Christmas is for remembering.
I remember Christmas morning when I was a kid, with a stack of presents under the tree that couldn’t be opened until the morning milking was done. Of receiving new wool socks and mittens that Grandmother Witt had knitted, and a new pair of skates, the type that clamped onto the bottoms of your shoes and were tightened with a key.
I remember Christmas dinner with aunts and uncles and cousins all gathered around the big dining room table in our farm house, enjoying a meal comparable to what we saw when the threshing crews came. Roast turkey or duck. A heaping bowl of mashed potatoes. Home-made dill pickles. Apple and mincemeat pie. Christmas cookies of many shapes and flavors.
I remember walking a mile with my brothers to the neighbor’s farm with a small present and a freshly baked pie, because we knew that the neighbor’s wife had recently died and his grown children had left home and moved to the cities, and he was there alone on Christmas day.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Take time in your busy life to remember.
CHECK THIS OUT: My newest book, Garden Wisdom (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) is out. It’s all about vegetable gardening from seed selection to keeping away the critters. Included are a number of Ruth’s favorite fruit and vegetable recipes. Check at your local bookstore.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 11 and 12. 12:30 each day. Midwest Farm Show, LaCrosse Center, LaCrosse, WI. Stories from the land.
February 11. Janesville, noon luncheon speaker, FFA Alumni meeting.
March 9-11. Canoecopia, Madison. (Trade show for all things canoeing) Scheduled speaking time not yet determined.
March 24. Six p.m. Launch of Garden Wisdom book at Patterson Memorial Library Wild Rose. Details coming.
March 31-April 1. Morton Arboretum, Chicago area. Talk and workshop. Details coming.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Christmas 1946
The Christmas season brings back many memories, especially those when I was a kid. I fondly remember Christmas, 1946. We were all happy that World War II was over and that my several cousins who fought overseas had returned home safely. Mother was happy that she could once more buy sugar and return to her much beloved Christmas baking (sugar was one of many items rationed during the war).
And the entire family was especially thankful that come the next spring we would have electricity on our farm. In looking forward to the 1946 Christmas, my brothers and I spent hours paging through the Sears Christmas catalog, looking for toys that required electricity. Battery operated toys had not yet appeared.
We found an erector set and together agreed (a rare moment among my brothers and me) that we wanted it for Christmas. An erector set was one where you built cranes and other such important machines. A tiny electric motor came with the set.
On Christmas morning, we found the erector set under the tree, complete with electric motor. We assembled a first rate crane, but, alas, we had to wait until the following April before we could operate it with our little electric motor. That’s when we got electricity for the first time, and how things changed after that. But that’s a story for another time.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A most Merry Christmas to all.
CHECK THIS OUT: My newest book, Garden Wisdom (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) is out. It’s all about vegetable gardening from seed selection to keeping away the critters. Included are a number of Ruth’s favorite fruit and vegetable recipes. Check at your local bookstore.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 11 and 12, Midwest Farm Show, LaCrosse Center, LaCrosse, WI. Details to come. Speaking on both days.
And the entire family was especially thankful that come the next spring we would have electricity on our farm. In looking forward to the 1946 Christmas, my brothers and I spent hours paging through the Sears Christmas catalog, looking for toys that required electricity. Battery operated toys had not yet appeared.
We found an erector set and together agreed (a rare moment among my brothers and me) that we wanted it for Christmas. An erector set was one where you built cranes and other such important machines. A tiny electric motor came with the set.
On Christmas morning, we found the erector set under the tree, complete with electric motor. We assembled a first rate crane, but, alas, we had to wait until the following April before we could operate it with our little electric motor. That’s when we got electricity for the first time, and how things changed after that. But that’s a story for another time.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A most Merry Christmas to all.
CHECK THIS OUT: My newest book, Garden Wisdom (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) is out. It’s all about vegetable gardening from seed selection to keeping away the critters. Included are a number of Ruth’s favorite fruit and vegetable recipes. Check at your local bookstore.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 11 and 12, Midwest Farm Show, LaCrosse Center, LaCrosse, WI. Details to come. Speaking on both days.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Sheboygan Co. Historical Research Ctr.
For ten years the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center in Sheboygan Falls has sponsored a series of programs called “Second Saturdays.” The programs, held at the Sheboygan Falls Library, are free and attract a sizeable audience from throughout the area.
I’ve been privileged to have been part of this interesting contribution to the Sheboygan County Community for each of the ten years. This past Saturday, on a chilly, frosty morning, more than 100 people gathered to learn about agricultural history and share stores of farm life from an earlier time.
Tales of growing up without electricity, stories about party-line telephones and battery operated radios—and the early radio programs such as Fibber McGee and Mollie, The Life of Riley, Jack Armstrong, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow and Captain Midnight. Stories of hard work and perseverance. Stories of “making do” when times were tough. Stories about kerosene lanterns and cow bells. Stories about the history of Wisconsin from the earliest settlement days to the present time.
At times there was laughter, at other times serious quiet as people thought about their own histories, many of them having grown up on farms.
The Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, with Beth Dipple as Director, is located at 518 Water Street, Sheboygan Falls. Check their website for information on program activities including “Second Saturdays” but also much, much more. www.schrc.org.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When we forget our histories, we forget who we are.
CHECK THIS OUT: My newest book, Garden Wisdom (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) is coming off the presses this week. It’s all about vegetable gardening from seed selection to keeping out the critters. Ruth has included a number of her favorite fruit and vegetable recipes as well. Check at your local bookstore.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 11 and 12, Midwest Farm Show, LaCrosse Center, LaCrosse, WI. Details to come. Speaking on both days.
I’ve been privileged to have been part of this interesting contribution to the Sheboygan County Community for each of the ten years. This past Saturday, on a chilly, frosty morning, more than 100 people gathered to learn about agricultural history and share stores of farm life from an earlier time.
Tales of growing up without electricity, stories about party-line telephones and battery operated radios—and the early radio programs such as Fibber McGee and Mollie, The Life of Riley, Jack Armstrong, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow and Captain Midnight. Stories of hard work and perseverance. Stories of “making do” when times were tough. Stories about kerosene lanterns and cow bells. Stories about the history of Wisconsin from the earliest settlement days to the present time.
At times there was laughter, at other times serious quiet as people thought about their own histories, many of them having grown up on farms.
The Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, with Beth Dipple as Director, is located at 518 Water Street, Sheboygan Falls. Check their website for information on program activities including “Second Saturdays” but also much, much more. www.schrc.org.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When we forget our histories, we forget who we are.
CHECK THIS OUT: My newest book, Garden Wisdom (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) is coming off the presses this week. It’s all about vegetable gardening from seed selection to keeping out the critters. Ruth has included a number of her favorite fruit and vegetable recipes as well. Check at your local bookstore.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 11 and 12, Midwest Farm Show, LaCrosse Center, LaCrosse, WI. Details to come. Speaking on both days.
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Fireside Books and Gifts
Visiting an independent book store is like going home. The clerks greet you by name; they stand ready to help you find a particular book of interest; they chat with you about books they like and have recently read, and they ask you how things are going in your life. Sometimes they even offer you a free cup of coffee.
Fireside Books & Gifts in West Bend is such a store. I was there this past Saturday, when the weather was wet and cold, and the day more than a little dreary. I was giving a talk and signing books. Ruth was along, and as I signed books, she browsed and sought out Christmas presents.
This was my 12th consecutive year at the store, and what a pleasure it was. Dennis Uhlig, bookseller and event organizer extraordinaire, asked people to reserve seats ahead of time for my presentation—and they did.
The chairs were filled with more folks standing in the back—thanks to Dennis’s promotional efforts. We stuck around until two-thirty, talking with people, talking about books—and chatting about how important it was to have a bookstore such as Fireside in their community.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Hard to think of anything more pleasant on a dreary day than spending time in a bookstore.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
January 11 and 12, Midwest Farm Show, LaCrosse Center, LaCrosse, WI. Details to come. Speaking on both days.
Fireside Books & Gifts in West Bend is such a store. I was there this past Saturday, when the weather was wet and cold, and the day more than a little dreary. I was giving a talk and signing books. Ruth was along, and as I signed books, she browsed and sought out Christmas presents.
This was my 12th consecutive year at the store, and what a pleasure it was. Dennis Uhlig, bookseller and event organizer extraordinaire, asked people to reserve seats ahead of time for my presentation—and they did.
The chairs were filled with more folks standing in the back—thanks to Dennis’s promotional efforts. We stuck around until two-thirty, talking with people, talking about books—and chatting about how important it was to have a bookstore such as Fireside in their community.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Hard to think of anything more pleasant on a dreary day than spending time in a bookstore.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
January 11 and 12, Midwest Farm Show, LaCrosse Center, LaCrosse, WI. Details to come. Speaking on both days.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Ups and Downs
This is an up and down story, or better said, a wet and dry story. It involves the pond at our farm as well as the neighboring lakes and ponds such as Chain O’ Lake and Wagner’s Lake (Lake Wautoma it’s called today).
In 1966, our pond was nearly not a pond, but merely a wet marshy area. Then each year a little more water returned and the pond filled. I should point out that it’s a “water table pond,” which means it goes up and down as the water table fluctuates.
By the late 1980s and into the early 1990s our pond was a fine body of water, higher than we had ever known it to be. A place for canoeing and fishing, and even swimming. Same for the other lakes and pond in the area.
By the early 2000s the water began disappearing, a little more each year until last year, our once about three to four acre pond was about the size of a football field. Most of the pond had once more become a marsh.
But starting last fall and continuing throughout the summer and into this fall, the pond is once more filling with water. Each month it is a few more inches deep. The marsh is disappearing and the pond is on the rise. For the first time in several years, we have muskrat houses scattered about—I counted eight of them the other day. The deer and the turkeys are happy, as well as all the other wildlife that depend on our pond and enjoy its existence.
How large will the pond become on this current cycle? I have no idea, but different from lakes and ponds to our west such as Plainfield Lake and Twin Lakes near Almond, both of which are now dry, former lakes, our pond is coming back. At least it appears so.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Everything appears to have its ups and downs.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 10:30-2:00. Speaking at 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books: fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
In 1966, our pond was nearly not a pond, but merely a wet marshy area. Then each year a little more water returned and the pond filled. I should point out that it’s a “water table pond,” which means it goes up and down as the water table fluctuates.
By the late 1980s and into the early 1990s our pond was a fine body of water, higher than we had ever known it to be. A place for canoeing and fishing, and even swimming. Same for the other lakes and pond in the area.
By the early 2000s the water began disappearing, a little more each year until last year, our once about three to four acre pond was about the size of a football field. Most of the pond had once more become a marsh.
But starting last fall and continuing throughout the summer and into this fall, the pond is once more filling with water. Each month it is a few more inches deep. The marsh is disappearing and the pond is on the rise. For the first time in several years, we have muskrat houses scattered about—I counted eight of them the other day. The deer and the turkeys are happy, as well as all the other wildlife that depend on our pond and enjoy its existence.
How large will the pond become on this current cycle? I have no idea, but different from lakes and ponds to our west such as Plainfield Lake and Twin Lakes near Almond, both of which are now dry, former lakes, our pond is coming back. At least it appears so.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Everything appears to have its ups and downs.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 10:30-2:00. Speaking at 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books: fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Hunt Is On
The highest of the high Wisconsin celebrations begins at the break of dawn on Saturday. It is opening day of deer season, a day scratched on new calendars in January. A day when nothing, absolutely nothing takes precedence over trekking into the woods. The opening day of fishing season approaches, but really is no competition for the opening day of deer season. This one is the biggie.
To brag for a moment—this will be my 65th consecutive year of participating in the hunt—I didn’t even miss when I was in the army. I’m not much of a hunter anymore, these days my hunting companions ask if I remembered to put bullets in my rifle.
Of course deer season is much more than bagging a deer. It’s about families getting together, grandfathers and grandmothers, sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters. Swapping stories. In most families the deer hunting stories, told over and over again, have become the stuff of legends as a little embellishment each year adds to their flavor and fun.
For me, it is one more excuse for being outdoors, walking in the woods, enjoying the sights and smells of late autumn. I’ve been known to nap on warm afternoons in the woods; and I’m often caught reading a book—but I am out there. I am deer hunting—my way of course.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There are no shortcuts to important places.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books: fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
To brag for a moment—this will be my 65th consecutive year of participating in the hunt—I didn’t even miss when I was in the army. I’m not much of a hunter anymore, these days my hunting companions ask if I remembered to put bullets in my rifle.
Of course deer season is much more than bagging a deer. It’s about families getting together, grandfathers and grandmothers, sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters. Swapping stories. In most families the deer hunting stories, told over and over again, have become the stuff of legends as a little embellishment each year adds to their flavor and fun.
For me, it is one more excuse for being outdoors, walking in the woods, enjoying the sights and smells of late autumn. I’ve been known to nap on warm afternoons in the woods; and I’m often caught reading a book—but I am out there. I am deer hunting—my way of course.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There are no shortcuts to important places.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books: fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
November Snow
In Wisconsin we don’t count on the calendar to tell us when winter arrives, because if we did we’d have to wait until late December. November is our “beginning of winter” month. If we’re lucky, this happens toward the end of the month, around Thanksgiving time.
Not this year. Winter came roaring out of the north on November 9th, early and mostly unwelcomed. On that day I crawled out of bed, started the fire in the wood burning cook stove, and noticed a few flakes of snow flying on the wind. Only a dusting I hoped, because I had wood to cut and other outside chores to do. With breakfast finished, the snow continued, lots of it, big flakes, heavy flakes. I watched a parade of turkey gobblers walking a few yards from the cabin, one after the other, five of them stepping high in the ever deeper snow. Not too much bothered by the snow.
By mid-morning it was snowing so hard I couldn’t see the end of my driveway. The heavy snow gathered on the big spruce tree by the woodshed, its lower branches nearly touching the ground. I pulled on my boots and trudged to the woodshed for more wood. Three or four inches of heavy snow to waddle through and it continued falling.
A little after noon, the lights flickered a couple times and then clicked off. No power. I rounded up a flashlight, kept the wood stove going, and decided to enjoy the day. These early snowstorms can be dangerous and at minimum, inconvenient. But oh how beautiful the landscape had become as the drabness of fall had become pure white.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When it snows, the best thing to do is let it snow.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests).
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—Travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring agriculture history books, fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Not this year. Winter came roaring out of the north on November 9th, early and mostly unwelcomed. On that day I crawled out of bed, started the fire in the wood burning cook stove, and noticed a few flakes of snow flying on the wind. Only a dusting I hoped, because I had wood to cut and other outside chores to do. With breakfast finished, the snow continued, lots of it, big flakes, heavy flakes. I watched a parade of turkey gobblers walking a few yards from the cabin, one after the other, five of them stepping high in the ever deeper snow. Not too much bothered by the snow.
By mid-morning it was snowing so hard I couldn’t see the end of my driveway. The heavy snow gathered on the big spruce tree by the woodshed, its lower branches nearly touching the ground. I pulled on my boots and trudged to the woodshed for more wood. Three or four inches of heavy snow to waddle through and it continued falling.
A little after noon, the lights flickered a couple times and then clicked off. No power. I rounded up a flashlight, kept the wood stove going, and decided to enjoy the day. These early snowstorms can be dangerous and at minimum, inconvenient. But oh how beautiful the landscape had become as the drabness of fall had become pure white.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When it snows, the best thing to do is let it snow.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests).
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—Travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring agriculture history books, fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Dyersville
Ruth and I spent the past weekend in Dyersville, Iowa, at the National Farm Toy Collector’s convention, where I signed books and talked tractors for three days. Talked mostly about old tractors, Farmall H’s (which I grew up with) and Farmall M’s, John Deere A’s and B’s, and the lesser models-- Oliver and Allis Chambers (Ruth grew up with an Allis), Minneapolis-Moline and Massey-Harris, Case and Cockshutt.
Talked about the days in farming when tractors were small, as were the farms. Talked with a few old guys about driving horses and the transition from horses to tractors, not as easy as one might think.
Lots of grandparents toting grandkids. The grandkids excited to see all the farm toys to play with. And the kids’ parents remembering their childhoods because these farm toys were symbols of their early history on the farm, and triggers for stories.
Lots of stories at the toy show, coming from every direction, from all parts of the country from the north and south, and many from the Midwest, of course. Stories about growing up on a farm. Stories about first tractors. Stories about why the Farmall was better than the John Deere, or the other way around. Lots of friendly joshing about these matters that, at one time, were taken very seriously by farmers proud of their iron horses, as the early tractors were called.
