On a bright sunny day last week, with the temperature in the teens, I strapped on snowshoes and walked to the top of the hill above the pond. It was the first time for several weeks that I had returned to this favorite site on the farm. I gazed across the side hill that Steve and I had cleared of black locust trees, and saw the pond buried in snow in the valley. Resting. Waiting.
It was a world of gray and white, with the occasional accent of green from a pine tree. And it was quiet, so quiet that the only sound I heard was from my heavy breathing for snowshoeing is not easy. Then I heard it, far off and beyond the pond, in the woods to the north, a lone crow calling. A winter survivor in this land that can take its toll on wild creatures. Whatever you might say about them, crows are tough. And proud of it, too. A big black bird with an attitude.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Being comfortable is more important than being stylish.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
February 24, 4:30 p.m. Demeter Winter Event, West Madison Agriculture Research Facility. Farms, Barns, Your Stories and Mine.
February 27, Southern Wisconsin Educational In-service Organization. Monona Terrace Convention Center, Madison. 8:30-9:30: Old Farm, A History. 9:45-10:45: In a Pickle, A family Farm Story. 11:00-1:00 PM. Book signing at Barnes and Noble Booth.
March 2, Neenah Public Library, 2:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin.
March 7, Governor Dodge Convention Center. Platteville. 3:00 PM. Doing a Genealogy of Your Land.
March 17, Watertown Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living
March 19, Fond du Lac Public Library, 6:00 p.m. Living a Country Year
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Fond du Lac Reads
The Fond du Lac Public Library has selected my book, LIVING A COUNTRY YEAR for their Fond du Lac Reads program. I am flattered by the selection and am impressed with the library encouraging folks to read in these late days of winter. With spring just around the corner, what a great way to get your mind turned away from snow shoveling, frozen pipes, ornery autos, and chilly fingers.
Here is the announcement from the library’s website (www.dfpl.org):
Fond du Lac Reads is a series of programs designed to get as many people as possible in the community to read the same book at the same time. It is held annually in March.
The goal is to foster community by providing a forum for public discussion and interaction—and most of all—demonstrate that reading can be fun!
The 2009 Fond du Lac Reads selection is Living a Country Year: Wit and Wisdom from the Good Old Days by Wisconsin author Jerry Apps. In this warm-hearted memoir, Apps tells of growing up on a farm near Wild Rose in the 1940’s. The chapters are arranged from January to December and talk about love and respect for the land and for a vanishing rural way of life by using personal incidents, adventures, recipes, observations, and thoughts for each month. Come and join us in reading this delightful book!
-----
Along with several other events, I will be speaking at a special banquet as part of the program. Here are the specifics:
Chili Supper and Presentation by Jerry Apps, Author of Living a Country Year Thursday, March 19, UW-FDL Commons and Prairie Theater
Dinner at 6:00 p.m. – Tickets $10 in advance available at FDLPL; $12 at the door
Dinner Entertainment provided by local guitarist Daryl Rogers
Jerry Apps Program – 7:00 p.m., Free, No Ticket Required.
Enjoy a down-home country dinner featuring recipes from the book Living a Country Year. There will also be a book signing following the program. This program is sponsored by the Friends of the FDL Public Library, Linstrom’s Catering, and UW-FDL.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Books do not scold when you blunder, laugh when you are ignorant, or hide when you seek them
UPCOMING EVENTS:
February 24, 4:30 p.m. Demeter Winter Event, West Madison Agriculture Research Facility. Farms, Barns, Your Stories and Mine.
February 27, Southern Wisconsin Educational In-service Organization. Monona Terrace Convention Center, Madison. 8:30-9:30: Old Farm, A History. 9:45-10:45: In a Pickle, A family Farm Story.
March 2, Neenah Public Library, 2:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin.
March 17, Watertown Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living
March 19, Fond du Lac Public Library, 6:00 p.m. (See above)
Here is the announcement from the library’s website (www.dfpl.org):
Fond du Lac Reads is a series of programs designed to get as many people as possible in the community to read the same book at the same time. It is held annually in March.
The goal is to foster community by providing a forum for public discussion and interaction—and most of all—demonstrate that reading can be fun!
The 2009 Fond du Lac Reads selection is Living a Country Year: Wit and Wisdom from the Good Old Days by Wisconsin author Jerry Apps. In this warm-hearted memoir, Apps tells of growing up on a farm near Wild Rose in the 1940’s. The chapters are arranged from January to December and talk about love and respect for the land and for a vanishing rural way of life by using personal incidents, adventures, recipes, observations, and thoughts for each month. Come and join us in reading this delightful book!
-----
Along with several other events, I will be speaking at a special banquet as part of the program. Here are the specifics:
Chili Supper and Presentation by Jerry Apps, Author of Living a Country Year Thursday, March 19, UW-FDL Commons and Prairie Theater
Dinner at 6:00 p.m. – Tickets $10 in advance available at FDLPL; $12 at the door
Dinner Entertainment provided by local guitarist Daryl Rogers
Jerry Apps Program – 7:00 p.m., Free, No Ticket Required.
Enjoy a down-home country dinner featuring recipes from the book Living a Country Year. There will also be a book signing following the program. This program is sponsored by the Friends of the FDL Public Library, Linstrom’s Catering, and UW-FDL.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Books do not scold when you blunder, laugh when you are ignorant, or hide when you seek them
UPCOMING EVENTS:
February 24, 4:30 p.m. Demeter Winter Event, West Madison Agriculture Research Facility. Farms, Barns, Your Stories and Mine.
February 27, Southern Wisconsin Educational In-service Organization. Monona Terrace Convention Center, Madison. 8:30-9:30: Old Farm, A History. 9:45-10:45: In a Pickle, A family Farm Story.
March 2, Neenah Public Library, 2:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin.
March 17, Watertown Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living
March 19, Fond du Lac Public Library, 6:00 p.m. (See above)
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Viroqua Elementary School
Last Friday I talked with students at the Viroqua Elementary School in Viroqua, WI. I shared stories about one-room country schools, early Wisconsin history, and life on the farm before electricity, indoor plumbing, and central heating. I worked with third through fifth graders, in four different sessions.
The school has a special project for third-graders about one-room schools, so the questions bubbled up with little encouragement. Did your teacher beat you across the knuckles with a ruler when you did something wrong was a common inquiry. I answered that in my years at a country school, I was never struck with a ruler, nor was anyone else that I remember.
How many snow days did you have? Answer: none in the eight years I attended Chain O’ Lake School in Waushara County. Looks of disbelief on faces of the students. How could that be? Didn’t you have winter then? I explained that we all walked to school, students and teacher, so it didn’t matter how much it snowed.
Students in fourth and fifth grade were working on Wisconsin history projects, for them I talked mostly about early agriculture in Wisconsin, when the state was a major wheat growing state, indeed became the second largest wheat producing state in the U.S. in 1862, after Illinois. Then we talked about how Wisconsin became a dairy state.
I talked about how important I thought it was for them to study the history of their own community and what makes it special and different from other places. Their home county, Vernon, was a major tobacco growing area with a rich history associated with that crop..
After spending the day with about 250, interested, polite and full of questions youngsters, I left feeling good about the future. (Need I say I was also ready for nap.)
