Liz Spetz 297-8804

Adieu, Mr. Cavendish

The worlds most popular fruit, the ordinary banana, may possibly be about to become extinct. Of course, theres nothing really ordinary about this banana. Seven thousand years of cultivation and selection have blessed us with the ubiquitous Cavendish variety of today. Blessed and cursed us in many ways. This fruit now has the perfect consistent shape, uniform colour and moderate taste that were all familiar with. Its skin is tough for shipping; resistant to bruising. The seeds are almost non-existent. The variety has spread out to constitute virtually all the production. Its a winner but in the longer run its likely to be a big loser. The lack of cultural diversity could doom this banana to extinction. Not only could it but it is expected to within the next 20 years. The more singular a variety is the more vulnerable it is to mass destruction by a fungus or disease. Other varieties of bananas are being tested and selected in the meantime as potential replacements. But thats not a simple process. This isnt the first example of a singular variety of plant or livestock becoming the victim of rapid demise. You cant even mention the Lumper potato around a person of Irish descent without bringing on a chorus of Galway Bay. The stupendous destruction of that stand alone potato crop was enough to starve and disburse virtually an entire people. And it can happen again. In our unrelenting quest for greater production we have continuously and swiftly thinned the ranks of cultivar varieties. The chart on pg. 2 (Vanishing Varieties) provides some data on this transformation. We have gained more consistency but we are at greater risk. Risk of susceptibility to disease and blight as well as risk to being held hostage by the producers and suppliers of the seed itself. Today an estimated 90 per cent of our fruit and vegetable varieties have vanished. In a world where we face the challenge of feeding more than 7 billion people a year by 2045 we need reliable crops that can meet the demand. However, we need to limit our vulnerabilities and reduce our waste. On page 2 there is a list (What We Consume and What We Waste) of the amount of food we throw out every year due to neglect, indifference or oversight. You cant look at the numbers and not think that the wastage is a lot. Greater attention to consumption would provide some relief to the pressure on supply. However, that alone will not save us from the danger of relying on limited varieties as the base of our food production chain. The Svaldbard Global Seed Vault in Norway is just one of several places that are attempting to preserve heirloom seed varieties for future use. They may be our salvation in a world of limitless demand. It took 10,000 years of domestication for us to create the biodiversity in our food supply that we are watching ebb away today. However, we are warned now to prepare and be ready to better respond to the loss of staple products of which the Cavendish banana is just a small example. JK

MLS #399361

www.realtor.ca

Let our experience work for you

Family Movies
Aug/Sept Movies on Saturdays @ 7 pm
-

T.REX DISCOVERY CENTRE

Saturday 20th

Red Riding Hood September Saturday 10th The Conspirator Saturday 17th X-Men: First Class Saturday 24th Thor
Suggestions for movies are welcome. Please contact the T.rex Discovery Centre

One Admission Price $3.50 each

T.rex Discovery Centre, Eastend, SK. For more information visit www.trexcentre.ca

Friends of Pine Cree

WING NIGHT
Main Cook Shack Saturday, Aug. 20th 4 - 8:30 PM Admission: $10 - or Free with Seasons Pass Fries - $2.00 Wings - (6) $5.00 (12) $10.00

An Invitation for Everyone to A Come and Go Tea Celebrating the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Enid and Glen Dallyn Saturday, August 20th 1 - 3 PM at 620 Railway St.
(

or contact us at (306) 295 4009

www.trexcentre.ca

The Eastend Edge is a proud supporter of our community and is distributed across North America. Publisher: Jeanne Kaufman

Bring lawn chairs and refreshments Proceeds to Friends of Pine Cree

absolutely no gifts)

EASTEND AGENCIES LTD.

