Alberta Sheep Symposium Innovation - A Shepherd's Toolkit

October 23 - 25, 2009      Executive Royal Inn, Leduc, Alberta

Hazel Rust

Hazel Rust comes from the rural area north of Ponoka, Alberta where she and her husband raise mules. Hazel has been interested in reading, writing and reciting poetry for as long as she can remember. Since she is now a grandmother, that is quite a long time, but it is only in the past three years that she has been sharing her skills as a poet and performer with the public. Her first idea was simply to put her poetry on a CD to give to her grandchildren for Christmas presents. Soon she needed to have more CDs because friends wanted them too. Her popularity grew and now she is invited to perform at many events. Hazel's poetry reflects the rest of life besides that of the traditional cowboy and his horse. She tells about the gopher eating the garden, the problems with the computer, and life in the good old days. Her poetry is a delightfully humorous look at life written in the cowboy poetry style, and at the same time reflects her basic belief in God and family.