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A good teacher is one who helps students become their own teachers.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
February 24, 4:30 p.m. Demeter Winter Event, West Madison Agriculture Research Facility. Farms, Barns, Your Stories and Mine.
February 27, Southern Wisconsin Educational Inservice Organization. Monona Terrace Convention Center, Madison. 8:30-9:30: Old Farm, A History. 9:45-10:45: In a Pickle, A family Farm Story.
March 2, Neenah Public Library, 2:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin.
The school has a special project for third-graders about one-room schools, so the questions bubbled up with little encouragement. Did your teacher beat you across the knuckles with a ruler when you did something wrong was a common inquiry. I answered that in my years at a country school, I was never struck with a ruler, nor was anyone else that I remember.
How many snow days did you have? Answer: none in the eight years I attended Chain O’ Lake School in Waushara County. Looks of disbelief on faces of the students. How could that be? Didn’t you have winter then? I explained that we all walked to school, students and teacher, so it didn’t matter how much it snowed.
Students in fourth and fifth grade were working on Wisconsin history projects, for them I talked mostly about early agriculture in Wisconsin, when the state was a major wheat growing state, indeed became the second largest wheat producing state in the U.S. in 1862, after Illinois. Then we talked about how Wisconsin became a dairy state.
I talked about how important I thought it was for them to study the history of their own community and what makes it special and different from other places. Their home county, Vernon, was a major tobacco growing area with a rich history associated with that crop..
After spending the day with about 250, interested, polite and full of questions youngsters, I left feeling good about the future. (Need I say I was also ready for nap.)
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A good teacher is one who helps students become their own teachers.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
February 24, 4:30 p.m. Demeter Winter Event, West Madison Agriculture Research Facility. Farms, Barns, Your Stories and Mine.
February 27, Southern Wisconsin Educational Inservice Organization. Monona Terrace Convention Center, Madison. 8:30-9:30: Old Farm, A History. 9:45-10:45: In a Pickle, A family Farm Story.
March 2, Neenah Public Library, 2:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Blizzard Memories
It began with a few flakes of snow striking the windows on the country school as my brothers and I and fellow schoolmates sat at our desks, trying to pay attention to schoolwork and waiting for noon and chance to play outside.
By eleven, the northwest wind had picked up and began rattling the windows and causing the rusty wood-burning stove in the back of the schoolroom to send an occasional puff of smoke into the building. Scattered snowflake had turned into a wall of snow, flying on the wind, and accumulating on the windows.
No playing outside today our teacher, Miss Thompson told us. After eating our lunches from our dinner pails, most of us gathered at the tall, snow covered windows and watched the storm growing in intensity and wondered about our walk home that afternoon.
By two o’clock, the first fathers began arriving to walk their children home, bursting into the school room with a shower of snow, pounding their hands together to warm them by the stove, before bundling up their offspring and disappearing into the storm.
One after the other they came, each following the same ritual, each with words about the storm and its fury. Pa finally arrived, and my two brothers and I set out behind him, walking up Miller’s hill on our way toward home, trying to step in his tracks, trying not to lose sight of him in the swirling snow. Past Miller’s farm, finally, with only a half-mile more to go, stumbling behind Pa, first me, then Darrel, then short-legged Donald trying to keep up in the rear. We stopped to rest on occasion, out of the wind behind huge snow banks piled up alongside the road from previous snowstorms, while the snow sifted over our heads.
Then it was back into the storm, into the worst of it, facing it head on, marching on toward home, one step at a time. Finally, when it seemed we were too tired to move another foot, we glimpsed our red barn through the snow, and then our house. We burst into the kitchen, snow flying everywhere as four snowmen emerged from the storm to the smell of vegetable soup steaming on the kitchen wood stove.
It was back to school the next day, even though the storm drifted shut the road. Our school never closed, not once in the eight years I attended.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Enjoy a bowl of homemade vegetable soup.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools. One room-schools early farm life.
February 24, 4:30 p.m. Demeter Winter Event, West Madison Agriculture Research Facility. Farms, Barns, Your Stories and Mine.
March 2, Neenah Public Library, 2:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin
By eleven, the northwest wind had picked up and began rattling the windows and causing the rusty wood-burning stove in the back of the schoolroom to send an occasional puff of smoke into the building. Scattered snowflake had turned into a wall of snow, flying on the wind, and accumulating on the windows.
No playing outside today our teacher, Miss Thompson told us. After eating our lunches from our dinner pails, most of us gathered at the tall, snow covered windows and watched the storm growing in intensity and wondered about our walk home that afternoon.
By two o’clock, the first fathers began arriving to walk their children home, bursting into the school room with a shower of snow, pounding their hands together to warm them by the stove, before bundling up their offspring and disappearing into the storm.
One after the other they came, each following the same ritual, each with words about the storm and its fury. Pa finally arrived, and my two brothers and I set out behind him, walking up Miller’s hill on our way toward home, trying to step in his tracks, trying not to lose sight of him in the swirling snow. Past Miller’s farm, finally, with only a half-mile more to go, stumbling behind Pa, first me, then Darrel, then short-legged Donald trying to keep up in the rear. We stopped to rest on occasion, out of the wind behind huge snow banks piled up alongside the road from previous snowstorms, while the snow sifted over our heads.
Then it was back into the storm, into the worst of it, facing it head on, marching on toward home, one step at a time. Finally, when it seemed we were too tired to move another foot, we glimpsed our red barn through the snow, and then our house. We burst into the kitchen, snow flying everywhere as four snowmen emerged from the storm to the smell of vegetable soup steaming on the kitchen wood stove.
It was back to school the next day, even though the storm drifted shut the road. Our school never closed, not once in the eight years I attended.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Enjoy a bowl of homemade vegetable soup.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools. One room-schools early farm life.
February 24, 4:30 p.m. Demeter Winter Event, West Madison Agriculture Research Facility. Farms, Barns, Your Stories and Mine.
March 2, Neenah Public Library, 2:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Blue Shadows Farm
I learned last week that my newest book of historical fiction will be published by the University of Wisconsin Press in August of this year. It is my third novel in the Ames County Series, which so far includes THE TRAVELS OF INCREASE JOSEPH and IN A PICKLE. In these novels, I examine how history has influenced family farms and the direction for agriculture in the heartland of this country.
The new book is described this way:
BLUE SHADOWS FARM follows the intriguing family story of three generations on a Wisconsin farm. It begins as Silas Starkweather, a Civil War Veteran, is lured to Wisconsin and homesteads 160 acres in Ames County. Mysteriously, his first interest is not farming. He quickly becomes known as a peculiar man who is forever digging holes and putting up new fences.
Through years of hardship and tragedy, Silas discovers a respect for his community and a love of his land. His son Abe, an alcoholic, continues to live on the farm during Prohibition and the Depression. Abe doesn’t inherit his father’s love for their land, but continues farming out of economic necessity.
