Winter 1946

For most of us living in the north, below zero weather is merely an inconvenience or an annoyance.  But we complain anyway.

Let me take you back to the home farm in central Wisconsin in 1946 and what it was like for my father on a morning when it was twenty-below zero.  He would crawl out of bed to a bedroom that was frigid as the wood stoves heating the house had gone out around midnight.  He lit the kerosene lamp that stood by his bedstead, pulled on his clothes, and walked to the dining room where he started the fire in the dining room stove.  Then to the kitchen where he started the kitchen cook stove.  Our drinking water, in a water pail as we had no indoor plumbing, had more than an inch of ice on it.  He would place the water pail directly on cook stove, so the ice would thaw and my mother would have water to make coffee for breakfast.

In between fire-starting, Pa woke me up by rapping on the stove pipe leading to the frigid bedroom above the dining room.

With both stoves going, Pa pulled on his wool barn coat, heavy woolen cap, and six buckle boots.  He lit the barn lantern and headed for the pump house, where he started the fire there—the one that kept our pump from freezing.  Then he walked the narrow path to the outside cattle tank, covered with ice.  He started the wood burning tank heater that would melt the ice so the cattle would have water when they were let out to drink later in the morning.

Next he walked the narrow, shoveled path through the snow to the potato cellar, a building built in the side of the hill just beyond the chicken house.  Here is where we stored our fall crop of potatoes as we waited for the price to come up a little before selling.  A stove in the potato cellar kept the potatoes from freezing and Pa started this next.

It was only now that he was ready to begin the morning milking.   Cows that we milked by hand.  By this time he expected that I would show up in the barn to help.

Not once did I hear him complain about the cold or about all the fire starting.  It was winter after all, and that is what you did when you lived on a farm in Waushara County in 1946.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes cold winter weather has to be endured; complaining doesn't help.

COMING EVENTS:

January 28, 5:00 p.m.  TV show, “Live at Five,” Channel 3 Madison.  The Quiet Season.

February 8, Sat. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 2:15 p.m. Garden Wisdom presentation.

February 9, Sun. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 10:15 Three Sisters Garden presentation.

February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.

For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):

A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)

The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)

The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!

Order from:

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

King of the Hill

They feed peacefully at the bird feeder that hangs in a big spruce tree a few yards from the cabin window.  Juncos, chickadees, blue jays, a bright red cardinal, several nuthatches.  And then, unannounced, the menace arrived from the west, from the big black willow trees that have provided a windbreak for the cabin since 1912.

 A dreaded red squirrel, much smaller than the gray squirrels and fox squirrels.  So small that it doesn't weigh enough to trip the “squirrel proof” mechanism that closes the feeder door to unwanted critters.

The birds leave the feeder, some fly into the spruce tree, some sit on the ground.  And the arrogant red squirrel sits in the feeder and eats and gloats, while the hungry winter birds patiently wait for this bully of the natural world to leave so they can once more return to lunch.

 I notice that even birds have limited patience.  With more than a dozen of them waiting on the snow-packed surface beneath the feeder, occasionally one will do a fly-by at the red squirrel enemy, taunting it.   But the action disturbs the fat and saucy little squirrel not at all.  It sits munching on bird feed, seeming to enjoy its position of  “King of the hill.”

When the plump and satisfied squirrel finally scampers away, the birds return to feeding, I’m sure hoping that something will be left for them.

Is there a lesson here?

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Often nature provides an insight into human activity, helps us see who we are from a different perspective.

COMING EVENTS:

January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.

February 8, Sat. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 2:15 p.m. Garden Wisdom presentation.

February 9, Sun. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 10:15 Three Sisters Garden presentation.

February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.

For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):

A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)

The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)

The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!

Order from:

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Country School in Winter

The below-zero temperatures this past week reminded me my of one-room country school when the weather was so cold.  Our little school was heated with a wood stove, one that the teacher was required to start an hour or so before the students arrived.  No matter how cold it was, and I remember days when it was thirty-five below, the school never closed.  We all walked to school, as did the teacher, so there was no reason to shut things down for a little cold or snowy weather.

                I especially remember that on the coldest days, especially if there was a wind, the front of the schoolhouse never got close to comfortable.  The school had no storm windows, and the building was not insulated so the cold could seep into the building with little difficulty.  When we arrived at school, we brought our lunch buckets (Karol syrup or former lard pails) into the school room so our sandwiches wouldn't freeze.  On warmer days, the lunch buckets along with our boots, caps, coats and scarves stayed in the entry way, where the day’s supply of wood for the ever hungry stove was stored.

                Once we all had arrived at school, still wearing our outdoor clothing, we huddled around the big wood stove, wondering what the teacher had planned for us.  The school had a wind-up Victrola—a machine that played 78 rpm records.  The school had maybe a dozen such records, and on these cold mornings, she would crank-up the Victrola, put on a John Phillip Sousa record and we’d all march around the school room in time with the music.  I thought it was about the dumbest thing I’d ever experienced.  Marching around a frigid school room to the sound from a record machine.  But the teacher knew what she was doing.  Wearing our coats and hats and marching warmed us up enough so when the record was over and we once more gathered around the wood stove, we were comfortable enough to participate in the day’s learning activities.  At the time, I was also too dumb to realize that she was also introducing us to a wonderful composer of march music, perhaps the very best.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Let’s never forget how special the one-room country school teachers were.

UPCOMING EVENTS:   

  

January 14. Paperbacks and Pieces bookstore, Winona, MN.  429 Mankato Ave. 12:00-2:00 p.m. Featuring THE QUIET SEASON.

January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm featuring stories from THE QUIET SEASON.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.

January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.

February 8, Sat. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 2:15 p.m. Garden Wisdom presentation.

February 9, Sun. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 10:15 Three Sisters Garden presentation.

February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.

For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):

A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)

The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)

The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!

Order from:

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Cold Walk

It was sixteen below zero at the farm on Friday morning, and by mid-afternoon the temperature had crawled to a balmy twelve above, but with a stiff southwestern wind.  A southwestern wind is supposed to be warm, not this one.  I walked only a half-mile or so and saw nothing but gray and white.  Not even a crow, one of our toughest northern creatures.  No deer, they know better than to wander around on a day like this.  Only the creaking of the cold snow as I hiked  and listened to the sound of the wind through the tops of bare oaks, and the pine trees.

I thought about the many days I walked to our country school on a day like this, with a cold wind blowing, and no creatures about.  Then I wore wool long underwear, wool socks, two pairs of bib overalls, a heavy wool shirt, a wool Mackinaw coat, a heavy wool cap with ear laps, leather mittens with wool liners, four buckle rubber boots—and to top it off, a woolen scarf that my grandmother Witt had knitted and which my mother wrapped around and around my head until only my eyes were uncovered.  If you fell down wearing all these clothes it was a challenge to get back up.

By the time I was half way back to the cabin, walking in the wind, I remembered all of this, and I especially remembered my wool scarf.  I wished I had it today. 

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes a warm memory will make things better on a cold day.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

January 8, Downtown Madison Rotary, Noon.  Limping Through Life.

January 14. Paperbacks and Pieces bookstore, Winona, MN.  429 Mankato Ave. 12:00-2:00 p.m. Featuring THE QUIET SEASON.

January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm featuring stories from THE QUIET SEASON.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.

January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.

February 8, Sat. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 2:15 p.m. Garden Wisdom presentation.

February 9, Sun. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 10:15 Three Sisters Garden presentation.

February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.