Locally Owned and Operated

COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS
ECT&EDA- Aug. 2 Eastend Arts CouncilFall Historical Museum Aug. 9 K-40 Fall CWL Fall Friends of the Museum & T.rex Discovery Centre Sept. 8 RM of White Valley Aug. 11 TOWN COUNCIL Aug. 10 Clay Centre Comm ClubFall School Comm CouncilFall Chamber of CommerceFall Fire Dept. Aug. 2 and 16 Prairie Pearls Fall RW Institute Aug. 10 TOPS MEET - Health Centre Quiet Room, Thursdays @ 5:15 p.m. AAMondays @ 8:00p.m. at Henrys Place BINGOMondays at 7:00 in the Rink! Alanon Health Centre Quiet Room Tuesdays .

Dont be caught off guard this Summer! Call us for your home, farm, boat and cabin insurance needs!
Karaoke & DJ Services Friday, Aug. 19th Featuring Nicole Hanson at

Get Bonnie working for you 295-3655

104 Maple Avenue North, Eastend, Sask.

The Cypress Hotel

Shop Local

What We Consume and What We Waste in a Year Fresh Fruit 77 lbs purchased - 22 lbs wasted Fresh Vegetables 131 lbs purchased - 39 lbs wasted Poultry 70 lbs purchased - 27 lbs wasted Grain Products 173 lbs purchased - 36 lbs wasted Red meat 103 lbs purchased - 36 lbs wasted Cheese 28 lbs purchased - 4 lbs wasted Eggs 26 lbs purchased - 4 lbs wasted Sweeteners 121 lbs purchased - 24 lbs wasted (doesn`t include non-edible parts)
Source: National Geographic - July, 2011

The Rural Municipality of White Valley No. 49 Invites applications for the seasonal position of: GRADER OPERATOR for the 2011 season. The successful applicant will work under the supervision of the road foreman. Applicants must hold a valid drivers license, have vehicle to pull the municipal trailer, haul fuel, blades and other supplies, and be able to work with minimal supervision. Applicants should have or be prepared to obtain a Power Mobile Equipment (PME) course. Submit written application stating experience, expected salary and two references by 4:00 P.M. August 19, 2011 to: R.M. of White Valley No. 49 Box 520 Eastend, Sask. S0N 0T0
Council thanks all applicants for their interest, only those chosen for interviews will be contacted. AUG DATES FOR PHYSICIAN CLINICS IN EASTEND
SHERRY HORNUNG RN(NP) - AUG 15, 18, 22, 24, 25, 29 AND 31 PHYSICIAN - AUG 16
AND

25

To book an appointment Phone 295-4184 Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM-4:00 PM.

EWWHC Lab Hours: Mon - Thurs 8:30 to Noon and 1:00 to 3:30 The Lab will be closed on Fridays

Advertising Rates $15 per week per ad. Space and sizing at Editors discretion. Oversize ads: Double to 1/2 page $30 Full page $40 We appreciate your business.

Vanishing Variety Seeds Beet Cabbage Sweet Corn Lettuce Muskmelon Pea Radish Squash Tomato Cucumber 1903 Varieties 288 544 307 497 338 408 463 341 408 285 1983 Varieties 17 28 12 36 27 25 27 40 79 16

Svaldbard Global Seed Vault

A secure seedbank is located on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago. The facility preserves a wide variety of plant seeds in an underground cavern. The seeds are duplicate samples, or "spare" copies, of seeds held in gene banks worldwide. As part of the vault's one year anniversary (2009), more than 90,000 food crop seed samples were placed into storage, bringing the total number of seed samples to 400,000.

Yellow Mellow
The photo montage on page 5 of the blogspot is provided by slg. www.scribd.com/eastendedge

Source: National Geographic, - July, 2011 (Rural Advancement Foundation International)

This Yellow House

yesteryear, i was born by a carpenters hand, joining my parts together in a puzzle of wood and metal. yesteryear, a family filled empty spaces with laughter and tears of their togetherness. but now, loneliness and silence live here and i am a useless, dusty shell, echoing memories of yesterdays, only winds blowing sounds past my windows, leaving dried crackling leaves, like old newspaper-clippings, in the corners of faded rooms. but i always dared to hope, always, dreaming to be found again, to be of use, filled with life again so now there is the sound of hammers of new machines, with bracing noise reverberating and alien smells. my stooped and rugged countenance is straightened and worked to stand as proud as it did yesteryear when i was young and freshly built. new voices fill my rooms, new heats beat in my spaces! now I am content, I have a purpose once again, to shelter and protect to harbour laughter and tears and the love that humankind knows to express in so many ways within my walls, as seasons roll over my hide
Gabriele Kck

