Latest news with #SteveMcBride
CTV News
3 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Newfoundland farmer says he's never seen anything like this year's drought, ‘not even close'
MOBILE, N.L. – An unseasonably warm and dry stretch across much of Newfoundland and Labrador has left crops and animals parched — and farmers hoping for a steady dose of rain. Eastern parts of the island have received less than half of normal precipitation, while St. John's has seen temperatures between 2 to 4 degrees warmer than usual, according to an analysis by Agriculture Canada. Its Canadian Drought Monitor measurement system found much of the province classifies as abnormally dry, while a northeastern stretch including St. John's, Bonavista and Gander is in a moderate drought. 'We've been here, on the homestead pretty much off the grid for 12 years now, and I've never seen anything like this,' said Steve McBride. 'Not even close.' Steve and his partner Lisa McBride are homesteaders. They try to produce as much of their own crops, eggs, milk and other food as possible. Between his turkeys, goats, ducks and bees, it all adds up to a lot of work for the couple. 'I've got a million mouths to feed and water over the course of the day,' Steve said. Since early June, McBride's well has been dry, and he's seeing the colour leave his grass and other plants too. His animals are also showing signs that they're struggling with weather conditions, drinking about twice as much water as usual, and his goats are avoiding the sunshine by hiding in the shade and staying in their shelters 'A dry duck is not a happy duck,' he added. To compensate, Steve and Lisa McBride have begun once-or-twice daily trips to a local freshwater pond to fill up 5-gallon buckets of water and bring them home to their animals. 'This is going to be the reality until September,' Steve McBride said. 'Barring getting a water truck to come in and fill up a 1000-litre tote for us, or something like that, which is an added expense. That's it.' At Lester's Farm Chalet in St. John's, owner Jim Lester is also scratching his head. This summer, he's been working Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Living Labs program to track moisture content in his soil. Ideally, he said, you'd get a measurement of about 10 per cent. As of the end of July, his soil is reading just three per cent. 'Once upon a time, irrigation was kind of not needed here in Newfoundland,' Lester said. 'Then, you know, about 15 years ago it became a luxury to have irrigation. But now it's truly a necessity.' The yellowed, short grazing fields on his farm are testament to how difficult the year has become. Lester said he'll likely have to consider either selling some of his animals or buying more hay later this year. Either approach could mean extra costs. He's had to supplement summer feeding with hay before — but only because it's been too wet in the past, never because it's been too dry. 'You'll see lots of fellows having to bring their cattle and their sheep home from the community pastures, whereas normally we can leave them out until the 1st of December or at least the end of October.'
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Holding ancient Greek and Roman coins is touching 'living history,' says N.L. collector
For one homesteader on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, collecting ancient Greek and Roman coins is about holding a piece of history in his hands. Steve McBride has a homestead with his wife Lisa in Mobile, where they raise goats, honeybees, turkeys and ducks for their own consumption, and his ancient coins hit close to home. "I like them a lot because they show scenes that are very familiar to us," McBride told CBC News. He's specifically interested in coins with animals on them, which ties back to his homestead. One coin in his collection depicts a honeybee, which was a symbol of the Roman goddess Diana whose priestesses were called little honeybees and served as beekeepers. "There's a coin I've got here, one of my favourite coins, has basically somebody milking a goat. Which is something I did this morning," he said. "It makes me feel like we're directly connected to our ancestors from, not just not just a generation ago, but from many, many generations ago." Ancient coins also have propaganda messages and depict historical events. McBride said he was a child in 