Now it’s back to work, back to writing stories.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There are never too many stories.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books, fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Talked about the days in farming when tractors were small, as were the farms. Talked with a few old guys about driving horses and the transition from horses to tractors, not as easy as one might think.
Lots of grandparents toting grandkids. The grandkids excited to see all the farm toys to play with. And the kids’ parents remembering their childhoods because these farm toys were symbols of their early history on the farm, and triggers for stories.
Lots of stories at the toy show, coming from every direction, from all parts of the country from the north and south, and many from the Midwest, of course. Stories about growing up on a farm. Stories about first tractors. Stories about why the Farmall was better than the John Deere, or the other way around. Lots of friendly joshing about these matters that, at one time, were taken very seriously by farmers proud of their iron horses, as the early tractors were called.
Now it’s back to work, back to writing stories.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: There are never too many stories.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 11:00 a.m. Celebrating 12 years of speaking/signing at Fireside books. Campfires and Loon Calls—travels in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Also featuring Agriculture history books, fiction and nonfiction.
December 7, Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 7:00 p.m. Max Kade Institute. Stories from Wisconsin: Germans, Beer and Prohibition.
December 10, Sheboygan Falls Library, 9:30 a.m.: A brief history of Wisconsin Agriculture.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Writing Your Story
Last Saturday was a beautiful fall day at The Clearing in Door County where thirty of us gathered for my annual one-day writing workshop that I call “Writing From Your Life.” Plenty of fall color. The waters of Green Bay were deep slate; the birch still showed some yellow and the sky was clear and blue.
The writers gathered to share stories—stories of early memories, of first toys, of growing up, of first jobs for pay, of joyous moments and many not as joyous as a few tears fell. These writers of several generations filled pages with tales from their lives—stories long forgotten, by some at least.
They shared their tales with each other and laughed and nodded knowingly, for though the details may have been different, the stories of each generation had many similarities as well.
Why do it? Why spend a gorgeous late autumn day writing stories? Because we are each a story, more accurately we are each a collection of little stories contributing to a larger one. Our stories make us human. When we forget our stories, we forget who we are.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It’s never too late to write down your stories.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 2, Cobb Library, 7:00 p.m. Old Farm
November 4-6, Dyersville, Iowa, National Farm Toy Show; Friday (5-8 p.m.), Saturday, (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday, (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) (Signing various book titles).
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 10-2:00, speaking at 11:00.
The writers gathered to share stories—stories of early memories, of first toys, of growing up, of first jobs for pay, of joyous moments and many not as joyous as a few tears fell. These writers of several generations filled pages with tales from their lives—stories long forgotten, by some at least.
They shared their tales with each other and laughed and nodded knowingly, for though the details may have been different, the stories of each generation had many similarities as well.
Why do it? Why spend a gorgeous late autumn day writing stories? Because we are each a story, more accurately we are each a collection of little stories contributing to a larger one. Our stories make us human. When we forget our stories, we forget who we are.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It’s never too late to write down your stories.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
November 2, Cobb Library, 7:00 p.m. Old Farm
November 4-6, Dyersville, Iowa, National Farm Toy Show; Friday (5-8 p.m.), Saturday, (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday, (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) (Signing various book titles).
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
December 3, Fireside Books, West Bend. 10-2:00, speaking at 11:00.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Sounds of Fall
The sounds of fall. Mysterious, interesting, sometimes even mythical. The calling of Canada geese winging south from their summer home in the far north. The “rat-tat-tat” of a Pileated woodpecker chiseling a hole in a dead white pine. The barking of a gray squirrel from the top of a naked black oak. The call of an owl echoing through the darkness on a quiet October evening, then its call returned—a late evening conversation between creatures of the night.
The sound of wind moaning through the tops of bare-branched oak trees on a windy day; the next day, in the same oak woods, the wind has gone down—the sound of silence.
Memories of the sounds of the old Aermotor windmill on the home farm, and how on the nights around Halloween when the wind was up just a bit, the old windmill squeaked and squawked and tried to turn, but its brake would not let it. In my upstairs bedroom I could hear the noise and envisioned ghosts and goblins and creatures of the nether world on their way to visit me.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Occasionally do nothing—and enjoy it.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 26, Sheraton Hotel, Madison. Foster Grandparents conference. “Writing From Your Life” workshop, 4:15 to 5:15; Keynote address, 6:30 (Remembering an Earlier Day).
October 27, Richfield Town Hall, Richfield, WI. 7:00 p.m. Horses and barns.
October 29, The Clearing. Writing From Your Life Workshop, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
November 2, Cobb Library, 7:00 p.m. Old Farm
November 4-6, Dyersville, Iowa, National Farm Toy Show; Friday (5-8 p.m.), Saturday, (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday, (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) (Signing various book titles).
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
The sound of wind moaning through the tops of bare-branched oak trees on a windy day; the next day, in the same oak woods, the wind has gone down—the sound of silence.
Memories of the sounds of the old Aermotor windmill on the home farm, and how on the nights around Halloween when the wind was up just a bit, the old windmill squeaked and squawked and tried to turn, but its brake would not let it. In my upstairs bedroom I could hear the noise and envisioned ghosts and goblins and creatures of the nether world on their way to visit me.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Occasionally do nothing—and enjoy it.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 26, Sheraton Hotel, Madison. Foster Grandparents conference. “Writing From Your Life” workshop, 4:15 to 5:15; Keynote address, 6:30 (Remembering an Earlier Day).
October 27, Richfield Town Hall, Richfield, WI. 7:00 p.m. Horses and barns.
October 29, The Clearing. Writing From Your Life Workshop, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
November 2, Cobb Library, 7:00 p.m. Old Farm
November 4-6, Dyersville, Iowa, National Farm Toy Show; Friday (5-8 p.m.), Saturday, (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday, (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) (Signing various book titles).
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Historic Sites
If you haven’t made the rounds of the Wisconsin Historical Society sites, you may want to plan such a tour. For the past three weekends, I’ve been speaking and or selling books at three of them. On Sunday, October 2, I was at Old World Wisconsin, near Eagle; on Saturday, October 8, Ruth and I were at Stonefield Village, near Cassville; and on Saturday, October 15 we visited Old Wade House at Green Bush (a few miles from Sheboygan).
All of Wisconsin historic sites are treasures, but these three are especially appealing to those interested in small town and rural history. Old World is a creation of ethnic farmsteads, with the actual buildings gathered from around the state (and much more). Stonefield boasts a re-created pioneer village, and has the largest exhibit of horse-drawn machinery in Wisconsin. Old Wade House, the site of an early stagecoach inn, has a wonderful collection of horse drawn wagons, from old milk delivery wagons to several horse-drawn fire wagons, and much more.
We met lots of interesting people and heard many stories about early farm life—I was talking about farming with horses and the history of farm machinery.
Go to http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/sitesmuseum.asp for more information, and put visiting these sites on your “must do” list.
CHECK THIS OUT: I’m talking about and reading from my book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS (Fulcrum Press) at The Wisconsin Book Festival on Sunday, October 23 at 4:00 p.m. Here are details:
Voices of the Water, Voices of the Trees: Apps & Andrews
Sunday, October 23 | 4:00PM - 5:30PM
Rotunda Studio/Overture, State Street, Madison.
Sponsor: Wisconsin Historical Society Press
Presenter(s): Candice Gaukel Andrews, Jerry Apps
Whether you are preparing to travel or just want to be temporarily transported to some of the upper Midwest’s unique and precious environments, Andrews and Apps will offer you their deep, personal, and informed appreciations of Wisconsin’s forests (Andrews) and the Boundary Waters (Apps).
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Quoting from Bruce Springsteen, “We’d better start savin’ up for the things that money can’t buy.”
UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red (free). 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop. Workshop fee $10.00. Call 920-898-5165 for signup information.
October 22, Toll/Londowski Family Farm, one mile west of Hwy 49/Co. Rd. J. Intersection, Green Lake, WI; “From the Land,” (A gathering of traditional crafts and skills with demonstrations) 11:00 a.m. Horse Drawn Days. 1:00 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living.
October 23, Madison, WI. Wisconsin Book Festival. 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
October 26, Sheraton Hotel, Madison. Foster Grandparents conference. “Writing From Your Life” workshop, 4:15 to 5:15; Keynote address, 6:30 (Remembering an Earlier Day)
October 27, Richfield Town Hall, Richfield, WI. 7:00 p.m. Horses and barns.
October 29, The Clearing. Writing From Your Life Workshop, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
November 2, Cobb Library, 7:00 p.m. Old Farm
November 4-6, Dyersville, Iowa, National Farm Toy Show; Friday (5-8 p.m.), Saturday, (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday, (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) (Signing various book titles).
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
All of Wisconsin historic sites are treasures, but these three are especially appealing to those interested in small town and rural history. Old World is a creation of ethnic farmsteads, with the actual buildings gathered from around the state (and much more). Stonefield boasts a re-created pioneer village, and has the largest exhibit of horse-drawn machinery in Wisconsin. Old Wade House, the site of an early stagecoach inn, has a wonderful collection of horse drawn wagons, from old milk delivery wagons to several horse-drawn fire wagons, and much more.
We met lots of interesting people and heard many stories about early farm life—I was talking about farming with horses and the history of farm machinery.
Go to http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/sitesmuseum.asp for more information, and put visiting these sites on your “must do” list.
CHECK THIS OUT: I’m talking about and reading from my book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS (Fulcrum Press) at The Wisconsin Book Festival on Sunday, October 23 at 4:00 p.m. Here are details:
Voices of the Water, Voices of the Trees: Apps & Andrews
Sunday, October 23 | 4:00PM - 5:30PM
Rotunda Studio/Overture, State Street, Madison.
Sponsor: Wisconsin Historical Society Press
Presenter(s): Candice Gaukel Andrews, Jerry Apps
Whether you are preparing to travel or just want to be temporarily transported to some of the upper Midwest’s unique and precious environments, Andrews and Apps will offer you their deep, personal, and informed appreciations of Wisconsin’s forests (Andrews) and the Boundary Waters (Apps).
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Quoting from Bruce Springsteen, “We’d better start savin’ up for the things that money can’t buy.”
UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red (free). 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop. Workshop fee $10.00. Call 920-898-5165 for signup information.
October 22, Toll/Londowski Family Farm, one mile west of Hwy 49/Co. Rd. J. Intersection, Green Lake, WI; “From the Land,” (A gathering of traditional crafts and skills with demonstrations) 11:00 a.m. Horse Drawn Days. 1:00 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living.
October 23, Madison, WI. Wisconsin Book Festival. 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
October 26, Sheraton Hotel, Madison. Foster Grandparents conference. “Writing From Your Life” workshop, 4:15 to 5:15; Keynote address, 6:30 (Remembering an Earlier Day)
October 27, Richfield Town Hall, Richfield, WI. 7:00 p.m. Horses and barns.
October 29, The Clearing. Writing From Your Life Workshop, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
November 2, Cobb Library, 7:00 p.m. Old Farm
November 4-6, Dyersville, Iowa, National Farm Toy Show; Friday (5-8 p.m.), Saturday, (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday, (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) (Signing various book titles).
November 12, Barnes and Noble, Racine, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
November 14, Elmbrook Historical Society annual meeting and dinner. 5:45. Horses and Barns (For Elmbrook Historical Society members and guests.)
Friday, October 07, 2011
Cranberry Harvest
Wisconsin is in the midst of its annual cranberry harvest. It reminds me of October, 1955 when my brother, Donald and neighbor boys, David and Jim Kolka and I experienced cranberry harvesting firsthand.
I was waiting to go into the army(not until January); my brother Donald was waiting to attend barber college, and I don’t recall what was up with the Kolka boys. We’d heard they were hiring workers at a cranberry marsh near Wisconsin Rapids—the pay was good ($1.00 an hour),and the four of us enjoyed working outside. Besides, this was something we hadn’t done before.
The cranberry industry at that time was just beginning to shift from hand harvesting (which is what we did) to mechanical harvesting (which is done now). For hand harvesting, we each received a rake, which is a little wooden box with an open end with tines on it and two bow handles, and a pair of hip boots.
The cranberry bog was flooded so that the ripe, red cranberries floated and thus could be more easily gathered with our rakes. The water was knee deep, sometimes a little more, and on chilly October mornings was cold, cold, cold.
In addition to the rake and the hip boots, we each pulled behind us a wooden box tied to our belts with a short rope. When our rake was full we dumped the cranberries in the box. And when the bushel box was full, we carried it to high ground that surrounded each bog. But before we got to the high ground we carefully navigated a narrow wooden plank placed across a water filled ditch. One misstep and we were in water up to our arm pits.
One inaccurate swing with the rake, and a tine would puncture a hip boot and we’d have a wet foot all day. My hip boots had patches upon patches by the end of the season.
We worked in a long line, about eight or ten of us, with the person on the far right setting the pace—we had to keep up with that person, and often times, when our arms felt like they’d come out of our sockets, we considered drowning the guy.
Of all the many jobs I’d had, from working in a pea cannery, picking cucumbers, traveling with a threshing crew, working in a pickle factory, and doing all sorts of farm work, this proved one of the most difficult—and physically challenging. Of course quitting was never an option, so we all four toughed it out until the season ended. Army life proved a breeze compared to harvesting cranberries.
CHECK THIS OUT: See my book, CRANBERRY RED (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010) and learn all about the cranberry industry in Wisconsin, and much more.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: We often learn more from miserable experiences than those more pleasurable.
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red (free). 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop. Workshop fee $10.00. Call 920-898-5165 for signup information.
October 22, Toll/Londowski Family Farm, one mile west of Hwy 49/Co. Rd. J. Intersection, Green Lake, WI; “From the Land,” (A gathering of traditional crafts and skills with demonstrations) 11:00 a.m. Horse Drawn Days. 1:00 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living.
October 23, Madison, WI. Wisconsin Book Festival. 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
October 27, Richfield Town Hall, Richfield, WI. 7:00 p.m. Horses and barns.
October 29, The Clearing. Writing From Your Life Workshop, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
I was waiting to go into the army(not until January); my brother Donald was waiting to attend barber college, and I don’t recall what was up with the Kolka boys. We’d heard they were hiring workers at a cranberry marsh near Wisconsin Rapids—the pay was good ($1.00 an hour),and the four of us enjoyed working outside. Besides, this was something we hadn’t done before.
The cranberry industry at that time was just beginning to shift from hand harvesting (which is what we did) to mechanical harvesting (which is done now). For hand harvesting, we each received a rake, which is a little wooden box with an open end with tines on it and two bow handles, and a pair of hip boots.
The cranberry bog was flooded so that the ripe, red cranberries floated and thus could be more easily gathered with our rakes. The water was knee deep, sometimes a little more, and on chilly October mornings was cold, cold, cold.
In addition to the rake and the hip boots, we each pulled behind us a wooden box tied to our belts with a short rope. When our rake was full we dumped the cranberries in the box. And when the bushel box was full, we carried it to high ground that surrounded each bog. But before we got to the high ground we carefully navigated a narrow wooden plank placed across a water filled ditch. One misstep and we were in water up to our arm pits.
One inaccurate swing with the rake, and a tine would puncture a hip boot and we’d have a wet foot all day. My hip boots had patches upon patches by the end of the season.
We worked in a long line, about eight or ten of us, with the person on the far right setting the pace—we had to keep up with that person, and often times, when our arms felt like they’d come out of our sockets, we considered drowning the guy.
Of all the many jobs I’d had, from working in a pea cannery, picking cucumbers, traveling with a threshing crew, working in a pickle factory, and doing all sorts of farm work, this proved one of the most difficult—and physically challenging. Of course quitting was never an option, so we all four toughed it out until the season ended. Army life proved a breeze compared to harvesting cranberries.
CHECK THIS OUT: See my book, CRANBERRY RED (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010) and learn all about the cranberry industry in Wisconsin, and much more.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: We often learn more from miserable experiences than those more pleasurable.
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red (free). 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop. Workshop fee $10.00. Call 920-898-5165 for signup information.
October 22, Toll/Londowski Family Farm, one mile west of Hwy 49/Co. Rd. J. Intersection, Green Lake, WI; “From the Land,” (A gathering of traditional crafts and skills with demonstrations) 11:00 a.m. Horse Drawn Days. 1:00 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living.
