March Lion and Lamb

On this last weekend of March, I went looking for the lamb at my farm. It was supposed to appear at the end of March especially if we were blessed with March’s famous lion at the beginning of the month. Which we were.

The temperature was 36 degrees as I stood looking over my pond, which was still nearly completely frozen. A northwest wind sent spits of a cold rain in my face, as my watery eyes looked for even the slightest indication of spring and the sprightly lamb that was supposed to announce its arrival. A few feeble snow piles remained on the north side of the trail, holding on, letting me know that the lion of winter had not given up.

Off to the north I caught the sound of a pair of sandhill cranes. I always enjoy their call—they nest on the west side of the pond each year. Frustrated with the frozen pond, I’m sure. And flying low overhead I spotted a pair of ducks moving fast. Disgusted as they looked for open water and found none.

I hustled back to the cabin, put another stick of wood in the stove, and watched the rain. March’s lamb is got to be hiding somewhere—but where?

Photo: Roshara’s frozen pond.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Can’t remember when March came in like a lion and went out like a lion.
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WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Saturday, April 8, 9-12:00 a.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Call 920-622-3835 for reservations. Limited enrollment. Workshop meets Nine to Twelve in the morning.

WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Friday, August 18, 9-4:00 p.m. The Clearing, Door County.
Call 920-854-4088. Limited enrollment.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, March 29, 10:00 a.m., Keynote speaker, Master Agriculturist Award Program, Oshkosh.

April 6, 1:00 p.m. Union Grove Library.

April 8, 9-12:00 Writing Workshop, Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI

April 10, 1:30. Kiel Library, One-Room Schools

April 17, 6:30 p.m. New Berlin Library. Never Curse the Rain.

April 23, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society. Town Hall, Fire Station, Lebanon. Storytelling.

April 27, 6:00 p.m. Waupaca Historical Society, 320 S. Main Street, Waupaca. Barns of Wisconsin.



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 nonfiction book, Never Curse the Rain, and his newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are Wisconsin Agriculture: A History,
Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their own stories.

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

Master Gardeners

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak to the Madison Area Master Gardeners at their annual meeting. The Master Gardeners, organized in the late 1970s in Wisconsin, are trained by University of Wisconsin-Extension specialists in all matters related to gardening. As a group of volunteers, they answer phone requests for horticultural information, work with youth groups, schools, help with demonstration gardens and more.

I wish there had been Master Gardeners when I worked as an Extension agent in Green Bay, in the early 1960s. I worked as a livestock and 4-H agent, at a time when the folks living in the city of Green Bay discovered that the our office knew something about horticulture. I was the one with the least knowledge about horticulture—except for my practical experience as an already long-time vegetable gardener.

A call came in with a question about a plum tree. I drove out to the woman’s house on the east side of Green Bay. I soon learned, even before I saw the plum tree, that it was one of this woman’s favorites. She told me she had bought it from a nursery in New York State, and she said, “It has done so well until this year.”

I walked with her to her backyard, where she showed me her little plum tree, now about eight feet tall. This was in June, and already the little tree, clearly in trouble, had dropped most of its leaves, which lay on the ground under the tree.

“What spray would you recommend for my poor little tree?” she said.

After looking closely at the tree, and deciding there was no hope for it, I said, “I would recommend pruning.”

“Oh,” she said. “What kind of pruning?”

“I would suggest pruning--level with the ground?”

“What?” she huffed. Had there been a shovel handy I believe she would have clobbered me with it.

I hurried to my car and back to the office where I encountered the office chair who had already gotten a call from this woman, insisting “that the incompetent young man you sent to solve my plum problem should be fired.” He was laughing, and when he regained his composure said, “You likely gave her the correct answer, but you need to work on your approach.” He was still laughing when he said it.

Photo: Speaking to Madison Area Gardeners.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes how you say something is more important than what you say.

WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Saturday, April 8, 9-12:00 a.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Call 920-622-3835 for reservations. Limited enrollment. Workshop meets Nine to Twelve in the morning.

WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Friday, August 18, 9-4:00 p.m. The Clearing, Door County.
Call 920-854-4088. Limited enrollment.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, March 29, 10:00 a.m., Keynote speaker, Master Agriculturist Award Program, Oshkosh.

April 6, 1:00 p.m. Union Grove Library.

April 8, 9-12:00 Writing Workshop, Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI

April 10, 1:30. Kiel Library, One-Room Schools

April 17, 6:30. New Berlin Library. Never Curse the Rain.



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 nonfiction book, Never Curse the Rain, and his newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are Wisconsin Agriculture: A History,
Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their own stories.

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

Muddling

The word “muddle” is defined as a state of confusion or disorder. “Muddle through” means to do something when you don’t know how to do it.

On the farm, on those days when the weather couldn’t decide whether it should be winter or spring, we had lots of mud. And did lots of muddling. The barnyard was mud, and the cattle stomped around in it. The path from the house to the barn, once snow covered and firm, was mud. Oozing, dirty, despicable mud. Mud that got on Ma’s nerves. “Leave those muddy boots on the porch.”

The road past our farm was mud. A challenge for the milk hauler; a problem for the mailman. In the mornings, when the mud had become frozen ruts in a once smooth road, we walked to school with little difficulty. Coming home was the challenge as mud sucked at our boots and made walking difficult.

As the definition of “muddle through” suggests, we tried to make the best of it—but mud is unpredictable. Ask any milk hauler who had to enlist a nearby farmer and his trusty team to help pull his milk truck to drier ground.

In a week or two, the mud disappeared, as spring once more returned, but the ruts in the road remained until the road grader appeared. The path from the house to barn was worn smooth again, and grass once more began to grow.

Photo: A deer outside my cabin window looks forward to spring.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When I am alone, I prefer to be myself.

WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Saturday, April 8, 9-12:00 a.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Call 920-622-3835 for reservations. Limited enrollment. Workshop meets Nine to Twelve in the morning.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Saturday, March 18, Noon. Madison Area Master Gardeners, Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa St., Madison.

Wednesday, March 29, 10:00 a.m., Keynote speaker, Master Agriculturist Award Program, Oshkosh.

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 nonfiction book, Never Curse the Rain, and his newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are Wisconsin Agriculture: A History,
Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their own stories.

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

Spring Pushed Back

It’s a perennial battle this time of the year in the Upper Midwest—the battle between an arrogant spring and an overconfident winter.

This year it happened earlier than usual, in February, with a sprightly spring catching a complacent winter by surprise. Temperatures soaring into the sixties, when they should be in the thirties. Melting snow, rainstorms complete with thunder and lightning. Cardinals singing, sandhill cranes returning from their southern winter haunts, Canada geese on the wing.

Spring smiles, believing it has won. But alas, those of us with many winters in our histories know winter’s mean streak. Know that winter has more to offer before it takes its long seasonal sleep until next fall.

And so the northwest wind blows once more, and it snows, and the temperature drops way below freezing. Winter gloats and spring wonders what happened. Deep down, as the calendar marches relentlessly into March, winter knows it will eventually lose the battle. That spring will eventually win. But does a beaten back spring know it?

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Met this fellow the other day who said he was born with nothing and had most of it left.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Tune in: Wednesday, March 8, 7:00 p.m. Never Curse the Rain on all Wisconsin Public TV stations. Based on my book, Never Curse the Rain, Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017.


WRITER’S WORKSHOP: Saturday, April 8, 9-12:00 a.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Call 920-622-3835 for reservations. Limited enrollment. Workshop meets Nine to Twelve in the morning.


UPCOMING EVENTS:

Saturday, March 18, Noon. Madison Area Master Gardeners, Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa St., Madison.

Wednesday, March 29, 10:00 a.m., Keynote speaker, Master Agriculturist Award Program, Oshkosh.

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 nonfiction book, Never Curse the Rain, and his newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also available are Wisconsin Agriculture: A History,
Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their own stories.

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