality is trusting the catalogue. The words, the numbers … they’re just a bad joke. So we can’t trust them,” he said.

Instead, researchers evaluate each variety under Saskatchewan growing conditions, allowing producers to see which pumpkins deliver on their promises.

Even judging appearance can be entertaining.

“We pull the staff together,” he said.

“It’s hilarious to see the range of calls and opinions.”

The research also challenges some traditional thinking about crop management.

For example, powdery mildew, which is normally considered an unwelcome disease, isn’t necessarily the enemy in pumpkins.

“In pumpkins, we actually want the leaves to die. That reveals the fruit, exposes it to sunlight and helps it change colour,” he said.

Likewise, growers avoid excessive fertilizer and irrigation because lush vines can delay fruit maturity.

“There is nothing sadder on the first of November (after Halloween) than a pumpkin that’s still green,” he said.

“It’s useless.”

Pie research

The second field trial has nothing to do with carved faces and everything to do with pie plates.

It is evaluating processing pumpkins that could support a Saskatchewan-based pumpkin processing industry by identifying varieties that combine Prairie adaptability with the qualities food processors demand.

That means breeding for dense, sweet flesh and strong colour instead of hollow, watery jack‑o’‑ lanterns.

“First thing I hope you realize is that pumpkin pie is not something you make out of the old used pumpkin,” he told the crowd.

“That’s a recipe for horrible pumpkin pie.”

He said the research is being driven by a processor who has expressed strong interest in producing pumpkin products using Prairie-grown pumpkins rather than relying on imported supplies.

Considered the “gold standard,” Dickinson is a variety that has long dominated the North American processing industry.

However, Dickinson fails in Prairie conditions.

“Just horribly adapted here. No way. A disaster,” said Waterer.

So the team is screening alternatives from around the world that can hit or surpass Dickinson’s processing specs while thriving in Saskatchewan’s climate.

“We have stuff that just blew Dickinson out of the water in terms of yields, in terms of sugar content, better colour, better storability,” he said.

“What’s not to love?”

However, Waterer cautioned against drawing conclusions from a single growing season.

Researchers are evaluating the material over two years to ensure consistent performance under Prairie conditions.

“It’s only first year of data from the project,” he said.

“We’re very comfortable and confident by saying if it grew well for us these two years, I think it’s probably going to make it in most years.”

I was raised on a mixed farm with about thirty Holstein milk cows. We had grain and hay and about twenty “range” cows. Those beef cows were looked after by my dad, and while I can picture them as Herefords, that’s about all I remember.

There wasn’t much talk about them calving or raising their calves, and they certainly weren’t pampered like our Holsteins. After all, those Holsteins were our bread and butter. My mother’s money was that weekly cream cheque, and somehow, she bought groceries, our school clothes and shoes, and still had enough left to help pay off the farm loans in a poor crop year.

The Holsteins calved in the barn and any low mooing meant an assisted birth. Usually, it was just a gentle pull right there in the straw, without moving the cow to a maternity pen — we didn’t have one — and without any fuss. My brothers may have helped Dad with the range cows, but in my mind those cows were inferior, unfriendly animals. Their ear tags had numbers instead of names.

Years went by and most of the Holsteins disappeared as the cream quota shifted to whole milk. By the time my husband and I were running the farm, only a few Holsteins remained in the now‑expanded beef herd. They stayed mostly for nostalgic reasons — mine, of course.

My husband had spent only his early years on a farm before moving to town, so our first few seasons calving out unfamiliar beef cows brought many lessons and more than a few hair‑raising adventures.

One such adventure began on a dark, moonless night, long before we had a quad, a side‑by‑side or a husband who could rope. Most of our cows were docile enough that we could ease them toward the corrals and into a makeshift maternity pen without much trouble. But that night we found a snorting, high‑headed young cow in full distress, two small feet protruding upside down from her backside, but no head. A backwards calf.