October 23, Madison, WI. Wisconsin Book Festival. 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
October 27, Richfield Town Hall, Richfield, WI. 7:00 p.m. Horses and barns.
October 29, The Clearing. Writing From Your Life Workshop, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Garden Assessment
It’s time for my annual garden assessment. The vegetables are harvested—except for ten rows of potatoes to be a dug and a row of rainbow corn that’s yet to be husked.
One of the great joys of vegetable gardening is not knowing which crops will do well and which will falter. So, for some of the main crops, here are the scores for the 2011 season. A five means great, a one means not so good.
Sweet corn: (5) Best crop in years, harvested a couple bushels of plump ears.
Lettuce (3): Weather too hot too soon; crop likes cool weather.
Onions (3): Okay, but I’ve done better. Big family demand. Must plant more next year.
Cucumbers (5): Rave reviews for my new smooth skinned variety that also yielded well.
Zucchini (5): Kept right on producing right up to and even past the first light frost.
Pumpkins (4): Dry weather in August cut yield—and diminished size.
Green Beans (4): Good yield. High quality. But not quite as good as some year’s.
Squash (3): Dry weather about did in my squash. Have less than a half bushel. Pitiful.
Tomatoes (5): How about this year for tomatoes? Harvested several bushels.
Potatoes (3): Didn’t stop the enormous invasion of Colorado beetles in time—knocked down my yield. So far have dug maybe two bushels. Quality good. Size average.
Concord Grapes (5): Best year ever. Close to a bushel off of one vine.
Cabbage (1): Three scrawny heads. Failure. And I know how to grow cabbage, I thought.
Lesser crops such as beets, radishes, carrots, broccoli, spinach, gourds—average, not terrible, not good.
But as we old farmers grew up saying, “Next year will be better.”
CHECK THIS OUT: There are a few more slots available for my Saturday, October 29 writing workshop at The Clearing in Door County. It’s all about writing stories from your life. Go to The Clearing’s website for more information: www.theclearing.org.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You are never closer to the land than when you are gardening.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
October 22, Toll/Londowski Family Farm, one mile west of Hwy 49/Co. Rd. J. Intersection, Green Lake, WI; “From the Land,” (A gathering of traditional crafts and skills with demonstrations) 11:00 a.m. Horse Drawn Days. 1:00 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living.
October 23, Madison, WI. Wisconsin Book Festival. 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
October 27, Richfield Town Hall, Richfield, WI. 7:00 p.m. Horses and barns.
October 29, The Clearing. Writing From Your Life Workshop, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
One of the great joys of vegetable gardening is not knowing which crops will do well and which will falter. So, for some of the main crops, here are the scores for the 2011 season. A five means great, a one means not so good.
Sweet corn: (5) Best crop in years, harvested a couple bushels of plump ears.
Lettuce (3): Weather too hot too soon; crop likes cool weather.
Onions (3): Okay, but I’ve done better. Big family demand. Must plant more next year.
Cucumbers (5): Rave reviews for my new smooth skinned variety that also yielded well.
Zucchini (5): Kept right on producing right up to and even past the first light frost.
Pumpkins (4): Dry weather in August cut yield—and diminished size.
Green Beans (4): Good yield. High quality. But not quite as good as some year’s.
Squash (3): Dry weather about did in my squash. Have less than a half bushel. Pitiful.
Tomatoes (5): How about this year for tomatoes? Harvested several bushels.
Potatoes (3): Didn’t stop the enormous invasion of Colorado beetles in time—knocked down my yield. So far have dug maybe two bushels. Quality good. Size average.
Concord Grapes (5): Best year ever. Close to a bushel off of one vine.
Cabbage (1): Three scrawny heads. Failure. And I know how to grow cabbage, I thought.
Lesser crops such as beets, radishes, carrots, broccoli, spinach, gourds—average, not terrible, not good.
But as we old farmers grew up saying, “Next year will be better.”
CHECK THIS OUT: There are a few more slots available for my Saturday, October 29 writing workshop at The Clearing in Door County. It’s all about writing stories from your life. Go to The Clearing’s website for more information: www.theclearing.org.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You are never closer to the land than when you are gardening.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
October 22, Toll/Londowski Family Farm, one mile west of Hwy 49/Co. Rd. J. Intersection, Green Lake, WI; “From the Land,” (A gathering of traditional crafts and skills with demonstrations) 11:00 a.m. Horse Drawn Days. 1:00 p.m. Lighter Side of Country Living.
October 23, Madison, WI. Wisconsin Book Festival. 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
October 27, Richfield Town Hall, Richfield, WI. 7:00 p.m. Horses and barns.
October 29, The Clearing. Writing From Your Life Workshop, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Book Convention
Books, books and more books. We’ve just returned from the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association 2011 Trade Show in Minneapolis, which was held this year in a delightfully renovated downtown train depot.
For those who believe the book, one with real paper, is dead, recall what Mark Twain once said about his own demise--the information is considerably exaggerated. Books, publishers, independent book store owners, book distribution companies, librarians and authors prowled the aisles of exhibits for new ideas, connected with old friends, discovered new book titles, and generally had a great time, my wife and I included.
I was in Minneapolis promoting my new book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS, (Fulcrum Press), but I was also introducing two new books that will appear in 2012. The first is GARDEN WISDOM (Wisconsin Historical Society Press), which comes out in January, 2012. The book was a family project. I wrote about my many years of vegetable gardening; Ruth included some of her favorite garden recipes and Steve snapped the photos.
My second new book is RURAL WIT AND WISDOM (Fulcrum Press). This book is a complete re-do of an earlier book, with a third new material, new photos from Steve and lots of wit and wisdom from the country. It’s due out in June 2012.
An unspoken but important theme for the MIBA show: continue to support your independent bookstore and your local library. They are both treasures that we too often take for granted.
CHECK THIS OUT: I learned this past week that there are a few more slots available for my Saturday, October 29 writing workshop at The Clearing in Door County. It’s all about writing stories from your life. Go to The Clearing’s website for more information: www.theclearing.org.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Books do not scold when you blunder, laugh when you are ignorant, or hide when you seek them.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 1, Family History Fair, Walworth County Genealogical Society. Faith Christian School, HWY 67, Williams Bay, WI. 9-3. (Speaking at 1:00) Horse Drawn Days.
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI. Barns of Wisconsin, Horse Drawn Days, Old Farm.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s Workshop.
For those who believe the book, one with real paper, is dead, recall what Mark Twain once said about his own demise--the information is considerably exaggerated. Books, publishers, independent book store owners, book distribution companies, librarians and authors prowled the aisles of exhibits for new ideas, connected with old friends, discovered new book titles, and generally had a great time, my wife and I included.
I was in Minneapolis promoting my new book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS, (Fulcrum Press), but I was also introducing two new books that will appear in 2012. The first is GARDEN WISDOM (Wisconsin Historical Society Press), which comes out in January, 2012. The book was a family project. I wrote about my many years of vegetable gardening; Ruth included some of her favorite garden recipes and Steve snapped the photos.
My second new book is RURAL WIT AND WISDOM (Fulcrum Press). This book is a complete re-do of an earlier book, with a third new material, new photos from Steve and lots of wit and wisdom from the country. It’s due out in June 2012.
An unspoken but important theme for the MIBA show: continue to support your independent bookstore and your local library. They are both treasures that we too often take for granted.
CHECK THIS OUT: I learned this past week that there are a few more slots available for my Saturday, October 29 writing workshop at The Clearing in Door County. It’s all about writing stories from your life. Go to The Clearing’s website for more information: www.theclearing.org.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Books do not scold when you blunder, laugh when you are ignorant, or hide when you seek them.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 1, Family History Fair, Walworth County Genealogical Society. Faith Christian School, HWY 67, Williams Bay, WI. 9-3. (Speaking at 1:00) Horse Drawn Days.
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI. Barns of Wisconsin, Horse Drawn Days, Old Farm.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s Workshop.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Jack Frost
The other night when the moon was up and the wind was down, he came visiting for the first time this autumn season. When I was kid we called him Jack Frost who, with his magical brush, painted roof tops and grassy areas with a sparkling sheen of white frost. Annoying to some who wanted him to remain north at least until the end of the month, but welcomed by others who have waited for the heat and humidity of summer to sink south and leave us alone for a few months.
As to damage, so far just a grape leaf here and there that is crinkled and dead—and exposing more bunches of Concord grapes that I missed with the first picking.
Now I look forward to one of my favorite times of the year, cool mornings with bright sunny days while I dig my potatoes, discover the onions I previously couldn’t find, load up the pumpkins and squash, husk the Indian corn with its many surprising colors, and enjoy sitting by my old wood stove on a cool, clear evening when the only sound is that of an owl calling far off to the west.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Smell fallen leaves on the forest floor as you search for dead oak trees to cut for the wood stove.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 21, Cumberland Library, 5:30 p.m. The Lighter Side of Country Living.
September 22, Midwest Bookseller Convention, Minneapolis
October 1, Family History Fair, Walworth County Genealogical Society. Faith Christian School, HWY 67, Williams Bay, WI. 9-3. (Speaking at 1:00) Horse Drawn Days.
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI. Barns of Wisconsin, Horse Drawn Days, Old Farm.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
As to damage, so far just a grape leaf here and there that is crinkled and dead—and exposing more bunches of Concord grapes that I missed with the first picking.
Now I look forward to one of my favorite times of the year, cool mornings with bright sunny days while I dig my potatoes, discover the onions I previously couldn’t find, load up the pumpkins and squash, husk the Indian corn with its many surprising colors, and enjoy sitting by my old wood stove on a cool, clear evening when the only sound is that of an owl calling far off to the west.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Smell fallen leaves on the forest floor as you search for dead oak trees to cut for the wood stove.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 21, Cumberland Library, 5:30 p.m. The Lighter Side of Country Living.
September 22, Midwest Bookseller Convention, Minneapolis
October 1, Family History Fair, Walworth County Genealogical Society. Faith Christian School, HWY 67, Williams Bay, WI. 9-3. (Speaking at 1:00) Horse Drawn Days.
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI. Barns of Wisconsin, Horse Drawn Days, Old Farm.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Black Locust
We have black locust trees growing on our farm. Farmers who owned the place back in the 1930s planted them to plug up the gulleys that had formed on several steep hillsides. The black locusts did their job well, way too well, because they, once established, climbed out of the gulleys and marched into the open fields. We must have more than five acres of black locusts now, threatening to take over the place, to become one gigantic black locust forest of trees with long spikes that tear into your skin and crowd out more desirable species.
To keep the marauding locust trees at bay, we mow several of our open fields each year. But the next year they always return, seemingly more vigorous than the previous year. Some will grow five or six feet in one summer. None of my other tree species can begin to compete with the black locusts’ enthusiasm and competitive nature. Except perhaps buckthorn, but that is topic for another time.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Remember 9-11-01. Where were you on that fateful morning? What were you doing?
UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 13, Town Hall Library, North Lake, Wisconsin. 6:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
September 21, Cumberland Library, 5:30 p.m. The Lighter Side of Country Living.
September 22, Midwest Bookseller Convention, Minneapolis
October 1, Family History Fair, Walworth County Genealogical Society. Faith Christian School, HWY 67, Williams Bay, WI. 9-3. (Speaking at 1:00) Horse Drawn Days.
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
To keep the marauding locust trees at bay, we mow several of our open fields each year. But the next year they always return, seemingly more vigorous than the previous year. Some will grow five or six feet in one summer. None of my other tree species can begin to compete with the black locusts’ enthusiasm and competitive nature. Except perhaps buckthorn, but that is topic for another time.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Remember 9-11-01. Where were you on that fateful morning? What were you doing?
UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 13, Town Hall Library, North Lake, Wisconsin. 6:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
September 21, Cumberland Library, 5:30 p.m. The Lighter Side of Country Living.
September 22, Midwest Bookseller Convention, Minneapolis
October 1, Family History Fair, Walworth County Genealogical Society. Faith Christian School, HWY 67, Williams Bay, WI. 9-3. (Speaking at 1:00) Horse Drawn Days.
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
Sunday, September 04, 2011
No Electricity
The electrical power is out at our Waushara County farm. The entire neighborhood and well beyond lost power last Friday morning when a vicious wind and rain storm tore through the area, uprooting trees and smashing down power lines. At this writing, three days later, the power is still out. The main electric line, torn down by a tree limb is in the ditch, broken. No water. No refrigeration. Considerable inconvenience for those who do not have their own generators.
We weren’t concerned about the electric lines going down when I was a kid, because there were none in our neighborhood. No one had electricity. Kerosene lamps lighted our house; barn lanterns gave us enough light for milking cows. An ice box kept things cool, and a gasoline engine powered our water pump. We were quite self-sufficient.
Today, we’ve become so dependent on electrical power that when it’s not there, we are in trouble, especially if it’s missing for several days. The days of self-sufficiency are gone. For most people, anyway.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Neighbor’s stand alone as they stand together.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 7, Noon. Friends of Eagle River Library Banquet. Riverstone Restaurant, Eagle River
September 10, Barnes and Noble, La Crosse. 1:00 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
September 11, Woodland Country School Reunion, 1-4, Speaking at 2:00 p.m. Two miles from Hustisford on Highway R.
September 13, Town Hall Library, North Lake, Wisconsin. 6:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
September 21, Cumberland Library, 5:30 p.m. The Lighter Side of Country Living.
September 22, Midwest Bookseller Convention, Minneapolis
October 1, Family History Fair, Walworth County Genealogical Society. Faith Christian School, HWY 67, Williams Bay, WI. 9-3. (Speaking at 1:00) Horse Drawn Days
.
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Horse Drawn Days, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
We weren’t concerned about the electric lines going down when I was a kid, because there were none in our neighborhood. No one had electricity. Kerosene lamps lighted our house; barn lanterns gave us enough light for milking cows. An ice box kept things cool, and a gasoline engine powered our water pump. We were quite self-sufficient.
Today, we’ve become so dependent on electrical power that when it’s not there, we are in trouble, especially if it’s missing for several days. The days of self-sufficiency are gone. For most people, anyway.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Neighbor’s stand alone as they stand together.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 7, Noon. Friends of Eagle River Library Banquet. Riverstone Restaurant, Eagle River
September 10, Barnes and Noble, La Crosse. 1:00 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
September 11, Woodland Country School Reunion, 1-4, Speaking at 2:00 p.m. Two miles from Hustisford on Highway R.
September 13, Town Hall Library, North Lake, Wisconsin. 6:00 p.m. Barns of Wisconsin
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
September 21, Cumberland Library, 5:30 p.m. The Lighter Side of Country Living.
September 22, Midwest Bookseller Convention, Minneapolis
October 1, Family History Fair, Walworth County Genealogical Society. Faith Christian School, HWY 67, Williams Bay, WI. 9-3. (Speaking at 1:00) Horse Drawn Days
.
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Horse Drawn Days, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Speaking at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 15, Wade House, Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m. Horse Drawn Days.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Canoe Trip
My son, Steve, and I have just returned from the BWCAW, a long set of initials that mean Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. For those who are unaware, the BWCAW is located in far northeastern Minnesota, snuggled up against the Canadian Border. It’s one of the few true wilderness areas left in our country (outside of Alaska). The BWCAW is more than 100 miles long, some 30 miles wide and includes more than one million acres, with no motorboats allowed on almost all of its 1,000 lakes and streams.
It’s a place for canoes and quiet contemplation, a place for settling down and checking out (no cell-phone access). A place to listen for loon calls, and, if you are lucky, hear a wolf’s lonesome howl in the night. A place to hear waves slapping against ancient rocks. A place to reconnect with nature.
Oh, it’s also a place to fish. In our annual fishing contest, Steve landed an 18-inch small mouth bass, which meant I had to buy him breakfast on Friday morning when we began our long drive home. I won’t get into my fishing success this year—I’ll save that for another day.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You can’t catch a fish if your line is not in the water.
CHECK THIS OUT: See my new book, Campfires and Loon Calls. It’s all about the Boundary Waters and our adventures there. Publisher: Fulcrum Press, 2011. Check my website, www.jerryapps.com for more information.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 7, Noon. Friends of Eagle River Library Banquet.
September 10, Barnes and Noble, La Crosse. 1:00 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
September 11, Woodland Country School Reunion, 1-4, Speaking at 2:00 p.m. Two miles from Hustisford on Highway R.
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
September 21, Cumberland Library, 5:30 p.m. The Lighter Side of Country Living.
