My favorite recipes - Sept. 10, 2009

Jana Mathia | Sep 10, 20090

Meet Sally Elder, Garfield

When Sally Elder and her late husband Dan Bothell decided to move from Snohomish County back to her hometown of Garfield in 1998 they knew they wanted to do some kind of publication.

“It just seemed obvious to do a publication about the Palouse,” Sally recalled.

After moving back to Whitman County, they started Palouse Magazine, interviewing and collecting stories about the region’s past and “putting a face on local history.”

Today, Sally still publishes the North Palouse Journal and Palouse Magazine.

Sally grew up in Garfield and graduated from Garfield High School. She earned her bachelors in communications at Washington State University.

During that time, she worked several different jobs, including one summer at Disneyland. She was a hostess who operated boats in Fantasyland. She gave her tour talk in both English and Spanish. She also has done publicity for the Palouse Empire Fair and Washington Junior Miss.

Sally worked eight years as the secretary for the WSU News Bureau and helped her aunt, Judy Hensle, write ag news for the Whitman County Gazette.

She also wrote this column, My Favorite Recipe, for six months.

Other work for the Gazette included the Gazette’s Palouse Empire Fair edition. She participated in taking pictures, writing and editing the special section for four years.

Sally moved with her family to Snohomish County in 1992. There she worked as a reporter and editor for two newspapers. But, no matter where she went, Garfield was always home, and six years later she decided to come back.

Sally and Dan created Elder Publishing of which she is the owner/publisher. They wanted to do a publication about the Palouse and at that time family history was a big deal. The two ideas merged together to make the Palouse Magazine. Sally recalled their first issue in August 1998 had old and new pictures of the McCroskey House in Garfield.

At first the magazine was published weekly. After two years they were approached by people from Rockford and Fairfield, requesting they publish a newspaper for them. The newspaper that had been covering that area had closed.

“The newspaper was started by the people,” Sally said.

The newspaper was also printed weekly along with the magazine. That lasted about six months before Sally and Dan burned out, and the magazine was changed to a monthly publication.

Sally still publishes the North Palouse Journal and Palouse Magazine. Sally does some reporting, but mostly designs and edits the paper which she has published in Spokane. She is assisted by free lance writers and photographers.

She has two adult sons, Jeremy and Jared.

Sally does the majority of the footwork for the Palouse Magazine. She collects stories and history from people from Washtucna to Genesee. Originally the magazine was only supposed to cover Whitman County, but they met a lot of people on the Idaho Palouse which made them decide to expand across the border. Sally said it works best when people share their old family photos and stories.

“The Palouse has so much history,” she noted.

Each issue of the magazine includes an “appropriate for the area” centerfold photograph. Sally commented that sometimes the people in the photos get interesting responses when they tell people they were in the centerfold of a magazine. A part of the centerfold photo is used for the cover of that edition.

Elder Publishing also puts out books, calendars and newsletters in addition to the regular publications.

“We were doing all sorts of projects,” Sally recalled. They scaled back when Dan became sick and now she runs the operation solo. Dan died in 2007. She works hand-in-hand with Cougar Graphics in Colfax on the magazine and books.

To produce the magazine, Sally gives Cougar Graphics the articles and pictures and they build the magazine using a template Dan designed.

This year Palouse Magazine celebrates its 11th year. Recently Sally has run parts of stories from the early years to give people a taste of old articles.

“We’ve run some of the best stories and lost those people (who told them),” Sally said.

The magazine is delivered to people in 17 states and Canada. Sally noted that many people have told her they read it cover to cover when they get it in the mail.

Annually the magazine gives out $1,000 in two scholarships to high school graduating seniors. For the Palouse Magazine Scholarship, entrants have to interview a local person about a historical landmark or family and write an article from that research. For the Dan Bothell Memorial Photo Essay, entrants submit a photo essay about something historical in their community. Each scholarship award is $500 and gives the students a sense of what it’s like to do reporting and researching. Sally’s hope is that young people learn something about their hometown.

“This way gives them more pride about where they come from,” she said.

Sally plans on continuing with the magazine for many years to come, but she thinks she’ll run out of energy before stories.

“I really enjoy the industry,” she said. For her efforts, she feels her reward is being able to create something that other people enjoy.

Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix thoroughly butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs. Blend in flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Mix 2 Tbsp. sugar and cinnamon; roll balls in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from baking sheet.

Huckleberry Muffins

2 cups Bisquick

1/4 cup sugar

1 (8 oz.) plain low-fat yogurt

1 med. Egg

1 cup huckleberries

Combine Bisquick and yogurt. Add egg and beat with fork until well-blended. Gently fold in berries. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with Pam and fill each cup with 1/4 cup batter. Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown for 20 to 25 minutes. Best served warm.

Sarah J’s Pumpkin Bread

4 eggs

2/3 cup water

1 cup corn oil

1 can pumpkin pie filling

3 1/2 cup flour

3 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

Pinch cloves

Nuts, optional

Beat eggs; add water, oil and pumpkin filling. Mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Makes 2 large and one small loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool in pans.