A Stone Pile With Memories

When we bought the farm we have now, one of the first things I noticed was the pile of stones (see above) that stretched for 50 yards or so along the west side of the buildings, just inside of the willow windbreak.

This old moss-covered stone pile has a story to tell. The Coombes family, who owned our farm before us, never owned a tractor, so all of these stones were picked by hand, rolled onto a stone boat, and them with a team of horses toted to this place where they remain, and will likely remain as I have no intention of moving them. This old stone pile represents a lot of hard work.

I grew up picking stones as the home farm, which is some two miles from the farm we now own. Like the Coombes farm, the home place was on the terminal moraine—where the last glacier stopped. Upon melting, the glacier left behind a landscape studded with stones. Stones as large as a small car. Stones as small as marbles. Black stones and red stones. Round stones and jagged stones. With winter’s frosts the stones came to the surface each year. And each spring, we picked them, loaded them on a stone boat pulled by our trusty team of horses. We hauled them to stone piles scattered across our farm. My dad would often say, as we picked stones: “If nothing else grows on this farm, we can always count on a good crop of stones.”

THE OLD-TIMER SAYS: Want to build some character: spend a day picking stones.
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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:

June 1, 10:30-3:00, Speaking at 1:30. Stonefield Village, Cassville, with Susan Apps-Bodilly, my daughter.

June 7, 6:00 p.m. Weyauwega-Fremont Performing Arts Center, 500 E. Ann St. Weyauwega. Presentation: Wisconsin Agriculture: A History. No charge, all welcome.

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 To Consider Reading:

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work.

Simple Things: Lessons From the Family Farm

Garden Wisdom (What I’ve Learned From Gardening)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)




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Apple Blossom Time

It’s apple blossom time in my part of the world. One of the most beautiful times of the year. When I was a kid, the folks had an apple orchard—not really an orchard but four or five trees that stood on a little side hill across the road from the farm house. If I remember correctly we had Whitney Crabs, Wealthies, Northwestern Greenings and Duchess apples. Varieties that we don’t hear much about these days. How beautiful the trees were in late May.

For some reason, the crab apple trees had the most beautiful blossoms—see the photo above. Their apples were small—my mother made apple pickles out of them. The other varieties I remember as being mostly good for apple pies and apple sauce. Tart would be too polite a term to describe how sour some of them were—at least to a kid who took a big bite out of one of them.

There is one old apple tree remaining on what had been the first farmstead on the farm we own now—going back to 1867 when the first settler, Tom Stewart arrived. He likely brought with him some apple trees from his home state of New York, always known for its fine orchards. The tree is mostly dead, but what branches remains are well over a hundred years old. I have no idea its variety. There are a few blossoms every other year.

When I was in high school at Wild Rose, the theme of our junior prom was, “I’ll be with you in apple blossom time.” So many years later, it’s once more apple blossom time.

THE OLD-TIMER SAYS: Take time to appreciate the beauty of apple blossoms.

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:

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

June 7, 6:00 p.m. Weyauwega-Fremont Performing Arts Center, 500 E. Ann St. Weyauwega. Presentation: Wisconsin Agriculture: A History. No charge, all welcome.

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 To Consider Reading:

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work.

Simple Things: Lessons From the Family Farm

Garden Wisdom (What I’ve Learned From Gardening)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

Dad's Garden Marker

My dad and mother held an auction and sold the home farm in 1973. They moved to Wild Rose, where they bought a little house with a big yard. Big enough for a garden. For farmers of dad’s generation, moving to town was a symbol of success.

One of the first things my dad at his new place was to find some scrap lumber and build the garden marker pictured above. He was moving to town, but he was not giving up gardening. He was 73 years old at the time. Soon the area behind the house was a vegetable garden. But the area wasn’t large enough. Dad wanted to grow pumpkins and squash and melons besides all the other vegetables. So I said he could have a fourth of our big garden that we had at my farm, which was only four and half miles from Wild Rose.

So, year after year, that little wooden marker scratched two grooves thirty-inches apart in the soft garden soil in Wild Rose, and my equally soft sandy-loom at my farm. As the years passed and dad moved into his 80s, I could tell how he was feeling by the amount of space he wanted in the garden at my farm.

By the time he reached 90, he was content to only work in his town garden as he called it. But work it he did, until six weeks before he died at age 93. All the while, he marked the rows with this little wooden marker. I use the marker to this day in my garden. It brings back a lot of memories.

THE OLD-TIMER SAYS: Memories come in many packages.

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:
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.May 13, 6:30 p.m. Verona Public Library, 500 Silent St., Verona. CCC Story in words and pictures

May 14, 12:00 Noon, Sequoya 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.

June 7, 6:00 p.m. Weyauwega-Fremont Performing Arts Center, 500 E. Ann St. Weyauwega. Presentation: Wisconsin Agriculture: A History. No charge, all welcome.

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 To Consider Reading:

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work.

Simple Things: Lessons From the Family Farm

Garden Wisdom (What I’ve Learned From Gardening)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

Advice From a Dandelion

• Never apologize for being one of the first to celebrate the arrival of spring.

• Remember that small can be beautiful.

• Be proud of who you are and what you can do—even though some may despise you.

• When you are stomped on, knocked down and criticized, answer without anger, but with your usual bright face.

• Deep roots can help assure a worthwhile life.

• Be proud of your heritage. I trace my relatives to the ancient Romans.

• Sometimes it only takes a spot of beauty to add a little joy to one’s day.

• Love the little children as they love me, often bringing a bouquet of my yellow flowers to their moms on Mother’s Day.

• Treat me with respect. I, like you, have a purpose in life.

• There is goodness in everything—look for it and applaud it.

• Do not stop being beautiful because some may think you do not belong where you are.

• Even under the harshest of conditions, remember who you are and do your best.

• Being of help to others, sometimes if only in a small way, should be a major purpose in your life.

• On the path of life, one is not wrong and the other right, we are just different.

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Each of us has our own special beauty.

• Don’t be envious of those who appear to have more than you do. Be proud of what you have.

• Do the best you can with what you’ve got.

THE OLD-TIMER SAYS: There is much to be learned from a dandelion.

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:
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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 To Consider Reading:

Simple Things: Lessons From the Family Farm

Garden Wisdom (What I’ve Learned From Gardening)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work.