It is a source of pride and joy when any article I’ve written gets published in a major national magazine. This past week we received copies of Farm Collector magazine, “Dedicated to the Preservation of Vintage Farm Equipment”, as their cover page logo proclaims. Yes, it’s a niche audience to be sure; 125,000 readers in the U.S.

Farm Collector is one of nine magazines put out by Ogden Publications, based in Topeka, Kansas, that they proclaim “is the leading information resource serving the sustainable living, rural lifestyle, farm memorabilia and classic motorcycle communities.”

Its brands include Mother Earth News, Mother Earth Living, Utne Reader, Grit, Capper’s Farmer, Community Chickens , Farm Collector, Gas Engine Magazine and Motorcycle Classics.

The article they published in their November issue of  Farm Collector magazine is entitled Treasures on a Wisconsin Farm: Tractors, Implements, and More Show All Aspects of Traditional Farm Life. Ann and I visited and interviewed Don and Dolores Raspiller on their 256 acre farm a few miles south of Lyndon Station, a bit north and west of Wisconsin Dells.

We talked with the couple and took about 50 photographs during their open house around Memorial Day. We visited again a month or so later, wrote up the article, selected 20 photos, and sent them off to the editor, Leslie McManus. We got an email a month later saying they would publish. This is the third story we’ve had in the Farm Collector magazine.

We had a chance to meet editor Leslie McManus at the Mt. Pleasant, Iowa Midwest Old Threshers Reunion, in early September, on our way out to the Colorado Rockies. She and coworkers were “manning” the Farm Collector booth. Very pleasant people. She even bought us lunch!

It’s interesting how this editing process works. They used 11 of the 20 photos I sent, did a beautiful layout of 4 pages, cut the article down somewhat, and left out a few of my good ‘rural living” jokes. We are very pleased with the job they did and are looking forward to a fourth article I submitted about a month ago.