1986 when Halley's Comet last flew by Earth's sky. When he started coin collecting he found the Romans also marked the comet on a coin. "It brings everything full circle," he said. Accessible history McBride said history has been a longtime interest, and about 20 years ago he started acquiring his coins on eBay. Pennies, nickels and dimes are pretty common. "It means that people like me can spend $50 or something and buy one and hold a 2,000-year-old piece of history, something that was spent on bread or on a ticket to the theatre 2,000 years ago," he said. "Being able to touch something that's tangibly connected to people from so long ago … I find it really exciting." McBride has developed a deep understanding of the time periods from which these coins were made. He said he has been asked to help identify coins for others, including auction houses and museums — all from the comfort of his home. "Basically I'll identify the coins and translate the Latin on them and try to precisely date them," he said. In some cases, details can say the month or even day the coin was struck, he added, and he's even found a few coins that have never been documented before. "When you actually get to research and add a coin to a catalogue, it feels like you're creating a little bit of history or dusting off a little bit of history and putting it back up on a shelf," McBride said. "I find that really rewarding." Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
CBC
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Holding ancient Greek and Roman coins is touching 'living history,' says N.L. collector
New Steve McBride likes to collect coins depicting animals, like goats and bees For one homesteader on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, collecting ancient Greek and Roman coins is about holding a piece of history in his hands. Steve McBride has a homestead with his wife Lisa in Mobile, where they raise goats, honeybees, turkeys and ducks for their own consumption, and his ancient coins hit close to home. "I like them a lot because they show scenes that are very familiar to us," McBride told CBC News. He's specifically interested in coins with animals on them, which ties back to his homestead. One coin in his collection depicts a honeybee, which was a symbol of the Roman goddess Diana whose priestesses were called little honeybees and served as beekeepers. "There's a coin I've got here, one of my favourite coins, has basically somebody milking a goat. Which is something I did this morning," he said. "It makes me feel like we're directly connected to our ancestors from, not just not just a generation ago, but from many, many generations ago." Ancient coins also have propaganda messages and depict historical events. McBride said he was a child in 1986 when Halley's Comet last flew by Earth's sky. When he started coin collecting he found the Romans also marked the comet on a coin. "It brings everything full circle," he said. Accessible history McBride said history has been a longtime interest, and about 20 years ago he started acquiring his coins on eBay. Pennies, nickels and dimes are pretty common. "It means that people like me can spend $50 or something and buy one and hold a 2,000-year-old piece of history, something that was spent on bread or on a ticket to the theatre 2,000 years ago," he said. "Being able to touch something that's tangibly connected to people from so long ago … I find it really exciting." Image | Steve McBride and goat Caption: One of the coins in McBride's collection features a goat being milked, which is something he does on his own homestead. (Elizabeth Whitten/CBC) Open Image in New Tab McBride has developed a deep understanding of the time periods from which these coins were made. He said he has been asked to help identify coins for others, including auction houses and museums — all from the comfort of his home. "Basically I'll identify the coins and translate the Latin on them and try to precisely date them," he said. In some cases, details can say the month or even day the coin was struck, he added, and he's even found a few coins that have never been documented before. "When you actually get to research and add a coin to a catalogue, it feels like you're creating a little bit of history or dusting off a little bit of history and putting it back up on a shelf," McBride said. "I find that really rewarding."
