Ice Fishing

The years I attended grade school and high school we spent Christmas vacations ice fishing. My brothers, dad and I would finish the morning barns chores and we were off to Mt. Morris Lake, east of Wild Rose a few miles.

We first chopped holes through the ice. Pa’s ice chisel was one that Arnold Christensen, the blacksmith in Wild Rose had made out of a Model T Ford axle. He’d sharpened one end and drilled a hole through the other. Pa pushed a length of leather shoe lace through the hole and tied it in a loop. We were not to use the ice chisel without looping the leather throng over our wrist as we knew of many ice chisels on the bottom of the lake.

Next was to set up our tip-ups, a device that we stuck down in the freshly chopped hole. It contained fish line that would play out if a fish took our bait—we used large minnows for bait. Sometimes other fisherman chided us that if we caught no fish, we could always fry up the minnows. They thought it was a big joke. Pa’s take was the bigger the minnow, the bigger the fish we would catch. The tip-up also had a little flag that would fly up if a fish grabbed the minnow.

With the tip-ups set, we walked to shore, started a little fire and sat watching the tip-ups a hundred yards or so out on the lake through a trickle of wood smoke. Several others fished as well, and we often invited them to join us by our smoky little fire. Each different person meant a new set of stories.

As I look back at those ice fishing years, the stories were nearly as important as the fish we caught. We also caught fish. A bunch of them.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Happy New Year. Every year is a good year, some are just better than others.

WRITING WORKSHOP: The dates for my writing workshop at The Clearing in Door
County for 2010 are August 8-14. Contact www.theclearing.org for further information.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

January 4, 11:45-12:30. Wisconsin Public Radio, Ideas Network. Telling Wisconsin Stories. (With Larry Meiller)

January 14, 6:30 p.m. Madison History Round Table. West Side Business Men’s Association. Old Farm

January 19, Noon luncheon. SAIL (Supporting Active Independent Lives) Black Hawk County Club, Madison. Telling Stories—Why and How.

Christmas Secret

Ruth and I attended a Christmas program this week. Kids, mostly little ones, on a little stage reciting their lines, singing songs and reminding me of when I attended country school and we put on a Christmas program the last Friday before Christmas break.

I remember vividly my first Christmas program. I was five years old and in first grade (our school had no kindergarten). My first grade teacher, Theresa Piechowski, was firm but patient with me. She said that everyone in the school from first to eighth graders must “say their piece.” Meaning we had to memorize a little ditty about the Holiday season, stand on the makeshift stage in the front of the school and say what we’d been instructed to say.

I informed Miss Piechowski that I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to do this. She would have none of it. I was to stand on stage and say my piece and that was that.

When she noted how worried I looked, she took me aside and in a near whisper said, “I have a secret for speaking in front of a crowd.”

I was all ears. “When you stand on that stage,” she motioned to the rickety set of planks strung across some sawhorses. “You stand up straight. Take your hands out of your pockets, and talk with a loud, clear voice.”

So what was so secret about that, I wondered. But then she continued. “Do you see the damper on the stove pipe?” She was pointing to the woodstove that stood in the back of the school room.

“I see the damper,” I said, wondering when she was going to get around to telling me her secret for speaking to a group of relatives, neighbors and schoolmates who were as likely to stick their tongues out at me as cross their eyes when I stood on the stage.

“When you stand on the stage and begin talking, look at the damper. People will think you’re looking right at them, but you hardly will see them at all. And you’ll have no problems.’

Miss Piechowski was right. Today, when I speak to a group and I do often, I stare at some spot in the back of the room and all goes well. It’s my Christmas gift to all of you who have dry mouth and empty brains when called on to speak.

Merry Christmas.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: First things first, but not necessarily in that order.

WRITING WORKSHOP: The dates for my writing workshop at The Clearing in Door
County for 2010 are August 8-14. Contact www.theclearing.org for further information.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS: Consider my books, BLUE SHADOWS FARM, IN A PICKLE, and OLD FARM. See my website for details. Available in most book shops. Can also be ordered from my website.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

January 4, 11:45-12:30. Wisconsin Public Radio, Ideas Network. Telling Wisconsin Stories. (With Larry Meiller)

January 14, 6:30 p.m. Madison History Round Table. West Side Business Men’s Association. Old Farm

January 19, Noon luncheon. SAIL (Supporting Active Independent Lives) Black Hawk County Club, Madison. Telling Stories—Why and How.

Blizzard

The news people called it the biggest snowstorm since 1990. Fifteen inches and more in much of Wisconsin with wind to move it around, especially in rural areas. Shopping centers closed, colleges and universities shutdown, schools closed.