Abe’s daughter Emma, a contemporary character, has remained and cared for the land, fences and buildings. She shares her farm with school children and families who also appreciate and respect this place. Emma is faced with a difficult decision, she must sell the family farm, but to whom? A for-profit educational organization is interested in buying. Within a controversy that disrupts the entire community, Emma looks to her past to make decisions for the future of Blue Shadows Farm.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When you think you have gotten something about right, consider that as the starting place for making it much better.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
The new book is described this way:
BLUE SHADOWS FARM follows the intriguing family story of three generations on a Wisconsin farm. It begins as Silas Starkweather, a Civil War Veteran, is lured to Wisconsin and homesteads 160 acres in Ames County. Mysteriously, his first interest is not farming. He quickly becomes known as a peculiar man who is forever digging holes and putting up new fences.
Through years of hardship and tragedy, Silas discovers a respect for his community and a love of his land. His son Abe, an alcoholic, continues to live on the farm during Prohibition and the Depression. Abe doesn’t inherit his father’s love for their land, but continues farming out of economic necessity.
Abe’s daughter Emma, a contemporary character, has remained and cared for the land, fences and buildings. She shares her farm with school children and families who also appreciate and respect this place. Emma is faced with a difficult decision, she must sell the family farm, but to whom? A for-profit educational organization is interested in buying. Within a controversy that disrupts the entire community, Emma looks to her past to make decisions for the future of Blue Shadows Farm.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When you think you have gotten something about right, consider that as the starting place for making it much better.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Winter in 1915
Several people responded to my request for winter prose or poetry. I received the following from Jean Sweet of Madison, WI. Jean shared excerpts from letters her mother, Marian wrote in 1915 to her Arizona family. At the time Marian was a 4th grade teacher in Plymouth, Wisconsin and lived in a boarding house with other teachers. Otto Holzschuh and his parents lived a block from the school. He and his father operated a livery stable, which was next door to their home. As they said in those days, Otto was sweet on the school marm.
Jan 28, 1915: "I have promised to go sleighing with the Priscillas (a women's group) but think it is too cold now for sleighing. After supper:--We are not going sleighing. It is too cold and too many people have colds. I think I would have backed out it is so cold, to load up in a sleigh. A cutter would be bad enough."
Tues. Eve. Feb. 23: "I went to Sheboygan with Otto Sat. We left on the 4:58 car. (There was interurban service between Plymouth and Sheboygan.) Otto took a suit back that he had had made. It wrinkled a little in one place and he took it back to be fixed. He is a regular old maid when it comes to clothes. We went to the nicest restaurant in town. Had beef steak, rare, and onions, a movie, and then home on the 9:00 car."......We had a fine ride Sun. in the slush. Wish you could have been with us. The snow is going fast. It rained yesterday and today. You should have seen the rivers."
[On Nov. 2, 1915 Otto and Marian were married, and eventually had three children, Jean was the youngest born in 1925]
. "Dec 17, 1915 "Since I wrote you last we have had snow. It snowed all day last Sunday. Otto and I took our first cutter ride. (Black team & sleigh bells). Tues. PM I took one of the black teams and a yellow cutter and Mae Lowe and I rode around town until we were very nearly frozen. Then she came home with me and we sat in front of the coal stove and toasted and drank tea.......Otto is riding on a hearse this PM here in town. There is a funeral Sat., also Sun. They have a man figuring on an auto hearse now. They want to get one before someone else gets in ahead. They are going to get two Fords for the livery, too. More expense."
After reading what my brother wrote last week, several people wondered if Wild Rose in winter was to his liking. He may complain, but he tells me he enjoys all the seasons, winter included.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There is a difference between understanding and knowing. Understanding involves the mind; knowing requires the mind, plus the heart and the soul.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
Jan 28, 1915: "I have promised to go sleighing with the Priscillas (a women's group) but think it is too cold now for sleighing. After supper:--We are not going sleighing. It is too cold and too many people have colds. I think I would have backed out it is so cold, to load up in a sleigh. A cutter would be bad enough."
Tues. Eve. Feb. 23: "I went to Sheboygan with Otto Sat. We left on the 4:58 car. (There was interurban service between Plymouth and Sheboygan.) Otto took a suit back that he had had made. It wrinkled a little in one place and he took it back to be fixed. He is a regular old maid when it comes to clothes. We went to the nicest restaurant in town. Had beef steak, rare, and onions, a movie, and then home on the 9:00 car."......We had a fine ride Sun. in the slush. Wish you could have been with us. The snow is going fast. It rained yesterday and today. You should have seen the rivers."
[On Nov. 2, 1915 Otto and Marian were married, and eventually had three children, Jean was the youngest born in 1925]
. "Dec 17, 1915 "Since I wrote you last we have had snow. It snowed all day last Sunday. Otto and I took our first cutter ride. (Black team & sleigh bells). Tues. PM I took one of the black teams and a yellow cutter and Mae Lowe and I rode around town until we were very nearly frozen. Then she came home with me and we sat in front of the coal stove and toasted and drank tea.......Otto is riding on a hearse this PM here in town. There is a funeral Sat., also Sun. They have a man figuring on an auto hearse now. They want to get one before someone else gets in ahead. They are going to get two Fords for the livery, too. More expense."
After reading what my brother wrote last week, several people wondered if Wild Rose in winter was to his liking. He may complain, but he tells me he enjoys all the seasons, winter included.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There is a difference between understanding and knowing. Understanding involves the mind; knowing requires the mind, plus the heart and the soul.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Winter Willies
During these dark and dreary days of January in the north, people often take to wood carving, or painting, or quilting, or in some instances, writing.
My brother Darrel, a long time resident of New Jersey where he worked as a horticulturist and plant breeder returned to our home town of Wild Rose a year ago. Last week, in a brief moment between snowstorms he found a piece of paper and a pencil and scribbled the following (I include only a portion of his rendering). He gave me permission to include his words here
Ain’t Nobody Knows-Wild Rose
Darrel Apps
Do you think it is unkind to suppose
That our village was not meant for a rose
From December to April, frigid winds blow
Without fail tender plants succumb to the snow
Why anyone lives here ain’t nobody knows!
January and February in Wisconsin are no joke
It’s even colder than stories told by some old folk
Brutal cold spells slide cruelly from the north
As tales are told and retold back and forth
Why anyone lives here ain’t nobody knows!
Winter leaves late with the roar of a lion
While snow melts slowly no one is crying
Four months of winter is one long time
Even Easter can be less than sublime
Why anyone lives here ain’t nobody knows!
Anybody got a paragraph, or two about winter, or a short poem to share? Does not have to be a good poem (although there is some question these days about what is and what is not good poetry). Does not have to be a great piece of prose either, just something that is heartfelt, and will take away a little of the winter willies.
The Old Timer Says: Write it down, you will feel better.
Upcoming Events:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
My brother Darrel, a long time resident of New Jersey where he worked as a horticulturist and plant breeder returned to our home town of Wild Rose a year ago. Last week, in a brief moment between snowstorms he found a piece of paper and a pencil and scribbled the following (I include only a portion of his rendering). He gave me permission to include his words here
Ain’t Nobody Knows-Wild Rose
Darrel Apps
Do you think it is unkind to suppose
That our village was not meant for a rose
From December to April, frigid winds blow
Without fail tender plants succumb to the snow
Why anyone lives here ain’t nobody knows!
January and February in Wisconsin are no joke
It’s even colder than stories told by some old folk
Brutal cold spells slide cruelly from the north
As tales are told and retold back and forth
Why anyone lives here ain’t nobody knows!
