Remembering the Sears, Roebuck Catalog

I am a collector of Sears, Roebuck catalogs. I refer to them often, especially when I’m trying to remember what life was like back when I was a kid. Now, with the Sears, Roebuck’s catalog long gone, and many Sears’s stories closing, I am doing some reminiscing. I dug out a 1940 Spring and Summer catalog (cover picture above). I have an original, and what fun it is to page through it and see what life was like in the last year of the Great Depression and just ahead of World War II. The 1940 catalog had 1,042 pages.

Some featured items. A cast iron and steel “efficient coal-wood” cook stove--$42.95. A David Bradley “Steel-Frame,” four and ½ foot cut, horse-drawn hay mower--$69.90. A David Bradley horse-drawn “power dump steel hay rake”--$34.90. A ten-inch, horse-drawn walking plow--$13.75.

In the women’s clothing department: “Young and Carefree Fashions…The Story of 1940”: Blouse--$2.98, Skirt--$1.98, complete outfit--$4.79. “Slim-Waisted” dresses--$3.98 to $5.98. “Health Arch Shoes, Walk Every Step in Comfort”--$1.98 a pair.

For the men: “For spring the bright idea is gabardines in stripes.” A two-piece suit--$18.95. Hat--$2.95. Shirt--$1.49. Socks—25 cents. Shoes--$5.00.

For book lovers, four pages of books. Two pages of Holy Bibles, ranging in price from $1.00 to $4.79, one with a genuine leather cover. Two pages of everything from a Webster’s Dictionary ($3.50) to “straight-shooting” Zane Grey novels for 69 cents each. Anything you would ever want or need on these catalog pages.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Want a window on the past? Page through an old Sears, Roebuck Catalog.

ANNOUNCEMENT: My “Telling Your Story” Writing Class at The Clearing in Door County is set for July 19, 9-4. Call 920-854-4880 if you are interested in attending. The class usually fills, so you may want to reserve a spot sooner than later.

ANNOUNCEMENT: In April—my newest book available: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. (A History of the CCC in Wisconsin.)

UPCOMING EVENTS:

April 7, 1:00 p.m. Woodson History Center, Marathon County Historical Society, 10 McIndoe St, Wausau, WI. Launch of Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin.

April 11, 6:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Mid-Wisconsin launch of Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin.

PURCHASING BOOKS AND DVDs:

Order your signed Apps books and DVDs from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

Books for Thinking About Spring

Living a Country Year (Check writings about spring)

Garden Wisdom (Time to begin planning for the upcoming garden season)

Old Farm Country Cookbook (Try some of spring recipes)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. (Preorder, www.jerryapps.com)

Spring on the Way

(Woodcarving by Everett Eckstein)
The Cardinals are whistling. The robins are back, singing their hearts out. The sandhill cranes and the Canada geese have returned. All looking for spring. The snow is melting, leaving behind dirty snow piles here and there that struggle to remain but slowly give way to a trickle of melt water that oozes away from them.

The maple sap is running. I watch a squirrel, in the maple tree in our yard treating itself to the sweet sap. The days are longer, the sky seems bluer, and the breeze has less of a cut to it. The other day as the afternoon temperature hung in the 40s, a school age youngster walked along—wearing a T-shirt. No parka. No cap. Rushing things a bit I might say. But we northerners are like that.

I remember one time when we were visiting the U.S’s southernmost city, Key West, FL in February and the temperature had dipped into the low fifties. The natives were wearing down jackets, shivering and complaining. I wondered what they would do with 20-below zero.

Those of us who have lived our lives in the North, where the snow piles high and the temperatures dip low, appreciate spring. Maybe it’s because we know we have once more survived winter. But maybe there is more to it. Maybe we, although we likely would never admit it, like winter and all of its misery and unhappiness, because we know spring is coming with new growth and new hope. And we like the changing seasons. I know I do.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Spring, the season of rebirth, the season of hope.