Every attempt to coax her toward the corrals ended with her dropping her head and launching into a full‑out chase. Our only vehicle was an old jalopy farm truck. You know the kind: bad lights, a door that didn’t close properly, four on the floor and no 4×4. Despite my misgivings, my husband decided he would stand in the truck box and rope this cow. Unfortunately, I was to be the driver. I’m not exactly known for my driving skills or my ability to tell left from right, but off we went.

This is the hair‑raising part. The truck bounced over frozen cow manure and snowbanks while I was instructed to “floor it.” Two bangs on the roof meant “turn right.” Two more bangs and a much louder voice meant “the other right.” The headlights pointed straight up into the sky and thank goodness I was young enough then that my eyes eventually adjusted to the dark. I wondered, silently, what my husband planned to dally onto if he actually did rope the cow. It felt like one of those questions only men think they know the answer to.

That young cow had plenty of jam, and as the night wore on, so did the commentary from the truck box. “Run, you witch” — and you can swap the W for a stronger letter if you like — “we’ve got a full tank of gas, and we can go all night!”

I feared for both the cow and the calf, but after about twenty minutes of this insanity, by some miracle the rope went over her head. As expected, there was explosive commentary about the end of the rope no longer being in my husband’s hands.

Here’s where my underrated driving skills came into play. I somehow drove over the rope, and that poor cow came to a dead stop. Not dead as in no longer living; just, stopped. She whirled, snotty and foaming and charged around the passenger side of the truck. My youngest son was with me, and he slammed the lock down and cranked up the window as fast as his fingers could move. We laugh about that now. That cow was mad, but I doubt she could have opened a truck door.

With some panels and a bit more coaxing, we got the cow into the stock trailer, and my husband headed straight for town. It turned out that it wasn’t a really difficult pull for the vet, and by some miracle that big backwards calf was alive.

The cow? Well, she became a wonderful mother, although we always gave her a lot of space and never turned our backs to her. My husband must have thought she was just about as special as any Holstein I’d ever bragged about. I suppose that’s why he took off her number tag and replaced it with one with her name: Wild Thing.

In July, I had the chance to spend back-to-back weeks travelling Canada to cover events for Glacier FarmMedia, first the federal, provincial and territorial ministers’ meeting in Halifax, followed by Ag in Motion (AIM) in Saskatchewan.

You can find all our coverage of Ag in Motion here.

The trips were both around five days each and fairly different in their focuses: In Saskatchewan, I was surrounded on all sides by livestock displays, agtech startups and machinery so big and imposing I half-expected it to change forms and start pummelling Autobots. In Halifax I spent the week downtown in a shirt and tie taking in panel discussions and press conferences, snapping quick photos of provincial agriculture ministers.

The physical landscapes of the two regions are, of course, worlds apart: rocky coastlines versus endless expanses of a green-and-yellow prairie, forested hills versus the breadbasket of Canada. That alone was enough for me to gain an appreciation of the diversity of my country’s agricultural landscape, as well as an understanding of the sector’s recent calls for the government to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach in its policy.

The variation in what I saw on my trips wasn’t limited to geography, however; they also demonstrated theory versus practice, and how ideas translate from discussions on stages to fields and factory floors across the country.

In Halifax, I listened to panellists at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s policy summit discuss the need for more value-added infrastructure in Canada. One week later at AIM, I spoke with a company that has seen direct benefits from processing and value-added on local goods. In Halifax, I listened to speakers offer ideas on how to fuel innovation in agri-food. A week later in Saskatoon, I heard presentations from some of Canada’s most innovative startups about their ideas for the sector.

In Halifax, I interviewed Canada’s federal agriculture minister from my hotel room. In Saskatchewan, I spoke with a local producer about the challenges on his family farm while watching an antique tractor pull.

Agriculture in Canada is massive, socially, politically, geographically. I feel very lucky I got to experience so much of it this summer.

