Garden Time

Finally, the wait is over. It’s time to begin planting the vegetable garden. We are late this year. A couple of weeks ago snowbanks still stood near our garden spot, a little melt water oozing from their sides. Central Wisconsin had a major snowstorm on April10-11—around the time when I usually planted potatoes. And then it turned cold and the snow remained, and remained. Winter is an arrogant season. It likes to come visiting in November, and then like a relative who doesn’t know when to leave, it sticks around until April. What other season gets to stay for five months?

But now, it appears spring has arrived, and the last snowbank has given up in the face of high 70s temperatures for a few days. My little tomato plants, happy under a “glow light” should be in good shape for transplanting after Memorial Day. Never before. Old Man Winter always has a few nights below freezing to throw at us well into May. This year I have six different varieties. Old favorites like Big Boy and Early Girl, and Wisconsin 55. And ones I never heard of, but boast tomatoes as large as softballs. We’ll see.
Seed potatoes are ready for planting—Kennebec is my favorite. So are onion sets—yellow ones do best. And then comes the peas, lettuce and radishes. And cabbage and broccoli plants. Cool weather crops.

So, “hip, hip, and hurray.” It’s time to find the garden hoes and the row marker and get at it.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A vegetable garden offers benefits that go well beyond the good food produced.

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.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
.
May 9, 6:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library (Rescheduled because of weather), Wild Rose. Mid-Wisconsin launch of Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin.

May 11, 2:00 p.m. Arcadia Bookstore, Spring Green. CCC story.

May 13, 6:30 Verona Library, CCC Story

May 14, 12:00 Noon, Sequoia Library, Madison. Simple Things

May 18, 10-2:00 Dregne’s, Westby, Book Signing.

June 1, 10:30-3:00, Speaking at 1:30. Stonefield Village, Cassville.

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

Old Farm Country Cookbook (With more rhubarb recipes)

Living a Country Year (Check writings about spring)

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

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

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

Ringlingville USA (All about the Ringling Brothers Circus. Plan to summer trip to Circus World Museum, in Baraboo.

Rhubarb Means Spring Has Arrived

It’s wasn’t the first robin spotted on the partially snow-covered yard, not the first flock of Canada geese winging north, not even the first dandelion showing its yellow face on the south side of our old farm house. None of these impressed my dad that spring had arrived. It was when rhubarb was ready for eating—that’s when spring had finally made it to our farm.

First thing that dad did when the rhubarb stalks had grown a bit was to cut an armful and dump it on the big kitchen table. “Time to make some rhubarb sauce,” he would say with a big grin on his face. I absolutely hated rhubarb sauce. My brothers didn’t like it either. But Pa was firm. “You’ve got to cleanse your system from winter,” he said. Whatever that meant.

So we ate rhubarb sauce. In case you might want to “cleanse your system from winter,” here’s my mother’s recipe.

Rhubarb Sauce

3-4 cups of chopped rhubarb
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup of water or less.

Put rhubarb pieces in a medium cooking pot. The sauce will bubble while cooking, so be sure your pot is big enough. Add the sugar and a bit of water to help the sauce start cooking. Start over a medium heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer as soon as it begins to bubble or boil. Keep uncovered and stir frequently so the sauce doesn’t stick to the pot. Let simmer until the rhubarb cooks down, about 25 minutes. Let cool, and then refrigerate.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It is spring when rhubarb once more appears.

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.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
.
May 9, 6:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library (Rescheduled because of weather), Wild Rose. Mid-Wisconsin launch of Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin.

May 11, 2:00 p.m. Arcadia Bookstore, Spring Green. CCC story.

May 13, 6:30 Verona Library, CCC Story

May 14, 12:00 Noon, Sequoia Library, Madison. Simple Things

May 18, 10-2:00 Dregne’s, Westby, Book Signing.

June 1, 10:30-3:00, Speaking at 1:30. Stonefield Village, Cassville.

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:

Old Farm Country Cookbook (With more rhubarb recipes)

Living a Country Year (Check writings about spring)

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

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

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

Ringlingville USA (All about the Ringling Brothers Circus. Plan to summer trip to Circus World Museum, in Baraboo.

Barns from the Sears Catalog

Everyone over age 60 remembers the Sears & Roebuck catalogs that offered anything one could possibly want from clothing to books, from farm equipment to furniture and much more. The last Sears Catalog was spring/summer 1993. Fewer remember that you could also order a barn from the Sears & Roebuck, “The Book of Barns” catalog. (One could also order a house from a Sears catalog, but that’s a topic for later).

I am looking at a 1919 Sears barn catalog that offers several types of barns, all pre-cut and ready to assemble, .Everything was included in the package, rafters, posts, door frames, windows, siding, truss lumber, studs., roofing shingles. Even already ready-made barn doors. .All the pieces arrived at your nearest rail depot, ready for assembly, with instructions on how to do it.

A popular model, the “Country Gentlemen Modern Barn No. 1007,” was offered in sizes from 32’ wide x 32’ long ($1,049) to 36’ wide x 104’ long ($2,836). The catalog copy read: “.For the dairyman, for the horseman, or for mixed farming, this building is equally useful”

The “Pride of the Farmstead, Modern Dairy Barn No. 2054,” was available from 30’wide by 32’ long ($1,195.00) to 36’wide x 146’ long ($4,592). “No dark corners in this dairy barn. Many long windows provide an abundance of light. Right here the first requirement of sanitation in a dairy barn has been carefully considered. The windows are equipped with sanitation shields; a quick chance of air may be made by lifting windows back into these shields. No direct draft touches your stock.”

You could also order a milk house, chicken house, corn crib and hog house from the barn catalog. Many of these buildings can still be found on farms around the country.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: In its day, Sears & Roebuck offered about all that a farmer needed in its catalogs.

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.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
.
May 9, 6:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library (Rescheduled because of weather), Wild Rose. Mid-Wisconsin launch of Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin.

May 11, 2:00 p.m. Arcadia Bookstore, Spring Green. CCC story.

May 13, 6:30 Verona Library, CCC Story

May 14, 12:00 Noon, Sequoia Library, Madison. Simple Things

May 18, 10-2:00 Dregne’s, Westby, Book Signing.

June 1, 10:30-3:00, Speaking at 1:30. Stonefield Village, Cassville.

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)

Ringlingville USA (All about the Ringling Brothers Circus.)<.Plan to summer trip to Circus World Museum, in Baraboo.

Remembering the Civilian Conservation Corps

My newest book, see cover image above, is dedicated to the thousands of young men who joined the CCC during the Great Depression of the 1930s. These young men came from the cities, from Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee, from small towns like Pine River and Tomahawk, and from farms, too. They represented a generation of young men who, through no fault of their own could not find jobs because there were no jobs.

Starting in 1933, many of these forgotten young men signed up for a new government program dedicated to conservation. It became known as the Civilian Conservation Corps. Its mission was simple: put young men to work on the land.

The organization of the CCC looked impossible, for it specified that three governmental organizations work together: The Army, The Department of Interior, and The Department of Agriculture. But it worked. And it worked well. These young men planted trees, built windbreaks, introduced contour farming and erosion control, developed state and national parks, fought forest fires, developed tree nurseries, help build fish hatcheries, and much more.

I was a little kid when one day some CCC boys arrived at our farm. They were looking for gooseberry plants (Ribes genus) to remove, as these plants were host to White Pine Blister Rust that was devastating white pines. I also remember when CCC boys developed the Wild Rose Fish Hatchery including the beautiful wall along Highway 22 at the fish hatchery entrance.

THE OLDTIMER SAYS: As the CCC boys saved the land, they saved themselves.

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.

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)