September 22, Midwest Bookseller Convention, Minneapolis
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Horse Drawn Days, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
October 15, Horse Drawn Days, Wade House,Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Say Cheese
The last couple of weeks I’ve been giving presentations about the history of Wisconsin’s cheese industry. For those who have accepted California as the leading dairy state in the nation—remove those thoughts from your mind. Wisconsin continues as the leading cheese producing state in the nation—a honor our state has held since 1910.
In 2010 Wisconsin produced 2.6 billion pounds of cheese. Lots of cheese. Mozzarella, then cheddar lead the pack of cheese varieties produced.
Some additional cheese trivia that you can use to wow your friends:
It takes 10 pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese.
Colby and brick cheese are Wisconsin originals—meaning they were invented here.
There is but one cheese factory in all of North America that manufactures limburger cheese—Chalet Cheese Factory near Monroe in Green County.
In 1950, Wisconsin had 143,000 dairy farms. In 2011 the number of dairy farms is about 12,000 and dropping.
Wisconsin has about 1.3 million cows.
Artisan cheese, small batch handmade cheeses, now make up 16 percent of total cheese produced in Wisconsin. More than 400 different kinds.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: I’m a cheesehead and proud of it.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Wisconsin Historical Press, one of my publishers, has recently produced a “trailer” for my new barn book. You can watch it by going to: http://www.youtube.com/user/whspressvideo.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 7, Noon. Friends of Eagle River Library Banquet.
September 10, Barnes and Noble, La Crosse. 1:00 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
September 11, Woodland Country School Reunion, 1-4, Speaking at 2:00 p.m. Two miles from Hustisford on Highway R.
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
September 21, Cumberland Library, 5:30 p.m. The Lighter Side of Country Living.
September 22, Midwest Bookseller Convention, Minneapolis
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Horse Drawn Days, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
October 15, Horse Drawn Days, Wade House,Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
In 2010 Wisconsin produced 2.6 billion pounds of cheese. Lots of cheese. Mozzarella, then cheddar lead the pack of cheese varieties produced.
Some additional cheese trivia that you can use to wow your friends:
It takes 10 pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese.
Colby and brick cheese are Wisconsin originals—meaning they were invented here.
There is but one cheese factory in all of North America that manufactures limburger cheese—Chalet Cheese Factory near Monroe in Green County.
In 1950, Wisconsin had 143,000 dairy farms. In 2011 the number of dairy farms is about 12,000 and dropping.
Wisconsin has about 1.3 million cows.
Artisan cheese, small batch handmade cheeses, now make up 16 percent of total cheese produced in Wisconsin. More than 400 different kinds.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: I’m a cheesehead and proud of it.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Wisconsin Historical Press, one of my publishers, has recently produced a “trailer” for my new barn book. You can watch it by going to: http://www.youtube.com/user/whspressvideo.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 7, Noon. Friends of Eagle River Library Banquet.
September 10, Barnes and Noble, La Crosse. 1:00 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
September 11, Woodland Country School Reunion, 1-4, Speaking at 2:00 p.m. Two miles from Hustisford on Highway R.
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
September 21, Cumberland Library, 5:30 p.m. The Lighter Side of Country Living.
September 22, Midwest Bookseller Convention, Minneapolis
October 2, Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI.
October 4, Union Grove Library. 1:30 p.m. Horse Drawn Days, 6:30 p.m. History of Cheese Making.
October 8, Horse Drawn Days, Stonefield Village, Cassville, WI. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
October 15, Horse Drawn Days, Wade House,Green Bush, WI. 1:00 p.m.
October 18, New Holstein Library, 1:00 p.m. Book talk featuring Cranberry Red. 6:30-8:30 Writer’s workshop.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Wild Grape Vine
I have wild grapes on my farm and this has been a banner year for them. They crawl over the lilac bushes by the cabin. They climb nearly to the top of the oak trees that line the trail to the pond. They curl up the red cedar tree by my machine shed. And this year they have succeeded in climbing to the peak of my pump house, nearly completely covering the east wall of the building.
My grape vines are aggressive and exploratory. One mischievous vine snuck through a crack in a pump house window. Once inside the curious vine discovered (can plants discover?) that no sunlight existed in my dark and dreary pump house, now mostly used as a woodshed. Know what? The vine crawled along the south wall inside the building, found a crack above the door and exited to the outside where it was once more treated to the afternoon sun. It appears happy as can be and seems rather proud that it has crawled in and out of my pump house. I must say, I’m impressed.
Anyone with a wild grape story? Love to hear from you.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The road home is often the longest.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Wisconsin Historical Press, one of my publishers, has recently produced a “trailer” for my new barn book. You can watch it by going to: http://www.youtube.com/user/whspressvideo.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
August 18, 7:00 p.m. Three Lakes Historical Society, Three Lakes Wisconsin. History of cheese making in Wisconsin.
August 21, 4:00 p.m. Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI. Presentation and Book Signing.
September 7, Noon. Friends of Eagle River Library Banquet.
September 10, Barnes and Noble, La Crosse. 1:00 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
September 11, Woodland Country School Reunion, 1-4, Speaking at 2:00 p.m. Two miles from Hustisford on Highway R.
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
My grape vines are aggressive and exploratory. One mischievous vine snuck through a crack in a pump house window. Once inside the curious vine discovered (can plants discover?) that no sunlight existed in my dark and dreary pump house, now mostly used as a woodshed. Know what? The vine crawled along the south wall inside the building, found a crack above the door and exited to the outside where it was once more treated to the afternoon sun. It appears happy as can be and seems rather proud that it has crawled in and out of my pump house. I must say, I’m impressed.
Anyone with a wild grape story? Love to hear from you.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The road home is often the longest.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Wisconsin Historical Press, one of my publishers, has recently produced a “trailer” for my new barn book. You can watch it by going to: http://www.youtube.com/user/whspressvideo.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
August 18, 7:00 p.m. Three Lakes Historical Society, Three Lakes Wisconsin. History of cheese making in Wisconsin.
August 21, 4:00 p.m. Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI. Presentation and Book Signing.
September 7, Noon. Friends of Eagle River Library Banquet.
September 10, Barnes and Noble, La Crosse. 1:00 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
September 11, Woodland Country School Reunion, 1-4, Speaking at 2:00 p.m. Two miles from Hustisford on Highway R.
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Garden Update
A few weeks ago, shortly after I wrote about my garden suffering from dry weather, it began raining. Sometimes an inch, occasionally a half an inch, enough to give my sandy soil garden the boost it needed.
Yesterday I picked about ten pounds of snap beans; a half grocery bag of cucumbers, five pounds or so of zucchini and our first three tomatoes of the season. I could have dug more red potatoes—I dug a half sack last week, I could have dug more onions—how well they have developed. And I could have dug more beets—I also did that a week ago. But the day was hot and steamy, hanging just around ninety, so—Ruth and I quit harvesting early.
Two weeks ago the pumpkins showed nothing but blossoms, today they have pumpkins the size of softballs and larger. The pumpkin vines are everywhere, crawling up the sweet corn, snaking over the tops of the tomatoes, and sneaking under the fence on their way to the cabin.
Can you believe it, I have tomato vines five feet tall? Tallest tomato vines I remember for several years. We have 48 tomato plants. If they continue developing as they recently have, we will have tomatoes—lots of tomatoes.
But I know full well the hazards of gardening. This week’s joy can turn into sorrow with one hail storm, another spell of dry weather, a broken deer fence and a critter raid. So I must be careful. When people ask me how my garden is doing, I usually say, “Could be better.”
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Keep things simple. They’ll get complicated enough, soon enough, without you intending that they should.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free.
August 13. 5:30 p.m. Manitowoc County Historical Society. Horse Drawn Days
August 18, 7:00 p.m. Three Lakes Historical Society, Three Lakes Wisconsin. History of cheese making in Wisconsin.
August 21, 4:00 p.m. Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI. Presentation and Book Signing.
September 7, Noon. Friends of Eagle River Library Banquet.
September 10, Barnes and Noble, La Crosse. 1:00 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
September 11, Woodland Country School Reunion, 1-4, Speaking at 2:00 p.m. Two miles from Hustisford on Highway R. One-Room Country Schools.
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
Yesterday I picked about ten pounds of snap beans; a half grocery bag of cucumbers, five pounds or so of zucchini and our first three tomatoes of the season. I could have dug more red potatoes—I dug a half sack last week, I could have dug more onions—how well they have developed. And I could have dug more beets—I also did that a week ago. But the day was hot and steamy, hanging just around ninety, so—Ruth and I quit harvesting early.
Two weeks ago the pumpkins showed nothing but blossoms, today they have pumpkins the size of softballs and larger. The pumpkin vines are everywhere, crawling up the sweet corn, snaking over the tops of the tomatoes, and sneaking under the fence on their way to the cabin.
Can you believe it, I have tomato vines five feet tall? Tallest tomato vines I remember for several years. We have 48 tomato plants. If they continue developing as they recently have, we will have tomatoes—lots of tomatoes.
But I know full well the hazards of gardening. This week’s joy can turn into sorrow with one hail storm, another spell of dry weather, a broken deer fence and a critter raid. So I must be careful. When people ask me how my garden is doing, I usually say, “Could be better.”
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Keep things simple. They’ll get complicated enough, soon enough, without you intending that they should.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free.
August 13. 5:30 p.m. Manitowoc County Historical Society. Horse Drawn Days
August 18, 7:00 p.m. Three Lakes Historical Society, Three Lakes Wisconsin. History of cheese making in Wisconsin.
August 21, 4:00 p.m. Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI. Presentation and Book Signing.
September 7, Noon. Friends of Eagle River Library Banquet.
September 10, Barnes and Noble, La Crosse. 1:00 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
September 11, Woodland Country School Reunion, 1-4, Speaking at 2:00 p.m. Two miles from Hustisford on Highway R. One-Room Country Schools.
September 17, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg. Book Signing, 1-4.
September 18, Creekside Bookstore, Cedarburg, Book signing, 12-3.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Mosquito Deterrent
The family is just back from a great week in the Northwoods, in a cabin on a lake where swimming, water skiing and all the rest were wonderful. Great fun for the kids and grand kids, and a relaxing time for those not into being pulled around the lake on a pair of slender slats.
Except for one problem. Mosquitoes. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them. As many as the national debt and more. A deep breath resulted in a mouth full of the buggers—not an exaggeration. I slapped my arm and dispatched a half-dozen with one blow.
What to do? Off to the store for mosquito dope. Stuff with DEET in it. Stuff to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
While inspecting the mosquito repellent display—quite an elaborate one I might add—I spotted something new—at least for gullible me. I spotted an ultrasonic mosquito repellent, battery operated and of a size where I could clip it to my belt. No Deet to spray on tender skin. A modern piece of technology. I bought one. Could have bought two spray cans of Deet for the price, but that’s something my wife doesn’t need to know.
I brought it to the cabin, cut the device loose from its plastic bindings, pushed a little button and saw a tiny bulb glow red. It was obviously emitting high frequency sounds that disturbed mosquitoes and sent them away to antagonize someone else. At least that’s what it was supposed to do.
I stood in a shady place where I had previously been unmercifully attacked that morning. I waited to hear the buzzing of mosquitoes, held at bay some six feet from me by my new piece of modern technology—as the advertising claimed would happen.
There was no buzzing at six feet. Squadrons of menacing little beasties tore at me as if my new piece of electronics were a homing device.
Back to Deet. No more mention of my new piece of mosquito deterring equipment. Mosquitoes won again.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When you find something that works. Stay with it. On the other hand, kind of fun to try something new once in a while.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free. Registration required by August 5. Register: UWalumni.com or call 608-263-4508.
August 13. 5:30 p.m. Manitowoc County Historical Society. Horse Drawn Days
August 18, 7:00 p.m. Three Lakes Historical Society, Three Lakes Wisconsin. History of cheese making in Wisconsin.
August 21, 4:00 p.m. Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI. Presentation and Book Signing.
Except for one problem. Mosquitoes. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them. As many as the national debt and more. A deep breath resulted in a mouth full of the buggers—not an exaggeration. I slapped my arm and dispatched a half-dozen with one blow.
What to do? Off to the store for mosquito dope. Stuff with DEET in it. Stuff to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
While inspecting the mosquito repellent display—quite an elaborate one I might add—I spotted something new—at least for gullible me. I spotted an ultrasonic mosquito repellent, battery operated and of a size where I could clip it to my belt. No Deet to spray on tender skin. A modern piece of technology. I bought one. Could have bought two spray cans of Deet for the price, but that’s something my wife doesn’t need to know.
I brought it to the cabin, cut the device loose from its plastic bindings, pushed a little button and saw a tiny bulb glow red. It was obviously emitting high frequency sounds that disturbed mosquitoes and sent them away to antagonize someone else. At least that’s what it was supposed to do.
I stood in a shady place where I had previously been unmercifully attacked that morning. I waited to hear the buzzing of mosquitoes, held at bay some six feet from me by my new piece of modern technology—as the advertising claimed would happen.
There was no buzzing at six feet. Squadrons of menacing little beasties tore at me as if my new piece of electronics were a homing device.
Back to Deet. No more mention of my new piece of mosquito deterring equipment. Mosquitoes won again.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When you find something that works. Stay with it. On the other hand, kind of fun to try something new once in a while.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free. Registration required by August 5. Register: UWalumni.com or call 608-263-4508.
August 13. 5:30 p.m. Manitowoc County Historical Society. Horse Drawn Days
August 18, 7:00 p.m. Three Lakes Historical Society, Three Lakes Wisconsin. History of cheese making in Wisconsin.
August 21, 4:00 p.m. Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI. Presentation and Book Signing.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Bookstore Closings
I stopped at Brown’s Bookstore in Rhinelander this week and discovered they were closing. After 18 years they are locking their doors and calling it quits. A loss to the community; a loss to publishers, a loss to writers.
I also noticed this week that the Borders' book chain, second only to Barnes and Noble in size, has lost its battle to continue after declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year.
Little bookstores, big bookstores, independents and chains—closing. Not able to compete with the juggernaut called E-books that are digital and require no paper. Books read on such devices as Kindle and Nook and iPads and Blackberries. Books that cost less, oft times considerably less than their paper printed versions.
What are we losing when we lose a bookstore, whether a little independent such as Brown’s in Rhinelander or the Borders’ chain that had stores scattered across the country? Are bookstores, real ones not virtual, digital versions, important enough so that some will survive? Should some survive?
We appear to be in the midst of a great revolution—an earthshaking reshaping of defining what is a book and how they are made and sold? It’s both an exciting and a depressing time.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: How do we decide what of the past we should keep when something new comes along and threatens to replace it?
CHECK THIS OUT: My friend, Phil Martin, who is a writer, editor, and publisher, has just published a new book: HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST STORY. It’s advice for writers who want to polish their story writing skills. Great collection of practical tips. Available on Amazon.com, www.itascabooks.com and other booksellers. And only $14.95. What a deal!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free. Registration required by August 5. Register: UWalumni.com or call 608-263-4508.
August 13. 5:30 p.m. Manitowoc County Historical Society. Horse Drawn Days.
I also noticed this week that the Borders' book chain, second only to Barnes and Noble in size, has lost its battle to continue after declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year.
Little bookstores, big bookstores, independents and chains—closing. Not able to compete with the juggernaut called E-books that are digital and require no paper. Books read on such devices as Kindle and Nook and iPads and Blackberries. Books that cost less, oft times considerably less than their paper printed versions.
What are we losing when we lose a bookstore, whether a little independent such as Brown’s in Rhinelander or the Borders’ chain that had stores scattered across the country? Are bookstores, real ones not virtual, digital versions, important enough so that some will survive? Should some survive?
We appear to be in the midst of a great revolution—an earthshaking reshaping of defining what is a book and how they are made and sold? It’s both an exciting and a depressing time.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: How do we decide what of the past we should keep when something new comes along and threatens to replace it?
CHECK THIS OUT: My friend, Phil Martin, who is a writer, editor, and publisher, has just published a new book: HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST STORY. It’s advice for writers who want to polish their story writing skills. Great collection of practical tips. Available on Amazon.com, www.itascabooks.com and other booksellers. And only $14.95. What a deal!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free. Registration required by August 5. Register: UWalumni.com or call 608-263-4508.
