I was
traveling north of Madison on Highway 22, in Amish country, when I spotted
it. An oat field with oat shocks lined
up in neat rows, drying and awaiting threshing.
For this old farm boy it was a sight to behold.
My mind
immediately took me back to the late 1940s, when on the home farm we cut oats
with a grain binder and my brothers and I stood the oat bundles on end, making
oat shocks. Pa insisted they be made
just right, so they would shed water if it rained, and that they would remain
standing in a strong wind.
It was a hot,
sweaty job, made more miserable in the hollows for here the bull thistles
grew. The thistles found their way into
the oat bundles, and in turn the sharp thistle spines found their way into our
arms.
After Pa
had finished cutting the oats, he joined us with the oat shocking. The oat
field was usually 20 acres in size, and at the end of a long, tiring day, with
oat shocks stretching in long rows from one end of the field to the other; we
all stood and looked across the field.
Pa would
say, “Isn’t that just something to see.”
And it was.
THE OLD
TIMER SAYS: Beauty takes many forms. A
field of oat shocks certainly is one.
BOOK OF
THE WEEK:
WEATHER
WISDOM by Albert Lee. (Double Day and Company, 1976). Most of us remember, “Red sky in the morning,
sailors take warning,” and “Red sky at night, sailors delight.” Here is a book full of these weather sayings.
Such quaint ones as “When the ditch and pond affect the nose, then look out for
rain and storm blows.” Or, “Ants that
move their eggs and climb, rain is coming anytime.”
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 signed copies of
Jerry’s DVDs, Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter
with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps A Farm
Story.
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books
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). Also
available is Jerry’s new novel, The Great
Sand Fracas of Ames County.
Contact the library for prices and special package
deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
UPCOMING EVENTS:
August 12, 6:00 p.m., Westfield Library. Whispers and Shadows
August 26, 9:30 a.m. Farm Technology Days, Sun
Prairie. Farm Stories.
August 30, 1-4 p.m., Book World, West Bend. Book signing.
September 3, Noon.
Old World Wisconsin, Wisconsin Agriculture: A History (New book)
September 3, 7 p.m. Books and Company
bookstore, Oconomowoc, Whispers and Shadows
.
September 12, 2-4 p.m. West Madison Agriculture Research
Station, Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
September 17, 11:-a.m. St. Luke’s Church, Middleton, WI Stories
From the Land
September 19 , Stonefield Village, Cassville. Whispers and Shadows.
September 23, Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose.
Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
September 26, 10:30 -2:00, Dregni’s, Westby, Book
signing.
October 4, 1-3 p.m.
Readers Realm bookstore, Montello. Ag. History
October 7, 6:30 p.m. Reedsburg Library, Whispers and
Shadows
October 10, Heartland Forum, Chicago.
October 11, Old World Wisconsin
October 15, Prairie du Sac Library, Whispers and
Shadows
October 17, 9-4 Teaching writing workshop at The
Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI
October 17, 4:30-6:00 p.m. The Clearing. Book signing, Whispers and Shadows, Wisconsin
Agriculture: A History.
October 29, Brown County Library. Premier of TV Documentary,” The Land With
Jerry Apps. “ Book signing, Whispers and Shadows.
November 5, 7:00 p.m. Baraboo Library, Whispers and
Shadows.
November 7, Edgerton Book Festival, The Land (TV
documentary) and Whispers and Shadows
November 14, 9:30 -11:30 a.m. Sheboygan County
Historical Research Center. Wisconsin
Agriculture: A History.
November 15, 9:15 Midvale Lutheran Church, The Land
(TV documentary) plus discussion of
Whispers and Shadows.
November 18, Preview of TV Documentary, “The Land
With Jerry Apps” Wild Rose High School Auditorium. Whispers and Shadows book signing. (Time to
be announced)
1 comment:
Jerry,
After 50 years I can still remember helping my Uncle Dave roll the McCormick Deering binder out of the shed, unfurl the rolled up binder canvasses, and install them on the rollers. Then we would hitch the 3 Belgians up and give it a test run. Sometimes the knotter would need adjusting -and sometimes not. He loved grain harvest time and so did I. And if I close my eyes I can still see Uncle Dave riding the binder and calling out his horse's names, Pat, Dick, and Prince.
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