Sunday, February 23, 2014

Talking About Yesterday's Winters


Just back from a showing of “A Farm Winter” at the Gard Theater in Spring Green with a book signing that followed at Arcadia Bookstore.  About one-hundred people at the theater watched the film, then most walked across the street for more stories and lots of questions. 

“Tell me about those big Diesel snowplows that took all night to plow a mile of concrete hard snow.”

            “I want to hear the rutabaga story when you grew all those rutabagas and they spoiled in your cellar.”

            “Say something more about the importance of neighbors and the value of community when you were a kid.”

            Retired farmers, present day farmers, city folk, small town people—all gathered on a sunny, but chilly winter day to talk about winter during the old days, not necessarily the good old days, but the old days. A time when there was no indoor plumbing, houses were heated with wood stoves and the laundry was hung out to freeze dry on wire clothes lines strung out behind the house.  A time on cold winter nights when the family gathered around the wood stove and read books and played games and kids did their homework with the dim light of a kerosene lamp.  Lots of stories, many memories.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Stories are a connecting link between people and across generations.

COMING EVENTS:

March 5-March 25, Writing retreat, Indian Shores, Florida.

April 5, 7:30 p.m. Stoughton Opera House, Stoughton.  WPT Farm Story, discussion and book signing.

April 7, 7:00 p.m., Kiel Library.  Garden Wisdom presentation and book signing.

April 8, Heritage Hill Historic Center, Green Bay.  Details to be announced.

April 10, 6:30 p.m. Sun Prairie Library, Limping Through Life.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):

The library now has available both of Jerry’s DVDs, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps a Farm Story.

Also available are several of Jerry’s book including The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm, which are related to the DVD Jerry Apps a Farm Story.

Contact them for prices and special package deals.

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835



Sunday, February 16, 2014

Country School Valentine's Day

With the Christmas break a distant memory and the brief celebration of Lincoln’s birthday but a couple days previous, at our country school we all looked forward to Valentine’s Day.  For several days at school we had worked on making valentines for our mothers out of paper doilies and red construction paper.  Back in late January, the Sears sales catalog arrived in our mailbox.  Several pages in that slim publication were devoted to Valentines.  Slim little cards with colorful puppies, kittens, hearts, flowers and statements of love and affection. They came in packages—assortments of maybe twenty or more of these little cards proclaiming in large print and small, “Be My Valentine!”

My task, once the cards arrived, was to decide which one to give to Jim, to Dave, to Mildred, Joyce, and Nita.  To Bob and Marvin.  To Lyle and Dick.  To Darrel and Donald, my twin brothers. And all the other students attending our school. One card for every student.  Choices to make.  Big decisions. Few of the cards were the same, so I had to decide who should receive which one.

On the teacher’s desk stood a big box decorated with red hearts.  All of the cards were deposited in the Valentine box, waiting for February 14 and the Valentine’s Party planned for that afternoon.

Students’ mothers were invited to the party, bringing treats—home-made cookies of many kinds—chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar. As we ate cookies, our teacher opened the Valentine box and distributed the valentines.  Each of us got a valentine from every other student.  Most of them were “store bought” but several homemade as some families couldn't afford the fancy ones from the Sears catalog.

We enjoyed them all. Enjoyed the little celebration with our mothers.  And probably most of all, enjoyed the break in winter.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Valentine’s Day was more than Valentines.

COMING EVENTS:

February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.

March 5-March 25, Writing retreat, Indian Shores, Florida.

April 5, 7:30 p.m. Stoughton Opera House, Stoughton.  WPT Farm Story, discussion and book signing.

April 7, 7:00 p.m., Kiel Library.  Garden Wisdom presentation and book signing.

April 8, Heritage Hill Historic Center, Green Bay.  Details to be announced.

April 10, 6:30 p.m. Sun Prairie Library, Limping Through Life.

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):

The library now has available both of Jerry’s DVDs, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps a Farm Story.

Also available are several of Jerry’s book including The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm, which are related to the DVD Jerry Apps a Farm Story.

Contact them for prices and special package deals.

