Memorial Day Garden Report

Photo by Jerry Apps

As has been my custom for several years, I offer periodic reports about our central Wisconsin vegetable garden and its successes and failures. This is my May 25 (Memorial Day) Report.

Until the last week or so, the weather has been cool, and generally dry. Vegetables planted on April 26: Both red and white potatoes are up and growing well. Same for the onions, peas, and radishes. Carrots are up, but not looking especially good. The lettuce and kale are only average, mostly up but not yet receiving any glowing comments. Same for the rutabagas and beets.

On May 19, Natasha and Steve set out the tomato plants I had started back in April, along with some cabbage, broccoli, and kohlrabi plants they purchased. The tomato plants, which like warm weather, are not doing well—indeed a half dozen of them died and had to be replaced. In my more than four decades of starting tomato plants, this year has to go down, so far, as “Not very tomato successful.” The hard-working gardeners also planted green beans, cucumbers, winter squash, pumpkins, gourds, sweet corn, and a row of sunflowers.

The rains came in late May, not too much, just enough, along with some high 70s and low 80s temperatures. Ideal for our sandy garden spot. The deer fence is up, so now we wait to see what happens. Besides the weather, which can make all the difference for success or failure, gardening requires lots of patience and a considerable amount of loving care.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: What would life be without a garden.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My book are available at your local bookstore or from the Friends of 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

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.. They have a great selection of my books for sale, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.

Another Road to Take?

Photo by Jerry Apps

A line in a Robert Frost poem reads, with a little paraphrasing, “I took the road less traveled and that has made all the difference.” I’ve been thinking about those words. Nearly everyone is affected by the dreaded COVID-19. It is easy to yearn for the old normal, what we knew and enjoyed, at least thought we did.

What is going on today feels like a timeout. When the coach is concerned that the game isn’t going well, and we should stop playing for a bit and think about what to do next. What to do next may not be what we have been doing. Is it time to take a different road, maybe one that is not so well-traveled?

Some of us, along the way, were forced to take another road—because of an accident or an illness in the family. Or something more serious. We didn’t have a chance to choose. The choice was made for us. I was one of those. I had polio which meant I could play no sports in high school or participate in anything requiring much physical effort. I did not want to take another road—but I had to do it or else. I didn’t want to think about the “or else.”

Today, many of us have a choice of a different road to take after this crisis passes. Will we?

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: So many roads to take, which one should it be?

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My books are available at your local bookstore or from the Friends of 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

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.. They have a great selection of my books for sale, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.

Laughter Helps During Tough Times

Image from free Clipart.

During these difficult times, I remember the humor and laughter on the farm when I was a kid. Humor was a way of making a bad situation better, of finding something good in something that was awful. Of evoking laughter in a situation that was often filled with tears. Stories about a farmstead fire, a charging mad bull, or a tipped over pickup truck. Stories about minor and sometimes not so minor injuries caused by poor judgment or lack of knowledge.

Rural humor included practical jokes ranging from smearing Limburger cheese on the muffle of a newlyweds’ car, to stuffing rocks in a grain sack so that the fellow carrying the grain from the threshing machine to granary walked with a staggering gait and a look that said, “I’ve never carried such heavy grain.”

Humor allowed country people to live through the tough times, when the rains didn’t come and the crops dried up, when a friend or relative died, when milk prices fell, when someone in the family was injured. Country humor was homemade; it was of the people. It was humor that came from the land. And although it may have evoked a belly laugh or sometimes only a chuckle, it cheered people up. For country people, good weather nourished their crops; humor nourished their souls.

I’m reminded of the story about the fellow driving along who spotted a sign that read: “Boat for sale.” Behind the sign were a lawnmower and a wheelbarrow. The fellow stopped, interested in buying a boat.

“Saw your sign,” the fellow said, “but all I see is a wheelbarrow and a lawnmower.”

“Yup,” the man standing by the sign said, “And they’re boat for sale.”

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A good laugh is often the best medicine.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, May 20, 10:00 a.m. On your computer go to Wisconsin Historical Society Press Storytime Live.. I will be reading from my children’s book, “Stormy.” A true story about my 4-H calf when I was 12 years old.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My books, including Stormy, are available at your local bookstore or from the Friends of 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

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.. They have a great selection of my books for sale, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.

Early Garden Planting

Natasha planting onion sets. Photo by Jerry apps

During these days when the world seems upside down and tomorrow remains a mystery, many people are turning to gardening. So many that when I tried to buy some additional seeds this past week, the two garden catalogs that I regularly ordered from had the words “Out of stock” alongside many popular vegetable seeds.

As many of you know, I am a long-time vegetable gardener, learning from my mother way back during the Depression years when we depended on our big garden for the food on our table. Both my mother and dad were excellent gardeners, and both loved doing it.

Last weekend we planted the early crops for our three-family garden at Roshara, our Waushara County farm. For those interested, we planted nine rows of potatoes (five of Kennebec, and four Pontiac Red). Two short rows of lettuce, one short row of kale, one row of carrots, one short row of radishes, a row of rutabagas, and a short row of beets.

Memorial Day weekend we will plant green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, winter squash, gourds, sweet corn, and sunflowers. We’ll set out the tomato plants that I have been nursing inside under a grow light, plus we’ll set out some broccoli and cabbage plants. We’ll also find some room for zinnias, which seem to do well in our garden. One of Pa’s mantras was, every vegetable garden needs a little special beauty.

I’ll share a progress report as the season goes along—no two seasons are ever alike.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: One way to avoid food shortages is to grow your own.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My books are available at your local bookstore or from the Friends of 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

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.. They have a great selection of my books for sale, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.

Opening Day of Fishing Season

A younger Jerry with his daughter Sue and recently caught trout.

When I was a kid, outside of Christmas, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, two equally important events were the opening day of deer season in the fall, and the first day of fishing season in May.

Our fishing equipment consisted of a 14-foot long cane pole, some heavy green fish line, a red and white bobber, and a hook. All were available from Hotz’s Hardware in Wild Rose.
On the opening day of fishing season, when I was maybe 12 years old, my dad, brothers, and I would gather up the cane poles that we stored under the eaves of the corncrib. Then we’d dig some earthworms from a place back of the chicken house where we’d always found plenty of them, put them in a tin can, tie the cane poles across the top of the old black Plymouth and drive to Norwegian Lake.

We’d stop at Anderson’s farm, bordering the lake, and rent a wooden boat from them. One dollar rental fee. We’d spend a couple of hours tossing out our lines and hauling in big bluegills—the fish that Pa prized above all others. And that evening, we ate pan-fried blue gills—what a treat.

As I got older the tradition continued, except I moved from a long cane pole to one of those fancy fishing rods that had a reel and fish-line about the size of a single strand of a spider web. I also got interested in trout fishing—so opening day was on the Pine River, or more often, at the Wild Rose Mill Pond.

Great family memories.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: One way to put aside your troubles is to go fishing.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My books are available at your local bookstore or from the Friends of 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

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.. They have a great selection of my books for sale, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.