When I attended a country school, it never closed. Drifted roads, frigid temperatures, ice, electricity out—the school remained open. For the eight-years that I attended Chain O’ Lake School in the Town of Rose, Waushara County, I don’t recall a single day that it closed. Of course we all walked, some kids more than two miles one-way. During my early school years, the school didn’t have electricity, so a power outage somewhere didn’t matter. We did our lessons huddled around a big old rusty wood burning stove. If a blizzard raged during the day, the teacher might close things down a couple hours early so we could mush our way home before dark.

Big snowstorms made for good stories and fond memories—mostly. The down side was shoveling paths. Paths to the barn, to the granary, to the pump house, to the corn crib, to the straw stack, to the chicken house, to the woodshed, and of course to the outhouse for no one in our neighborhood had indoor plumbing in those days.

With the shoveling finished, out came the sleds and the skis. The fun side of winter. My grandfather made my first skis from birch wood. He steamed the wood so the ends turned up. But alas, he didn’t know how to make grooves in the bottom of the skis so I slid side-ways as often as I went forward down a hill. But great fun it was.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Enjoy the snow and pity those living in the southern climes who can’t look out a window and see the beauty of winter

WRITING WORKSHOP: The dates for my writing workshop at The Clearing in Door
County for 2010 are August 8-14. Contact www.theclearing.org for further information.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS: Consider my books, BLUE SHADOWS FARM, IN A PICKLE, and OLD FARM. See my website for details. Available in most book shops. Can also be ordered from my website.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

January 4, 11:45-12:30. Wisconsin Public Radio, Ideas Network. Telling Wisconsin Stories. (With Larry Meiller)

January 14, 6:30 p.m. Madison History Round Table. West Side Business Men’s Association. Old Farm

January 19, Noon luncheon. SAIL (Supporting Active Independent Lives) Black Hawk County Club, Madison. Telling Stories—Why and How.

First Snow

It began with a few scattered flakes flying on a brisk northwest wind. Nothing to worry about the weather bureau said. No accumulation.

More snow by mid-afternoon, and a lot more snow by evening. Winter had arrived to cover up autumn, to leave behind a season and usher in a new one. A drab world of browns and grays turned to glimmering white.

For those who enjoy winter—a few of us sturdy souls remain—it is a time for rejoicing.

Time to look for snowshoes and cross country skis.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Words that you most likely hear are those spoken softly and not yelled.

WRITING WORKSHOP: The dates for my writing workshop at The Clearing in Door
County for 2010 are August 8-14. Contact www.theclearing.org for further information.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS: Consider BLUE SHADOWS FARM, IN A PICKLE, AND OLD FARM. See my website for details about these books. Available in most book shops. Can also be ordered from my website.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

December 7, 1:00 p.m. Sugar Creek Camp, Ferryville, WI. Stories From the Land.

December 12, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Book signing. Presentation at 10:30 a.m. Blue Shadows Farm.

January 4, 11:45-12:30. Wisconsin Public Radio, Ideas Network. Telling Wisconsin Stories. (With Larry Meiller)

January 14, 6:30 p.m. Madison History Round Table. West Side Business Men’s Association. Old Farm

January 19, Noon luncheon. SAIL (Supporting Active Independent Lives) Black Hawk County Club, Madison. Telling Stories—Why and How.

Giving Thanks

This past week was devoted to giving thanks, for setting aside the problems and turmoil, the frets and fusses of life to think of the good and the important. The enduring and the meaningful.

For me the week focused on family gathered around a Thanksgiving table, brothers and their wives, children and their children, stories shared of earlier days, memories of those no longer with us. Giggles and laughter from the younger generation who have heard the stories already several times, and who vow to never repeat them. But they will, for it is the stories that tie families together. That keep the generations connected.

And of course there was feasting. But Thanksgiving celebrations are more than turkey and cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and dressing, dill pickles and mashed potatoes with Paul’s special gravy—although it is food that brings us all together.

Thanksgiving is for giving thanks—and for remembering. For once again being reminded of the importance of family.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Family comes first. Before work. Ahead of play. Beyond everything that may look so important at the time.

WRITING WORKSHOP: The dates for my writing workshop at The Clearing in Door
County for 2010 are August 8-14. Contact www.theclearing.org for further information.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS: Consider BLUE SHADOWS FARM, IN A PICKLE, and OLD FARM. See my website for details about these books. Available in most book shops. Can also be ordered from my website.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

December 7, 1:00 p.m. Sugar Creek Camp, Ferryville, WI. Stories From the Land.

December 12, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Book signing. Presentation at 10:30 a.m. Blue Shadows Farm.

