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The Rundown

In this episode, we spend a little time under a virtual umbrella with Harrowsmith\u2019s go-to weatherman, Mark Sirois. Mark\u2019s been doing long-range forecasting for the Harrowsmith Almanac and extreme weather prediction for Southern Quebec for years. Now a modern home weather station has empowered him to think big and broad. Next up Alberta farmer Leona Staples on how entrepreneurship and innovation have kept her farm alive and adapting for generations.\xa0

Mark Sirois and Predicting Weather

By day Mark Sirois is a Quebec-based senior manager for IBM Canada. But his five-to-nine side hustle is predicting extreme weather for Southern Quebec. And, he also does long-range forecasting for all of Canada for the Harrowsmith Almanac. The self-taught meteorologist started prognosticating when he was a teenager with just a weather radio and an atlas. But, as he explains in this interview, the advent of high-tech, no-moving-parts weather stations has completely changed the game for him and he\u2019s ready to up his game.\xa0

Leona Staples and Jungle Farm

Leona Staples\u2019 great grandfather, Jacob Daniel Quantz was a homesteader in late 1800 Alberta. Staples and her forebearers have kept that farm alive but in a form that Quantz would hardly recognize. A combination of Staples\u2019 love of home economics education and entrepreneurship has allowed her to reimagine the Quantz farm into a Jungle Farm that\u2019s become a family and school trip destination. I talked to her about how she managed that transformation.

End Notes

Want more Harrowsmith? No problem. Visit our website. Or you can check out Harrowsmith Magazine on selected newsstands across Canada or you can order subscriptions online at harrowsmithmag.com.

By the way, the music in the podcast? It's by good ol' Canadian singer, composer, and friend of the 'cast, David Archibald. You can find more of his music at his website, davidarchibald.com.