Discover the wonders of Saskatoon! Share the adventures of two new friends as they explore places important to the city’s culture and heritage.

Memories of a northern childhood. Aldred Neufeldt grew up in the small Mennonite community of Horse Lake, northern Saskatchewan, in the 1940s—a place considered by everyone else to be “the boonies” and a time when the devastating effects of the Great Depression were still being felt. Though times may have been tough, it was a childhood of wonder and discovery, nurtured by energetic and resourceful parents who expressed their Christian faith and community values through deeds more than words. <br><br>Neufeldt recounts what it was like to live in the log house built by his father; run along deer trails in the nearby Nisbet Forest Reserve; walk to school on the old Carlton Trail; model home-sewn fashions inspired by the latest Eaton’s catalogue; navigate the social dynamics of a small one-room school; and come to understand how the diverse personalities that made up his extended family—from hardworking pioneer grandparents to an infamous distant cousin accused of murder—helped to shape his own identity. <br><br>Told with zest and a keen eye for humorous detail, Horse Lake Chronicles immerses readers in a way of life now scarcely remembered, and in doing so invites us to reflect on our own origins and pathways to adulthood.

"A long time ago, Our People came from the Northern Woodlands to the Great Plains looking for food," Grandfather said. "They saw that the Buffalo lived in harmony with Mother Earth the same as Our People did."

Through the Creator, the buffalo gave themselves as a gift for the sustenance and survival of the Plains Cree people. The largest land animal in North America once thundered across the Great Plains in numbers of 30 to 50 million. They provided shelter, food, clothing, tools, hunting gear, ceremonial objects and many other necessities for those who lived on the Plains.

But by 1889, just over a thousand buffalo remained, and the lives of the Plains Cree people changed. The buffalo is honoured to this day, a reminder of life in harmony with nature as it was once lived. This is the story of how the buffalo came to share themselves so freely.