January 4, 11:45-12:30. Wisconsin Public Radio, Ideas Network. Telling Wisconsin Stories. (With Larry Meiller)

January 14, 6:30 p.m. Madison History Round Table. West Side Business Men’s Association. Old Farm

January 19, Noon luncheon. SAIL (Supporting Active Independent Lives) Black Hawk County Club, Madison. Telling Stories—Why and How.

Deer Hunting 2009

I’m going deer hunting on Saturday morning. Haven’t missed a deer season since I was twelve years old, and that goes back to a time when we wore red coats rather than blaze orange. I hunted with my dad back then, and walked miles from farm to farm—no trespassing signs in those days. Not many deer either.

People say to me, “You still go deer hunting?”

“Yup,” I answer with a smile. And they look at me like I’ve lost a marble or two.

“Why do you do it?” they ask. My cynical answer is because I still can. But the reasons are more complicated than that. I hunt deer because my family has hunted for generations. My dad still hunted when he was 92. Deer hunting season is when I see my brother, and my three nephews, who all hunt. My son has hunted with me since he was twelve.

And it’s one more opportunity to be outdoors, in the quiet of a late November morning when the countryside is saying goodbye to fall and waiting for winter. The smells and sounds of fall are all around when I sit on the edge of a field on the back end of my farm.

Oh, I still enjoy a slice of venison sausage. Nothing better, especially if it’s home grown.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There are no shortcuts to important places.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

December 7, 1:00 p.m. Sugar Creek Camp, Ferryville, WI. Stories From the Land.

December 12, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Book signing. Presentation at 10:30 a.m. Blue Shadows Farm.

January 4, 11:45-12:30. Wisconsin Public Radio, Ideas Network. Telling Wisconsin Stories. (With Larry Meiller)

January 14, 6:30 p.m. Madison History Round Table. West Side Business Men’s Association. Old Farm

January 19, Noon luncheon. SAIL (Supporting Active Independent Lives) Black Hawk County Club, Madison. Telling Stories—Why and How.

Sheboygan County Research Center

History is alive in Sheboygan County,Wisconsin. Much of the interest and excitement is due to the Sheboygan County Research Center in Sheboygan Falls. With the leadership of Beth Dippel, Executive Director, her staff and a host of volunteers the center has carved out an impressive place in preserving and sharing the area’s history.

“Second Saturdays” is what they’ve labeled Saturday morning programs that start in September and continue through May. The 2009-1010 program topics range from Windmills to Wisconsin’s Champion Trees, from Wisconsin wine-making history to the history of deer hunting in Wisconsin.

I was privileged to talk with more than 100 people who crowded into the basement meeting room of the Sheboygan Falls Public Library as part of the Second Saturday series. I shared a bit from my novel, BLUE SHADOWS FARM. Why and how I write historical fiction, and the importance of stories in keeping history alive and interesting.

I was speaking to the choir. This group knows about the importance of history in the lives of people. I applaud the Research Center, its staff and volunteers such as Marge Pearce, who runs the Saturday programs, for their efforts in keeping history alive, vibrant, and interesting. They also serve a good cup of coffee. Go to www.schrc.org for more information about the center.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Learn from many; be taught by all.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

December 7, 1:00 p.m. Sugar Creek Camp, Ferryville, WI. Stories From the Land.

December 12, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Book signing. Presentation at 10:30 a.m. Blue Shadows Farm.

January 4, 11:45-12:30. Wisconsin Public Radio, Ideas Network. Telling Wisconsin Stories. (With Larry Meiller)

January 14, 6:30 p.m. Madison History Round Table. West Side Business Men’s Association. Old Farm

January 19, Noon luncheon. SAIL (Supporting Active Independent Lives) Black Hawk County Club, Madison. Telling Stories—Why and How.

Dyersville, IA

They came from throughout the United States to little Dyersville, Iowa this past weekend, to the National Farm Toy Collectors Convention. Farmers and their sons and daughters. Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Babes in arm, in strollers and hanging on the big hands of their farmer fathers. Little kids and big kids (some in their 70s and 80s). All interested in toys, mostly tractors, but trucks and plows and combines—John Deere and IHC, Oliver and Massey-Harris, Allis Chalmers and Ford, and others too.

Buying collectibles, meeting old friends, and swapping stories—oh the stories. Stories from the country. Stories of corn that can’t be harvested because it’s too wet. Stories of milk prices that are too low. Stories of illness and hardship. Stories of a year ago, and many years ago.

