Congratulations on 90 years as our leading farm newspaper. I have enjoyed reading it for over half a century.
My dad, John Bochar, subscribed to The Western Producer when I was about 10 years old.
That is over 65 years ago.
Dad and I read the paper and then it was recycled. Throughout the winter months, Mother saved issues that were not needed in the outhouse as she used them to line the floor of the little house she had for newly hatched chicks.
After a week or so, she brought in straw but she felt newspapers were best for very young ones, and she changed it daily.
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I recall looking forward to the young people’s page to read the stories and poems submitted by others, but I never had the courage to submit anything of my own.
After I married a farmer in the Cactus Lake district, we also subscribed to The Western Producer.
The Homemaker’s section with Emmie Oddie’s I’d Like to Know page answered many of the queries I had as a young farmwife. I saved many of her recipes in a scrapbook and use some to this day.
Western People, once the much-loved magazine section of The Western Producer, provided me with great reading.
In 1980, I decided to send in a story about my parents and the log house they built and raised us three girls in this warm home. It was published in the Sept. 25 issue of 1980 under the title, The Story of Our Log House.
I was so thrilled to see it and the accompanying photo in print. That started me on my hobby of writing about the olden days. I had several more stories published in The Western Producer and other prairie publications.
That led to the request of our children that I collect them into a book. The result was a compilation entitled Secrets of a Ukrainian Baba, which I had printed and presented to the family. I also have copies for sale.
So I owe my initial start in writing thanks to Western Producer editors who deemed my stories worthy of publishing.
After each issue is read and an article or recipe of interest clipped and saved, I put the paper into a basket directed to our recycle bin.
I wish The Western Producer many more years of serving the prairie agricultural community through good information and entertaining articles.