If farmers decide to join a board or committee and volunteer their time, it signifies a desire to be involved. But when it comes to the next generation, there is a misconception that they don’t want to volunteer.

“Young farmers do want to get involved,” said Kaitlyn Kitzan, board treasurer for the Wheat Growers Association and general manager of Saskatchewan Young Ag Entrepreneurs (SYA).

“They want to get involved in a way that they can learn but also share their perspective and try to find that balance.”

In Kitzan’s experience, companies and organizations aim to involve the next generation but “engagement” has become nothing more than a buzzword and empty promise.

When she moved back home to Yorkton, Sask., Kitzan had several organizations invite her to get involved with their board. She joined a few but quickly realized she was filling a quota of “young person” and “workhorse,” and that her involvement lacked a meaningful connection.

“I was like, wait a minute. Young people bring a really important perspective,” she says. “If we don’t listen to them, we’re missing out on this huge opportunity. And I soon realized that some boards are not really interested in that.”

Not to say that by joining an organization, the new, young participants don’t have to put their work in, she adds.

But if young recruits are doing more than others and they’re not being heard, it becomes a problem.

Conversations built on respect

Kitzan says the main thing young people in ag want is meaningful engagement and a chance to learn without being looked down on or having a sales pitch thrown at them after they ask a few questions.

When speaking with the next generation cohort (e.g., millennials and gen Z), the approach should be respectful conversation. This should apply equally to professional settings as it does to day-to-day interactions.

A way to do that is through collaboration. There are many organizations whose goal is to create more engagement and involvement with the next generation of Canada’s ag industry. The best option is to do it together.

Breaking down silos (the metaphorical kind)

“Ag kind of works in silos,” says Katrina Finke, program manager for Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers (COYF).

“You have your own groups, but the common goal is we can all work together to help promote these young producers and get other stakeholders more involved in each of the programs.”

Many organizations are non-profits, meaning that they’re all competing for the same dollars — and with each operating in the same area of interest, they’re also competing for the same people’s support and time.

COYF’s strategy is to focus on partnership development and sharing resources. It’s the best option for alumni, says Finke, as they have various interests including mental health in ag and the future of farming.

Kitzan has also adopted a strategy of partnership for SYA. She notes more engagement with organizations on the national level, and wants to see more on the provincial level, too.

“There’s not that many young farmers out there. They only have so much time,” she says.

“How do we all sit around the same table and say, ‘How do we work together instead of trying to compete against getting young farmers’ attention?’”

One way to do this is for companies to partner with organizations to support programs that already exist rather than start a new one, such as a mentorship program.

Supporting a mentorship program — either as a mentor, offering sponsorship or in other ways — shows a long-term commitment to young farmers, says Kitzan.

This kind of commitment can also be demonstrated by involvement in education and learning opportunities.

It’s also important to meet the next generation where they are.

Where to find the next generation of ag leaders

There are numerous opportunities to meet the next generation where they’re at, for example, during internships or at clubs and schools — because agriculture in the classroom doesn’t have to mean only teaching youth about dirt and seeds.

Denise Schmidt, executive director of Agriculture in the Classroom Canada, says engagement with the next generation isn’t just engaging with young adults but children as well — and not just the farm kids, but the town and city kids, too.

“We cannot depend fully on young farmers to be the leaders in our industry in the future,” she says.

“Because there’s not enough of them, unfortunately … We are such a diverse agri-food industry that we need to step outside our box.”

There are challenges throughout the agriculture industry, from the farm to politics and technology, rural issues and education. And all need to be tackled.

Currently, there are gaps in engagement with the schools as well, says Schmidt.

More conversations need to happen about the growing number of roles that must be filled within Canada’s agriculture industry in the next decade. Many of those careers require exposure to agriculture first, such as engineers, equipment software developers or biologists and chemists.

“What we’re trying to create, especially in grade(s) nine to 12, is: how do we get them enthused about asking the questions about what their role could be in agriculture,” Schmidt says.