ONLINE Book Club: April one is the start date for my next” Jerry apps: Stories from the Land internet book club.” The book we will be discussing is BLUE SHADOWS FARM, another novel in my Ames County series. Go to www.jwappsauthor.com for a description of the book, an audio excerpt, how to order the book as well as some discussion questions.

ANNOUNCEMENT: In April—my newest book available: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. (A History of the CCC in Wisconsin.)

UPCOMING EVENTS:
March 25, 6:00 p.m. Johnson Public Library, Darlington, WI, 131 East Catherine St., Darlington, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

April 7, 1:00 p.m. Woodson History Center, Marathon County Historical Society, 10 McIndoe St, Wausau, WI. Launch of Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin.
PURCHASING BOOKS AND DVDs:

Order your signed Apps books and DVDs from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

Books for Thinking About Spring

Living a Country Year (Check writings about spring)

Garden Wisdom (Time to begin planning for the upcoming garden season)

Old Farm Country Cookbook (Try some of spring recipes)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. (Preorder, www.jerryapps.com)

Rosemaling

I knew next to nothing about rosemaling until I married my Norwegian wife and discovered that both her sister, Pearl Johnson, and her brother, Clarence Olson did rosemaling. (Clarence painted the plate pictured above.) For others who may know little about this interesting Norwegian folk art, I did a little digging. Rosemaling, or rose painting, goes back to a love for the rose flower. I thought this special folk art surely must have ancient roots in that Scandinavian country. But as ancient art forms go, rosemaling didn’t get started until the mid-1700s. Woodcarving and textile arts are much older.

Before rosemaling came along as a way of decorating often dreary rural Norwegian homes, colorful woven fabrics were used to brighten up homes during the cold, dark Norwegian winters. By the early 1800s, rosemaling—usually done on wood—could be found on plates, tables, cradles, beds, and chests. Anything wooden was a rosemaling candidate.
Rosemaling styles varied from Norwegian district to district. The Rogaland and Hordaland areas appear to have done the most in creating distinctive local styles.

During the second half the 1800s, a vast wave of Norwegian emigrants arrived in the United States, many in Wisconsin. They brought with them items decorated with Rosemaling. But then the art of rosemaling was left behind. That is until Norwegian emigrant, Per Lysne (1880-1947) arrived in Stoughton, WI. During the Depression years of the 1930s, when he was out of work, he once more began doing rosemaling painting. And once more this ethnic folk art took off. Today, workshops are held. Competitions take place. The art of rosemaling is alive and well and flourishing.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Even those of us with sauerkraut backgrounds can learn from Norwegians.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

In April—my newest book available: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. (A History of the CCC in Wisconsin.)

UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 25, 6:00 p.m. Johnson Public Library, Darlington, WI, 131 East Catherine St., Darlington, WI. Never Curse the Rain.
April 7, 1:00 p.m. Woodson History Center, Marathon County Historical Society, 10 McIndoe St, Wausau, WI. Launch of Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin.

PURCHASING BOOKS AND DVDs:

Order your signed Apps books and DVDs from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.

500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

Books for Thinking About Spring

Living a Country Year (Check writings about spring)

Garden Wisdom (Time to begin planning for the upcoming garden season)

Old Farm Country Cookbook (Try some of spring recipes)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. (Preorder, www.jerryapps.com)

Making Wood--Again

With the snow piles ever taller and the wood pile ever shorter, it was time, as Pa would say, to “shoulder our axes and head to the woods for more fire wood.” We’d hitch the team to the bobsled, and plow through the snow in search of a dead oak tree or two. It was a bit difficult for me to tell the difference between those trees alive and those dead . To me, they all looked the same in winter. But Pa could tell the difference.

Soon I was on the other end of a crosscut saw—Pa had first notched the tree with an ax. There were no fancy gasoline chain saws in those days. Cutting down a tree was hard work, but on the positive side, it kept one warm on a chilly, winter morning.

