The morning sky was slate gray; it was dark, and more than a little dreary. Shortly after eight a.m. I saw snowflakes flying on the wind, just a few of them, and then more and still more snowflakes. The first snowstorm of the season. Within an hour or so, grassy areas turned from green to white, and snow was clinging to the bare branches of the trees. The snow continued falling, reminding us that no matter what the calendar says, we have moved from autumn to winter.
And oh, how the memories have returned
to the days of my youth on the farm. The
coming of the first snow was bittersweet.
On the plus side, it was time to crawl up into the woodshed attic and
find our skis, sleds, and clamp-on ice skates.
It was time once more to slide down the big hill back of our one-room
country school on our sleds, to slip on our skis and ski to the back reaches of
the farm, often with a rifle in hand as we searched for a rabbit for supper, or
just skied for the fun of it, leaving the rifle at home. Or maybe, with a few school
friends, grabbing up our ice skates and walking the mile and half to Chain O ‘Lake
where we shoveled the snow aside and skated.
We also would build a campfire on the edge of the lake, a place to put
on and take off our skates, and to warm up a bit if the temperature, as it
often did in those days, hung around zero.
On a snowy day like today, it was exceedingly
quiet. I so enjoyed walk in the woods,
especially by a row of pine trees. I listened
for the subtle sound of snowflakes on pine needles.
The first snow had its down sides,
too. Because the cows were kept inside
all day, the barn chores increased. Besides
milking and feeding the cows, there was always straw to carry for bedding, and manure
to shovel from the barn’s gutters. A major
task was shoveling a walkway from one farm building to another. From the house to the barn, from the house to
the pumphouse, from the house to the chicken house. From the barn to the pumphouse, from the barn
to the granary. From the chicken house
to the granary. And the driveway from
the country road to the milkhouse so the milk truck could pick up our several
cans of milk every day.
I always welcomed the first snowfall
of the season— remembering how our lives changed as the seasons changed.
THE
OLD TIMER SAYS: Each year, the first snowfall marked important changes for farm
kids.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Monday, November 28, 7:00 p.m. Watch “Jerry Apps: Food and Memories” on PBS
Wisconsin. An hour-long documentary with
my daughter, Susan, and based on our book, OLD FARM COUNTRY COOKBOOK/
Saturday, December 10, 1:30 p.m. Verona, Library. Launch of my new book, MORE THAN WORDS. I plan to be there in person.
WHERE
TO BUY MY BOOKS
To learn more about winter, see my book THE
QUIET SEASON: REMEMBERING COUNTRY WINTERS. Buy from your local bookstore, or buy online from the Wisconsin
Historical Society bookstore, https://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/books, bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson
Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for
prices and ordering, or contact the librarian: barnard@wildroselibrary.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984.
www.wildroselibrary.org
If you live in the
western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby, visit Dregne’s. and look at their great selection of my books.
Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help
you. If you live in northcentral
Wisconsin, stop at the Janke bookstore in Wausau (phone 715-845-9648). They also have a large selection of my
books.
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