August 13. 5:30 p.m. Manitowoc County Historical Society. Horse Drawn Days.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Bur Oak
I like trees, all kinds of trees, pine trees and oak trees, trees I’ve planted and trees that have been on my farm for a hundred years and probably more. But of all the trees that grow at Roshara, I am most impressed with the Bur Oak (sometimes spelled Burr).
First off, I respect the Bur Oak’s toughness. They withstand fire, storms, dry weather, wet weather—they come through it all and continue living and growing year after year, sometimes surviving two or three hundred years.
Bur Oaks are not especially attractive when compared to some other trees such as a Balsam Fir (I have but one of these at my farm). But in their own way, with their thick, corky bark and scraggly limbs going this way and that, they have a beauty all their own. Besides, Bur Oak trees are native to my farm. No one hauled them in from somewhere else. They have thrived in much of central and southwestern Wisconsin as long as anything living has been here. I marvel at that.
Some Bur Oak facts: They may grow 80 feet tall, even taller in richer soils, and reach diameters greater than four feet. The Bur Oak roots may reach depths of 20 feet and a lateral spread of 40 feet. The weight of the roots can equal that of the tops. One of the reasons the Bur Oak lives so long and does so well is its tremendous root system—what you see of the tree is only about half of it—the other half is below ground.
Sort of like people. What you don’t see about a person is often more important than what you do see.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: No matter how old you are, plant a tree. And don’t forget to speak up when someone wants to cut a living tree for no good reason.
CHECK THIS OUT: My friend, Phil Martin, who is a writer, editor, and publisher, has just published a new book: HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST STORY. It’s advice for writers who want to polish their story writing skills. Great collection of practical tips. Available on Amazon.com, www.itascabooks.com and other booksellers. And only $14.95. What a deal!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free. Registration required by August 5. Register: UWalumni.com or call 608-263-4508.
August 13. 5:30 p.m. Manitowoc County Historical Society. Horse Drawn Days
First off, I respect the Bur Oak’s toughness. They withstand fire, storms, dry weather, wet weather—they come through it all and continue living and growing year after year, sometimes surviving two or three hundred years.
Bur Oaks are not especially attractive when compared to some other trees such as a Balsam Fir (I have but one of these at my farm). But in their own way, with their thick, corky bark and scraggly limbs going this way and that, they have a beauty all their own. Besides, Bur Oak trees are native to my farm. No one hauled them in from somewhere else. They have thrived in much of central and southwestern Wisconsin as long as anything living has been here. I marvel at that.
Some Bur Oak facts: They may grow 80 feet tall, even taller in richer soils, and reach diameters greater than four feet. The Bur Oak roots may reach depths of 20 feet and a lateral spread of 40 feet. The weight of the roots can equal that of the tops. One of the reasons the Bur Oak lives so long and does so well is its tremendous root system—what you see of the tree is only about half of it—the other half is below ground.
Sort of like people. What you don’t see about a person is often more important than what you do see.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: No matter how old you are, plant a tree. And don’t forget to speak up when someone wants to cut a living tree for no good reason.
CHECK THIS OUT: My friend, Phil Martin, who is a writer, editor, and publisher, has just published a new book: HOW TO WRITE YOUR BEST STORY. It’s advice for writers who want to polish their story writing skills. Great collection of practical tips. Available on Amazon.com, www.itascabooks.com and other booksellers. And only $14.95. What a deal!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free. Registration required by August 5. Register: UWalumni.com or call 608-263-4508.
August 13. 5:30 p.m. Manitowoc County Historical Society. Horse Drawn Days
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Dry Weather
Dry weather in central Wisconsin. Hot days, cool nights and no rain. Ten days ago the lawn grass in front of my cabin, native grass as I planted no grass seed was green, lush and growing rapidly. This morning it is brown and crunches underfoot when I walk across it. The grass appears dead, but it is not. It is merely waiting for the next rain when it will once more turn green. Tough stuff this centuries old grass that knows the ways of sandy, dry soils.
My garden suffers. Potato vines curl, squash leaves wilt, the bottom leaves of the sweet corn are turning brown, the tomato plants have stopped growing. Even some of the weeds have wilted—but not all as weeds, better than the fancy, hybrid vegetable varieties know dry weather, know how to send their roots ever deeper, searching for life-giving moisture.
Those of us in central Wisconsin look to the western sky and wait for rain as we have for generations as these sandy soils never have enough it seems. The rains in mid-summer make all the difference as to whether a crop will produce well, indeed even survive. Farming sandy soil without irrigation is a gamble, always has been, always will be.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: One of the best ways to solve a problem is to walk. It may take a mile, it may take longer.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free. Registration required by August 5. Register: UWalumni.com or call 608-263-4508.
My garden suffers. Potato vines curl, squash leaves wilt, the bottom leaves of the sweet corn are turning brown, the tomato plants have stopped growing. Even some of the weeds have wilted—but not all as weeds, better than the fancy, hybrid vegetable varieties know dry weather, know how to send their roots ever deeper, searching for life-giving moisture.
Those of us in central Wisconsin look to the western sky and wait for rain as we have for generations as these sandy soils never have enough it seems. The rains in mid-summer make all the difference as to whether a crop will produce well, indeed even survive. Farming sandy soil without irrigation is a gamble, always has been, always will be.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: One of the best ways to solve a problem is to walk. It may take a mile, it may take longer.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
August 10. 5 p.m., program at 6 p.m. Red Crown Lodge, 3852 Highway 51 North, Arbor Vitae, WI Preview of Ken Burns’ latest film, Prohibition. Discussion of Prohibition in Wisconsin. Free. Registration required by August 5. Register: UWalumni.com or call 608-263-4508.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Potato Bugs
Potato bugs we called them when I was a kid, a menace for potato patches. They still are a problem today maybe more so than ever as chemical treatments have toughened them rather than eliminated them.
Their official name is Colorado Potato Beetle; they feast on potato vines and leave most everything else in the garden alone. An age old system for controlling them works –somewhat anyway. We used it when I was a kid; I still use it to today.
You walk down the row of potatoes, and when you spot a potato bug you drop it in a little pail with some water in the bottom. When I was a kid, Pa poured an inch or so of kerosene in the pail. He wanted to make sure that once we picked them they would never ever find another potato plant to chew on.
I saw an ad in a farm paper for a “sure kill “system for eliminating potato bugs. “Mail in five dollars.” I’ll not say who answered the ad, but when the sure kill system arrived, it consisted of two small blocks of wood with some simple instructions. “Place potato bug on block A. Strike smartly with block B.” It worked.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A good cup of coffee in the morning gives you the gumption to face the day, no matter how many problems and challenges lie in wait.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
July 6, 6:00 p.m. Chilton Library, Chilton, WI Campfires and Loon Calls
July 10, 11-2:00 Pickle Station, Saxeville, WI. Booksigning.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
Their official name is Colorado Potato Beetle; they feast on potato vines and leave most everything else in the garden alone. An age old system for controlling them works –somewhat anyway. We used it when I was a kid; I still use it to today.
You walk down the row of potatoes, and when you spot a potato bug you drop it in a little pail with some water in the bottom. When I was a kid, Pa poured an inch or so of kerosene in the pail. He wanted to make sure that once we picked them they would never ever find another potato plant to chew on.
I saw an ad in a farm paper for a “sure kill “system for eliminating potato bugs. “Mail in five dollars.” I’ll not say who answered the ad, but when the sure kill system arrived, it consisted of two small blocks of wood with some simple instructions. “Place potato bug on block A. Strike smartly with block B.” It worked.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: A good cup of coffee in the morning gives you the gumption to face the day, no matter how many problems and challenges lie in wait.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
July 6, 6:00 p.m. Chilton Library, Chilton, WI Campfires and Loon Calls
July 10, 11-2:00 Pickle Station, Saxeville, WI. Booksigning.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Dairy Breakfast
If you’ve been wondering how dairy farming—farming in general—has changed the last few decades, attend a dairy breakfast. Ruth and I traveled to the Pionke farm in western Waushara County to see some of these changes while we enjoyed flapjacks, ham, potatoes—a down home country breakfast served in a huge machine shed with live polka music playing in the background.
The Pionke farm, in the family since 1903, is currently owned and managed by Martin, Duane and Cheryl Pionke. When I was a kid, we would have called this a diversified farm because they not only milk cows, about 120 of them, and raise replacement young stock, another 120 head, they also grow cash crops besides feed for their cattle—125 acres of sweet corn, 95 acres of canning peas, 55 acres of snap beans, 40 acres of wheat, 25 acres of soybeans, 200 acres of alfalfa and 340 acres of field corn. Their farm is about 1,000 acres.
Now the comparison. Back in the early 1950s, on our home farm, which was 160 acres, we milked about 15 cows, fed 20 to 30 hogs, raised 30 acres of alfalfa, an acre of snap beans, an acre of cucumbers, and 20-30 acres of corn.
Although the numbers are dramatically different; yesterday’s and today’s farmers had the same purpose: Providing food for a hungry world.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Keep things simple. They’ll get complicated enough, soon enough, without you intending that they should.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
July 6, 6:00 p.m. Chilton Library, Chilton, WI Campfires and Loon Calls
July 10, 11-2:00 Pickle Station, Saxeville, WI. Booksigning.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
The Pionke farm, in the family since 1903, is currently owned and managed by Martin, Duane and Cheryl Pionke. When I was a kid, we would have called this a diversified farm because they not only milk cows, about 120 of them, and raise replacement young stock, another 120 head, they also grow cash crops besides feed for their cattle—125 acres of sweet corn, 95 acres of canning peas, 55 acres of snap beans, 40 acres of wheat, 25 acres of soybeans, 200 acres of alfalfa and 340 acres of field corn. Their farm is about 1,000 acres.
Now the comparison. Back in the early 1950s, on our home farm, which was 160 acres, we milked about 15 cows, fed 20 to 30 hogs, raised 30 acres of alfalfa, an acre of snap beans, an acre of cucumbers, and 20-30 acres of corn.
Although the numbers are dramatically different; yesterday’s and today’s farmers had the same purpose: Providing food for a hungry world.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Keep things simple. They’ll get complicated enough, soon enough, without you intending that they should.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
July 6, 6:00 p.m. Chilton Library, Chilton, WI Campfires and Loon Calls
July 10, 11-2:00 Pickle Station, Saxeville, WI. Booksigning.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Garden Report
It’s time for a garden report. As all gardeners in Wisconsin know, we started the season with cold and wet and never ending winter-like weather. I usually plant onions, radishes, lettuce, beets, cabbage and especially potatoes by mid-April. As most people remember, we had a major snow storm on April 20 with more than six inches burying my already too wet to work garden.
On May 8th, I finally planted the early vegetables. The last week in May, I planted the late season crops. Two days after I set out my tomato plants, planted green beans, cucumbers, squash, sweet corn and pumpkins—we had a freeze. Cold enough so the grassy areas around the cabin were covered with white frost. But for some unknown reason my little tomato plants survived.
This past week—way late—I replanted green beans, cucumbers, sunflowers, even some lettuce—vegetables that simply didn’t come up or came up with missing areas.
But I have good news. So far, this is one of my best potato seasons. Almost every plant came up and they are already knee high and almost too bushy to rototill. Late planting seemed to make no difference. The tomatoes that miraculously escaped the late May frost are doing quite well, too. I started them from seed and when we set them out the plants were a sorry looking lot, bent stems, scraggly, off color. I set out 45 plants—44 are alive, a few of the early ones are already in blossom.
We have enjoyed radishes for a couple of weeks, the leaf lettuce is ready to cut and the onions are well ahead of most seasons. If the warm weather continues and especially the timely rains, the sweet corn will easily make knee high by the Fourth of July—the standard for all mid-Wisconsin farmers.
One reason I continue gardening—we planted our first garden at our farm in 1967—is the yearly surprises. I never know which vegetables will do well and which will not. I’ve essentially gardened the same way every year, yet the outcomes are always different. May it always be so.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You can bury a lot of troubles digging in your garden.
CHECK THIS OUT: Central Wisconsin book launch for Campfires and Loon Calls. Fundraiser for Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, Wisconsin, June 24, 6:30 p.m.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
July 6, 6:00 p.m. Chilton Library, Chilton, WI Campfires and Loon Calls
July 10, 11-2:00 Pickle Station, Saxeville, WI. Booksigning.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
On May 8th, I finally planted the early vegetables. The last week in May, I planted the late season crops. Two days after I set out my tomato plants, planted green beans, cucumbers, squash, sweet corn and pumpkins—we had a freeze. Cold enough so the grassy areas around the cabin were covered with white frost. But for some unknown reason my little tomato plants survived.
This past week—way late—I replanted green beans, cucumbers, sunflowers, even some lettuce—vegetables that simply didn’t come up or came up with missing areas.
But I have good news. So far, this is one of my best potato seasons. Almost every plant came up and they are already knee high and almost too bushy to rototill. Late planting seemed to make no difference. The tomatoes that miraculously escaped the late May frost are doing quite well, too. I started them from seed and when we set them out the plants were a sorry looking lot, bent stems, scraggly, off color. I set out 45 plants—44 are alive, a few of the early ones are already in blossom.
We have enjoyed radishes for a couple of weeks, the leaf lettuce is ready to cut and the onions are well ahead of most seasons. If the warm weather continues and especially the timely rains, the sweet corn will easily make knee high by the Fourth of July—the standard for all mid-Wisconsin farmers.
One reason I continue gardening—we planted our first garden at our farm in 1967—is the yearly surprises. I never know which vegetables will do well and which will not. I’ve essentially gardened the same way every year, yet the outcomes are always different. May it always be so.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You can bury a lot of troubles digging in your garden.
CHECK THIS OUT: Central Wisconsin book launch for Campfires and Loon Calls. Fundraiser for Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, Wisconsin, June 24, 6:30 p.m.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
July 6, 6:00 p.m. Chilton Library, Chilton, WI Campfires and Loon Calls
July 10, 11-2:00 Pickle Station, Saxeville, WI. Booksigning.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Congratulations , Josh
Josh Horman, my oldest grandson, graduated from high school this weekend and is headed off to college in the fall. It’s been fun to watch him grow up, to attend his basketball games from the time he was a little shaver until he was part of his varsity H.S. team, to see him for the first time in football pads that made him look like a little triangle, and then, a few years later, watch him run back a kickoff for a touchdown on his varsity H.S. team.
Josh also helped with our garden at the farm. From the time when he was but a little kid, he helped plant the pumpkins and then harvest them in the fall, picking out the biggest one for his own special jack-o-lantern.
But what I remember most about Josh is how he would listen to my many tales about our farm, and then I would hear him repeat them to his little Colorado cousins, with considerable embellishment—sometimes well beyond embellishment. Such as a story about how the Indians did battle with the pioneers in the back fields of our farm in the early days, and how monsters were likely to live where the terminal moraine and the biological tension zone intersected at our farm.
Congratulations, Josh. Keep the stories coming.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Hard to beat a good story, doesn’t matter if it’s true or not.
CHECK THIS OUT: Central Wisconsin launch and fundraiser for Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, Wisconsin, June 24, 6:30 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
July 6, 6:00 p.m. Chilton Library, Chilton, WI Campfires and Loon Calls
July 10, 11-2:00 Pickle Station, Saxeville, WI. Book signing.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
Josh also helped with our garden at the farm. From the time when he was but a little kid, he helped plant the pumpkins and then harvest them in the fall, picking out the biggest one for his own special jack-o-lantern.
But what I remember most about Josh is how he would listen to my many tales about our farm, and then I would hear him repeat them to his little Colorado cousins, with considerable embellishment—sometimes well beyond embellishment. Such as a story about how the Indians did battle with the pioneers in the back fields of our farm in the early days, and how monsters were likely to live where the terminal moraine and the biological tension zone intersected at our farm.
Congratulations, Josh. Keep the stories coming.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Hard to beat a good story, doesn’t matter if it’s true or not.
CHECK THIS OUT: Central Wisconsin launch and fundraiser for Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, Wisconsin, June 24, 6:30 p.m. Campfires and Loon Calls.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
July 6, 6:00 p.m. Chilton Library, Chilton, WI Campfires and Loon Calls
July 10, 11-2:00 Pickle Station, Saxeville, WI. Book signing.
July 26, Noon, Wis Historical Society Museum, on the Square, Madison, WI. Ringling Bros. Circus.
July 31-August 6, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.
Saturday, June 04, 2011
Garden Planted
Last weekend we finished planting the garden. We set out the last of the home-grown tomato plants, broccoli, and cabbage. Planted more sweet corn, put in the squash and pumpkin seeds, planted the green beans and sowed more lettuce. Planted several hills of zucchini.