With the tree down, the next step was chopping off the smaller branches with an ax, and sawing the larger limbs with the saw. Limbs of any size we loaded on the bobsled, and hauled them and the trunk to a place near where the mostly diminished wood pile stood. After three or four loads, Pa would announce, “That ought hold us until Spring.”
He then got on the party-line phone to the neighbors and invited them over for a wood sawing bee. They used a circle saw, much like the one pictured above. It was a loud, dangerous operation especially for those working closest to the saw, as there were no safety guards.

After a few hours of wood sawing, the wood pile had once more reached a respectable size. After an early supper, the neighbors returned home, and we were left with the job of splitting the larger pieces into manageable hunks. Not the worst job on a cold, late winter day.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Keeping warm meant making wood, lots of wood.

ANNOUNCEMENT:
In April—my newest book available: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. (A History of the CCC in Wisconsin.)

UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 25, 6:00 p.m. Johnson Public Library, Darlington, WI, 131 East Catherine St., Darlington, WI. Never Curse the Rain.
PURCHASING BOOKS AND DVDs:

Order your signed Apps books and DVDs from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

Books for Thinking About Spring

Roshara Journal (Our Town of Rose Farm through the Seasons)

Garden Wisdom (Time to begin planning for the upcoming garden season)

Old Farm Country Cookbook (Try some of yesterday’s recipes)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. (Preorder: www.jerryapps.com)

Selecting Vegetable Varieties

My daughter-in-law, Natasha, and I put together our seed order for the 2019 garden season. We started with tomatoes—one of our main crops. We set out about 75 tomato plants each year. But which varieties should we choose this year? A few choices were easy. We’ve planted Early Girl, Big Boy, and Wisconsin 55 varieties for several years. But we are always looking for something new. So many tomato choices. We looked at Box Car Willy, and Cherokee Purple. We considered Mortgage Lifter and Saucy Lady, and Jersey Devil and Big League Hybrid. Beautiful pictures. Creative names. We settled on Plum Royal, Mt. Merit and Giant Oxheart.

On to the sweet corn varieties. Who could pass on Sugar Buns? We ordered it. Then there was Spring Treat and Bodacious Yellow, along with Trinity Bicolor, Cuppa Joe Bicolor, and Sweetie 82, Pay Dirt and American Dream—a pass on these. But we did add Peaches and Cream to our list.

Cucumbers. Two pages of cucumber choices. We looked at Muncher, Straight Eight, and Summer Yet. Then on to Summer Dance and Sweeter Yet. We chose, Little Leaf, and Goliath Hybrid “Plant produces loads of dark green fruit up to eight inches long.” We’re looking forward to “loads” of cukes.

We ordered green beans (Top Crop), and carrots (Nantes), beets (Detroit Supreme), Kale (Russian), Lettuce (Salad Bowl) plus peas, radishes, pumpkins, and squash especially zucchini. Kennebec is our choice for potatoes. We purchase onion sets, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi from a garden center.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: So many ways to enjoy gardening. Selecting seeds from a seed catalog is but one way.

ANNOUNCEMENT: In April—my newest book available: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. (A History of the CCC in Wisconsin.)

UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 3, 1:00 p.m. McFarland Historical Society, McFarland Municipal Bldg. Topic: Simple Things: Lessons from the family farm.

March 10, 2:00 p.m. Jerry Apps: One-Room School on Wisconsin Public TV.

March 25, 6:00 p.m. Johnson Public Library, Darlington, WI, 131 East Catherine St., Darlington, WI. Never Curse the Rain.

PURCHASING BOOKS AND DVDs:

Order your signed Apps books and DVDs from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

Popular recent Books:

Simple Things: Lessons from the Family Farm (fun to read in winter)

Garden Wisdom (Time to begin planning for the upcoming garden season)

Old Farm Country Cookbook (Try some of yesterday’s recipes)

The Quiet Season (All about winter)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

The Travels of Increase Joseph (Historical fiction about Wisconsin before 1900)
.The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. (Preorder, www.jerryapps.com)