Winter leaves late with the roar of a lion
While snow melts slowly no one is crying
Four months of winter is one long time
Even Easter can be less than sublime
Why anyone lives here ain’t nobody knows!
Anybody got a paragraph, or two about winter, or a short poem to share? Does not have to be a good poem (although there is some question these days about what is and what is not good poetry). Does not have to be a great piece of prose either, just something that is heartfelt, and will take away a little of the winter willies.
The Old Timer Says: Write it down, you will feel better.
Upcoming Events:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmas Break
What did you do during Christmas break when you were a kid? It is a question my grandkids ask me, wondering how my brothers and I could keep busy with no TV, no computers, no electronic gadgets to listen to, watch, or, in the case of the newer ones, interact with, no cell phones to call friends.
I explained that after the chores were done, we skied, ice skated, went sledding and ice fished. We ice fished a lot, nearly every day between Christmas and New Years. We sat around a smoky campfire built on shore and watched our tip-ups (a simple standalone ice fishing device stuck in a hole chopped in the ice). We listened to my dad and uncle’s fishing stories, hunting stories, farming stories, logging stories. The same ones told over and over, always the same but always different because with each retelling, I would hear some twist, some new angle to the tale.
Of course my grandkids also do their share of outdoor winter stuff; all five of them ski, go sledding, and ice skate. But no ice fishing, no smoky campfires and no uncle embellished stories.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Always remember as through life you roll, to keep your eye on the doughnut and not on the hole—except when you are ice fishing.
Happy New Year!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
I explained that after the chores were done, we skied, ice skated, went sledding and ice fished. We ice fished a lot, nearly every day between Christmas and New Years. We sat around a smoky campfire built on shore and watched our tip-ups (a simple standalone ice fishing device stuck in a hole chopped in the ice). We listened to my dad and uncle’s fishing stories, hunting stories, farming stories, logging stories. The same ones told over and over, always the same but always different because with each retelling, I would hear some twist, some new angle to the tale.
Of course my grandkids also do their share of outdoor winter stuff; all five of them ski, go sledding, and ice skate. But no ice fishing, no smoky campfires and no uncle embellished stories.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Always remember as through life you roll, to keep your eye on the doughnut and not on the hole—except when you are ice fishing.
Happy New Year!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Christmas Gift
When I was a kid, the weeks before Christmas my brothers and I pored over the Sears Christmas Catalog. What a wondrous book it was, filled with photos of electric trains and wood burning sets, air rifles and books for boys. Also shoe skates (ours clamped on the shoes we had) and skis. Fancy skis with a contraption that fit around the backs of your boots so the skis did not come off.
In those days, the waning years of the Depression and World War II, my brothers and I could each pick one special thing we wanted for Christmas. Beyond that special thing, we received new socks, maybe a sweater, a new cap with ear laps, or even a new Mackinaw coat if ours had worn out.
When I was twelve I asked for a new pair of skis. I picked out the exact ones I wanted from the Sears wish book.
We did not open presents on Christmas morning until we had milked the cows, fed the chickens, carried in wood and did the other necessary farm chores. When we got to the presents there were no skis for me under the tree. Merely some new mittens, a blue flannel shirt, and a pair of wool socks. I said nothing. Disappointment visited our family often during those years.
--I have forgotten something--, Pa said, with a smile on his face. He walked out to the pump house and brought in a pair of skis. He handed them to me. --You wondering about these? --he said.
One ski was brown and one was black; apparently something had happened to the other brown one and other black one so Mr. Hotz at Hotz Hardware in Wild Rose said Pa could have them for half price. Color did not matter much to me. They did not have any fancy bindings, merely leather straps that fit over my boots. No matter. I now had a pair of store-bought skis to replace the home-made ones my Grandpa Witt had made of birch boards he had steamed and bent up on the ends.
It was a Very Merry Christmas.
THE OLD TIMER REMEMBERS WHAT HIS MOTHER OFTEN SAID: It is more blessed to give than to receive.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
In those days, the waning years of the Depression and World War II, my brothers and I could each pick one special thing we wanted for Christmas. Beyond that special thing, we received new socks, maybe a sweater, a new cap with ear laps, or even a new Mackinaw coat if ours had worn out.
When I was twelve I asked for a new pair of skis. I picked out the exact ones I wanted from the Sears wish book.
We did not open presents on Christmas morning until we had milked the cows, fed the chickens, carried in wood and did the other necessary farm chores. When we got to the presents there were no skis for me under the tree. Merely some new mittens, a blue flannel shirt, and a pair of wool socks. I said nothing. Disappointment visited our family often during those years.
--I have forgotten something--, Pa said, with a smile on his face. He walked out to the pump house and brought in a pair of skis. He handed them to me. --You wondering about these? --he said.
One ski was brown and one was black; apparently something had happened to the other brown one and other black one so Mr. Hotz at Hotz Hardware in Wild Rose said Pa could have them for half price. Color did not matter much to me. They did not have any fancy bindings, merely leather straps that fit over my boots. No matter. I now had a pair of store-bought skis to replace the home-made ones my Grandpa Witt had made of birch boards he had steamed and bent up on the ends.
It was a Very Merry Christmas.
THE OLD TIMER REMEMBERS WHAT HIS MOTHER OFTEN SAID: It is more blessed to give than to receive.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Christmas Program
The annual Christmas Program at our one-room country school was the highlight of the year for our farming community. Everyone in the neighborhood attended. Parents, grandparents, cousins, folks from town, bachelor farmers. Everyone was there.
I remember fondly the year a trio of girls stood on the rickety plank stage and sang Away in a Manger. Mrs. Jenks, our teacher, played the accompaniment on the piano and could only see the stage out the corner of her eye. As the girls began, Away in the manger, no crib for his bed, a little field mouse that had taken up residence in the old piano was awakened by the clatter of piano hammers pounding against wires.
The trio continued, The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head, as the mouse crawled out of the piano, where Mrs. Jenks could not see it, and proceeded to prance across the stage in front of the girls. They abruptly stopped singing and rushed off the stage. The audience of course saw it all and began laughing loudly. Mrs. Jenks, not knowing what had happened, was furious. Why were people laughing during Away in the Manger? And then she saw the mouse and joined the crowd in their merriment.
A Christmas program that no one forgot, and fondly recalled as the year a field mouse stole Christmas.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes the harder you look, the less you see.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
I remember fondly the year a trio of girls stood on the rickety plank stage and sang Away in a Manger. Mrs. Jenks, our teacher, played the accompaniment on the piano and could only see the stage out the corner of her eye. As the girls began, Away in the manger, no crib for his bed, a little field mouse that had taken up residence in the old piano was awakened by the clatter of piano hammers pounding against wires.
The trio continued, The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head, as the mouse crawled out of the piano, where Mrs. Jenks could not see it, and proceeded to prance across the stage in front of the girls. They abruptly stopped singing and rushed off the stage. The audience of course saw it all and began laughing loudly. Mrs. Jenks, not knowing what had happened, was furious. Why were people laughing during Away in the Manger? And then she saw the mouse and joined the crowd in their merriment.
