Reader's Digest Australia Feb/Mar 2026

I f Will Henderson were a poet, he might have proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Steph Carter, by writing an ode to her eyes. But Henderson is a farmer in New South Wales, Australia, so he proposed in a way only a love- struck farmer could. It took five months to plant, grow, trim, shape, weed and agonize over a special canola crop. Once it had bloomed in early September, Hender- son and Carter, a teacher, boarded a small plane at his behest. She was expecting a flyover of some farmland, an activity she’d enjoyed in the past. But as they flew above the crops, rather than alfalfa or corn, she saw a field of bright yellow arranged in letters that were roughly 40 feet wide. All together it read “WILL YOU MARRY ME.” “I thought that he’d propose soon,” Carter told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “But I wasn’t expecting him to do it the way that he did.” Carter didn’t need months of plan- ning, shaping and agonizing over her response. It was quick and to the point: “Yes!” SowsaProposal A F A R M E R reader ’ s digest 62 February/March 2026 B onner Herring’s morning ritual consisted of scanning the pond on his property in Southport, North Carolina, for an 8-foot-long alligator that had gotten into the habit of sunning itself on the shore before starting its day. If the coast was clear, Herring would let Strike, his 4-year-old black Labrador retriever, out to run around. But on June 16, 2025, Herring was distracted by garden work and forgot his usual check of the pond. Strike took off, running around without a care in the world, as dogs do. But there are things to be careful about in this world, as Strike and Her- ring soon discovered. About 45 min- utes after he started gardening, Herring knew something was wrong. He told WWAY-TV, a local ABC affiliate, “I heard Strike let out a yell like I’ve never heard him yell before.” Then came a splash, and Herring instinctively knew what it was. He ran toward the pond. Some 20 feet away, among the ripples on the surface of the water, Herring spotted Strike in the jaws of the alligator and struggling to keep his head above the waterline. A look of fear radiated from the dog’s eyes as he was pulled farther away. That’s all Herring had to see before jumping into the pond himself. Almost immediately, the bottom of the pond sloped down so deep that he couldn’t stand. He swamuntil he reached Strike, who was held tight in the gator’s teeth. Herring grabbed hold of Strike and tried pulling him free, vigorously kick- ing to keep himself afloat. But the gator wasn’t letting go. Herring was trying to swim toward shore, and the gator was trying to swim across the pond. “It was like we were stuck,” Herring told the State Port Pilot newspaper. Suddenly, Herring and Strike were moving. The gator had loosened its grip, and Herring took advantage. But as they neared the shore, the alligator made a return visit, getting within feet of them, puffing up to make itself look larger and spooking the hell out of Her- ring. When it had had enough fun, the gator turned away, allowing Herring, with Strike in his arms, to scramble up onto terra firma. Strike barely survived the attack. His right femur was broken in three places, and he had puncture wounds and internal bleeding. Herring says he’s just happy to have his friend back. “He had this look of, Please do some- thing, Daddy ,” Herring told WWAY-TV. “I made the decision that I was not going home without him.” SavesHis BestFriend A D O G O W N E R readersdigest.com.au 63 Cover Story