Nothing Better Than Home Grown Vegetables

 

Homemade tomato soup.  Photo by Jerry Apps        

With so much turmoil this year, mostly caused by the COVID virus, many people have turned to home gardening.  Now,  the sweet corn is ready, the cucumbers are just right, the green beans can’t be bested, and the tomatoes are ready for picking and eating.  After several months of store-bought tomatoes grown at some far-distant place, we have fresh tomatoes, picked ripe from our garden.  How juicy they are and how special. 

 I especially enjoy spooning some cottage cheese into a bowl and then topping it with several slices of fresh tomato.  Or sometimes, I slice a couple tomatoes onto a plate, add a goodly amount of pepper and a little salt, and dig in. 

 My wife makes the best tomato juice you could imagine, not heavily laced with salt which is too often the case with store-bought tomato juice.  She cans it in pint jars and at days end, I often bring up a jar from the basement, pour it into a pint water glass—and sit back and enjoy.

 But what is most special of all, is the tomato soup that Ruth makes, many pints that we enjoy all seasons of the year, but especially during the cold, snowy days of winter.  Opening a can of home-made tomato soup is like a taste of summer when there is snow on the ground and the temperature crowds toward zero.  For the recipe, fetch a copy of my book Garden Wisdom from your local library or bookstore, and give the tomato soup recipe a try.  You won’t be disappointed.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Homegrown vegetables, what could be better?

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My books are available at your local bookstore, online from bookshop.org, 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. Say hello to Jana and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.

 

A Walk in the Woods

 

A Walk in the Woods.  Photo by Jerry Apps

As long as I can remember, when things were going bad for me, I felt better after a walk in the woods.  On the home farm, we had twenty acres of woods just north of the farmhouse.  My brothers and I grew up in that woods made up mostly of oak trees.  When something bad happened, a favorite animal died, something I’d hoped for vanished, I would go out in the woods. 

We all faced a host of disappointments and tragedies during the trying years of the Great Depression and the challenges of World War II.  During those times I’d find solace in the woods. For me, it was a safe place to be. A place where I could find myself.

The trees would listen to me—and they didn’t talk back. I enjoyed the sound of the wind rustling the tree leaves on a hot day in summer, and the different sound the winter wind made as it moved through the bare tree branches.  On days when the wind didn’t blow, the woods were a quiet, peaceful place.  As I grew older, the woods continued to be one of my favorite places to visit-during good times and bad.

The farm my family and I now own is mostly trees, with many walking trails.  What a soothing pleasure it is, during these times of chaos and change, to spend time in the woods.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Take a walk in the woods. You will feel better if you do.

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. Say hello to Jana and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.

 

 

Take Time To Watch a Sunset

 

Sunset at Long Lake.  Photo by Jerry Apps

Oh, the beauty of a sunset.  Especially during these trying COVID pandemic days when so much is so different.  Sunsets remain a constant during all this turmoil. 

I remember so well my growing up years when my dad and I, after the evening milking was done and the cows turned out to pasture, we would watch the sunset.  Dad had become quite expert on predicting the following day’s weather based on what he saw as the sun dipped below the horizon.  On these waning days of August, when we were usually in the midst of harvesting our grain crop, knowing whether or not it might rain the next day dictated what we would do.  Cut grain or not.  Beyond weather forecasting, sunsets, each one different from the previous one, provided a special kind of beauty to the ending of the day.

During the nearly thirty years that I taught writing at The Clearing in Door County, my students and I would gather each evening and watch the sun set over the waters of Green Bay.  Not a word was spoken.  It was a special experience, especially for those who lived in a city where a sunset could not be experienced.

Sunsets are a time to reflect on the day just passed, what happened that was memorable, what happened that was best forgotten, what was learned that would be useful for another day.  Sunsets are like turning a page on our lives, leaving the present day behind and looking forward to the next one.  During these days of challenge and change, sunsets remain a constant in our lives.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Take time to enjoy a sunset.

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. Say hello to Jana and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.

 

 

Memories at The Lake

(Sorry, no photo. Computer on the fritz.} There is something about a lake that has always attracted me. I’m not a swimmer, never waterskied, never drove a powerboat—but did considerable amount of canoeing as well as boot rowing over the years. And fishing, oh how I enjoyed fishing. When I was a kid, visiting a lake meant a few hours away from summer farm work to go fishing on a lake. It usually happened on a rainy day when it was too wet to make hay, or shock grain, or cut corn, whatever the task at the time needed doing. Lakes have been important for me in ways that go well beyond fishing. For twenty-five years I, along with one of my adult children, canoed the Boundary Water lakes of northern Minnesota. Not only was it a way to enjoy the outdoors, the call of loons, and the quiet, but also it was a way to get to know my children in a special way. Since 2002, Ruth and I and our three children and grandchildren have spent a week at a lake—for the last five years on Long Lake, one of the lakes in the famous Waupaca Chain O’ Lakes. It is way for the grandkids to get to know their cousins—they are scattered from San Diego to Denver and Minneapolis. It is also a way for Ruth and me to watch the grandkids grow from babies into responsible young adults. It is a lake that brings us together, this year 15 of us, for fun and adventure, for creating family togetherness and making life-long memories. THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Lakes are important for many reasons—well beyond swimming, boating, and fishing. WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS The Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library at Wild Rose have my books and DVDs for sale as a fund raising event. Phone them at 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering or Email: barnard@wildroselibrary.org. Address is 500 Division Street, Wild Rose, WI 54984. For book lovers in western Wisconsin, stop at Ruth’s hometown, Westby and visit Dregne’s. They have a great selection of my books. Order them by calling 1-877-634-4414.

Memories At The Lake

 

Sunset at Long Lake, Waupaca, WI.  Photo by Jerry Apps

There is something about a lake that has always attracted me.  I’m not a swimmer, never waterskied, never drove a powerboat—but did a considerable amount of canoeing as well as boot rowing over the years.  And fishing, oh how I enjoyed fishing.

When I was a kid, visiting a lake meant a few hours away from summer farm work to go fishing on a lake.  It usually happened on a rainy day when it was too wet to make hay, or shock grain, or cut corn, whatever the task at the time needed doing.

Lakes have been important for me in ways that go well beyond fishing. For twenty-five years I, along with one of my adult children, canoed the Boundary Water lakes of northern Minnesota.  Not only was it a way to enjoy the outdoors, the call of loons, and the quiet, but also it was a way to get to know my children in a special way.

Since 2002, Ruth and I and our three children and grandchildren have spent a week at a lake—for the last five years on Long Lake, one of the lakes in the famous Waupaca Chain O’ Lakes.  It is a way for the grandkids to get to know their cousins—they are scattered from San Diego to Denver and Minneapolis.  It is also a way for Ruth and me to watch the grandkids grow from babies into responsible young adults.

It is a lake that brings us together, this year 15 of us, for fun and adventure, for creating family togetherness and making life-long memories.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Lakes are important for many reasons—well beyond swimming, boating, and fishing.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS

The Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library at Wild Rose have my books and DVDs for sale as a fundraising event.  Phone them at 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering or Email: barnard@wildroselibrary.org.  The address is 500 Division Street, Wild Rose, WI 54984.

For book lovers in western Wisconsin, stop at Ruth’s hometown, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  They have a great selection of my books.  Order them by calling 1-877-634-4414.