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835



Sunday, February 09, 2014

2014 Garden Expo


It was a cold and blustery Saturday with the temperature stuck a few degrees above zero and snowflakes falling as they had every third day or so in recent memory, making for slippery driving.  And they came, thousands of them, winter-weary folks searching for a hint of spring.  It was Wisconsin Public TV’s  Garden Expo held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison (I still call it the fairgrounds) that brought out cabin-fevered thousands.

These master gardeners, novice gardeners, wanna be gardeners, and one-time but no longer gardeners all gathered out of the cold and snow to talk gardening, to gather a new idea or two, perhaps buy some trinket to hang on their garden fence or prop up in their dining room.  People were buying windmills made out of soup spoons, one-time shovels cut in a rather decorative way—but now only hinting at their original purpose.  People carried pussy willows and arms full of assorted tangled stems (looked like brush to this old farm boy) and smiling at their purchase.  I was smiling, too, as I have acres of this kind of “decorative wood stem" growing at my farm.

People flocked to the seminars and workshops, listening, taking notes, asking questions.  Their minds away from the snow and cold.  Their minds wrapped around thoughts of spring and the smell of freshly turned soil, of putting a few seeds into the ground and thinking about newly pulled radishes, fresh-cut lettuce, shucked peas and then tomatoes, oh the delight of that first red, homegrown tomato.

So for a few hours on a blustery Saturday, people’s minds were thrust ahead to that season of the year called spring—when once again a garden can be planted.  And they were smiling and laughing and telling stories, and sharing what worked and what didn't work for last year’s garden or one they may have grown twenty years ago.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Just the thought of gardening brings spring a little closer.

COMING EVENTS:

February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.

March 6-March 25, Writing retreat, Indian Shores, Florida.

April 5, 7:30 p.m. Stoughton Opera House, Stoughton.  WPT Farm Story, discussion and book signing.

April 7, 7:00 p.m., Kiel Library.  Garden Wisdom presentation and book signing.

April 8, Heritage Hill Historic Center, Green Bay.  Details to be announced.

April 10, 6:30 p.m. Sun Prairie Library, Limping Through Life.

For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):
A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)

The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)

The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!
Order from:
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835



Sunday, February 02, 2014

Tracks

The tracks came from the south, from the east, from the west through the break in the black willows that keeps the winter winds at bay.  And from the north, too, from the red pine plantation that is a couple hundred yards from the cabin.

            The tracks made by hungry deer converge at the bird feeder that hangs in a big spruce tree standing sentinel in front of the cabin.  Like spokes in a wheel, the tracks converge at the hub, deer hoping for a few seeds spilled by the birds and the red squirrels who visit the feeder many times a day.

            January has been a mean month for the critters at my farm with many days below zero, some days minus 15 and even minus 20 below.  These are real temperatures, not wind chill numbers.  February and March still loom ahead with more cold and snow.

            Winter challenges all nature’s creatures wintering in the north, searching for something to eat and a place out of the wicked wind.  And so the deer come, bucks and does and late fawns, following well-worn tracks in the snow, in search of leftovers at my bird feeder.  Taking winter a day at a time.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Winter with all its beauty can be, and often is, a dangerous time for wildlife.  


SPECIAL EVENT:
            I’ll be speaking and signing books at Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center:

 Saturday, February 8, 2:15, Mendota 1-2; (Garden Wisdom), and book signing 4-5 p.m., Wisconsin Historical Society Press Booth, #920-921. 

Sunday, February 9, 10:15, Mendota 1-2; (Three-Sisters Garden).  Book signing 1-2 p.m., Wisconsin Historical Society Press Booth, #920-921.

ADDITIONAL COMING EVENTS:


February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.

March 6-March 25, Writing retreat, Indian Shores, Florida.

April 5, 7:30 p.m. Stoughton Opera House, Stoughton.  WPT Farm Story, discussion and book signing.

April 7, 7:00 p.m., Kiel Library.  Garden Wisdom presentation and book signing.

April 8, Heritage Hill Historic Center, Green Bay.  Details to be announced.

April 10, 6:30 p.m. Sun Prairie Library, Limping Through Life.

For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):
A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)

The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)

The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!
Order from:
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835