All agriculture, all week

A bout of flu at the end of last week gave me an excuse to rest up for the week ahead, which is packed with a bale of agricultural writing. The week begins with coverage of the Society for Range Management meeting in Vancouver, then the British Columbia Potato and Vegetable Growers’ Association meeting south of the city in Delta. The week winds up with the three-day Pacific Agriculture Show, an annual affair in Abbotsford. I’ll be covering these for a handful of farm publications, so if you’re interested in some copy yourself – just ask!

Recuperating from flu gave me time to catch up on reading. The latest issue of the Devil’s Artisan (no. 57) reached Vancouver last week, with an item regarding The Complaint Department of Toronto (lately lamented and now succeeded by Trip Print Press). Gotta like the proprietors' commitment to “disposable art that will stay out of the trash can.” Of a loftier nature was James Robertson, Voyage of Intent: Sonnets and Essays from the Scottish Parliament. Robertson's poems “Signage” and “The Voyage” (from which the book’s title comes) employ sincere wit (and humour) to provoke deeper thoughts about language and the work of political gatherings of all sorts, not just parliaments.