Read the Wood

“Read the wood,” my dad would say when we were splitting huge blocks of oak wood and my splitting maul would stick in the block.  It was usually this time of the year and more times throughout the late fall and winter that we spent many hours splitting wood for the ever hungry wood stoves in our farm house.  The cook stove in the kitchen and the Round Oak heater in the dining room, and the stove in the pump house that kept the pump from freezing in below zero weather.  And the stove in the potato cellar that kept the potatoes from freezing until they were ready for sale in January or February when the prices were a little better than in the fall.

“Read the wood” meant to study the block before taking a swing at it, looking for the direction of the grain, looking for any knots.  A few seconds of study saved several minutes of embarrassment as I tried to extract the splitting maul from a block that I had not read—or had read incorrectly.

My son, Steve, has become quite a good wood splitter, as we continue to heat our cabin with wood stoves.  Steve has learned how to read the wood, and he has taken the idea a bit further.  He says learning how to read the wood is similar to working with people.  Take a little time to “read” them before reacting can often avoid many difficulties.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Read the Wood

UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 2, 9:00-4:00. The Clearing, Door County. Writing From Your Life Workshop.  Workshop is filled.

November 2, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Book signing.  The Clearing, Door County.

November 6, 3:30 UW PLATO group, Oakwood West, (Mineral Point Road), Madison.  Quiet Season.

November 7, 7:00 p.m. Baraboo Public Library. Ringlingville U.S.A.

November 9, 9:30 a.m.: Sheboygan County Research Center, Plymouth, Limping Through Life.

November 10: 3:30 p.m. Books and Company Bookstore, Oconomowoc, The Quiet Season.

November 13: Wisconsin Public TV Documentary Screening, “A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps” and book signing. Wild Rose High School Auditorium, 6:15 p.m. Free and open to the public. (In cooperation with the Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose.)

November 17: Lebanon Historical Society.  Fire Hall Lebanon, 7:00 p.m.  Letters from Hillside Farm and Limping Through Life.

November 21: Wisconsin Historical Society Museum (On the Square). 6:30 p.m. The Quiet Season.

December 4, 7:00 p.m. Premier showing of “A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps.”  All Wisconsin public TV stations.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING “A FARM STORY WITH JERRY APPS” DVD

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.00 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

(All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. They will accept checks or cash, they’re sorry but they don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.

Frost

Twenty-six degrees at the farm this morning.  White frost on the woodshed roof, on the cabin roof, on the bench outside the door, on the green lawn.  Peak fall color is past.  The maples in the woodlot, beautiful reds and yellows last week, are now bare branches, their colorful leaves on the ground, mixing with the oak leaves and aspen leaves, creating a collage of color, and a rich stew of smells that only autumn can create.

            As I travel the trail through my woodlot, I hear a hint of the winter wind moving through the bare branches of the trees, creating a sound that takes me back to the home farm and the wind on October nights reminding me of ghosts and goblins and the fright of Halloween, as well as the fun of it as there were no trick or treats—only tricks.

            The maple tree in front of the cabin, the one my children gave me for my 60^th birthday is a special a tree of course, and it is bright red this morning, as if it was waiting for me to see it (I have been in the far north doing book talks this past week).

            Rain is predicted for this afternoon and evening, so most of my birthday tree’s brilliant red leaves will drop as well—but so good of it to wait for me to see it in all of its fall beauty before it once more begins looking like the rest of my woodlot.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Take time to “read” a block of wood before you swing the splitting maul.  Take time to “read” a person before you open your mouth.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

October 22, 3:00 p.m. Brillion Library. Rural Wit and Wisdom

October 23, 2:45-3:30, Wisconsin Library Association, Green Bay. Letters from Hillside Farm

October 26, 10:00-2:00 Grafton Book Festival, Liberty Memorial Library, Grafton. Limping Through Life.

November 2, 9:00-4:00 The Clearing, Door County. Writing From Your Life Workshop

November 2, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Book signing.  The Clearing, Door County.

November 6, 3:30 UW PLATO group, Oakwood West, Madison.  Quiet Season.

November 7, 7:00 p.m. Baraboo Public Library. Ringlingville U.S.A.

November 9, 9:30, Sheboygan County Research Center, Plymouth, Limping Through Life.

November 10: 3:30 p.m. Books and Company bookstore, Oconomowoc, The Quiet Season.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING “A FARM STORY WITH JERRY APPS” DVD

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.00 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

(All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. They will accept checks or cash, they’re sorry but they don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.