A Christmas program that no one forgot, and fondly recalled as the year a field mouse stole Christmas.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes the harder you look, the less you see.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
January 19, 6:00 PM, Portage (Columbia County) Historical Society dinner, Old Farm featured. Call 608-742-1445 for further information.
January 30, Viroqua Public Schools.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Winter Sounds
The sounds of the country change with the seasons, especially here in the Midwest, where seasonal change is often dramatic. The sounds of winter are the northwest wind sifting across my prairie, picking up wisps of snow and dropping it again in intricate patterns, rills and ridges, swirls and squiggles. On a cold night in January, the sound of winter is the wind tearing at the cabin, trying to seep in around the windows and doors, challenging my woodstoves, and making a most mournful sound in the process.
Winter sounds can also be the most subtle. On a still day in November, when the temperature is just below freezing and the first heavy snow of the season arrives, the snowflakes, some of them huge, fall ever so lightly on naked tree limbs and dead prairie grass.
An unexpected sound is that of tree fibers exploding on below-zero days. I remember walking in our oak woods one quiet January morning, when the temperature was ten below zero. The only sound was the occasional crow calling in the distance, until I heard what I was sure was a rifle shot. I learned later from my father that it was tree fibers loudly protesting the cold. The sound happens infrequently enough to surprise the cold-weather walker in the woods each time he or she hears it.
The most mysterious of winter sounds might be the northwest wind shaking the dead leaves of the black oaks that still hang on the branches. Some have called this sound a death rattle and in a way it is. The oak leaves hang on until spring and then finally fall off to make way for new growth and the summer sound of warm breezes moving through green leaves. (From OLD FARM: A HISTORY)
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Doing something hard gets a lot harder if you do too much thinking about it.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Old Farm and other stories.
December 12, 2:00- 3:00 PM, Book Signing, Fireside Bookstore, West Bend (December 6 was canceled because of weather).
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
December 14, 1:00-3:00 PM. Barnes and Noble West, Madison. Books signing. Old Farm.
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
Winter sounds can also be the most subtle. On a still day in November, when the temperature is just below freezing and the first heavy snow of the season arrives, the snowflakes, some of them huge, fall ever so lightly on naked tree limbs and dead prairie grass.
An unexpected sound is that of tree fibers exploding on below-zero days. I remember walking in our oak woods one quiet January morning, when the temperature was ten below zero. The only sound was the occasional crow calling in the distance, until I heard what I was sure was a rifle shot. I learned later from my father that it was tree fibers loudly protesting the cold. The sound happens infrequently enough to surprise the cold-weather walker in the woods each time he or she hears it.
The most mysterious of winter sounds might be the northwest wind shaking the dead leaves of the black oaks that still hang on the branches. Some have called this sound a death rattle and in a way it is. The oak leaves hang on until spring and then finally fall off to make way for new growth and the summer sound of warm breezes moving through green leaves. (From OLD FARM: A HISTORY)
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Doing something hard gets a lot harder if you do too much thinking about it.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Old Farm and other stories.
December 12, 2:00- 3:00 PM, Book Signing, Fireside Bookstore, West Bend (December 6 was canceled because of weather).
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
December 14, 1:00-3:00 PM. Barnes and Noble West, Madison. Books signing. Old Farm.
January 14, 9:00 AM, WTMJ 4 TV, Milwaukee. Old Farm featured.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Christmas Tree
We cut our Christmas tree this past week. A self-seeded white pine from the farm. It is a third generation white pine. John Coombes, who owned Roshara before us, planted a row of white pines as a windbreak during the 1930s. Today some of these pines are more than three feet across, forty feet tall and have scads of cones.
A six or seven acre cornfield was located east of this windbreak when my family bought the farm in the mid-1960s. After a year or two of no corn, we noticed little white pines growing everywhere. Today these self-seeded white pines (from the original windbreak pines) are one of the unique aspects of our farm. Many of them are now twenty and more feet tall. One of my favorite hikes, all seasons of the year, is among these pines. If there is a slightest breeze, the trees talk to me, a gentle soothing message as the wind rustles the soft needles.
Now there are third-generation pines growing everywhere, naturally growing with no help from us whatever. And one of these little white pines is our 2008 Christmas tree.
The Old Timer says: When it is too late to do something, it is usually too late.
Upcoming Events:
December 6, 10 AM, Washington County Historical Society, West Bend. Address, 320 South 5th Avenue, West Bend. Old Farm. Fireside Books, 2:00 PM-3:00 PM West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Old Farm and other stories.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
December 14, 1:00-3:00 PM. Barnes and Noble West, Madison. Books signing. Old Farm.
A six or seven acre cornfield was located east of this windbreak when my family bought the farm in the mid-1960s. After a year or two of no corn, we noticed little white pines growing everywhere. Today these self-seeded white pines (from the original windbreak pines) are one of the unique aspects of our farm. Many of them are now twenty and more feet tall. One of my favorite hikes, all seasons of the year, is among these pines. If there is a slightest breeze, the trees talk to me, a gentle soothing message as the wind rustles the soft needles.
Now there are third-generation pines growing everywhere, naturally growing with no help from us whatever. And one of these little white pines is our 2008 Christmas tree.
The Old Timer says: When it is too late to do something, it is usually too late.
Upcoming Events:
December 6, 10 AM, Washington County Historical Society, West Bend. Address, 320 South 5th Avenue, West Bend. Old Farm. Fireside Books, 2:00 PM-3:00 PM West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Old Farm and other stories.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
December 14, 1:00-3:00 PM. Barnes and Noble West, Madison. Books signing. Old Farm.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Deer Season
Opening morning of deer season. Five degrees above zero. Cold. But so quiet. Not a sound. No crows cawing in the distance. No squirrels chattering. No pileated woodpecker destroying a dead white pine. Not even a chickadee calling.
Then it is six-thirty and a rifle shot shatters the silence and echoes over the hills and through the valleys.
And once more it is quiet as I pull up my collar and pour a cup of steaming coffee and stare through the early morning cold. What could be better?
The Old Timer says: Try and try again, and maybe once more. But then try something different.
Upcoming Events:
November 28, 7:30 PM. Wisconsin Public Television, Here and Now program. Old Farm.
December 6, 10-2:00 PM, Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Old Farm and other stories.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
December 14, 1:00-3:00 PM. Barnes and Noble West, Madison. Books signing. Old Farm.
Then it is six-thirty and a rifle shot shatters the silence and echoes over the hills and through the valleys.
And once more it is quiet as I pull up my collar and pour a cup of steaming coffee and stare through the early morning cold. What could be better?
The Old Timer says: Try and try again, and maybe once more. But then try something different.
Upcoming Events:
November 28, 7:30 PM. Wisconsin Public Television, Here and Now program. Old Farm.
December 6, 10-2:00 PM, Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Old Farm and other stories.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
December 14, 1:00-3:00 PM. Barnes and Noble West, Madison. Books signing. Old Farm.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Making Wood
We make wood once a year at Roshara, a couple days in late October or November. Making wood is an old farm term. It means cutting down trees and splitting blocks and piling the sliced pieces so they can dry.
My son, Steve and I cut down three dead black oak trees last week, on a day when snowflakes drifted from the sky and the woods was filled with silence.