The garden is larger this year as three families are sharing--my son Steve’s and daughter Sue’s families plus Ruth and me. So we have 17 rows of potatoes—everyone likes homegrown potatoes. Forty tomato plants—who can resist homemade tomato soup, tomato juice and salsa. Long rows of green beans for eating fresh and freezing, and several rows of sweet corn. A few heads of cabbage—I’m the coleslaw lover in the family. Plenty of zucchini, too.
Each garden year is a challenge and a mystery. Some vegetables will do well, others less so. But after all the years that we’ve grown a garden at Roshara (since 1966) we’ve always managed to have plenty of fresh vegetables—and enjoyed many of them throughout the winter as well.
I’ve decided that gardening is one part skill, one part patience and one part hope. May it always be so.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Gardening is one way to be close to the earth, in more ways than you could imagine.
COMING EVENTS:
June 7, 7:00 p.m. Galesville Library. Horses and Barns.
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
The garden is larger this year as three families are sharing--my son Steve’s and daughter Sue’s families plus Ruth and me. So we have 17 rows of potatoes—everyone likes homegrown potatoes. Forty tomato plants—who can resist homemade tomato soup, tomato juice and salsa. Long rows of green beans for eating fresh and freezing, and several rows of sweet corn. A few heads of cabbage—I’m the coleslaw lover in the family. Plenty of zucchini, too.
Each garden year is a challenge and a mystery. Some vegetables will do well, others less so. But after all the years that we’ve grown a garden at Roshara (since 1966) we’ve always managed to have plenty of fresh vegetables—and enjoyed many of them throughout the winter as well.
I’ve decided that gardening is one part skill, one part patience and one part hope. May it always be so.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Gardening is one way to be close to the earth, in more ways than you could imagine.
COMING EVENTS:
June 7, 7:00 p.m. Galesville Library. Horses and Barns.
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Old Apple Tree
The old apple tree at my farm is twisted and gnarled and bent and broken, but it is still alive. I don’t know the tree’s exact age, but I do know the first settler on my farm, Tom Stewart, arrived on these acres in 1867, and I’m assuming started an apple orchard shortly after he came. He was from New York State, and many early settlers brought apple trees with them to plant in this new place.
We have owned our farm since 1964 and have marveled at this old apple tree from the day when we first saw it in full bloom. A few years ago we thought it was on its last tracks, it had but a few blossoms, a major limb had smashed to the ground, and it was a pathetic sight. But as it turns out, this was only a setback, a brief unhappy experience, as the tree developed new growth and continued on.
This year the old apple tree is covered with blossoms, more than I ever remember. The tree is making a point. Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you can’t show off a little.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Some trips are two steps forward and one back. Better this arrangement than the opposite.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 7, 7:00 p.m. Galesville Library. Horses and Barns.
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
We have owned our farm since 1964 and have marveled at this old apple tree from the day when we first saw it in full bloom. A few years ago we thought it was on its last tracks, it had but a few blossoms, a major limb had smashed to the ground, and it was a pathetic sight. But as it turns out, this was only a setback, a brief unhappy experience, as the tree developed new growth and continued on.
This year the old apple tree is covered with blossoms, more than I ever remember. The tree is making a point. Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you can’t show off a little.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Some trips are two steps forward and one back. Better this arrangement than the opposite.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 7, 7:00 p.m. Galesville Library. Horses and Barns.
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose, WI. Fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Lilacs
The lilacs are opening in our neck of the words. Beautiful purple flowers with a smell filled with memories. Lilac bushes graced the south side of our one-room school yard, tall gangly bushes most of the year, but for a few days, a couple of weeks sometimes, the schoolyard was filled with the smell of lilac. When the lilacs first opened, we’d cut a big bouquet and give them to our teacher who would put them in a vase on the corner of her desk. And now the schoolroom, too, its long winter, musty smell with lingering smells of oak smoke was replaced with one more smell of spring.
We didn’t have lilacs at home. Pa didn’t like them. Said their smell was too strong. Here was one place I disagreed with him for I enjoyed the smell of lilacs, then and now. I prefer the smell of real lilac, not that created in a laboratory to become part of a strong smelling perfume that is supposed to smell like lilacs but doesn’t make it, not for my country smelling nose anyway.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The road home is often the longest.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 23, 7:30 p.m. Brodhead Historical Society. Brodhead High School. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Eagle River Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 7, 7:00 p.m. Galesville Library. Horses and Barns.
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry Street Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
We didn’t have lilacs at home. Pa didn’t like them. Said their smell was too strong. Here was one place I disagreed with him for I enjoyed the smell of lilacs, then and now. I prefer the smell of real lilac, not that created in a laboratory to become part of a strong smelling perfume that is supposed to smell like lilacs but doesn’t make it, not for my country smelling nose anyway.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The road home is often the longest.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 23, 7:30 p.m. Brodhead Historical Society. Brodhead High School. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Eagle River Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 7, 7:00 p.m. Galesville Library. Horses and Barns.
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry Street Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The Many Greens of Spring
After a few days of dreary, bleak and mostly colorless days in April, a few warm days in May changed the landscape to a world of green. We celebrate fall for its palette of vivid colors, but if we want to see green—early spring is the season to do it.
From the light greens of the aspen trees, to the dark greens of the white and red pine. From the reddish green of the maples to the yellowish green of the little nubs of oak leaves just pushing forth.
Alfalfa fields, winter wheat, rye, and pasture grass just waking up from a long winter. All green in various shades. Green is clearly the color of spring, the color of revival and new growth. The color of optimism and looking forward.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The shortest distance between two points is often not the point.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 18, 7:00 p.m., Beloit Library. Ames County Novels.
May 23, 7:30 p.m. Brodhead Historical Society. Brodhead High School. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Eagle River Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 7, 7:00 p.m. Galesville Library. Horses and Barns.
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
From the light greens of the aspen trees, to the dark greens of the white and red pine. From the reddish green of the maples to the yellowish green of the little nubs of oak leaves just pushing forth.
Alfalfa fields, winter wheat, rye, and pasture grass just waking up from a long winter. All green in various shades. Green is clearly the color of spring, the color of revival and new growth. The color of optimism and looking forward.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The shortest distance between two points is often not the point.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 18, 7:00 p.m., Beloit Library. Ames County Novels.
May 23, 7:30 p.m. Brodhead Historical Society. Brodhead High School. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Eagle River Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 7, 7:00 p.m. Galesville Library. Horses and Barns.
June 24, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, fundraiser featuring Campfires and Loon calls.
June 28, 5-7 p.m. Fitger’s Bookstore, Duluth, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 29, 2-4 p.m. Cherry St. Books, Alexandria, MN. Book signing, Campfires and Loon Calls.
Friday, May 06, 2011
Mother's Day
A twenty acre woodlot backed up to our farm house. It provided firewood for our ever hungry wood stoves. In fall it offered a steady supply of squirrels and rabbits for our supper table. It was a place to explore, to hike and watch the birds, to find peace and quiet. And when you did something wrong, a place to run to while you waited for Pa to cool off and reconsider the punishment you knew was coming if you’d not escaped to this wonderful hiding place.
On Mother’s Day, the woods was an especially important place for on a hillside on the north side of the woodlot, in a little clearing, grew a big patch of purple violets, light purple, some a dark velvety purple. My brothers and I would pick bouquets of these beautiful spring flowers and give them to our mother for Mother’s Day. She put the fragile flowers in a jelly glass and then place them in the middle of the kitchen table where we’d all enjoy them. For several years, this was our Mother’s Day gift, and one that Mother seemed always to enjoy when she saw her three little boys, each holding a fist full of the purple flowers emerge from the woods with big smiles on their faces.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It’s not the size of the gift, but the size of the thought that counts.
May 14, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Books signing. Dregni’s, Westby.
May 18, 7:00 p.m., Beloit Library. Ames County Novels.
May 23, 7:30 p.m. Brodhead Historical Society. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Eagle River Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
On Mother’s Day, the woods was an especially important place for on a hillside on the north side of the woodlot, in a little clearing, grew a big patch of purple violets, light purple, some a dark velvety purple. My brothers and I would pick bouquets of these beautiful spring flowers and give them to our mother for Mother’s Day. She put the fragile flowers in a jelly glass and then place them in the middle of the kitchen table where we’d all enjoy them. For several years, this was our Mother’s Day gift, and one that Mother seemed always to enjoy when she saw her three little boys, each holding a fist full of the purple flowers emerge from the woods with big smiles on their faces.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It’s not the size of the gift, but the size of the thought that counts.
May 14, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Books signing. Dregni’s, Westby.
May 18, 7:00 p.m., Beloit Library. Ames County Novels.
May 23, 7:30 p.m. Brodhead Historical Society. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Eagle River Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Spring at the Pond
Spring has arrived at the pond on our farm. A pair of sandhill cranes is staking out their nesting site, mamma and papa Canada geese are making inspection tours, several mallard and wood ducks have already taken up residence, and the frogs are singing out their hearts.
That’s not to credit less the turkey gobblers that are strutting and calling and making a fuss about finding a mate, and the song birds that are returning, some to stay and nest, others to move on further north.
I spotted at least three bluebirds nesting in our string of houses alongside our prairie—another good sign that some things appear right with the world.
Now we need the weather to cooperate a little—too cold, too much late snow and thus little plant growth. And no garden planted, not one seed. Another year with winter morphing into summer with no spring in between?
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Spring is full of promises, many not kept.
CHECK THIS OUT: Interested in old barns. The Wisconsin Historical Society Museum on the square in Madison is sponsoring a special program on Wednesday, May 11, 6:30-9:00 P.M. The program includes a meal catered by the Underground Food Collective, plus a presentation with history and stories from Wisconsin barns (my part of the program). Call 608-264-6563 for reservations.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 3, 12:00-2:00 p.m. Book signing. Barnes and Noble, Denver West Village, 14347 Colfax Ave., Lakewood, Colorado.
May 7, 1:00-3:00 p.m. Book signing. Apple Blossom Books, Oshkosh, WI.
May 11, 6:30 p.m. Dinner and Presentation, Barns of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Historical Society Museum on the Square in Madison. (See above for details)
May 14, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Books signing. Dregni’s, Westby.
May 18, 7:00 p.m., Beloit Library. Ames County Novels.
May 23, 7:30 p.m. Brodhead Historical Society. History of Wisconsin Agriculture
.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Eagle River Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
That’s not to credit less the turkey gobblers that are strutting and calling and making a fuss about finding a mate, and the song birds that are returning, some to stay and nest, others to move on further north.
I spotted at least three bluebirds nesting in our string of houses alongside our prairie—another good sign that some things appear right with the world.
Now we need the weather to cooperate a little—too cold, too much late snow and thus little plant growth. And no garden planted, not one seed. Another year with winter morphing into summer with no spring in between?
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Spring is full of promises, many not kept.
CHECK THIS OUT: Interested in old barns. The Wisconsin Historical Society Museum on the square in Madison is sponsoring a special program on Wednesday, May 11, 6:30-9:00 P.M. The program includes a meal catered by the Underground Food Collective, plus a presentation with history and stories from Wisconsin barns (my part of the program). Call 608-264-6563 for reservations.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 3, 12:00-2:00 p.m. Book signing. Barnes and Noble, Denver West Village, 14347 Colfax Ave., Lakewood, Colorado.
May 7, 1:00-3:00 p.m. Book signing. Apple Blossom Books, Oshkosh, WI.
May 11, 6:30 p.m. Dinner and Presentation, Barns of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Historical Society Museum on the Square in Madison. (See above for details)
May 14, 10 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Books signing. Dregni’s, Westby.
May 18, 7:00 p.m., Beloit Library. Ames County Novels.
May 23, 7:30 p.m. Brodhead Historical Society. History of Wisconsin Agriculture
.
May 26, 7:00 p.m. Eagle River Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
June 2, 7:00 p.m. Luck Library. Campfires and Loon Calls.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Arbor Day
Long before the celebration of Earth Day, which is April 22, we set aside a day at our one-room country school to spend outside, sprucing up the school grounds. We called it Arbor Day, a day long associated with planting trees.
We planted no trees in our one-acre schoolyard on Arbor Day—there were already plenty of giant black and white oaks. What we did was bring garden rakes from home and spent the day raking leaves and grass and piling them in the middle of our softball diamond. It was a fun day, a chance to be away from the routine of studying and reciting and following a rather tight schedule of learning.
I especially remember Arbor Day when I was in seventh grade. Maxine Thompson was our teacher and she joined us in the clean-up operation and seemed to be having as much fun as we did as we raked, carried, and piled leaves and dead grass.
When there was no more grass to rake, and no more winter-tired oak leaves to gather, Miss Thompson touched a match to the big pile and we had a glorious bonfire with pungent smoke trickling skyward. While the pile was burning, we searched for sticks as we knew that a wiener and marshmallow roast would follow. It was a day to remember.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: (Quoting Increase Joseph, from my novel, The Travels of Increase Joseph)”It’s the land. I’m talking about the land and how we must take care of it or we shall all perish.”
CHECK THIS OUT: The Sturm Public Library in Manawa has selected my novel, In a Pickle, for its community read program this spring. I will be speaking at the library on April 19, 7:00 p.m. Want to learn more about cucumbers and their history? Plan to attend.
We planted no trees in our one-acre schoolyard on Arbor Day—there were already plenty of giant black and white oaks. What we did was bring garden rakes from home and spent the day raking leaves and grass and piling them in the middle of our softball diamond. It was a fun day, a chance to be away from the routine of studying and reciting and following a rather tight schedule of learning.
I especially remember Arbor Day when I was in seventh grade. Maxine Thompson was our teacher and she joined us in the clean-up operation and seemed to be having as much fun as we did as we raked, carried, and piled leaves and dead grass.
When there was no more grass to rake, and no more winter-tired oak leaves to gather, Miss Thompson touched a match to the big pile and we had a glorious bonfire with pungent smoke trickling skyward. While the pile was burning, we searched for sticks as we knew that a wiener and marshmallow roast would follow. It was a day to remember.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: (Quoting Increase Joseph, from my novel, The Travels of Increase Joseph)”It’s the land. I’m talking about the land and how we must take care of it or we shall all perish.”
CHECK THIS OUT: The Sturm Public Library in Manawa has selected my novel, In a Pickle, for its community read program this spring. I will be speaking at the library on April 19, 7:00 p.m. Want to learn more about cucumbers and their history? Plan to attend.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Grape Vine
I pruned my grape vines this week; I really should say “vine” as I have only one. I planted it about 15 years ago in front of my house and next to my split rail fence. The idea was to add a “little something” to the fence as my wife said.
It’s a Concord grape and I really didn’t expect much from it, beyond tangling itself along the top rail of the cedar fence and looking nice. But was I surprised. This single vine produces up to a half-bushel and sometimes more of rich, lush purple grapes each year. By mid-summer Its leaves and vines cover an entire section of the fence. Last year the grape vine was especially rambunctious and threatened to overrun a rose bush that is more than dozen feet away from the base of the vine.
As for care, beyond severely pruning the vine each early spring, I do nothing but watch it grow. No watering, no fertilizing, no spraying—nothing. It’s about the easiest plant to take care of I have on my property. Come late August and early September, I begin checking for ripe grapes, snipping them off with a shears when they are ready and carrying them into the kitchen.
Ruth has a wonderful grape jelly recipe—we feast on grape jelly and toast all winter. And the family and friends do as well as we give away jars of grape jelly as Christmas presents.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Expect little from something and be surprised.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Sturm Public Library in Manawa has selected my novel, In a Pickle, for its community read program this spring. I will be speaking at the library on April 19, 7:00 p.m. Want to learn more about cucumbers and their history? Plan to attend.
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., Fall Creek Library (Horses and Barns)
Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m. Marathon County Library, 300 N. First Street, Wausau. (Horses and Barns)
Friday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. Kaukauna Public Library (Fox Cities Book Festival. Horses and Barns)
Saturday, April 16, Wild Rose High School Centennial Program. 1-4:00 p.m. Program at 2:30.
Tuesday, April 19, Sturm Public Library, Manawa, 7:00 p.m. In a Pickle.