Caps and sweatshirts that advertise something, or make a statement. Especially John Deere Caps. John Deere caps everywhere, sprinkled among the IHC caps, and even one lonely Oliver cap. And a favorite gray sweatshirt with but one word in large script across the front “Useless.” I asked the fellow wearing the shirt if it was true. He gave me a big smile. His wife gave me an even bigger smile—I assumed it was his wife.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It isn’t how many times you fall down that makes a difference; it’s how many times you get back up.

COMING EVENTS:


November 14, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, Sheboygan Falls Library. Blue Shadows Farm.

December 7, 1:00 p.m. Sugar Creek Camp, Ferryville, WI. Stories From the Land.

December 12, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Book signing. Presentation at 10:30 a.m. Blue Shadows Farm.

Wood Splitter

My son, Steve, whose day job is photographer for the Wisconsin State Journal, has been my wood splitter for a decade or so. We heat our cabin at the farm with wood stoves, very hungry wood stoves, so each fall we cut down several dead oaks, sometimes a cherry tree, and make wood. Steve splits the chain-sawed blocks into stove friendly sizes.

One has to learn how to “read” a block of wood before splitting it—the direction of the grain, the location of knots. Some blocks are easily split, others less so. Same for understanding people according to Steve. Some people are easy to read, others all knotted and twisted and difficult to deal with.

Earlier this year Steve had surgery on his back—more to do with carrying heavy photo equipment for many years than splitting wood. But no more wood splitting, said his surgeon.

My brother, Don bought a mechanical wood splitter a couple years ago and named it Steve 1. Steve had developed a reputation for wood splitting, you see. Now I have Steve 2, a new mechanical wood-splitter sitting in my shed. An efficient, quiet, non-complaining piece of equipment. A mechanical Steve, but alas, no words of philosophy comparing wood pieces to people and more. A step backward as I try to move forward.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You cannot know where you are going until you know where you are.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Nov 6-8: National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing: Blue Shadows Farm and other titles

November 14, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, Sheboygan Falls Library. Blue Shadows Farm.

December 12, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Book signing. Presentation at 10:30 a.m. Blue Shadows Farm.

No Place Like Home

A reviewer for my new novel, Blue Shadows Farm, wrote, “When a family lives on a place for a hundred years that place becomes a part of the family.” How true it is. Place becomes integral to the people who live there, it provides security, offers peace and contentment—place becomes home.

For several decades the citizens of the U.S. were viewed as a nomadic people. This is not as true anymore. An October19th NEWSWEEK article titled “There’s no place like home” makes the point. Less people are moving these days. More are staying put, living out their lives in their home communities.

The article points out that retired people are choosing to stay close to family, churches, friends and familiar surroundings rather than pack up and move to the sunbelt. And those in the corporate world often chose family over another move up the corporate ladder, which usually requires changing locations. For an increasing number of workers, family nearby is more important than a promotion. Of course technology and the ability to work at home have made it easier for some people to keep their jobs and not move.

Is this a new trend? Staying at home? Developing a love for place?

Place has always been important in my family. The longer we’ve lived at a place and the more we know about its history and stories, the more likely we are to appreciate and take care of it. It seems many others are thinking the same way.



THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Be careful of the past, it always looks better than it was.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Featuring Old Farm and Blue Shadows Farm

Nov 6-8: National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing: Blue Shadows Farm and other titles

November 14, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, Sheboygan Falls Library. Blue Shadows Farm.

December 12, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Fireside Books, West Bend, WI. Book signing. Presentation at 10:30 a.m. Blue Shadows Farm.

Story Writing Workshop

They came from Rice Lake and West Bend, from Prairie du Sac and Green Bay, from Westby and Bailey’s Harbor, from Baraboo and McFarland, from Sturgeon Bay and Niles, Illinois. They traveled to The Clearing in Door County, to a place where nature was showing off its autumn finery—crimson red maples, strikingly yellow birches, and a sky bluer than the waters of Green Bay. Seventeen people.

They attended a Saturday workshop to write their stories, to scribble down their memories to be shared with loved ones, with children and grandchildren, with spouses, siblings and cousins, with those interested in another view of history, a personal view.

They wrote their stories, as many as one could in the few available hours, and they shared them with each other. At times laughter filled the room. And then quiet, as sad stories were shared, heart wrenching stories of an earlier day, but still vivid in memories.

Their common bond: the importance of the story. A way to share what being human means. A way to have fun, a way to pass on history, a way to tie generations together. A way to remember that through story we remember who we are.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Each of us has a responsibility to share a bit of our life story with those who follow.