In the end, it’s the companies, associations and organizations who will miss out if their attempts at engagement are insincere. A lack of support for young farmers results in less knowledge about governance, board operations and procedural basics.

And any young farmers who do choose to participate in industry leadership positions will be unlikely to join a group or company that didn’t support them.

“Young farmer boards in every single province are the breeding ground to make great directors for other commissions,” Kitzan says.

The good news is that there are some easy herbal resources to support our skin when things get a little too heated.

Aloe vera is a well-known household cure for burnt skin, so I’ve chosen to focus on some lesser-known plants that are perhaps just as common to find in a Canadian summer garden. When it comes to treating sunburn, we want a balanced approach of cooling, hydrating and healing action. Calendula checks all those boxes and can be found growing abundantly in any garden that plants it; likewise, chamomile, chickweed and lavender.

Chamomile, an herb featured in a previous article (see “Garden medicine: Herbs that belong in every garden”), can be used as a topical treatment in the form of a strong tea, bath or in the spray recipe below. Chickweed is a common backyard weed that grows abundantly through the peak of summer, and when mashed, can make a wonderfully cooling topical application for burns of any kind, especially sunburns.

Lavender, though not necessarily native to Canada, can be grown here. It loves sun, which speaks to its ability to soothe and ease the effects of too much sun on our bodies.

Calendula, chamomile, chickweed and lavender all have anti-microbial properties, helping to lower the chance of infection, and they provide nourishment to the skin that supports healing and eases the discomfort of a fresh sunburn.

The recipe below is not designed to replace appropriate prevention through sunscreen and avoiding daily peak UV levels, but it might make a good addition to the first-aid shelf when prevention misses the mark.

Sunburn healing spray

You will need:

• A clean glass jar with a good sealing top.
• 2-4 tbsp. each of chamomile, calendula flower, chickweed (leaves/stems and flowers) and lavender, if you have it. You can use dried plant material or fresh; just ensure the fresh material is free of surface debris or water. Even better, fresh plants can be left out to wilt for a day or two before use to minimize their internal water content.
• Enough witch hazel (14 per cent alcohol content) to cover the above.

Place plant material in the clean jar and cover completely with witch hazel. Seal the jar and leave it in a dark room at room temperature for two to six weeks. Shake the jar at least once a week. After two to six weeks, strain the materials out and place the remaining liquid into a clean spray bottle and use within the year. Mist over affected areas up to a few times per day, but avoid using long-term as it can dry skin out. Alternate spraying the above infusion on burns with applying moisturizing oil-based balms. (Calendula oil can be a wonderful way to make use of this bountiful flower.)

This herbal combination also works well to treat bug bites, minor skin irritations, ingrown hairs, cysts/boils and acne. Note: For external use only, and take care not to spray in your eyes.

Joint laxity, or hypermobility, is a common condition that affects many individuals. Hypermobility is classified as an increased looseness in the connective tissues that maintain joint integrity throughout the body.

Connective tissue hypermobility can be linked to genetics, history of trauma, neurodivergence (certain types of autism or attention disorders), hormonal changes and various chronic illnesses. It is statistically more common in females, and the degree to which it is noticeable can even fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle, with some women noticing increased hypermobility at certain points as hormones shift. Hypermobility is also common in later-stage pregnancy and postpartum as part of the biological adaptation of the pelvic floor and hip joints in preparation to give birth.

Conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome represent a genetic propensity to hypermobility throughout the entire connective tissue system in the body. It is common to see severities that create significant mobility issues and chronic discomfort, as joints become unstable and, even in cases of no physical trauma, can slip out of place, give out or break down.

While we can’t always prevent illness, hormonal shifts or genetic conditions from flaring up, we can support the body through various strategies that improve joint stability through soft tissue strength, nervous system regulation and by using supportive aids like Kinesio taping, bracing and body-mind awareness to minimize the effects of hypermobility.

