Sunday, October 31, 2010

Windstorm

The weather bureau said, “High Wind Warning.” Batten the hatches. Tie things down. Find your flashlight. Prepare for the worst.

It came out of the west. A stiff breeze at first, then stronger gusts and by mid-afternoon on the first day of the storm a freight train sound roaring through the tree tops, screaming around building corners. Worrying roof shingles. Seventy mile an hour gust recorded on the UW campus in Madison.

Tree limbs sheared off, trees uprooted, diseased trees smashed to the ground. Power outages here, there and everywhere throughout the Upper Great Lakes, through Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin. Something to talk about. Stories to tell. Memories of previous storms to recount.

Two days of wind. So powerful. Mother Nature’s way. A periodic reminder of who is really in charge.

THE OLD TIMER REMEMBERS THIS OLD GERMAN SAYING: Let’s all stick together; everybody for himself.

CHECK THIS OUT: Tune in Wisconsin Public Radio on November 9, Larry Meiller show, 11:45-12:30. Discussion of my novel, Cranberry Red.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 3, 3:15 p.m. Wisconsin Library Association, Wisconsin Dells, Horse Drawn Days, Barns of Wisconsin.

November 5-7, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Horse Drawn Days, Barns of Wisconsin and more.

November 9, Larry Meiller Show, Wisconsin Public Radio, 11:45-12:30, Cranberry Red.

November 13, 9:30 a.m. Sheboygan Falls Library, Horse Drawn Days.

November 16, 7:00 p.m. Reedsburg Library, Cranberry Red

December 2, 7:00 p.m. McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, Cranberry Red.

December 4, 10:30-2:30. Dregne’s Scandinavian Gifts, Westby. Book signing for Barns of Wisconsin, Horse Drawn Days, and Cranberry Red.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

More Potato Harvest

“So what did you do with all those potatoes?” someone asked me after reading my last week’s tale about potato digging, potato picking and country school potato vacation.

At noon, and again at the end of a harvest day, we loaded the filled potato crates on our steel-wheeled wagon pulled by trusty Frank and Charlie, our Percheron draft horses. We stored the potatoes in two places, in bins in the cellar of our farm house and in our potato cellar, a little building built into the side of the hill just west of our chicken house.

Farm houses in those days did not have basements, but had dirt floor cellars. Because we had no furnace and heated the house with wood stoves, the cellar was always cool.

The separate potato cellar structure, built mostly underground, was where most of the potatoes were stored. The upper part was for machinery storage, the cellar was divided into several potato bins.

We stored the potatoes until the prices would climb a bit, usually in late winter, and then we would sort them with a hand-cranked potato sorter, bag them and tote them to Wild Rose where the potato buyers operated big warehouses.

Of course we ate potatoes, three times a day, fried potatoes for breakfast, boiled potatoes for dinner, and often baked potatoes for supper.

Potatoes along with cucumbers and green beans were our cash crops, providing a little extra money to supplement the bi-monthly milk checks from our small dairy herd.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Nothing grows without roots.

CHECK THIS OUT: Tune in Wisconsin Public Radio on November 9, Larry Meiller show, 11:45-12:30. Discussion of my new novel, Cranberry Red.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

October 28, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library.

October 30, 9-4:00, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.

November 3, 3:15 p.m. Wisconsin Library Association, Wisconsin Dells, Horse Drawn Days, Barns of Wisconsin.

November 5-7, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Horse Drawn Days, Barns of Wisconsin and more.

November 9, Larry Meiller Show, Wisconsin Public Radio, 11:45-12:30, Cranberry Red.

November 13, 9:30 a.m. Sheboygan Falls Library, Horse Drawn Days.

November 16, 7:00 p.m. Reedsburg Library, Cranberry Red

December 2, 7:00 p.m. McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, Cranberry Red.

December 4, 10:30-2:30. Dregne’s Scandinavian Gifts, Westby. Book signing for Barns of Wisconsin, Horse Drawn Days, and Cranberry Red.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Potato Harvest

When I was growing up, mid-October was potato harvesting time. During those years we planted twenty acres of potatoes,sometimes more. We planted them by hand, cultivated them with a one-horse walking cultivator, and spent untold hours hoeing out the weeds the cultivator missed.

Come October and potato harvest time, our country school, along with all the country schools in central Wisconsin closed two weeks for potato vacation. Some vacation. Every chilly vacation day morning we loaded wooden potato crates on our steel-wheeled wagon pulled by Frank and Charlie our trusty draft horses.

We distributed the potato crates every few yards across the field, and Pa and a hired man began digging. Each used a six-tine barn fork and backed their way across the field, each digging two rows while my two brothers and I scrambled to pick the big white potatoes into pails that when full we dumped into the potato boxes.