MAJOR EVENTS TO NOTE:

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Wild Rose Library. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

NEW REVIEW FOR BLUE SHADOWS FARM:

An intriguing and entertaining tale, October 15, 2009
By: Midwest Book Review

When a family stays in one place for a century, that place becomes a member of the family. "Blue Shadows Farm" is a novel taking place over a century as three generations of Starkweathers care for a farm and face their own challenges. A small area in Wisconsin, Silas comes to found the farm in the mid nineteenth century. His son Abe finds himself bootlegging to keep the bills paid during prohibition, and Abe's daughter is challenged with its sale. Bouncing between the perspectives of the three protagonists, "Blue Shadows Farm" paints a vivid picture of the history of rural America, making for one intriguing and entertaining tale.

ADDITIONAL COMING EVENTS:

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Featuring Old Farm and Blue Shadows Farm

Nov 6-8: National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing: Blue Shadows Farm and other titles

November 14, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, Sheboygan Falls Library. Blue Shadows Farm.

Killing Frost

The hand of winter came down from the north and snuffed the life out of all susceptible plants this past week. The first killing frost arrived in southern Wisconsin. And right on time, too. In southern Wisconsin, over the past years, the first killing frost is expected during the week of October 4-10. It’s a two to three weeks earlier in the north and central parts of the state.

The first killing frost marks the end of the growing seasons, a true marker for the beginning of fall. For those of us who grow things, it is a time to reflect on the harvest, to think about what crops did well and which didn’t. And to make a note or two about what we should do differently next year—which vegetable varieties to avoid, what new arrangement of crops in the garden should we consider, and which problems we faced that we can solve better next year (the invasion of bunnies in the bean patch).

Fall is a time for celebration. Even the trees in my woodlot are celebrating with color everywhere—greens, deep reds, yellows, browns, and tans.

And fall is a time for slowing down.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Take time to dream. Dream about what might be, what will never be, and what shouldn’t be. Too much doing with too little dreaming leads to boredom.

NEW NOVEL, BLUE SHADOWS FARM, NOW AVAILABLE: Check my website, www.jerryapps.com, for further information.

In Blue Shadows Farm, “You learn about threshing before combines dominated the activity. You learn about small town life from 1860-2000—the taverns, the churches, the mercantile, the dance pavilion, the gossips, the hired man, the intrusion of folks from the Big City who try to impose their wishes on the localities that time forgot—the Big Cities too often win.” Dave Woods. Review in the Red Wing Republican Eagle, Red Wing, Minnesota.

Check my schedule below for book signings and presentations.



COMING EVENTS:
Oct. 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Wild Rose Library. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm

Nov 6-8: National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing: Blue Shadows Farm and other titles

November 14, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, Sheboygan Falls Library. Blue Shadows Farm.

Story-Telling

We all have stories to tell. Of our childhood years, first jobs, military service, life changing events and never told secrets. But often we don’t take time to record them, to share them with our children and grandchildren, to recall for ourselves what we have done and what we have left undone.

A few years ago I attended a workshop in New York City and had an opportunity to speak to United Nations delegates about the importance of stories in the lives of people.When I finished, several African delegates spoke to me. One woman said, “We know the importance of stories in our culture and in our country.”

I replied that I was well aware of that, for I had long known about countries where story-telling is embedded in their culture. But then she said something I’ve never forgotten. With a quiet voice she said, “In your country, you have allowed others to tell your stories for you.” She was referring to movies and television.

No one can tell your story for you. You must do it yourself, and it’s important that you do. So take a few minutes now and again, and write down some of your memories. Get down your stories for your own sake and for the sake of those who follow you.

On Tuesday, October 6, 11:00 a.m. I will be discussing story-telling on Wisconsin Public Radio—the Larry Meiller show.

On Saturday, October 17, (9-4:00) I am teaching a one-day workshop on story-writing at The Clearing in Door County. Contact http://www.theclearing.org.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When we forget our stories, we forget who we are.


NEW NOVEL, BLUE SHADOWS FARM, NOW AVAILABLE: Check my website for further information. Check my schedule below for book signings and presentations.


COMING EVENTS:
Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m. Monona Historical Society, Monona, Iowa, The Lighter Side of Country Living, including Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Wild Rose Library. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm

Nov 6-8: National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing: Blue Shadows Farm and other titles

November 14, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, Sheboygan Falls Library. Blue Shadows Farm.

Garden Harvest

I put my garden to bed for the winter this past week. I dug the potatoes, carrots, beets, onions and rutabagas. I gathered up the remaining pumpkins and squash. I picked the ornamental corn and cut the tops from the broom corn and the sorghum. I cut a plump head of red cabbage, picked several zucchini and a couple stalks of Brussels sprouts. I picked another half bushel of tomatoes, the last of a slow tomato season. And finally, I harvested my several rows of navy beans. In spite of the bunny problems in early season, the beans did well.