It is hard work, especially for someone who doesn’t do it regularly. But the satisfactions are many. Smelling fresh cut oak wood. Meeting the challenge of an oak block that defies splitting. Seeing the pile of freshly split wood grow ever taller as pieces are added.
Enjoying the heat from our wood burning cook stove at the cabin. And remembering how we made wood for days on end when I was a kid, as we heated our farmhouse, the pump house and the potato cellar with woodstoves.
The Old Timer remembers this saying from his German relatives: Let us all stick together. Everyone for himself.
Upcoming Events:
November 20, 12:30 UW-Baraboo, Baraboo, WI. How technology has changed farming and rural life: a historical perspective.
December 6, 10-2:00 PM, Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Stories from the land.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
December 14, 1:00-3:00 PM. Barnes and Noble West, Madison. Books signing. Old Farm.
My son, Steve and I cut down three dead black oak trees last week, on a day when snowflakes drifted from the sky and the woods was filled with silence.
It is hard work, especially for someone who doesn’t do it regularly. But the satisfactions are many. Smelling fresh cut oak wood. Meeting the challenge of an oak block that defies splitting. Seeing the pile of freshly split wood grow ever taller as pieces are added.
Enjoying the heat from our wood burning cook stove at the cabin. And remembering how we made wood for days on end when I was a kid, as we heated our farmhouse, the pump house and the potato cellar with woodstoves.
The Old Timer remembers this saying from his German relatives: Let us all stick together. Everyone for himself.
Upcoming Events:
November 20, 12:30 UW-Baraboo, Baraboo, WI. How technology has changed farming and rural life: a historical perspective.
December 6, 10-2:00 PM, Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Stories from the land.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
December 14, 1:00-3:00 PM. Barnes and Noble West, Madison. Books signing. Old Farm.
Monday, November 10, 2008
National Farm Toy Show
I have just returned from three days at the National Farm Toy Show in Dyersville, Iowa. Signing books and talking with farm folk from throughout the U.S. and Canada, along with more than a few from other countries of the world.
Often three generations, grandpa, son and granddaughter or grandson walking around together. Looking at toy tractors. Talking about farm life during an earlier time. Sharing stories. Passing along history from generation to generation. So important during these times of rapid change.
The Old Timer Says: When I am alone, I prefer to be by myself.
Upcoming events:
November 20, 12:30 UW-Baraboo, Baraboo, WI. How technology has changed farming and rural life: a historical perspective.
December 6, 10-2:00 PM, Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Stories from the land.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
Often three generations, grandpa, son and granddaughter or grandson walking around together. Looking at toy tractors. Talking about farm life during an earlier time. Sharing stories. Passing along history from generation to generation. So important during these times of rapid change.
The Old Timer Says: When I am alone, I prefer to be by myself.
Upcoming events:
November 20, 12:30 UW-Baraboo, Baraboo, WI. How technology has changed farming and rural life: a historical perspective.
December 6, 10-2:00 PM, Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Stories from the land.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Enjoy Autumn
--Keep close to nature's heart . . . and break away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.--
John Muir said this many years ago, and it is so true yet today. Although you may have some trouble finding a real mountain in the Midwest, you can still climb to a high place and look over the countryside. Or just take a walk in the woods and smell fall all around you. A time of celebration. A time for thinking back to the season just past.
The Old Timer says: Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it is curiosity that keeps a person alive and thinking.
Upcoming Events:
November 5, 5-7:00 PM. Barnes and Noble, Green Bay. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7-9, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville Iowa. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7, 6-9 pm
November 8, 9-6 pm
November 9, 9-2 pm
November 20, 12:30 UW-Baraboo, Baraboo, WI. How technology had changed farming and rural life: a historical perspective.
December 6, 10-2:00 PM, Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Stories from the land.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
John Muir said this many years ago, and it is so true yet today. Although you may have some trouble finding a real mountain in the Midwest, you can still climb to a high place and look over the countryside. Or just take a walk in the woods and smell fall all around you. A time of celebration. A time for thinking back to the season just past.
The Old Timer says: Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it is curiosity that keeps a person alive and thinking.
Upcoming Events:
November 5, 5-7:00 PM. Barnes and Noble, Green Bay. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7-9, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville Iowa. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7, 6-9 pm
November 8, 9-6 pm
November 9, 9-2 pm
November 20, 12:30 UW-Baraboo, Baraboo, WI. How technology had changed farming and rural life: a historical perspective.
December 6, 10-2:00 PM, Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Featuring Old Farm. Presentation and book signing.
December 9, 6:30 PM, Watertown Public Library. Stories from the land.
December 13, 9:30-11:30 AM, Sheboygan Falls, Library. Sheboygan County Historical
Research Center. Old Farm: A History.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Smell of Oak Smoke
Oak smoke once again trickles from the chimney of the wood stove at the old farm. A reminder of fall and winter soon to come. A tantalizing smell that brings back memories of when we heated our drafty farm house with wood stoves, one in the kitchen and one in the dining room. Memories of making wood. Sawing down huge old dead oaks in the woodlot back of the farmstead with a two-man crosscut saw for there were no chainsaws in those days. Hauling the limbs and tree trunks to the farmstead and piling them. Hard work. Dangerous work.
And then inviting the neighbors for a wood sawing bee when a power-driven circle saw sliced the limbs and trunks into blocks of wood of a manageable size. A reminder of threshing, silo filling and corn shredding when the neighbors helped each other. But the work was not done when the neighbors left, for the blocks of wood had to be split into pieces that would fit in the kitchen stove, in the dining room heater, in the pump house stove, and in the potato cellar wood burner that kept our potato crop from freezing.
Today, I enjoy cutting wood, even doing some of the splitting. Mostly because it is my choice to do it. And because I enjoy the smell of oak smoke on a chilly fall morning when the sun is just peaking above the horizon and white frost covers everything.
The Old Timer says: Take time to smell the oak smoke. It is a mysterious smell filled with memories of an earlier day.
Upcoming Events:
October 27, 7:00 PM. Schwartz Bookstore, Mequon. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 28, 1:30 PM Brillion Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 30, 2:30-3:45 PM WEAC Teacher Convention, Madison. Presentation and signing.
November 1, 10:00-2:00 PM Land Genealogy Workshop. Wisconsin Historical Society
Museum, Capitol Square, Madison. How to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land. (See below for details)
November 5, 5-7:00 PM. Barnes and Noble, Green Bay. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7-9, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville Iowa. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7, 6-9 pm
November 8, 9-6 pm
November 9, 9-2 pm
Land Genealogy Workshop
November 1, 2008, 10 am-2pm. Check in begins at 9:30.
Contact InfoE-mail: museum@
wisconsinhistory.org
Phone: 608-264-6555
Fax: 608-264-6575 Registration Deadline 10/25/2008
Ticket Info: Cost is $45 for Wisconsin Historical Society members, $50 for non-members.
Jerry Apps, author of Old Farm: A History, reveals how to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land, including its geology and discovering who lived there over time. Participants will receive a copy of the book, and lunch will be provided.
Location: Wisconsin Historical Museum, 30 North Carroll Street, Madison.