While treating varying degrees of hypermobility in the clinic, my experience has been that these cases respond very well to body awareness and postural stability-focused movement prescriptions. Because our connective tissue system is also responsible for communicating our position in time and space back to our brains, in situations where that system is more “loosey-goosey” than average, our brain and body end up confused. The wonderful thing about the nervous system and the fascial (connective tissue) system is that they are adaptable and learn quickly when we give them some attention.

All my hypermobile clients start by connecting their inner awareness with their body. Noticing what we are doing and how we are doing it from the inside out begins to manufacture that natural connection between body and mind. The best place to start is to notice how our feet meet the ground. I work with the “four-corners” of the feet. See if you can notice them now: the ball of the big toe, the ball of the pinky toe and the two halves of the heel.

Let each corner meet the ground with intention, individually, and then see if you can balance equal weight or pressure through each corner, on both sides, simultaneously. This can be done seated or standing, but seated is usually the best place to start.

Once you can apply weight to all four corners simultaneously, imagine your breath entering through the feet and travelling up the body with the inhale and back down the body, out through the feet on exhale. Spending a few minutes daily connecting with the feet and then the breath can bring us into better relationship with our bodies from the inside out — and builds our relationship to more stable movement.

This practice also supports a downshift in nervous system activation, which can be related to stress, past trauma or even simply the effects of postural instability. When the nervous system is stressed or overstimulated, especially long term, it’s been shown to increase the negative effects of conditions related to hypermobility. Sometimes we need to lower the nervous system’s threat response before we can make meaningful changes to body awareness and stability through the musculoskeletal system.

Along the same lines, I’ll often use awareness and stability aids like Kinesio-tape (K-Tape) to enhance a client’s motor awareness. K-Tape works by providing surface-level stimulus to the nervous system where it connects to the skin, which increases stimulation to connective tissue and natural stability patterns throughout the posture.

A skilled practitioner can apply tape in ways that also support natural joint biomechanics and enhance awareness through targeted movement practices that build up strength and stability long-term. K-Tape is a short-term assist that sets us up for success. In some cases, bracing can more directly support structures that may be suffering due to hypermobility.

If you’re experiencing hypermobility at any point in life, and it’s affecting how you feel or your ability to function through the day, there are professionals who can help. Athletic therapists and musculoskeletal-focused physiotherapists can provide detailed assessments, movement programming and postural re-education care that can lower pain, dysfunction and support long-term resilience. Many clients also find it helpful to seek genetic testing for conditions like Ehlers-Danlos, which can also affect digestive and cardiovascular health. Whether it’s increased laxity in connective tissues or something more severe, such as a genetic condition, knowing what we are dealing with can make a difference in how things are treated.

Those three days were atypical weather. Hot summer days are not news around these parts, but muggy, humid air familiar to Toronto or Vancouver is not the prairie norm — and muggy and hot it was. Lemonade and ice coffee stands did a booming business, and water on wheels, along with people-moving trailers towed by tractors, made the rounds of the makeshift streets and avenues.

It reminded me of hot harvest days, where there’s cooking to be done and crews to be fed. And so, this week, I open a three-part series on the modern picnic basket of how to feed your harvest crew, based on presentations I made during Ag in Motion.

I remember that as a young girl, I’d accompany my grandmother when she packed up my granddad’s midday dinner and drove out to the field each day during harvest. She’d wrap everything in towels and pack it all into a wooden crate to withstand the bounces across the field in the grain truck: a Mason jar, sweating condensate in the heat, filled with lemonade or iced tea; a bowl heaped with braised beef and mash; sliced and buttered homemade bread in waxed paper; a big wedge of pie or cake, also wrapped; a thermos of coffee. There were also snacks for mid-afternoon: date squares or raisin cookies, a sandwich, more tea or lemonade. Nothing fancy.

We drove through wavering heat humming with grasshoppers and pulled over in the shade of the aspen trees edging the field, waiting for my grandfather to climb down from his tractor and join us.

