I have been going through Wally’s Orchard run columns. I have decided to start with the earlier ones first. His first one ran in the Oliver Chronicle December 8 1955.
In keeping with the time of the year, I have chosen to reprint a portion of a column written April 19, 1956. This is to give you a taste of the kind of writer he was.
“When the snowline recedes far up the mountainside; when the bluebirds return from their winter quarters in the south-land; when the buds on the fruit trees swell to bursting point and the meadowlarks sing from dawn to dark- it’s spring and it’s tree planting time again.
It’s the time of the year when Mother Nature begins another life cycle, and the fruit grower expresses a reaffirmation of faith in the good earth.
For above everything else, the fruit grower must be an optimist. Who else but an optimist would carry an investment of some $20,000.00 (an inflation rate of 3.80% from 1956 to 2014 yields an equivalent value of $173,917.16) for the sole privilege of working all year for low wages? Who else but an optimist would stay with a depressed industry that shows shrinking returns and higher expenses every year?”
I will end the excerpt at this point. It seems to be a never ending story with “shrinking returns and higher expenses”. In spite of shrinking returns and higher expenses, at Wally’s death, he left an estate of substantial value which also happens when one is a hard worker and a careful spender.
Just an incidental note on Wally’s former property which is now a waste land in my opinion.The trees were cut down 10 years ago and the stumps were supposed to have been pulled out in a contract separate from the tree cutting. All is not lost though, for I was told by a local farmer that the 7 to 8 acres could have the stumps removed and be replanted in 1 day if one felt so inclined. Tree planting is no longer the labor intensive effort it was in 1956. I don’t know how long it took Wally to plant those acres but I do know it was longer than a day, even with helpers.