Monday, May 30, 2016

Planting Garden Between Showers


Memorial Day weekend is our time to finish planting our garden at Roshara. This year was no exception.  But could we do it in between the rainstorms that had been visiting the area for several days?  We picked Saturday, and at seven a.m. on Saturday morning, it was raining, not hard, but enough to make one miserable if you worked in it.  It rained all of Friday night, nearly two inches in my rain gauge so the ground was wet, the grass was wet, everything was wet.
            When Steve and Natasha arrived at ten on Saturday, it continued to drizzle, but we set out tomato plants (40 of them) a couple rows of broccoli, a row of cabbage, some eggplant, a few green peppers. and several kohlrabi plants.  One of the advantages of sandy-loam soil is you can work it in the rain.
            By noon the rain stopped, the dark clouds left, the sun came out and planting the several garden seeds that remained became much more pleasant.  We planted sweet corn and bush beans, pumpkins and winter squash, zucchini and cucumbers, popcorn and rainbow corn, sunflowers and ornamental sorghum.   And a short row of dill—I so like the smell of dill.
            The crops we planted three weeks ago, even with a hard freeze one Sunday evening, are doing well: potatoes, onions, radishes (pulled the first one), lettuce (about ready to eat), rutabagas, Swiss chard (anybody got some Swiss chard recipes), beets, and peas.
            So the 2016 garden season is in full swing, year 50 for planting garden at Roshara.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: What would life be without a vegetable garden?

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Writing Workshop for 2016
Telling Your Story Workshop at The Clearing in Door County.  Friday, August 12, 9-4.  Call 920-854-4088 to get your name on the list. (Still Room)

UPCOMING EVENTS.

June 7, 7:00 p.m. Cambria Library. Cambria Fire Dept. Community Center, Cambria.

June 11, 9-4 Writing Workshop, Wild Rose Library.  Telling Your Story

June 14, 9:00 a.m. Keynote speech. Country Heritage Day, St. John the Baptist Church, Montello. Barns of Wisconsin.

June 28, 11:00 a.m.  Larry Meiller Show. Wis. Public Radio.  Discussion of Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

June 28, Book Discussion.  Mystery to Me Book Store, Madison.  Details to follow.  Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 12 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.

August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square. 

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

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:
 Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
 Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)

 The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835







Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Colorado Graduation


For the past several days, Ruth and I have been in Eagle-Vail, Colorado, attending the graduation of our grandson, Christian Apps.  Eagle-Vail is in the mountains a couple hours west of Denver.  My son, Jeff and daughter-in-law Sandy’s family, besides Christian, includes Nick and Libby. They live in this paradise place with deep blue skies, roaring melt-water streams, newly leafed aspen trees and mountains all around, many of them with snow remaining on their peaks.

We attended several graduation events for the Battle Mountain High School graduates, about 200 of them, with the main event at the stunningly beautiful Gerald Ford Amphitheater in Vail.  We listening to a bevy of speeches,  most filled with graduate advice.

One of the most impressive “advice for graduates” was written and not spoken.  It appeared in the May 20 issue of The Vail Daily, and was written by Chris Romer, president and CEO of the Vail Valley Partnership.  Here is some of what he wrote:

--No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

--What other people think of you isn’t your problem.

--Don’t take yourself too seriously.

--Envy is a waste of time.  Hard work will get you what you need.

--Read more books.  Spend less time in front of screens.

--Realize that life is a school and you’re here to learn.

--Make peace with your past so it doesn’t ruin your present.

--Smile and laugh more.

--Don’t compare yourself with others; you don’t know what their journey is all about.

--Time heals.

--Try new things.  Enjoy the moment.

Come to think of it, this advice fits more than new graduates.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A little advice never hurt anyone

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Writing Workshop for 2016
Telling Your Story Workshop at The Clearing in Door County.  Friday, August 12, 9-4.  Call 920-854-4088 to get your name on the list. (Still Room)

UPCOMING EVENTS.

May 26, 7:00 p.m. Richfield Historical Society, 4128 Hubertus Road, Richfield, WI  Whispers and Shadows.

June 7, 7:00 p.m. Cambria Library. Cambria Fire Dept. Community Center, Cambria.
June 11, 9-4 Writing Workshop, Wild Rose Library.  Telling Your Story

June 14, 9:00 a.m. Keynote speech. Country Heritage Day, St. John the Baptist Church, Montello. Barns of Wisconsin.

June 28, 11:00 a.m.  Larry Meiller Show. Wis. Public Radio.  Discussion of Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

June 28, Book Discussion.  Mystery to Me Book Store, Madison.  Details to follow.  Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 12 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.

August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square. 