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
N.L. homesteader urging people to quarantine their feathered friends due to 2 bird flu cases
Homesteader Steve McBride says people with birds are taking the presence of avian influenza seriously. (Sukree Sukplang/Reuters) The presence of avian influenza in Newfoundland and Labrador has a homesteader calling on farmers and other homesteaders to quarantine their flocks. Two cases of the deadly virus, also known as bird flu, were detected by federal officials last week in central parts of the island. There is no treatment for avian influenza, and it is more likely to kill poultry like chicken and turkeys than wild birds. Steve McBride, a homesteader in Mobile and the founder of the Facebook group Backyard Farming and Homesteading N.L., said members are keeping an eye on the possible spread of bird flu. "I think people are starting to take precautions. One of the precautions that we take in our backyard farming and homesteading group on Facebook is simply to advise people to quarantine their birds and separate them if they're going to be bringing in new birds," McBride told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show. LISTEN | CBC's Jamie Fitzpatrick chats with homesteader Steve McBride about bird flu worries: In 2022, the last time bird flu was found in N.L., he decided to take precautions at his homestead base. "As somebody who keeps backyard birds, I recognize that I couldn't just keep doing the same old, same old. So we built an indoor-outdoor enclosure, a covered run with netting over it and such," said McBride. That way, he can let his birds in the outdoor enclosure to get fresh air and exercise but when he's worried about possible cases of bird flu, he can coop them up in the inside enclosure. While he said most people he interacts with take the threat of bird flu seriously, there are some who deny its existence, which he likened to COVID-19 deniers. "There are some some people that are wrapped up in denialism and the idea that maybe this is some sort of hoax or maybe this is some sort of plan by the government to come for your chickens," said McBride. Stopping spread In an email to CBC News, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease said this is the first time they've found the H5N5 subtype in the province, but "the detection is not unexpected as H5N5 has been circulating in wildlife and wild birds in Eastern Canada since 2023." The spokesperson cited privacy about revealing the location for the cases but did say it was in a non-commercial operation with fewer than 1,000 birds. "Zoning and movement controls have been established to mitigate the risk of infection at other premises and surveillance is underway to determine if there has been any spread of the H5N5 subtype," it added. Hitting other areas McBride said in the U.S. there have been widespread culls due to bird flu, which has led to an increase in the price of eggs, adding B.C. has seen a surge in cases that has resulted in quarantining and culling. In rare cases, there can be transmission between birds and other species as well as with humans, McBride said, pointing to a recent case in B.C. that resulted in a child being hospitalized in intensive care. "Those kinds of things are in the background reminding us that not only is this a risk for chickens and our ducks, but this could go further than that," said McBride. Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
CBC
18-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
N.L. homesteader urging people to quarantine their feathered friends due to 2 bird flu cases
The presence of avian influenza in Newfoundland and Labrador has a homesteader calling on farmers and other homesteaders to quarantine their flocks. Two cases of the deadly virus, also known as bird flu, were detected by federal officials last week in central parts of the island. There is no treatment for avian influenza, and it is more likely to kill poultry like chicken and turkeys than wild birds. Steve McBride, a homesteader in Mobile and the founder of the Facebook group Backyard Farming and Homesteading N.L., said members are keeping an eye on the possible spread of bird flu. "I think people are starting to take precautions. One of the precautions that we take in our backyard farming and homesteading group on Facebook is simply to advise people to quarantine their birds and separate them if they're going to be bringing in new birds," McBride told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show. In 2022, the last time bird flu was found in N.L., he decided to take precautions at his homestead base. "As somebody who keeps backyard birds, I recognize that I couldn't just keep doing the same old, same old. So we built an indoor-outdoor enclosure, a covered run with netting over it and such," said McBride. That way, he can let his birds in the outdoor enclosure to get fresh air and exercise but when he's worried about possible cases of bird flu, he can coop them up in the inside enclosure. While he said most people he interacts with take the threat of bird flu seriously, there are some who deny its existence, which he likened to COVID-19 deniers. "There are some some people that are wrapped up in denialism and the idea that maybe this is some sort of hoax or maybe this is some sort of plan by the government to come for your chickens," said McBride. Stopping spread In an email to CBC News, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease said this is the first time they've found the H5N5 subtype in the province, but "the detection is not unexpected as H5N5 has been circulating in wildlife and wild birds in Eastern Canada since 2023." The spokesperson cited privacy about revealing the location for the cases but did say it was in a non-commercial operation with fewer than 1,000 birds. "Zoning and movement controls have been established to mitigate the risk of infection at other premises and surveillance is underway to determine if there has been any spread of the H5N5 subtype," it added. Hitting other areas McBride said in the U.S. there have been widespread culls due to bird flu, which has led to an increase in the price of eggs, adding B.C. has seen a surge in cases that has resulted in quarantining and culling. In rare cases, there can be transmission between birds and other species as well as with humans, McBride said, pointing to a recent case in B.C. that resulted in a child being hospitalized in intensive care.