As I do every fall, I thought about my garden successes and failures. A good pumpkin year, an average potato crop, a poor crop of squash, an excellent sweet corn harvest, an average pea harvest, a good zucchini crop and outstanding carrots. But alas, the beets and the rutabagas were near crop failures.

Gardening is a lot like life, each year is filled with surprises, some successes, some failures but always different. What will next year bring? In a few months I’ll be making plans.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: In any journey, it’s important to stop from time to time and be thankful for the distance you’ve covered.

NEW NOVEL, BLUE SHADOWS FARM, NOW AVAILABLE: Check my website for further information. Check my schedule below for book signings and presentations.


COMING EVENTS:
Oct. 1, 7:00 p.m. Chippewa Falls Library, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m. Monona Historical Society, Monona, Iowa, The Lighter Side of Country Living, including Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 17, (9 to 4) Writing From Your Life Workshop. The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI. (Still room for additional participants. Contact http://www.theclearing.org.)

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Wild Rose Library. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm

Nov 6-8: National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing: Blue Shadows Farm and other titles

Pumpkins Big and Little

This was the year of the pumpkin in my garden. Big ones and little ones, both kinds perfectly formed. The little ones not much larger than a chicken egg. The big ones—well two of them made a wheelbarrow load.

The two varieties grew in the same row; the big ones didn’t bother the little ones or try to do them in. The little ones didn’t seem to mind that they were little. Big and little growing side by side, each doing the best it could. And each succeeding. A lesson here for the rest of us?

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Bigger is not better. Nor is little better. There should be room for us all.


NEW NOVEL, BLUE SHADOWS FARM, NOW AVAILABLE: Check my website for further information. Check my schedule below for book signings and presentations.

Reviewer Christine Eirschele wrote: “A thread of determination is spun throughout the story of Blue Shadow Farms. While this tale begins with Silas, it is the women that emerge as the toughest characters, beginning with Sophia Reinert and ending with Emma Starkweather. It is not until 2000, when Emma uses Silas’s plan to ensure the survival of the farm, continuing the real importance Silas learned so long ago, saving the land.” See entire review at Suite 101.com.


COMING EVENTS:
Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. Sequoya Library, Madison. Ames County Novels presentation

Sept. 24-25, Midwest Book Sellers Convention, St. Paul, MN.

Oct. 1, 7:00 p.m. Chippewa Falls Library, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m. Monona Historical Society, Monona, Iowa, The Lighter Side of Country Living, including Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 17, (9 to 4) Writing From Your Life Workshop. The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI. (Still room for additional participants. Contact http://www.theclearing.org.)

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm

Nov 6-8: National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing: Blue Shadows Farm and other titles

Grape Jelly

I have a grape arbor in my front yard. More truthfully, I have one lone Concord grape vine that tangles around my split rail fence out by the sidewalk. Except for some heavy pruning in early spring, which means I cut it back so there is only a couple feet of vine remaining, I do nothing with it. Absolutely nothing. No watering, no fertilizing, no spraying. I just watch it grow, and it grows and grows and seems to grow more each year. It’s probably 20 years old now, no longer a teenager and coming into its own.

This week I picked about a half bushel of beautiful deep purple, plump grapes, many with just a blush of gray on them to set off the purple.

And Ruth made jelly, and more jelly, and still more jelly—six batches in all for a total of 42 jars of tasty, downright pretty jelly. Christmas presents, birthday presents—get on Ruth’s good side and she might give you a jar. But then again, she may not. Much of it is already spoken for. Sue, Paul and the boys want some. Steve and Natasha already have their order in. Jeff, Sandy and their family claim nothing is better on toast.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There is something about the taste of what’s made in your own kitchen that surpasses anything you buy in a store, no matter how fancy the store, or how plain your kitchen.


NEW NOVEL, BLUE SHADOWS FARM, NOW AVAILABLE: Check my website for further information. Check my schedule below for book signings and presentations.

DESCRIPTION: Follow the Starkweather family through three generations as they try to make a living on a farm near Link Lake, Ames County, Wisconsin. Through the story of the Starkweather family’s changing fortunes, and each family’s very different relationship to the land, BLUE SHADOWS FARM is in some ways the narrative of all farmers and the increasingly difficult challenges they face as committed stewards of the land.