And then inviting the neighbors for a wood sawing bee when a power-driven circle saw sliced the limbs and trunks into blocks of wood of a manageable size. A reminder of threshing, silo filling and corn shredding when the neighbors helped each other. But the work was not done when the neighbors left, for the blocks of wood had to be split into pieces that would fit in the kitchen stove, in the dining room heater, in the pump house stove, and in the potato cellar wood burner that kept our potato crop from freezing.
Today, I enjoy cutting wood, even doing some of the splitting. Mostly because it is my choice to do it. And because I enjoy the smell of oak smoke on a chilly fall morning when the sun is just peaking above the horizon and white frost covers everything.
The Old Timer says: Take time to smell the oak smoke. It is a mysterious smell filled with memories of an earlier day.
Upcoming Events:
October 27, 7:00 PM. Schwartz Bookstore, Mequon. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 28, 1:30 PM Brillion Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 30, 2:30-3:45 PM WEAC Teacher Convention, Madison. Presentation and signing.
November 1, 10:00-2:00 PM Land Genealogy Workshop. Wisconsin Historical Society
Museum, Capitol Square, Madison. How to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land. (See below for details)
November 5, 5-7:00 PM. Barnes and Noble, Green Bay. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7-9, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville Iowa. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7, 6-9 pm
November 8, 9-6 pm
November 9, 9-2 pm
Land Genealogy Workshop
November 1, 2008, 10 am-2pm. Check in begins at 9:30.
Contact InfoE-mail: museum@
wisconsinhistory.org
Phone: 608-264-6555
Fax: 608-264-6575 Registration Deadline 10/25/2008
Ticket Info: Cost is $45 for Wisconsin Historical Society members, $50 for non-members.
Jerry Apps, author of Old Farm: A History, reveals how to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land, including its geology and discovering who lived there over time. Participants will receive a copy of the book, and lunch will be provided.
Location: Wisconsin Historical Museum, 30 North Carroll Street, Madison.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Family Celebration
We celebrated my brother Donald and his wife, Marcie’s 50th wedding anniversary this past weekend, near Tomahawk in Wisconsin’s North Woods. A wonderful weekend of story-telling, reminiscing, roasting and toasting. All of us wondering how it was that 50 years slipped by, so quickly, so very quickly. A reminder of how important each day is, no matter what the challenges, problems and other disturbances that pop up in front of us.
The Old Timer Says: Never forget. Family comes first, no matter how important everything else may seem at the moment.
Up Coming Events:
October 21, 6:30 PM Prairie du Sac Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 23, 6-8PM. Conkey’s Bookstore, Appleton. Book Signing. Featuring Old Farm
OCTOBER 25, 1:00 PM. PATTERSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY, WILD ROSE.
CENTRAL WISCONSIN LAUNCH OF OLD FARM. PRESENTATION AND SIGNING.
October 27, 7:00PM. Schwartz Bookstore, Mequon. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 28, 1:30PM Brillion Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 30, 2:45-4:00PM WEAC Teacher’s Convention, Madison. Presentation and signing.
November 1, 10:00-2:00 Land Genealogy Workshop. Wisconsin Historical Society
Museum, Capitol Square, Madison. How to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land. (See below for details)
November 5, 5-7:00 PM. Barnes and Noble, Green Bay. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7-9, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville Iowa. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7, 6-9 pm
November 8, 9-6 pm
November 9, 9-2 pm
Land Genealogy Workshop
November 1, 2008, 10 am-2pm. Check in begins at 9:30.
Contact InfoE-mail: museum@
wisconsinhistory.org
Phone: 608-264-6555
Fax: 608-264-6575 Registration Deadline 10/25/2008
Ticket Info: Cost is $45 for Wisconsin Historical Society members, $50 for non-members.
Jerry Apps, author of Old Farm: A History, reveals how to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land, including its geology and discovering who lived there over time. Participants will receive a copy of the book, and lunch will be provided.
Location: Wisconsin Historical Museum, 30 North Carroll Street, Madison.
The Old Timer Says: Never forget. Family comes first, no matter how important everything else may seem at the moment.
Up Coming Events:
October 21, 6:30 PM Prairie du Sac Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 23, 6-8PM. Conkey’s Bookstore, Appleton. Book Signing. Featuring Old Farm
OCTOBER 25, 1:00 PM. PATTERSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY, WILD ROSE.
CENTRAL WISCONSIN LAUNCH OF OLD FARM. PRESENTATION AND SIGNING.
October 27, 7:00PM. Schwartz Bookstore, Mequon. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 28, 1:30PM Brillion Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 30, 2:45-4:00PM WEAC Teacher’s Convention, Madison. Presentation and signing.
November 1, 10:00-2:00 Land Genealogy Workshop. Wisconsin Historical Society
Museum, Capitol Square, Madison. How to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land. (See below for details)
November 5, 5-7:00 PM. Barnes and Noble, Green Bay. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7-9, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville Iowa. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7, 6-9 pm
November 8, 9-6 pm
November 9, 9-2 pm
Land Genealogy Workshop
November 1, 2008, 10 am-2pm. Check in begins at 9:30.
Contact InfoE-mail: museum@
wisconsinhistory.org
Phone: 608-264-6555
Fax: 608-264-6575 Registration Deadline 10/25/2008
Ticket Info: Cost is $45 for Wisconsin Historical Society members, $50 for non-members.
Jerry Apps, author of Old Farm: A History, reveals how to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land, including its geology and discovering who lived there over time. Participants will receive a copy of the book, and lunch will be provided.
Location: Wisconsin Historical Museum, 30 North Carroll Street, Madison.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Geese Migrating
The Canada Geese are on the move again. I saw several flocks yesterday. Flying high in long, sometimes ragged Vs. Calling loudly as they flew from north to south. Telling us the seasons are changing and that fall is fading and winter is near.
I remember as a kid standing with my dad out back of the barn on a cool late fall afternoon, watching the geese high overhead, impressed with their strength, their sense of direction, and hearing Pa say: Weather is about to change. Geese know about it first.
And today, so many years later, I still marvel at the migrating geese. Each time I see a high flying flock, I relax a bit, for at least one thing is still right with the world. The seasons are changing and the geese know it.
The Old Timer says: When you hear the flocks of migrating Canada geese, look upward. See the grace and beauty, cooperation and respect.
Upcoming Events:
October 14, 6:00PM, Kewaskum Public Library, Presentation and signing. Featuring Old
Farm
October 15, 11:45-12:30PM Larry Meiller show, Wisconsin Public Radio
October 16, 7-8:30PM Wisconsin Book Festival, Overture Center, Madison. Panel
Discussion: A half-century of change in rural Wisconsin.
October 19, 12:00-1:30. Wisconsin Book Festival, Overture Center, Madison.
Presentation, “For the Love of a Farm.”
October 21, 6:30 PM Prairie du Sac Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 23, 6-8PM. Conkey’s Bookstore, Appleton. Book Signing. Featuring Old Farm
OCTOBER 25, 1:00 PM. PATTERSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY, WILD ROSE.
CENTRAL WISCONSIN LAUNCH OF OLD FARM. PRESENTATION AND SIGNING.
October 27, 7:00PM. Schwartz Bookstore, Mequon. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 28, 1:30PM Brillion Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 30, 2:45-4:00PM WEAC Teacher’s Convention, Madison. Presentation and signing.