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

The library now has aable signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:
 Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
 Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)

 The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)
Also aable are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835






Monday, May 23, 2016

Colorado Graduation


For the past several days, Ruth and I have been in Eagle-Vale, Colorado, attending the graduation of our grandson, Christian Apps.  Eagle-Vale is in the mountains a couple hours west of Denver.  My son, Jeff and daughter-in-law Sandy’s family, besides Christian, includes Nick and Libby. They live in this paradise place with deep blue skies, roaring melt-water streams, newly leafed aspen trees and mountains all around, many of them with snow remaining on their peaks.

We attended several graduation events for the Battle Mountain High School graduates, about 200 of them, with the main event at the stunningly beautiful Gerald Ford Amphitheater in Vale.  We listening to a bevy of speeches,  most filled with graduate advice.

One of the most impressive “advice for graduates” was written and not spoken.  It appeared in the May 20 issue of The Vale Daily, and was written by Chris Romer, president and CEO of the Vale Valley Partnership.  Here is some of what he wrote:

--No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

--What other people think of you isn’t your problem.

--Don’t take yourself too seriously.

--Envy is a waste of time.  Hard work will get you what you need.

--Read more books.  Spend less time in front of screens.

--Realize that life is a school and you’re here to learn.

--Make peace with your past so it doesn’t ruin your present.

--Smile and laugh more.

--Don’t compare yourself with others; you don’t know what their journey is all about.

--Time heals.

--Try new things.  Enjoy the moment.

Come to think of it, this advice fits more than new graduates.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A little advice never hurt anyone

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Writing Workshop for 2016
Telling Your Story Workshop at The Clearing in Door County.  Friday, August 12, 9-4.  Call 920-854-4088 to get your name on the list. (Still Room)

UPCOMING EVENTS.

May 26, 7:00 p.m. Richfield Historical Society, 4128 Hubertus Road, Richfield, WI  Whispers and Shadows.

June 7, 7:00 p.m. Cambria Library. Cambria Fire Dept. Community Center, Cambria.
June 11, 9-4 Writing Workshop, Wild Rose Library.  Telling Your Story

June 14, 9:00 a.m. Keynote speech. Country Heritage Day, St. John the Baptist Church, Montello. Barns of Wisconsin.

June 28, 11:00 a.m.  Larry Meiller Show. Wis. Public Radio.  Discussion of Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

June 28, Book Discussion.  Mystery to Me Book Store, Madison.  Details to follow.  Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 12 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.

August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square. 

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

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:
 Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
 Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)

 The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835






Sunday, May 15, 2016

Eighth Grade Graduation


The year was 1947, the month was May, and it was a Friday.  It was a special day for me.  I was still recovering from a bout with Polio, still learning how to walk again with a leg that had been paralyzed for several months.  But I was not going to miss this day no matter what.

This day was one of the few times I rode to the Chain O’ Lake One-Room Country School located in the Town of Rose, Waushara County, Wisconsin.  I had attended there since 1939, when the school had no electricity, no running water, and no central heating.  All of that was still true in 1947, except the building did get electricity in 1942.

On this sunny day in May, my brothers, Donald and Darrel (twins and four grades behind me), and my dad and mother piled into our 1936 Plymouth and drove the mile to the school, along the dusty country road that I had walked for eight years—the last couple of months with considerable difficulty because of the polio.

The event was the last day of school picnic, where everyone brought something to share with others at the noon meal, and the school board bought the ice cream.  Faith Jenks was our teacher, and after the meal she made a brief announcement.  She said that I had passed the difficult and challenging day-long eighth grade examinations held at the county seat in Wautoma.  And I was graduating and ready to attend Wild Rose High School in the fall.  She said that Jim Kolka and Mildred Swendrzynski had passed the seventh grade exams and were ready for eighth grade come fall.

Then we played softball, the students against their fathers, as the mothers chatted under the big black oak trees that shaded the school.

Upon arriving at home, my dad gave me a little box, a graduation present.  I tore off the wrappings and found a Pocket Ben watch, the first watch I had ever owned. Both my mother and father were smiling, as neither of them had graduated from eighth grade.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Eighth grade graduation was a special time in 1947.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

 Writing Workshop for 2016:

Telling Your Story Workshop at The Clearing in Door County.  Friday, August 12, 9-4.  Call 920-854-4088 to get your name on the list. (Still Room)


UPCOMING EVENTS.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Richfield Historical Society, 4128 Hubertus Road, Richfield, WI  Whispers and Shadows.

June 7, 7:00 p.m. Cambria Library. Cambria Fire Dept. Community Center, Cambria.

June 11, 9-4 Writing Workshop, Wild Rose Library.  Telling Your Story

June 14, 9:00 a.m. Keynote speech. Country Heritage Day, St. John the Baptist Church, Montello. Barns of Wisconsin.

June 28, 11:00 a.m.  Larry Meiller Show. Wis. Public Radio.  Discussion of Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

June 28, Book Discussion.  Mystery to Me Book Store, Madison.  Details to follow.  Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 12 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.

August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square. 

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

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:

 Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)

 Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)

 The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.

Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835


Sunday, May 08, 2016

Rhubarb


Rhubarb. 

My dad called it a spring tonic.  My mother named it a special treat.

Ma made rhubarb sauce, a sad green, stringy concoction that Pa insisted the entire family eat for it cleansed the system of the last remnants of winter as we moved on into spring.  It was so sour that after a few teaspoons of it you remained puckered up for at least an hour.

 Rather than celebrating the eating of the  first crop from the garden in spring, we were subjected to a suffering of untold dimensions. I hated rhubarb sauce.  My brothers hated rhubarb sauce.  But Pa was firm, we must all eat it or we would experience a sickly spring.  Nobody wanted to live through a sickly spring.

Ma saved the day, for not only could rhubarb sauce be a miserable thing to try and swallow, Ma’s rhubarb crisp was sheer delight.  How could the same plant be both a miserable as well as a delightful experience? 

Rhubarb could do it.

Here is a recipe for rhubarb crisp.  No one wants to know the recipe for rhubarb sauce, except maybe a few like my dad who believed that the entire world should cleanse itself of winter by eating the sour, stringy stuff.

Rhubarb Crisp
4 cups chopped rhubarb

1 cup flour

I cup brown sugar

¾ cup instant, quick cook, or old –fashioned oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13-inch pan

Mix together the flour, brown sugar, oats and cinnamon.

Add butter to the flour mixture and mix until crumbly.  Press about half of the flour mixture into prepared pan, reserving the rest for topping.

Combine granulated sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan.  

Add water and vanilla.  Cook over medium heat until clear, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add rhubarb to the sugar-water mixture, coating the rhubarb.

Pour rhubarb over crust.  Sprinkle remaining flour crumbs on top.  Bake until topping is light brown, 50 to 60 minutes.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Rhubarb pie is also pretty special.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Writing Workshop for 2016
Telling Your Story Workshop at The Clearing in Door County.  Friday, August 12, 9-4.  Call 920-854-4088 to get your name on the list. (Still Room)

UPCOMING EVENTS.

May 14, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Booksigning, Dregne’s, Westby
.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Richfield Historical Society, 4128 Hubertus Road, Richfield, WI  Whispers and Shadows.

June 7, 7:00 p.m. Cambria Library. Cambria Fire Dept. Community Center, Cambria.

June 11, 9-4 Writing Workshop, Wild Rose Library.  Telling Your Story

June 14, 9:00 a.m. Keynote speech. Country Heritage Day, St. John the Baptist Church, Montello. Barns of Wisconsin.

July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 12 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.

August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square. 

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

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:

 Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)

 Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)

 The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)

Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street

Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Sunday, May 01, 2016

Musicales for the Red Cross


Vicki and John Jenks own a beautiful log home near Wild Rose, WI, built on the same farm where John grew up.  Each year in April, this year the ninth time, they open their home to what they call a Heroes Musicales (mini concerts).  The program is a fund raiser for local Red Cross Disaster relief and Service to the Armed Forces.   Vicki and John are Red Cross volunteers.

Both accomplished musicians, they  invite musical groups from around the country to perform at their home---in 2016, a blue grass band performed at 11:00 a.m., a Gypsy jazz and American folk group performed at 1:30 p.m., and a “Made in America” duo with piano and harp performed at 4:00 p.m.  All three groups were “sellouts” with more than 200 people attending the three events.

Ruth and I attended the 4:00 p.m. event, and were delighted with the music of Jodie DeSalvo on Piano and Faye Seeman on harp.  In between the musical performances, the audience enjoyed refreshments, and the opportunity to bid on more than 200 silent auction treasures.

A good time was had by all on this chilly and about to rain Saturday afternoon, as we listened to fine music and looked out at a sputtering spring that is slowly showing green.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Wild Rose is proud of their local musicians and the wonderful contribution they are making to the community and to the Red Cross.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Writing Workshop for 2016

Telling Your Story Workshop at The Clearing in Door County.  Friday, August 12, 9-4.  Call 920-854-4088 to get your name on the list. (Still Room)

UPCOMING EVENTS.

May 9, 12:30 p.m.  Midvale Community Lutheran Church, 4329, Tokay, Blvd, Madison. Wisconsin Agricultural History.  The public is invited.

May 14, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Booksigning, Dregne’s, Westby.

May 26, 7:00 p.m. Richfield Historical Society, 4128 Hubertus Road, Richfield, WI  Whispers and Shadows.

June 7, 7:00 p.m. Cambria Library. Cambria Fire Dept. Community Center, Cambria.

June 11, 9-4 Writing Workshop, Wild Rose Library.  Telling Your Story

June 14, 9:00 a.m. Keynote speech. Country Heritage Day, St. John the Baptist Church, Montello. Barns of Wisconsin.

July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 12 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.

August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square. 

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

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:
 Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
 Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)

 The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835