“Trucks are waiting! Everybody welcome. Thank you!” The crisp message rings from the public address system, inviting colony members to a shift of picking weeds and lumps of dirt out of newly-harvested potatoes, traveling by conveyor into the shed.

 “This is a recorded announcement!” One young woman deadpans. Grabbing gloves and a jacket she heads for the potato shed.

Every autumn brings the exciting racket of tractors, trucks and potato diggers rattling and rumbling their way to t....

It's springtime on the colony.

The doldrums of winter are over, the grass is greening, the trees are budding and it's time for sowing. The early morning air is filled with the chirping and songs of the newly arrived birds of summer. The April and May showers have replaced the cold dry air of winter with the fresh earthy smells of spring. Newness and excitement fills the air and soul alike.

The equipment operators, restless after a winter full of shop and barn work are bursting with energy and anxious to start the annual sowing season. The....

Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (Psalm 133). On Hutterite colonies the overarching aim, beyond earning an honest living, is to create an atmosphere that is conducive to a Christian life as King David mentioned above.

There are approximately 31,000 Hutterites in Canada, living on 340 colonies. Each colony has approximately 18 families working together to farm an average of 8,800 acres, or about 490 acres per family. A five hundred acre family farm would not be sustainable with today’s hig....