It’s a Concord grape and I really didn’t expect much from it, beyond tangling itself along the top rail of the cedar fence and looking nice. But was I surprised. This single vine produces up to a half-bushel and sometimes more of rich, lush purple grapes each year. By mid-summer Its leaves and vines cover an entire section of the fence. Last year the grape vine was especially rambunctious and threatened to overrun a rose bush that is more than dozen feet away from the base of the vine.
As for care, beyond severely pruning the vine each early spring, I do nothing but watch it grow. No watering, no fertilizing, no spraying—nothing. It’s about the easiest plant to take care of I have on my property. Come late August and early September, I begin checking for ripe grapes, snipping them off with a shears when they are ready and carrying them into the kitchen.
Ruth has a wonderful grape jelly recipe—we feast on grape jelly and toast all winter. And the family and friends do as well as we give away jars of grape jelly as Christmas presents.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Expect little from something and be surprised.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Sturm Public Library in Manawa has selected my novel, In a Pickle, for its community read program this spring. I will be speaking at the library on April 19, 7:00 p.m. Want to learn more about cucumbers and their history? Plan to attend.
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., Fall Creek Library (Horses and Barns)
Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m. Marathon County Library, 300 N. First Street, Wausau. (Horses and Barns)
Friday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. Kaukauna Public Library (Fox Cities Book Festival. Horses and Barns)
Saturday, April 16, Wild Rose High School Centennial Program. 1-4:00 p.m. Program at 2:30.
Tuesday, April 19, Sturm Public Library, Manawa, 7:00 p.m. In a Pickle.
Saturday, April 02, 2011
Strawberries
I uncovered my strawberry bed today, if you can call six plants a bed. They have been waiting out the winter tucked under a warm cover of maple leaves that I piled on them last fall.
My strawberry plants (I have a variety called Cabot that was developed in Canada), appeared bewildered as they once more saw the sun, plus a little bedraggled and winter worn. But they were green as summer, and most importantly, alive. A welcome sight they are, with memories of lush fresh fruit in a couple months or so depending on what kind of spring we have (so far it’s been a bust with an inch of wet snow on April Fool’s day).
California and Florida ship tons of strawberries to Wisconsin, but nothing beats the taste of homegrown berries, and especially those I grow myself. I cheat a bit. I planted my strawberries in the flowerbed in front of my house in town. The strawberries don’t seem to mind, in fact, with a little competition from daylilies, mums, and dahlias, the strawberries thrive, even a little too much. If given a choice they surely would take over the entire flowerbed. It wouldn’t be all bad. I’ve never much cared for the taste of mums and dahlias. Someone once said daylilies make a good salad. I’ll stick with fresh strawberries.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Don’t let April fool you; it will try. Spring is out there—At least I think so.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Mead Public Library in Sheboygan has selected my book, OLD FARM, for their Sheboygan Reads program. On Saturday, April 9, at 9:30 a.m., I will be reading from the book and answering questions. We will meet in the Quiet Study Room at the library. Hope to see you there.
Tuesday, April 5, 6:00 p.m. Salem Public Library, Salem, WI (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 9, 9:30 a.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan. (Old Farm)
April 9, 1:30-4:00 p.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan Writing Workshop. Call 920-459-3400, ext. 3422 for reservations.
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., Fall Creek Library (Horses and Barns)
Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m. Marathon County Library, 300 N. First Street, Wausau. (Horses and Barns)
Friday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. Kaukauna Public Library (Fox Cities Book Festival. Horses and Barns)
Saturday, April 16, Wild Rose High School Centennial Program
Tuesday, April 19, Sturm Public Library, Manawa, 7:00 p.m. In a Pickle. A rescheduled program.
My strawberry plants (I have a variety called Cabot that was developed in Canada), appeared bewildered as they once more saw the sun, plus a little bedraggled and winter worn. But they were green as summer, and most importantly, alive. A welcome sight they are, with memories of lush fresh fruit in a couple months or so depending on what kind of spring we have (so far it’s been a bust with an inch of wet snow on April Fool’s day).
California and Florida ship tons of strawberries to Wisconsin, but nothing beats the taste of homegrown berries, and especially those I grow myself. I cheat a bit. I planted my strawberries in the flowerbed in front of my house in town. The strawberries don’t seem to mind, in fact, with a little competition from daylilies, mums, and dahlias, the strawberries thrive, even a little too much. If given a choice they surely would take over the entire flowerbed. It wouldn’t be all bad. I’ve never much cared for the taste of mums and dahlias. Someone once said daylilies make a good salad. I’ll stick with fresh strawberries.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Don’t let April fool you; it will try. Spring is out there—At least I think so.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Mead Public Library in Sheboygan has selected my book, OLD FARM, for their Sheboygan Reads program. On Saturday, April 9, at 9:30 a.m., I will be reading from the book and answering questions. We will meet in the Quiet Study Room at the library. Hope to see you there.
Tuesday, April 5, 6:00 p.m. Salem Public Library, Salem, WI (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 9, 9:30 a.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan. (Old Farm)
April 9, 1:30-4:00 p.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan Writing Workshop. Call 920-459-3400, ext. 3422 for reservations.
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., Fall Creek Library (Horses and Barns)
Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m. Marathon County Library, 300 N. First Street, Wausau. (Horses and Barns)
Friday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. Kaukauna Public Library (Fox Cities Book Festival. Horses and Barns)
Saturday, April 16, Wild Rose High School Centennial Program
Tuesday, April 19, Sturm Public Library, Manawa, 7:00 p.m. In a Pickle. A rescheduled program.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Medical Update
I had an extremely aggressive bacterial infection, which I discovered last Saturday. By Sunday it was really on the move. Urgent Care doctors quickly identified the culprit and put me on massive doses of antibiotics, including IV infusions for a couple days. As one of the doctors said yesterday, “You’re over the hump.” That appears to be modern-day medical language to mean I’m getting better. If all proceeds normally, and there is every reason to believe that it will, I’ll be back to my regular schedule next Monday. It was a bit of a scare. Watch out for infections, there are some nasty bugs out there.
Thanks to all who sent notes of concern; I really appreciated it.
Thanks to all who sent notes of concern; I really appreciated it.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Cancelled Events
Do to medical problem--got a diagnosis this afternoon--I will have to cancel the following:
Tuesday, March 29, 7:00 p.m. Strum Public Library (Manawa). (In a Pickle).
Friday, April 1, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 2, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Writing workshop: Writing Family Stories. Call the library for further information.)
I'm hoping I can be back on the road in a week or so.
Tuesday, March 29, 7:00 p.m. Strum Public Library (Manawa). (In a Pickle).
Friday, April 1, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 2, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Writing workshop: Writing Family Stories. Call the library for further information.)
I'm hoping I can be back on the road in a week or so.
Early Spring Flowers
Last Monday morning. Three little flowers peeking their heads above the leaf mulch. Welcoming spring. First color of the season. Crocus. The bravest of the brave. The earliest of the early.
By mid-week. Rain. Cold Rain. Sometimes mixed with sleet. Sometimes mixed with snow. Winter returning. Snuffing out spring. Sending the new season in retreat. Closing up the yellow flowers. Reprimanding them for their enthusiasm, for their optimism, for believing that spring has arrived in the north.
The yellow flowers will return. And winter, with all its fuss and bluster, threats and cold weather will retreat and wait a few months, to gather strength and verve.
The crocus knows patience. Patience is the watch word for those of us who have given up on winter and want no more of it. Spring is just around the corner. We’ve gotten glimpses of it—so have the crocus flowers.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Patience is often in short supply these days.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Mead Public Library in Sheboygan has selected my book, OLD FARM, for their Sheboygan Reads program. On Saturday, April 9, at 9:30 a.m., I will be reading from the book and answering questions. We will meet in the Quiet Study Room at the library. Hope to see you there.
Friday, April 1, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 2, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Writing workshop: Writing Family Stories. Call the library for further information.)
Tuesday, April 5, 6:00 p.m. Salem Public Library, Salem, WI (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 9, 9:30 a.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan. (Old Farm)
April 9, 1:30-4:00 p.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan Writing Workshop. Call 920-459-3400, ext. 3422 for reservations.
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., Fall Creek Library (Horses and Barns)
Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m. Marathon County Library, 300 N. First Street, Wausau. (Horses and Barns)
Friday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. Kaukauna Public Library (Fox Cities Book Festival)
Saturday, April 16, Wild Rose High School Centennial Program
By mid-week. Rain. Cold Rain. Sometimes mixed with sleet. Sometimes mixed with snow. Winter returning. Snuffing out spring. Sending the new season in retreat. Closing up the yellow flowers. Reprimanding them for their enthusiasm, for their optimism, for believing that spring has arrived in the north.
The yellow flowers will return. And winter, with all its fuss and bluster, threats and cold weather will retreat and wait a few months, to gather strength and verve.
The crocus knows patience. Patience is the watch word for those of us who have given up on winter and want no more of it. Spring is just around the corner. We’ve gotten glimpses of it—so have the crocus flowers.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Patience is often in short supply these days.
CHECK THIS OUT: The Mead Public Library in Sheboygan has selected my book, OLD FARM, for their Sheboygan Reads program. On Saturday, April 9, at 9:30 a.m., I will be reading from the book and answering questions. We will meet in the Quiet Study Room at the library. Hope to see you there.
Friday, April 1, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 2, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Writing workshop: Writing Family Stories. Call the library for further information.)
Tuesday, April 5, 6:00 p.m. Salem Public Library, Salem, WI (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 9, 9:30 a.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan. (Old Farm)
April 9, 1:30-4:00 p.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan Writing Workshop. Call 920-459-3400, ext. 3422 for reservations.
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., Fall Creek Library (Horses and Barns)
Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m. Marathon County Library, 300 N. First Street, Wausau. (Horses and Barns)
Friday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. Kaukauna Public Library (Fox Cities Book Festival)
Saturday, April 16, Wild Rose High School Centennial Program
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Waterwheel
On the home farm, when the snows began melting in March, a little stream of melt water trickled from behind the corn crib, continued on between the house and the barn, and finally curled under the barnyard gate to disperse in the barnyard.
One year Pa suggested we make a little waterwheel and place it in the melt water river. He made the waterwheel from a cedar wood shingle. He cut two pieces, each about three inches long and a half inch wide. He notched the two pieces and pushed them together making a waterwheel with four little paddles. With two other pieces of shingle wood he made a little frame that held the waterwheel in place while the running melt water turned it.
In early morning, when the temperature had fallen below freezing, the little waterwheel hung motionless in its frame, but usually by mid-day, with climbing temperatures and more snow melting, the waterwheel turned furiously, making a “flip ,flip” sound. The waterwheel turned for more than a week; Pa, my brothers and I would stop, watch and listen to it as we went about doing our various spring chores.
One warm, late afternoon day, we noticed the melt water river had stopped running and the water wheel no longer turned. On that day we knew that spring arrived.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Oft times the little things in life can provide the most pleasure.
CHECK THIS OUT: Plan to attend the Strum Memorial Library (Manawa) special program 7:00 p.m., March 29. The library selected my book, IN A PICKLE, for their “One Book/One Community” program. I’m told that more than 100 people in the community have read the book so far. I’ll discuss the background for writing the book as well as do a reading at the March 29 event.
COMING EVENTS:
Wednesday, March 23, 1:00 p.m., New Berlin Banquet and Conference Center. Learning in Retirement Group, (Remembering Our Agricultural Heritage).
Saturday, March 26, 9:30 a.m., Richland County Electric Co-op, Richland Center High School.
Tuesday, March 29, 7:00 p.m. Strum Public Library (Manawa). (In a Pickle).
Friday, April 1, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 2, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Writing workshop: Writing Family Stories)
Tuesday, April 5, 6:00 p.m. Salem Public Library (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 9, 9:30 a.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan. (Old Farm)
Saturday, April 9, 1:30-4:00 p.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan Writing Workshop. Call 920-459-3400, ext. 3422 for reservations.
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., Fall Creek Library (Horses and Barns)
Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m. Marathon County Library, 300 N. First Street, Wausau. (Horses and Barns)
Friday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. Kaukauna Public Library (Fox Cities Book Festival)
Saturday, April 16, Wild Rose High School Centennial Program
One year Pa suggested we make a little waterwheel and place it in the melt water river. He made the waterwheel from a cedar wood shingle. He cut two pieces, each about three inches long and a half inch wide. He notched the two pieces and pushed them together making a waterwheel with four little paddles. With two other pieces of shingle wood he made a little frame that held the waterwheel in place while the running melt water turned it.
In early morning, when the temperature had fallen below freezing, the little waterwheel hung motionless in its frame, but usually by mid-day, with climbing temperatures and more snow melting, the waterwheel turned furiously, making a “flip ,flip” sound. The waterwheel turned for more than a week; Pa, my brothers and I would stop, watch and listen to it as we went about doing our various spring chores.
One warm, late afternoon day, we noticed the melt water river had stopped running and the water wheel no longer turned. On that day we knew that spring arrived.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Oft times the little things in life can provide the most pleasure.
CHECK THIS OUT: Plan to attend the Strum Memorial Library (Manawa) special program 7:00 p.m., March 29. The library selected my book, IN A PICKLE, for their “One Book/One Community” program. I’m told that more than 100 people in the community have read the book so far. I’ll discuss the background for writing the book as well as do a reading at the March 29 event.
COMING EVENTS:
Wednesday, March 23, 1:00 p.m., New Berlin Banquet and Conference Center. Learning in Retirement Group, (Remembering Our Agricultural Heritage).
Saturday, March 26, 9:30 a.m., Richland County Electric Co-op, Richland Center High School.
Tuesday, March 29, 7:00 p.m. Strum Public Library (Manawa). (In a Pickle).
Friday, April 1, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 2, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Writing workshop: Writing Family Stories)
Tuesday, April 5, 6:00 p.m. Salem Public Library (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, April 9, 9:30 a.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan. (Old Farm)
Saturday, April 9, 1:30-4:00 p.m. Mead Public Library, Sheboygan Writing Workshop. Call 920-459-3400, ext. 3422 for reservations.
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., Fall Creek Library (Horses and Barns)
Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m. Marathon County Library, 300 N. First Street, Wausau. (Horses and Barns)
Friday, April 15, 1:00 p.m. Kaukauna Public Library (Fox Cities Book Festival)
Saturday, April 16, Wild Rose High School Centennial Program
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Canoecopia 2011
It’s the weekend for Canoecopia, an annual event held at the Alliant Center in Madison where hundreds of winter weary people gather to think about summer, outdoor camping, canoeing, and traveling to wilderness areas to get away from it all for a few days.
Canoecopia is billed as the world’s largest paddlesports expo. Sponsored by an outdoor supply store in Madison with the rather exotic name of Rutabaga, visitors to the three day show can leave behind the waning days of winter by checking out new canoes and kayaks, paddles of various shapes and prices, life vests, appropriate clothing , new ideas for backpacks and much, much more.
Visitors can also listen to a vast array of speakers (I was one of them) talk about everything from their new books (I shared stores from my book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS) to camping in the Grand Canyon, Treasures of the Apostle Islands, Essential Equipment for Paddling and How to Build Your Own Canoe.
The show provides three days of escaping winter, propelling visitors to a time when they are sitting on a high point overlooking a lake with waves lapping the rocks below their campsite, and a loon calling in the distance as the sun slips slowly below the horizon to the west.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: I need to hear the call of the loon at least once a year to remind me that everything is not as bad as it may sometimes appear.
CHECK THIS OUT: Plan to attend the launch party for CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS at Barnes and Noble West in Madison on Tuesday, March 15 at 7:00 p.m. Ruth is making chocolate chip cookies for the event. (We take chocolate chip cookies along on our wilderness camping trips).
COMING EVENTS:
March 15, 10:30 a.m. Eager Free Library, Evansville, WI.
March 15, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. (Launch for Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 17, 2:00-4:00. Monroe Arts Center, Monroe. Memories into Memoirs—Writers’ Workshop.
March 17, 7:00 p.m. Monroe Arts Center. (Our Rural Heritage).
March 20, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire Station, New Lebanon. (Horse Drawn Days).
March 23, 1:00 p.m., New Berlin Banquet and Conference Center. Learning in Retirement.
March 26, 9:30 a.m., Richland County Electric Co-op, Richland Center High School
.
March 29, 7:00 p.m. Manawa Public Library. (In a Pickle).