November 1, 10:00-2:00 Land Genealogy Workshop. Wisconsin Historical Society
Museum, Capitol Square, Madison. How to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land. For further information: museum@wisconsinhistory.org
November 5, 5-7:00 PM. Barnes and Noble, Green Bay. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7-9, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7, 6-9 pm
November 8, 9-6 pm
November 9, 9-2 pm
I remember as a kid standing with my dad out back of the barn on a cool late fall afternoon, watching the geese high overhead, impressed with their strength, their sense of direction, and hearing Pa say: Weather is about to change. Geese know about it first.
And today, so many years later, I still marvel at the migrating geese. Each time I see a high flying flock, I relax a bit, for at least one thing is still right with the world. The seasons are changing and the geese know it.
The Old Timer says: When you hear the flocks of migrating Canada geese, look upward. See the grace and beauty, cooperation and respect.
Upcoming Events:
October 14, 6:00PM, Kewaskum Public Library, Presentation and signing. Featuring Old
Farm
October 15, 11:45-12:30PM Larry Meiller show, Wisconsin Public Radio
October 16, 7-8:30PM Wisconsin Book Festival, Overture Center, Madison. Panel
Discussion: A half-century of change in rural Wisconsin.
October 19, 12:00-1:30. Wisconsin Book Festival, Overture Center, Madison.
Presentation, “For the Love of a Farm.”
October 21, 6:30 PM Prairie du Sac Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 23, 6-8PM. Conkey’s Bookstore, Appleton. Book Signing. Featuring Old Farm
OCTOBER 25, 1:00 PM. PATTERSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY, WILD ROSE.
CENTRAL WISCONSIN LAUNCH OF OLD FARM. PRESENTATION AND SIGNING.
October 27, 7:00PM. Schwartz Bookstore, Mequon. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 28, 1:30PM Brillion Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring Old Farm
October 30, 2:45-4:00PM WEAC Teacher’s Convention, Madison. Presentation and signing.
November 1, 10:00-2:00 Land Genealogy Workshop. Wisconsin Historical Society
Museum, Capitol Square, Madison. How to conduct a genealogy of a piece of land. For further information: museum@wisconsinhistory.org
November 5, 5-7:00 PM. Barnes and Noble, Green Bay. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7-9, National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing. Featuring Old
Farm.
November 7, 6-9 pm
November 8, 9-6 pm
November 9, 9-2 pm
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Garden to Bed for Winter
I put my garden to bed for the winter last week, just ahead of the first frost. Took me two days, starting with taking down the fence that kept out the deer and turkeys (well), and the groundhogs and rabbits (not so well).
Then I dug the potatoes (average crop), lifted out the onions (good crop), dug the carrots (best crop in years), picked the last of the tomatoes (average crop), cut down the sweet corn stalks (average crop), picked the pumpkins and squash (terrible crop), dug the beets (lost most of them to critters), cut the cabbage (excellent crop), and pulled out the cucumber and zucchini vines (August dry spell did them in).
When the harvesting was done, I hitched my John Deere tractor to the disk and worked up the patch. Finally, I sowed winter wheat, which grows well in the late fall, stays green all winter and takes off in the spring. A treat for the deer and turkeys I have kept at bay all summer. I will plow down the wheat in the spring and start all over.
The Old Timer says: Remember, in this business of farming, next year will be better.
Upcoming events:
OCTOBER 7, 7:00PM BARNES & NOBLE, West Towne Madison LAUNCH OF OLD FARM
October 9, 6:30PM Barron Public Library, Barron. Presentation and signing.
October 11, 11-2:00PM, Apple Blossom books, Oshkosh. Featuring OLD FARM.
October 12, 2:00-4:00PM, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle. Book signing. “Autumn on the
Farm Celebration.” Featuring OLD FARM.
October 14, 6:00PM, Kewaskum Public Library, Presentation and signing.
October 15, 11:45-12:30PM Larry Meiller show, Wisconsin Public Radio
October 16, 7-8:30PM Wisconsin Book Festival, Overture Center, Madison. Panel
Discussion: A half-century of change in rural Wisconsin.
October 19, 12:00-1:30. Wisconsin Book Festival, Overture Center, Madison.
Presentation, “For the Love of a Farm.”
October 21, 6:30 PM Prairie du Sac Public Library. Presentation and signing.Featuring OLD FARM.
October 23, 6-8PM. Conkey’s Bookstore, Appleton. Book Signing. Featuring OLD FARM.
OCTOBER 25, 1:00 PM. PATTERSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY, WILD ROSE.
CENTRAL WISCONSIN LAUNCH OF OLD FARM. PRESENTATION AND SIGNING.
October 27, 7:00PM. Schwartz Bookstore, Mequon. Presentation and signing. Featuring OLD FARM.
October 28, 1:30PM Brillion Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring OLD FARM.
October 30, 2:45-4:00PM WEAC Teacher’s Convention, Madison. Presentation and signing.
Then I dug the potatoes (average crop), lifted out the onions (good crop), dug the carrots (best crop in years), picked the last of the tomatoes (average crop), cut down the sweet corn stalks (average crop), picked the pumpkins and squash (terrible crop), dug the beets (lost most of them to critters), cut the cabbage (excellent crop), and pulled out the cucumber and zucchini vines (August dry spell did them in).
When the harvesting was done, I hitched my John Deere tractor to the disk and worked up the patch. Finally, I sowed winter wheat, which grows well in the late fall, stays green all winter and takes off in the spring. A treat for the deer and turkeys I have kept at bay all summer. I will plow down the wheat in the spring and start all over.
The Old Timer says: Remember, in this business of farming, next year will be better.
Upcoming events:
OCTOBER 7, 7:00PM BARNES & NOBLE, West Towne Madison LAUNCH OF OLD FARM
October 9, 6:30PM Barron Public Library, Barron. Presentation and signing.
October 11, 11-2:00PM, Apple Blossom books, Oshkosh. Featuring OLD FARM.
October 12, 2:00-4:00PM, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle. Book signing. “Autumn on the
Farm Celebration.” Featuring OLD FARM.
October 14, 6:00PM, Kewaskum Public Library, Presentation and signing.
October 15, 11:45-12:30PM Larry Meiller show, Wisconsin Public Radio
October 16, 7-8:30PM Wisconsin Book Festival, Overture Center, Madison. Panel
Discussion: A half-century of change in rural Wisconsin.
October 19, 12:00-1:30. Wisconsin Book Festival, Overture Center, Madison.
Presentation, “For the Love of a Farm.”
October 21, 6:30 PM Prairie du Sac Public Library. Presentation and signing.Featuring OLD FARM.
October 23, 6-8PM. Conkey’s Bookstore, Appleton. Book Signing. Featuring OLD FARM.
OCTOBER 25, 1:00 PM. PATTERSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY, WILD ROSE.
CENTRAL WISCONSIN LAUNCH OF OLD FARM. PRESENTATION AND SIGNING.
October 27, 7:00PM. Schwartz Bookstore, Mequon. Presentation and signing. Featuring OLD FARM.
October 28, 1:30PM Brillion Public Library. Presentation and signing. Featuring OLD FARM.
October 30, 2:45-4:00PM WEAC Teacher’s Convention, Madison. Presentation and signing.
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