In honour of the Homecoming of the R.M. of Mossey River held in Fork River between July 19-21, 1996, a 500-page community cookbook was published by a 6-person cookbook committee. Funded by the Fork River Community Hall, the committee received almost 1,600 recipes which they trimmed down to 1,075.

The six members of the cookbook committee were Emily Pylypchuk (co-ordinator), Marlene Hafenbrak, Kathy McGill, Phyllis Momotiuk, Stella Monchka, and Angela Pylypchuk.

In addition to the committee, thanks were given to Kathy McGill for her artwork, Evelyn Remple (D & E Computer Services) for helping set up the artwork and lettering, and Michelle Monchka for helping with the type.

The cookbook was printed by Gateway Publishing Co. Ltd.

The recipes are divided into 8 sections, each with their own decorative art page and 33 sub-sections.

• Appetizers & beverages: appetizers, dips, and beverages.
• Breads & rolls: breads & buns, quick breads & loaves, doughnuts & sweet rolls, muffins, breakfast specials, and biscuits & miscellaneous.
• Salads & dressings, soups & sauces: salads & dressings, and soups & sauces.
• Vegetables: vegetables.
• Main dishes: beef, pork, poultry, fish, meat marinades, wild meat, misc., and casseroles.
• Desserts: desserts, cakes & icings, bars & squares, cookies, pies & tarts, puddings & sauces, and candy.
• Canning: jams & marmalades, fruit & juice, dills & pickles, relishes, salsa & tomatoes, soups & vegetables, and fish & meat.
• Odds & ends: miscellaneous.

Section	No. of Recipes
Appetizers & beverages	58
Breads & rolls	107
Salads & dressings, soups & sauces	97
Vegetables	52
Main dishes	273
Desserts	367
Canning	116
Odds and ends	8
Total:	1,075

There were 700 unique names listed as contributors and of these 26 may be duplicates that list a married woman under her married name only as well as with her maiden name (eg. Darlene Toews and Darlene Toews (Rosteski)). That said, the total number of unique contributors may be more accurately close to 687.

These contributors were connected to 19 of the 21 schools in the municipality while the two schools not accounted for in the cookbook are Volga School No. 1818 and Winnipegosis School No. 1020.

R.M. of Mossey River Schools	No.	Formed	Dissolved
Belle Creek School	1827	May 15, 1916	Jul 27, 1964
Bicton Heath School	1357	Dec 30, 1905	Apr 1, 1967
Borden School	1266	Jan 8, 1904	Apr 1, 1967
Cork Cliff School	1509	May 19, 1909	Apr 1, 1967
Don School	1813	Nov 13, 1915	Apr 1, 1967
Ferley School	1812	Dec 20, 1915	Apr 1, 1967
Fork River School	2411	Sep 1, 1962	Jun 30, 1981
Mossey River School	999	Feb 9, 1899	Sep 1, 1962
Mowat School	1232	Apr 25, 1903	Apr 1, 1967
Nordheim School	2263	Jun 14, 1935	Apr 1, 1967
North Lake School	1431	Mar 19, 1907	Apr 1, 1967
Odda School	1830	May 31, 1916	Apr 1, 1967
Pine View School	1225	Mar 20, 1903	Apr 1, 1967
Rice Lake School	2166	Nov 20, 1926	Apr 1, 1967
Skala School	1257	Nov 23, 1903	Jan 1, 1967
Small Creek School	2254	Nov 19, 1934	Apr 1, 1967
South Bay School	1144	Jul 13, 1901	Apr 1, 1967
Weiden School	1604	Dec 20, 1911	Apr 1, 1967
Zelena School	1816	Feb 22, 1916	Sep 1, 1962

The Mossey River School’s name was changed to Fork River School in 1962. Borden School was formerly known as Sobiecki School until it was changed in 1944. The Ferley and Mowat Schools were transferred to Dauphin Ochre in 1947.

In the upcoming series of blog posts, I’ll be sharing transcripts of the recipes connected to the Mowat and North Lake Schools in the R.M. of Mossey River. There are 32 recipes connected to the Mowat School and 55 connected to the North Lake School with 85 unique recipes split between them. It’s important to note that there are 5 recipes that overlap as some individuals attended both schools and overall there are 99 recipes that have two schools listed. Below, I will link to the indexes of recipes connected to their schools.

I will be posting an index of recipes from the cookbook by sub-section but I will not be transcribing the full cookbook at this time.

School	No. of Recipes
Belle Creek School	31
Bicton Heath School	78
Borden School	17
Cork Cliff School	30
Don School	45
Ferley School	7
Fork River School	145
Mossey River School	148
Mowat School	321
Nordheim School	15
North Lake School	55
Odda School	10
Pine View School	97
Rice Lake School	51
Skala School	36
Small Creek School	65
South Bay School	59
Weiden School	18
Zelena School	52
N/A	183

¹ There was an unlabelled recipe not connected to any school submitted by my paternal aunt so I’m able to confirm that recipe is connected to the Mowat School. This affects the total number connected to the school.