More Than One Meaning

            When I talk to groups about early farming activities, I've learned to be careful and share the meaning of the some of the words I use.  For instance, I was talking to some young people about farming with horses and mentioned hitching a horse to “singletree.”   An alert young fellow asked, “Did you only have one tree on your farm, and why did you hitch a horse to it? (A singletree, also known as a whiffletree, is a wooden device to which the harness tugs are attached.)

            I also talk about a walking plow, and again, some kids believe the plow is walking when in reality the walking is done by a team of horses and the plowman, who holds onto the plow’s handles, trying to keep the plow in the ground.

            The confusion over the meaning of words extends beyond farming.   A little girl was on her way to visit her grandfather in the hospital.  When they arrived at the hospital she entered the room before her grandmother, and walked up to her grandfather, looked at him and asked, “Can you make a sound like a frog?”

            “Why should I do that?” answered her grandfather.

            “Because Grandma said that when you croak we’re going to Disney World.” 

            The little girl obviously did not know that “croak” had more than one meaning.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes the words we use can be confusing.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

October 17, 7:00 p.m. Park Falls Library, Park Falls. Limping Through Life.

October 20, Noon. Rib River Ballroom, Marathon City. German-American Group. Limping Through Life.

October 22, 3:00 p.m. Brillion Library. Limping Through Life

October 23, 2:45-3:30, Wisconsin Library Association, Green Bay. Letters from Hillside Farm

October 26, 10:00-2:00 Grafton Book Festival, Liberty Memorial Library, Grafton. Limping Through Life.

November 2, 9:00-4:00 The Clearing, Door County. Writing From Your Life Workshop

November 2, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Book signing.  The Clearing, Door County.

November 6, 3:30 UW PLATO group, Oakwood West, Madison.  Quiet Season.

November 7, 7:00 p.m. Baraboo Public Library. Ringlingville U.S.A.

November 9, 9:30, Sheboygan County Research Center, Plymouth, Limping Through Life.

November 10: 3:30 p.m. Books and Company bookstore, Oconomowoc, The Quiet Season.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING “A FARM STORY WITH JERRY APPS” DVD

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.00 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

(All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. They will accept checks or cash, they’re sorry but they don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.

End of Garden Season

The sun was bright, the day was cool, the maples, (not all) were in full fall color as we put our big Roshara garden to bed for the winter.  The process is simple.  We started by cutting the remaining corn stalks into small pieces, using a corn knife that my father used on the home farm sixty years ago.

A couple weekends ago, Steve and Natasha dug the remaining potatoes, picked the late ripening tomatoes, dug the carrots and beets, cut the last heads of cabbage, picked the pumpkins, squash and gourds, and chopped up the early sweet corn stalks into small pieces.  They also removed all the tomato vines from the garden site (keeps down potential disease).  Likewise for all the dead pumpkin, squash, cucumber and zucchini (they plug up the disk).

Today we wound up the electric fence wire and pulled the fence posts—not an especially easy job, but a necessary one as the tractor needs room to work.  With the fence put away, Steve hitched the tractor to the disk and a half-hour later, the garden was transformed to a field of freshly turned soil, with all of its rich smells.

Once the garden was disked, we broadcast (that’s a word that means flinging grain kernels by hand) winter rye and wheat to cover the soil, which we worked in with yet another pass of the tractor and disk to cover the kernels.

And the thus the 2013 garden season came to an end.  The garden, with its cover crop of wheat and rye will rest the long winter, waiting for the tractor and plow in April when we do it all over again.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Gardening has many seasons.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

October 13, 1-4 P.M. August Derleth Celebration, Circus World Museum, Baraboo.

October 17, 5:30, Park Falls Library, Park Falls.

October 20, Noon. Rib River Ballroom, Marathon City. German-American Group. Limping Through Life.

October 22, 3:00 p.m. Brillion Library. Limping Through Life

October 23, 2:45-3:30, Wisconsin Library Association, Green Bay. Letters from Hillside Farm

October 26, 10:00-2:00 Grafton Book Festival, Liberty Memorial Library, Grafton.

November 2, 9:00-4:00 The Clearing, Door County. Writing From Your Life Workshop

November 2, 4:00-6:00 p.m. The Clearing Door County.  The Quiet Season

November 6, 3:30 UW PLATO group, Oakwood West, Madison. Winter on the Farm, TV show with talk..

November 7, 7:00 p.m. Baraboo Public Library. Ringlingville U.S.A.

November 9, 9:30, Sheboygan County Research Center, Plymouth, Limping Through Life.

November 10: 3:30 p.m. Books and Company bookstore, Oconomowoc, The Quiet Season.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING “A FARM STORY WITH JERRY APPS” DVD

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.00 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

(All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. They will accept checks or cash, they’re sorry but they don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.