Decades later, the harvest crew’s size and composition may have changed, but they still need to be fed. How to manage without stressing your body or your wits? A little logistical advance planning helps.

Cook strategically. When planning menus to span the many days of harvest, build in overlapping ingredients. Chickpeas, for instance, are not only affordable and nutritious vegan powerhouses, they’re also insanely versatile, great in numerous dishes of varying textures and temperature ranges. Cooking them in an Instant Pot or similar modern pressure cooker avoids heating up the kitchen. Failing that, cook early in the day, while the kitchen is cool.

Cook a big potful of chickpeas, then slot some into each of the following dishes, all wildly different: channa masala with rice and naan bread; hummus and dippable vegetables, crackers and pita bread; chickpea and snow pea salad; lentil and chickpea mulligatawny; falafel wrapped in pita with garlic yogurt; chickpea and vegetable pakoras with tamarind chutney.

Make extra to feed mechanics, kids, unexpected neighbours, anyone who might be in the field and hungry. Learn if there are vegetarians, vegans or anyone with food allergies, and make sure they eat as well as everyone else.

Manage food transport safely by observing that primary rule: keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. If you have a BIG crew, consider buying caterers’ and hotel-style insulated food and beverage transport boxes with temperature control. Over the years, they will pay dividends on the investment. For smaller crews, use insulated coolers, food bags or boxes. Pack food in containers that hold the heat, for example, lidded ceramic and cast iron.

Do as much prep as possible in advance. Cook in the cool of the morning, or the days, weeks, and nights before, whenever possible to fill the freezer with versatile high-protein fillings.

For meals in the field, consider the following:

• Make handheld dishes for crews who can’t leave their equipment or where seating is tight.
• Slice and portion everything you can.
• Organize containers for cutlery, plates, cups, serving utensils, kitchen towels.
• Figure out what kind of hand-washing will suit: do you take basins and towels with soapy water in a dispenser or sanitized handwipes?
• Take along containers for dirty dishes.
• Where will everyone sit or stand to eat?
• Where will you set the food?
• Have a weather-based plan B in case of rainouts.
• Adopt a flexible mindset, so when the unexpected happens, you can roll with it, land on your feet and feed everyone who’s hungry.
• Keep notes on recipe hits and misses for next year.

In harvest season, first we eat, then we say thank you.

Why is it that some people seem unfazed by hot weather, while others detest it? That is a question that University of Montreal and Montreal Heart Institute professor Dr. Daniel Gagnon is asked all the time, but the answer isn’t that simple.

Gagnon heads up heat tolerance research at the Centre ÉPIC of the Montreal Heart Institute, studying how the human body reacts and adapts to heat exposure. While there is currently no evidence to suggest that there is a “heat gene” that gives some people a genetic advantage to tolerate heat, there are multiple factors that come into play. One of the most interesting is how people perceive heat.

“When exposed to heat, some people will be fine, and others will say this is terrible, I need to get out of here,” says Gagnon. “There is a big perceptual component, and it’s probably based on past experiences and whether we expose ourselves to heat or not on a regular basis.”

Even people who have the same physiological and biological responses to the same heat conditions often have completely different perceptions about their level of comfort and tolerance.

“It highlights that our perception can disassociate from our biology and even though they are closely related, sometimes we may not perceive it the same way,” Gagnon says. He adds that no one yet knows why this happens, although that could be an area for future study.

Can you get used to heat?

It is popular wisdom that the more someone is exposed to something, the more tolerant they become, and, thus, it’s possible to acclimate to heat.

“If we expose ourselves to heat regularly, perceptually, studies have shown that we tolerate it better, but from a biological perspective, our body does become better at handling heat and regulating body temp more efficiently,” Gagnon says.

