GRAND VALLEY — A donkey named Soar follows Darlene Janssen around her farm as she goes about her business.
When The Brandon Sun visited the Janssen farm during the flooding, quite by accident due to various washed-out roads caused by wild rainfall in the area, Soar’s braying was notable. She saw the Sun approaching the farm from a fenced-in field higher up from the Janssen’s flooding fields.
"She’s protective of me," said Darlene.
"She does that with anybody who comes by because she’s kind of a people donkey, just because she’s always been with people. She will follow me, in the yard, in the fields. If I’m cutting the grass she’ll follow behind me, back and forth, back and forth. She would rather be with people than with other animals."
Soar’s mother died in childbirth approximately seven years ago, and Darlene is her human stand-in after a neighbour, who didn’t have animals, passed her on.
"We went and got her, and brought her and her bottles, like a baby," Darlene said.
In good humour, Darlene named her Soar, as in sorry-looking ass.
Soar has even kicked Darlene’s husband Willy a couple of times.
Darlene married Willy in 1980. A German soldier who decided to remain in Canada, he wanted to farm. They chose the land west of Brandon, near where the Little Saskatchewan River and the Assiniboine River meet, over 40 acres by Shilo they originally owned.
For 30 years, the couple has seen floodwater rise and fall. Heavy rainfall is the culprit this summer, which is nothing like the spring melt. That means it’s too late in the season to start over. The Janssens also have chickens, turkeys, and geese, as well as Shetland ponies.
"Farming season is over," said Willy. "This is done."
A neighbour up the road heeded an evacuation order put out by the Rural Municipality of Whitehead. Officials visited local property owners, but the Janssens felt they were safe. Whitehead was responding to the province’s notice it was losing confidence in the Rivers dam at Lake Wahtopanah, which would have caused the Little Saskatchewan River to further overflow.
The Little Saskatchewan River’s watershed covers an area of approximately 3,600 square kilometres. The river begins at Lake Audy and flows south, and the watershed includes numerous lakes and three man-made reservoirs – Minnedosa Lake, Rapid City Reservoir and Lake Wahtopanah. Each of those three reservoirs and neighbouring communities in the Little Saskatchewan’s path have been in the news since record rainfalls hit southwestern Manitoba "that Sunday," June 28.
The Little Saskatchewan joins the Assiniboine about 10 kilometres west of Brandon.
The Janssens, who until a few years ago farmed grain, now make hay. They said their fields filled with water after Sunday, then the water disappeared.
"Tuesday we were still mowing the crops," said Willy.
Then the fields filled with water again. The couple lost about 100 hay bales, as well as the unmowed fields. The bridge over the Little Saskatchewan that connects them to the Trans-Canada Highway was also lost to water.
Nevertheless, Darlene said the river has created many awesome memories for her and her family. The couple have three children from previous marriages and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
For the rest of the summer, Willy will make money at custom bailing and custom haying. Darlene works at the Souris Hotel, now a longer drive due to road closures. Both are self-proclaimed workaholics and have always worked while farming. Darlene said she a "really bad workaholic." She’s worked in the hospitality industry since the age of 17. She loves that day-to-day activity with people, but she also loves her animal time and quiet time.
"I get out of my professional life and into my grubbies and it doesn’t seem like work, going out fixing fences and picking stones and feeding chickens and cleaning out chicken houses. It’s just a happy balance. I’ve always said we work to support our hobby, the farm."
The flooding would be a greater worry if the couple made a living off the farm. Darlene said she can’t imagine what this summer’s flooding must be like for those who are solely dependent on their farms.
If the water should come up further this summer, the Janssens figure they will be OK. Darlene took the Sun out on a four-wheeler to the barn that did get the brunt of the flooding – to the roof – in 2014. That’s still a ways away from the family garden, the chickens and their other feathered friends. The Shetlands and Soar have been moved to higher pasture on the hillside across the road
"With the roads being washed out like that, one always worries for emergency services. What if there was a big fire? Or one of us had a heart attack? You worry about stuff like that," Darlene said.
But Darlene does have a plan. If the chickens need evacuation, she has access to an out-of-use school bus