It was back breaking work, but the smells of new potatoes and freshly turned soil were pleasant ones. And besides that, we earned a handsome one cent a bushel for the potatoes we picked, more than most of the kids in the neighborhood who received no pay whatever for their efforts. I purchased my first .22 rifle with potato picking money.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Everybody has a story to tell.

CHECK THIS OUT: CRANBERRY RED book launch:

Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, Sunday October 24, 1:00 p.m.
Learn all about cranberry growing, county agent work, and what happens when research goes amuck. UW Press is the publisher of this, my fourth novel, in the Ames County series.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

October 19, 6:30 p.m. Rhinelander Public Library, Horse Drawn Days

October 23, 6:00 p.m. Oregon Public Library. Living a Country Year.

October 24, 1:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Cranberry Red

October 28, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library.

October 30, 9-4:00, Writing Workshop, The Clearing.

November 3, 3:15 p.m. Wisconsin Library Association, Wisconsin Dells, Horse Drawn Days, Barns of Wisconsin.

November 5-7, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Horse Drawn Days, Barns of Wisconsin and more.

November 13, 9:30 a.m. Sheboygan Falls Library, Horse Drawn Days.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Old World Wisconsin

It’s harvest time on the farm. Time to bring in the crops. It is so today as it has been since pioneer days.

I spoke at Old World Wisconsin this past weekend, during the midst of their “Autumn on the Farms” celebration. Old World Wisconsin, a Wisconsin Historical Society site, is located near Eagle, not far from Milwaukee. It is a Wisconsin treasure; a place where visitors can see what farm life was like in the 1800s, when Wisconsin agriculture was in its infancy. It’s also a place to learn about Wisconsin’s ethnic roots. Visitors can see German, Norwegian, Polish, Yankee, African-American, Finnish and Danish farmsteads, plus visit a blacksmith shop, an old fashioned country store, church, a one-room country school, an early town hall and much more.

At Old World Wisconsin this past weekend, visitors could see everything from oxen at work, to draft horses plowing. They could witness sausage making, weaving demonstrations, rope making, timber framing, candle dipping, horseradish grating, and more.

Oh, they could also hear me talk about my new books, HORSE DRAWN DAYS and BARNS OF WISCONSIN.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Some advice he recently heard. “Write down all of your experiences, even when you don’t have any.”

CHECK THIS OUT: CRANBERRY RED book launch:
Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, Sunday October 24, 1:00 p.m.
Learn all about cranberry growing, county agent work, and what happens when research goes amuck. UW Press is the publisher of this, my fourth novel, in the Ames County series.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

October 15, Local History Conference. Lake Geneva, WI

October 16, 12:00 noon, Muskego Library, Muskego. Horse Drawn Days

October 19, 6:30 p.m. Rhinelander Public Library, Horse Drawn Days

October 23, 6:00 p.m. Oregon Public Library. Living a Country Year.

October 24, 1:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Cranberry Red

October 28, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library.

November 3, 3:15 p.m. Wisconsin Library Association, Wisconsin Dells, Horse Drawn Days, Barns of Wisconsin.

November 5-7, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Horse Drawn Days, Barns of Wisconsin and more.

November 13, 9:30 a.m. Sheboygan Falls Library, Horse Drawn Days.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Midwest Booksellers

We were in St. Paul this past weekend, attending the Midwest Booksellers Association trade show. An annual event for librarians, booksellers, publishers and authors to mingle and share ideas and stories. Folks from as far away as North Dakota and Missouri and all points in between.

Everyone was mostly optimistic about the book business, but some pessimism, too. Like farmers, book people look ahead, tomorrow will be a better day, next year will be a better year.

Saw many old friends, made many new ones. A special treat—viewing fall colors along the way. How beautiful the trees in the North these early October days—the red and yellow maples, the sparkling yellow aspens, the bright red sumac. An artist’s array of colors against a clear blue sky, with all the haze and humidity blown south.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Books have long been wonderful Christmas presents. They still are.

CHECK THIS OUT: CRANBERRY RED book launch:

--Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, Sunday October 24, 1:00 p.m.
Learn all about cranberry growing, county agent work, and what happens when research goes amuck. UW Press is the publisher of this, my fourth novel, in the Ames County series.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 7, 7:00 p.m. Next Chapter Bookstore, Mequon. Horse Drawn Days

October 9-10 Old World Wisconsin, 2:30 each day. On Saturday, Horse Drawn Days and on Sunday, Barns of Wisconsin.

October 15, Local History Conference. Lake Geneva, WI

October 16, 12:00 noon, Muskego Library, Muskego. Horse Drawn Days

October 19, 6:30 p.m. Rhinelander Public Library

October 23, 6:00 p.m. Oregon Public Library. Living a Country Year.

October 24, 1:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Cranberry Red

October 28, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library.

November 3, 3:15 p.m. Wisconsin Library Association, Wisconsin Dells

November 5-7, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa.

November 13, 9:30 a.m. Sheboygan Falls Library, Horse Drawn Days.