As an example, Gagnon conducted an experiment using a hot water bath where volunteers spent 90 minutes in the bath at 40 C to 41 C for seven consecutive days. Within two to three days, the researchers began to see the participants develop adaptations to the heat.

“We did this in younger adults roughly 25 years of age and in older adults roughly 70 years of age, and the most interesting observation is that the older adults adapted in the same way as the younger adults, so there was no evidence that older adults could not adapt or adapted less,” Gagnon says.

Health and lifestyle influence if we can beat the heat

Even though perception is a big factor, it is undeniable that health and lifestyle factors also have a heavy influence on heat tolerance.

“There are factors that make us more susceptible to having something bad happen when we get hot, like old age, health conditions, bad lifestyle and, especially, not being physically active,” Gagnon says.

“When we exercise, we activate our body’s processes to lose heat, so we are better to be active in terms of tolerating heat, and we can benefit even more if we expose ourselves to heat on a regular basis in addition to that.”

Case in point: people who work outside a lot, such as farmers and construction workers. While working outside all the time exposes them to more risk from high temperatures, they are more used to physical exertion outside in hot weather, so their bodies develop adaptations to help them be more heat resistant or tolerant.

Gagnon’s team were able to put some scientific evidence to this phenomenon through their recent three-year study of construction workers. The work included a lab study to try and determine the optimum ratios of work to break time per hour to ensure safety from a heat perspective. The researchers also did a field study on construction sites to measure the perceptual and physiological responses of the workers during the summer. The results were not surprising. Workers during hot weather had higher body temperatures, felt more uncomfortable and sweated more, but these effects had not been measured and documented before in a work scenario.

Conversely, when working at moderate intensity, workers who took a break for 10 to 15 minutes every hour reduced the strain on the body and reported feeling more comfortable.

“If it’s doable, especially for people who can control their own schedule, building in more frequent breaks will help ease the strain on the body when it’s hot outside,” Gagnon says, while acknowledging that’s not always easy to do when there is pressure to get a job done.

“I am conscious that we need to find solutions to adapt our work environments and our work practices around high temperatures so that we can still maintain the productivity we want while keeping people comfortable and safe,” he says.

There is a limit to how much heat we can take

Of course, most people who say they love the heat are not generally talking about extremes, because there is a limit at which point the body simply gets overwhelmed, and geographic location matters, too.

“As soon as the heat becomes extreme for our local area, the risks increase,” Gagnon says. “For example, if in Montreal we are used to 20 C weather, as soon as it is 30 C that is extreme for Montreal, and we see the health risks increase. But if we were in the Middle East, where maybe it’s 30 C all the time, when it becomes 40 C, the health risk increases there as well. So, even though we think in some areas just because it’s hot all the time those people are protected, as soon as it becomes abnormally hot for that area, everyone is at risk.”

Context also matters. It’s one thing to be exposed to heat for a short time, such as when we are on vacation, but constantly having to work or live in very hot conditions will take a toll over time.

“We often talk about mortality, but that is the tip of the iceberg. There are all the hospital admissions below that, and it is hard on a day-to-day basis to keep operating and that can come with some mental health issues as well,” Gagnon says.

Heat can always be dangerous

The main thing to remember is that heat can be dangerous and to listen to our bodies, Gagnon says.

“If we start feeling a bit off, dizzy, lightheaded, very thirsty, those are all signs that our body needs a break and we should listen to it,” he says. “Find a way to cool off, and if we are working outside, pay attention to hydration.”

Gagnon uses a heat chamber to recreate hot and humid environmental conditions, as well as hot water baths and special suits that look like wetsuits but have tubes sewn into them that circulate hot water. He hopes that this research will provide more precise strategies and recommendations to help people manage in hot temperatures.

“As an example, because we were able to document how much more sweat was produced (during hot weather), we can say, when it’s (a high) temperature, you should drink X amount more per hour, and it becomes a bit more concrete because often recommendations are vague and open to interpretation.

“So, if we can make it more specific, hopefully that helps people.”