Kernels of Hope ... our farming initiative that connects farmers in Canada with non farmer supporters to help people in need in countries like Ethiopia through Tearfund Canada and the Canadian FoodGrains Bank has a lot of its crops harvested so far this year.... Gerald and Darla ( The Van B's ) of the Melfort Covenant Church have been long time Kernels growers and this recent note and pictures from them make my heart smile ! "We got our 50 acres of wheat off Friday night! It yielded about 55bu/ac As you can seeing the clouds were looming but we escaped the rain. " Darla & Gerald Please pray for the real Canadian farmers we are connected with through all of our Covenant Churches... Wet weather since mid August has caused delays and incredible stress for all prairie farmers allowing most to just pick away at harvest on the one day in a week that it gets barely dry enough and then came the snow ! If we are stressed in Canada think and pray about those people in Ethiopia that have far less ability to battle the weather than we do ! At this time I just ask that we all come along side farmers in both countries in support through your prayers... We have just come through the Thanksgiving season that reminded us that have been so Blessed and that we are Blessed to Bless others... After the feasting of Thanksgiving comes World Food Day (October 16th), a time set aside to remember and pray for the more than 821 million people around the world who do not know where their next meal is coming from. Ray the Grain Guy

Ron and Earl harvested the 6 acres of Yellow Peas Kernels field , They were dry and went straight to the elevator !

Harvest time has arrived ! some crops have been harvested ...quality has been good and quantity has been above expectations for a dry season ! The dry part is now over it seems as rain blankets the prairies this weekend !

The 2019 Growing season has varied across the Canadian Prairies this year. Manitoba started off really dry but had enough moisture to germinate most cereal crops... Cereal crops like Oats, Wheat, Barley and Rye get seeded deeper and the seeds can reach moisture much easier. They are looking great ! Again they put down a good root system early in their life when the roots had to search for moisture. Canola seeds needs to be about 1/2 an inch to 1 inch deep.. that part of the soil was quite dry... (especially in Saskatchewan ) Canola has had a rough start and was effected by dry weather and flea beetles, frost and cutworms And EVEN gophers munching small parts of fields. Once we started to get adequate rainfalls and warmer temperatures the canola was able to get ahead of all the adversity... It is generally the hardest worker on any farm and it will fill in the blank spots and is currently thriving ! Here are a field of peas on Ron's Kernels field near Brandon. I took pictures periodically from just after it was seeded in May till today July 15,,, As they used to say in the 60's Give Peas a Chance... these peas are thriving too ! Stay tuned for further growth

     The 2019 Growing season is just beginning in the Prairies… Snow last September and this April makes for a very short opportunity for farmers to gear up and seed the crop, nurture it to maturity and harvest it before the next snow falls !   Almost every year that miracle happens somehow!   God’s system of multiplication of seed that enables the feeding of the World keeps on ticking !   

     We are once again banding together as real farmers and Virtual farmers in Canada to produce a crop that not only multiplies in Canada but also in Ethiopia !   If you as an individual or church or church or camp group has a heart for people in need in Ethiopia you are encouraged to sponsor some of the production costs of our real Kernels of Hope farmers.     Farmers like the Borley’s  and MacDonald’s of Minnedosa , the Van Burgsteden’s  of Melfort, the VanHeyst’s and Marvin’s of Brandon , the Nelson’s and Lindgren’s of Norquay and more have committed to setting aside some land for the 2019 project.   We couldn’t do this without these generous people sharing their skills and resources and doing the real work !

     The crops and money that result from Harvest go through  Kernels of Hope to the ECCC and then to the Tearfund Canada ( formerly World Relief Canada ) account at the Canadian Food Grains Bank.  This partnership allows the funding to also get matching funding from the Canadian Government !    Tearfund coordinates the project in the Wolaita Zone of Ethiopia and works through local church partners there that are a part of Terepeza Development Association.   We are able to use the churches there to show people how to adapt their farming techniques and use Economic Development – Self Help Groups to increase their production and marketing to better their lives and their families lives for more than one generation!   Tearfund works with national church relief and development arms and local churches giving sustainable solutions to poverty.

     Please check the websites  Tearfund Canada, CFGB, ECCC   to see if this is something you can help with this year !   If you have ideas or questions please contact me at raybaloun@hotmail.com       

  Grow with us in 2019 !

The Seasons March on ~      It's the end of March and the soil and seeds and farmers eagerly await the melting of the snow and the melting of the hearts as we prepare to help so many in need in Africa.   Stay tuned for seeds and the program sprouting this spring...
    Ray the Grain Guy

2018 passes and grows into 2019

Connection Points...   That's what Kernels facilitates !   We are continually connecting people who care with those who share... sharing resources for bettering lives...sharing the gospel...    It happens like this !  Canadians like Brian Skelton and Wally Litwinow don't live on farms but they have both been virtual farmers with us from the start !  Brian grows a row or two of wheat in his garden to remember our cause of fighting hunger in countries of need.   Brian and Wally both support Kernels of Hope and our partners  Tearfund Canada and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank financially every year.... they pay for real farmers to grow crops and multiply the value through all the connected points right through to Wolaita, Ethiopia...the local churches there act as demonstration and ag extension sites that teach people how to grow bigger and better crops for their families while they are able to both hear the Gospel and see and feel God's love expressed through the Canadian virtual and real farmers...  this year Wally connected with others in his urban Edmonton neighbourhood by tearing  up part of his yard and planting wheat !  Wow... people were intrigued by this and he was able to tell the story several times of needs we can help with.  Our urban legend planted .02 of an acre of wheat and put up a Kernels field sign and nurtured the crop !   He and his crew Eunice,  hand harvested about ten cups of wheat  and plan to bring it to the ECCC AGM in Sarnia to have someone bake bread to share.   Connecting, sharing... That's what we are asked to do...   We do it well.

 In the end, we as the ECCC family and Kernels were a key part of training 3,432 farm families this year in Conservation Agriculture in rural Ethiopia through Tearfund and the local church.  On their small farms, averaging less than one acre in size crop yields more than doubled.  Your Canadian funds were matched on a 3:1 basis by CFGB. Families were transformed.  Household income expanded, children were able to go to school, medical expenses were paid for, families ate better. And we heard from Bereket, the leader of the Ethiopian work that church attendance improved in every church were the model training farm was held on church property.

                         Grow with us in 2019 !   Ray the Grain Guy