“Your only option is a corneal transplant,” the ophthalmologist stated matter-of-factly.” Although I’d known for years it could one day come to that, I needed time for the reality of having a part of my eye replaced with donor tissue, to sink in.

For years contact lenses provided me with the good vision I lost due to keratoconus, an eye condition in which the normally dome-shaped cornea progressively thins, causing a cone-like bulge to develop.  I’m not sure what caused this disorder, but it could have happened wh....

My name is Carol Maendel. I am a 26-year-old wife and mother who lives at Forest River Colony near Fordville, North Dakota with 100+ other people. I am a Hutterite. I was married a year ago and moved from my colony to my husband's, as is our custom. Growing up at my small mother colony in Montana, I attended a public school in town, got a driver's license when I was 15 and graduated in 2006 from Roundup High School.  I worked at the colony and spent time with my family until I was baptized. I then married and moved to Forest River.

I live, ....

On May 29th, the first of ten episodes of “American Colony: Meet the Hutterites” aired on National Geographic Channel. A film crew spent months filming the King Ranch Hutterite Colony from the Dariusleut branch of Hutterites near Lewistown, Montana.

The online video clips and the episodes are interesting and entertaining, not only for the regular audience of National Geographic, but also for many of the 49 000 Hutterites who live on colonies scattered throughout the plains in the USA and Canada. The trailers, deleted scenes and photos po....

Canada, with its many immigrants is like a beautiful patchwork quilt. People from various countries have settled on our rich farmlands or in thriving towns and cities, proudly calling this home. This kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, tastes and customs gives our country a rich folkloric vista. Each ethnic group is like a quilt piece, adding its own unique colour or texture, and is stitched together with common respect, creating a spectacular whole.

I got a glimpse of this recently, when we celebrated ‘Sharing Our World’ in Portage La Prair....

After sewing for more than two months last winter, it was extremely gratifying to see a stack of 250 simple, yet beautifully pieced lap quilts, which the Alzheimer Society distributed to local senior’s homes. Just recently we received thank you notes from Lion’s Prairie Manor and The Douglas Campbell Lodge, both in Portage and Third Crossing Manor in Gladstone, expressing their heartfelt gratitude: “Thank you for participating in this project. You have enhanced the quality of life and brought sm....