Guest Commentary - Denis Wall

1870 - The Saskatchewan: Part One Security in the Saskatchewan, which included Medicine Hat in the mid-1800s, was tenuous at best. That state of affairs is illustrated by incidents like the Cypress Hills massacre (June 1873) The Canadian government (British Crown, really) recognized that tensions existed and so in 1870, Lieutenant William F. Butler (69th Regt.) was contracted to survey security and policing in the Saskatchewan. He was a regular Irishman who later became an English General. Anyway, he left Fort Garry on October 25, 1870 and headed to Edmonton through Carleton along the frozen N. Saskatchewan River. He reached Edmonton on November 26 and by December 12 he was in Rocky Mountain House. Without the guides he had hoped to find there, he started his return ride east back to Edmonton instead of toward Montana. The temperature was hovering around -20F. His saddle froze solid on the way so he switched to dogsled in Edmonton and later as he travelled alone along the Saskatchewan River he recorded a temperature of -39F at 10 on the morning of December 29. Little by little, he writes. The snow seemed to deepen, day by day the frost, to obtain a more lasting power, and to bind in a still more solid embrace all visible Nature. No human voice, no sound of bird or beast, no ripple of stream to break the intense silence of these vast solitudes... . After 119 days and 2700 miles in which he met people like the reverends Lacombe, Nisbet, and McDougall, Hudson Bay Company officials and others, he arrived back at Fort Garry on Feb. 20 1871 and 18 days later he handed over his report to Adams G. Archibald, the new Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. Butler was a writer before he was a military man. But he was also a loyal member of the British colonial administrative system. His 1871 survey was important not only because of the direction it provided to policing on the prairies but also for his perspectives. While his loyalty was with Britain, he is said to have supported home rule for Ireland and these conflicting sentiments come clear in the report. So, what did he say. He starts his report with what appears to have been a common theme of the day: The institutions of Law and Order, as understood in civilized communities, are wholly unknown in the regions of the Saskatchewan, insomuch as the region is without an executive body and destitute of any means to enforce the authority of the Law. So much for a discussion of the existing Indian and Mtis social and political orders. It seems he felt compelled to keep his observations within the colonial context and to leave out locally derived governance. As a result, his opinion was that anarchy and disorder prevailed and he pointed the finger for crime at people of mixed and native blood. Does that sound familiar? pg. 4

WRITING PEOPLE
A weekend for people who love writing. To explore writing about people. Public Reading: Slade & Savage Friday, August 19, 7 p.m. Eastend United Church Writing Workshops Saturday, Aug. 20, 10 a.m. 4 p.m. Fiction: Slade Nonfiction: Savage Pre-registration is required. Contact Mary at 295-3673

Memories wanted of Harold S. "Corky" Jones

For those who knew Corky, or stories of him, please drop by the Town Historical Museum to write down your memories. Information gathered will be used at a later date for a biography of him and his work around southwest Saskatchewan. For more information on the project please contact Tim Tokaryk at 295 4701 in the daytime, or 295 - 3566 in the evening. Each piece must be signed and dated to complete the documentation.

 pg. 3 The Saskatchewan

Museum Musings
Expansion
by Alice Hanlin

This was one theme, found throughout the British Empire, that purposefully shaped images of aboriginal peoples. One reason was that while King George III explicitly stated in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 that the original inhabitants of North America (living in Indian country) were the lawful owners of the land, the British Crown, in Canada, at least, moved to buy that ownership by any means possible, provided the rationale was legally and contractually supportable in colonial courts. One means, it might be argued, of loosening things up and moving in that direction was the promotion of the image of aboriginal peoples as uncivilized and like it or not, Butler was part of that British colonial system. To his credit Butler does his best later in the report to reverse those negative impressions. Part 2 will give you some of the detail of Butlers report. (You can read the complete original Butler report (free .pdf download) published on D. Walls website http://web.ncf.ca/er075/ dwrgpress1.html. The DWRG Press version is reprinted directly from microfilm images of the original pages in the Department of the Interior files. It is surprisingly literate and readable. It is also published in Butlers book The Great Lone Land, 1871.) D. Wall