April 1, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Stories from the Land)
April 2, 9:00-11:00 Oconto Falls Library. (Writing workshop: Writing Family Stories)
April 5, 6:00 p.m. Salem Public Library (Stories from the Land)
Canoecopia is billed as the world’s largest paddlesports expo. Sponsored by an outdoor supply store in Madison with the rather exotic name of Rutabaga, visitors to the three day show can leave behind the waning days of winter by checking out new canoes and kayaks, paddles of various shapes and prices, life vests, appropriate clothing , new ideas for backpacks and much, much more.
Visitors can also listen to a vast array of speakers (I was one of them) talk about everything from their new books (I shared stores from my book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS) to camping in the Grand Canyon, Treasures of the Apostle Islands, Essential Equipment for Paddling and How to Build Your Own Canoe.
The show provides three days of escaping winter, propelling visitors to a time when they are sitting on a high point overlooking a lake with waves lapping the rocks below their campsite, and a loon calling in the distance as the sun slips slowly below the horizon to the west.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: I need to hear the call of the loon at least once a year to remind me that everything is not as bad as it may sometimes appear.
CHECK THIS OUT: Plan to attend the launch party for CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS at Barnes and Noble West in Madison on Tuesday, March 15 at 7:00 p.m. Ruth is making chocolate chip cookies for the event. (We take chocolate chip cookies along on our wilderness camping trips).
COMING EVENTS:
March 15, 10:30 a.m. Eager Free Library, Evansville, WI.
March 15, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. (Launch for Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 17, 2:00-4:00. Monroe Arts Center, Monroe. Memories into Memoirs—Writers’ Workshop.
March 17, 7:00 p.m. Monroe Arts Center. (Our Rural Heritage).
March 20, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire Station, New Lebanon. (Horse Drawn Days).
March 23, 1:00 p.m., New Berlin Banquet and Conference Center. Learning in Retirement.
March 26, 9:30 a.m., Richland County Electric Co-op, Richland Center High School
.
March 29, 7:00 p.m. Manawa Public Library. (In a Pickle).
April 1, 7:00 p.m. Oconto Falls Library. (Stories from the Land)
April 2, 9:00-11:00 Oconto Falls Library. (Writing workshop: Writing Family Stories)
April 5, 6:00 p.m. Salem Public Library (Stories from the Land)
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Signs of Spring
It is many years ago; my two brothers and I are in the upstairs bedroom of our old farm house. It has been a long, cold winter, with many below zero days and snow so deep the old timers said they couldn’t remember ever seeing such a tough winter. But something is different this morning—the most obvious, the bedroom isn’t so cold. The thick frost that has covered the inside of the windows since last November is melting, puddling on the window sills. Rain is splashing against the windows, one of the first sounds of spring. I look out the window, toward our snow-covered fields to east and I see wisps of fog.
I pull on my clothes, rush downstairs, grab my barn lantern and trot to the barn. For the first time in weeks, the snow is mushy underfoot. And the subtle smell of spring is in the air. Once in the barn for the morning milking, I notice the animals are aware of the weather change as well. They are restless and wanting to go outside, understandable after being cooped up in the barn for these long winter months.
After breakfast, we let the cows outside, to romp in the barnyard, to run with their tails in the air, to experience spring. To feel the rain on their backs and the soft snow underfoot. But winter doesn’t give up easily. That evening, the rain changes to snow as winter refuses to leave quietly. But we now know that spring is waiting in the wings, waiting for a chance to sneak in and take over, and push winter farther north for a few months.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: We need winter to truly enjoy spring.
CHECK THIS OUT: Tune in the Larry Meiller Show on Wisconsin Public Radio, Wednesday, March 9. 11:45-12:20. I’ll be discussing my new book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS.
COMING EVENTS:
March 11, 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 12, 3:30 p.m. Canoecopia Trade Show, Alliant Center, Madison:. (Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 15, 10:30 a.m. Eager Free Library, Evansville, WI.
March 15, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. (Launch for Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 17, 2:00-4:00. Monroe Arts Center, Monroe. Memories into Memoirs—Writers’ Workshop.
March 17, 7:00 p.m. Monroe Arts Center. (Our Rural Heritage).
March 20, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire Station, New Lebanon. (Horse Drawn Days).
March 26, 9:30 a.m., Richland County Electric Co-op, Richland Center High School.
March 29, 7:00 p.m. Manawa Public Library. (In a Pickle).
I pull on my clothes, rush downstairs, grab my barn lantern and trot to the barn. For the first time in weeks, the snow is mushy underfoot. And the subtle smell of spring is in the air. Once in the barn for the morning milking, I notice the animals are aware of the weather change as well. They are restless and wanting to go outside, understandable after being cooped up in the barn for these long winter months.
After breakfast, we let the cows outside, to romp in the barnyard, to run with their tails in the air, to experience spring. To feel the rain on their backs and the soft snow underfoot. But winter doesn’t give up easily. That evening, the rain changes to snow as winter refuses to leave quietly. But we now know that spring is waiting in the wings, waiting for a chance to sneak in and take over, and push winter farther north for a few months.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: We need winter to truly enjoy spring.
CHECK THIS OUT: Tune in the Larry Meiller Show on Wisconsin Public Radio, Wednesday, March 9. 11:45-12:20. I’ll be discussing my new book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS.
COMING EVENTS:
March 11, 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 12, 3:30 p.m. Canoecopia Trade Show, Alliant Center, Madison:. (Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 15, 10:30 a.m. Eager Free Library, Evansville, WI.
March 15, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. (Launch for Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 17, 2:00-4:00. Monroe Arts Center, Monroe. Memories into Memoirs—Writers’ Workshop.
March 17, 7:00 p.m. Monroe Arts Center. (Our Rural Heritage).
March 20, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire Station, New Lebanon. (Horse Drawn Days).
March 26, 9:30 a.m., Richland County Electric Co-op, Richland Center High School.
March 29, 7:00 p.m. Manawa Public Library. (In a Pickle).
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Late Winter Quiet
I’m at my farm these waning days of winter. The snow is piled high around the buildings, as high as I can remember. It took me more than two hours with my tractor to plow out my driveway after the most recent snowstorm.
I watched a deer last night; a little doe with a thick coat of fur. She was feeding on the brush growing under the windbreak not twenty yards from the cabin. Although she was up to her belly in deep snow, she appeared healthy. Even with deep snow, she appeared to move easily, albeit very slowly.
This morning, as the late February sun begins to crawl above the horizon to the east, I pull on my parka and head for the woodshed, a several times a day task in winter, as my wood stove has a never ending appetite. The thermometer reads 15 degrees. What I notice these chilly late winter mornings is the quiet—oh so quiet. The only sound is that of my boots creaking on the snow. I stop and listen to the silence—a real treat as most of my life is filled with sound.
As the first rays of sun appear, I hear it, off to the east, a cardinal shattering the silence, welcoming the new day, and welcoming the seasonal change as well.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Change and progress are not the same thing.
CHECK THIS OUT:
My newest book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS: TRAVELS IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS is in the bookstores. My son, Steve and I have canoed in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota for 25 years. This is our story. Go to: http://fulcrumpublishing.wordpress.com for more information, including an interview.
COMING EVENTS:
March 2, 7:00 p.m. River Falls Library. Smithsonian’s “Key Ingredients: America By Food.” (Farming History).
March 5, 3:00 p.m. City Hall, Platteville (Old Farm).
March 5, 7:00 p.m. Mining Museum-405 E. Main, Platteville: (Horse Drawn Days).
March 6, 2:00 p.m. Pioneer Dinner, Milton House Museum, Seventh Day Baptist Church, Milton (Remembering our Rural Heritage).
March 9, 11:45-12:30 Larry Meiller Show, Wisconsin Public Radio (Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 11, 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 12, 3:30 p.m. Canoecopia, Alliant Center, Madison:. (Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 15, 10:30 a.m. Eager Free Library, Evansville, WI.
March 15, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. (Launch for Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 17, 2:00-4:00. Monroe Arts Center, Monroe. Memories into Memoirs—Writers’ Workshop.
March 17, 7:00 p.m. Monroe Arts Center. (Our Rural Heritage).
March 20, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire Station, New Lebanon. (Horse Drawn Days).
March 26, 9:30 a.m., Richland County Electric Co-op, Richland Center High School.
March 29, 7:00 p.m. Manawa Public Library. (In a Pickle).
I watched a deer last night; a little doe with a thick coat of fur. She was feeding on the brush growing under the windbreak not twenty yards from the cabin. Although she was up to her belly in deep snow, she appeared healthy. Even with deep snow, she appeared to move easily, albeit very slowly.
This morning, as the late February sun begins to crawl above the horizon to the east, I pull on my parka and head for the woodshed, a several times a day task in winter, as my wood stove has a never ending appetite. The thermometer reads 15 degrees. What I notice these chilly late winter mornings is the quiet—oh so quiet. The only sound is that of my boots creaking on the snow. I stop and listen to the silence—a real treat as most of my life is filled with sound.
As the first rays of sun appear, I hear it, off to the east, a cardinal shattering the silence, welcoming the new day, and welcoming the seasonal change as well.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Change and progress are not the same thing.
CHECK THIS OUT:
My newest book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS: TRAVELS IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS is in the bookstores. My son, Steve and I have canoed in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota for 25 years. This is our story. Go to: http://fulcrumpublishing.wordpress.com for more information, including an interview.
COMING EVENTS:
March 2, 7:00 p.m. River Falls Library. Smithsonian’s “Key Ingredients: America By Food.” (Farming History).
March 5, 3:00 p.m. City Hall, Platteville (Old Farm).
March 5, 7:00 p.m. Mining Museum-405 E. Main, Platteville: (Horse Drawn Days).
March 6, 2:00 p.m. Pioneer Dinner, Milton House Museum, Seventh Day Baptist Church, Milton (Remembering our Rural Heritage).
March 9, 11:45-12:30 Larry Meiller Show, Wisconsin Public Radio (Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 11, 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 12, 3:30 p.m. Canoecopia, Alliant Center, Madison:. (Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 15, 10:30 a.m. Eager Free Library, Evansville, WI.
March 15, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. (Launch for Campfires and Loon Calls).
March 17, 2:00-4:00. Monroe Arts Center, Monroe. Memories into Memoirs—Writers’ Workshop.
March 17, 7:00 p.m. Monroe Arts Center. (Our Rural Heritage).
March 20, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire Station, New Lebanon. (Horse Drawn Days).
March 26, 9:30 a.m., Richland County Electric Co-op, Richland Center High School.
March 29, 7:00 p.m. Manawa Public Library. (In a Pickle).
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Ice Skating
We’ve had a week of above freezing weather, the temperature climbing into the low 50s one day. The snow is in fast retreat. When I was a kid we looked forward to these winter thaws, not only because warmer weather made doing farm chores a little easier, but because the hollows on the farm filled with melt water. When winter returned, and it always did, the ponds in the hollows froze and we had ice skating ponds.
When I was eleven years old or so, I was introduced to ice skating after one of these winter thaws created a couple acre pond in the big hayfield across the road from our farmstead. When the pond froze, Pa asked my brothers and me one Saturday morning whether we’d be interesting in learning how to ice skate. We had no ice skates at the time, so were a bit perplexed by Pa’s question.
That Saturday afternoon, while Ma was trading for groceries (she traded eggs for groceries at the Mercantile in Wild Rose), Pa, my brothers and I walked down the street to Hotz’s Hardware. Pa inquired about ice skates, the kind that you clamp on the bottom of your shoes with a little key. He bought three pair, fifty cents a pair.
Later that afternoon, when we were back home, my brothers and I trekked down to the pond, clamped on our shiny new skates and quickly discovered that there was nothing easy about ice skating. We were on our backsides more often than we were upright. At suppertime, Pa inquired about our skating success and we told him we’d probably go back to sledding. The next day Pa came with us to the pond, we wondered why. Once there, he said he’d like to try skating. As an old man, he was in his forties, we thought he’d probably fall and break something. And we’d have more chores to do.
We shouldn’t have worried. Pa made a couple swings around the pond, his hands behind his back, a smile spreading across his face. He slid to a stop,commenced skating backwards, and then cross stepped going backwards. Not once did he fall. Not once. My brothers and I just stood there with our mouths hanging open. “Not much to ice skating,” he said. “Does take a little practice, though.”
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The only way to lose is to quit.
CHECK THIS OUT:
My newest book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS: TRAVELS IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS is in the bookstores. My son, Steve and I have canoed in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota for 25 years. This is our story. Go to: http://fulcrumpublishing.wordpress.com for more information, including an interview.
COMING EVENTS:
March 2, 7:00 p.m. River Falls Library. Smithsonian’s “Key Ingredients: America By Food.” Farming History.
March 5, 3:00 p.m. City Hall, Platteville (Old Farm).
March 5, 7:00 p.m. Mining Museum-405 E. Main, Platteville: (Horse Drawn Days.)
March 6, 2:00 p.m. Pioneer Dinner, Milton House Museum, Milton: Remembering our Rural Heritage.
March 9, 11:45-12:30 Larry Meiller Show, Wisconsin Public Radio: Campfires and Loon Calls.
March 11, 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 12, 3:30 p.m. Canoecopia, Alliant Center, Madison: Campfires and Loon Calls.
March 15, 10:30 a.m. Eager Free Library, Evansville, WI.
March 15, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Launch for Campfires and Loon Calls.
March 17, 2:00-4:00. Monroe Arts Center, Monroe. Memories into Memoirs—Writers’ Workshop.
March 17, 7:00 p.m. Monroe Arts Center. Our Rural Heritage.
March 20, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire Station, New Lebanon. Horse Drawn Days.
March 29, 7:00 p.m. Manawa Public Library, In a Pickle.
When I was eleven years old or so, I was introduced to ice skating after one of these winter thaws created a couple acre pond in the big hayfield across the road from our farmstead. When the pond froze, Pa asked my brothers and me one Saturday morning whether we’d be interesting in learning how to ice skate. We had no ice skates at the time, so were a bit perplexed by Pa’s question.
That Saturday afternoon, while Ma was trading for groceries (she traded eggs for groceries at the Mercantile in Wild Rose), Pa, my brothers and I walked down the street to Hotz’s Hardware. Pa inquired about ice skates, the kind that you clamp on the bottom of your shoes with a little key. He bought three pair, fifty cents a pair.
Later that afternoon, when we were back home, my brothers and I trekked down to the pond, clamped on our shiny new skates and quickly discovered that there was nothing easy about ice skating. We were on our backsides more often than we were upright. At suppertime, Pa inquired about our skating success and we told him we’d probably go back to sledding. The next day Pa came with us to the pond, we wondered why. Once there, he said he’d like to try skating. As an old man, he was in his forties, we thought he’d probably fall and break something. And we’d have more chores to do.
We shouldn’t have worried. Pa made a couple swings around the pond, his hands behind his back, a smile spreading across his face. He slid to a stop,commenced skating backwards, and then cross stepped going backwards. Not once did he fall. Not once. My brothers and I just stood there with our mouths hanging open. “Not much to ice skating,” he said. “Does take a little practice, though.”
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: The only way to lose is to quit.
CHECK THIS OUT:
My newest book, CAMPFIRES AND LOON CALLS: TRAVELS IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS is in the bookstores. My son, Steve and I have canoed in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota for 25 years. This is our story. Go to: http://fulcrumpublishing.wordpress.com for more information, including an interview.
COMING EVENTS:
March 2, 7:00 p.m. River Falls Library. Smithsonian’s “Key Ingredients: America By Food.” Farming History.
March 5, 3:00 p.m. City Hall, Platteville (Old Farm).
March 5, 7:00 p.m. Mining Museum-405 E. Main, Platteville: (Horse Drawn Days.)
March 6, 2:00 p.m. Pioneer Dinner, Milton House Museum, Milton: Remembering our Rural Heritage.
March 9, 11:45-12:30 Larry Meiller Show, Wisconsin Public Radio: Campfires and Loon Calls.
March 11, 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 12, 3:30 p.m. Canoecopia, Alliant Center, Madison: Campfires and Loon Calls.
March 15, 10:30 a.m. Eager Free Library, Evansville, WI.
March 15, 7:00 p.m. Barnes and Noble, Madison West. Launch for Campfires and Loon Calls.
March 17, 2:00-4:00. Monroe Arts Center, Monroe. Memories into Memoirs—Writers’ Workshop.
March 17, 7:00 p.m. Monroe Arts Center. Our Rural Heritage.
March 20, 7:00 p.m. Lebanon Historical Society, Fire Station, New Lebanon. Horse Drawn Days.
March 29, 7:00 p.m. Manawa Public Library, In a Pickle.
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