SCHEDULE OF APPEARANCES:

Sept. 16, 12 Noon. UW Oshkosh Learning in Retirement. LaSure’s Banquet Hall, Oshkosh. Life after Academe

Sept. 17, 11:45-12:30. Larry Meiller Show. Wisconsin Public Radio. Blue Shadows Farm

Sept. 19, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Morgan Horse Field Day, Schuster Farm, Deerfield, WI. (Book signing and Presentation on history of farming with horses)

Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. Sequoya Library, Madison. Ames County Novels presentation

Oct. 1, 7:00 p.m. Chippewa Falls Library, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m. Monona Historical Society, Monona, Iowa, The Lighter Side of Country Living, including Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 17, (9 to 4) Writing From Your Life Workshop. The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI. (Still room for additional participants. Contact http://www.theclearing.org.)

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Wild Rose Library. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm

Nov 6-8: National Farm Toy Show, Dyersville, Iowa. Book signing: Blue Shadows Farm and other titles

Boundary Waters

This past week Steve and I canoed in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area located within the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota. At one point we were less than a mile from Canada. It is a land of birch trees and stately white pines, of balsam fir and white cedar. It is the land of moose and wolves, black bear and beaver, bald eagles and white-tailed deer—and pesky red squirrels that wait for campers’ handouts.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is more than one-million acres of lakes, portages, wild animals and birds, rocks, hills, dense forest—and quiet. Oh, how quiet with no background noise of traffic. No cell phone service, no internet, no radio, no TV.

It is the land of loons, those beautiful big black and white water birds whose calls mystify and delight. A loon swam but a few yards off the portage from Hungry Jack Lake to Bearskin Lake when we put in our canoe. It looked us over, checked us out, and then called lustily to its mate somewhere off in the distance. The return call echoed across the still waters of Bearskin Lake. The call of the loon brings us back each year to this special place, a sacred place for many.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: If everyone is thinking the same way, then no one is thinking at all.


BLUE SHADOWS FARM: Now Available. Someone asked me what my newest book is about. A WISCONSIN TRAILS reviewer wrote: Uncover the changing face of a Wisconsin farm . . . . Recall bygone days and gain an appreciation for the difficult challenges farmers face as committed stewards of the land.


UPCOMING EVENTS.

Sept. 9, 7:00 p.m. Whitewater Library. Country Living and other stories.

Sept. 16, 12 Noon. UW Oshkosh Learning in Retirement. LaSure’s Banquet Hall, Oshkosh. Life after Academe.

Sept. 17, 11:45-12:30. Larry Meiller Show. Wisconsin Public Radio. Blue Shadows Farm.

Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. Sequoya Library, Madison. Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 1, 7:00 p.m. Chippewa Falls Library, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m. Monona Historical Society, Monona, Iowa, The Lighter Side of Country Living, including Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 17, (9 to 4) Writing From Your Life Workshop. The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI. (Still room for additional participations. Contact http://www.theclearing.org.)

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm

Bee Sting

A hornet stung me last Saturday when I was mowing lawn. The last bee sting I remember was when I was mowing a field at the farm with my John Deere tractor and apparently cut through a yellow jacket nest. Before you could say, jump off the tractor and run like the dickens, a swarm of very mad and quite vicious yellow jackets drilled into my neck at least three times. I did stop the tractor and run waving my hat and arms like a crazy person. My neck was sore for a couple days, but nothing serious.

This time, as I mowed my lawn with thoughts on everything but bees, I felt something crawling on my bare hand. I brushed the hornet off, not thinking anything about it, but soon felt the telltale stinging sensation that got increasing worse. I stopped the mower, looked closely and spotted the stinger still stuck in my hide. I pulled it out and continued mowing.

An hour later my hand was the size of a softball; I couldn’t close my fingers and the pain and itching became quite uncomfortable. Out came the ice pack. Ruth suggested some Benadryl and I found some anti-itch lotion. By the following morning the swelling had subsided; but now, a week later, my hand is still sore. But no swelling. And my fingers work.

I did a little reading on bee stings. Be careful. Every year several people die from bee stings. Make sure symptoms such as difficult breathing don’t appear. See the doctor immediately if this happens.

BLUE SHADOWS FARM (My new novel, which is out this week). Someone asked me what the book is about. A WISCONSIN TRAILS reviewer wrote: Uncover the changing face of a Wisconsin farm . . . . Recall bygone days and gain an appreciation for the difficult challenges farmers face as committed stewards of the land.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Don’t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t botherin’ you none.

UPCOMING EVENTS.

Sept. 9, 7:00 p.m. Whitewater Library. Old Farm and other stories.

Sept. 16, 12 Noon. UW Oshkosh Learning in Retirement. LaSure’s Banquet Hall, Oshkosh. Life after Academe.

Sept. 17, 11:45-12:30. Larry Meiller Show. Wisconsin Public Radio. Blue Shadows Farm.

Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. Sequoya Library, Madison. Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 1, 7:00 p.m. Chippewa Falls Library, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m. Monona Historical Society, Monona, Iowa, The Lighter Side of Country Living, including Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 17, (9 to 4) Writing From Your Life Workshop. The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI. (Still room for additional participations. Contact http://www.theclearing.org.)

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Wild Rose Library. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm

Tomato Days

I picked my first basket of tomatoes this week. I don’t want to badmouth the tomato growers in California and Florida, but a home grown tomato puts those shiny red tomato impostors to shame. Those out of state models may look like tomatoes, and have a hint of tomato taste, but the juicy tomatoes I pick in my garden and eat a few minutes later, with a little pepper and salt, outshine any import.

You recall that last week I gushed on about sweet corn. Tomatoes are in a class by themselves: for taste, for nutrition (did you know that one medium size tomato provides forty percent of a person’s daily vitamin C requirement as well as 20 percent of the vitamin A requirement) and a cancer preventer because they contain Lycopene.

Tomatoes have an interesting history. At one time, many Europeans considered them poisonous. As the story goes, rich folks ate their food off of pewter dishes, which have a high lead content. When they put a sliced tomato on a pewter plate, the tomatoes, high in acid, leeched the lead out into the food. And people died of lead poisoning. They of course blamed the tomato.

Poor people ate their food from wooden plates and had no problems when they ate tomatoes. As a result, tomatoes didn’t become popular until the 1800s because of the perceived poison problem.

Today, people know that tomatoes are not poisonous, but indeed are one of our most healthful foods.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Every path has a few puddles.

(My new novel, the third in my Ames County Series, comes out in September, Its title: BLUE SHADOWS FARM.)

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sept. 9, 7:00 p.m. Whitewater Library. Old Farm and other stories.

Sept. 16, 12 Noon. UW Oshkosh Learning in Retirement. LaSure’s Banquet Hall, Oshkosh. Life after Academe.

Sept. 17, 11:45-12:30. Larry Meiller Show. Wisconsin Public Radio. Blue Shadows Farm.

Sept. 19, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Morgan Horse-Powered Field Day, Schuster's Playtime Farm, Deerfield, WI. Stories From the Land.

Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. Sequoya Library, Madison. Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 1, 7:00 p.m. Chippewa Falls Library, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m. Monona Historical Society, Monona, Iowa, The Lighter Side of Country Living, including Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 17, (9 to 4) Writing From Your Life Workshop. The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI. (Still room for additional participations. Contact http://www.theclearing.org.)

Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 24, 1:00 p.m. Wild Rose Library. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm

Corn-on-the-Cob

Okay, so an ear of sweet corn is not as nutritious as say broccoli or tomato. And sweet corn does contain substantial calories (they fatten pigs with corn after all).

But tell me. What vegetable is tastier on a hot mid-summer day than corn-on-the- cob? Especially when you snap off a few ears from the garden late in the afternoon, pull off the husks and pop the ears right into a kettle of boiling water with hardily any waiting between picking and eating.

And, corn-on-the cob is the one vegetable you can eat with your fingers and not draw the wrath of your spouse and assorted in-laws. You can even buy special little thingamajigs to stick into each end of an ear to make the job easier and avoid having hot fingers.

Eating corn-on-the cob assumes that you’ve gotten to the sweet corn patch before the raccoons. Those masked bandits also know the special taste of fresh sweet corn. This year I beat those raiders, by gum. You can tell by the smile on my face.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a lot easier than puttin’ it back in.


(My new novel, the third in my Ames County Series, comes out in September, Its title: BLUE SHADOWS FARM.)

UPCOMING EVENTS:

August 20, Afternoon. Writing From Your Life Workshop. Sheboygan Public Library. (Filled)

Sept. 9, 7:00 p.m. Whitewater Library. Old Farm and other stories.

Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. Sequoya Library, Madison. Blue Shadows Farm

Oct 1, 7:00 p.m. Chippewa Falls Library, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct 4, 1:30 p.m. Monona Historical Society, Monona, Iowa, The Lighter Side of Country Living, including Blue Shadows Farm

Oct 15, 7:00 p.m. Reader’s Loft, Green Bay, Blue Shadows Farm

October 17, (9 to 4) Writing From Your Life Workshop. The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI. (Still room for additional participations. Contact http://www.theclearing.org.)

Oct 20, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Official Book Launch, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct 24, 1:00 p.m. Wild Rose Library. Book Launch, Central Wisconsin, Blue Shadows Farm

Oct 28, 6:30 p.m. Elkhorn Library. Blue Shadows Farm