As soon as the museum was established in the Pastime Theatre Building, many offers of exhibits came along. The Corry log house was the first such building offer. It presents a clear picture of the valiant efforts and successes to transport the British culture into this raw prairie land. . The homesteader shack, LaRose building, machine shed, and Benison building became available to the museum community for a modest purchase. Even an outhouse, and jail cell were accepted along with their stories to add to the tapestry of our local history. (The collection of buildings continues as a blacksmith shop is currently in the making!) Expansion not only included the buildings, but also many treasures which continue to provide evidence of the daring, risks, creativity, hard work and the sacrifice of the past 100 years in south-western Saskatchewan. Eastends Historical Museum and Cultural Centre has also accepted the responsibility of being a first stop for tourists to acquire needed information for visiting points of interest here. Comments which express delight and amazement at the collection come from visitors from many points in Canada, the U.S., and abroad. Our volunteers, both past and present have strived diligently to preserve, restore, and maintain the rich heritage of this wider community as well as help the community by serving the tourism industry. ***P.S. New volunteers are very welcome!
Movie Review:

"Fields Of Gold"
You'll remember me when the west wind moves Upon the fields of barley You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky As we walk in the fields of gold So she took her love For to gaze awhile Upon the fields of barley In his arms she fell as her hair came down Among the fields of gold Will you stay with me, will you be my love Among the fields of barley We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky As we lie in the fields of gold See the west wind move like a lover so Upon the fields of barley Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth Among the fields of gold I never made promises lightly And there have been some that I've broken But I swear in the days still left We'll walk in the fields of gold We'll walk in the fields of gold Many years have passed since those summer days Among the fields of barley See the children run as the sun goes down Among the fields of gold You'll remember me when the west wind moves Upon the fields of barley You can tell the sun in his jealous sky When we walked in the fields of gold When we walked in the fields of gold When we walked in the fields of gold

Limitless
There was a synopsis of this film in the August 1st issue of the Edge but since I saw this movie and enjoyed it, I thought I would do an actual review of it. Limitless is creatively filmed with clever FX footage and, while a thriller, is not too heavy on the senses. It follows a young man, Eddie Morra, who is deluding himself that he is writer. Hes really nowhere and going down fast. From his suddenly dead old friend he acquires a stash of NZT, a new drug that brings Eddie into a state of extraordinary metal capacity. His ability for rapid knowledge and transforming ideas into brilliant substance are beyond anything anyone can imagine. He is sought after for opinions and, designs of grandeur that produce wealth. Of course, theres a dark side to this that cant be denied. There are dangers to being a king-maker. It struck me that if you strip away the gritty New York setting and the mega buck parlays you could pretty much have set the scene right here in Charlies where great minds meet with uncommon skill to resolve world challenges on a regular basis. The local NZT being a 2cup shot of respectable coffee. The film, of course, becomes more complicated. The end, regrettably, sees our hero making his natural entry into politics, slicked up and with a perfect hair cut. Thats a bit disappointing as its never that simple when you sell your soul to the devil in the real world. However, I recommend this movie which is available at the Convenience Store. Its clever, its fun and just a slight twist different. And, of course, you can discuss your own critique of it at Charlies. JK

Movie Synopsis:

Red Riding Hood

Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) is a beautiful young woman torn between two men in a medieval village. She is in love with a brooding outsider Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry (Max Irons). Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie's older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. For years, the people have maintained an uneasy truce with the creature but things are changing now. www.rottentomatoes.com

Great Views Check http://vimeo.com/24253126

Sting